2. Chapter 2

Ava skipped down the hall to keep up with Nuor’s faster gait. The ship, R526, was moderate in size with a cumbersome layout. It was a cargo transport ship, so not many areas were available for leisure. Actually, there were only two: the mess hall and the solarium.

They entered the solarium and Ava let out a sigh. I love coming here. She grinned at Nuor as they moved from the metal hallway onto the soft dirt.

She took off her sandals at the entrance to curl her feet in the dirt and grass, relishing the sensation. The artificial sun felt warm on her skin compared to the track lighting in the hallway.

The rest of the ship felt sterile in comparison to the solarium. Here it almost felt like they were on an actual world. The artificial sun kept various plants and flowers alive, along with a little pond with a waterfall running off into a tiny stream.

Sometimes, with her eyes closed, Ava could pretend she was someplace else.

The only thing missing were some small animals like they had on her nature feeds. If it was Ava’s call to make, she would have put more life here to watch and observe. It was pretty, but the lack of any little creatures made it feel sterile.

Nuor spread out on a bare patch of ground like a solar cell soaking up the sun’s rays, not holding back in making herself comfortable by sprawling out.

Ava mimicked her, lying on her back with her arms behind her head like a pillow. She took her black hair out of its bun and let it trail behind her on the ground, sinking into the grass.

The light on her face felt nice and natural. She closed her eyes to make the illusion she was on an actual planet even more real. If only.

“I can’t believe it’s been over fifty cycles since we last got off this ship,” Nuor complained, voice trilling. “I asked Wert when we would be going to someplace more habitable and he told me it would still be another few cycles. These transports to the middle of nowhere have gotta stop.” She pulled out some of her feathers that she had stuffed into her jumpsuit and fanned them out beside her. They were already looking more perky than they had a minute ago in the engine room.

Ava rolled on her side to face Nuor. “Did he say where we would be going after the Tuxa shipments are done?” She propped herself up on her side, head in hand and elbow in the dirt. Her other hand aimlessly picked at the grass next to her.

“He didn’t know, but he did say even his queen was getting stir-crazy, so he didn’t think it would be too long before we go to someplace better,” Nuor said while tilting her head back, a relaxed expression on her face as she basked in the artificial sun’s rays.

“I’m surprised the queen never comes here if she’s feeling stir-crazy. All she does is stay in that room of hers,” Ava said. “Not that I’m complaining. The less I see of their queen, the better.”

“Hmm . . . last Phor ship I was in, the queen did use the solarium a lot. It was annoying. She was crazy about nothing being moved around, which is impossible in a garden. I prefer this hermit queen more. This solarium is prettier anyway, especially without her here.”

Ava grunted her agreement, even though she only knew this queen and this ship to make any comparisons with. This one is enough of a pain.

It was almost too bright here sometimes. Ava needed to squint to properly see the flower next to her. It was reflecting some of the sun’s light in its dew-dropped petals and was just too shiny.

As the light shifted on it, the reflection on the petals stung her eyes. She quickly looked away.

When she’d looked at the logs describing her home planet, it apparently was this bright half the time, with darkness the other half. But the light hurt her eyes, especially if she looked at the artificial sun accidentally. Maybe her people only went out at night. That made the most sense.

“I want to go back to Hoya,” Ava said, face brightening as she remembered their last trip there. “If I had any say, that would be where we go. Action, lights, tall buildings, and music!”

Nuor nodded, agreeing. “Oh yeah, that was nice. I prefer more nature, but I can see how that would be fun if you had never been there before. Cities get old after a while; always the same scenes and people flashing their money.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Ava said. Inwardly she disagreed. Anything was a treat after being stuck for cycles on end in the engine room. She didn’t think anything different from the ship would ever get old.

“Hoya is a big place; I’m surprised we managed to convince Ebel to let you go out.”

Ava nodded and gave a brief smile. “Ebel knows how much I want to see things. He didn’t like seeing me mope around when you went off on a retreat that one time and I had to stay on board.”

Nuor snorted. “Of course he didn’t. That’s self-preservation then for Ebel to figure out a way to keep you in a good mood. You two are tied at the hip down in that engine room. You’d be nuts by now if you never got out.”

Ava shuddered, feeling jittery at the thought. “That would be awful,” she whispered.

She would do whatever she needed to as long as she still got to explore and leave the ship. Even if it was degrading to have to be hidden and led around like a pet by Nuor with a tracking monitor on her arm.

“Are you going to renew your contract when it comes due in two spans?” The words came out in a rush as Ava pushed herself to ask despite the sudden anxiety making her stomach clench tight. Please say yes. Her life would become much duller if Nuor decided to leave. She couldn’t picture Ebel taking her off the ship like Nuor did.

Nuor leaned over on the grass and patted Ava’s knee heavily. “Don’t worry, Ava. I’m not going anywhere for a long time. The Phor were the only ones willing to hire me in the first place, and the credits are great. Did I tell you my female sibling has started her job training?”

Ava let out a breath shakily, shaking her head no, relieved to hear Nuor was planning on staying.

“Yeah, well, she is like me and does not want to be in the entertainment business, so she will need to be sent off-world for training. It was a struggle for me to learn to navigate, but I make decent money. I’m going to help her so she doesn’t have to struggle like I did to find a different way.”

“That’s great of you to do for your sister. And I’m glad you’ll be staying. I’d miss you.” Ava blinked and looked away while saying it, voice thick with emotion.

“I’m here for a bit. I wish I could take you with me when it’s time to go, but I don’t think the Phor will give you up, no matter the credit amount.”

“I think Ebel would . . . if he could. But the Phor queen would never sign off on it.”

Nuor nodded in agreement. “Yeah, he never wants to rock the boat with her.” She let go of Ava’s knee and settled back on the ground, serene expression toward the fake sky.

Ava sighed, “No, he doesn’t.”

She snuggled farther into the grass, letting out a sigh as the sun warmed her skin, trying to feel grateful for this moment. She tried not to think too deeply about the future—it never helped.

Reaching up to the sun, Ava watched how the light moved through her fingers.

Her skin color sometimes even darkened a bit after she sat in the solarium for a long time.

The first time it happened she visited the med bay, asking for a scan, but her results didn’t show anything different about her. Now she liked that it happened. She’d put how her skin changed from a pale to a darker shade in the sun on the logs the Phor kept of Humans since it wasn’t already in the records.

A tone sounded from Ava’s wrist, startling her.

She looked down to see her com watch light up. Shading it from the sun to see the screen, she saw a summons from Ebel urging her to come back to the engine room.

“I bet that’s about the transport we’re due to be getting any minute now,” Nuor said, her voice a bit muffled. She had turned on her stomach to sun her back and pulled the jumpsuit down for all her feathers to be splayed out.

Ava squinted at her com. “I think you’re right. Looks like there is a lot of chatter about this one.”

She hadn’t bothered opening the messages; seeing the notifications flash on her screen was enough to know what was happening. She would be getting a firsthand look at the transport herself soon enough.

Nuor hummed her agreement but remained sprawled out in the sun.

Ava stood up, readjusted her jumpsuit, and put her black hair back into a bun. She really should cut it to make it easier to work around the engine, but it made her happy to keep it long. Before coming to this ship, she’d never had the option of growing it out.

Bending over, Ava picked up her water bottle and said goodbye to Nuor.

Nuor raised her hand and waved her off, still face down in the grass.

Ava reluctantly walked back into the gray hallway and down the stairs to the engine hall, immediately missing the warmth and sunlight on her face.