8. Chapter 8

Nuor and Ebel were already in the control room when Ava stumbled in, sleep still in her eyes, stifling a yawn.

Nuor did not look refreshed; in fact, she looked like she still hadn’t slept. She looked up when Ava walked in, showing her the tail feather bow that she made. Her hands looked sticky with adhesive.

“That’s beautiful, Nuor,” Ava said, and meant it. Nuor gave a tired smile and resumed gluing.

“Any word from Wert?” she asked Ebel hopefully. He was supervising Nuor while eating a protein compound. His food looked like a bunch of wiggling spaghetti. It turned Ava’s stomach.

Ebel shook his head but referenced his screen, gesturing with his fork, where Wert had sent over a document listing the food Ava needed to bring and the tasks she was to complete.

Ava stared at the screen, took stock of the notes, and got down to work, synthesizing food and stacking it on a cart that she could easily roll to the animal cell area. Halfway through, she took a break when the food processor signaled it was overheating, happy to sit down for a minute to watch Nuor continue her work.

After making and eating her own food, much improved by the current shipment resources, Ava suited up with Nuor’s help. Between the thermal suit, the plain cotton robe, and Nuor’s ceremonial robe, she felt smothered and hot. However, even she had to admit while admiring herself in the bathroom mirror that it looked convincing.

“It looks great. Thank you,” Ava said enthusiastically. It did. She truly looked like a Vali, thanks to Nuor’s hard work. The feathers were not as vibrant as they were on Nuor, but other than that she could be Nuor’s little sister. “Why didn’t we think of this before when we traveled together?”

Nuor smiled a tired smile, face pleased from her hard work. “We really should have. We’ll use it from now on. We will be able to go so many more places.” It gave them both anxiety for Ava to have to stick to only the less populated, safe areas where they were sure no one could see her or wouldn’t care if they did. With this, she could go anywhere.

The freedom Ava imagined while looking at herself in the mirror was intoxicating.

Ebel nodded, putting his dish in the sink and washing it meticulously. “Wert said that it was no good to change the queen’s mind. He didn’t want to press more, or she would probably try to send you in extra to prove a point.” He stored the dish back in its proper place, along with Ava’s, which he washed from the sink. “He was okay with our plan for you though and said he would make sure your costume got ignored. No one walks down that way anyway usually, and especially not now with the Tuxa there.”

Ava frowned but knew better than to argue. There was no point.

So she nodded instead, and set about double-checking the load on the cart before she and Nuor walked out of the engine room, a pair of twin Vali. Ebel watched on, wringing a dish cloth in his hands as they left.

Ebel was right. No one was present during the walk she and Nuor took to the prison area. Ava practiced deep breathing the entire way, trying to mimic Nuor’s casual, smooth walk.

Her footsteps hitched when they reached the right floor. Two Tuxa were sitting in an almost vegetative state outside the front of the prisoner area flanking the door, their phasers plastered to their hips.

They rose to attention upon seeing Nuor and Ava, standing to the side to let them in.

The room inside was gray and utilitarian like every other area on the ship, but also was surprisingly roomy due to the lack of furniture. It was supposed to be a supply room and office space for the person monitoring animals during the voyage, but mostly was an overflow area due to never really being used. All the miscellaneous supplies that had accumulated over the years had been shoved to one side in the main area, clearing the center of the floor.

Inside one of the two offices, a computer setup monitored the conditions of the cells. It looked disconnected now. The Phor must have hastily taken the system offline, judging by the static on three of the four main screens. The Tuxa appeared to have put their own devices right on the top of the Phor’s equipment and were playing back videos of warfare highlights from their own planet. The video was also being fed through to a projector on a wall in the main supply area.

Four of the Tuxa were in the supply room sprawled out on couches watching the video feed. They looked utterly bored. One had out a deck of cards and was shuffling it absently.

Judging by the grim looks on their faces, they were none too happy about their accommodations.

Although, Ava considered, did they ever smile? Maybe it was better to not see what made them excited enough to grin.

Smelling the air, Ava grimaced. Thankfully, there was a shower down here already set up for them. Hopefully they used it.

They walked up to the Tuxa, her and Nuor a matched pair. She drew in a deep breath. Here we go.

“Ah good day, dear Tuxa,” Nuor trilled out before any of the Tuxa could do more than take note of their appearance. “We have my sister here, Ava, who is on her first journey away from our home planet. As is custom for us, we don our robe and do not speak until we have finished our first journey to adulthood. She is here to learn how to serve other species and will be helping with whatever sustenance you or your prisoners require. Please remember the treaty between our people. She is unavailable for any other needs but should be in the future should she pass our examinations.”

The Tuxa just stared at Ava blankly, their yellow reptilian eyes blinking sideways and nostrils heaving.

Ava did a low bow and reached into the large pushcart and began handing out food trays to each of the Tuxa. With the food in front of them, they easily turned their attention to that instead of scrutinizing her.

“I will leave her to it. Just tell her whatever you need, and I will be in contact should there be any issues or disagreements.” Nuor ended her talk with her hands clasped together in front of her, feathered head bowed.

Ava moved quickly to copy her in the universal sign of deference.

The Tuxa with the purple armband was the first to break the silence. “The amount of food brought to us last cycle has been inadequate. It will need to be doubled. This Vali will need to go get more if she has brought the same amount as before.”

Ava breathed out in relief at hearing him refer to her as a Vali. It worked, it worked.

Nuor smiled and bowed. “Understood. After she has finished serving she will leave and bring back double the amount. She can type on her transmitter pad in Common should you need to communicate with her further.”

Nuor smiled reassuringly at Ava, patted her arm, and then left the room.

Ava forced herself not to watch her leave and kept busy sorting the trays on the cart. A wave of panic rose in her chest, but she quickly squashed it, forcing herself to breathe deep. She wished Nuor could stay but understood she couldn’t be away from her post any longer herself. It would look suspicious on all fronts if she lingered, observing.

The Tuxa watched her with beady eyes, tracking her every movement as they ate their food. Ava breathed rhythmically to keep her motions steady. Once she finished serving the Tuxa in the main room, she made for the door to the prisoners. With no one stopping her, she walked through, sighing when out of direct eyesight from the Tuxa. The cart squeaked in front of her as she moved it slowly along, afraid to go fast and have something fall off.

In the prisoner area, Ava walked forward carefully. As she did, a sense of calm washed over her.

There were four other Tuxa asleep in the two cells not currently in use, sprawled out on two mattresses per cell, their limbs strewn about. Trying to not awaken them, she carefully took trays from the cart and left them next to where the empty ones were piled up before taking those and storing them on her cart to remove them.

No one followed her from the other room as she moved to the Vorbax in their cells, walking slowly to keep the cart’s creaking to a minimum. The Tuxa thankfully appeared to be in a dead sleep and didn’t stir.

Ava walked until she was right in front of the first Vorbax cage, and immediately stepped back. She’d underestimated the Vorbax’s size when she viewed them from above in the vents. The first one she came to stood up and walked over to stand in front of her. He easily towered over her smaller frame. But he gave her a kind, open smile that stuttered her heart as she pushed the tray into the flap built into the cage.

Ava motioned for him to return the empty tray from earlier, gesturing to it with her hand. He pushed it back the same way she had put the full one in. She also handed him a water bag through the slot and repeated the same exchange with the empty one as well. He sat down to eat on his pallet, body moving fluidly as he did so.

Glancing at him and then the one in the next cell, she could see that the one she just gave the food to was smaller, even though he was still massive.

Ava regarded him warily through the bars while he continued to watch her silently, a soft smile on his lips. Her gut told her that he was a juvenile, but what would her gut know about the Vorbax?

“Hello,” he said softly.

Ava felt panicked at being talked with, so she shook her head no rapidly and pointed to the sleeping Tuxa.

She gave the universal sign of deference and moved on, but then slowed again when the cart started squeaking, her heart pounding. She just needed to get this job done quickly.

The one in the next cell was more intimidating. While the first one smiled, this one displayed a stone-flat affect, indifference on his face. He mechanically exchanged the trays and water without making eye contact or attempting to speak. Ava felt cowed by him and didn’t linger, gathering the empty items he pushed through and putting them on her cart. She briskly moved to the third cage, tripping over her feet in her haste to move on.

Ava looked into the third cage with more care. She remembered that this was the one she had spent the most time observing from above. Just like then, he was glowing slightly with a luminescent, pleasant blue. The same muted calm also seemed to be radiating from him.

Is he making me feel calm? She immediately disregarded the thought, eyeing him distrustfully.

He was sitting on the pallet, not by the entrance to the cage at all, his head not even turned toward her. She stood and watched him for a minute, not feeling rushed with his eyes being closed and him being turned away, before she moved to put the tray in the slot.

He still hadn’t budged when she straightened up so she bent over and grabbed the waterskin to put through as well. When she looked up, the male had moved to stand right in front of her.

She stopped herself from speaking just in time, only letting out a small gasp as she quickly inhaled. He moved so fast and was now staring at her only around six inches from her face. Ava quickly backed up to put some space between herself and the creature.

His eyes, all liquid dark with no pupils, narrowed in on her face. He was no longer glowing.

“You are not a Vali,” he said softly in perfect Common, her translator not needing to engage.

His voice rumbled so low she could almost feel it vibrate in the air. He inhaled deeply in her general direction, tilting his head toward her as he did so. His jumpsuit shifted to show that some of the raised swirls on his neck wound down to his arm under the brown material.

Ava almost responded verbally, startled as she was, but instead held her trembling hand to her chest in the universal sign of deference like she did to the other one a few minutes ago. Then she motioned to his tray that was sitting on the floor inside his cage.

Her heart was pounding from fear, and the only thought running through her mind was for him to not announce what he’d just said softly. Please don’t say anything. Please. Please. I beg you.

He ignored the tray. Ava motioned to it again and held up the dirty ones while pointing to his cell.

Not taking his eyes off her, he gathered his trays and pushed them through the flap over to her side of the bars.

Ava skittered back, dropping a tray in her haste, and put them on the cart. The sound of it hitting the ground echoed through the hall and Ava winced as she heard one of the sleeping Tuxa stir.

She didn’t make further eye contact and quickly moved on to the next cell, glancing over her shoulder as she did so.

The Vorbax stayed at the cage front, hanging on to it and watching her as she shoved the trays into the last cage. The occupant within was still asleep so she didn’t bother collecting his used things. She just wanted to get out of there. Now.

Stepping back, she reorganized her cart to fit everything and then nodded to the Vorbax who still stared at her with a curious expression on his face. He’d started to glow again as she was dealing with the trays, though he didn’t take his eyes off her.

As curious as Ava was, she was relieved he didn’t seem to want to say anything more to her. She didn’t look back, but walked briskly toward the door pushing the cart, gliding past the Tuxa that were still blissfully sleeping. Exiting quickly, she walked back into the room with the other Tuxa, then wrote on her pinpad to tell them that she would be back down with their second serving as requested.

The head Tuxa was tilted back in his chair as she left. With a lazy hand, he waved her off.

Ebel wasn’t present when she went back to the engine hall for the extra rations. Ava was grateful. She didn’t want to stop and have to explain anything. Her hands were shaky and she felt weak all over as she worked on the food processor. It seemed the odd calm she felt had disappeared the moment she left the area, leaving her with overstretched nerves and a scattered mind.

As soon as she got the cart empty and refilled, she whisked back upstairs again, almost trotting through the halls. When she returned with the second serving, the Tuxa hadn’t moved from his spot guarding the door.

Ava delivered the extra food to the Tuxa, who grunted and motioned to the trays already empty from earlier. She left the excess rations by the prisoner door area, not wanting to go inside there again for the ones still sleeping.

She collected the leftover trays and emptied the trash into the compactor. She forced herself to stay and do a sweep around the room, moving around the Tuxa like a dutiful servant would without making her desire to escape completely apparent. She wanted no complaints or extra scrutiny by not doing a thorough job.

Once done, she practically skipped down the hall after she was out of sight from the Tuxa, riding on adrenaline and wiping the sweat from her brow under the hologram projection. The relief she felt made her lightheaded.

I did it, I did it.As she went, she pulled off the gloves to write easier on the tablet and added her notes to the log the Phor were keeping regarding their rotations tending to the Tuxa. She put the thought aside that she would need to go back and just focused on the relief she felt right now.

She’d made it through without being discovered, and could only hope that the Vorbax would keep his thoughts to himself the next few times she went in.

Ava took off the feathers and stripped down her many layers before she messaged Nuor, thanking her, then put everything away in the closet next to the bathroom. Nuor didn’t ping back right away. Ava hoped she was trying to get some sleep finally. She owed the Vali. Big time. Maybe she could go back into the vents and get her a large bag of the yavi fruit to say thank you.

Ebel still wasn’t present when she got back. Now that she wasn’t rushing, curiosity over where he was kicked in. Ava checked his screens and noted that he wasn’t even surfing the sports feed right now.

Where is he? She checked the queen’s feed but it was dark in there. The queen was probably resting as well.

She didn’t want to talk about how the visit went, so it was probably best she was alone. It was by all means a success, but the fact that the Vorbax could tell she wasn’t a Vali really weighed on her mind. She bit her lip, lost in thought. The Vorbax hate the Tuxa, so . . . what could he gain by ratting me out?Nothing?

Ava shifted from side to side, anxiety gnawing at her stomach. At least it was almost a full cycle until she needed to go back again. Was it stupid that she wanted to crawl back in the vents to observe more?

Yes, probably. She talked herself out of it, then clicked on Ebel’s keyboard a few more times before deciding she needed a distraction. The books she had were not going to be enough to distract her, and the silence in the room was deafening. The engine’s whirling, which she usually found soothing, was grating.

It was better than nothing though, so she spent a large chunk of time cleaning the engine and attempting to take a cat nap. Real sleep eluded her.

The control room was still empty, even after she spent as much time as she could distracting herself.

Tapping her fingers on Ebel’s keyboard, she closed the screen and exited the control room, grabbing her sandals at her room on the way. She messaged Ebel on her com to let him know the visit went fine and she was in the mess hall.

She was going to go do the only other pastime available on a ship in the middle of nowhere with no outside communication. Ava was going to walk around and find out what everyone else knew.

It turned out that no one knew that much. All the contractors and other Phor she ran into were absolutely useless for gossip, brushing her off when she tried to make small talk.

At least the food is delicious. Ava sat nursing a fizzy drink that the food programmer up here, in the mess hall, had been loaded with. They never got fizzy drinks in the engine room. It was either water or sometimes a stale juice. She was on her second one, parched from all the running around she’d been doing lately.

One of the contractors had hooked a keg of alcohol to the processor in protest, spiking all the drinks that came out of it. Ava rarely had anything with alcohol in it before, and she enjoyed the loose-limbed feeling it gave her. With the alcohol flowing through her, she was more at ease than she had been in some time.

Ava was in one of the booths that lined the side of the mess hall. No one was paying her any mind. Sometimes she thought of herself as just a part of the sparse, gray background for how often the contractors bothered to talk to her. The Phor only hired a few species as contractors, and none had any interest in her.

The mess hall, a narrow room placed next to the navigation area, had more character than the rest of the ship. Over the years, contractors had added to the standard room to make it more enjoyable than the Phor usually decorated. They had vid feeds on the wall and a few throwing games, which currently sat abandoned and lonely. No one seemed in the mood to play anything.

From the chatter Ava had overheard so far, all the contractors were pissed that they were in this position caught between the Tuxa and the Vorbax, and had their communications cut off until the cargo was transferred.

Ava sipped her drink again and listened to one of the Phor she didn’t know very well trying to placate two Haroo. Other than Nuor, the Haroo were the only other species on board as contractors at the moment.

Ava loved watching the Haroos talk and kept her eyes on them over her drink. They were shaggy, overgrown, fuzzy brown creatures that walked on two legs. They talked, but Ava had never looked deep enough into their fur to see what their mouth or even eyes looked like. They never ran into any walls despite all the hair, so they must see adequately. Their hair jiggled when they talked, like they were laughing, even when they were being serious. One was trying to be very serious right now. In fact, it seemed pissed, which didn’t match the dancing its fur was doing while it argued.

Ava grinned, watching it jiggle, the alcohol making her find it even funnier than usual. It was cursing up a storm. Jiggle, jiggle. She stifled a laugh, forgetting about her worries for a moment.

The two Haroo were new, so Ava didn’t know them at all. It didn’t seem like she would need to get to know them, as they probably would be gone from this ship the first chance they got, based on how much they were currently complaining.

She looked down at her com on her wrist and clicked around. The message she sent to Ebel was still unread. Ava frowned. It was unlike him to be so disconnected.

Wert sat down in front of her while she was absentmindedly looking out the window and listening to the talk in the background. The ship was going through a relatively blank area of space, but the stars were particularly vibrant in this sector. Ava turned her head to him.

Wert’s antennas were flattened to his skull. “I’m sorry, Ava. The queen was not in the mood to listen to any accommodations. How was the first visit?”

Ava sipped her drink. She was enjoying the warm buzz the alcohol was giving her, soothing her insides and loosening her tongue. “It went fine, actually. Nuor came up with a solution so fast you would think she was planning for this. The Tuxa didn’t need seem to notice anything.” She thought better than to mention that the Vorbax did see through her disguise.

Changing the subject she asked, “Where’s Ebel? He wasn’t there when I got back and is not answering his coms.”

Wert’s antennas flopped on his head, “Ah, he was called to serve the queen. After all the mentions of your schedule she became a bit territorial with him and called him to serve her for the next few cycles to keep him close.”

Ava frowned, bunching her hands in her lap in dismay. “Well, shit. Is he going to be back in the engine hall soon?”

Wert nodded. “She will tire of him in a bit. He was never one of her favorites.”

Ava shifted on her seat, uncomfortable thinking of him being that close to the queen in a foul mood. Sometimes it was good to be forgotten by those in charge.

She cleared her throat. “Do you know anything more about what’s going on between the Vorbax and the Tuxa? And why are we involved?”

“I don’t know what’s between those two, but the credit amount we’re getting is enormous. They must be desperate to transfer these prisoners. With the amount they are paying, it’s no wonder the collective is taking the risk.”

“Why us though? Don’t they have their own fancy ships? They manufacture . . . everything. Even parts for us.”

Wert shook his head at her. “No, Ava, the Tuxa don’t have many ships they make themselves outside of small personal vessels. For all their talk of amazing technology, they can make the small parts but never were able to figure out how to put them all together. They really just copy our parts instead of inventing their own.”

Wert leaned forward and took a drink of something himself before continuing, “And since they only can copy, none of it would work without our biologics.”

Not all of this makes sense. “But can’t they just buy their own biologics or ships since they have the most credits?”

Wert shook his head, antennas flying. “Who is going to sell to them and be out of a job? Not the Phor. It’s too big of an advantage to start giving away. They do buy some larger ships from the species who don’t care as much. Then they hodgepodge fixes together to make them work. But they never have ships as great as ours.” Wert’s chest puffed out in pride. “That’s why no one really goes down into the engine hall to see how it all works. We don’t want anyone to steal anything.”

“Nuor comes down there though.”

Wert nodded thoughtfully. “That was Ebel’s call. Nuor has also proven herself. Besides, he’s right that the biologics won’t work if anyone tried to steal them; they’re so fickle.”

Ava smiled, remembering the times the biologics went on strike when she was younger, before she took over their feeding. Ebel would always forget their food. There were a few times Ebel had fretted they would stop entirely before they decided to start swirling again after he fed them on time for several cycles in a row. He had been petrified the queen would punish him.

Ava frowned, remembering his fear.

They sat in mutual silence, admiring the beauty of the deep space next to them, both lost in their own thoughts.

Then Ava remembered the logs from earlier, contradicting Wert’s statements. “The Vorbax and Tuxa have been at war though. They must have some ships to transport troops and actually, you know, wage a war.”

Wert shifted his yellow body to lean forward. “Like I said, the Tuxa do have some ships, though I don’t know what kind. But they’re nowhere near this quadrant. It’s really strange that the Tuxa caught the Vorbax here so far away from everything. They would have had to wait months for one of their own fleets to get there to take them away when we were already scheduled to arrive within a few days.”

Ava thought hard on it, twirling her drink around and watching the stars zoom by outside. None of this makes sense. “Yeah, pretty strange.” It was setting her gut on edge with just how strange it was.