9. Chapter 9

“Speak to me. Tell me who you are.”

Ava was again in front of the Vorbax’s cage who had questioned her during the last visit. The one that glowed and made her feel at peace. She was convinced it was him that was making her feel strangely calm whenever she was near him.

Standing in front of his cell, still slightly tipsy from the last drink she had with Wert in the mess hall, it took her a minute to process his words. She felt they had reached an uneasy truce after he didn’t say anything and she was able to get past the Tuxa undisturbed. But now he was at the front of his cell and spoke in a low tone to her.

Ava whipped her head around to see if the Tuxa were watching them converse.

The room was bare except the four Vorbax in the cages and her. All the Tuxa were thoroughly engaged in eating the food Ava had just brought them, leaving the prisoner area empty. There weren’t any sleeping today in the free cells.

She shook her head to try to clear it, still fuzzy from the alcohol. She didn’t think it was that strong to have lasted this long. What did he ask? Who am I?

“Speak, little bird. I am Vox. You are obviously not a Vali. I will hold your silence in front of our enemies, but I must know more about you.” His amber eyes focused on her face in an intense stare.

She needed to angle her head up to meet his gaze. Her face flushed when she realized how close they were standing, with only the bars between them.

Ava wet her lips.

He knew she was a fraud, and she came to the conclusion that she would need to talk to keep him placated. The lingering effects from drinking also made her a little impulsive.

She broke her silence in a whisper, tongue thick in her mouth. “I am Ava. I am here on the ship as a servant.”

Vox spoke in a low tone, his voice vibrating in the air. “Ava. What are you, Ava?”

The alcohol kept muddling her brain and she forgot his words for a second while staring at him. He is beautiful.

He looked at her, eyes focused. She was so calm in front of him; how could he be bad? Besides, he could have exposed her any minute, but didn’t. That earned a small sliver of trust from her. He was a prisoner without any power.

What was the question? Her brain finally cleared enough to think. What harm could it do to tell him? Moreover, she wanted to talk to him, as lonely as she was. Plus, she just felt at ease around him.

“A Human. There aren’t many of us.”

Vox didn’t respond, just continued staring until Ava cleared her throat and elaborated more. “We aren’t in any of the logs outside of the Phor’s personal collection and the standard alien creature ones in the Galactic Board’s official records. We’re in there next to the prey animals and fungi.”

Vox tilted his head, a slight grin coming over his features. Ava watched, transfixed, as the grin transformed his features into a handsome smirk. “Neither of those are sentient like you.”

Ava nodded, agreeing. She matched his smile, unseen under the hologram. Her nerves made her ramble. “I think the species that sold us did it because that way they could keep us a bit of a secret and not have to worry about the laws they would have to abide by if we were labeled as a thinking life-form.”

Vox considered her words. “That makes sense. Barbaric, but it makes sense.” He reached through the bars and gripped her hand. She was too slow to pull back before it happened.

Ava gasped at the contact. What is he doing?

Vox glowed more and chuckled at her reaction, his color briefly darkening to a deeper purple. His grip was firm and hotter than her own skin. Ava felt like her wrist was a toothpick in his hands, and the first sliver of fear went down her spine. It was immediately dampened by the alcohol and whatever he did to make her feel at ease.

“Ava . . .” Vox started, then hesitated before continuing, “by your disguise I can see you are wary of the Tuxa seeing your true form. That is wise. If a time comes though, do not hide from me.”

He moved the glove she wore with his thumb to show her pale skin underneath and stared at it for a minute, the difference between her real skin and the costume she wore starkly on display. Releasing her hand, he let it fall to her side.

Ava stood a moment and moved the glove to cover her wrist again, scraping her fingernails over her skin by accident. She felt almost branded where he touched her.

Rubbing her hand absently, with him still staring, she asked, “Why are you here?”

Vox cocked his head, eyebrows raised. “I am a prisoner,” he said simply.

Ava cleared her throat and clarified her statement. “But why? Why are you at war with them? What’s really going on between the Tuxa and Vorbax?”

He looked at her a minute before answering. Ava almost thought he was not going to when he said, “It is war. We fight because we are threatened by each other. Why are you here? It seems like both of us are trapped by forces outside our own free will . . . because of what we were born as rather than who we are and our actions.”

He let the words hang for a moment before reaching through the bars and delicately tapping her gloved hand. “I wonder where your free will would take you if you could choose.”

Losing sense of herself and where she was, her heart warmed to his simple heartfelt words, Ava answered impulsively, “I would want to be free in a place where it’s sunny all the time and I could live my own life instead of what others want me to do.”

Vox smiled back at her indulgently. “If only we were the species in charge. And not a pawn.”

Ava smiled, knowing he couldn’t see it under her hologram. “If only.”

Feeling self-conscious, staring at him when he didn’t say anything more, Ava shook the meal tray. “We guessed this is what you would be alright eating. Is there anything else I can give you?” There wasn’t much she could do, but it felt wrong to not try to do something small.

Vox blinked. “This is fine. Fruit if you have it.”

Ava nodded and slipped his tray in.

Vox took it and slid the dirty one out. She put it on the cart and murmured her goodbye, afraid to dawdle any longer.

The Vorbax in the leftmost cell still ignored her as she pushed a new tray in. She now believed he was only feigning sleep every time she looked at him. He apparently became tired of the mess the pile of old trays had been making as those were all shoved out of his cell and spilled into the narrow hallway.

Ava took a minute to pick them up and placed them in her cart until it was in danger of being unbalanced. It would probably take two trips to clear them all out. She stacked the ones she was unable to fit in a neat pile next to his cell for the next crew to handle.

Nodding to Vox, she started her way out, pushing the squeaking cart carefully with it being so overfull. She stopped when the Vorbax on the end, closest to the door, waved her over before she left.

“I’m Lirell,” he said in a whisper. “Next to me is Erox. And the one on the other side of Vox is Rhutg. I heard Vox talking with you and figured it might make it easier if you knew all our names.” Ava looked at him closer. He looked young, and his eyes were wide and earnest.

The one next to him, Erox, pounded on the wall separating his and Lirell’s cells. “Hush, child. You’re not here to make friends.”

Ava heard Vox’s grumbling voice chuckle and Lirell gave a lopsided smile to Ava. Her heart ached for him, thinking he was young and scared.

Ava quickly whispered her thanks.

She glanced at Erox on the way out, but he just looked at her passively and shook his head. His head and shoulders were broader than Vox’s. Rhutg’s cell remained silent.

It was only after she was walking toward the engine hall, replaying Vox’s words in her head, that she remembered she’d mentioned not being a pawn like that, in those exact words, to Ebel only a few cycles ago.

The engine room was lonely without Ebel there. Ava had no one to bounce ideas off of or talk to in her spare time. She invented tasks for herself to do but even that wore thin.

Her head was pounding now that the alcohol had worn off, so the thought of going up to the mess hall again didn’t appeal to her. She didn’t think she could handle the bright lights of the solarium either right now.

Ava resorted to racing the biologics back and forth across their tank. They must be sentient because after the first few passes they seemed to try to swirl in unison to match her pace. They made their own game of it, and Ava tried to switch directions fast to see if they could follow.

It was not enough. Her insides felt uneasy.

The guilt gnawed at her, thinking of Ebel having to be with his queen because of her, doing who knows what.

What if he doesn’t come back and is reassigned instead?The queen was known to shake things up like that. Ava quickly talked herself out of that thought. No one on the ship knew the engine like Ebel. Phor had come and gone but he always stayed. He would come back. He has to.

Ava bit her lip thinking about it, pacing the engine room’s long hall. The biologics still followed her, even though she wasn’t actively playing any longer.

Unable to stay there in the silent hall, Ava suited up, chiding herself for being foolish, and roamed the ship through the vents. She didn’t dare go up by the queen’s area to check on Ebel, but went back to the cargo area to grab more fruit and left some as presents for the poms. She was a ghost in the vents, in a parallel world.

Eventually she ended up where she knew she would the entire time, over the heads of the Vorbax. There she sat, settling in, and felt the first ease in over a cycle since Ebel went missing.

She watched the one named Vox breathe, matching it herself. Ava didn’t question why she felt so calm, but like any animal gravitated toward it to bask in the relief it offered.

She left when the chime of the next intercom brought her back to reality. She needed to be in the engine hall when Ebel returned. He would return. He had to. She visibly swallowed as she crawled, cutting off her thoughts before she became wound up again. She was calmer, and hopefully that would carry into her sleep.

Vox listened above his head for both physical and mental signs that the little bird had returned to the vents. She was such a nervous thing, that Ava. He felt protective of her, already unconsciously soothing her when she was nearby. Why was that?

“She is back,”Erox reported, feeling her energy above as strongly as he did.

Vox breathed deep, soothing away some of her worries. Such a scared thing. It was not right for a female of any species to always be so on edge.

He wondered what she looked like under her disguise. In her mind she never referenced any thoughts of herself physically, so he had no idea himself. Human. He had never heard that term before.

“Should we talk with her? Let her know everything will be alright?”Lirell asked. He seemed almost as intrigued as Vox was with the delicate creature up above.

“Will it though?”Erox answered. “Her discomfort is not our concern.”

Vox shook off Erox’s thoughts. Erox could be so single-minded at times. He always was, even when growing up, never taking part in the games Vox would come up with when they were children. Rhutg was as well, for that matter. He was still trying his hardest to not show any interest in the Human. In Ava. That was more understandable though, with his Violie missing. He was a different person before she was taken.

“I want it known that Ava will not be harmed once we start to engage,”Vox ground out. Lirell quickly affirmed, but the other two did not. They were not hostile, however. They did not harm the innocent and Ava was the definition of innocent in Vox’s mind. Not to mention she was a female.

Why was he so intrigued by her? He was not an untested male who had never been around a female before. Lirell’s reaction to her was more understandable from that angle.

What was different? Was it the mystery? The puzzle of who she was?

He listened to the hum of her mind, deciding it was all of that and more. The fabric of her soul called to him, simple and pure despite the life she was leading. He didn’t detect cynicism. She still somehow maintained a zest for life and . . . hope.

Her mind was so easy to navigate. Like their own females were. He felt the way she cared for that Phor, Ebel. And her friend Nuor. Her emotions were strong and pure, like their own.

Everything about her intrigued him. The way she wondered about the Vorbax and her own attraction to him. Her acute loneliness, expressed in the way she left fruits in the vents for the poms. She was playful, making up games and challenges for herself to keep boredom at bay instead of becoming hardened. And her mind as it turned engine parts in her head. Her thinking never stopped.

Through her eyes, he saw the wonder she felt when she stared outside at the stars sometimes when she couldn’t sleep.

He felt it all.

He doubted he would have held on to such a fervor for life like she did had their situations been reversed. Stuck, like she had been, in a cage for almost her entire life instead of the handful of cycles he was now enduring.

She was only now beginning to really question her role here on the ship, which she had clearly thought of as a safe haven before.

He enjoyed being a part of her thoughts and helping her to sift through her worries. She was kind. And trusting. Her mind was captivating. Her soul wasn’t designed to be up above his head, trapped out here amongst the stars, feeling so much fear.

Ava’s mind started to doze and the patterns her brain put off changed.

Fascinating. Vox wanted to know what it was like when she was fully asleep. Her mind leapt and circled so frequently it was no wonder she was so wound up inside. He touched on the edges, feeling her innocent nature and gentle spirit.

She was something he never expected to find outside of Xai.

Nothing he ever expected to find anywhere.

Was he just bored, so he was making up a connection to her? Finding something to focus on in the absence of no stimulation? Perhaps, but he didn’t think so.

He listened to her musings once she woke from her dozing. She remained there, trapped above him, eating one of the fruits she must have gotten from the cargo bay. So resourceful. The relish in her mind as she ate it, imagining she was eating it in an actual orchard, brought a soft smile to his face.

The intercom sounded, breaking the moment. He listened to how Ava shifted above in response, the slight pings that could be masked as anything, rather than a living being traveling through the vents.

He felt her leave, slowly, feeling frustrated by these barriers in between them. He wanted to see her face-to-face. He shifted on the mattress he sat upon and breathed deeply to calm himself, already awaiting the next time she would come back.

Ebel was still not present in the control room when Ava got back from her pointless journey in the vents. She deposited the fruit she gathered on his desk and stripped back down to just her jumpsuit.

His video feeds sat like a forgotten ghost, the power turned off. Ava didn’t linger in the room and instead walked to her own bed, trailing her hand across the biologics tank along the way. Maybe after I sleep he will be back.

It was a futile thought. The room was still empty when she returned after a fitful rest.

Ava stood in the doorway and breathed out in a sigh, limbs feeling heavy. It was a pointless hope as she stood there, gazing sadly at his abandoned seat. He was not back. She suited up anyway, ready to return to the prisoner area, only on foot this time instead of being hidden overhead. Her feet now traced the pathway easily in her costume, pushing her handcart.

“What is wrong, Ava?” Vox asked as she ambled up, mind still on Ebel.

Already she felt more comfortable, more at ease, here in front of his cage, with him glowing. She frowned, suspicious. “How did you know something was wrong?”

“Your mannerisms are off.” He hesitated before adding, slowly, “We can sense emotions, sometimes.”

Ava mulled over that ability. If they could sense them, then it made sense that her suspicions about why she felt calmer here were probably correct. Vox looked at her expectantly.

Ultimately she shook her head, not wanting to talk about Ebel. Vox was in prison; he didn’t need to be concerned with her affairs. “It’s fine. Here, I have your tray.”

Vox didn’t move to take it. He just watched as she removed the metal tray from the cart and slid it through the flap on the bottom. Ava bent over and slid it in farther when he didn’t immediately grab it, pushing it completely through into the cell.

She stood to look at him, finding him staring at her disguised face.

“Something is bothering you. It is not fine. Turn off the hologram,” he said simply.

Ava shook her head, glancing at the room with the Tuxa. Again, all the Tuxa were awake and in the other room. Vox and her had talked several times now. She was expecting him to ask her at some point for help escaping, which would probably end their truce, but this line of inquiry was a surprise. “Turn it off?”

Vox nodded. “The Tuxa will not intrude. Let me see your face.”

She breathed rapidly. Standing close to him like this made a tingle travel down her spine. “Please,” he added a second later, softly.

The please broke her down. No one had ever asked her that kindly before for anything. She was always just expected to obey.

Before Ava could second-guess it, she pushed the switch behind her ear, powering down the unit. Ava wanted to be seen. By someone.

Vox’s amber eyes met her brown ones, drinking in the sight. “You are beautiful, Ava,” he said, speaking in a low tone. His eyes were focused on her face.

You’re beautiful too.

Vox, still glowing, smiled softly as if he could hear her thought, impossible as that was. Ava’s body flushed at his words, that anyone would think that of her.

Her fingers were nervous and she pushed the button a second later, putting the disguise back in place.

He grabbed through the bars, reaching for her hand that was still up by her face near the hologram.

“What is causing your distress?” His voice rang with sincerity.

Ava let him hold her gloved hand before whispering, “It’s nothing. Just worried about a friend.”

She pulled her hand away and pointed to his tray. “You need to eat to keep up your strength. I’m worried about you now as well.”

Vox leaned over and grabbed the tray, lifting it in one hand to come and stand in front of her again. “Don’t be.”

He was so flippant about being trapped that it maddened her. Ava’s eyebrows furrowed under the hologram, not understanding his complete nonchalance about his situation. “How are you able to be so calm about everything?”

“The Tuxa can’t judge me. Only my conscience can,” was his reply.

Ava didn’t know what to say. So stubborn. Maybe it was better he was accepting of his fate. She huffed in frustration before she moved onto taking care of the other Vorbax. Maybe she needed to stop herself before she started caring about his fate as well.