Chapter 20

We gathered everyone to be in the plaza after breakfast hour. Work can wait for a bit.

I... There are beings everywhere, and rumblings between them when I haven't called something like this for a long time. The last time we did was back when we were still establishing ourselves, figuring out who would be in what work team, and for... announcements from the home planet when they got updates for us.

That feels like a lifetime ago...

Melzul stands by my side, we are in front of the wooden crate that doubles as the stage, which will put me merely taller than the bigger beings in the village. It's more for the symbolic meaning than anything practical. Those standing further back are still not going to see my tiny body.

If humans are bigger, maybe the size of Melzul, maybe I can be a bit more confident.

Melzul strokes my arm with the back of his hand, probably trying to be low key about it. "Here, go. It'll be fine. They are waiting."

I take a deep breath. I suppose none of us will know the result until we give it a try.

It's now or never.

I step onto the stage and tap it with my staff. It doesn't take long before everyone quiets down.

Oh fuck... I remember how much I hated it when everyone looked at me.

It's going to be fine. I need this to be fine...

"Everyone, thank you for being here. I have something to tell you."

It is so quiet that I can hear my shakiness, but I have to raise my chest and pretend to be confident.

I continue, "It has been a while since I have something to announce. Sadly, I've been trying to establish communication with our home, but I haven't been successful."

Now, it is so quiet that it feels like I'm sucked into a vacuum. Do they hear me?

Melzul is smiling. Hopefully, he is trying to comfort me and reassure me that everything's fine.

I'm the leader of the settlement, this has to be fine. I'll make it fine. This isn't the first tough situation I've run into. I can do this.

I say, "I've been retrying through different times of the day and rechecking the system. Our system is doing fine, but we aren't getting an answer or a response from them."

There are rumblings, but my heartbeat is louder than that. Are these beings mad? If I were them, I'd be upset.

I suck in a breath. I have to keep going. I clench the staff tighter in my hand, also as if it is going to save my life. "I understand that we are promised our money and resupply from home, but I'm not sure whether that's happening. I feel you, too. I want to be home, too. But... For now, I'd say we're doing fine here and I've checked our production, we can sustain ourselves if we work together."

They don't seem to be happy, which I expected, but it doesn't make looking at the sad faces any easier.

I swallow. Maybe it is better to send everyone back to work if they even want to keep working. "I'm sorry I didn't notify you the moment the error happened, or after repeated attempts through the weeks. But... I was holding onto hope that I could establish communication again. But... I'm sorry I failed you."

It is hard to stand here when everyone looks at me like a failure and probably thinks that I screwed them. I didn't want this outcome either, but...

"So, this is all I have to say about our situation. I can't promise anything for now. I'm equally clueless as all of you. There's nothing else I'm hiding from you. I... If you have questions, feel free to ask me. And... That's all from me, you can proceed to the day's work. Thank you."

The beings look at each other. Maybe they wonder whether it still matters to be working hard. Now, there's no hope left for everyone. We aren't heading back there, can't communicate with anyone, and... there's nothing worthwhile to wait to see in the future.

I hate myself. Did I miss any red flags? Maybe I could have seen that coming and warned everyone. But... Even if I saw it coming, if home wasn't planning to care about us, there wasn't anything I could do either.

Slowly, beings disperse and get to their work location. I step off the wooden crate, holding onto the staff to keep myself upright. I want to hide somewhere, then no one will be able to find me. Maybe I shouldn't have accepted this job, then it won't be my problem. I want to help my beings, but I can't...

"Hey..." Melzul squeezes my shoulder. "Everything's fine."

I suck in a breath as my stomach is still loaded and aches. "I don't know about that."

"It is fine."

I lift my head to Acea. He has a sad smile on his face. I swallow. "I'm sorry about that day. I... I've been trying to hide that, which..."

Acea says, "To be honest, most of us already expected that. When no spaceship from home ever arrives and when you didn't have updates for us, we kind of know. It's just... no one wants to push for an answer, knowing nothing's going to change even after we get a confirmation from you. Trust me, most of us are reasonable and know that it's not your fault."

I sigh and sit on the crate instead. I can't seem to gather the strength needed to keep standing. "It feels like I failed everyone."

"Home failed us. You did nothing wrong. It's out of your control."

Logically, I know he's right, but... I don't feel better because of that. "Now everyone's stranded here."

"You need to take a day off and hug a zolka or two."

Maybe I should. A furry zolka will probably calm me. Or I should pat the farm animals when I'm there too.

Acea pats my shoulder while Melzul stares daggers at him at once. Acea says, "Don't worry too much. We already know."

"So... Am I stupid for thinking I'm fooling everyone? Successful at hiding things?"

"If I were you, I'd do the same. It is a bit too scary to admit to myself that we are stranded. Though..." He looks around, so I follow his gaze. "I still like what we've built for ourselves."

I don't know about that. But...

There are houses here. We have teams of beings working on different parts of the village, joining forces together to make sure everyone's taken care of.

Maybe there is something here after all.

But... One by one, beings come by and pat my shoulder. Does that mean they understand what happened?

They give me wry smiles, but they don't seem to hate me. One by one, they come by and leave for work. My heart is still racing despite that. It feels like... Are they pitying me? Did I fail them? Are they tired of me?

I clench a fist, slowly letting it out. What do I do?

When the shoulder pats seem to stop, I look up to Melzul coming over and nudging me to leave with him. Acea is still there by my side, though. I thought he left.

Melzul says, "Look, it is time for Acea to join his team. We're going to make sure you pat the animals and feel better."

Acea rolls his eyes. "Somehow, it looks like you think Irene's yours now. Did she smack your head with the staff so hard that you get dumber? Or have you been dumb the whole time?"

Melzul sneers. "What did you just say? Don't think you can win just because you have four arms. Maybe you have arms, I have horns."

Acea shrugs. "Didn't you hear Irene? No fighting around here. Lucky for you."

Melzul is about to throw punches when I insert myself between them. What they are saying makes my cheeks burn. Is it that obvious?

Melzul has some superpower that seems to be working on me. He makes me brave enough to admit to everyone that... things may not be what we've been hoping for.

I hiss at both of them. "Stop it. Acea, I haven't told everyone, but I'm looking to go to the forest tomorrow, in the morning. We'll look for Melzul's spaceship. Even though it may just be a pile of ruins that we can't use, there's a chance the communication system is intact and we can contact someone. Anyone from our home planet, which will be better than being stranded. I don't know what happened with the company, but if we can reach out to merchants, we'll be able to live well and get supplies we can't produce here."

Acea's eyes light up. I add, before he is too excited over it, "I won't hold my breath, though."

"I understand. But a chance is a chance." He glances at Melzul, who is still fuming and ready to strike. "I'll be at work, stay well."

I nod. "Thank you for understanding."

Melzul murmurs something under his breath. I lift my brows at him to ask. He grunts and looks away from me. "Nothing."

"I thought we'd agreed to be honest with each other."

"Well, he talks a bit too much."

"And you enjoy the idea that I'm yours a bit too much."

He winks and lowers his voice even though there's no one near us. "You secretly enjoy being mine. Admit it to yourself?"

I shrug. "Who knows? All I know is that maybe it's time for you to get to work too."

"Hey, my work for the day should be taking care of you."

"I can take care of myself."

"No way, I'm going to keep an eye on you."

"Do you seriously think that I'm going to hurt myself?"

"I'm going to make sure that won't happen." There's a light frown on his handsome face. It may just be an excuse for him to tag along, but I'll let that slide.

"Except that's never going to happen. Your team will miss you, though."

"No way, they'll understand. And I've figured it out. Working teams here gather at the designated time and take off at that time, whoever joins, joins. So they aren't going to be waiting for me and I don't have to worry about that."

I lift my brows at that. It looks like he isn't that bad when it comes to looking for ways to be lazy and find gaps in the system. "I suppose I need to get them to take names and attendance now."

His eyes widen at me. "So, you really want to be alone? I mean..." He rubs his horn. "If that's what you want... I can go somewhere else."

Well... "I guess you can come with me. The animals can't talk with me."

"I thought you always prefer for me to shut up."

"Yes, I do. For example, now."

"You should just let your mate be with you."

"Just because we fucked each other last night doesn't mean you're my mate. It doesn't work like that."

He rests his hands on his waist. "What do you mean? We've enjoyed each other's presence."

"I've enjoyed a lot of being's presence without fucking them or being their mates."

He grunts. "Fine, you just want to think about that even harder."

I tap his head with the staff. "Yes, I have standards."

"Fine, fine. I have standards too, just so you know."

He is annoying in a good way, somehow pleasing.

Maybe it won't be that bad if I am with him. At least he has good arms for hugs.