by Ann Aguirre
Thankfully, Praxys took charge of the greetings. He stepped forward and addressed a ruddy alien with quivering eye stalks that swiveled in all directions. “Glad to see you in good health, Hertel. We won’t stay long. This is more of an emergency fuel stop.”
“As long as you can afford it,” Hertel snapped. “We don’t run on charity.”
“I’m aware. Let us in? It’s been a difficult.”
The alien’s eye stalks peered at Aevi with faint curiosity. “I probably ought to ask you about the details, but when are you not in trouble? Come along, then.”
The flickering light droid rolled over to Helix and scanned him, a shameless ray of yellow light that encompassed him head to toe, then the bot flashed a series of colors. Qalu had no idea what was being said, but Helix made an amused noise. “Yes, it is an interesting story. We’ll talk more later.”
She tried not to feel left out, but knowing that he could access an entire world without her? That knowledge left her wrestling with deep loneliness, and she turned her head to rub her face against the top of Aevi’s head. The Pherzul rumbled and scratched with her claws, offering comfort in her way.
They passed through five different tunnels, more locks and heavy doors. With so much water outside, she comprehended the caution bordering on paranoia. If she lived down here, she’d want as many walls as possible between her and the crushing weight of all that water too. As Qalu began to wonder if this procession would ever end, Hertel keyed open a final door and angled an eye stalk forward.
“Welcome to the Vault, our home on Altarion.”
Her senses immediately went haywire because it did seem to be an undersea settlement, though more of a shantytown than a grand city. Yet there was some charm in what they had built as well—in the individual stalls in the marketplace, adorned with shaped bits of broken metal and the swoop of baffles stained with seawater and swirled with mineral paints. Lights had been created from oceanic phosphorescence, a soft yellow-green glow that balanced the harsher orange of artificial illumination. From this large space, more tunnels rayed out like the arms of a starfish, probably leading to other sections of the habitat. In one direction, signs pointed to Research, Hydroponics, Mining and Refinery, while others directed passersby to Domiciles, Recreation, and Health.
In her absorption with new surroundings, she’d missed some of the conversation. Hertel was saying, “And you’ll stay in your usual quarters. I trust you can arrange matters from here, Praxys? You’re familiar with the protocols.”
“I can,” Praxys agreed. “I’ll give the newcomers a short amenities orientation and then see about getting the ship refueled.”
“Let me,” Bojak offered.
[ 14 ]
“Which one are you volunteering to handle?” Praxys asked.
Bojak showed his teeth. “The tour, of course. You’d rather look after the ship.”
“True enough. Thank you.” Praxys went toward the mining and fuel operation, flanked by Maglan and Carow.
The assembled party went their separate ways. Some followed Praxys, others went about their own business, while the little droid stayed with Helix, still chattering away via flashes of light. He responded absently, trying not to distract from the information Bojak was providing about their new environment. Talking as he moved, the human showed them around the facility and ended the tour with their accommodations. Visitors were granted a communal resting place, one that didn’t encourage them to stay, Helix imagined. Not that the environs were inviting overall. Praxys had said they couldn’t linger, but the Vault wasn’t a place that would tempt Helix to do so even if they had the leisure to tarry.
The accommodations were dark and spare, only a place to wait, really. Once the ship was fueled up, he would be glad to get away from here. Though he wouldn’t have imagined that he could suffer from irrational fears, he felt trapped. Even the air tasted heavy, walls closing in around him. Qalu regarded him with an anxious flutter of her head tendrils. Neither of them was listening to Bojak any longer, and the human seemed to notice as much.
“I’ll leave you to your own devices now. I took you past the hydroponics garden, but it’s worth a look inside. You can rest here or explore on your own.” Bojak waved a forelimb at them, then hurried off, maybe to join the rest of the crew.
“Garden!” Aevi said.
The Pherzul jumped from Qalu’s shoulder and raced back the way they had come. Helix followed because he had no desire to linger in this dingy space. How did anyone live in such a place indefinitely? Already he missed the fresh breeze on Tiralan, scented with the brightness of live greenery. Perhaps the garden could ameliorate this strange ache, the nostalgia for a home he had shared so briefly with the one he treasured.
“What’s amiss?” Qalu asked.
“I don’t like it here.” That was an understated expression of his inexplicable antipathy.
“Me either,” she said, surprising him. “I can’t swim and it’s hard to relax knowing that we’re under the ocean. So much water, all that pressure—”
“You’re not helping.” In all honesty, it did improve his mood to learn that he wasn’t wrestling irrational dread alone.
“Come on!” Aevi called.
“Don’t run off,” Qalu chided.
Obligingly, he quickened his step, following the little one through the musty corridors until they reached the hydroponics garden. Since he had virtual memories of the gardens on Barath, perhaps he ought to have tempered his expectations. This…was more of a lab, with workers moving about, coaxing life from exhausted plants, blazing artificial lights, and pale vines growing from storages units on the walls.
The Pherzul growled, her tail lashing as she prowled around. “It’s not pretty at all. Why did Bojak think we should see this?”
“Maybe it’s interesting compared to the rest of the settlement?” Qalu suggested.
That troubled him. Hiding here was the best free droids and AI could hope for? His own situation suggested that was the case. How long before Praxys and company decided he was a liability and left him somewhere like this? They might soon decide the plan to entrap the bounty hunter was too dangerous. Something like that happened before—
The child on Gravas Station.
A blurred memory trembled at the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t retrieve it. Instead, a sharp pain staggered him, like a blade cutting into the meat of his brain. Helix stumbled, reaching out for support, and he found Qalu, holding him up like a tender bastion. He breathed through the discomfort, and when he could focus again, he found her studying him with concern. Her head tendrils flexed with worried quivers.
“How long has this been happening?” she asked.
“Since we left Tiralan. It…hurts when I try to remember.”
“That could be a defense mechanism. Perhaps the truth is difficult or dangerous.” She tapped his chest, a quick and calming gesture of reassurance.
He suspected she was correct. “Still, it would help if we knew who hired Toth Krag. I need to know who my enemies are.”
“There have been many changes,” she said softly. “When you’ve adapted, when you feel safe, maybe—”
“Do you think I’ll ever feel safe? With groups devoted to hunting my kind, ensuring that we remain bound in servitude.” He tried not to let emotions get the best of him, but the words erupted regardless. “You will never understand. Because you can walk away, resume your old life on Tiralan. Biological privilege guarantees you certain rights.”
Qalu took a step back, her head tendrils stiff with shock. Her forelimb fell away, and briefly, it seemed that he’d stunned her too much to muster any verbal response.
Finally, she said, “That…is true. I can’t understand what it’s like, but I do know what it’s like to be powerless to protect someone I care about.”
She rushed away; Aevi hissed at him and followed her, leaving Helix in the hydroponics lab with the small droid, who flashed an irritating message. He glared at the little bot.
> “Yes, I’m aware that it was irrational to lash out at her when she’s not at fault.”
More lights flashed. Perhaps it’s a side effect of the biosynthetic fusion.
“Likely, you’re correct. I have all sorts of impulses now that I lacked before.”
Morosely, he wandered the Vault, keeping to himself and occasionally answering the silent commentary offered by his small companion. He had promised to explain how he ended up in this unusual state, but currently he didn’t feel motivated to do so. Boundless curiosity kept the little bot trailing after him, until Helix finally provided a succinct summary of events.
Fascinating. You blame your creator for your situation?
“I don’t blame her,” he snapped. “And she’s not my creator. I existed before.”
The bot flashed sequentially and spun in a circle. Do you consider this an upgrade?
“In some respects? I don’t know. Leave me alone, I’m in no mood for company.”
The only person he wanted to talk to, he’d wounded in a moment of pique. I should not have said that, even if it’s true. She wasn’t responsible for those hunting him and she’d abandoned everything she held dear to run away with him, including the mothers who loved her to distraction. I should apologize. I wonder if she can forgive me. Harsh words might emerge easily on a rush of emotion, but they couldn’t be called back. He wished he had learned that in abstract before hurting someone precious to him.
The bot finally whirred away, leaving Helix alone in the middle of the market. He didn’t recall coming here on purpose, but he had been roving with no attention to his course, simply pacing and brooding. Over his current predicament, over the harm he’d inflicted. He couldn’t do anything about the former, but he could resolve the latter.
Where would she go?
Qalu had just admitted being frightened of this place…and instead of comforting her, he’d snarled—in a fit of temper. How disgraceful. In his prior life, he had found such behavior both regrettable and inexplicable. And now he was a perpetrator.
He searched their accommodations first and found no sign of her. It occurred to him to test his capabilities here and with minimal difficulty, he negotiated Vault security and connected to their surveillance system. The uplink made his task much easier, as he skimmed through footage, multiple angles at once, and spotted Qalu…with Praxys.
He didn’t know how he felt about it. He’d assumed, incorrectly, that she would be disturbed by their conflict. Yet she showed no signs of distress, her posture calm and tranquil as she responded to the Barathi resistance leader. Their conversation seemed animated, too involved for someone she didn’t know well. To exacerbate matters, Aevi was nowhere to be found, and the Pherzul ought to be protecting Qalu with her usual vigor.
This surveillance unit had no audio receptors, only visual ones, so he switched feeds, linking to a maintenance droid nearby. He didn’t override, only ghosted through the bot’s senses. What are Praxys and Qalu discussing so intently? The two paused their discussion, however, settling at a food stall where Praxys ordered a few dishes.
“We should eat and talk,” the Barathi said. “Better to be efficient with our time.”
“Agreed.”
Is sharing sustenance a courtship ritual? He scanned his database, full of information on Barathi customs, and found that it could be, though he needed to confirm Praxys’s intentions through observation of his body language. If his neck ruff frilled again, then Helix would have confirmation of the Barathi’s interest.
But the maintenance droid was done in this sector and trundled off in the opposite direction, leaving him scrambling to find another observation point. By the time he managed it, Qalu and Praxys were midway through the meal, talking easily with each other. A sharp, dark feeling built inside him and he slammed fully back into his own head, ready to storm the marketplace and drag her away from Praxys.
They had no relationship to justify that impulse and even if they were confirmed as intimate companions, the Tiralan believed that love groups were healthier than partnerships. On no level did this reaction make sense, though Qalu had hinted that perhaps she felt the same. Even if the thought defied all logic, it formed despite his best efforts.
I want Qalu to be mine.
Qalu thought she’d never get rid of Praxys.
The Barathi had so many questions regarding her work, and it went against all her instincts to answer candidly. But she was no longer in line for an award from the science coalition. She would be lucky to survive, and since she was currently relying on Praxys for security, it seemed unwise not to indulge his curiosity.
At last other business called him away, freeing her to dart off and lose herself in the relative anonymity of the crowd. Even the sense of population was relative, nowhere near as large as a small city on Tiralan, but the logistics of supporting a larger settlement would be a nightmare down here. It was nothing short of a marvel that life could flourish in such a remote location.
She tried to cheer herself, but there was no brightening her mood when she was at odds with Helix. He had every right to get angry, and it was accurate that she had no idea how it felt to be hunted for the “crime” of existing as an inorganic being. Still, she wished the ache would go away, even for a little while. Despondently, Qalu followed the signage to the science section of the facility. On the way, she found an observatory, like one for researching the stars, devoted to the denizens of the sea instead.
That piqued her interest enough that she slipped in, wondering if special credentials were required. Nobody had mentioned such clearances, and she was curious. Inside, scientists worked on various project—one Barathi circled a bizarre jelly creature with floating pseudopods while a droid recorded the observations. Another droid, this one sleek and shiny, was working with some cell samples, comparing results.
“Greetings,” she said, not wanting to interrupt their work but silently staring seemed discourteous even by scientific standards.
It’s not as if I’m an invited guest.
“Are you lost?” the Barathi asked.
“No, I was just wondering about your work.”
Embarrassment washed over her, and she hoped that she didn’t annoy these lab workers as much as Praxys had with his endless inquiries. She even understood why he was so intrigued, as her field of research might provide new lives for AI. Helix could be the first of many.
“Is that so?” He sounded skeptical as he stepped away from the tank. The jelly-creature flashed red and then blue, pseudopods drifting languidly.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have interrupted.”
“No, it’s all right. Few people are interested in our thalassic studies.”
“But I thought there was no life left on Altarion apart from the microbes.”
“True enough. But…” Seeming to judge her interest genuine, the scientist brightened, elaborating on his work. “This little one is our creation, an evolutionary path if you will. We started with radiotrophic fungi—well, you probably aren’t interested in the recombinant DNA processes, though I find it fascinating. In any event, this one is ready to be set free in the ocean where it will feast on the radiation.”
Sudden realization sparked through her. “Oh! You’re terraforming on a small scale, designing prototype lifeforms that can help restore the natural balance.”
“Precisely so. Our efforts have been unsuccessful so far, but delicate as this Cril looks, it’s remarkably sturdy. It reproduces through budding, so if it survives out there, it will populate the sea in no time.”
She regarded the scientist with a fair amount of awe. “You could change the face of Altarion! You must be so proud and excited.”
The Barathi churred. “I wish everyone shared your vision. Mostly my efforts are overlooked when they could be crucial in reclaiming the planet.”
“I respect your work greatly,” the droid said, continuing with his own experiment.
“Yes, Axel, I’m aware.” Judging from their easy exchang
e, these two had been lab partners for a long while, proof that relationships between organics and artificial intelligence didn’t have to be fraught with strife and ill will. The scientist went on, “There’s such incredible potential here, but the resistance prefers to ignore the larger issues on Altarion and simply use this planet as a convenient hideaway.”
Surprise flickered through her, resulting in a twitch of her head tendrils. “They prefer the unlivable conditions and the rad storms?”
“It deters visitors and pursuit, but it’s a dismal place to live,” the Barathi replied. “But where are my manners? I should have introduced myself. I am Surzahn, and I imagine you’ve surmised that this is my colleague, Axel.”
“I am Qalu.” She started to recite her maternal declination, as was the custom on Tiralan, omitting it when she realized that Surzahn had offered no kith identifier. Probably that omission stemmed from a desire not to draw trouble down on those he’d left behind.
“How long until you release the specimen?” she asked.
“You’re in luck if you consider such things fortunate. I was preparing to rehome the Cril when you arrived. Perhaps you’d care to accompany me? Axel doesn’t enjoy taking the subaquatic pod out of the facility.”
“Indeed, I do not,” the droid said briskly. “Just imagine what the smallest leak would do to my circuits and processors.”
Surzahn churred. “It wouldn’t do me any good either, old friend. The Barathi cannot breathe underwater.”
“Nor can the Tiralan.” Such ominous topics made her nervous, but presumably, if there had been failed attempts to release prototype creations before, it signified that Surzahn had survived prior excursions with no ill effects. “But I’d be honored to witness a potentially historic moment nonetheless.”