Aboard the traveler, Nyslara advanced to the front of the main cabin. To her, it was the rightful place for a queen to ride. Unfortunately, she was forced to stand in the aisle for the flight. Female Dischnya kept their long, scaled tails throughout their lives as opposed to males whose tails were truncated when they were young. The appendages didn’t serve any useful purpose for the nest’s hunters and warriors.
Unable to sit, while the queen stood, Pussiro took a position beside her, and the Harakens, not wanting to be rude, declined to sit too.
When the traveler landed aboard the Sojourn, Nyslara took a small measure of pleasure at Pussiro’s discomfort. He had yet to experience much of the Harakens’ technology. When the traveler’s lights brightened, Nyslara knew it was time to disembark and she had to shoo Pussiro down the aisle with a wave of her fingers.
Having felt no motion aboard the shuttle, Pussiro assumed there was a failure of some sort, but as he exited the shuttle, he stepped on to the hard metal deck of the Sojourn’s bay, and his legs momentarily faltered.
“This is my indomitable warrior commander?” Nyslara teased, but she felt sympathy for Pussiro. It occurred to her that before the aliens arrived, she probably wouldn’t have extended the courtesy to her wasat. “Much of what we see will be strange, Pussiro. Don’t try to comprehend. Simply observe. The Harakens are willing to educate us, and we’ll avail ourselves of their knowledge.”
Their movements through the survey ship became educations for Pussiro and the crew, most of whom hadn’t been planetside. Pussiro was fascinated by the ship, and the humans were entranced by him, especially the heavy scars on his muzzle and areas of exposed torso. The claw rakes on Pussiro’s body were testimony to the brutality of the nests’ combats against one another, and the click-clacks of the Dischnya’s great claws on the metal deck were a reminder of the killing capabilities of those feet.
In a cabin set aside for Willem’s demonstration, Ginny ran water in the sink, washed her hands, and took a sip from a cupped hand. Nyslara indicated her wasat should imitate Ginny. Pussiro found the hand washing easy enough, but had difficulty using his long slender tongue to drink from a cupped hand. His poor attempt at lapping up the water sent most of it splashing back into the sink.
Keira held up a portable holo-vid and activated it, which brought a chuff of pleasure from Nyslara. She’d been instrumental in laying out the nest locations for Dassata, as she understood them, using the bridge holo-vid. Keira displayed a Haraken sink, and Nyslara reached a hard-nailed finger into the image and drew a horizontal circle in the air over the sink.
Willem turned the circle into a saucer-like bowl and connected it to the sink’s faucet within the holo-vid display. Ginny added a simple valve that could be used to direct the water into the sink or into the bowl, and Keira demonstrated how the bowl could be swiveled aside.
Nyslara glanced at Pussiro, and the wasat grunted his approval. The group continued to move around the washroom’s facilities. Changes were made at every point to accommodate the Dischnya physiology, especially the generous female tail.
When Ginny indicated the refresher with a wave of her hand, Nyslara hissed her displeasure, and Pussiro growled, stepping protectively in front of her.
Ginny commented privately to the Harakens.
Keira sent in reply. The corporal handed the holo-vid to Ginny, stripped out of her uniform, and stepped into the refresher. She activated the mist and proceeded to leisurely clean herself.
Pussiro stepped up to the open door of the enclosure. He sniffed the air and extended a hand into the mist. When he brought it close to his muzzle, Willem told him not to drink it. Pussiro glanced at his queen, who was studying Keira.
“We must test this,” Nyslara said to Pussiro.
“We or me, my queen?” Pussiro asked.
“Would you choose to risk your queen with alien technology, Commander?” Nyslara challenged, a bit of her former imperial temperament resurrecting.
Pussiro eyed the floor of the enclosure. He wanted to ensure that the liquid was draining away and that he was in no danger of drowning, a horrendous fate in the eyes of the Dischnya. Pussiro blew out a breath in resignation and stripped out of his commander’s bandolier and waist sheath. He hesitated at the doorway, and Keira beckoned him inside. If Hira is in no danger, I should be safe, he thought.
When the mist struck his fur, Pussiro would have jumped clear, but Keira held onto an arm. He kept his eyes closed, trying to manage the odd sensations. He felt Keira’s hands massaging his upper arm. It was a pleasant experience. Her hands moved from his arm to his shoulders. For a slender alien, her strength was surprising.
Pussiro relaxed under Keira’s machinations. When she tapped his chest, he opened his eyes. She pantomimed closing her mouth and her eyes, and then she ducked her head under the sprayer and washed her hair. Pussiro glanced at Nyslara anxiously, and the queen flicked her muzzle toward the nozzle.
Gathering his courage, Pussiro closed his eyes and held his breath, ducking his head in and out of the spray. The mist barely penetrated his thick fur, and he shook his head to clear the wetness.
Keira burst out laughing, as the spray from Pussiro’s actions slapped her in the face.
When Pussiro realized what he’d done and that he was unharmed by the mist, he barked in humor. Emboldened, he ducked his head back into the spray and shook it again, managing to make Keira squeal. Pussiro continued to play in the mist, and, at one point, stopped and eyed his queen.