Page 17 of Ava Stargazer (Planet Xai #2)

Ava went outside to sit on Vox’s doorstep and feel the winds as they rolled in during the afternoon.

These last few days she’d kept herself busy cataloging boxes and monitoring how the biologics were adapting to the new AI systems. Now she watched the land around her as she ate one of her ration bars, her hair whipping freely around her face, gathering knots. She looked up when she felt a touch on her mind and saw Miral standing there.

Miral smiled, her footsteps solid as she approached. “I wanted to check on you, and to spend time together while the winds are high.” She held up the basket she carried. “Can I come in?”

Ava jumped up, immediately feeling a bit awkward. She didn’t really understand why Vox’s mother evoked that feeling in her. Of being afraid of being found inadequate. She’s been nothing but kind to me. She forced a smile at Miral. “Of course. I was just ... sitting.”

Miral walked closer, eyeing the bar Ava ate. “I brought other food for you.”

“Oh. Thank you.” She brushed her hands off to take one of the rough hewn bags Miral carried. A bit of rain began to sprinkle as they walked inside. The rain reminded Ava too much of Vox, so she shifted her mind to ask Miral a few questions instead. “Do you always stay with the other women?”

Miral handed Ava some bread. “Not always. More now that Vox’s father has passed. It was lonely here with both of my sons gone recently. But with you and Orla settling here, and my sons back, I have been moving my things back to stay more permanently in the little house I have between them.”

“Oh.” Ava answered lamely, and soon her mind was busy trying to figure out how Miral had made all the food on the table.

Miral, noticing Ava’s interest, was happy to provide details. Ava noticed she had the same spices that Vox used, showing that he clearly did learn to cook from her, compared to some of the other flavors she had at the women’s hall. And Miral looked, equally interested, at the project Ava was working on, gears strewn on a table in the otherwise neat house. “What is this?”

Ava felt her face redden over her handmade project. “I was trying to make something for Vox. See? The gears? It feeds the birds for him at regular intervals.”

Miral just hummed and handed her more food. “He will like that. He always had a gentle heart. In fact, he was my most gentle child, before...” Her voice trailed off and she looked at Ava again, her eyes crinkling like Vox’s.

At the end of the meal, the winds were dying down and the remainders were cleaned and stored for the next day in a box that stayed cold, powered by an IO mineral attached to its side.

Miral looked at Ava. “I will stay tonight in the little house between my sons, if you want to join me. I can teach you how to make some of the food we ate today. There is an extra bed.”

Ava shuffled her feet and looked down. I still feel more comfortable on the ship without Vox here. She was about to refuse but then, looking at Miral’s hopeful expression, she had second thoughts. “Okay. But I still want to go back to the ship tonight to continue going through the boxes. It has felt good to stay busy.”

Miral waved her to walk with her. “Come, Ava. Yes.”

She followed Miral to her small house. It had a bit of dust inside, and Miral ran her finger along the windowpane after she entered, feeling it between her two long fingers. “It has been too long since I have stayed here. That will change now. Now that both of my sons are back.”

Ava, accustomed to clearing dust, found a rag without asking and began to wipe down the surfaces while Miral did so as well. She spoke as they both fell into cleaning. “Well, they’re both gone now though.”

“Yes, but with you and Orla here, they have more of a reason to stay. Vorbax men...” Miral shook her head and raised her sleeve to show Ava a long scar on her arm. “The war was hard. It left scars like this that just ... don’t heal well, even with time. It is like that for them sometimes too, I fear. Both Vox and Erox. Only you can’t see it easily on them.” She smiled, genuinely, at Ava. “That is why I am grateful to you. I thought I might lose my son to revenge. Now he will come here and live again.”

Ava continued wiping the dust, forcing a smile. Grateful to me . . . ? She cleared her throat and then said softly, “Even if I’m not really one of you?”

“You’re what we would be had we not been able to fight back. We have a joint history. It feels destined in some ways. And in your heart, you are kind. I couldn’t ask for more than that. You make my son smile and want to live.”

Miral began humming while she worked, not pushing, until Ava opened up on her own. “It’s hard when there’s so much new at once.” Ava’s eyes closed, feeling like she’d said too much.

She felt a pressure on her hand and looked down to see Miral’s blue fingers resting on hers. “Yes, Ava. It’s hard.”

Miral patted her hand in a soft way, in a way that made Ava’s eyes tear up, thinking of what her own mother might have been like in a different life. Who would Laura have been? She quickly wiped her eyes and smiled back at Miral. “Sorry, it’s just the dust ... with my eyes.”

Ava got back in the ship and immediately checked the message boards. Nuor said she would tell Ebel today to look. But her hope deflated, looking at the screen. Her hand fell down heavily on the counter.

Ebel still hadn’t responded.

The first wrinkle of unease crept in as she tried yet another place, another forum, to leave a message. No response. She also left one on the unofficial channel the contractors used that Nuor had let her know about. Doubt moved into her mind. Maybe Ebel doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. Her body sagged with the thought, her heart feeling as if it was falling in her chest.

Ebel was so smart, smarter than her. He could have figured out she was trying to contact him, or have tried to send her something himself. If he wanted to. Her hands hovered over the keyboard as she wrote the message out again, adding please to the end. She clicked on the screen, breathing heavily. I’ll keep trying. She hesitated before hitting send and then wiped her face, not even realizing she had started to cry. What is with today? I am so full of tears.

Ava didn’t end up sorting like she told Miral she would. Initially she walked aimlessly around the engine hall, but felt frustrated more than anything. Instead, her feet eventually took her to the solarium, thinking she could tend to the various plants she took care of here. Some of the poms had even made their way out of the vents, and once or twice she caught a glimpse of them when she was quiet within the room. Ava sat there for hours, pushing the dirt around and moving rocks to make a little garden bed area, sweating from her efforts. It doesn’t look the same as before, that’s for sure. It was much messier, but definitely different.

She took a break, leaning back on her arms. This doesn't feel right anymore. She felt closed in, a way she never had before in the solarium. Her eyes looked back down at the disheveled ground. Being outside, in the fresh air, really is better. Ava sat there looking at the waterfall until she looked up and saw Fijjak standing behind her, his hands placed together almost in prayer. She jolted back in alarm.

“Shh, shh, little Human. I did not mean to startle. It’s just Fijjak. I felt ... you were sad and I came to make sure you were unharmed.”

Ava stood up and quickly bowed in front of him, brushing the dirt off her knees as she did so.

His antennas lowered. They were so long they reached halfway down to the floor. “Ah. Shh. Shh. Now you are scared of me. I will leave you alone, little Human. I’m sorry. I thought I would come here a bit. I don’t want to disturb you.”

“It’s Ava, and you aren’t disturbing me. I’m not hurt, I just...”

Fijjak’s antennas flopped forward, closer to her. “Ava then. Yes. You are afraid of your own mind, I see it now.”

Ava swallowed and tightly nodded, the artificial waterfall sounding loud in the silence.

Fijjak continued gesturing with one of his many hands. “There aren’t many places to go on this ship that are for leisure. I come here during the night, when it is quiet.”

“Oh, is it night already?” Ava frowned. I must have been moving rocks longer than I thought. “And no. Celestial was never meant for any sort of ... entertaining.” Silence held for a beat before Ava asked, “Could you not sleep?”

Fijjak raised his antenna as he regarded her. “Sleep? Oh, we do not sleep at all. Not like you do.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. It looks nice though.”

Ava initially hesitated, but Fijjak just stood there with his antennas extended and his hands crossed as if in prayer. Like he wanted to connect but was unsure how. A little unsure, like me . She looked at his antennas again. Instead of walking away, Ava stepped forward, closer to him, to stand next to the bench with the waterfall close by. “I never met your species before, when I was with the Phor.”

Fijjak pressed his antennas down, a gleam flashing over his eyes. “We don’t have much to do with them. It is hard to have any alliance with a race that can be bought so easily.”

Ava winced but couldn’t argue with that assessment. “I guess that’s why you and the Vorbax get on so well.”

“Yes. It has been a mutual appreciation. You are soft as well. It is nice to get to know you. I am sorry for what has happened to your Humans.”

Ava swallowed and looked away. “So am I.” She looked at Fijjak. He reminds me so much of Ebel. “Not all the Phor are bad. I had a friend there before.” She pointed hesitantly at his head. “Your antennas remind me of him.”

Fijjak twisted his head until Ava could see her reflection in it. “Is that why you feel sad looking at me? That is good to know, that I am not the one causing your sorrow.”

A sour feeling filled her stomach. “Yeah. I’ve been trying to contact him. But I understand the Phor were bad as a whole. Vox says so too. And I can see it. But he wasn’t, and I lived with them so long. It’s hard to be objective.”

Fijjak came closer then and settled on the grass in front of Ava. His black carapace rested surprisingly gently on the ground for such a large creature, his many legs splayed to the side.

“Do you live on a planet like Xai?” Ava asked, noticing the ends of his legs clamping down on the soil. He didn’t have toes or a foot like she and Vox did. Instead, his legs just seemed to bend at the end to provide that same stability.

Fijjak looked up, the light reflecting off his eyes, the red streak on top of his carapace prominent. “No. It is too hot where we live, in caves and domes. We build and build. Inside, though, we have areas that look like this. Where we live is not our original planet. We have been part of the stars for a long time.”

Ava leaned forward, despite herself. “What happened? I think Earth was taken over and ruined, did that happen to you? Why are you not on your original home?”

He twisted his head around in a way that made Ava cringe; it looked like it might break. “No. We are an old race. We have been around a long time. Our planet just reached the end of its life cycle and we needed to move on. No war.”

“Oh.”

“It was easier for us to get established, since we were amongst the first, even though we are not the strongest or most technologically advanced. We have watched others grow from new to old and weak to strong, and we keep mostly to ourselves. The politics of the ones in charge now are different from what they were back then, back when our sector of the galaxy was still just becoming self-aware.”

Ava sat back down on the bench, facing Fijjak now instead of the waterfall as he continued to sprawl out. “So some of it was just luck? We, Humans, just evolved at the wrong time?”

Fijjak leaned his antennas closer. “I do not know, Huma ... Ava. But it doesn’t make it right. And it doesn’t mean it can’t change. The Vorbax changed their fate.”

“That’s right, they did. They have abilities more than ... us, though.”

Fijjak nodded his head in agreement. “That is true. And they have been able to adapt very fast. The changes on Xai in even just a few sun cycles has been impressive. The ability to adapt.”

She looked back down and away. Unlike Humans. We don’t have a chance to adapt anymore, not with having no home planet to grow on like Earth. “I think ... it might be a little late for Humans as a whole. I don't know what really happened to Earth, but it’s not good.”

“It’s not too late, Ava. You can still adapt. Aren’t you doing that on Xai? You are here and have a voice still. It’s only too late if there’s no one left to speak. No one left to care. The worst thing to do is be silent and let history be made by others if you still have a voice.”

Ava looked back up at him and saw his gaze on her. She saw multiples of herself, looking dejected and a bit lost, reflected back at her in his eyes. “But what can I do?”

His voice clicked fast in her translator, the words rapidly coming through to her ear. “You are investigating what is happening on Cipra, yes? You are already doing something. We’re too old a species to meddle much and make waves without cause. But injustice still hurts us just the same.”

“If you don’t want to make waves, then why are you here? Aren’t you afraid of getting caught up in this? The Vorbax are at war, why ally with them?”

“The Tuxa are not intimidating to us. Besides, we still care. Don’t mistake us for unfeeling. We lend support as we can. Our webs are ... intricate.” Fijjak’s antennas wagged as he said it. “We like to know where the strings are. And if we can pull one without upsetting the whole for the better, we will.”

Ava nodded while looking at the grass, which needed cutting. Such tasks had gone undone, since it was no longer on the Phor’s schedule of maintenance. I’ll need to figure out how to cut the grass in here at some point.

Fijjak continued talking, leaning forward to emphasize his point. Ava refocused on her reflection in his eyes. “If you zoom out enough, everything looks peaceful. It’s the closer you get that you can see the things hidden.”

Ava looked down at her hands. Hidden like me.

“Be seeing you Iryl. Lirell.” Vox pressed his forehead to them both in turn for goodbye before entering the smaller shuttle with Rhutg and Erox.

“Let Ava know I miss her.” Lirell pressed his affection back on Vox, who took it in stride, even as the fascination the younger male had toward Ava felt awkward to Vox.

He clapped him on the shoulder. “I will.”

The larger shuttle they came to the board in would stay here, along with the goods within that Iryl was already arranging buyers for.

“Yes. We will see you soon.” Iryl then added internally, “Hopefully with Joy present then. Give Ava my regards.”

The tiny shuttle closed, and with it Vox’s view of both Iryl and Lirell seeing them off as they chartered out into space. Vox hung his head, grateful. Back to Xai. He knew he was not alone in feeling the relief in that; both Erox and Rhutg were just as eager as him to leave the board.

The little shuttle was cramped with the three of them in it. There was not much space to stretch out, which would make for a long ride home trying to ignore each other’s thoughts. Vox settled in, closing his eyes in meditation.

Halfway through the journey, however, a ping lit up the control panel and the mood between the three sobered immediately.

“Incoming.”

Vox eyed his brother. “The Tuxa can still do more than try to poison drinks.”

Erox leaned forward, his blue light intense. “We sure it’s them and not whoever sent that camera?”

Vox responded, “Crude like them.”

Rhutg said calmly, “Yes, it’s the Tuxa. That’s one of their fighters on the edge of the radar. We should have expected this; no more uncloaked vessels here. Thankfully this ship was already upgraded for speed.”

Erox pounded the controls. “This is a neutral trade route!”

Vox looked out the window. “Just like the board should be neutral? They don’t care. The penalties are not enough to deter them. Going there was fine, but they obviously tracked us once we arrived to know when we would leave, then followed.”

“Still worth taunting them,” Erox grumbled.

Was it? Vox regretted his actions, his threat at leaving the peace meeting.

Rhutg spoke. “Needed to happen regardless, can't just roll over there. This shuttle should be fast enough.”

Vox tapped the screen. “Yes. We can still outrun them, and we are not defenseless. The Tuxa ship is just a small fighter, that way they can claim it was an accident.”

The silence was taut in the room, the only sound the clicks of the engine as it propelled forward. That and the alert that something was locked onto them.

Rhutg hit the control panel. “Can this transport go any quicker?”

Vox’s hearts were pounding as he thought of the biologics and if they could move even faster if they could somehow be harnessed outside Ava’s ship. A bit of time passed and the missiles gained on them, though the fighter they were shot from was long gone in the stars. Long gone, where the Tuxa's actions couldn’t be tracked by larger forces watching.

But those missiles . . .

“Are they close enough for us to counterattack?” Vox asked through gritted teeth, too on edge to use his meditative state.

In response, Erox fired their defenses. The transport’s disrupting rays beamed behind to shield their small craft.

Vox closed his eyes, looking at the inside of his lids where he pictured his Ava.

Erox spoke, hushed. “I think . . .”

And then one hit.