“Ki… can you hear me?” The voice was muffled and sounded like it was coming from far away. Ki grumbled something and tried to curl back up but someone started tugging on his arm, “Come on Ki… come on…”
He flickered his ears and opened his eyes, well tried to open his eyes, it took a few attempts to blink them open and rub away the crusty gunk clinging to his eyelids. He peered blearily at the person tugging on him and staggered to his feet and groaned, “Diane?”
“Yeah it’s me… come along Ki… I have some people I want you to meet.”
He looked around curiously, frowning at the odd room he was in. It had a bench which he’d been lying on, plain walls and a door where one of the stuffy telepathic aliens who ran this place was watching them, dressed up like a security guard.
“Where are we?”
“In Warfaisser Station’s jail,” Diane said, “You… had yourself a little party and fell asleep in a fountain.”
“Oh yeah,” Ki grinned dopily, his head still felt fuzzy, “Was a gravity fountain, was comfy.”
“Yes,” Diane said, “I heard, you caused quite a stir, what happened? you have been doing really well…”
“Too many people,” Ki grumbled as he let himself be guided down a corridor, someone was following them and Ki twisted around, focussing on their four ears, “Stren?”
He turned around to stare at them, it was… no… no it wasn’t Stren, Stren was dead, he held a hand over his right eye and stared at them through his visor. It was the sort that only covered one eye but it helped adjust and balance light and colour so he could see clearer outside of dim, dark Avalon conditions. It took a moment for his visor to adjust the light levels and show him the six eared creature clearly, they wavered into focus revealing it was just the security guard. Ki sagged, he’d known it wasn’t his brother but for just a moment, upon seeing four ears he had hoped, “Not Stren,” he mumbled, “Stupid alien… stupid… stay out of my head.”
“They will stay out of your head I promise,” Diane said, “He is just here to escort us out, you caused a bit of a scene floating unconscious in a gravity fountain, it was very dangerous.”
“Was comfy,” Ki grumbled, running his bionic hand over his face, he wiggled the fingers, they were stiff and he realised it was powered down. He tried to reach around and restart it but Diane had his other hand and for a second the pair of them wound up circling each other before Ki slumped against the wall, “Dizzy…”
“Leave it off for now, come on Ki, we are going to visit some people who can help.”
Ki shoved Diane away from him, “NO ONE CAN HELP!” he shrieked. The human recoiled from him and the alien shepherding them started forward but Ki shrank back, sinking back against the wall and thumping his normal hand against the bulkhead, “Sorry… sorry… sorry….”
Diane sighed and took his hand, “It’s ok, come along, it’s not far.”
Ki let himself be pulled along, they wound up on the docking level and clambered aboard a shuttle. The black and white Avali looked around in confusion then sank into a chair and rubbed his head, it still hurt. He remembered there had been this green drink, it was really good, it made all the crowds go away for a bit.
“We will be departing soon,” the telepathic security guard said in their minds as Diane sat next to him, “Please remain seated, and you can enjoy the view from outside on the screen opposite.”
“Hate that,” Ki grumbled, “Them rummaging around inside my head, it’s wrong… they’re in my head, they’re mine, they shouldn’t, they can’t…” he hated himself for it but he started crying again, for a moment the others where all there, sitting in the empty row of chairs opposite him then they faded away and he was alone again except for the human. Diane just held his hand and let him be, they’d clearly given him something to deal with the alcohol before waking him up. His head was growing clearer, this wasn’t great though it just made the loss and fact he was alone swim back into focus.
To distract himself he restarted his bionic right arm, the white casing and orange fingers coming back to full life. The onboard computer linked to the larger computer the Avali carried on his back. It was an old style neural enhancer, about fifty or sixty years old tech wise. He could take it on and off, the three ports built into his spine however allowed it to connect directly to his nervous system. It was mostly processors and RAM designed to speed up either thinking or response time. It was a big help with complex mechanical problems too, doing the maths so Ki could do the work efficiently. It also synced with his additional modules, his visor, bionic arm and the storage container attached to his tail. Of course restarting everything took all of thirty seconds so Ki stared ahead at the screen showing the outside to try and distract him.
“Wait…” he sat forward, “I know this ship, Diane, this is an Avali ship,” his ears drooped and he turned to stare at her, “Why are we going there? I saw them arrive, so happy, laughing and talking and together… Together, all of them with each other as it's meant to be. Why are we going to an Avali ship?”
“You should have gone and said hello,” Diane said, his human friend patting his hand, “They want to meet you, I saw them a few hours ago and one of them is even a friend of mine, we worked together in the past before they got this big new ship.”
“That’s the Odyssey,” Ki said, reading the info scrolling along his visor, “We… Stren, Gee, Jorin we were following news about it on the nexus, it’s the Illuminate’s latest, biggest, fanciest ship,” he turned to Diane, “They can’t want to meet me, I am no-body, a drunk from an independent pack, they’re… that… that’s the home of the Trail pack they’re like one of the top packs in the whole Avali hierarchy.”
“Yes,” Diane said, “And they want to meet you,” she smiled encouragingly and squeezed his hand, “As soon as they heard what happened, that you were alone they asked me to come find you.”
“Ok… Ok…,” Ki sank deeper into his chair and stared at the screen. Not quite willing to believe other Avali would want to meet him, a mere nobody from an independent galaxy, let alone one of the higher packs. He might as well be meeting the Illuminate itself, the trail pack was like their direct representative. He grunted in disbelief and started trying to preen his feathers and tidy himself up a bit, his black and white body feathers were a mess but unlike other avali he didn’t have a stripe bisecting the two major colours. He had red and white banding on the tips of his ears and his wing-feathers but otherwise he was just black and white. This made it a bit easier to tidy up some, he had no banding to get in order. So Ki started to work his claws through his ruffled feathers as best he could, all the while watching the big Avali ship draw closer. It appeared to be holding station a few thousand kilometres from the station as if it was ready to depart. He’d seen it dock the other day and now he was being flown out to it.
It was a gorgeous, proper Avali ship, not at all like the piece of trash he and his pack had flown around in. Sure, it had been an Avali design but decades out of date, the Odyssey was a sleek, seamless ovoid over a kilometre long made of white ceramo-metal hull plates, industrial aerogel with bright orange Avali symbology stencilled into the hull. It proudly told the whole world that this was a ship that answered to the Avali Illuminate and was backed by the full might, power, prestige and wealth of Avalon. Ki had always been jealous of them; his pack had grown up on an independent colony, their trading ship was old and their tech wasn’t as cutting edge. Oh, it was Avali tech but it wasn’t any of the latest, newest, shiniest designs and whilst the Illuminate would welcome them home they’d have had to give up the independence they enjoyed. Of course that independence had got them all killed, the bastards who opened fire on their ship and killed everyone would never have dared to shoot at something like the Odyssey, the Illuminate fleet wouldn’t have stood for it.
Shaking his head to try and avoid thinking along those lines Ki started to bring up more information about the ship as he admired it on the screen. The public info on the Nexus was mostly PR spin about “The Peace Bringer” and his pack setting off on their new mission but there were sub forums, discussion groups and unofficial news sites full of rumour and interesting ideas about just what the big ship was capable of. Ki started to read through some of them as he watched them get closer.
Other than the main engines radiating a soft cerulean glow as they idled there was no visible sign of machinery, windows or devices. No blocky machinery clinging to the hull, no obvious solar arrays or weapon systems. Everything was seamlessly hidden and tucked away inside or woven into the fabric of the hull; he was quite sure the strips of dark orange aerogel along the top and sides of the ship probably doubled up as solar arrays. Soon enough though the shuttle dropped down below the ship and approached a wall of aerogel that folded sideways allowing the shuttle to fly into the waiting docking bay and settle onto a docking cradle.
“Okay… okay I can do this,” Ki stood up and glanced back at the security guard then hurried out of the ship, he really didn’t like how their ears were the same colour as his brothers. Diane followed him but he hesitated at the end of the passage leading into the embarkation lounge.
“It’s ok,” Diane promised, “I am right here and they are other Avali, that’s good yes?”
“Maybe,” Ki cautiously opened the door and poked his head out and stared hard at the Avali waiting for him. He had silver and charcoal feathers, and a rich stripe of purple banding separating the two colours. He was impressive and not a scruffy mess, he was also wearing an SK-I3312 visor, two adjustable clips holding the blue crystal screen to his temples. Ki had seen one once, stared at the price and walked away in despair, his pack had been so poor they'd even resorted to less than legitimate contracts on occasion to make ends meet. Not often, or really bad things but a few quiet, under the table deals that paid better then legit work. Now here he was onboard the fanciest ship Avalon owned being greeted by a high ranked swanker who looked like he'd never suffered or starved or gone wanting in his life. Ki almost walked away but Diane nudged him forward so he shuffled into the room and sullenly asked, “You are one of the trail pack?”
“Hi there,” the silver Avali said with a smile, holding out one hand, he was dressed in an orange kilt and mantle with a purple, silver and black necklace and matching wristbands, “And you must be Ki, Diane told us what happened so I wanted to be the one to meet you.”
“I… yes… I…” Ki wasn’t sure what to do next, part of him wanted to just throw himself into their arms and hug them, another Avali, another part of him wanted to snap and scream at them they were not the right Avali. Diane gave him another little nudge and slowly, cautiously he shuffled closer and took their hand in his, “Hello.”
“Welcome aboard,” the avali smiled, “My name is Seinu, we thought to start with we wouldn’t overwhelm you with lots of us chirping at you at once so I’d say hello.”
“Thanks,” Ki stared at the floor, “I am not doing well with crowds right now, I am a bit of a mess… er… aren’t you like a super fancy Illuminate pack? why are you bothering with the likes of me?”
“You’re an Avali and in need,” Seinu said softly, “We were not about to leave you alone to suffer, Independent or Illuminate it doesn’t matter to us, we are here to help, would you be ok to come with me to talk to some other Avali? They’d like to meet you too.”
“Who?” Ki asked suddenly, he pulled his hand back and took a half step back, “Why do they want to meet me?”
“They are doctors,” Seinu said, “Their pack was here on Warfaisser vacationing like us, we’ve called in a whole bunch of Avali to help, if you’ll accept it.”
“Can Diane come too?” Ki asked, aware his mood was swinging wildly again.
“Of course,” Seinu said, “I’ll make sure the temperature is raised to something more comfortable for your human friend.”
“Ok, I will… I will… I…” Ki looked back and forth between Diane and Seinu. His human friend nodded and smiled at him and Ki’s composure broke and he threw himself against Seinu, thumping against their chest and wrapping his arms about him and just holding on tight. He buried his head in their feathers and broke, legs sagging as he collapsed to the floor and started sobbing. It wasn’t one of the right Avali, it could never be one of them again but it was “an” Avali and one, who despite being some Illuminate big wig genuinely seemed to care, for now that was enough.
The Odyssey was an Avali ship, so the common areas of the ship were set to -25°C as standard. It was a cosy, comfortable, bitingly delightful Avalon standard if you were an Avali and death for most alien species. Being a ship that would sometimes have to act as an embassy or host fancy diplomatic events or even just be a neutral point where different species could gather, the Odyssey had been designed with variable temperature and atmospheric controls. The meeting room they were gathering in was a balmy, scorchingly hot 15°C to accommodate Ki’s human friend Diane.
She looked tired, worried and frazzled, she’d slumped in a chair and was sipping a hot drink as Chantelle chatted quietly to her, trying to rally her friends spirits. Seinu was standing by the window staring out at Warfaisser station whilst Doctor Galan was perched on a beanbag typing something up into an Avali holo-computer. Selenu stepped out and made her way down the corridor to meet Sawi as the elevator pinged open and the black and white Avali with cybernetic eyes stepped out.
“Welcome back aboard Sawi,” Selenu smiled, “Thanks for coming over for this, how was dinner yesterday?”
“It was nice,” she said as she nuzzled Selenu’s cheek, “Cherry, that is, Sher woke up in time to join us and the human food was interesting. We also learnt that D’s father is on the station and has been harassing him.”
“I take it they don’t get along?” Selenu asked curiously, “He’s the deer right? I thought Earth only had one sapient species, Humans.”
“Yes, Earth’s dominant species is the Human,” Sawi replied, “Daniel is technically a human, as are his father and mother, apparently there is a fashion amongst humans of being genetically altered to take on the characteristics of some of their local animals,” she shook her head in clear amusement, “It’s a fad that started after contact with Alien species became public and they got access to advanced genetic technology, they are essentially still humans just with genetic traits giving them the appearance of the animal they picked,” she shook her head, “It’s a fascinating thing to do, so alien as well… I can’t imagine an Avali doing this, but there are loads of them across Earth, technically humans but looking like animals. Also these genetic traits are passed onto their children, so Daniel inherited the genetic markers from both his parents, which came originally from the Earth animal called a deer. So, while his species is listed as deer, in reality he’s just a human with genetic appearance alterations.”
“You’re right, usually I’d say I can’t imagine an Avali doing that,” she chuckled, “But let me tell you, Seinu would be all up for that, you know about his little special ability no?”
“Of course I do,” the black and white Avali swept her fringe out of her eyes, “I know we don’t talk about it with outsiders, but it’s quite a fascinating story on the Nexus back home. Anyways, Dinner was lovely, thank you. How have things been here?”
“Tense, weird, hectic, but the Doctor is ready to make a recommendation but I wanted to chat to you first before we go in.”
“Oh?” Sawi asked curiously, “”I am guessing not about D’s species?” she teased with a smile, laying a hand on her fellow pack-leader’s arm.
“I wanted to ask you about adding new members to your pack,” Selenu said leaning against her friend, accepting the very welcome presence of another Avali, “I don’t know what the Doctor will suggest but I have been getting hints he is going to suggest Ki come with us, we’ve never added anyone to our pack before yet you…” She leant back and looked at Sawi, “You lost a pack-member, picked yourselves up and adopted two more; and they are aliens… I want your advice on how to handle this.”
“Losing Kirui was the worst… it was, so, so bad…,” Sawi whispered somberly. She stopped and stared at the infinite for a moment, remembering her lost brother, with some gruesome images coming back to her mind. She shut her eyes for a moment, shook her head, opened her eyes and continued talking. “Adopting Sher and Daniel has been wonderful. The best advice I can give is don’t treat them differently, just open your wings and accept them as family, treat them like they belong from the start and they will,” she squeezed Selenu’s arm, “I’ll share everything, but I’d say let’s go find out what the doctor recommends first, then we can talk more.”
Selenu nodded and led the way back down the hall, “Oh I should warn you, it’s stupidly hot in here right now,” she laid a hand on the door controls, “The human Diane, I don’t think she’s slept much recently so we’ve been trying to make it easier on her.”
“Don’t worry,” Sawi smiled, “I can deal with the heat, I got the augment that replaces our blood to make it easier to adapt to temperatures, but thanks for your concern.”
“Oooof,” Selenu winched, “I hear that one is quite the ordeal, I’ve been thinking about it myself but never quite been brave enough,” she pulled herself up shaking her crest and wing feathers, putting on her pack-leader face, “Ok let’s go back in.”
The room was pretty much how they’d left it, except Galan was now talking quietly to Diane. They all looked around when Selenu and Sawi walked in, the grey and white doctor Avali nodded to them and moved to sit down.
“Hello everyone,” Sawi said, “Where is Ki?”
“I’ve sedated him for now, the rest of my pack are monitoring him in the Odyssey’s infirmary,” Doctor Galan said, “It was… it was not an easy discussion but I can say I’ve finished my assessment.”
“How is he?” Diane asked, “I mean I can tell he’s not good, I’ve been living with him for 3 months but he’s been getting worse.”
The Doctor placed a hand on her arm, “You did well to keep him this stable,” he said softly, “You did the right thing coming to us,” he glanced at the others, “His pack-loss was deteriorating to the point he was starting to hallucinate, if left unchecked he would have started to go catatonic,” he grimaced, “Once one of us enters that spiral there isn’t much anyone can do but make them comfortable and wait for the end.”
“Oh gods,” Diane went pale, a hand coming up to her mouth, “I… I had no idea.”
“It’s ok” Chantelle said hugging her friend, “You did good bringing him to us, we can help him right Doctor?”
“Yes,” Galan said, “I’ve sedated him for now and am prescribing a series of drugs, they will help stabilise him but medication can’t fix this, at best we can reduce the mood swings and take the edge off the hallucinations,” he glanced at the two pack-leaders, “I’ve consulted my pack-brothers and the Medical Directorate back home that specialises in pack-loss and we have three options here.”
“One we take him home to Avalon, we place him into a hospital and try to give him therapy to try and help, but we currently think that is the worst idea.” the doctor sighed, “If some other members of his pack were still with us that would be the best option but as he is alone he needs stable, regular Avali contact to forge new connections.”
“That’s what I figured,” Sawi said, “So what do you suggest?”
“Usually I’d say we go with plan A, Sawi your pack and mine would escort him home, between the lot of us we could keep them company for the trip,” Galan sighed, “Once home the Illuminate office of pack management would find a pack with only two or three members who can easily absorb a new member. Some pack that matches his speciality and skills so he could feel useful and needed and the healing process could start.”
“I’m sensing a but here,” Diane said, the human looking up from her drink.
“You are correct,” the doctor said, “With his pack-loss already moving into hallucinations and the sheer amount of alcohol he’s been drinking his mental state is very unstable,” he drummed his fingers on the couch, “He needs something stable and familiar, if we go dump him with a bunch of strange Avali on a planet we think he’ll get worse, he is used to living in space so our best bet is to find a pack that lives in space and is stable and going someplace safe with regular, mundane work.”
“That’d be us then,” Selenu said with a frown, “I assume taking time to find an Avali ship crew that isn’t us would take too long?”
“We think so,” the doctor sighed, “He’s very far gone and we know this is asking a lot of you,” the doctor frowned, “You also aren’t quite the sort of pack we’d pick, you are all trained to support Seinu here, fitting Ki into this structure and helping them feel useful will take some doing you hardly do mundane work your a very specialised pack trained to support an Illuminate Diplomat.”
“We can do it,” Seinu said, “We have to try and our first three missions are in the diary, we’re doing a planetary survey whilst I prepare for a diplomatic conference then we are off to do an anthropological survey. We’ll have to see how Ki is doing before I let him help with that part of our mission, but I was thinking the planetary survey is due to last at least six months. That should be stable, solid, dependable work we can ask him to help with.”
“It won’t be easy,” the doctor said, “but if you go ahead with this the Medical Directorate will give you support and we’ll put you in contact with a team of therapists, if we can get them across the line into starting to bond with other Avali we can make progress but we need to make a start now.”
Selenu looked at her brother and sister who both nodded, “We will do it,” she said, “Firi and Taran want to help if we can too.”
“Ok then,” the doctor sighed, “We’ll need to start preparing things, I know you have a schedule to keep but the first step is of course getting Ki to agree to this when he wakes up.”
“Ok then,” Sawi said, “If you need any help whilst we are still here let us know, we are here for a few more days before we take Sher’s parents home.”
“Thanks Sawi,” Selenu said, “Ok everyone, let’s go get ready. And Diane…” the human looked up and nodded.
“I will go say my goodbyes when he wakes up,” she sighed, “I am going to miss him but I honestly believe he is going to be better with all of you, we’ll stay in touch though.”
“Very well,” the doctor stood up, “Let’s get started.
Ki rested his head against the porthole and watched the shuttle leave, he blinked rapidly to clear tears from his eyes and turned to look at Seinu. The silver avali was waiting patiently, it had been hard saying goodbye to Diane and the others; the Ostrich crew had all popped over to say farewell and wish him all the best.
“This is hard,” he whispered at last, his voice barely audible and Seinu nodded and placed a hand on his arm.
“I know, but remember they are all only a message away if you need to talk to them, now would you like to see your room?”
Ki flexed the fingers of his bionic hand and stood up straight, flicking his ears forward, “Yes, that’d be nice,” he picked up his bag, he didn’t own much, it all fitted in one hold-all. Taking a shuddering breath he looked over at Seinu, he could feel a frown starting and tried to keep it off his face, “I get my own room?”
“Yes, everyone gets their own room” Seinu gesturned, “Shall we? I can show you where it is and our communal spaces too, you are welcome to join us in those too, we tend to all sleep or nap together but we won’t rush you, there is no pressure or obligation to join us.”
Ki nodded and followed along, letting Seinu guide him away from the shuttle bay and into an elevator. It was a short ride time wise but they rose to the sixth deck, over half a mile up from the shuttle bay, “I still can’t get over how big this ship is,” he mumbled, “It’s huge compared to what I am used to.”
“Me too,” Seinu said, “We only just moved in, our last ship was tiny compared to this,” he stepped out into a corridor and started along the short path beyond, “I think you’ll like the accommodation space though, it technically spans two decks.”
Ki was about to reply with something flippant but the doors ahead opened and a wave of cold air coiled out of the room beyond like soft grey fog. Ki stepped forward and let out a soft coo of delight forgetting everything else as he stared at the room beyond, “It looks like outside, on a planet,” he whispered and wandered through the door into the vast, cavernous space.
The ceiling was a stylised array of projectors showing thick heavy grey clouds with occasional breaks that allowed the odd star to sparkle down on them. The light level was comfortably low, the sort of dim, dark, eternal twilight that Avalon and the luckier Avali colony worlds boasted. Ki had spent most of his life living in space, he’d been born on an independent Avali space station, it had been all sterile walls and regulated environments with one bio-dome set aside for farming. After that his pack had a ship, an old cargo vessel and that had been home but this… something in his brain, in his body liked this! The air was cold like the rest of the ship but also somehow real, not sterile, not perfectly regulated but frigid and laden with the scent of ice and ammonia, scents that tingled pleasantly against his tongue and sent messages to his brain that flicked all the long dormant instincts indicating that he was home.
Ki’s eyes rapidly adjusted and his feet crunched on the snow as he walked forwards, he stopped to look down at it and stamped a foot, feeling the soft white powder compact under his toes, “This is real… you have… a room with real snow in it.”
Looking around in disbelief he started toward the cluster of white, orange and yellow tents that had been pitched on the far side of the massive room. There was a large elaborate tent right in the centre, and smaller ones forming a ring around that rose to bright peaks of white nano-fabric. Each tent pole had a long orange-yellow streamer hanging from it that wavered back and forth as if caught in an endless, invisible breeze.
“This is our accommodation? You’ve got literal snow and tents and….?” Ki trailed off, unsure if to be outraged at the sheer luxury of being able to dedicate this much space to what was clearly a frivolity. His pack had never had anything even remotely like this, no one in his colony got to live in the snow! But then, here he was, wiggling his toes and enjoying the feel of it between his talons. He could see trees, Avalonian flora that reached up nearly to the vaulted sky and they were not fake but actual real trees and bushes from back home.
“Yes,” Seinu said gently, “A small slice of Avalon we can take with us, a place to feel at home no matter where we are.”
Spinning around Ki bared his fangs and hissed at the Avali, “And you all roam around the galaxy like this! Whilst we… whilst we…” he realised he was being rude, the anger was bubbling away under the surface, held in check by some fancy drugs but it was still there. He took a deep breath and tried to push it down, poor Seinu was just being welcoming and he sagged in defeat, his temper was so volatile, “Sorry.”
“It is ok,” Seinu started across the snow toward the tents, “I wish every Avali starship crew could live like this, we are lucky, stupidly lucky to have the space, this is rare even for the Illuminate.”
“We really are lucky,” a new voice said as another Avali emerged from the tents, tramping through the snow toward them was an orange and teal Avali, his feathers bisected by a yellow stripe. He was wearing a pair of arm-bands, metallic material laced with blue holographic lights and scampering back and forth in the snow ahead of the Avali was a holographic jakub, their magenta feathers a bright splash against the snow. Ki watched the creature with interest, he’d only seen one once in a zoo on a colony world, they stopped in the snow and stared up at him with a curious tilt of their head.
“Hello Ki”, the orange and teal avali said in a soft voice, the Avali crunching to a stop in the snow, “I thought I’d say hello properly, I am Taran, I run the Odyssey’s computer systems and am Seinu’s technical advisor and this is our ship’s AI Ifelse.”
The jakub reached up with their paws and casually started to climb, it looked like they were grabbing branches and pulling themselves up but in reality they were just scampering up nothing at all. They stopped when they were level with Ki’s snout and waved a clawed paw at them in greeting.
“Hello! Welcome aboard” their hologram said as the dim light seemed to cause bright sparkling pixels to spill off of their body to gently fall across the snow as glowing orange symbols, “If you ever need anything just say my name and I will answer and help anyway I can.”
“Thank you,” Ki said then glanced at Taran who was now standing next to Seinu, “It’s nice to meet you Taran! Er…” he held out a hand, “So this is where we all live?”
“Yes”, Taran took Ki’s hand and held it, pulling him toward the tents gently, Ki followed, though a small part of him wanted to baulk he ignored it and let himself be drawn along, “We may be in space but having residential tents is just comfortable. I guess you aren’t used to them?”
“Not really”, Ki said as Taran led them through the outer flaps, they stopped just inside with Seinu and the orange Avali kept hold of his hand, he seemed to be holding on without thinking about it and Ki didn’t really mind that much. It reminded him of his pack, how they used to just touch and hold hands and be together which was sad, but also it was just about what he needed now.
The inside of the tent was a large circular space littered with cushions, floating chairs, tables and stuff. People’s personal items were scattered all over and there were holographic displays floating around the walls of the tent.
“This is our main lounge, then beyond this is our sleeping tent”, Seinu pointed to a double flap of orange fabric at the back, “You don’t have to join us in there, though you are welcome of course”, the silver Avali led the way around the edge of the tent and pushed aside another curtain of white fabric that led into a circular corridor of tent fabric, “This runs all the way around the two inner chambers, it leads to our private rooms.”
“Come and see,” Taran led the way into the circular corridor, still holding Ki’s hand and he let himself be drawn along, they stopped part way around the circle and Seinu pushed aside a fold of fabric in orange and gold to reveal a circular ship's hatch. It hissed open, revealing beyond a regular looking ship room.
The walls were white with stripes of aero-gel and directly opposite the door was a circular window that looked out into space. A bed had been extruded from the deck below the window and there was a desk, locker, wardrobe and a smaller doorway that led into an en-suite bathroom.
“Your personal cabin”. Taran said with a smile as he let Ki move past him into the room, “I’ve set the door to lock when you are inside so we’ll have to ring… we don’t normally bother and just wander in and out of each others rooms as we wish but Seinu says you might want some privacy whilst you get used to us all.”
“Ah thanks”, Ki smiled nervously and scratched an ear bashfully. “I’m sure once I get to know you all we can take that lock off but somewhere I can be alone is good,” he stuck his head into the bathroom then turned back to face Taran, “You all have your own rooms like this?”
“Oh yes”, Taran waved a hand along the corridor. “Everyone has their own space, most of us use them as studies or workshops instead of bedrooms, we all sleep in the main tent. Chantelle has turned hers into a VR Play-space, Seinu a place to store all his tabletop RPG books because he refuses to get them digitally,"
"Physical books are better," Seinu said with a big grin.
"So you keep saying," Taran responded then moved on, "Selenu keeps model space-ships and aircraft in hers and mine is full of half built computer stuff, we all have turned them into our own space.”
Taran stepped back out into the corridor fully, “I’ll leave you to unpack, if you need anything just ask for Ifelse. The kitchen is the door at the far end of this corridor, next to it is the main communal bathroom and beyond the kitchen you’ll find the hydroponics bay where we can grow some of our own crops and guest quarters, dining room, that sort of stuff. We are planning a welcome dinner in about two hours, hopefully you will join us?”
“I’ll think about dinner,” Ki said nervously, “It… it might be too many people but thanks for now Taran, Seinu, thank you,” on an impulse he grabbed the pair of Avali and hugged them tightly then scampered inside and closed the door before they could respond.
Alone for now he shrugged off the pack on his back that contained his personal computer. It was a big bulky thing, ancient tech by the standards of the Odyssey, it was comforting but also made him feel so out of place on this ship of slick modern tech. Ki sighed then clambered onto the bed, pressing his claws up against the huge circular window and just stared out at the stars and Warfaisser station in the distance. This had to be the most comfortable room he’d ever had on a spaceship, he should unpack but for now he was content to just sit and watch the stars for a bit. He wasn’t sure if this was going to work and he really wanted to open the bottle of expensive bourbon in his bag and just drink until he forgot. Resting his head against the glass he closed his eyes and whispered a series of names under his breath, remembering his missing pack. This Trail pack, the doctors they all meant well but they meant to replace his lost brothers and sisters with new ones, he wasn't sure he could do it. Staring at his and their reflections in the mirror he pulled the bottle out and started drinking, he knew they were not really standing behind him and only the alcohol would make the false reflections go away.
The Odyssey departed Warfaisser station and section EB-568A7 only slightly delayed after picking up their unexpected new crew member. The great exploration vessel flew out of the system at sub-light speeds then leapt into warp powering away from the galaxy Warfaisser was in back toward the Avali home galaxy. It took about a week of travel and gave Ki plenty of time to settle into his new home and to start the very long journey of trying to integrate with these new Avali.
The pack were great and tried their best to respect his wishes and make him feel welcome. He was still bouncing between locking himself in his room and drinking himself into a stupor to forget and a desperate need for contact with the others. Just having the option to see other Avali and spend time with them was helping. As the days passed he became less hesitant and reluctant when one of the Avali wandered into a room and just casually dropped their arms around him for a hug or leant against him for physical contact whilst they were discussing a job or idea they had. Ki’s instincts that for months and months had gone unused due to lack of other Avali were slowly waking up.
It could still be quite overwhelming, however, they were Avali but the wrong Avali and sometimes that jarred him. He’d be sitting or lying with one of them and get comfortable then turn to tell his brother or sister something and it wasn’t them but these other Avali. He was glad for his personal room, it was a much needed space when he had to be alone, needed to be alone or fell into the bottle. It was fascinating to watch everyone preparing the Odyssey for its first big job though, and he jumped in helping out wherever he could. In his old pack you all pitched in wherever, whenever, however it was needed, the Odyssey was slick and shiny and new and yet there were still jobs that had to be done and it helped to be a part of that.
Four days into their trip between galaxies Ki found himself down in the drone bay lying on his back under a survey drone with Chantelle and Selenu. The three of them were quite close with Ki in the middle but he didn’t mind, it was kind of reassuring, the sort of pack working he craved.
“So you see what I mean?” Ki said as he pointed up at the drone above them, the chassis was open and the complex interior was open to them all, “It’s a good design but we’re wasting a lot of space on redundant circuitry for quality control and safety protocols.”
“It’s pretty standard Avali design though”, Chantelle said, shifting her head to lay it on Ki’s shoulder so she could get a better look, “Having a backup power supply is sensible and you need safety protocols.”
“You two are used to luxury, on my old ship with… my family… we had to learn to make do with what we had,” Ki took a deep breath and forced down the bad memories, Selenu rested a hand atop his and he squeezed it, taking a deep breath, “You have three safety protocols in here, two back-up power supplies and the attendant systems to make that work, you could strip all this out.”
“I mean we could,” Chantelle frowned, “But the designers put them in here for a reason, it seems reckless.”
“I see his point though”, Selenu spoke up, “I mean these are all one shot drones, we can produce one of these in about an hour in the factory. So why make them heavier and waste crystals… if it fails we just send in a few more.”
“It would make them lighter,” Ki said, “More manoeuvrable and we’d use less of our crystal stock for single use survey drones.”
“Hmm”, Chantelle chirped and wiggled free from under the drone, “Ok, let’s try it! I’ll refine the design and get the fabricator to print a couple and we can test them inside the ship before we reach Salib-76T. Good call Ki.”
Ki sat up and smiled then let out a slight chirp as Chantelle hugged him, he froze up for a second and she went to draw back but he grabbed her gently and just pulled her back into the hug, “No, no it’s okay… it felt good to use my mechanical background for something useful.”
“It will help a lot,” Selenu said, “Cutting down on material usage means we can go for longer,” she smiled, “Now did you want to stay and help Chantelle design these new drones or join me on the bridge?”
Ki hesitated, lifting his right arm and wiggling his bionic fingers, “I will stay and help Chantelle if that’s ok.”
“Sure,” Selenu nuzzled against his cheek then hugged Chantelle, “See you both at lunch.”
Ki watched her leave and let out a deep breath, steadying himself, a part of him felt guilty for accepting their affection and yet another part was happy to be here, to have Avali depending on him. He’d try to work through these conflicting emotions later but for right now they had drones to build.