PANDORA

Chapter 9

Argh, I'm gonna be late again! Which way...damn it!

It was only my third day aboard the Carpathia and I'd already discovered-the hard, humiliating way-that I was in no shape to navigate the grav-tubes. So I went everywhere on foot and spent most of my time lost in the ship's gleaming corridors. So far I'd been late for every meeting with the Xeno-liaisons team. Sure, I could've asked Carpathia herself for directions, but I didn't want to bother her. Being a starship had to be time-consuming.

"Lost again, Ms. Corelel?"

I managed to clamp my teeth around my first impulsive response-are you stalking me or something?-and turned to face First Officer Magellan.

Like most Kowari, Magellan towered over me, standing, I figured, around two meters twenty-five, give or take just a little. Sometimes humans referred to Kowari as Viking kangaroos, and I guess I could kinda see why, though I didn't approve of the term myself. Their bodies were somewhat kangaroo-like in shape, and they were even marsupial, like the Ongkoarrat. But the fuzzy plushness of their faces reminded more of red pandas, and their long tails were often fat with stored nutrition.

Spectacle-like markings surrounded Magellan's eyes, enhancing the impression that he was looking down his nose at me. I pressed my lips together tight; as I'd learned over the years, Kowari had just as many types of smiles as humans-if not more-and at least half of them were actually threats or insults. Any of the awkward grimaces my efforts tended to produce would likely just infuriate him, and I already got the impression that Magellan disapproved of me.

"Really, Ms. Corelel, the layout is not that complex. At the very least, if you're going to keep getting lost, perhaps you should leave your room earlier."

I wasn't getting that impression from nothing.

"I...I really thought I had it this time," I mumbled, staring at my toes.

"Clearly, you were wrong."

Sweet Mother Universe, I just wanted to sink through the floor.

"Hey, Lieutenant, give the new kid a break," rumbled a familiar voice from down the hall.

I half-turned, unsure whether it would be wrong to turn away from Magellan; he was next in charge aboard the Carpathia after Captain Chui. But I didn't want to be rude to Aki, who came sauntering down the hall, her body rolling with a grace that ought to be reserved for a less bulky creature; possibly one with less legs. She paused beside me, dropping into a half-sit and looking up at Magellan without the slightest hint of remorse.

"It's only her third day," Aki went on.

"Plenty of the members of this crew-"

"Are ex-Marines and were drilled on the layout of the ship practically before they got to see their bunks," Aki cut him off. "I'll take her where she needs to go, Lieutenant. Fair?"

Magellan grumbled and turned away, his tail-half weighted with fat-swaying in annoyance. I wanted to call out to him, point out that I knew the layout of Crystalliad-class ships better than almost anyone. Unfortunately, Carpathia had been refitted to such an extent that, when I let my mind wander and just followed where I expected I ought to be able to go, I got all turned around. Somehow I doubted that would improve his opinion of me.

"Don't mind him," Aki said as she started down the hall again. "He's the first officer; being anal retentive is his job. Come along."

I followed, stammering out apologies that Aki dismissed with a snort. She led me through the ship to the area set aside for various offices. Xeno-liaisons had a meeting room, one side stuffed with personal desks, a large, single table taking up most of the rest of the space. There was no slipping in quietly when you were dealing in door hydraulics, so I braced myself for the stares and pressed my palm against the plate.

"Oh...there she is." Christa's voice, so prim and chirpy, might've been mistaken as cheerful by someone who didn't know better.

"Hey, Xandri," Marla greeted me, throwing Christa a look. "We got a little bit of new footage."

"Oh, that's...that's good," I said, trying to ignore the way Christa's stare burned against my skin. "Maybe this time it'll even be useful."

I forced a weak laugh. So far my suggestions to Diver hadn't really gotten us much. The sapients-Psittacans, as I now called them in my own thoughts-still rooted out the drones he tried to hide. We got tiny bits and pieces from the drones he used to play with the Psittacans, glimpses of their homes-most of them open to the air-and the like, but nothing that helpful. I took a seat at the far end of the table and reached for a holo-slate, ready for another round of interesting but ultimately useless footage.

"If nothing else," Kimi joked, "we're learning a lot of new profanity. They're as foul-mouthed as spacers."

"Except more creative," Kirrick said, wincing as the translator turned a long screech into a stream of anatomically impossible profanity.

I frowned, my eyes following the action on the holo-display. "I'm pretty sure they have cloaca. Should we get that bit of translation fixed?"

"I hardly think that's necessary," Christa said, voice still stiff and prim. "That's being a bit pedantic, don't y-"

"Whoa, wait!" I half sprung up from my chair and jabbed the holo-display to stop the footage. "Did any of you see that?"

Christa slapped a hand against the table top. Her annoyance buzzed near me like a bee, but I was too absorbed in what I'd seen to let it bother me. Using a fingertip, I carefully slid the footage back a short distance, found what I'd seen, and separated it from the holo-display, moving it to a small screen of its own.

"There, see?"

Christa waved a hand dismissively. "It's just a juvenile. We've seen plenty of those."

"No, wait..." Sho, who sat closest to me, scooted his chair closer. "No, you have to see this. If it's a juvenile, it..."

"It belongs to a subspecies," I said, my eyes still locked on it. "It's smaller than the adults we've been studying, yes, but...even at only around a meter, it shows signs of being fully grown. And look at this." I drew out another bit of screen, overlaying an adult Psittacan over this new find. "Look at the difference in the pelvic position. The smaller one here is less tilted forward, and it stands completely upright like a number of other bipeds. Plus there're all kinds of differences in its feathering."

"Couldn't that be explained by individual differences?" Kimi asked.

"Maybe," Christa murmured, running a finger over her lips. "But we've seen no such differences so far. And more than one sapient subspecies on a planet is not unheard of. Look at the Hands and Voices."

"What's it all mean, though?"

"Well...we should probably run a check of our footage to be absolutely certain we haven't picked up any like this before," Christa began, "but...I think it's a visitor."

"Like us," I said, trying to hide my flicker of pride. "It came from somewhere else, maybe far away, maybe not."

Marla brightened. "So if we could just find a way to get better recording, we could find out a lot about how they handle visitors."

I nodded, my eyes locked on the image. A subspecies. Questions flooded my mind. How closely related were they-as close as Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis had been? Where had this new Psittacan come from? Diver had sent out drones to other parts of the world and had found many different groups of the large variety, but none of the smaller one. Do they live farther down? Is that why? We hadn't even considered it. Now I found myself wondering just how we might get eyes down there...

**

"I can usually solve just about any problem, but this one sure is a pain in the ass."

I looked up sharply, then immediately dropped my gaze. Despite his focus on my wristlet, Diver noticed. He looked up to flash me a reassuring smile.

"Not this. The drones," he explained. "I was really hoping I'd get something more, finally."

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"For what? You made the best guesses you could based on what you know, yeah? And we did get something. But damnit, I'm good enough I oughtta be able to get more."

"If even half of what I've heard so far is true, you'll get it eventually."

Diver beamed and I flushed. What the hell are you saying, Xan? I was supposed to be trying not to let him bring my guard down. It wasn't safe for me to get close to anyone-especially not someone like Diver. Over the last couple days, while he helped me set up voice commands for my wristlet, checked on the software, and added new functions, I'd found him to be the kind of person who laughed and smiled easily, and whose body language was always relaxed and open. So easy to be around. I wanted to be around him all the time, and that wasn't good.

"Well, pleased as I am by your appreciation of my genius," he said, twirling a small omni-tool around his fingers, "I'm not sure I'm gonna get this one. I really ain't."

"A genius with humility? That's a new one," I retorted.

Oh god, oh god, I just said that out loud, oh god. But instead of being offended, Diver gave his head a toss-scattering loose fawn curls out of his eyes-and laughed. I really liked that laugh. Soft, with a velvety texture I could swear I felt along my skin, and always from somewhere deep down inside him, somewhere sincere and real.

"Had a few too many things blow up in my face. That don't put some humility in you, one day you're gonna blow up your own damn fool self." Diver shrugged. "Looks like we're done here for today. Think you should be set, at least for now. You oughtta consider that wrist implant, though."

I shivered a little at the thought. Such an implant would go inside the bone, and while I knew it was harmless, it still freaked me out a little.

I swung my feet, searching for the stepstool. Diver gave it a nudge with his toes and I felt it settle beneath the soles of my boots. He held out a hand as I slithered carefully off the table, and despite my better judgment, I took it. Diver always offered me a hand. He said nothing about it, didn't make any kind of deal of it, just did it, as if it was simply the only right thing to do. And as useful as the help was at this point, it was the sensation of warm and slightly rough skin on mine that I liked the most.

Xandri, you have to stop this. As if he'd suddenly lit on fire, I jerked my hand out of Diver's and stepped back. He raised one eyebrow slightly at this but otherwise said nothing. I wrapped an arm around myself, fiddling with the hole in the elbow of my hoodie, and stared at the floor.

"I should go. I don't want to keep you from work."

Diver chuckled. "You realize my only project right now is figuring out how to get this footage, yeah?"

"All the more reason not to distract you."

"Nonsense. Besides, I wanted to show you something."

Part of me thought I should bolt. I had to protect myself, after all. But a pang of longing jabbed through my chest, as I considered all the time I'd spent alone for nearly a decade. To have a friend... The last people you thought of as friends betrayed you. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I swatted that thought away, sweeping it aside like an errant cobweb, and lifted my head.

Diver held something small and colorful in his cupped palms. Curious, I stepped close again to study it. I gasped when I realized what it was: A tiny, perfect replica of a ruby-throated hummingbird. Only at beak, eyes, and feet could you see it was made of metal; otherwise it was painted in shimmering enamels. The sheer perfection of it-down to the detailing in its tiny, painted feathers-filled me with delight.

"It's beautiful," I breathed, reaching out a finger but not daring to touch it. "So you're an artist as well as a mechanic."

"Now, see, that's what I like about you." Diver graced me with another grin. "You didn't even ask if I made it. Lotta people assume I'm only good at stuff that goes boom."

"But that's obviously untrue." I gestured to his work station to prove my point-and winced at the mess. I'd seen glimpses of all manner of wonders in my time down here, but you couldn't see them from where I stood now.

Laughing, Diver gestured for me to back up a little. I gave the tiny bird a last look of longing, wondering what he had in store. As soon as I was a couple of meters away, Diver cocked his head just so-and the hummingbird's wings started to move in beats so rapid, they blurred.

The little automaton jumped from Diver's hands and into the air, zipping forward like a real hummingbird. I forgot myself, squealing in delight as the bird flitted past my nose and started to circle around me. I spun, trying to keep up with its darting movements. I'd seen hummingbirds once, the time I'd scraped together enough funds to visit Eidolon's aviary, and this metal marvel moved just like them.

"That's amazing!" I held out my hands, feeling a slight breeze as the hummingbird hovered above my palms. "How'd you do it?"

"Not easily, I admit. Had to start with the hardest bird I could, like a damn fool. But mainly I did it much the way the hummingbird does-that, and arcane powers."

"Clearly," I said, grinning.

The hummingbird was off again. I followed it, like a kitten after a toy, delighting in the perfection of its movements. If I hadn't known it was a machine, I would never have guessed. It could blend in perfectly in the aviary. Even the keepers probably would know until they got close to it. I gasped as that one little thought gave birth to a wild idea.

"Diver!" I rushed back towards him.

His eyes widened in alarm, and he quickly landed the hummingbird. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I mean, nothing's wrong, but I think something might be right. Here, take a look at this."

I engaged the holo-display on my wristlet and quickly flipped through my files until I found the image I was looking for. The drones may not have been successful with the local sapients, but we had tons of images of the local wildlife, including many of certain bird-like creatures. The Ornithomorphs on this planet had a tendency to look more like prehistoric birds from Ancient Earth. Some of them even had teeth. But overall, they still said 'bird' to the human mind.

"Ohhh, I get it," Diver said, before I even explained my plan. "You got footage of them moving around?"

"Plenty, and I could get more."

"Good. Couple things I'll need to ask the cap'n for permission to use, but I think she'll let me. Good thinking, Xan. Real good."

My cheeks warmed at the praise and the way he smiled at me. Don't, I told my heart as it started to beat faster. Just because he's nice doesn't mean anything. We know that already. I'd been that girl once, the girl who was so sad and lonely that she hungered for praise, any praise she could get, and put herself through horrors for it. I'd sworn that would never again be me, and it was a promise I intended to keep.

Yet I found myself smiling as I watched Diver, already leaning over his worktable, his eyes intense as he began pursuit of a new challenge.

"Better get to work if I want this done for you soonest," he explained, pausing long enough to smile at me.

"Oh...you don't have to...I mean, I'm not trying to rush you or anything like that. I'm sure this sort of thing takes time."

"Actually, I have some old bodies from larger birds I never got to finish. Might be able to use those as a base. Besides," and now he turned to look at me fully, "this is a team effort. And I've found that, despite myself, I really like being on this team."

"I think I might too," I murmured, staring at the floor.

"How 'bout finding me some more footage, yeah?" Diver gestured to a stool where I could sit. "We got some little birdies to make."

"Technically they're Ornithomorphs."

"Sounds like something that'll try to eat my face."

"I suppose that's a possibility with these ones. Some of them have teeth."

"I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear that."

I bit down on the urge to tease him more, and instead took a seat on the stool, to look through my files. Quiet fell between us, and yet I didn't mind it. I didn't mind much of anything at that moment. I settled in, enjoying the companionable silence that buzzed in my ears and only occasionally noticing the curious looks from the other workers in R&D.