Chapter Forty-Four
Two weeks, they lumbered through the stars back toward home.
Aphrodite kept watch over both Xexis and Buddy.
When she wasn’t holding onto her mate, whom she had to practically peel out of his armor like it was superglued to him, she was checking in on her data pad.
She pulled out her ancient charging ports and plugged that bad boy in to give Buddy extra juice.
After a week, the crown prince called. When Xnasis appeared on the screen, it was Aphrodite he spoke with. She sat beside his mattress; the whole room lit up as bright as she could get it. As the crown prince came over the screen, his face visibly fell. “Mphronatch?”
“He’s okay,” she blurted out. It was a weak croak, as her throat was still recovering.
“And…the hunt?” Xnasis visibly swallowed.
The video feed showed him in some sort of office.
The walls were metal and bare of any personality.
However, there was something in Vroz hung as a tapestry behind him.
Aphrodite smiled softly as she realized it was the pillars.
The same pillars Xexis wore in his crystal arm bands were written like a graffiti tag along a silk tapestry.
Aphrodite waited for the crown prince to look up from his other data pads and devices. His eyes were wide, hovering between horrified and elated at the same time. She gave him a weak smile, “It went well.”
“Well?” he gasped.
“We destroyed the nest.”
Reevar, after a full day of rest, regaled her with the hunt of the pest nest. They’d fought tooth and nail and, in the end, blasted the hollowed-out moon to bits. They’d found Xexis floating on the other side, clutching Buddy’s pieces to his chest.
“And, what of the pack?” Xnasis reigned in his face, taking a deep breath in through his soft, humming breathers.
“All alive and accounted for; we didn’t lose a single hunter.” She warmed in the chest as Xnasis’ eyes rolled back in his head and he sank back in his chair. He ran his hands over his face and let out a hearty groan.
He said something into his meaty palms that was too muddled for her to understand, but she could parse he said something along the lines of ‘thank the fucking stars’ in a mixture of English and Vrozian. Or maybe I’m paraphrasing.
Aphrodite chuckled softly, “We’re headed home now.
Xexis’ scans show he’s healing broken bones that we can better heal at home.
Reevar’s left shoulder was knock out of its socket, Grooug has bruises like no one else, and Kiefgr has a torn muscle on his abdomen from using the cannon, but…
they’re alive, and we’re going to be home soon. ”
“How soon?” He rushed to sit up, scrambling for things on his desk.
“A week, my time,” she grimaced. Xnasis seemed to do some sort of mental math before nodding vigorously.
“Thank you, Mphronatch, I look forward to hearing my brother’s tale once he’s healed and awake. Get that ship home safely. I’ll see you all there.” Xnasis hung up and left her to sit alone in the lab once more. She sat Xexis’ data pad aside, curling up against him once more.
Aphrodite checked in on the crew once a day, making sure everyone was resting and sane. After pure agony and nearly not making it…they finally made it home.
“I need a technician on every member of the pack, I need a scan over the Mphronatch, and I need this ship inspected and surveyed for damages. I want no plate un-turned, I want no inch unscrubbed, this ship needs to be sanitized and recorded.”
Rexna translated for Aphrodite as they were picked off the ship one by one. She followed along with Xexis to the healing bay while Reevar, Grooug, and Kiefgr limped with the assistance of a technician by their sides. Xnasis met them at the loading bay and had a sea of people at his disposal.
Everyone moved like buzzing bees. Rexna broke away from those headed to the healers, “I’ll get the specimen to the researchers; we need more time to study it!”
Aphrodite waved them off. “I’ll come see you as soon as I can.”
Rexna waved vigorously before scampering off into the station’s belly.
The pack was led up, away from the main levels Aphrodite was used to.
At the very top and very bottom of the station were healing bays.
The top section was sectioned off for hunters and their emergency wounds.
The technician walking with Aphrodite explained the bottom section was for regular injuries, inquiries, and everyday maintenance.
She wasn’t sure what they considered maintenance, but she chuckled at the idea of asking Xexis.
Apparently, it didn’t matter what rank or file a person was, if they had an emergency?
Top healing bay. If they were there for a paper cut or bad stomachache?
Bottom healing bay. The technician was giggling, pincers writhing behind their glass face mask while explaining the Korzavic once had to wait in line at the bottom bay once for an hour to address a large pimple on his backside that was causing him pain to sit at his desk.
The top floor was entirely composed of the healing bay.
Floor to vaulted ceiling crystal panes, hologram assistants, fluttering white curtains, fresh air pumped through vents constantly, cool, and only a slight hint of sterilizer.
The floors lit up with sensors, exploding colors like a firework display.
Stretchers floated from section to section with people in varying degrees of disarray.
There wasn’t a drop of blood that wasn’t immediately cleaned up by little round disk drones.
Technicians rushed back and forth, scans and grids of light flashing every which way. In its chaos it was calming.
The technician leading the pack made room off to the right side and parked all the stretchers. Reevar, Grooug, and Kiefgr were forced onto their own stretchers begrudgingly.
Aphrodite sighed with relief when a technician walked her off to the side for a shower and scan of her body.
They gave her one of the blue cough drop pods for her throat and whisked her into a circular shower sectioned off by a singular white curtain.
The technician helped her peel off her dirty flight suit and tossed it into the cleaning tank with the rest of the salvageable clothing.
“Mphronatch, I do apologize, my scans will not be very accurate, as your human anatomy has been a highly kept secret from the Council. They mostly refuse to let anyone but human healers address human wounds, so…” The small, blue lizard woman in the signature white, technician trousers and wrap top gave her a toothy grimace.
“I get it, that’s okay. Once my drone is fully functional again, I’ll have him get me a full head to toe scan.” She stepped under the water and groaned happily.
“Feels good?” the technician giggled.
“Very!” she moaned. The “shower” unit on the hunt ship was a five-by-five space with a hole in the floor and a tiny shower head with a singular water pressure, weak.
The technician left her to scrub every nook and cranny as they scanned her over with a singular bar.
They stopped around her torso and squinted.
Aphrodite squinted back. They scanned it a second time and shook their head.
“False alarm, I think, your intestines are so close together and your bones are packed calcium, I think it’s making the scans peculiar.
I’ll request a human healer to be brought to the station at once.
I don’t want your healthcare to suffer because we don’t have access to your species information. ”
Aphrodite stopped, heart thundering. Idea? Oh yeah, idea!
She squeaked, “May I make a request?”
“Of course!” They laughed, “You are Mphronatch!”
“May you put in a request for Vivian Darkwater? She’s a healer at the Council of Beings currently, and a trusted friend, she already knows my medical history.
” Seeing as in training she contributed to the questionable medical history for a few years!
Aphrodite smiled as the technician stuck out her long, flickering green tongue in concentration as they typed away something onto their data pad.
“Absolutely, that’ll make this easier. I’ve put in a request, I’ll have Xnasis approve it and have the transfer put in. Anyone else? As you’re now Mphronatch, I guarantee some human specific posts will open up.”
She furrowed her brows, suds all over her hands and hair crackling in her ears. Aphrodite let her hands fall to her sides. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the Vroz work to keep records. Since we do hunts for all species in the Council of Beings, with you being the Mphronatch, we’ll probably start taking hunts for humans.
Need to know how to patch them up in the field if we’re going to hunt the ones in need.
And, not to mention knowing what’s a dire injury, how to communicate properly, the list goes on. ”
Oh. Oh! She hadn’t even thought of it like that. Was she the branch? The olive branch offered to the humans to patch up their shaky relationship with the rest of space?
“I…” she trailed off breathlessly. The water rinsed her hair clear and left her standing, baffled.
“I didn’t think of it like that. I’ll refer to anyone Vivian suggests, and Xnasis for decisions.
I…I would…do you think we could have, maybe my parents and brothers transferred here?
They’re engineers and computer scientists like me, they’d be wonderful additions to the researchers and technicians. ”
The technician beamed, nodding vigorously.
Aphrodite listed off their names plus anyone she could remember from training.
Left to her own devices, she scrubbed off the last remnants of soap and scrubbed her legs and toes a second time for good measure.
It wasn’t till she was dried off and standing in the shower she looked down at her stomach.
No…I’d…no…I’d know, right?