21. Chapter 21
Mika
I peeked out of the long, oval window as a shuttle landed.
Maz was outside, waiting to greet the visitors.
We’d talked about the best way to deal with them and decided hiding Nadia in our bedroom would be best. I was going to stay on the ship and out of sight, retreating to the bedroom if the visitors insisted on seeing Maz’s lab.
We also had an emergency exit if anything went badly. After what happened on Helsin Station, Maz didn’t trust anyone.
Technically there were only two ways to get on and off the ship—the main entrance and a large hatch that could be opened in the science bay. Neither would work as an emergency exit.
After we poured over the ship’s schematics, we figured out a viable escape hatch.
First we pulled up a floor plate in the bedroom and replaced it with a covering I could easily push away.
From the crawl space under the floor, I could move into a storage space that was usually only accessible from the outside.
We’d done a trial run, and if I strapped Nadia to my chest, I could pull the cover off, drop into the crawl space, then pull the cover back over the opening.
It was tight, but I could make it through to the storage spot where I could stay hidden or escape to the outside.
He also made sure to tuck supplies for us in the storage space in case I needed to shelter in there for a while.
That last thing he did was hand me an information square linked to the ship. I could use this much like his Ident and control anything on the craft. In case “something happened to him,” I could theoretically fly the ship away.
I’d never even piloted a shuttle, let alone anything as big or complicated as this ship. I was sure I could figure it out, but it would take me some time. Maybe years.
Final conclusion: nothing better happen to Maz!
We’d also woken Nadia early and played with her a lot. Even when she got fussy, I held off feeding her until we got word that the ship was in orbit and would be sending a shuttle down soon. As I expected, she fell into an exhausted sleep right after I fed her.
I hoped she would stay asleep for this visit, although we didn’t know how long these visitors would stay.
We had limited information on the investors, only that they’d very recently joined the monetary pool for this planet. The moment the payment was accepted, they’d declared their intent to visit the planet. It was all very suspicious.
Staring out the window, all I could see was the edge of the ship. Annoyed, I pulled out my information square and searched until I found a vid capture angle that showed the hatch to the shuttle.
Maz was standing there, waiting patiently for it to open. What was taking them so long? Were they organizing their weapons and going over an attack strategy?
Finally the hatch opened, and a blue Talin emerged. He didn’t have any visible weapons and walked down the ramp with a long, easy stride. The vid capture didn’t have any sound, but I watched him and Maz talk for a little while before the blue Talin turned and spoke to someone still on the shuttle.
To my absolute shock, a human woman walked out.
She looked to be about my age and healthy. She was wearing a long, purple coat-like garment with beautiful silver embroidery around the hem and cuffs.
I hadn’t even recovered from my shock before a brown-haired human child skipped down the ramp after her! What was going on here?
Turning, I almost tripped over my own feet in my eagerness to meet this woman and her little girl. I jogged through the ship and impatiently waited for the hatch to unlock and open, another safety precaution.
By the time I could make my way down the ramp and out of the ship, they were almost to me.
The little girl ran past the woman and blue Talin with a cheerful, open expression on her face.
She looked to be about six or seven years old.
Her light brown hair was held back in a ponytail at the top of her head, and it bobbed as she moved.
There was already a little dirt on the front of her shirt, and she waved a dirty hand at me.
“Hello!” she sang. “My name is Mia. Iris told me that we’re on a tree, but I think that’s odd. She can’t be right. Is this really a tree or is Iris wrong?”
I crouched down to put myself at her level, absolutely charmed. “Hello, Mia. My name is Mika. I’d never seen a tree in person before I got here, but Maz says it’s a tree, and he knows a lot.”
Mia’s bright brown eyes went wide. “You never saw a tree before? That’s odd!”
“Please don’t be offended,” the woman said with a chuckle. “Odd is her new favorite word. I’m Iris, Mia’s sorta sister.” She pointed to the blue Talin with her. “And this is Damascus.”
I could understand the “sorta” part. It was common for people to adopt each other’s kids if something happened to the parents. Humans rarely fell into the clean familial lines I saw depicted in the few Old Earth movies I’d had access to as a child.
“Greetings,” Damascus said.
Iris looked past me into the ship.
Did she want to see the inside? Could I get her alone and ask her about her life as a slave? No, I couldn’t use that word. I had to call her a pet.
“Would you like some tea?” I asked. “We have Tlash.”
Iris shook her head. “Mia has been cooped up all day. Would you like to walk around the stump with us?”
Maz and Damascus both sounded a negative rumble at the same time.
“There might be predators here,” Damascus said, looking around as if something was going to jump out and snatch one of us.
“This stump is high off the ground; you could fall off an edge,” Maz said at the same time.
To my shock, Iris laughed at their concern. She gestured for Damascus to step closer then went up on her toes to whisper in his earhole. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but by the time he straightened up, he was making a rumble of agreement.
“They can walk around and explore the stump while you and I talk about this planet,” Damascus announced. “They won’t go near the edge, and your report states there are no predators of any substantial size to worry about.”
What was going on here? It almost seemed like Iris was whispering orders to Damascus for him to carry out on her behalf. I was deeply curious about their dynamic.
Maz clearly wasn’t happy at the idea of being separated from me, but I gave him a little nod to tell him I wanted this.
“Explain to me what you’ve discovered so far,” Damascus said as he escorted Maz up the ramp. At the same time, Iris hooked her arm in mine and led us off, away from the ships. Mia danced past us and rushed over to a pile of rocks. They were discarded samples from all over the planet.
“Your timing is really good,” I commented. “It’s been raining for days. It only stopped earlier this morning.”
“Does it rain here often?” Iris asked.
“That was the first time it’s been like that since we got here,” I said.
Why did this conversation about the weather feel so surreal?
“Before Maz, I’d only been to industrial planets.
I’d never experienced rain before. Did you know it can come in different forms?
Sometimes it’s light and like a mist, and other times so much of it can fall from the sky it's as if a cistern is being emptied.”
Iris chuckled. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. I grew up on an agricultural planet with regular rainfall. It must’ve been shocking to experience it for the first time.”
“Iris!” Mia said, running back to us with several stones clutched in her hands. “Look at my treasure! Can I keep them?”
Iris pointed at me. “Ask Mika. They’re her rocks.”
Mia turned to me. “I know these are pretty rocks, but can I have them?”
“Those are some really nice rocks!” I agreed. “I’d like to give them to you as a gift.”
Mia looked delighted and tucked them into her already bulging pockets. I had a feeling she’d already picked out a bunch of rocks, but to make sure it was okay she’d shown us the two in her hands.
“No more rocks than what you already have,” Iris warned her. “Your collection is getting out of hand.”
“IIIIIIrrrriiiiissss!” Mia moaned. “I need them all!”
As Iris and I chuckled, she ran off to explore the rock pile some more. Iris guided us to two crates Maz used to transport samples. She let go of my arm and sat down on one, so I did the same.
“The sun feels good,” Iris murmured. “I’ve been traveling with Damascus for a few years, and sometimes I miss my old life, but only for moments like this.”
“Where was your old life?” I asked, trying to figure out how to ask someone if they’d always been a slave or had been forced into it later in life.
“Omanal,” she said, making me gasp. She gave me a knowing look. “I guess you heard about it?”
“Not much, only that the human colony on that planet was decimated,” I said.
Omanal had been one of the few thriving human colonies for so long that news of its demise had sent ripples through all the humans struggling to survive.
It was Nadia’s sperm donor that told me about it, although he didn’t have many details.
Only that the terraforming was failing and the planet’s corrupt elements had taken over.
“Then you were free before?” I asked.
Iris tilted her head at me, as if considering how to answer. “I’m still free.”
I didn’t expect her to say that. She wore a collar similar to the one Maz had first put on me then dramatically broke in half getting it off. Captivity with him had reorganized my concept of ownership even before his change of heart.
“I guess being free of hunger or other insecurities is a type of freedom,” I agreed. My answer made her chuckle.
“What about you?” she asked.
I winced. “I was born free, but the station I worked for was sold, and they decided to list me as one of the assets.”
Iris’s eyes went wide. “I’ve heard that happens, but you’re the first person I’ve ever met that went through it.”
“Same,” I said with a grin. “I got lucky. Maz was there to buy me and Nadia.”