Chapter 17
Seventeen
Proteus
Proteus watched Ellie working herself to the bone, and his soul recognized her need for reassurance.
This was the only way she could get that.
The harder she worked, the more worthy she felt of being awake.
Ellie still felt so certain that she needed to earn her place beside him, even though he had tried to show her that it was unnecessary.
He knew her type. Some humans were so fearful that others did not want them, and so they were wiling to do as they were told. They worked until they fell apart, doing everything they could to prove to others their worth. And yet, their true value was in that worry.
He wanted to tell her that no one would ever question why she was with him.
The amount of hard labor she had shown day in and day out proved how wondrous she was to have around.
No matter what task he asked her to do, she would do it.
No matter how tired she grew, she would push through. The cost to herself didn’t matter.
That was bravery. That was loyalty. It was all the features of a person he would never grow tired of, because he could see how much she cared. These were the traits of a woman dedicated to a cause.
And yet, apparently he had not shown her enough how much he appreciated her. She worked tirelessly until he had to tell her to stop.
Even then, Ellie didn't want to. She argued with him that they weren't done yet, and why should they stop when there was still sand to clear?
He did not know how to tell her that he worried for her health. She could tell him when she needed to stop. She could complain that her body hurt. None of that would change his opinion of her or lessen her value.
"Sit down," he grumbled, his voice deep and low. Perhaps a little of his anger showed as well in that statement, because the damned woman did not know when to stop moving. If he told her to sit, then she shouldn't argue with him.
Ellie glared, but her wobbling legs could not do more. Huffing out an angry breath of her own, she sat down on a pile of sand they had yet to clear. "I want to get this done, Proteus."
"And you will."
"Not if we keep stopping. I know I'm tired. I know I'm slowing down. But if we push just a bit longer, then we could finish this project and move onto the next."
Except they both knew that they couldn't. There was a lot more for them to do, and even more sand for them to shift. It was like it replicated itself, and no matter how much they got rid of, there was always more sand.
He had to give her a reason to stop.
Narrowing his gaze, Proteus looked over at Pilot, who had been working on one of the newer equipment pieces that had been revealed by the sand.
It had survived where many pieces had not.
Pilot was currently working on bringing it back online, since the computer system within could help them learn what had happened here, and what other parts of this system needed to be turned online.
Pilot suspected this terminal controlled all the others in the room.
"Pilot," he said, waiting for the droid to look at him before he continued. "Can you replicate yourself?"
"I have that function, yes."
He glanced over at a pile of scrap metal.
They'd had to ask the droid to stop throwing parts into the water since it was getting in the way of the sand removal, and now he could see good use for them.
"Use these pieces and make more of yourself.
Give them the directive to move the sand so Ellie can rest."
There was a moment of obvious disbelief from the droid.
Replicating himself would take time and effort, Proteus knew that, but there was also the realization that the intelligence that had been stored within that droid was going to be used to give a human relief from manual labor.
The sheer rage would fuel Pilot for the next few years.
Proteus tried not to smirk as he gestured for Ellie to come closer to the entrance where Proteus lurked. He had retreated back to the water after trying to help her move sand, and was only now feeling relief from the drying that had curled his scales up.
She sat down with her legs dangling into the sea, not a care in the world. He’d seen countless humans terrified of the ocean. They feared what would bite them from the depths, or if they would drown if they slipped in. This woman couldn't even swim, and yet she sat here with her legs in the water.
Perhaps that was because she'd seen death so many times. She didn't fear what waited for her beyond all the darkness.
Proteus took a moment to look at her. When did the sight of her make him so soft?
He wanted to linger as he peered at her features, listening to the sound of her breathing and the quiet, steady beat of her heart.
He could listen to her for ages. The sounds of her body, the whispering truth of her mind, all of it made him want to touch her.
With a flick of his tail, he coasted a little closer to her. "Are you hungry?"
She shrugged. "I suppose. I'm still getting used to eating anything that isn't liquid."
Hm. He wasn't sure what he could bring her that would replicate that liquid packet that had brought her so much comfort.
He knew it likely had all the necessary vitamins and nutritional needs that would keep her alive.
While he had to guess at what humans ate, he barely remembered what they had consumed years ago.
"Would you like more fish?" he asked.
She made a face, but then immediately cleared it from her expression. "That would be fine, I suppose."
"You don't like fish?"
Ellie shrugged. "I don't really know what I like. Nutritional packets have little flavor."
He ran through all the things he could think of in his head.
Obviously, clams and oysters were an option, although they were a little deep for him to find those.
Starfish were a delicacy, but he wasn't certain her kind ate them outright.
Which meant he would need to find something else for her to feast upon, or at the very least, a way for her to cook them.
Perhaps she would like sea urchin. He had seen the humans taking out their yellow innards before and eating them. It was surprisingly briny, and usually eaten raw, so he could see her enjoying that.
"I will be back," he said, and with no preamble, he disappeared beneath the surface.
He caught her a few extra fish as well. Eating those raw hadn't seemed to bother her, and there were a few other delicacies he could find.
The water weeds that had always annoyed him were edible, and the seaweed that tangled around his tail actually had a decent flavor according to some of the humans he remembered.
So he brought those up with him and then placed them all in front of her. Each one he delicately set out, even the fish, before slicing into the first one so she would eat it before it went bad.
"Try this," he said, staring at her expectantly.
She looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "What?"
"If you do not know what you like, then we will discover what you do. Together." He gestured at the food. "Please. Take your time, but tell me what you like and dislike about each of these."
To the music of Pilot clanking behind them, creating horrific looking droids that were clearly meant to be terrifying, Ellie picked up the slice of fresh fish he had offered her.
The barracuda was one of the few fish brave enough to fight him back when he tried to get them for food. He admired them, in a way, but the fresh slices of its flesh would keep her healthy. So he didn't mind killing the beast.
Watching her place the slice of raw fish on her tongue did something to him that he hadn't expected. He liked feeding her. He liked knowing that he was the one giving her energy.
At least, until her face creased a bit. "It's... fishy."
He arched a brow. "It is a fish."
"Yes, but..." She took a deep breath and then shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I wasn't expecting it to taste like it smells."
Like it smelled? Proteus leaned forward and took a deep breath, inhaling deeply the scent of the barracuda to make sure it hadn't gone rancid. There was nothing wrong with it. And he'd even say it didn't really smell like fish either. There was a scent of the sea on it, but that was all.
"Hm," he muttered, before nudging an oyster closer to her. "Try this one then."
When she struggled to crack it open, he reached for it and expertly opened the delicacy.
He personally loved oysters and knew many creatures in the ocean liked them as well.
They were easy to eat, and they were plentiful.
The People of Water grew them in farms, and he remembered them being abundant and so sweet with many flavors depending on where and how they were grown.
Handing it over to Ellie, he watched as she slurped it up.
There was a long pause as she seemed to think about what she thought. But she hadn't even chewed. How was she supposed to get the flavor if she didn't chew? She kept forgetting to do that with all the food he gave her.
"It's sweet and salty." She licked her lips, and he couldn't keep his eyes away from the little flicker of pink that was revealed. "I like it. Maybe not for an entire meal, but it is quite delicious."
"Do that again," he asked before he could stop himself.
"Do what?"
His eyes were so clearly on her mouth, what did she think he wanted? "Stick out your tongue."
And bless the little thing, she did so without hesitation. She stuck her tongue out and all of his gills suddenly ached with need. Her tongue was short, flat, and so pink it was startling. For all his years working with her kind, he had never realized that their tongues were pink.
He stuck out his tongue as well, showing her that his tongue was long and black. Both of them stared at each other in surprise, their eyes wide as they both looked at what was very obviously a different kind of appendage than the other had.
Then he realized how stupid they likely looked. Both of them with their tongues hanging out of their mouths.
He put his back in his mouth and cleared his throat. "Right, well. Try the next then. Urchin I've heard is very good to your people."
She sucked her tongue back in as well, and very gently picked up the black urchin he'd laid next to her.
He'd already gutted the beast, leaving the remains inside that she had to scoop out with her fingers.
Swallowing hard, she looked at him before looking back down at the urchin. "This?" she asked.
"Yes."
"I just..."
The yellow innards didn't look appetizing to him either, but they tasted good. "Yes," he repeated.
She didn't look excited about it, but she did scoop the gelatinous substance into her mouth and swallowed it.
He watched her face go through many stages of intrigue, horror, disgust, and then a very odd expression that made him lunge away from her so he didn't get caught in the crossfire when she gagged.
Ellie managed to keep the food down, but he hadn’t thought she would. Then she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and shook her head. "No. Not that one. Never that one."
And then she let out the most ungodly sound as air expelled from her mouth and she gagged again.
Proteus leaned forward and carefully removed the urchin. Dunking it into the water, he let it fall onto the ground so she wouldn't have to look at the black spines anymore. "Noted."
Pilot skittered forward and then pointed with a single leg at the other droids he had put together rapidly. They were all terrors of droids, barely more than legs and a shovel at the front. But they would serve their function very well.
It was a good distraction as he looked them over and then grumbled, "Good job, Pilot."
"They will resume your work then if you are done staring," Pilot muttered as he headed back to the console to get power on in this facility again.
Ellie cleared her throat once more, but this time he had a feeling she was trying not to laugh.
Her watering eyes sparkled as she looked at him, and he had never been so enraptured with a human before.
She was so beautiful it was shocking, really.
Humans weren't supposed to be beautiful.
They were tools to be used, functional and interesting to look at sometimes, but certainly never so stunning.
She smiled at him, and those eyes sparkled even more. "I think we're getting called back to work."
"I am being called back to work. You should rest."
Proteus touched her leg in the water. His hand wrapped all the way around her calf, and he should have just squeezed the flesh there and left it be. But he couldn't quite force himself to remove his grip.
He couldn't even feel her skin beneath the thick hide that covered her, and yet...
"I'm not sure I've ever met a human as fascinating as you," he murmured, staring up into her eyes as though they held an answer to questions he was afraid to ask. "Why is that?"
"I'm not all that human, I suppose."
"No, you very much are human. You hold all the things that I admired about them, all wrapped up in one person.
Resilience, dedication, hope, the need to use your imagination.
You are the blueprint of what your kind should and could be.
" He lifted his wet hand and skated the backs of his claws against her cheek.
A single drop of water dripped down to her chin, hanging off the pointed tip like a sparkling diamond.
"If only all humans were like you, Sisu.
I think I would have killed a lot less of them. "
He watched her eyes widen and knew she was struggling to comprehend how she was meant to feel about that.
His words were a compliment, though. Because he did wonder if others had been like her, would he have spared them in those early days? If he had seen the value of humanity earlier, if he had seen more of it in all the people he had interacted with, perhaps the future would have been very different.
Proteus had recognized those traits too late, after all. And by then, the damage had already been done.