Chapter Eight
Arriving at Aten was amusing. Aubrey had watched Whisper play merry hell with Nerigot over the last few days.
He was constantly around her, making sure she took her courses and got enough food.
The treatment from his ship had been moved over to Vress’s vessel, and Whisper was getting better at an astonishing rate.
Aubrey was still pissed about the missing time, but Vress had declared it necessary. Her active mind could be detected by any Hmrain or psychic in the area. She needed to work at closing it until she needed to open it.
The idea of a station that was part garage and part mall was exciting. She walked with Vress to the drop shuttle. Whisper walked with the other ladies, and Nerigot was bringing up the rear.
They saw the sights and got to the drop shuttle. Thousands of humans were on the world below, and Aubrey had to admit that she was excited by the prospect of seeing a human colony.
A bit of investigation let Aubrey know that she and the rest who had been brought up to the Education Station had been put to sleep for three years. The station was too crowded with the last of humanity piling on.
They settled in the shuttle, and Aubrey sat next to Vress. Nerigot was looking back at Whisper as they got clearance, and their pilot began the descent.
Aubrey watched the viewscreen as they approached the surface and gripped Vress’s hand when she saw familiar buildings in the sands near a town that looked lively.
The shuttle they were in set down on a specific spot, and the Hmrain left first; Aubrey went with them.
She kept her senses on Whisper, and she and the others followed. The sun hit her with the subtlety of an open oven, and she was happy for the change of fabric that Vress had insisted on. Layers of gauze let the air get at her limbs, and it was welcome.
Aubrey saw the familiar figures as Vress guided her to them, and she grinned. “Thank you for greeting us, Harwin.”
Harwin handed her baby to Ra. “Thank you for coming, Aubrey, honoured Oracle, beloved of Vress.”
“Seriously? We have to do that every time?”
Harwin laughed. “Just the first time.”
“Thank you, Harwin, Queen of Aten, beloved of Ra, mother of Harwin, the heir of Aten.”
Harwin grinned. “Ooh, nice. Be welcome.”
They held hands, and the Hmrain relaxed. Apparently, companion cat fights were a thing in ancient times.
Ra shifted his child to one arm and shook Vress’s arm with the other. Nerigot walked up and greeted the eldest of their kind, and then everyone relaxed.
Aubrey looked at Harwin. “Do you have repair units that can help humans put on weight?”
“Sure. That’s a simple one, usually. Why?”
Aubrey turned and waved at Whisper. “She came up too skinny, and then she had an enzyme problem, and now she’s gaining weight, but it is so slow.”
Harwin walked over to Whisper and took her hand, ran a thumb over her wrist, and then her collarbone.
Whisper said, “If you are trying to find the best cut, my butt is probably your best bet.”
Harwin chuckled. “You aren’t in my food group.”
“Thank goodness.” Whisper smiled.
“Come on. Ra can show you the right machine. I will be with you, and we will have another stay nearby if I have to leave. Do you like babies?”
“I am not opposed to them.”
“Good. My little guy is really heavy, but Ra likes to carry him around.” Harwin grinned. “He also likes to carry me around but only when we have a babysitter.”
Whisper smiled. “Sound thinking.”
Harwin linked arms with her, greeted the other ladies, and hauled her toward Ra and the others.
“Honoured Ra, this human requires a healing unit. She’s as skinny as a chicken.”
Aubrey watched as Whisper was assessed, and Ra snorted and grinned. “Kethen’s technique.”
Nerigot said, “It is my technique. I told Kethen once, and I hear he has used it for his consort.”
Ra grinned. “A similar method. Not exact.”
Nerigot snorted. “No, not exact. She was not that close to death.”
Whisper asked, “What the hell are you talking about?”
Nerigot sighed. “I am sure he will explain it to you.”
Harwin nodded. “Oh, yeah, Ra is a big tattletale. He’s a huge fan of storytelling as well.”
Ra nodded. “Come on, little chicken, we will get you into a unit so you can recover.”
Harwin grinned, and their son squealed and kicked his feet while waving his fists. Harwin said, “That is Harwin junior. Well, Harran is his name. Harwin junior is what the humans call him.”
Ra sighed. “As if I wasn’t there the entire time.”
The baby squirmed and looked at Whisper over his father’s shoulder, and to her surprise, little wings started flapping. She grinned. “Hello, little dude.”
More shrieking and squealing and flapping.
Ra said, “He saves this greeting for humans of power.”
Aubrey was walking with them, which meant Vress was with them, and Nerigot wasn’t left behind. The humans followed.
Whisper glanced behind her. “Oh, fuck, we have a parade.”
Harwin snorted. “I’ve got this. You follow Ra. Aubrey, Vress, Nerigot, you stay with me, and I will do a tour of the grand hall.”
Aubrey looked at Whisper. “I would rather go with her.”
“Yes, but that is what triggers the parade. Ra will come up when she is settled.”
Aubrey looked at the others and snorted. “Nerigot got past you.”
“Unsurprising, considering.”
Aubrey frowned. “Um, why would that be?”
“Oh, the Kethen technique is to get a Hmrain’s nanite-filled cum into her by any means possible. Janessa was near death, and Kethen fed it to her. Apparently, his emission tastes like strawberries.”
Aubrey blinked. “She hasn’t been drinking anything odd.”
“Then... how?”
“She’s been getting IV treatments. She had dangerously low blood volume,” Aubrey muttered. “Oh, wow. I had no idea they were so sneaky. I mean, I know Vress is.”
The low voice spoke from behind her. “Thank you. I take it as a compliment.” He chuckled.
Harwin grinned. “Ra doesn’t sneak. He just does things and makes me deal with them.”
She turned and became a hostess, introducing the humans to the alien archaeologists who brought her there as a bodyguard, and she hadn’t left since.
“I used to want to research the walls of the pyramid, and now I am all over them.”
The humans jolted. Alyssa asked, “You are human?”
“Yup, or I was. Ra did some tinkering when I was mostly dead.”
“What?” one of the others whispered, and Harwin took them to a sitting area where a bot projected her last moments as mostly human.
A bot flew by and brought snacks, and the ladies and Vress had a movie night. First, they watched Harwin and Kris in the cargo hold being crushed, then the machines with the wrong programming, one blowing open with Kris’s fire, and Harwin psychically pushed her way out.
Then, she showed flickers of her life as a bodyguard with Kris for a trader named Yorness. They continued until Yasku paid off her bond, then she travelled with the expedition to Aten, and her blood opened the pyramid.
From there, the incoming raider attack, and her near death, crawling out to see the sun.
Ra appeared and followed the blood trail, lifting her and bringing her to one of the healing units.
When she woke up, she was dressed like an Egyptian handmaid, and Ra stood in front of her, telling her as much.
Harwin smiled. “And here’s the man of the hour. The one, the only, first Hmrain... Ra!”
Aubrey laughed as she listened to the wrestling announcer tone.
The baby lunged for Harwin, and Ra said, “Nerigot is watching over her. She has much more damage than is normally apparent. She was coming apart on the cellular level. Only Nerigot’s intervention was keeping ahead of the degradation, but only just.”
Priya asked, “Degradation?”
Ra nodded and reached for some of the snacks. “She was nearly dead when she got to the launch centre. The food of the station didn’t nourish her; she had minor organ damage that wasn’t getting better.”
Aubrey felt horrible. “Because we left before they could do follow-ups.”
Ra shrugged. “She would not have survived regardless. With her issues, they would have simply said she faded and passed. If they had known she qualified for the academy, they would have gotten some of the good food from the high-end restaurants and hand-fed her.”
Candy murmured, “Pardon me, but what?”
Ra said, “She has to eat living material. She can’t eat molecularly assembled rations.
As she put it to me, if she is going to eat, something has to die.
Part of her nutrient absorption comes from the once-living energy of her meal.
Plant or animal. It doesn’t matter. It has to have been alive to give her benefit.
This is common with Nerigot’s acolytes.”
Aubrey sighed. “So she’s going to be okay?”
“She will be fine if Nerigot can stop trying to peek into the unit.” Ra munched snacks. “He’s devoted, and she’s not even his consort yet.”
Harwin played with the baby. “Yeah, no idea how that happens.”
He grinned. “Strange fascination.”
“Yeah, I don’t care what you are calling it these days. We aren’t having another kid yet.”
Ra said, “But you make such lovely children.”
“Yeah, I know. He’s great.” She grinned as her son grabbed her nose. “Solid grip.”
There was another happy shriek.
Ra grinned and reached for his son. The little one pulled himself over and slapped his dad’s face. “I can play rougher than she can.”
Aubrey looked over to Vress. “Don’t you go getting broody.”
Vress grinned. “He is a very cute child.”
“Uh-huh. I still need to get into my new job and work through that.”
“Very well. The temple is being constructed. It should be done in a matter of weeks.”
Aubrey blinked. “Weeks?”
“You throw an entire city’s worth of artisans at something, and there are occasionally results.” He smiled. “They are excited to be hosting the oracle. You will be arriving to quite the welcome.”
“Oh. Hurray. Can I wear my fancy headpiece?”
“I am working on something a little more appropriate for you.”
Harwin grinned. “Is it a pyramid?”
“No.” Vress laughed.
“Aww.”
Ra snorted. “She can’t wear a pyramid on her head.”
“You haven’t watched those clips on human fashion shows.”