Chapter 19
Nova
They followed Qusin through the tunnel and onto the Assist. The ship had changed a lot since they’d last been on board. They’d been in the midst of chaos as they decanted the children as quickly as they could so they wouldn’t drown in the vats that had grown them.
As vats were emptied, they were shoved haphazardly against the walls and replaced with cots for the children. Puddles of vat fluid had been all over the floor that no one had time to clean up. Piles of trash had developed as they cared for and fed the children.
All the empty vats and trash were gone. They’d been replaced with shelves full of items. The floor was so clean it gleamed. The cots were the same, but each one was covered in colorful blankets and fluffy pillows instead of the dull, uniform bedding of before.
It made her unbelievably happy to see all the changes. It was also a little unnerving when all the Decanted children stopped talking and focused their collective gazes on her with no change in their expressions.
She knew this was part of their growth. They might be biologically six years old, but they were still newborns. All the knowledge implanted in their brains while growing in the vats was still integrating with their physical bodies.
When their faces finally lit up with welcoming smiles, Nova relaxed.
“Nova,” Risor said. Warik had been quick to name all the children while they’d been decanting them to help keep everyone straight.
At first, they’d labeled the shirts they’d put on all the children.
Now each bed had a shiny plaque with the child's name in Hissa and under that repeated in Space Standard.
Risor was one of the first children they’d decanted, and she bet she was the one who’d tried to get out of bed to find her.
“Hi sweetheart!” she said, letting go of Miran’s hand so she could run around to crouch next to Risor’s bed. “I missed you.”
Tears welled in the little girl's eyes. “You left.”
What was that sound? Oh yeah, that was her heart cracking in two.
“Only for a little while, but I’m back now,” Nova said. She patted her hand on Risor’s blanket-covered leg. Risor was quick to grab Nova’s hand in both of her little ones, holding on tight.
Miran stood next to her, and Risor looked up at him.
“Mir’n,” she said with a little frown. “Why you here?”
“I wanted to say sorry,” he murmured, crouching down next to Nova. “It’s my fault Nova hasn’t been to visit. We had a few things to accomplish, but that's done now.”
“Done?” Risor said. She sounded suspicious.
“Yes,” Miran said with a solemn nod. “We won’t ever stay away so long again.”
Before Nova could point out that she would’ve come back sooner if the Hissa hadn't kept her away, Miran cast her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Nova. We should’ve brought you back sooner.”
“You guys need to listen to me more, period,” she grumbled, but couldn’t stay mad. She was too happy to be here and more confident in her relationship with Miran.
“We could move you and Risor to the soft corner,” a Hissa she hadn’t met yet said, stepping up to stand on Risor’s other side.
“Soft corner?” Nova asked. The Hissa pointed to a corner. She looked over to see a corner of the grow room where there was a large, plush yellow rug, and piles of soft pillows against the walls.
She chuckled. “Yes, that looks like a very nice, soft corner.”
“Sof’, sof’!” Risor said with excitement. “Sof corner bes’!”
“The children see spending time in the soft corner as a treat,” the Hissa explained.
“Me too!” said Wilon, who was in the bed next to Risor. Several other voices repeated the same phrase.
The Hissa frowned a little before speaking to Nova. “We usually don’t put more than four children in the soft corner at one time. Are you comfortable with that many?”
Nova nodded. “I can stay for as long as it takes to have all the kids visit me in the corner.”
The Hissa beamed at her. “That would be perfect. My name is Nakin. If you go to the corner, I’ll bring the children to you.”
Nova nodded and tried to stand up, but Risor didn’t let go of her hand. The little girl looked both worried and stubborn. She wasn’t going to let Nova disappear again.
“I’ll take you with me,” Nova murmured, tugging her hand free of Risor before tucking the blankets around her and picking her up with ease.
Both Hissa made distressed sounds, but Nova ignored them. She knew her own strength and easily carried the little girl to the corner. After sitting down with the girl on her lap, Nova looked up at the men. They looked unflatteringly relieved that she’d made it without incident.
Other children called to be next. While Miran sat down next to her, Nakin turned to address the children and explained how visits to the soft corner would be organized.
There were other warriors moving around the beds, reading the monitors on the beds, testing the children's comprehension, or checking on their physical coordination.
Nova was impressed at how gentle, patient, and kind all the warriors were with the children.
It was the missing piece she needed to see for the last of her doubt to leave her.
Nisha and Warik weren’t here, so Nisha must’ve fixed whatever issue they were having with the monitoring tech.
“Story,” Risor demanded.
“What story?” Nova asked.
“We’ve been reading stories from Hissa mythology,” Nakin explained as he set a child down in a pile of pillows next to Nova.
After that, he grabbed a data pad off a nearby shelf, he tapped on it, then handed it to her.
The display was full of Hissa script with a colorful drawing of two smiling moons circling a planet.
Nakin moved off to get another child. Miran leaned over, tapped the data pad and the Hissa writing was replaced with Space Standard.
“Thanks,” she said, excited to entertain the children while also learning more about the Hissa. She skimmed the story, already picking out what voices she’d use for the different characters. Risor slid off Nova’s lap so she could lay down with her head on Nova’s thigh.
After they had Risor, Vilor, Kisen, and Wilon in the soft corner with them, she started reading and all four children, including the ones in the beds closest to them, listened with rapt attention. When she used her first special voice, the children made noises of delight.
The moment she was done reading the story, Nakin was there to whisk the children back to bed and bring another round of children for story time. When he tried to pick up Risor, she grabbed hold of Nova’s shirt and wouldn’t let go.
“No, no, no, no,” she repeated over and over again.
“Hey now,” Nova said, gathering the little girl into her lap. “I’m not going anywhere. You’ll still be able to see me from your bed.”
She calmed a little but still wouldn’t let go. “No.”
“If you go back to your bed, I’ll make sure to visit you and talk before I leave,” Nova said.
Mentioning leaving didn’t help. Risor started crying big, fat tears. Nakin looked deeply concerned.
“I don’t understand why she’s so upset,” he said. “I’m going to get a mender.”
“I think she might need a little extra attention,” Nova said, rubbing Risor’s back. “Can five kids visit me at the same time so she can stay for another round?”
“But that’s not fair to the other children,” Nakin protested.
Miran spoke up. “Risor might need more comforting than the others. By all means, call the mender, but for now let her stay.”
Nakin looked indecisive until Qusin joined him.
“Remember when Tisep needed you to sleep in a cot next to him last night?” Qusin asked. “That wasn’t favoring one child over another, it was giving a troubled child the support they needed.”
Nakin gave Qusin a relieved look. “Yes, you’re right.”
Qusin gave the male an approving nod before crouching down and waiting for Risor to meet his eyes. “You’re safe. Nova can stay, but please remember that Nova has a bed and will need to leave to rest. You wouldn’t want her to be uncomfortable, would you?”
Risor seemed to think about that. “She comes back?”
“Of course,” Qusin said. He pulled a data pad out of his back pocket and tapped at it until a number appeared across the screen. As they watched, the number started counting down. “She’ll be back before this reaches zero.”
Risor took the data pad from him and stared at the number before looking up at Nova and shoving the tech in her face. “Promise?
The number was in Space Standard, so it was easy for Nova to tell that she’d have about a day to come back before it finished counting down. Qusin had given her plenty of time to rest and return.
That made her response easy. “I promise.”
That calmed Risor down. They were all settling down for the next round of storytelling when a Hissa came sprinting into the room. Skidding to a stop, he looked around until he settled on Miran.
“Section Commander Belor has been trying to contact you,” he announced, rushing over. “They need you in command. Hurry!”
“I turned my data bracelet off,” Miran said as he stood. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s the Diniki,” the newcomer said, glancing at Nova and the children. “Oh, um, I’m sure everything is fine, but Miran is needed somewhere else. He’ll return as soon as he can.”
“I thought everything was settled with the Diniki,” Miran said, tapping on his data bracelet to bring it to life. The thing beeped with so many notifications that it was an almost constant alarm. “If this is going to take longer than I expect, I’ll send Saris or Nerin to take you back to our room.”
“Miran, let me—” she didn’t get a chance to finish because Miran was already following the other Hissa out of the room and back through the tunnel.
“I’m not being left behind,” Nova said, setting Risor aside. Before standing up, she took Risor’s hands in hers. “I’ll be back, okay? But I need to help Miran because he’s a little dumb.”
Risor’s eyes went wide at the word “dumb,” then she giggled. “Dumb?”
Nova nodded with a grin. “Will you look after everyone for me while I’m gone?”