by C. V. Walter
Pulling it up, she bit back a groan to find she was correct. Days of error messages on top of error messages filled the screen with occasional updates about the weather at her mother's house. She saw the addresses of the satellites her suit was pinging off and, while they didn't actually mean anything to her specifically, it meant they were in still in pretty close orbit around the Earth.
She'd just gotten to the last of the error messages, just before the ship had hit the space station, and she saw a messaged she'd missed. Mindy had tried to connect with a video call and it had gone straight to the messages. She must have been...she must have been actually floating in the vacuum of space when it came in.
It was showing that it had been received and read, though, so somebody must have gotten it. She clicked to open it and it asked for her passcode.
Chapter 26
Mintonar watched Maw-lee pause when her pointer landed on one of the lines. Her face was very carefully blank and he knew she had gone back to the day she'd been ejected into space. She left the pointer there and a box opened with a flashing line in it.
"It wants a code I can't input without a more complicated interface," she told them.
"What kind of interface?" Alvola asked. He was leaning forward, his body language giving more away about what he wanted from Maw-lee than anything else.
"What do you need?" he asked her.
"A keyboard, preferably, or the heads up display from the visor. There are ways to make a virtual keyboard but I don't know how to do that and I don't remember how to find them in the helmet, or even if it's possible from the helmet." She was frustrated and he could hear the tears in her voice. This was even more important to her than it was to Alvola.
"What are you trying to access that needs the code?" he asked gently. Alvola shot him a look but he ignored it.
"It's a message," she told him. "A video message, from the looks of it, from a very dear friend. She must have sent it while I was, um, while I was floating between the space station and the ship. It shows it's been played so it might be the thing Alvola was talking about."
"I need to see what a keyboard looks like," Alvola told him. "She keeps saying she needs one, she'll have to show me how to make it. Can she give it a voice command?"
"Can you give it voice commands?" Mintonar asked, glancing at Alvola.
"There's not a microphone on the controller," she said. "That and the speaker are all in other parts of the helmet."
"Oh, is that all?" Alvola snatched the helmet from her, tearing the controller out of hands.
Maw-lee turned to protest while Mintonar laid into his friend. "What do you think you're doing? You could have hurt her or damaged the helmet."
Alvola waved him away and activated his table. The screen came up and showed the display that had been projected against the wall just moments earlier.
"How did you do that?" Maw-lee demanded. "It's not even connected anywhere."
"Yeah, our parts aren't exactly compatible," Alvola said with a snort. "It transmits, though, in a very short range. Probably activates things on the space station she worked on and gives location information within the structure. It wouldn't really be able to go much further than that but I was able to get our computers to talk to it, at least. I just don't know what any of it's saying."
Mintonar nodded. "Does your helmet have some kind of broadcast device in it? Something that sends location information or brief instructions to doors or lights?"
"Oh," she said, the brief flash of panic wiped away. "Yes, it does that. It's really short-range, though. Is that how's he's doing it? There's some kind of receiver in the table?"
Alvola nodded and motioned for her to look at the controls he'd set up on the touch pad in front of Mintonar. They looked the same as the ones on her manual controller, and worked like he'd turned it into a track pad.
"Can it hear what I'm saying?" she asked.
"Of course it can hear what she's saying," Alvola snapped. "The question is, can she get what she wants done with it or am I going to have to go find some idea of what this keyboard is so she can use that."
"We need other information from the planet anyway," Mintonar told him. "It wouldn't be that much harder to figure out how to do a keyboard, right?"
"Languages, frequencies, the fact that whatever their computers speak, it isn't the same as what ours speaks. We don't have the time to try and figure out how to steal whatever information you want from them and I have no idea how to even start."
"Right, sorry," Mintonar said. Turning to Maw-lee, he told her Alvola had answered in the affirmative."
"That was a lot of words for a 'yes'," she told him with an arched eyebrow.
"There were details. Try and speak your code or whatever you need to do to put it in."
"Um, alright, here goes. Assist, voice to text active. Input numbers two, zero, nine, five." The line on the screen paused in its blinking and Maw-lee held her breath. Four characters appeared in the box and Maw-lee let out a whoop of delight.
A message flashed in green under the box and it disappeared.
"You have twenty unheard messages and five saved messages. First message."
"Assist, play selected video," Maw-lee said, cutting off the mechanical voice.
A video popped up, the screen focused on a human woman with straight black hair, sharp features and very small ears.
"That's her," Alvola said, excited. "That's what I saw!"
"Hey Molly, guess you're working hard out there on your space station. Just wanted you to know that I talked with Trina and Aidan and I will make sure you have slippers and pajamas. They're talking about a family dinner with about a half-dozen of the others since I think a bunch of our cohort are going to actually make it this year. Jeff wants to try and corner you about welding in space and I told him he could have an hour if he's buying the drinks but then he has to leave if he's not also being amusing. Trina's bringing things for cosplay and Ben sent more stabbies. He's got these fancy wood ones he wants you to try out on the space station for a while and tell him what you think. They should be small enough to fit inside your suit so you can wear them for work, I think. Anyway, that's all. Call me when you can. I miss your face and can't wait to see you at the con. Love you."
Tears were streaming down Maw-lee's face and she took a shuddering breath.
"First unheard message," the mechanical voice said.
"Assist, stop," Maw-lee said, wiping at her cheeks.
"Who was that?" Alvola asked.
"Maw-lee," Mintonar started and she looked at him.
"Sorry, didn't mean to get all weepy. That's Mindy she's, well, she's the sister I would have had if I could have picked my siblings. Since I couldn't, I had to meet her when I became an adult. I-" Maw-lee broke off and sniffed.
"She's your sister?" Alvola asked, looking at her. "But she looks nothing like you."
"Do you not resemble your family?" Mintonar asked, trying to rephrase the question.
"Oh, I look exactly like all of my blood family. Mindy is my family by choice. She's about four inches shorter than me, all sharp edges and hard corners, and she looks like an elf or maybe some kind of fairy. She doesn't look directly at most people because she can be kind of intense and finds that her direct attention tends to make people very uncomfortable."
"So, she's not actually family," Alvola said.
"It would seem not," Mintonar said. "But bound in some way that's not blood. Affection, it seems like, and possibly shared interests."
"What's an elf?" Alvola asked after a moment.
"Maw-lee, what's an elf?" Mintonar asked. "Or a fairy?"
She laughed and sniffed a little more. "It's a fairy tale creature, they're probably not real. It would take some time to explain it but they tend to be a bit otherworldly in appearance, usually assumed to have high, sharp cheekbones, pointed eyes, maybe pointed ears."
"Why is she calling her something that's not real? Obviously, she's real, she was right there and is there a
way to see more of her? All it showed was her face."
"I don't think that's an appropriate question to ask," Mintonar said.
"But I need to see more," Alvola protested. "There's, it's, it's important."
With a sigh, Mintonar relayed the question.
"No," Maw-lee said with a frown. "I can only see what she sent and since this was a video call with a camera I had no way of controlling, all we have is her face."
"It sounds like she was expecting to meet you soon," he said. "Do you not live close to one another?"
"Oh, closer than some, but no, most of my friends are scattered around the country, some of them are on the other side of the planet from where I used to live. We try to get together once or twice a year, if we can. A family reunion, of sorts."
"Have you missed that event?" Mintonar asked quietly.
"Not yet, I don't think. I don't know exactly what the date is right now but I had some time. I still needed to get my transport arranged to get back down to the planet. And then flights to get to the con. I was planning to do it after I got off work the day, um," she swallowed hard and looked down at her hands on the controls. "There's a lot of missed messages on here. Can I keep the helmet so I can listen to them privately when I get the chance?"
"No, I want that video so I can-"
"Alvola," Mintonar said sharply. "Letting her keep it for another day won't hurt anything, right?"
"No," he said, grudgingly. "We're already stuck here for a while and I don't think I'll get anything from going through the helmet right now as opposed to, maybe, two days from now?"
Mintonar nodded. "Alvola will need the helmet back in a couple days but you can listen to your messages while I'm at work. Hopefully they will bring you comfort."
"Thank you," she said, turning first to smile at Mintonar then Alvola. "It means a lot to me."
Alvola grumbled but acknowledged her thanks anyway.
"Is there any way you can show us what kind of keyboard you need?" Mintonar asked. "We may not be able to do much with it just yet but it couldn't hurt, right?"
"I'll see what I can do," she said. "Just having it where I can do it here should help. I'll see if I can't find anything else that could be useful."
A message like the appointment reminder popped up on the screen and Maw-lee responded to it quickly to make it go away.
"Do you have a lot of messages like that?" Mintonar asked.
"Probably more than a few," she admitted. "My whole life was stored in this helmet and my interface on the space station. There's not a lot of space to write things down so everything had to be done electronically and I spent most of my day in this suit, it seemed like. It's weird to see this part so stripped down."
"Clear what you can before you give it back," Alvola grumbled. "I'm going to leave. I've taken enough of your time and you probably want to consummate your Joining. Congratulations on that, by the way. I still don't believe your luck but I'm happy for you."
Mintonar gave Maw-lee a sharp glance before standing to see Alvola to the door. "It was not something I was looking for," he said. "I'm going to need to get her a comms unit."
"I've got one ready for her. You'll have to show her how to load all her stuff but if she moves her appointments and things to that, it'll be better than leaving it all in the helmet."
"Thank you," Mintonar said.
"I'm just doing it so I can keep her equipment longer. The captain is already asking why I've still got it now that she's up and moving around."
"What did you tell him?"
"That I was trying to figure out how to interface with the humans so we can communicate long enough to arrange for restocking most of the ship. It's not a great solution but if we're not staying, we're going to have to and he knows it. I think he's hoping to contact a couple people on the planet rather than announcing our arrival but I'm pretty sure the chunk we took out of the space station when we folded in here has already done that."
"They may not have realized it was us," Mintonar said.
"And how would we know? I figured out how to get the helmet to talk to the ship but they're advanced enough that I can't just slip into their communications network without more information on how it works. I suspect I'm going to need a keyboard for that and better text translations."
"So making her keyboard isn't just to benefit my ahura?"
"Is she really your ahura?" Alvola asked, casting an envious glance at Maw-lee. "I thought she was just your ajoia."
"She's been my ahura since I first met her eyes," Mintonar said. "Even before we could speak to each other. She is my heart and my desire and that is not something I would ever admit to."
"Well, the next space station we hit, you're going to be saving my ajoia," Alvola said and left abruptly.
"Is Alvola okay?" Maw-lee asked from the table. "He seemed upset just now."
"He is fine, ahura," Mintonar said. He crossed the small room to pull her into his arms. "He is a little jealous, is all. There was little hope of either of us meeting someone who sparked recognition in us on this trip. That I have met you makes him wish there was someone for him."
"Oh, there's nobody on the ship he's interested in?" Maw-lee asked, settling her cheek against his chest.
Warmth blossomed through him where she snuggled against him and he held her tighter. "No, and he knew that when he agreed to come aboard. It was enough that he could pursue his research and be away from nagging mothers and aunts."
"Those seem to be pretty universal," she said with a chuckle. "And I'm sure he's not the first person to put out to sea or shoot themselves into space to avoid them."
"They are rarer on our home planet than they have been in the past," Mintonar told her. "And possibly the more meddlesome because of it. I know I only had to contend with my mother, who was determined to have me make a proper match, and it was enough to drive me to space."
"I'm glad it did," she said softly. "And what was that word you called me?"
"Ahura?" he asked and she nodded. "It is a term of endearment. The closest translation in your language is beloved, I believe, but with slightly different connotations."
"Beloved is pretty broad," she said. "What are the connotations?"
"Hmm," he said, then started walking her back towards the table. She giggled and moved with him, determined to keep her arms around him and her face pressed to his chest. They weren't touching skin to skin yet but the embrace felt nice.
Mintonar sat and pulled her into his lap. His hand stroked down her back and the other pulled her hip closer until it was pressed against his groin where she could feel just how much he desired her. The quick intake of breath she gave when she felt it told him they would need to adjourn to the bedroom soon but for now, he wanted to hold her without the sting of recognition across his nerves.
Chapter 27
Molly wanted to lean up and kiss him but she was enjoying the slow burn of desire building in her core that contrasted so much with the harsh spark that happened when they touched skin to skin. She still loved that, too, but this was nice and something that wasn't really possible very often.
"Come on," she said, nudging him with her elbow. "What are the connotations that make ahura mean more than beloved?"
"There is affection with beloved, and one would expect to feel affection to their ajoia, but it's more intentional than that. It's an acknowledgement that not only is there affection towards the other person but that the affection would be there without the pull of recognition."
"Ajoia? You and Alvola said that before he left, too. What's that mean, then? If you'd feel affection for them then they'd be someone-"
Mintonar kissed her. It was a light pressing of his lips to hers but it was enough to take her breath away. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung as he kept the caress to a light exploration that kept her breathing labored and built on the slow burn he'd started in her stomach with his hug earlier.
When he moved away from her lips, across her cheek, and do
wn her jaw, still with that deliberately slow, gentle motion of his lips and occasionally his tongue, she felt herself start to shiver. Her head fell back and he worked his way down her neck, biting lightly on the places that made her squirm against him. It was exquisite and she loved the way he was taking his time, even if she wanted to just wrap herself around him and feel him drive into her.
"Mintonar," she gasped when one of his hands slid under her shirt to caress one of her breasts.
"Yes, Maw-lee," he said, his lips still moving on her skin. "Is there something you want?"
"You're so mean," she said.
"Do you want me to stop?" he asked, pausing just long enough for her to panic that he actually might.
"Oh, fuck no, keep doing that, please. Just don't tease me for too long," she nearly begged. "I need you."
"I need you, too," he assured her, his hand moving up to undo her shirt. Each fastening that opened gave him another inch to kiss and soon he was making his way down her chest, kissing and licking at her heated flesh. He bent her back and his arm was behind her, supporting her in a way she'd never felt before. She leaned into the bend, trusting him to keep her from falling and hurting herself.
"What-" she stopped to swallow hard and lick her lips when the shirt was all the way open and he took the opportunity to use his lips on the swell of her breasts, moving slowly towards her nipple. "What prompted this?"
"Do you not like it?" he asked, his lips meeting her nipple while his hand found the other one. They caressed gently, kissing and brushing gently, until he took one nipple in his mouth to suck gently while he lightly pinched the other.
Her hips rocked and she squealed at the sensation. "No," she said, breathless. "I like it, I do. You're making me crazy like this."
She felt his lips move against her skin and knew he was grinning. "Am I?" he asked. "Do you like it when I make you crazy, ahura? Should I make you wait for your pleasure every time we come together?"
