“Perfect! Go! Open, so we may cheer and stomp!” Rexna clapped their hands vigorously. Their pincers writhed and curled withexcitement. Aphrodite couldn’t help it. She tugged at the wires and watched them fall apart. Tearing into the paper was satisfying. It fell to the floor and Rexna hollered cheerfully. Aphrodite pulled a few items out of a box. Furrowing her brow, she eyed the devices and tools she had clutched between fingers.
“Is this a data pad?” She spread the items across the table. A data pad and a magnetic tool that both screwed, drilled, and soldered. There was a handful of data chips of varying sizes, an allen wrench, the regular engineer toolkit, and a three-finger glove with sensors. Aphrodite turned to Rexna and smiled. “Thank you!”
“When I approached the Kannatch about your stay and if we were going to fashion your own lab for you, he wasn’t sure where to start. So, I told Kannatch, ‘Not to worry, Rexna knows what technicians need’! Especially since he left you with nothing but the drone and the outdated data pad.”
Aphrodite wheezed, “It’s so old.”
“But old is good for one thing,” Rexna beamed, pincers standing out straight as they spread all four of their hands out like an explosion, “Personalization.”
“Yeah, they’re a good base for your own alterations.” Aphrodite beamed, wanting to toss her arms around Rexna but resisted.I’ve not had the time to even ask for Rexna’s pronouns or if they have preferred pronouns. Xexis might be a hugger but I don’t know if Rexna is.It was simply a lot to interrogate a person with right off the bat. Instead, she grinned, “Shall we stomp?”
“We! Shall!” Rexna bound from their stool. Aphrodite tossed the paper up as they pumped their arms into the air. Cheering felt good after the day she had. Aphrodite let it out as loud as shecould, bouncing and stomping from paper to paper. Rexna howled louder, dancing from piece to piece.
Panting for air, Aphrodite steadily stopped stomping over the discarded paper. Warmth pooling in her chest, she rasped, “Thank you, Rexna.”
“It was an honor! I cannot wait till your next Chrysler.”
Aphrodite chuckled, nodding. “Me either, next time, I will make sure to bring you a present as well.”
Rexna inhaled sharply, their face full of childish wonder, “May I make a request, my Mphronatch?”
“Of course,” Aphrodite motioned breathlessly for Rexna to continue.
“Might it be something you make? It would honor me to have you make something for me.” Rexna bounced from mighty foot to mighty foot. They clasped two hands before them in a prayer. “I would have created you something, but I figured the tools were more important first, then we can trade inventions.”
Trade…inventions?Aphrodite squeaked, her mouth flopped open. “Of course! I would be delighted!”
“Most invigorating! I cannot wait to see what you create, Mphronatch! I shall return to my lab in the engine room, but should you need me, I am there. Your drone knows where I am…he found me quite unsettlingly fast.” Their eyes snapped to Buddy with a squint.Yeah, that’s fair.Aphrodite laughed and waved Rexna goodbye, not wanting to stay in the conversation about her drone. Buddy had secrets and Aphrodite knew better than to ask things she wasn’t ready to know.
She collected the paper and stuffed it into the Vroz equivalent of a cardboard box. Tucking the box under her desk for later inspection, she hopped up onto her stool. Buddy was prodding the data pad with his tentacle.
“Hold on, Buddy,” she laughed. Cranking it on, she was thankful for a simple button press mechanic on the back. After sliding the case over the data pad, she found it booted up without issue. In seconds she was back in a basic system. Neither Vroz nor Human, it was empty with a simple swirling blue background.A blank canvas.Peering up to her drone, she smiled. “It’d probably be simpler to upgrade my data pad into this one, huh, instead of tearing it apart. What do you think? Lens click once for yes, two for no?”
One click. Nodding, she turned her attention to the data pad and switched it off. She peeled the cover off the data pad and got to work. Keeping most of the device as it was, she worked around the blank canvas. It wasn’t set for one function or the other. She imputed commands for her drone as well with a command screen for Buddy to talk to her, giving it the same programs for scanning and analyzing. However, as she was picking at its guts, she was struck by inspiration.
Spinning from the data pad, she glanced at the wall lining the whole lab. The belly of the ship was framed by a wall of bits and things one might need. She sprang off her stool and raced to the wall, Buddy zipping after her. Aphrodite was already intending to upgrade Buddy! Might as well adapt the software!
Arms full of bits and bobbles, she trotted back to her desk. “Oh, Buddy, you’re gonna be so fucking cool in about 24 to 48 hours!”
Hunched over the desk, Aphrodite got to work. No thinking of angler fish people eating other people. No Max or Danny orTedros or Carso. No Winrow Smith or the human space station. Just her and what she could accomplish with a soldering iron.
The lab stank of hot metal and adhesive by the time she cracked the frame back together. Sliding the protective case over the device and strapping it to her arm felt good. Turning it on by double tapping her screen felt better. Seeing it boot up fully without hesitation, a green background and command screen, ready to program, was the best. She pumped her arm up and down. Her legs kicked under her as she poked at the screen swiftly.
Aphrodite organized the applications across the main screen and was nose deep in linking them together when other footsteps came toward her. She tore her attention away from her device to find Xexis. He was in more official garb than she’d ever seen. A black fabric robe that wrapped around his torso but was sleeveless. There were rings of shimmering crystal around each of his biceps, covering the walls in the lab with rainbows. He wore military style pants that had a design etched into the side of the legs. With him walking, she couldn’t study what it was. However, she liked how formal it made him look. He stepped to her table, and she turned to face him fully.
“How did it go?” She arched a brow.
“They are in pain, but I did not tell them how he died. Only that he died loving and missing them. They are hurt but they will heal. His mate is strong, and she had many younglings to remember him by.” He took Rexna’s previously occupied stool and sat down. Xexis nodded to her data pad.He probably doesn’t want to keep thinking about it.She held it up before showing it to him. “You have performed your upgrades?”
“Well, part one. Tomorrow I’ll have to work on Buddy here.” She nodded at the metal octopus, crawling over the desk like a spider. “I have this idea in my head for him.”
“Will he still be a bulbous thing?” Xexis waved a finger at the drone.
“Yeah, I’m fond of the octopus shape, that's why I programmed him into that shell. It’s not ideal; I kept telling my superiors that it’s efficient and I could always put things in his tentacles or other things, but…I just wanted him to be a cute little guy.” She extended a hand to him. He bounced from the tabletop into her palm. She flashed a warm smile to his camera lens before bringing him close to her chest. A speech bubble popped onto her screen.
Green text clicked across the screen.
Aphrodite Kerso will make me mighty.
