“He’s...different,” I said weakly.He looked exactly like every other syto I’d seen except from an alternate dimension.Same face, same structure, but this syto was grinning and his movements were loose and easy instead of tense and regimented.He was barefoot and had a small knife hanging from his belt and looked healthy in a way I just now realized the Kwin’s guards didn’t.
“Yeah, he’s our little weirdo,” Taz said fondly.
“Hello, female,” Gigi said cheerfully, sticking out a hand.I shook it.
“We brought another syto back with us,” I said dumbly, not sure what I was supposed to say to him.
Gigi’s tentacles curled slightly, one by one.“I met him this morning.Jiith.”
“Yeah, Jiith.He’s not like you.”
He grinned.“Of course not, I’m a different person.”
Hope shot me a sympathetic look when I glanced at her.“We’ve been helping Gigi find himself.The sytos are all genetically engineered for their jobs and sort of brainwashed to see themselves as expendable and interchangeable.”
“It’s a horrible way to live,” Gigi said, still smiling.“I like it better here.Naomi said I can mate a woman if I find one that likes me.Do you know any?”
“Women?”I asked.
“Yes.None of the ones here want me.”He didn’t seem upset by the fact.
“Oh,” I said, weakly.“I don’t know anybody, I’m sorry.”
Gigi shrugged and looked over at Taz.“Did you need something?”
“Yeah, bring Jessa some meat and tell Dargo I need him to haul some stuff to our tent.”Taz shooed him off.
“Is he a slave here?”I asked when the syto happily jogged off to do as she said.
“No,” Hope laughed.“He’s just eager and he gets clingy if you don’t give him enough jobs.He worked pretty much every moment of his life before he ended up with us, I think he feels like he’s stuck on a vacation that won’t end.”
“This is not what I expected,” I admitted.“I spent so long thinking if I walked outside, I'd get hit by a meteor or something and this is all...weirdly normal?”
Taz crossed her arms and looked me dead in the eye.
“I did my job as the welcoming committee, you know we’re not a cult.So now it's time to ask,” she raised a pierced brow.“What are your intentions with Tovis?”
