She started gathering the tools and parts scattered on the floor around her. “Are you excited about visiting Tik Station? It’ll be nice to be off the ship for a little while.”
That reminded him of the reason he came searching for her in the first place.
“I want to take the crew out to a nice meal,” he said. “Could you tell me if there’s an establishment they’d favor? I’ve never been to Tik, and there isn’t any information about it on the ship’s UniBase, so I couldn’t find out if there are any places that serve Ugarian food.”
“That’s a great idea,” Amina said, getting to her feet. He stood up also and grabbed the tool bag and parts bucket before she could. “None of us have been to the station either. It only opened last year. We could all decide together. It’ll be a great bonding experience.”
He didn’t like this idea. He’d been raised to think asking others to help coordinate something meant it wasn’t a gift, it was a burden. He already felt guilty about asking Amina for guidance.
He sounded a questioning rumble. “Are you sure?”
“This’ll be fun,” she said. “We’ll all get a vote and then eat at the place that is most popular. Besides, nothing can be as bad as Hulg food!”
He sounded a rumble of amusement. “That’s true, although I’ve heard Ollie food isn’t very appetizing unless you have multiple stomachs.”
“Doringo food can be hard to eat too, since we don’t have a gizzard full of stones to help us grind up bones,” she responded with a giggle. “I’m looking forward to it. It's almost always fun to explore a new station.”
This was the perfect opportunity to warn Amina about an aspect of Ossiso culture.
“What do you know about Ossiso beliefs?” he asked.
“Not much,” she admitted, guiding them to the right when they got to a T intersection. “I’ve never done a run into their sector. I know a lot about Porians and Massocs though. Do you want to give me a quiz?”
He sounded an amused rumble. “You can tell me all about them later. Right now I think you should know that the Ossisos have some interesting thoughts about who has a soul and who doesn’t. Free will is considered extremely important to them.”
“Like the Delorta,” Amina said. “They don’t approve of slavery because a slave can’t add weight to their soul and become a star after they die.”
He didn’t know much about Delorta, even though some of the outer reaches of the Talin Empire bordered their space.
“I didn’t understand that at all, but you can explain that later too. It’s important you know the Ossisos believe if someone is a slave they’ve forfeited their soul. If you’ve ever been a slave you can never get your soul back, even if you’re freed.”
Amina frowned. “Do they treat the soulless differently?”
“Horrificaly,” he said. “Ossisos think anyone who finds themselves owned shouldn’t even be acknowledged..”
“That’s not good,” Amina said with a shake of her head. “We need to ask Helmen to have your collar removed.”
Myrum reflexively touched his neck, running his fingers over the thin collar. He’d forgotten it was even there.
“That’s not why I wanted to warn you,” he said. “The Ossiso Civilization of Souls and the Talin Empire have been involved in intense cultural and diplomatic exchanges over the last few solars. Because of that, the Ossisos might have certain, uh, beliefs about humans.”
She cast him a confused look as she ducked into a room. He followed her to find himself in a tight space full of shelves laden with boxes. She started putting tools and parts away.
“What belief would the Ossisos have about humans?” she asked.
Myrum really didn’t want to talk about this but knew it was necessary. “They might think most of you are slaves. If anyone disrespects you, I’ll make sure they know you're free and havealways been free, but they might see us together and make some assumptions.”
She put the last items away and turned to face him. “What assumptions?”
“Just some assumptions,” Myrum said. He really didn't want to tell her about the humans kept as pets by Talins. Even though he saw humans as equal, finding out some humans within the Talin Empire were truly owned might make her despise him.
He couldn’t have that. No, it was better she never found out!
“Whatever,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Let's go find Helmen and get permission to take your collar off. I don’t want anyone being mean to you because they think you don’t have a soul. Slavery is bad enough to begin with, but it sounds like the Ossisos are looking for an excuse to be mean.”
She grabbed his hand and led him out of the storage room. She pulled him down the hall, her stride short and fast. He lengthened his own to keep up with her furious pace.
“Helmen should be in command,” she said, turning another corner. For such a small ship, Myrum found it easy to become disoriented.
