Desur was quick to bring his ears forward. “There’s no ill will between us. While you’re with us, you can rest.”
“A short sleep would be nice,” Gis agreed, stumbling a little over his words as if he wasn’t used to speaking so freely about his needs. Gis looked at Amina. “I’d like to answer your question. Souls are born at a level of dirtiness. The lower the soul, the dirtier it is. We are called the shaded. Those born with clear souls are without filth.”
“Can your soul, um, get cleaner?” Amina asked with a little frown.
“Not in this universe,” Gis said. “But after we die, shaded souls will live through another universe and then another. If we are obedient and hard working, our souls will slowly become less and less opaque until we’re clear. Then we get to return to our universe of origin and be born into a clear family.”
The Ossisos weren’t the only species that believed in a multiverse model of reality, but they were the only ones who believed souls traveled across them over many lifetimes.
“That’s isher shit,” Teshor grumbled.
“It’s not our place to judge other cultures,” Helmen said, although her ears indicated she wasn’t happy about what Gis was saying either. “How do your people decide who has a shaded soul or not?”
“The family your soul is born into indicates how shaded your soul is and how you should be treated by everyone else,” Gis said.
“I don’t like that,” Amina mumbled.
Myrum agreed with her, although something similar happened among his people. If you were born to a prominent family you had access to more opportunities. Conversely, if yourfamily was known to have someone die of Fading, others might avoid you politically and socially.
“Can I assume that the Annexers are shaded and Cores are clear?” Helmen asked.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Gis said, then shifted his gaze around as if expecting someone to jump out and drag him away. “Annexers aren’t trying to upset the balance, but the Cores are killing us. All we want is a chance to build up a comfortable life. They want to make us suffer, but that’s not their decision. Our suffering is decided by the multiverse. If the multiverse didn’t want us to thrive, then we’d face solar storms, unstable planets, or disease.”
“You should come with us,” Desur said. “We have one more cabin; you could stay there.”
“Desur!” Helmen’s sharp tone made Desur shrink back a little.
“What?” he asked, trying hard to stand tall in the face of Helmen’s displeasure. “He needs to be rescued, and that’s what we do.”
Myrum was very interested in what Desur meant by that. He made a note to ask Amina later.
Helmen let out an aggravated sigh. “We can’t save all shaded souls within the Ossiso civilization.”
To Myrum’s surprise, Desur didn’t back down. “We don’t need to save everyone if we can save Gis.”
“I don’t need to be saved,” Gis said, his eyes bouncing back and forth between Desur and Helmen. “I’m where I need to be.”
Helmen let out a little relieved breath then muttered, “That’s helpful.”
Desur didn’t look convinced. “Don’t you want to live a life where you’re treated as an equal and judged on what you do instead of what family you were born to?”
Gis opened his mouth, closed it, then looked around again before speaking. “I’m here for a reason. I have a purpose. I can’t say any more than that.”
The tips of Desur’s ears drooped in confusion. Amina and the rest of the crew looked intrigued.
Before anyone could try to ask him any questions, Gis spoke rapidly.
“We have next to nothing to offer here on Tik, but there’s a pleasure ship docked at the other side of the station. It’s here for repairs, and our station director agreed to give them a discount if they remain open for the station’s staff.”
“What type of pleasure ship?” Teshor asked.
“Medium sized with style-nine entertainment,” Gis answered.
“Style nine?” Myrum asked.
“Style nine means the ship has restaurants, gambling, games, and some entertainment acts,” Teshor explained. Her ears were twitching with excitement. “Do they have domie?”
“I’m not sure,” Gis said. “But their gambling section is large. If they don’t offer that game, then they’ll have something similar."
