“Wait. You don’t know how to read.” He clapped his wrist nodes together with excitement. “You don’t know how to read!” He paused then. “Apologies, I’m just excited I finally understand what you’re trying to tell me.”
Cassie resisted the very human urge to snort. After all, she barely counted as a person. A passera wasn’t a person.A passeratranscends personhood. This was what the Aviarist always said. But she would humor the educator, so she shook her head sadly as she made a gesture in his direction with the same indicator of questioning.
"You want me to teach you?"
“I’m so grateful!” Cassie nodded. Finally, he got it. Quicker than she’d expected, but so much more awkward. The double nodes on his palms met in quick succession with enthusiasm. At least he seemed eager to help. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if he said no. The tension in her forehead eased as she took a step away from the board.
“When would you like to start? You don’t have to call me educator. Call me Örim. Can you call me Örim?” he was rambling, but Cassie offered him a generous smile. Names she could only do as programmed. Her voicelock was always modified before meeting a new client. Örim’s name was not, however, part of her codex.
“This service is not available.” Coming from her voicelock, it sounded genuinely apologetic.
“So, no names then. Fascinating.” The teösian watched the blinking chip on her throat instead of her face, and Cassie was certain she knew exactly what he wanted. Well, she wasn’t about to stop him. If he wanted to study her voicelock, she would let him. He wouldn’t learn anything that the IA scientists hadn’t been able to figure out, but if it got him to teach her how to read, it seemed like a fair trade.
CHAPTER 8
Örim
Örim sat at his work desk in the schoolhouse. As much as he would rather use the array setup he had back in his domicile, that one was incapable of processing secure documents from off planet. It was perhaps a bit premature, but the university hiring cycle waited for no one, and with Cassie’s willing participation, he saw no reason not to start submitting inquiries about their hiring opportunities.
He pulled up his credentials, trying to decide how he would allude to his time working as an educator on an IA colony. It wasn’t exactly a prestigious position, but he had to justify his absence from the institute on Teös. A service year. Yes, that sounded appropriately diligent and purposeful. He suspected the universities would appreciate him taking the time to become acquainted with other IA species, especially given how insular teösians were known for being.
Örim’s hands flurried over his interface as he pulled his application together. Four universities were actively hiring bioengineers. Two on Brasnia Prime, a third on Ita Ita, andthe fourth on Fleri. One standard year. He could survive a year here. He’d need the time to fully compile a profile on Cassie’s voicelock anyway.
He was about to submit the first portion of the application when the schoolhouse door creaked open. Two of the urtazi spawn, the youngest female, Grora, and her brother, whose name he couldn’t remember.
“Educator Örim? I forgot my doll here.” The female puffed her throat while her larger brother stood behind her watching.
“You’re welcome to look for it.” He glanced up from the interface, trying to disguise his annoyance at being interrupted.
“Will you help me?”
“There is a limited number of options for where it could be. Are you sure you left it here?” Örim entered the send command on his datapad for the first application, an institute on Brasnia Prime. He’d apply for one on Fleri next. Grora moved around the classroom, searching in nonsensical places while her brother followed.
“I can’t find it.”
Örim tapped the nodes at the back of his neck with annoyance as he stood up from his desk and peered into the space under the table where she usually sat. He found the doll wedged into the charging net for the holointerface.
“Is this your doll?”
“Ooh! You found it.”
“Do you need anything else?”
“No, thanks! See you tomorrow, educator.” Grora hopped out of the schoolhouse, kicking up dust as she went. Her brother followed without a word. Örim refocused on his applications, submitted them, and then turned his attention back to the reading lessons he’d promised.
He wasn’t entirely sure what had possessed him. Most curricula were focused on younglings, and Cassie certainlywasn’t a youngling. It was going to be a headache to pull something together appropriate in scope and skill level, but he’d promised, so he found himself deep in the intelewave researching adult literacy practices.
CHAPTER 9
Cassie
“And you, little one? Now that you’re leaving the creche, you’ll need a name.” The matron ruffled Human Female 27’s hair. “A fierce name for a passera like you.” She flipped through something on her datapad. “How about Cassowary?”
“What’s that?”
“It looks like this. The feathers are like your hair. Dark and pretty.”
“Okay! I’ll be Cassiewary.” She grinned up at the matron, who offered a small, rare smile.
