But then she realized…
Haven was now in a new place with a new language and new things to learn. The allure of it, the drive of the curiosity she had ever denied, was too powerful.
So, she stayed.
Haven found herself in trouble but came to realize that she could adjust herself to it without issue. And wandering the world had suited her quite well. There were so many ways to satisfy her curiosity and very few people to annoy and disappoint if she was constantly on the move.
It was a great time. She learned a lot. About the world. About machines. About herself. She built her skills in sneaking, in language learning, in fitting into tight spaces, in scraping together a survival without actually settling down.
The first time Haven said to herself that she got herself in trouble was when she managed to sneak her way onto a spaceship. The vessel that took the group of people up to the moon for the alien sponsored lunar experiments was heavily guarded and extremely well monitored – but Haven was better.
That ship had been deliberately designed to be similar to an airplane for the comfort of the humans riding on it. That meant Haven, who was used to getting herself into tight situations – literally and figuratively – kind of already knew a safe place to hide and not be seen. And the allure of seeing alien technology was too great for her to resist.
She was in so much trouble, she’d whisper to herself excitedly as the ship took off into the atmosphere – unknowingly carrying her inside of it.
The next year she spent on the moon was the happiest of her life to that point. There was so much to look at. So much to learn. The alien technology, the alien language, the aliens themselves; it was a smorgasbord of delights to her curiosity. She’d also honed her hiding skills on the lunar base. She learned that some aliens had greater senses of smell or hearing or sight – and she learned how to evade them. When the experiments ended and it was time for her to move on, she could, and did, confidently sneak her way onto the starship that was taking the others who had given up on Earth to their next destination.
It was there that she met her friend.
Okay, maybe calling Grace her friend was a bit of a stretch considering they’d never spoken to or seen each other and Grace didn’t even know Haven existed. But Grace was the point around which Haven built her new, secret life, so she was her friend.
Haven’s time on Holotulle was even better than the moon. It was a giant ringworld. It was an alien wonderland. There was more to learn, more to break down and rebuild, and much less of a chance that she would be caught. While she was there, she began to develop her tools and really perfected her skills.
When Grace left, moving to her new job, Haven had been tempted to let her go. To go off on her own and continue learning. But maybe the desire for basic human contact, even if it wasn’t real, was strong even in her because she couldn’t bring herself to do it. When Grace moved on, Haven followed her again.
And it was the best decision she ever made. Hir-Fallow was a starship repair station. Which meant that Haven had access to new tools and machines to both learn and use. Things were already broken, so nothing she did was ever noticed. And it was there that she created her ultimate tool. An invention that allowed her to truly disappear in this world yet still interact with it.
Life was good. She was constantly learning. No one talked to her so there was no one to disappoint, but she had Grace, and that was almost like having one of her silent roommates that never acknowledged her back. And that was enough.
So, next time, when Grace moved on again, Haven had no compunction about following. Haven didn’t know why Grace had chosen to leave her great job as a dock master to live on arun down, old starship for a tiny delivery company, but she was ever so grateful.
The ship, she learned from listening to the others, was called the Humility. It was the home for a bunch of degenerates turned delivery boys. And it was a broken, rusted, ancient piece of crap being held together by duct tape, hopes, and dreams. Which practically made it a playground for Haven and her toys and tools.
The only real drawback she could find was the Big Guy.
Haven was pretty sure they called him Vytln. She overheard the others talking to each other, so she knew everyone’s names, but she had her own nicknames for them. There were two big guys, but she wouldn’t call the other onetheBig Guy. Mostly because he didn’t act like the Big Guy.
But the big guy did. He was huge and surly and, unlike the other big guy, never tried to make himself smaller for anyone.
And he knew she was there.
Haven was really good at hiding herself. Both from biological and technological sensors. She knew how to cover her scents, her sounds, how to make herself invisible to most scans. Most of the time, no one ever noticed her, and the few times they did, they convinced themselves they were wrong when they didn’t find any other trace of her.
But the Big Guy wouldn’t talk himself into thinking she wasn’t real. He saw the subtle traces and knew that someone was there. Haven had tried hiding from him, but she couldn’t help but leave behindsometrace of herself as she had her fun poking around the ship.
It was really annoying.
At first.
Haven had never been so doggedly pursued before. When he initially started chasing her down, she’d been aggravated. She just wanted to work and learn and not worry about other people. Or about having to slip away before he caught her.
But then, somehow, it started to become a game.
She got a thrill every time she escaped. She had to smother her laughter when he’d suddenly throw open a panel, but she wasn’t there anymore. She couldn’t make too much noise. Some aliens had really good hearing, and she didn’t know if his species was one of them. The Humility was old and clanged a lot, so most of her movements were disguised, but when he got that close to her, she couldn’t risk even an errant breath.
It very quickly became the highlight of her days. He tried harder and harder to track her down, and she started teasing him. Deliberately leaving subtle signs behind. Just to watch him lose his mind, and see the others not believe him. He particularly hated it when she messed with his wiring.
Though, really, he should thank her. His wiring was perfectly functional, but it was an absolute, chaotic mess. That she was untangling and organizing them should be counted as pure charity work on her part. He should be leaving her treats in the walls.
