She’d considered it on the space station, and discarded it just as fast. No matter how desperate she was, how desperate Celise was… that space station wasn’t hers to inhabit. It was a monument of nylarian culture and beliefs, half-frozen in time.
And now, the last surviving nylarian was justhandingthe metaphorical keys to her.
“Yes. Hence, this.” Dutch lifted the container of moss. Or rather… Moss, capitalM. “As the biomes collapse in the auxiliary domes, remaining oxygen is cycled into the center dome to protect the kerrac tree. But even that will fail in the next few decades.”
“Why are you concerned about this now?” Torian asked, confused. “It sounds like that’s been happening for hundreds of years.”
“I haven’t been back to Vaesa in over a thousand,” Dutch said. “Not until you stole my ship.”
“Iboughtyour ship. And it basically kidnapped us to get us there.” Torian leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms stubbornly.
“Semantics. The point is, I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten—and now, it can’t be ignored. Moss is the last great nylarian invention. Its colony grows faster and produces more oxygen than normal moss. It will take time, but Moss is fully capable of revitalizing Vaesa.”
Torian had been calling itVey-ee-sahafter Moss’s pronunciation, but Dutch’s accent twisted it into something more likeVay-ah-sah.
What would it be like to know a language, and then live long enough to see it fade into oblivion? To watch a space station—once a bustling hub of his species—rot under disuse? To know his entire culture, his family and friends, abandoned him for something new?
And in the end, only Dutch remained, the last vestige of a species no one remembered.
Torian couldn’t even imagine.
“Are you sure you want me trespassing in that station?” Torian couldn’t proceed without knowing that answer.
Dutch smiled, and his enthusiasm cooled into something eons older, something calm and sad. The lights dancing along his hair faded.
“My dear, I have been a very poor representation of my people. As a result, I have avoided that station, thatplanet, longer than you can imagine.” He drew a slow breath. “My time is nearly finished here. Nothing would please me—or my people—more than helping revitalize something that never should have suffered in the first place.”
Oh.
It was hard to swallow past the sudden lump in Torian’s throat. She coughed, wiping her eyes properly now. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Your input matters little,” Moss said matter-of-factly. “I am going to overtake Kerracia and laugh as she wilts beneath my moss.”
Dutch rolled his eyes. “We’ve been over this, Moss. Kerracia is a valuable symbol—”
“A wilting symbol, soon.”
“Can I bring my sister?” Torian interrupted.
Dutch laughed lightly. “Ah, was that not obvious? Apologies; lots to remember, lots to forget. Yes, of course, your sister is welcome, and any other human you’d like to bring. You are social beings—it’d be rather cruel to offer you a ‘gift’ of human isolation.”
Torian’s eyes widened, and she forgot herself for a moment. “Any human? Anyone?”
“That space station is large, and will likely need a thriving community to restore. So, yes. Anyone.”
Amelia, Torian’s brain supplied, whispering it like a prayer. It was so stupid; Amelia had moved on. And even if she hadn’t, Toriancouldn’t imagine her ex-captain being tempted by a derelict space station in a dangerous nebula.
On the other hand, it was a safe, unknown location. Even if the nebula wasn’t destroying every starship on sight—provided they had the right flight path, evidently—it still held a protective reputation.
Vaesa was a smuggler’s paradise.
Not that Torian would want it devolving into that. But… if Amelia was interested, maybe they could discuss a more ethical use for her skill set and supply routes.
Or maybe this was all stupid, and Torian was just imagining her perfect home, complete with her not-dying sister and her maybe-interested ex. Torian stamped down those thoughts; she’d have to be strategic about how they built this new colony.
Especially when Dutch added, “Of course, Zen and I will help restore Vaesa where we can.”
That was actually a relief, knowing she wouldn’t have to figure out this massive undertaking alone. Hopefully Zen’s draic crew were as nice as he was—otherwise she’d have a hard time convincinganyhuman to venture to that space station.
