Alex managed to get a brief, semi-private meeting with Carbon at the end of the work day. He decided that he would just slow roll the physical inspection of the Hokule'a, hoping they would finish the much smaller drone first so everyone would leave and Carbon, being Carbon, would come over to help. Or help - either would be fine.

It did kind of work out. He stretched the inspection out as long as he could manage without being too obvious, which was about fifteen minutes after they finished manually digging around in the drone and reassembling it... so everybody came over to hang out and chatted while they watched him finish up.

He should have told Amalu to clear a lane for him. Alex had the feeling that wouldn't work mere seconds after he first had the idea and didn't try. Given the pure bashfulness radiating off of Amalu when Linda Zheng was within five meters, he was right and it would have happened in the most obvious manner possible, or not at all.

It was nice that he knew his team so well. Annoying, but nice.

While Alex was still unable to communicate via telepathy, Carbon did catch the glance and nod when they were getting ready to walk down to the mess hall. The two of them strolled slowly in the cold waning light, a breeze threatening to turn each breath of steam into frost. Just a warning that Williams had been asking about Eleya and that she intended to speak to Carbon about it as well, and the briefest rundown of what had been said so far. There wasn't much time for anything else.

Dinner went down without issue. Amalu and Zheng were clearly trying to have a quiet moment that only Alex seemed to notice, because Kova and Tokona just sort of stacked into the booth with them. Better than Crenshaw or Karras, at least.

Williams did come to borrow Carbon shortly after she had finished eating. This left Abbot sitting at the table with Alex and Neya, who absolutely only barely knew each other and definitely had no history whatsoever. Alex just got along well with everyone.

Alex probably wouldn't have minded sitting around and shooting the shit with Abbot, but Neya was clearly ready to get going, so Alex was ready to get going as well. Sure, he could just let her wander back to Barracks 3 by herself, but it just felt inappropriate.

"Yeah, we'll catch up later. I'm just kinda beat after doing that inspection. Lots of little details I don't normally come in contact with, you know? Feels like my brain is dried out." That was true, at least. That was a lot of fiddly scanning stuff that Alex has never had to do until now. He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and followed Neya to the recycler, both of them tossing their dishes in.

"All right, get some rest. I want to run some stuff past you before you take the drone up tomorrow. I can't tell if it's actually something or just bad data from short range sensors pushed well past their limits. As you are the 'long range guy' I hope you will have a little more insight." Abbot was still sipping tea and eating digestive biscuits, which was incredibly on brand for him.

"Yeah, just bring it to breakfast tomorrow, I'll take a look." They shuffled into the airlock with a wave to the remainder of the folks in there, Neya curling her tail around her waist before zipping up her thick winter jacket and pulling her hood on, generally getting fully bundled for the short walk before the outer door opened. Alex had not even bothered to put his jacket back on, just slung it over his shoulder. He waited to speak again until they had stepped out into the freezing night. "How are you that cold?"

"How are you not cold?" The retort came from within a fluffy lined hood that obscured nearly all of Neya's face, just a bit of pale lavender snout visible. "Are you wearing heated clothing?"

"Well, yeah. The pants." He hadn't even thought about that, even though he has to charge them every other day because of how cold it was, and the trepidation around their first trip through the wash had been a bit nerve wracking... Turned out fine, though. "The rest of me is just freezing until I get back inside."

She turned enough to look at him like he was insane. "You are carrying a jacket!"

"But if I put it on, then I'm just gonna have to take it back off in like thirty seconds." A little bit of a stretch, they weren't even halfway there yet. He was only going to be out here for three minutes, tops. Any longer than that and yes, he'd be pulling that jacket on.

Still wouldn't zip it up, probably. It was only -1 out, maybe -2. Not that bad. He had been out in worse weather just last week.

Neya scoffed. "Very well. You may have your fingers regrown as often as you wish, but I do not intend to tempt winter. Ever." There was just a hint of concern in her voice.

The Tsla'o tended to think of winter as a living entity, as far as Alex could tell. It was inevitable and dangerous. As such it commanded respect and caution, even though it did not care about or even recognize the mortals that had to survive it. Not malicious or malevolent, just nature carrying on as it does.

"I promise if we have to spend more time out here, I'll put it on." He relented, now halfway to the barracks. A little chilly from the waist up, yes, but his legs were toasty. "How are you holding up now that you've had a little time to settle in? You got a pack of clothes sent through yesterday, right?"

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Just normal questions for a fellow artifact explorer.

"It is still... Not somewhere I want to be for much longer. I hope that my part here will end soon." They walked in silence for a few steps before she continued. "My part here will end soon?"

"That's the hope. There's enough space upstairs that we can probably use a waverider drive without collapsing anything. Zip over to where the map wants us to take the key and then with any luck you won't have to stay much longer after that." He was sure they could use the waverider, but hadn't actually sat down to run the numbers.

"Good. I appreciate the hospitality of everyone here, but I am very unsettled by..." She petered off as laughter from behind them cut through the cold night air.

They both glanced back to see who it was. Alex already knew, but based on how wide Neya's eyes were when she whipped her head around to face forward again... She had not picked up on the signs yet. Her voice had dropped to just above a whisper. "Are they..."

He nodded. "Amalu's trying. I gotta say, Zheng seems to be game as well."

"Really." She sounded quite incredulous.

Well the tone there cut a little close to the bone. "Not sure how I should take that." Alex deadpanned as they reached the airlock to the barracks, the outer door sliding open for them.

"Not personally, be assured." Neya said as she glanced back to Amalu and Zheng again, who were definitely headed their way. She hustled into the airlock before continuing, "I am merely surprised that such interest would flourish here."

"Pressure can really speed things up." He did not mention that Neya should know that just as well as he did, given everything that had happened with her and Carbon since the Cataclysm. The airlock cycled, a whirlwind of heated air bringing them up to the interior temperature in a few seconds. Alex held his hand up and waggled his fingers. "Made it through just fine."

Neya pursed her lips as she looked up at him, mildly annoyed. "So it is." She turned and stepped into the barracks, unzipping her own jacket now that she was no longer in immediate danger of getting frostbite, her tail uncurling and looking rather disheveled from the brief trip.

"I am going to head to bed, I think." Alex stretched and yawned, as though his body wanted to underscore that he should be going to bed at a reasonable hour today. He was still going to wait up for Carbon, of course. "Give those two a little space out here to uh... chat without having to worry about a bunk mate popping in without warning."

In the common area they'd at least hear the airlock first.

He assumed they'd be keeping it mild, at least, particularly since there wasn't much privacy to be had anywhere around here. Unfortunate for a budding relationship, but if they wanted to continue such a thing, maybe something could be figured out after their mission here was finished. Ok, they could request to swap a bunk. There was... enough privacy in that situation for quite a lot to happen.

The thought did make him wonder how Keta and Desaya were doing. They had been headed to the Alps first, he had heard. They were probably not taking up skiing, but the views would be nice.

Neya cleared her throat quietly. "Before you go, Mister Sorenson... I find some things in my bunk that seem just a little too Human for me to properly understand, would you mind answering a few questions for me?"

"Oh yeah, sure." He knew Carbon had been checking in with her at least once a day, so the likelihood that she was actually unsure about something was roughly zero. Carbon would have asked. He still followed her into her room, which she did not share with anyone.

She stopped right in front of the armor storage cabinets and waved her arms at them. "What in the hells are these closets for? They are enormous, but there is nothing to hang clothes from and the curtains make no sense at all."

Oh, maybe she did have some real questions. Alex could not stop the grin that came from the frustration in her voice. "Storing armor or environment suits. Human suits open out the back and don't require a frame to exit. You'd draw the curtain, walk in, and then hop out and put clothes on. Then close the door because they look kind of creepy just standing there."

"Is it so." Neya opened the door to the cabinet and looked hard at the dimensions within, nodding as she did. "Very well, that is understandable. There is one other thing down here..."

She stopped to peel her winter jacket off and hang it up, then proceeded to the far end of the room by the actual bunks. Alex followed, only for Neya to wrap him up in a hug once he was far enough away from the camera on the door controls. He hugged her back, of course. She didn't say anything, just gripped him tightly and rested her head on his chest for a good ten seconds before the door to the airlock opened, the moment ended with a quiet sigh and a rueful glance at Alex.

Neya stepped back and straightened her jacket, then plucked a lavender hair off his shirt. "Thank you for the help, that was very informative." She said it nice and loud so it would carry.

"Of course, any time." He gave her a little bow and a smile before leaving. That was sad. He felt bad about this, ultimately. She didn't want to be doing this but was the only Zeshen they could get in anything approaching a timely manner.

He was surprised to see that it wasn't just Amalu and Zheng, who were both dusted with snow like they had been in a snowball fight, but Carbon as well. Sort of explained the sheepish looks the young pair were wearing, as well. "I'm headed to bed, night." No sense in dragging it out. He was being the most subtle wingman in existence right now.

He got a pair of goodnights as he ducked into the bunk, Carbon nodding as she went to check on Neya. Alex didn't even bother changing yet, he just sat on Carbon's bunk and waited for her to get back. Took maybe ten minutes before she returned, locking the door behind her and tossing herself onto the bunk beside him with a groan as she stretched her back. "You will not believe what Linda was asking me about all afternoon."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.