FSE

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Long days passed aboard the disgraced vessel, with few words passing between Tyra and Joshua. He had taken to giving her a nod whenever they came into contact. A social tic of his? She returned the favor after a while, trying to ease into the human facade. She slowly raised her voice to a more feminine touch as well. Joshua had no comment on it. Either he didn’t notice, or was too unsure to really give it any note. It was a difficult timbre to match, and Tyra was surprised she had managed the act during their initial escape.

Days and nights were prolonged on the oceanic world, as it rotated slowly. Bright, sunny days mixed with thunderous nights of storms. The ship held steady despite all of this, still maintaining a modicum of honor as its status as a military vessel. Whatever remained of it. Joshua seemed to struggle with the cycle of days, soon opting to move his cot down below for a dark rest.

During one of the more calm nights, Tyra took to the sensors. It was more of a habit at this point, a small comfort. The fact that she could still operate as a researcher in some manner eased her increasingly dull situation. Little had changed in whatever readings the ship could pull from the planet. She still hadn’t solved where oxygen came from. The ocean itself, perhaps?

While she had focused on the terrestrial prison, Tyra occasionally entertained the thought of looking outward. It was a worrisome one. They could have been anywhere within the pocket of the known galaxy. The skies above could have been claimed by her own people, or humans.

Either reign over this part of space was worrisome. With her own kind, imprisonment and eternal servitude. With humans, interrogation and experimentation. That was not necessarily a guarantee. Such words could have been propaganda to drive the war effort. As far as she was aware, there had been no situation for prisoners to be taken, only death. Though, it was logical in war. Perhaps… Willing information? Tyra bowed her head. No. She had already shown cowardice. Outright traitorous behaviors were beneath even her.

Tyra circled her finger over the buzzing sensor station. Rain battered the window to the outside, muddying what little starlight had managed to work its way through the constricting clouds. Only the faint glow of the artificial lights on the bridge kept her from plunging into the darkness. Were it not for the roar of water, it would hardly feel as though she had moved from her point in that graveyard of scrap at all.

She turned the sensors outward. It would take time, but if there was a vessel of some sort here, the ship would find it. Assuming it still functioned properly. And if there was no vessel, Tyra would at least receive information about the system itself. Which would be useful for the potential stretches of time ahead. Days upon days.

With her task complete, Tyra walked over to the viewport. The ship lurched as she did, bobbing over a wave. Gently, she placed her hand to the glass, feeling a cool touch settle on the microscopic hairs on her fingertips, and with it, the battering of the rain. The storm raged through her.

“You alright, there?” Joshua asked.

Tyra pulled her hand back, retreating into the dullness of the ship.

“Yes. I am fine.”

“You looked like you were waiting for something.”

“Are you not as well?”

Tyra turned to look at him. Joshua was clad in his pants and shoes, leaving his torso bare. He was muscular enough to hide the skeleton that lie beneath, almost as though he was a sculpted chunk of gelatin. Somehow, his vulnerable form made him appear more naked.

“I’m waiting for a good night’s rest.” Joshua steadied himself as the ship bobbed again. “But I’m having a hard time. This is probably paranoia, but I’m feeling like you’re up to something.”

“That is understandable. This would be the opportunity to perform illicit activities. However, there are no possible third parties for me to collaborate with.”

Joshua’s expression softened from his stoic, slightly amused look to neutrality. Such a blatant truth was likely not what he was expecting. If he believed it.

“I am truly stuck. I am truly an outcast. I am truly a coward,” Tyra said. She strode over to Joshua. He looked to her with a tilt of the head. She returned the gesture with a nod, and descended below to her resting spot.

Joshua followed her soon after, clinging to the walls to make his descent. His cot was placed in the middle of a few conjoining hallways. He moved over to it, but did not lay down.

“So, enlighten me how this whole outcast thing happened?”

“You see me. I am alive.”

“I’ve had worse hallucinations at sea.”

“Your delusions aside, my mere continued existence proves I have failed.”

“Elaborate for the dumb human.”

“When a vessel, such as this one, is disabled in combat, it is expected of the crew to launch a counterattack on the enemy vessel by any means. One may succeed, or they may expire. I did not succeed, I did not expire. As the rest departed for their task, I remained. They succeeded in death.”

Joshua crossed his arms and watched Tyra’s face. She would have frowned if she could, just to give herself some credence.

“So, just because you didn’t go on a suicide mission, you’re kicked out?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“You don’t seem too beat up about it.”

“I have done enough personal damage to the ship. Should I scream? Should I rend my neck? I have battered and bruised much machinery.” As if protesting, the ship shifted again on the water.

Tyra and Joshua traded stares for a while. His expressive eyes plainly showed he was processing that information. Perhaps the human image of her species was not entirely wrong. Violent warmongers would indeed launch suicidal assaults. It wasn’t a matter of honor or bloodlust, simply duty, but how could they be expected to understand that in a war such as this?

Eventually, Tyra broke the eyeline and retreated into her resting area. The storm outside was now a distant hum. Her senses fell inward. Her joints creaked and her chitin flexed. How had she become so exhausted over another day of nothing? Or perhaps she was freezing in place from the repetition.

“Goodnight,” Joshua said.

“Goodnight,” Tyra replied.

_

A gentle knocking stirred Tyra from her sleep. The human had woken her up. She slid the small door down.

“What is it that you require?” Tyra asked.

Joshua was just around the corner, breathing loudly with those lungs of his. “Something’s beeping on your console.”

Tyra slid out of her bed and bolted upward into the bridge. Indeed, the console was giving a gentle warbling chirp. The array of colors and words informed her of the deadly miracle up above. Far, at the edge of the solar system, sat a quiet satellite, born of her kind. It orbited a dwarf planet, hiding in its shadow. Its purpose was to read and report, and if necessary, shift to a safe position for relaying information.

A deluge of scenarios erupted from this one point. The tunnels of reality were churning now. Tyra had to choose.

“So what is it? Are we dead?” Joshua asked.

“We are not dead.”

In that brief moment, she had forgotten the human element in all of this. Tyra had brought someone with her. Any option she would undertake now would reflect across him as well. Though, if she told him what it was, he’d no doubt spring forward plenty of scenarios to paint her in a bad light. Or so she assumed. She rubbed her mandibles together.

“Do you trust me?” she asked.

“What kind of question is that?”

That was the wrong approach. Every question came with some doubt to it.

“This alert is for a distant satellite, from my people. This is not my doing.”

“You assumed I would think the worst, huh? Not a bad guess. Do they know we’re here?”

“It has sent no alarm. Nor would it have reason to do so. Indeed, if it had, it would have disappeared already. That gives us one opportunity to approach it.”

“Why would we want to do that? Wouldn’t that, you know, make things worse?”

“If we make a proper approach, that will secure us a chance at the pinpointer.”

“So we scoot over there, I grab it, and then we can leave.”

“Over-simplified, yet correct.”

“So let’s get on it, then.” Joshua clapped his hands together and rubbed them.

His masculine bravado roared, and yet his eyes remained glassy. Joshua was not looking forward to this. Tyra, likewise, was not fond of the situation.

“We may remain, if you so desire,” she said.

Joshua walked over to the viewport. “Can’t say that’s the worst idea. Good eating, good fishing.” He knocked on it. “But I’d rather not stay where I could get my organs torn out by an upset bug.”

“Reasonable.”

“Not gonna bite back on that one?”

“I do not know what they will do to you. It is reasonable to assume brutality. I may think the very same of your people.”

“They’d rig you up in a tube and prod at you. Right.”

Tyra wished, for the briefest moments, that she had brows to furrow. Instead, she opted to tilt her head.

“Guess old, shitty sci-fi movies are lost on you.”

And further still, she wanted brows to furrow. Tyra shook her head. “This will require more practice. The satellite is a delicate device.”

“Then let’s get to it.”