Bridgebuilder

Partners

"I do not know that it will help, but yes, I will take the afternoon off." Carbon gave him a dry look as she returned from the Tsla'o-made dispenser that had been welded into the corner of the mess, a drink tube of tea in her hand. "But only this afternoon. There is still much to be done with the engines."

"Fine, fine. We will go to work on them tomorrow." He folded his arms on the table, his own half-finished beverage floating exactly where he'd left it over the stack of tablets he'd commandeered to plot the waveride that would get them out of system. He'd finish that tonight. The slingshot around the local star was the hard part, and he was sure it was almost dialed in. The rest of the ride was a straight shot and all he had to do was draw a line for that.

Carbon had made tea, and sitting across from Alex at the table in the mess she sipped it and studied him. "You look like you have questions. Am I interpreting your expression correctly?"

"You're right again." Alex took a pull from his tube of coffee flavored caffeine and sugar, long since cold. "I feel like they'd be invasive, though."

"I will tell you if they are too invasive." She shrugged.

Had she always shrugged? Did Tsla'o shrug, or had she picked it up from him? He shuffled those questions to the bottom of the pile. "All right, so according to the primer - and I understand it might not be accurate - you guys have to grieve your dead, right? It says it's basically a requirement."

"It is... Not as simple?" She paused, sipping on her tea as she compiled her thoughts. "That may have been slipped in when one of the Imperials died. I believe three have expired since our races met, and there would be a required state holiday for that. A full shutdown for the day would be expected. On an individual level, it is probably wise to do so, but not some sort of requirement."

"And you said you hadn't done that."

Carbon took a minute this time, staring into the dark amber liquid in her drink tube. "Correct. I would like to. I suspect I do not have the time necessary to do so."

His eyebrows went up. "How much time do you need?"

She rotated the bottle in her hand, a single claw flexed out of the dark fur of her fingertip scoring a line in the thin plastic. "I have lost many, and I have suppressed those feelings for years now. Even just speaking about it makes me feel my grip on them is tenuous. I do not know how long releasing that hold will affect me."

He held up a finger, putting it all together. "Ah, and now would not be the best time to find out it puts you off your game for a week or two. Or longer."

"Precisely." She went back to her tea, staring through the wall as she took a drink. "I would appreciate it if we set that topic aside for now. Anything else on your mind?"

"Say no more." He had other questions, lightweight stuff that he should have lead with, not skipping directly to the darkest thing he could probably ask. Change of plan. "Is there anything you'd like to talk about? Anything you want to ask me? I feel like I've just been prying and I don't know if that's putting us on weird footing for you."

"You have, and it does. It is very Human of you." She laughed, a wry smile on her muzzle as she leaned back from the table, foot hooked into the bar under the bench to keep from floating away. "Tell me about yourself. I question everything I've been told about you now, and I would very much prefer not to do that."

"Fair. All right, so I was born and raised in the Berkley Arcology, Deck 5. My parents still live there, but my brother did move to San Francisco South after he got married." Alex petered off as he noticed her staring at him, utterly confused. "Yeah?"

The gears spun behind electric blue eyes, as she picked out what thing she wanted clarification on first. "Arcology?"

"It's a portmanteau of architecture and ecology. A big building to reduce ecological impact?" Certainly the Tsla'o had those. He knew they had space stations. "Fun fact, my brother actually works with a company that designs them."