Page 11 of Experimental Voyage
“And I live because I have an evolvulite crystal embedded in my brain at the cost of my hearing.”
“It is a clear stone, one we suspect is as perfect as such shards come. We don’t know if the stone broke or was part of the cargo, but yes. It is a life-giving stone offering you life. It defies categorization as well. It simply will not do what stones of its nature should do. When we did our tests, we searched for evidence of resonance to identify the color, and it did not respond—not in ways we expected.” The Veloc paced, and his tail lashed from side to side.
I wondered at the motion. Canines lashed their tails when excited. Cats lashed their tails when agitated.
What did the Veloc say with his body language?
“What does my crystal do?”
“We’re simply not sure. Anything that it does that might cause you distress, it stops doing. The instant resonance begins, the stone becomes inactive. We only caught this because we had so many pieces of monitoring equipment on you, searching for any changes in your brain activity. When exposed to anything that makes clear shiftgems resonate, your brain activates in the damaged sector. What we don’t know is if we can induce a state of light resonance to restore your base ability to hear.”
“You can induce light resonance?”
“We have pieces of health monitoring equipment that can, yes. Clear stones are ideal for our work. We still don’t fully understand what makes evolvulite so versatile, but we have a theory. Because you live, it lives—and it does not want to die any more than you do. We’ve known the stones are capable of bonding with a living host, but we’ve never seen it bond in such a way as you have with your stone. But the universe is a strange and marvelous place, and you add to the mystery of the wonder that is life. Take your time finishing your meal. I will go help young Waldren make arrangements for you to speak with your family—and we will brief them on what not to say or do.”
“Like gush over my new ears?” I guessed.
“Precisely, as I would like to work with you for a while to acclimate you to your new circumstances. Within a few days, you will be ready to behold yourself in a mirror. Today is not that day. But do not fear, we have been keeping your family updated with your progress, so they know you are alive and will be well soon enough.”
FIVE
“You are worse than any peacock.”
As I was barredfrom using mirrors, Herserael handled taming my hair, which had suffered from a significant amount of general neglect. What would have taken me ten albeit painful minutes cost over an hour, as once the Veloc decided I needed to be made properly presentable, he refused to accept anything other than perfection.
Near the end of the process, Waldren came to check that I’d survived the feathered menace’s tender care. He caught sight of me and broke out into laughter. “Human heads are not crests to be adorned, Herserael.”
“Blasphemy. She deserves adornments, and it is our clan’s honor at stake. Her crest needed a great deal of work, and she has suffered much, so she is deserving of a few baubles.”
“At least you gave her baubles in clip format. I’ve seen what you lot do to my sister’s head, and those trinkets do not come out without a great deal of work, effort, and frustration.”
“That is the idea, so your sister does not have to do much to maintain her beautiful crest. And anyway, her mate does all themaintenance and enjoys every opportunity he can to dote upon her. You cannot deny the truth! Her crest is a marvel.”
Waldren shook his head and sighed. “I’m not denying anything. I’m just warning Camellia that you Veloc are obsessive, and if she wants to be able to do her own hair again, she should steer clear of you and your wicked talons.”
“I feel an update of the Veloc species records is in order. Nowhere in anything I’ve read indicates they’re oversized feathered hair stylists. Murder machines? Yes. Stylists? No.”
Waldren snickered. “They’re quite skilled murder machines, yes. If you want to leash a Veloc, I have secured plenty of volunteers, and an assortment of tethers, ropes, and similar have been brought out that easily attach to their jewelry. I recommend you do not ask why they are so skilled at leashing themselves. It becomes quite lewd.”
I joined him in snickering. “The species record should be updated with a general warning that Veloc are perverts. They disguise this by claiming they’re romantics.”
“You’re not wrong.” Waldren checked over his shoulder, and I realized Palta hadn’t accompanied him. “If you’d like Palta to be available for the call, we may have to delay. The beast sleeps, and she does not take kindly to her rest being interrupted.”
“Understatement,” Herserael muttered. “I will present a picture of your feline for her family to enjoy or we can use the portable comm so we can show her family around the ship. Assuming, of course, you do not mind the invasion to your nest.”
Waldren circled me, and after examining the Veloc’s work, he picked up one of the bejeweled hair sticks, which was encrusted with green stones, and raised a brow at the Veloc.
“You are worse than any peacock,” the Veloc complained, plucking the ornament out of Waldren’s grasp before making an adjustment to my hair style and adding the stick. “She hassufficient green tones to be marked as belonging to the Emerald Crests for the duration. Does that satisfy you?”
“For the moment.” Waldren did another pass around me before nodding. “This works. If you’d like to hold the call on a portable unit, I can set it up and operate it. Camellia can hold the reception unit. I’ll set it up so she won’t be able to see her image. Palta’s in her bed, and I already tidied, expecting a tour of the spaces meant forhomo sapiens. Ah, that reminds me, Camellia. We do have modular quarters on this ship, and we have the tools required to adjust the layout for your liking. Our accommodations are a little better than on most ships, but space is still tight, so there’s only so much we can do. I’ll show you what I’ve done with my quarters, and we have a standard setup. Do not keep the standard setup; you’ll be on board for a long time, and it’s a way of turning the room into your home. If we have to quarantine in quarters, you’ll appreciate the customizations.”
I would get to customize my temporary quarters? I’d heard of such things, but they were not features of the ships I would have been taking to venture into space. “I’d love to see the customizations and learn how to use the systems if I can.”
“We can start looking at the options after you have a chance to speak with your family,” Waldren promised. “I will go get the comm ready. Do you want to begin at the control center, Herserael?”
“That works. Go make yourself and your ship pretty for our remote guests. I will finish here.”
“Ten minutes,” Waldren replied, marching out of the room at a rather brisk pace.
