Elsie seemed to be handling the burden of gravity well. Where as before it was a collection of floating boxes, and then more lately a kind of worm made out of boxes or just a bulky cube.

But now it was like a kind of all leg wall? A wheel? Hard to describe but it had many points of pivot that all worked together to keep it mostly mobile and yet did not seem to be overly constraining it from being the same kind of loose assemblages it prefered.

[https://i.imgur.com/U6pB7iN.png]

If Aleph had not known what Elsie was, or seen it moving she could have honestly mistaken if for a trash heap of junk. But she had come to appreciate the alien’s friendly attitude. There was a relaxing calmness and it seemed to always have a clear perspective. Quarti seemed to bother it though.

“So you're sure that the clerks are going to be alright? I mean it doesn't sound like the adults are the sturdiest”

The text fluttering by on Elsie’s screen preceded its words. If you were a fast reader it was almost better than facial expressions honestly. Friendliness, attention, how much time was being valued. It suggested that the question was not too much to ask and that Elsie welcomed the interaction.

“They will be fine. By increasing the pressure and density of their oxygenation fluid, their bodies should be sufficiently locked in place to avoid acceleration damage or tissue strain. It may have a few cognitive effects temporarily but I will monitor the balance to make sure they recover from the transition”

Aleph nodded from inside of the bubble. The device honestly had settled under the current acceleration amiably, and the cushioning in the middle was proving to be quite comfortable. Even if they were not yet up to full acceleration.

“Well that explains the piping and canisters and such... Um do you need any help with that? And you are sure that the acceleration is not going to be too rough on the uh, kids I guess? Squidgie seems to get a lot more out of breath lately with how much he has to crawl and flop around”

Elsie fixed one camera on Aleph while others were tracking the progress or struggles of the mobile clerks to assist their elders.

“Some of the older juveniles may need to be induced into full adulthood and placed in their own canisters to avoid health complications, but the majority will merely halt their muscular degeneration in more muscle groups. Your adoptee will be fine”

Aleph hummed a moment before nodding “If you are sure, still why didn't you do this sooner? You already knew we were going to be accelerating right? Why not do this setup before hand”

Elsie was splitting its attention, but that did not seem to bother them.

“I was still reviewing what tools would be available. It needed to be sustainable, affordable and most importantly not interfere with the adult’s reproductive or physiological systems. Any major environmental factor applied to clerks must by sustained afterwards as they bodies will accomodate.”

Aleph looked at the piping that ran into the racks of cylinders, considering it. The thought of never being able to leave the cans for the rest of their lives still made her queasy but it didn't seem to mind any of the clerks, neither young nor old. Apparently they had something not quite like the resonance choir network back home that let them experience things differently. It was why most of them were blind in the first place.

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She told herself it was not all that different from what people described as the afterlife. Although the wiring feeding directly into their bodies was ugly and raw looking when she spotted it stabbing into their soft flesh. She was glad she had symbiotes and didn't need anyone poking things inside her neck or head to give her the ability to use resonance.

“What are they doing to accommodate being pressurised like this?”

”In this case the adult’s neurochemistry will become dependent on the new pressures to continue to function at all. Lowering pressure after they acclimize will likely put them into a coma and then death. However its not substantially more sustained pressure then they were living under anyway.”

She shivered, cans of something analogous to bodily fluids, mixed with nutrients and oxygen that was circulated by external pumps. Filtered by life support infrastructure in racks and now being over-pumped gradually so that they could become effectively solidified, locked in place so they would not settle or jostle under acceleration that was little different from what Aleph had lived all but the last year of her life under.

“Is this what we look like to you and Pylo? Needing so much just to keep us alive? Being so fragile?”

Elsie tilted the screen a bit at her and signals of bemusement, frustration, delight and many other cues and signals poured across the screen.

“We cannot speak for Ship Mistress Pylo. But no We do not think you terrans are overly fragile like these clericals. Your metabolisms are incredibly robust. Your stamina is an admirable feature, sustained and constant activity that would exhaust most organisms is an effortless expenditure for you. You are excellently reinforced against rapid accelerations. And your cognition while muddy is very acute considering the energy and structural restraints it operates under”

Aleph blinked a bit at that, she had gotten the impression amidst all of these vacuum borne aliens that her and the other terrans, that humans in general were akin to hard to maintain, delicate novelty flowers. Or some other finicky plants. Like those potatoes that she still let Omega deal with instead of ruining their food stocks.

It was kind of nice to hear an honest evaluation of them. Although one thing made her frown.

“Wait MUDDY?!, what about our cognition is muddy?! Elsie Explain!”

However the camera and screen had turned away from her to the passage behind her.

“I’m sorry I think it would be better for Ship Mistress Pylo to field those sorts of questions”

Aleph felt a tingling in her spine and fluttering ‘voice’ in her ears.

Distinct and different and somehow even richer then before. The words, concepts, muddling confusion of sensation and meaning were less so. Less a riot of innuendo.

But the tone of voice somehow was even more suggestive than before.

“Oh? I should field a question from my sweet little terrans on what subject?”

Aleph turned around to face Pylo with her cheeks so flushed she thought she might pass out.