The trip was incredibly awkward after that.

Of course there was the excitement when they finally got into one of the mass transit systems.

The long armed bug creatures and floating orbs like their guide bustled past. Reaching out to a arching passageway to grab at an endless river of looped grab holds.

[https://i.imgur.com/x2Rc3d6.png]

They rolled past attached to cables along the inner wall of the tunnel.

The pace was fairly leisurely, giving plenty of time to secure one’s grip before being pulled off into the hallway.

But further past it was another taller curve of another loop. And beyond that arcing to the left and right were the curves of an even larger one.

Each meeting the side of its larger counterparts.

Initially there was some concern their ‘prosthetic’ (as the bubble bot was called by their guide and passerby) might require assistance in getting a grip to ride the transit system.

But apparently whatever pylo had put together was more than capable of grabbing hold and supporting its weight using one leg. And getting it to reach up in the necessary manner to grab the lazily sweeping hoops was surprisingly easy with minimal prompting from Aleph and Quarti working in concert at the control sticks.

Learning to let go was the tricky part, and they spent several rounds on the initial ‘upswing’ circuit trying to manage to let go so they could sail up to catch their next grip. The several failures that occurred on that step had settled into a bit of adhoc entertainment for the fellow commuters.

Which Aleph and Quarti agreed was better than the alternative.

Who the trio could now HEAR murmuring and giggling to one another as they jostled and fumbled the release at the right moment. Then again had to scramble to manage a grab. With only a minima of assistance from their grumpy guide Sixdottir.

“Isn't it kind of dangerous to others for us to be stumbling in these tubes like this?”

To which the guide just fixed one of those massive eyes in Aleph’s direction as they were swept along in another circuit.

“Children play around worse than you and are perfectly fine. You should be alright with the relative velocities between loops as long a you stay out of the high mass pan district loops. Which are not connected to low mass routes like you would be able to access anyway”

Omega had gotten a bit of a dopey smile on her face ever since the speaker had gone ‘open’ to the general public of Redweed lips fluttering with unsaid syllables and eyes sweeping in reflexive little turns and scans while not focusing on anything Aleph could see. A faint glow of resonance around her face and neck suggesting she was doing something with her symbiotes.

Aleph jabbed her friend in the side hard enough to get her attention.

“Huh... Oh right! Sorry, So that little bopper she gave us is open to the local resonance NETWORKS and loaded with all these protocols... I don’t think we should actually be in danger of getting lost this is really well designed stuff. Very intuitive... I almost wonder why we NEEDED a guide at all”

Sixdottir rolled around to fix Omega with that massive owlish gaze.

“Because I was the one who ordered that mapping interface built for you. I was intending to introduce you to it later but It’s good to see you managed without me”

Then once again there was awkwardness, while they listened to the ambient chatter of the other commuters.

It was much more alive and less oppressive this way.

The voices of workers discussing their next shift at something indeterminate.

Some kind of entertainer coming through on a tour later.

Warning about restricted feed lines in one neighborhood and thanks for the info.

It washed over them.

Omega finally sighed and raised her voice.

“Sixdottir... If we had this discussion a quarter year ago I would have insisted you take us and our colonist stores as refuges from our contract.”

That got their guide’s attention who drew back a little so that she could fix Omega with both eyes.

Voice tense and agitated, but dripping with curiosity.

“You would have agreed this siren was grossly negligent? What could possibly have changed your mind?!”

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Omega sighed and looked around.

“She made a mistake... a really bad one, and Aleph here was almost crippled for life possibly longer then that. But when that happened all she did was ask what I needed to fix her. So I told her and she did literally everything she possibly could have to save Aleph. I don’t know how well this is going to translate but she pretty much handed her heart and soul to me so that I could save Aleph.”

Sixdotter flexed her grip a little as they swung along with all the other commuters. It gave Aleph a dizzying feeling of almost having gravity again. She was ‘settling’ against the ‘upper’ surface of the bubble.

Not hard enough she couldn’t simply jump up and hold onto the cushioning. But it still was a sense of gravity that had been mostly absent during the last year.

“And there has so far never been a single thing I can say she’s done since that has not been looking out for both our well being and our safety... Her speech is awkward, but she is sincere and she has really looked out for us... Part of the only reason I thought we could go on this little trip around your home is because she said it would be safe.”

Sixdottir looked at them a bit longer then turned away, her voice both sad and sharply angry.

“That just proves my point, Intention is nothing if her ability is lacking. I suppose I’m thankful you feel so secure that you put your faith in me to be your guide by proxy even if it was misplaced. But I cannot in good faith look out for your safety if you are so intent on suicide by good intentions.”

Aleph hummed and looked over at Omega.

“I didn't know you felt that way... I thought you still hated her over all of this”

Omega scowled a bit.

“I can’t hate her after what we had to do to save you... But she’s still got a lot to answer for and this is her last chance...”

Aleph could not find anything to fill the silence after that and turned her attention back to watching the other commuters hanging out from the sweeping cables by the anchored loops. A endless stream of holds. Some larger ones with loads hitched to two or three, some only dangling by one.

Some nonchalantly using a single limb, others clinging to a hold with every grasping appendage available.

Some without sensible limbs seemed content to wrap themselves around/in strange hooked spoons that honestly reminded Aleph a lot of soup ladles with cushioning in the bowl.

Quarti seemed delighted but also smug with herself.

Aleph groaned.

“Did you have to insult our guide? After we get to wherever they can feed us we are going to be on our own!”

Quarti just laughed and shook her head

“Is best this way-fair us this. No one to look-see out for us beyond our own judgelies... no chance of ghosting us all away fer our own safelies eh lil cutesblush?”

Omega chimed in with a bit of a laugh.

“Ah we are not entirely on our own, I’m already neck deep in the resonance protocols our guide provided us with... It’s really comprehensive, I’m pretty sure with a few queries I can find anything we want”

Sixdottir didn't turn around to look at them but her voice picked up anyway.

“I hope you realize I am not responsible for anything awful you get yourselves into after this. I am clearing my stake in this monstrosity on ethical grounds”

Omega laughed.

“Oh come on this is like the best version of a data-search query set up I’ve ever seen. And I checked the charters for this district and the surroundings regarding visitors... We should be fine... What’s the worst that could happen to us?”

Quarti’s bright face fell into a scowl and she smacked Omega in the back of the head hard enough to send her tumbling into the far wall of the bubble.

“Ow what was that for?”

“Woz Idjit be ye? Scrumzlie flail ya flank about wit the wordsfool and callsdown the hellions on us?!”

Aleph looked back at Sixdottir’ color mottled back and wondered if maybe she was right about the lot of them being insane. Or at least those two. Not for the first time Aleph wondered if maybe death did something screwy to human souls when they came back.