TO had almost expected - and had even hoped- that Ark-1 would tell them they should stay for another day. Maybe it would be a good idea to get information from the civilians or to look into another piece of tech before leaving. They longed for an excuse to stay just another day in the enormous room with DH.
When they woke up the next day, they had a message from Ark-1. They read it with excitement but it simply thanked them for their diligence, and assured TO that the information was being sent onto a specialized team of synths, who would work to improve the security features of the ports.
“Was there anything else we could look into?” DH said as they finished their breakfast; a collection of fruits, served with a single boiled egg that was about the size of their fist. They gave TO a strained smile, “Maybe finding a way to just send Kei ahead in a shipping crate?”
“I’m pretty sure we can’t do that.” TO said, sighing. “I wish I could keep them in their own ship, and honestly I thought we could do that when I had the idea… but if their ship has to stay powered down until it’s repaired, then they can’t stay there.”
“Great.” DH grumbled. “Should I head to our ship first and separate our beds?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary. I mean, they knew we shared a pod-”
“But, where will they sleep?”
Damn. TO hadn’t thought about that. They wouldn’t mind sharing half a small bed with DH, but they were certain that it would be uncomfortable for Avery to have to share with Kei. Besides that, it meant that they couldn’t be as close as they had been of late when they slept.
“What if…” TO said quietly, “What if we made up a makeshift sleeping area in the weapons bay.” Their ears twitched as they considered it. “They could sleep up there. The beds do move, so maybe we can bring their beds over to our ship-”
“Too big to take from the ship itself.” DH said.
TO frowned as they considered this, then activated their chip and started sending off a message. “I’ll see if the civilians have some sleeping bags.” They said, “We can set them up in the weapons bay, and Avery and Kei and sleep up there.”
“You realize Kei will probably complain about that.” DH said.
“I don’t really care.” TO said, “They can complain. What are they going to complain about?”
DH flashed a smile at TO as they got up, “Well, I suppose if they do, you can deal with them, You got them to stop yesterday!”
TO felt their ears flick down. “Maybe I should apologize.” They said, They hadn’t meant to be so nasty to Kei, even though Kei deserved it; they had just been in pain and wanted to get away from them, just wanted Kei to leave them alone.
“You don’t need to apologize.” DH said, “Like I said; if it was anyone else I’d have felt bad, but Kei…” They shrugged, “They’ve said worse to us both. They’ve DONE worse to us both.” DH sighed as they stretched their wings. “I’m going to miss this place though.” They said, “All the space, all the privacy and comfort… I guess we won’t have that again until we get to Arkane.”
“More or less.” TO said, “For privacy anyway. The space situation will stay the same.”
They headed to the door. TO reached up to activate their armor, but DH reached out and stopped them.
“What’s wrong?” TO asked.
DH said nothing; their ears were down and flushed as they turned TO to face them. Startled, TO backed up but ended up with their back to the door. DH rested one hand next to TO’s face, the other at their ear, and then leaned in to kiss TO as they rubbed TO’s earlobe.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It felt like the world shifted under them- they were so unprepared for that, and so surprised! They felt dizzy, as though they were spinning in place as the surprise, along with the sudden stimulation on their ears and the kiss temporarily overwhelmed their senses. They pressed a hand to the door behind them to steady themself.
DH pulled away, drawing their hand from TO’s ear. Still, their face was close to TOs, and TO could feel their breath on their neck. “Sorry.” DH whispered.
TO opened their eyes halfway to look at DH. Their ears were deep blue, their eyes were closed.
“Don’t you dare apologize.” TO said.
“I just thought since we’d be stuck with Kei we wouldn’t be able to-” They pulled away, but TO leaned forward and kissed them gently on the lips.
TO knew that their ears were twitching, and they were for the first time grateful that they’d soon be putting on their helmet. “I’m glad you did.” they said once they pulled away. They gave an awkward laugh, “Though… now I really don’t want to leave.”
DH smiled, kissed TO once more, then pulled away. This time TO let them.
DH reached up to their wrist and activated their armor. They didn’t speak again until the armor and the helmet were in place and active. “I suppose we should go fourth.”
That odd, mechanical twang to DH’s voice sobered TO up quickly; DH just sounded so formal, so odd when their voice filtered through the helmet.
They activated their own armor, nodded, and the two of them left.
======
The civilians had done all the work of hooking up one ship to the other, had provided them with a. crate, and sent the three of them via a civilian shuttle to their ship. The civilian shuttle couldn’t dock to the main ship, so they had to activate their suits and head into the ship the way they had left it originally; using their thrusters and making their way through zero gravity to the emergency ship.
The power on the ship was still down, so Avery went to the engine room to power up what TO had worked on before, and DH sat at the console to work on bringing up the other systems.
Of course, that left Kei and TO to sit and wait.
“I could have gone up and activated engine systems with Avery.”
“It’s crowded up there; it’d be difficult for more than one person at a time to be up there.”
“Very well, but I’m certain that-” “These ships are meant to be manned by two synths.” TO said, “Avery is up in the engine room, DH is here. I’m injured, and DH seems to think it better if I do as little as possible-”
“I’m the only one of us with medical training.” DH chimed in. They glanced at Kei. “Unless you did?”
“I did not. My placements were mostly production lines.”
“Right. So, since I’m the only one trained, I believe it is better if you rest as much as possible so that you’re healed up once we get to Arkane.”
“I, on the other hand, do not need to heal-”
“So just wait.” TO says, “I’m sure you can split my chores with Avery after today.” They narrowed their eyes as they looked away. They didn’t know why every word that Kei spoke seemed to bother them so much. “If you really want, go through the crate that the civilians provided for us.”
Kei got up without a response and went to the crate. They pressed the button on top, and the lid opened up.
“They appear to have provided us with unnecessary foodstuffs.” They commented as they pulled out some sealed containers with lists on top. “As well as bottles of that odd drink they provided.”
“That was nice of them.” DH commented from the console.
“It’s unnecessary.”
“Well, we didn’t ask for it.” TO said as they rubbed their arm, “It must be a gift.”
“We should send it to King Decon then.” Kei said as they brought out more containers, “All gifts given to us are to be sent to-“
“The civilians didn’t prepare this for long distance transport.” TO said, “Also, we would have to wait to get to Arkane before we can send it back. It would be rancid by the time it got to King Decon.”
“Then we should send it back-“
“That would be rude.”
“It’s an unnecessary amount and variety of food.” Kei continued, “What do we-“
“We eat it, obviously.” TO hissed, getting a little annoyed. They rubbed at their arm, which still had that cold feeling to it. “We eat that food, which will expire before we can do anything more with it, and save our rations which can last for a longer period.”
Kei frowned, their ears flicking down slightly, but they said nothing more. They pulled out the last few trays, then pulled out two tightly rolled up bundles.
“That must be the sleeping mats.” TO said, “It looks like they provided blankets too.”
“We thought it best if we provided a separate sleeping area.” DH said, “Four of us in that one area might be a little crowded, especially if TO has to sleep on their back to keep pressure off their arm.”
Kei’s ears pinned back in disapproval, their eyes narrowing. “Very well.” They said, “I will set up these mats for myself and for Avery.”
“Do it in the Weapons bay.” TO said, “It’s got more space, and we hardly use it.”
“Very well.”
The systems finally finished coming online, and the ship hummed to life. The lights turned to full brightness. A moment later, Avery came out of the elevator.
“Everyone sit down.” DH said, “There’s going to be more kick than normal since we’re pulling another ship, and I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.
TO was already sitting at their desk. Kei and Avery sat at the table. The engines powered up, and the familiar deep hum of the motors rumbled through the ship. TO held onto their desk with their good hand as the ship moved, jolting as momentum built. They looked at the screen over the main console, which was now displaying the view from outside the ship. They watched as the docks receded in the distance.
They were now on their last part of the journey to Arkane.