Aeva

“You can’t be on the security team anymore.”

The captains’ words sliced through the good-natured mannerisms of the diminutive Terran I was sitting next to. I didn’t exactly know what facial expressions meant what for Alex, but I could tell that the look on his face was easily one of shock. “What?” he asked in a small voice that betrayed his shock in this moment. “Is it the hole in the chest? If that’s the reason, I can fix that.”

The captain sighed. “I said that you can’t be on the security team anymore. And it’s not the hole in the chest of the mech. You simply don’t meet the minimum requirements for employment as a security officer, and I’m not saying that because you’re physically smaller than anyone else on the crew. That has nothing to do with it. I’m saying that because you seem to not have control of the legs of that mech of yours. Were that not the case, you wouldn’t need that wheelchair.”

I sat there in stunned silence as I looked between the captain and Alex, trying to figure out who would be more worthwhile to look at during this exchange. Alex looked horrified at the prospect of not being able to help on the ship, and the captain seemed resigned to giving this bad news. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. What would Alex even do if he’s not doing security? It’s not like he’s able to do much else.

“B-but if I can’t work in security, then what will I do? I kind of need the money from this job!” Alex explained, the panic in his voice rising slightly.

The captain made a placating gesture. “I’m sure that there’s something that we can have you do, regardless of your physical limitations. Barring that, we can just have you stay in your cabin because I don’t want you underfoot, literally, or metaphorically.”

Alex blinked at that suggestion. “Do you know what you just said? I can’t just stay in my cabin all day every day, I’d go crazy before we even got halfway to The Strength Through Diplomacy!” He got up from his sitting position and pointed a finger at her. “And to add to that, you don’t know the first thing about Terrans!” he shouted. It’s a good thing that we’re the only ones in the mess hall right now. He’s starting to make a scene.

“I’ve been reading the reports that your representative to the Galactic Community’s Senate gave to us, specifically about your psychology. I think I know what I’m doing,” the captain retorted with a bit of irritation rising in her voice.

“And how long have you been studying that? A couple of hours?” Alex asked, his irritation rising faster than the captains. “I’ve been around humans for well over thirty years, so I think I’m a bit more qualified to talk about humans than you are! I should be allowed to do something of use on the ship!” He thought for a moment as he silently paced between the two of us. “What if I made something that I could use to get around without the use of the mech?”

The captain moved her tentacles around in an irritated fashion. “I’ve been studying it enough that I know that you will likely do something dangerous with or without my approval. So, here is what we are going to do. You are going to go back to your cabin with Aeva and wait there until I come up with something worthwhile that you can do that will prevent you from going on adventures in the air ducts. Perhaps you could supervise the washing cycles of the dishes.”

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Alex looked up at that. “You can’t be serious about that, there would be nothing to do except watch the machines, and that would bring us right back to the issue of me being bored and doing something I shouldn’t be doing! There’s GOT to be something worthwhile that I can do!” he practically shouted.

The captain eyed the uppity Terran as he continued to pace on the table between the two of us, the captain’s tentacles writhing in frustration. “I said I’d think about it! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some other things to attend to that are more important than this.” The captain got up from the table and made her way over to the elevator that would take her back up to the bridge.

Alex and I watched the captain go, but as soon as she was out of sight, Alex immediately sighed and sat next to the tidamia that he had cut up, poking it dejectedly. I looked down at my own food, my desire to eat it all but gone. Neither one of us wanted to break the silence. We sat like that for some time. I finally decided to clear the air between us.

“Hey, about earlier, with the Yalayans, I… I’m sorry I didn’t do more to intervene, I was just so shaken up with everything going on that I was too shocked to respond. It didn’t help that those people were part of the crew, and they still insisted on going for you. And then they threatened to disfigure me,” I shuddered at that idea. “A-and you pulled out that knife. I-I’m sorry,” I said as I closed my eyes, head hung in shame. “I don’t deserve to be your friend.”

I felt a slight pressure on my hand. As I opened my eyes again, I saw Alex, putting a single hand on my much larger one, a universal sign of comfort. “Hey, you messed up, that’s totally ok. While I would have preferred to have some backup, I don’t think they would have been able to kill me in the time it would have taken for security to get here.” He gave a shrug. “And besides they wouldn’t have been able to kill me, I’m simply too tough to die to the hands of some giant praying mantises!” I didn’t know what those were, but I resolved to ask him later what that meant. He looked back at his half-eaten fruit and my untouched plate of grilled and seasoned meat. “We should probably get finished with eating so that I can get back to fixing up this mech into some semblance of functionality. That will make the captain put me back on the security team!”

I wiggled my crest and gave a small laugh as I watched the small Terran confidently walk up to his fruit and start stuffing his face. “Sounds good, but don’t try and eat the whole thing!”

“Oh, you know me, I’d probably die before I finish this thing,” he said in between bites. “You should also get some food in you before you keel over and die, and we can’t be having that happen!”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said as I looked back down at my tray and began to eat.

“Hell yeah, I’m right! When am I not?” he proudly exclaimed between some more bites. I didn’t say a thing as I tried to hold in the laugh that I felt building up in me.

Many minutes later, after we had both eaten our fill, Alex got back into his mech, and we walked back to his cabin. We both stood outside of his door for a moment, the silence filling the void. “Well, if you need anything, all you have to do is ask,” I said, loathe to see him go.

He nodded and gave another hearty laugh. “I’ll definitely take you up on that offer, considering that I have a whole new chest piece that I’ll have to get fabricated, and I’ll need someone to hold it in place as I screw it on.”

“Sounds like an interesting time,” I said. “Until that happens, I think I’ll just be in my cabin staring at the wall thinking about how all this came to be.”

“Sounds like a solid plan,” Alex said. He held out his hand. “Until we see each other.”

I looked at his hand before nodding and grabbing it in a firm ‘handshake.’ “Until then.”