“Thank you.” The adolescent stood, covered her ears and raced out the door.
“Oh,” Danielle said.
Pip was in her nest, a small creature covered in soft blue fur that shifted between azure and cobalt depending on the light. Six limbs flailed in distress, four primary arms and two smaller secondary ones. Her enormous violet eyes, easily a third of her face, swam with tears. When she saw me, she reached up immediately, all six arms extending, her keening shifting to urgent chirps.
“Shhh, kessra,” I murmured, scooping her up. She was so small against my chest, weighing barely more than a bag of fruit. “I am here. You are safe.”
Pip burrowed against me, all six of her tiny hands gripping my shirt with desperate strength. Her crying softened to hiccuping whimpers. I supported her with one arm and began humming in a low resonance from my chest that Yxian young found soothing. My researcher contacts had assured me it was similar to the purring of their birth parents.
I missed having birth parents. Or a nest-clan. Or anyone to help with this task I’d undertaken. I couldn’t leave Pip.
Behind me, I heard Danielle’s sharp intake of breath. I turned carefully, keeping Pip secure.
“This is Pipsqueak,” I said. “Pip, this is Danielle. She is going to help care for you.”
Pip turned her massive eyes toward Danielle and began crying again.
“I didn’t do anything and she hates me,” Danielle said, taking a step back.
“I know. She reacts this way to all strangers.” I resumed humming and swaying. Pip’s distress ebbed but didn’t disappear. “Yxian young are sensitive to emotional states. She can sense your fear.”
“I’m not,” Danielle stopped, honesty winning over pride. “Okay, I’m terrified. But not of her. She’s…” Danielle moved closer, her steps slow. “She’s beautiful.”
Hope flared in my chest. The last nanny called Pip ‘disturbing’ and ‘unnatural.’ The one before that had refused to touch her at all.
“She is,” I agreed. “Yxians are considered one of the most aesthetically pleasing species in the outer sectors. Unfortunately, there are very few of them left.”
“What happened?”
“Raiders.” I spat out the word. Pip whimpered, sensing my emotional shift, and I forced myself to calm down. “The Yxian homeworld faced decimation three years ago. Most of the population died or scattered. Pip is from one of the last surviving nest-clans.”
“Oh, my.” Danielle moved closer, her fear overridden by compassion. “How did you…I mean, how did she end up here?”
“That’s the complicated part.”How much should I tell her?Taking Pip had gotten me investigated by multiple agencies and almost cost me my military commission. I decided to give Danielle the abbreviated version.
“I was part of a recovery team sent to Yxia eight months ago as search and rescue, looking for survivors among the ruins.” I looked down at Pip, whose eyes were drooping against my chest. “On one of my last runs, I found her in the remains of a nest-structure. She was the only one alive in a space that held at least twenty individuals.”
Danielle gasped. “Was she alone?”
I nodded. “Based on medical scans, about three days.” The memory still made my chest tight. “She should not have survived. Yxian infants cannot regulate their own temperature. They require constant physical contact, frequent feeding, and environmental controls. By all logic, she should have died.”
“Sounds like a human child’s needs. But she survived.”
“She is remarkably stubborn.” I adjusted my hold as Pip’s breathing evened out. She wasn’t asleep, but she calmed. “Military protocol required that I report her to the refugee processing center. Those centers lack sufficient staff and space, and Yxian infants require specialized care that…” I stopped myself. “I chose to adopt her instead.”
Danielle’s eyes became glassy. “Wow. What a complicated situation. And brave.”
“I don’t know about brave, but complicated is an understatement.” I moved to the oversized rocking chair in the corner, modified to fit my frame and wings, and settled. “Cross-species adoption is technically legal but highly unusual. The amount of documentation, medical clearances, and home inspections was extensive. I am still undergoing quarterly monitoring.”
“Is that why you’re out here? In the middle of nowhere?”
Perceptive little human. Perhaps my gamble on Danielle Slater might not be catastrophic. She hasn’t run yet, and she thinks Pip is cute.“Partially. Frontier Colony 8-Beta has more lenient residency requirements than core worlds. And I wanted Pip to have space. I wanted her to grow up with safety in a home, not a facility.”
Pip’s eyes closed and her breath came deep and even. All six hands remained clamped to my shirt - an adorable yet problematic situation. She needed to learn to trust others, to accept care from someone other than me. But every time I tried to transfer her to a new caregiver, she became hysterical.
“Can I ask you something?” Danielle whispered.
“Yes.”
