Page 18 of Breaking Ties

“Geezus,” Molly said.

Aubrey smiled. “My fondest wish was never to be confused for my sibling again. We started with a haircut, and the repair machine went a little further. So by this, you can tell what kind of overkill the other races can manage. I tripped something that had been waiting for thousands of years. If I hadn’t been bruised and torn up, I might never have been in that machine, and it might not have started this, but I was, and it did.”

Molly blinked. “Oh, wow. So she’s nasty.”

“To me, yes. To everyone else, sweet as pie. She’s been framing me for stuff since we were six.”

“Twins?”

“Sisters. A day short of Irish twins. Our parents held me back so that we both went to school together.”

Molly blinked. “That’s not right.”

“No, but our parents are off running a beverage kiosk on a distant world and happy as they ever wanted to be. I looked them up.”

Molly paused. “Can you look someone up for me?”

“Sure.” She pulled her tablet out of the pouch at her side and tapped to get the station records open.

“Names?”

Molly’s eyes were wide. “They let you have access to that?”

Aubrey snorted. “No. This is just a little creative access manipulation. Names?”

She started running status checks on folks who were either in the system or not. One woman learned that her husband was linked for colony transport with another woman, and she cried and then dragged in her breath. “I am a three-oh-seven. Does that make me Hmrain-compatible?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I want a man who will be there. Do they stray?”

Aubrey winced. “No. Definitely not. Once they have their companion altered to fit them perfectly, you are their only energy food group. They are yours for one hundred years, during which you won’t age or until you have a child with them, and then you have the option to stay or go. Few choose to go.” She smiled. “Would you like me to check your future?”

The woman nodded. She was clutching Molly’s hand.

“Let go of Molly, or this becomes a poly situation.”

The woman smiled and let go. Aubrey touched her forehead with a fingertip and smiled. “He’s a soft green, coppery hair, bat wings, and a slow smile. The smile gets faster the longer you are with him. His world is green and alive, and his people were rescued from disaster and disease themselves. They will be kind to you. Sorry, but I don’t see names.”

The woman said, “Can I put in a request?”

Avery came out with tears streaking her features. It had been a rough ride.

Aubrey smiled. “Yes, you can put in a request or ask the station to keep an eye out for the male that matches that description.”

Aubrey paused. “Hang on. I am having a thought.” She tapped through her tablet and grinned. “I knew it. Those buggers had to have a registry.”

She flicked through it, and she found the one she was looking for. “Lomaric. He’s the minty one. He’s been on his world for seven hundred years but has three other worlds under his care, and they are all advanced tech and doing well. He had one companion over five hundred years ago. She grew tired after her family and village all passed.”

“Grew tired?” The woman was curious.

“It is a phrase that will freak out any Hmrain hearing it. If you say you are tired of life, they are going to either panic or withdraw their maintenance to let you die. Don’t use that phrase unless you want to change a good relationship, since your lifespan is supported by theirs, and they are functionally immortal. The current record for a companion is two hundred years as a companion. With the newest batch of Terrans, we have no idea how long we will last. I know we want to live. We did not arrive tired. We arrived at their sides with hope, and that is a very powerful thing.”

One of the women smiled. “It also makes some of them feel like superheroes.”

Aubrey grinned. “Some of them are actual superheroes. The first generation born usually has wings of some variety, and then it becomes hit or miss. Some are just waiting for a companion who can boost them.”

She flicked and found Dora and her Hmrain, whose wings were made of flame. She turned the tablet to show them. “This is Dora. She was a manicurist on the space station around Hellaz. She met the general who used to be the overseer, and he had an eye on her for his grandson. This is the current overseer, and his wings sprouted after he ran through a rut with Dora, and this is how he uses the psychic energy he obtained from her. They have twins.”