Page 59 of Leviathan

"Lyrien has been flying around in space his whole life," Leija pointed out. "He isn't going to just run into random debris. Besides, we looked at the stuff that Eun is going to have to install to become space worthy, and there are a whole lot of sensors he has to incorporate and get used to using. Debris doesn't just sneak up on them. I bet it is that other Vaurelcar. If I woke up on a recently freed sentient spacecraft and found out there were humans on another one, the first thing I would convince it to do would be to chase after it."

"Maria?" Lyrien's voice called out from the hallway.

"Come in!" I replied.

I didn't really need the control over the space or the sense of privacy anymore, but I still appreciated it. Given that Lyrien could see, here, and control everything on board, having a section of space that felt entirely mine was a psychological comfort.

A wall panel slid back on the wall next to the door, and white tendrils were on display.

Usually, Lyrien used a holoprojector and overlayed the tendrils, creating an image of his core body stepping into the room, but this time, he didn't. He must still be distracted by what was going on.

"There is something I need your help with," Lyrien said, his voice coming from the wall of neurofilaments.

"Is it the other Vaurelcar?" Leija said from the viewscreen. "With humans on board?"

"What?" Lyrien replied, surprise in his voice. "How did you know that?"

"An educated guess," Leija said. "How many humans are there on board?"

"I'm not sure," Lyrien said. "The other Vaurelcar, his name is Tanlarc, he is the one we freed before we met you. He is not forthcoming at all. He must have been captured young because his manners are nonexistent, and his speech patterns are brusque. He came charging up at us and just latched onto my hull without even a basic introduction or thank you for rescuing him."

"Does that mean I can go on board again?" I asked.

"No!" Lyrien replied, far too quickly. "We aren't connected. Stabbing into him like I did last time is an attack, and he didn't do that; he just grabbed me, like this."

One of his neurofilaments reached out from the wall and wrapped around my forearm, holding it firmly but gently.

"Family groups cluster together and travel like that all the time," he said. "It's just rude to touch people like that when you don't know them well. It's well... needy. I don't like it."

"Poor guy," Leija said. "Raised as a slave and the first Vaurelcar he meets that frees him is creeped out by him."

"Tanlarc's needs, whatever they are, don't get to override Lyriens," I said. "But I want to know how I can help. Do you want me to talk to him?"

"Yes," Lyrien said. "I can send him a connection to your view screen and..."

"Group chat!" Leija insisted. "Don't leave me out just because I'm stuck in here."

Her voice was cheerful, and I knew there was another layer under that positivity. She had mentioned once that she blamed herself for Eun's current state, and that self-blame made her accept her current situation a lot easier.

"Group chat it is," Lyrien said.

A few moments later, the screen split, but instead of another Vaurelcar, someone else appeared.

She appeared to be a human woman, with a large mass of tangled red hair, wearing a grey long-sleeve shirt and leggings.

"What the fuck!" she shouted, yanking her hand back and to her chest, her unkempt red hair bouncing with the sudden motion.

Another woman stepped into view, her eyes widening as she saw us.

"Wow, those outfits are amazing, full on Space Queens," the other woman on the screen said, her dark brown eyes reflecting surprise as her soft, plump lips pulled up into a delighted smile that framed her strong accent. Then her smile turned into a frown. "Who are you?"

Her hair coiled around her face, framing gorgeous skin the color of barro negro vessels handcrafted using ancient Zapotec techniques, accented in sharp contrast by a woman standing next to her whose freckles wouldn't protect her from a sunburn if she stood out under a light cloud cover, even if the huge floof of her red hair would give her some sort of shading. Both of them were wearing what looked like grey long johns, with sleeves that ended in points up to their knuckles. Both of them had dark circles under their eyes.

"This dress certainly does make me feel like a Space Queen," I said. "I'm Maria, and this is Leija. She designed the outfits. Are you okay? You're on the Vaurelcar who just got free?"

"The what?" the redhead said. "What is a Vaurelcar? How are you able to design outfits?"

"Who are you talking to?" a woman's voice called out from out of sight.