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“He’s Uploaded?” Orion’s brows shot up.
“He was so scared…”
Orion didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Touch her, hug her, something? He rubbed the back of his neck. “And your parents? They’re with him now?”
“We were poor, Orion. It’s a miracle they managed with him. I was… They didn’t tell me what they had to do for it. They died after. Right after the promise.”
She fell quiet, looking away. “What promise?”
But she was done. She shook her head, letting her curls bounce in front of her face to hide the wetness in her eyes. Orion let it go. He wished she’d told him this before, but he didn’t blame her… he didn’t exactly express interest.
Turning his focus back to the more immediate matter of X1s and the upcoming expedition, Orion sensed that he had all the pieces right in front of him and just needed to put them together.
“This guy. Paul Creaton…”
“The archaeologist?”
“Yeah,” Orion slid his palm down his face, stretching out his back after hours of sitting in one place. "I've separated the docs into diaries and notes, unreviewed 'articles', and peer-reviewed papers. Most of his reviewed work is on uhyre artifacts. But some of these other things—” he motioned to the stack of binders “—are compelling. He goes all the way back to Old Earth and has some theories about colony ship development over the years, with a through-line intoColossalspecifically.”
Kaia picked up a report from the article pile and flicked through the pages. “But what about X1s itself?”
Orion groaned. “That’s all just notes and scraps. Journals and rambling letters to Mother that don't make any sense. It must tie in somehow though, if he kept all this shit together.”
Kaia nodded. “Maybe he’s just obsessed with your family. A stalker.”
“Maybe, but… Shit, I’m going cross-eyed trying to figure this out,” he admitted. “I’ve been blowing off handover training for this. What if it’s all useless?”
Kaia looked at him with resolve. “If your gut tells you there’s something there, you should trust it, Orion. I’ve read about uhyre intuition.”
“You have?” He cocked an eyebrow.
“Of course. Did you think I’d jump into this marriage totally blind?”
“And what did you find?” Orion smiled.
“That you drool a whole lot.” She rolled her eyes. “But also that uhyre had impeccable instincts… some considered it a sixth sense. If you smell something here, it’s probably ‘cause there’s something smelly.”
Orion nodded, oddly reassured by her confidence.
* * *
In bed that night, Orion tried again.
“Can I see a vid of your brother?”
“Why?” Kaia looked uncomfortable.
Orion shrugged. “I didn’t realize how big this was until you told me. I want to know more.”
She swallowed, blinking fast. Fuck, was she going to cry again? Orion cut that shit off, cupping her cheek.
“Hey,” he said. “I just want to learn more about you. Your family. Everything.”
She pulled the tablet from under the mattress, glancing at him from the corner of her eye as she scrolled through a list of footage.
“I’ll pick a happy one,” she said, scooting closer to Orion in bed. “He was the happiest person I knew.”
He leaned into her as she propped the tablet between them. The vid was of a young boy sitting on a sandy carpet, and an older girl with disheveled orange curls next to him. Orion felt himself smiling before it even registered.
