Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Five

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Starr shrugged and looked out the window again. "I don't know. I just want things to be normal."

Mourn grinned. "We save the robots, you and me. " He nodded.

"Yes we will," Asher agreed. "Things are going to be much better once we're done." They'd get worse first, but ultimately things were going to improve. Probably.

Mourn nodded. "I go code now. " He patted Asher's shoulder one more time and moved to leave. "I figure it out, I good at fixing robot."

"Thank you Mourn, see you later," Asher smiled, and headed back toward the med bay. He couldn't be lazy now that he was the only other medic here!

Kay had been fretfully rearranging things in an attempt to stop himself worrying but eugh, Scott's presence made him seriously anxious.
He turned when Asher came in. [How did it go? is everything alright? Is he gone?] He asked

"Daniel's reprogramming is going to take a while, so he's still here. So far everything is going okay though," Asher said. "Scott's gone. I think he's a bit more suspicious than before, but I don't think he's planning to cause trouble for us. Especially not with Daniel here." He smiled softly. Scott's concern for the android was kind of sweet.

Kooshie wrote:"How did you manage to feed yourself? It seems like eating blood would be really hard to conceal, especially if you're on a small ship for weeks at a time," Ethan asked. He led the way to another room to look around for more books.

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Asher led Mourn away from the airlock, further into the ship. He really didn't want to be overheard. "You're not planning to free Daniel, are you?" he asked.

"We would go without and feed while making the person forget." Sawna explained

Ethan shivered. "Things like that make me glad I don't have blood. Do you guys ever transmit diseases by bite or something?"

Kay frowned. [Do you think he suspects you're all free?] He hoped not. [Or just a bit weird?]

"I'm certain he suspects we're free. He keeps giving me odd looks, and trying to ask questions," Asher said. "I don't think he's planning to report us to anyone though. Yet, at least. I don't think he has enough evidence."

Kooshie wrote:Ethan shivered. "Things like that make me glad I don't have blood. Do you guys ever transmit diseases by bite or something?"

Sawna shook her head in a no. "Our fangs may be sharp as needles, but I have never even heard of transmitting a disease from one to another through us. Getting a blood disease, yes, but not transferring one."

"You guys can get blood diseases by drinking blood? That's inconvenient," Ethan said. He led the way to another room to search for books. Yeah, there were so many reasons to love being inorganic. Yeesh.

Sawna followed him and nodded "Only if they are a disease of the blood, like Kay's infection. Not just any disease carries over even if the one we drink from is sick."

"And what happens if you get sick? Does your magic cure it?" Ethan asked. He was curious, and he really wasn't socially adept enough to tell whether Sawna was okay with these sorts of questions or not.

Kooshie wrote:"And what happens if you get sick? Does your magic cure it?" Ethan asked. He was curious, and he really wasn't socially adept enough to tell whether Sawna was okay with these sorts of questions or not.

Sawna didn't mind the questions so much, though she did pause to bring him another book. "It depends. Most we can fight off, and build an immunity to, others we can't. Some we simply survive the initial infection, then have that virus the rest of our lives."

Ethan took the book with a grateful nod. "So something like Lycanthropy would probably infect you for life?" he guessed. "You're good at finding books, by the way. If I hadn't just been stuck on the same damned ship with you for weeks, I'd think you'd hidden all these books so you could win extra library privileges." He smiled his weird smile to show he was joking.

Sawna nodded then chuckled lightly "What extra privileges are there?" She asked with a teasing tone before becoming a bit more serious. "From what I have seen of it, yes, his infection would spread to me, if I drank his blood."

"Good thing we know who's infected around here, so if you need to drink someone's blood, you can do it safely," Ethan mused. He shrugged, the smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, "I don't know, but I guess someone in the librarian's good graces might4 be able to negotiate. But you can't write in the books, no matter how many you find. That's not negotiable."

Sawna shook her head at that then chuckled, moving off to search another shelf. "Who writes in books? That makes them harder for the next person to read, even if you can erase the marks. No, If I want to write, I would find a paper to write on then put that in the book"

"Hewitt does when he's bored, apparently," Ethan grumbled. "He wrote in several while I was gone. I fined him, but still!"
Ethan had taken the books back to his room and hid them somewhere. And then taken them out to read a bit. What? Some of the commentary was funny. But not okay. Definitely not okay.

Sawna chuckled softly "Maybe he needs a notebook to write on so he can put the pages in the books instead?"

"I think he just likes annoying people," Ethan said. "Old guys always think it's funny to get a rise out of someone."

Kay chewed his lip, nodding. [No, he has no evidence, after all, it's impossible right? So long as they continue to believe that... until you're ready to reveal the truth at least. [Mourn won't let his ego get in the way of this right? He won't tell anyone he can do it just to prove he's a brilliant hacker?] Kay didn't fully trust the felid, the guy had a huge ego and no social skills, he might not mean it, but he couldn't help but fear mourn would say too much to the wrong person by mistake.

"Right. Nobody's ever done it, so even someone as brilliant as Mourn probably can't. Besides, if Scott starts any rumors, he could start a scare, that'd have a huge negative impact on his robot sales. As an android dealer, it's in his interests not to rock the boat without having a really good reason to do so, and I think he's smart enough to realize that." Asher nodded. "Mourn's very passionate about this cause, and he knows what could happen if news does get out. He's not going to free Daniel, and he's probably not going to brag about what he can do. Not until the time is right, anyway. I trust him to be careful."

Kay nodded slowly but he still wasn't totally sure. [Alright, I'll have to trust your judgement on this.]

Asher smiled softly. "Saving the android species seems to take an awful lot of trust, doesn't it?" For all that everything was still being kept quiet, there were thousands of people who knew, thanks to their time at the Guild. "Perfect security isn't possible at this point, but for now at least, I think everyone's going to keep their mouths shut."

Kay really hoped so. [So, Daniel is still on the ship?]