UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

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Kay looked amused at that remark. [You're probably right. And bottom bunk, because I wasn't willing to argue the point. There were about 12 of us in one room, it was fairly cramped.] Not that he'd spent many evenings IN his bunk considering. Nope, his evenings had been spent locked in an old bunker hoping like heck he wouldn't get out and nobody would find him.

---

Ivor shrugged. "I do.. don't know..." He came out into the hall and closed the door carefully behind himself. "You have animals on a ship?"

----

"If they have no choice, then they are still slaves." Armin bowed his head.

"Maybe that's not a bad thing. If they're anything like our cow lady, they're weird as heck," James said. "Goats are smaller and more portable. Moving a goat must be like carrying a small dog for most Satare, come to think of it." He paused, "Not a dog, I meant a large chicken." People from the Imperium had a thing about canine-type creatures, and he didn't want to worry Ivor more than he already was.

~~
"He'll want to free the lot of them," Asher said. "And will probably end up with an even bigger fan club than he already has. Androids always seem to love him." He looked amused.

Ivor really didn't know what a dog was either. He only had the very broadest knowledge of farm animals, having never really seen one up close before.
"i... don't know..."

---

Kay looked amused. [Well i suppose it's difficult not to like someone who's so determined to free you and improve your lives.]

"He's done an awful lot of good, and asked for very little in return," Asher agreed. "You're right, it's no wonder he has so many fans." He remembered something suddenly, "Oh yes, speaking of Mourn, he was working on the problem of android memories, and he made some progress on letting us delete them automatically today. Testing isn't complete, but so far, the android who's trying it out seems to be doing well."

Kay tilted his head. [You mean to save on storage space? does he think it might prolong your lives without too much detriment to your memories?]

"Yes, exactly. He's hoping to make it so we can erase old memories that are useless, like looking at a wall, and reuse the space afterward," Asher said. "You heard about what he did for Daniel when we were on the Beach Planet? It'll be like that hopefully, only without the two days of waiting to make the changes work."

Kay nodded. [I hope he can figure it out. Messing with people's brains, for want of a better term, is always something i'm uneasy about but the potential to archive things more sensibly and discard useless information seems like such an obvious thing, i'm surprised the original coders didn't consider it.] He shook his head. [I hope it works.]

Starr shrugged then chuckled softly "I don't think anyone on this ship knows what to say about themselves when not asked a direct question. Maybe we really should look into getting a real therapist on board someday."

~~~
Skye looked to Ivor and James then chuckled "We can show a picture, or do the hologram thing some other time. for now we can just enjoy the animals we have here."

Armin chuckled lightly. "Perhaps you are right. Though I fear the emotional baggage of this crew may be too much for many." He patted Starr on the shoulder, looking a little sober at that thought. "I was taught to ask people about themselves first and foremost, as apparently people often do prefer to speak about themselves. I enjoy listening and learning about others, not just cultures but personal experiences and beliefs as well. I... suppose it has become rather a habit. Generally speaking, my customers do not wish to hear about me and want instead to discuss the job at hand or the event for which it is being commissioned."

---

"there... were squirrels at the hospital..." Ivor managed weakly. "in the gardens.. and birds. And a cat, to catch the rats or mice. But that is... about it. W.. we saw horses.. sometimes when deliveries came. " but no, that was about the extent of his animal knowledge

"I think the coders didn't want us to last too long. After all, the point is to sell products, as far as they're concerned," Asher said. "It's a shame our code has to be changed to fix everything that's wrong with it, but at least there's someone who's trying to change it, and the changes are only being made with our consent. We'd be far worse off if we were permanently stuck the way we are now."

~~
"Squirrels are good. They're the ones that run in trees and jump, right?" James said. He looked out at the goats. "Man, I grew up with basically no animals around, too. There was a pet shop, and some people kept pets in their rooms, but that was about it. Guess Skye is the only one who's spent much time around animals, huh?"

"That is true." Starr said and chuckled softly. "They come to ou for a product though, not really counseling."

~~~
Skye laughed softly and shook her head "Out of us, yeah, out of everyone on Vestia, no." She said honestly. After all, Kay, Esk and their family had grew up on a farm. As had Dawn in a way.

Kay nodded. [I suppose it's not really so different to using medical science to improve organic being's lives. Gene therapy and similar.]

---

Ivor nodded. "like squirrels..." He had grown rather fond of them, spending as much time as he had watching them run up and down trees and forage.

---

Armin nodded. "Though Trygve was always the better salesman." He chuckled. "I prefer designing garments to convincing people to buy them."

"We don't have squirrels here, though we could get some later on." Skye said and smiled at him, pointing out the animals they did have. "Dawn got chickens, goats, bees and giraffes."

~~~
I like that you like designing, you are a wonderful designer. I loved the dresses you have made for me." Starr said honestly

"What is a giraffe?" Ivor asked. Goats, chickens, bees, these were things he'd at least bloody heard of.

---

Armin bowed his head. "You honor me Miss Starr. "

Skye chuckled and pointed to the tall animals in another pen "Those are giraffes.

~~~
Starr looked up at him and smiled happily "It's the truth"

"wh.. what do they do?" Ivor asked. what strange looking animals.

---

"Thank you." Armin looked a little overwhelmed.

"Not much" Skye said with a chuckle "As a species, they eat the leaves from tall trees." She said then shrugged "Their kick can break bones so don't run up on them, they love carrots and greens for snacks too."

~~~
Starr smiled and patted his hand as he had done for her earlier.

Armin bowed his head. "Now that I have finished this commission, I have a lot of free time. I... wonder how much use a tailor is on a ship such as this..." He did worry about that. This wasn't exactly a normal cruise ship after all.

---

"w.. why do you have them?" Ivor asked.

Starr chuckled softly and looked to him "Even without normal guests, there are plenty of people here that could use your talent. Even if you are only here as a friend, I like that."

~~~
Skye looked over to Ivor then back to the giraffes "The same reason the goats are here, Dawn got them here for Esk mostly."

Armin took Starr's hand. "thank you Miss Starr, I consider myself most fortunate that you count me as a friend and that I may call you one as well."

---

Ivor frowned, he wasn't too good with names, which one was Esk? "Why?"

"I am fortunate that you want to be my friend, you are a rock I have been able to lean on." Starr said softly.

~~~
Skye shrugged and looked up at the big animals "I guess bigger animal, more life force? Definitely more blood."

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay nodded. [I suppose it's not really so different to using medical science to improve organic being's lives. Gene therapy and similar.]

"Yes, that seems like a good analogy. Performing an experimental operation in hopes of giving the patient a better life is something surgeons have been doing for centuries. Without taking risks, there can't be advancements," Asher said. "It can certainly be scary to think about, but removing the Three Laws was well worth it, and I'm sure other modifications will be too."

~~
"Plus giraffes are cool," James said. "That's a good reason to have them."

Kay nodded. It was scary, it was dangerous, but the potential benefits were huge.

---

Ivor considered that. "Esk is... the angry man with the scales yes?" The one who looked a bit like Hytar and had a lot of bitter angry thoughts.

---

If Armin could blush he would have. He squeezed her hand, bowing his head. "I will be there for you as long as you need or desire it Miss Starr."

Asher smiled a bit at Kay. There was so much at stake, so much to think about, but at least some of it had the potential to end well. That was good.
And for now he was here with Kay, exploring random halls on Vestia. That was better way than worrying about android brain surgery, or teens who needed help to recover from a terrible life.
They could just explore for a while, with Asher making sure there was some dumb but amusing topic to talk about so that Kaylr would stay off Kay's mind too.

~~
"Yeah, that's him," James said. "He has the power to heal himself when he touches someone who's alive." That was the nicer way to explain Esk's power, anyway.

"Like the man... " Ivor frowned. He'd never seen Hytar use his power, but he'd heard about it and it creeped him out. "do they die?"

---

[There's so much to do. Do you ever feel like we just don't have enough time?] Kay asked.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay nodded. It was scary, it was dangerous, but the potential benefits were huge.

---

Ivor considered that. "Esk is... the angry man with the scales yes?" The one who looked a bit like Hytar and had a lot of bitter angry thoughts.

---

If Armin could blush he would have. He squeezed her hand, bowing his head. "I will be there for you as long as you need or desire it Miss Starr."

Skye nodded then shrugged a little "Yeah, he is" She agreed, though she didn't know for certain what his thoughts were.

~~~
Starr smiled again, hugging him again. "As I will be here for you if you need me."

"thank you Miss Starr." Armin nodded, hugging her back gently then pulling away to keep walking. "This place needs flowers." He decided.

---

"Yes, like Hytar," James said. "They can die if they can't get away from Esk. His power doesn't control itself. But he's very careful not to hurt anyone."

~~
Asher smiled sadly. "Yes, all the time. We always seem to find another project, don't we? And we can't solve any of the problems right away, it seems."