Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Eight

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"Cause Esk is lazy and he wants someone to wait on Dawn, even though he has a massive crush on her and could wait on her himself," James grumbled. "At least that's what I assume was his motivation," he amended. "Your brother is weird. So Dawn's probably okay and not infected, that's good at least."

(sure)

(Does anyone have any preferences about skipping straight to Terra, or playing a few days along the way?)

(I'm game)

(Skip to Terra)

(sure, how long is that?)

(It'll be three weeks. Sound okay to you? :) )

JUNE 21, 2790

Vestia had traveled steadily across space without making stops, heading toward Terra. The trip was uneventful, an endless sea of stars outside the windows, with no other ships to be seen. Now she drew close to Terra, preparing to enter its atmosphere.

~~
Ellie had spent the weeks of the voyage trying to keep Matt in good spirits, working on gardening projects, visiting Starr, and trying to think of what to say to Shane when she saw him again. She’d been trying to compose a poem for him, and it was about as good as you’d expect from Ellie.

Now was in one of the forward viewing decks, face pressed against the window for the best possible view of the blue planet below. She was wearing blue and green clothes, and a t-shirt that said [I <3 Terra!] on it.

~~
James had loyally nursed Dawn through her fever and her wound, staying near her and entertaining her whenever he could. He had met Amari at some point and decided he liked the kid, so that was good. He was kind of frustrated that they were going to Terra before Mars, he’d wrenched his bad shoulder twice in the past two weeks, and it was annoying the heck out of him.

~~
Asher did a pretty good job keeping himself busy, fussing over Amari, or doing research. He also spent a fair bit of time with Kay, regularly visited with Starr, and at least made an effort to stop avoiding Matt. Thankfully his depression seemed to be somewhat better lately, maybe knowing he’d have his legs back soon was helping his mood. Or maybe he was just relieved to not be doing any robot rights stuff for a long time to come. Anyway, he was more like his cheerful old self.

~~
Ethan had spent the weeks supervising a redecorating of the library, with the other androids working for him on the job. He also spent time with Hewitt, or feeling jealous that Hewitt might like the other androids better. And he read some stuff about love, before deciding he was being stupid and stopping that.

Hewitt enjoyed spending time with the androids, playing chess, teasing Ethan. He found the librarian's jealous behavior amusing, it made him feel important so he rather liked it.

--

Mourn was his usual self, working on projects, talking mostly AT the androids, sleeping in boxes.

---

Matt was quite cooperative on the whole distraction thing. He spent a lot of time with Ellie talking about nonsense, chattering to the cleaning bots while he followed them about on their rounds and attending his physiotherapy appointments.

---

Esk checked in on Dawn every couple of days under the pretense of "making sure that idiot james is doing his job". He spent a lot of time watching lectures in the holodeck and when Ethan was away from the library, exploring the audiobook selection unquestioned.

---

Luka kept to her usual routine, keeping up her fitness levels and hanging out in the cockpit of the Devil to "keep her company".

---

Silence and Ivor explored the ship, though Ivor was more inclined to avoid people than Silence. He found all the thoughts difficult and struggled to differentiate between thoughts and spoken words, which made social interactions difficult.

He maintained his humanoid form by preference, Silence spent most of her time in her natural form. She rather appreciated that here there was space, and that nobody YET had screamed and run from the sight of her hulking form coming down the corridor.

---

Kay continued his work, taking physio, checking up on people if the others couldn't and trying to forge some sort of relationship with Amari.
He was relieved that Asher had calmed down a bit and was more his usual self, though he did worry that his delaying of the rights movement would become a habitual thing. Still, he was in no hurry to lose his lover to that cause. The selfish part of him was honestly rather relieved they had more time.

It felt strange to be back on Terra, where all this had begun. It felt like a lifetime ago they'd joined Vestia's crew, it had only been a year.

---

Armin had stopped showing up for meals. He hadn't eaten for two weeks now and in the past few days had become even more reclusive. His regular visits with Starr had dwindled.

Vestia, should she care to look, would find him praying regularly in his room, having requested the humidity be increased by a small percentage each day.

Dawn got better over the weeks, once her wound healed, the fever vanished for good. She started physical therapy, making herself try to get better faster.
~~~~
Starr noticed that Armin hadn't been coming by as much, so she took her egg with her to go and knock on his door and see how he was doing.
~~~
Jewel flitted around the ship, watching the others as the went about their lives She saw the tree man and stopped, watching him more now. Hey, she was curious about a sentient tree, plus his branches looked kind of inviting to her, but she was shy to approach him.
~~~
Rigel still lived on the Devil, so he noticed Luka coming around. He stayed around the Devil, working on anything that needed working on.

Marcus would keep to himself knowing the dislike and rightful distrust the crew had to him. He also gave amari space as they moved what felt slowly to Terra.

----

Amari would do well whenever the social situation required rules, those that didn't he did become nervous and unsure with. He wasn't aggressive to any of the crew members he met, and seemed to try to give a olive branch to Kay sensing he didn't exactly like him. He looked out of the window as the edged near Terra. Never in his life has he ever been on a Planet.

Asher had ordered a very nice quality prosthetic leg for Amari as they'd traveled, making sure the thing could be adjusted for Amari's height, since the kid was likely to keep growing some more. Amari hadn't even hit puberty yet, so he felt sure a very adjustable leg would be a plus.
It was ready for pickup at a depot in Ottawantreal, so he'd be going there to pick it up later, or more likely sending someone else to pick it up.

Right now he went to see Marcus, because he felt he should talk to the guy about his impending departure from Vestia.

~~
James kind of wanted to go sightseeing on Terra, since he'd never been before. He went to find Dawn, she'd be perfect to sightsee with if she had enough strength today. She could make sure he didn't say anything stupid.

He wanted to go find Luka next, but they definitely needed Dawn to cool their hotheaded righteousness, he was sure of it.

~~
Vestia had noticed Armin's odd behavior and humidity preferences with some concern, so she was glad when Starr went to check on the guy. She totally would listen in if she could.

~~
Ellie would leave the viewing deck as they neared Terra, heading down to the room near the ramp so she could try to be the first to touch land. She waited impatiently at the closed airlock door.

Marcus would welcome asher, knowing that they had to speak about this.

Armin was in the middle of meditation, he looked up when Starr knocked. "W.. who is it?" He called, rising from his squatting position. It wasn't exactly easy for him to take visitors when most of them couldn't tolerate the specialised environment of his room.
He moved sluggishly, his colours had dulled and his hair was thinning.

---

Hewitt watched the flittering little bird suspiciously, root tendrils waving gently in the air as he 'breathed'. "You're Artruvian yes?" He called. Close up he didn't have branches as such, just a lot of spiky spiky leaves that grew from his head like hair. His arms probably looked like pretty decent perches though.

---

Luka always smiled to Rigel when she saw him, she wasn't good at hiding her feelings for him at all and usually got a bit awkward and rushed off with some lame excuse.
Right now she was reading a book in the cockpit.

--

Matt went to watch the approach to Terra from an observation deck, as did Kay.

"This is weird..." Matt remarked.

Kay nodded, smiling softly. [At least we won't be eating rats this time.]

Matt snorted.

-----

Esk had found a cafe or something on an upper floor that had a good view and was quiet. He sat there, watching the planet with idle curiosity. He'd never actually been to Terra, though he assumed it'd be fairly similar to the other planets right?

---

Silence and Ivor made their way to an observation deck. Silence led the way, she had better direction sense than Ivor who seemed to constantly get lost trying to find anything on Vestia. It didn't help that he couldn't really read her signs.

----

Amity left his usual post at the cafe and headed for where everyone was gathering as his host coding commanded. They were about to land, that meant the guests required guidance and advice before they left.
He should, his programming told him, be where everyone was congregating to answer queries and ensure they met with their appropriate guide groups.
Nevermind there were no guides, or tourists, or anything of that sort. His programming couldn't discriminate.

---

Mourn crawled out of a box and wandered off to find the androids. See if they wanted to go exploring and all that. And make sure James and Asher and Ethan had their badges, they'd need those. Bah, stupid Terra.

Asher smiled a little at Marcus's greeting. "Well, it looks like your stay with us is almost over," he said. "We'll be letting you go free once we land, we'll leave your ship at the spaceport for you, although I'm not sure it's very spaceworthy right now."

~~
Mourn would find Ethan in his room, finding his badge in a dresser drawer. Ethan had left the door ajar, thinking he'd find the badge quickly, but it was proving to be elusive. It was somewhere in here with his tangled mess of clothes, right?

~~
Ellie smiled up at Amity. "Hey man, excited to see Terra?" She grinned.

"Well I can have it sold for parts here and gather whatever I need to work my way back to the colonies. There is a FC faction on Terra thankfully." Marcus said with a nod, "I'll leave contact information if you ever need their help."

Mourn pushed the door ajar. "Robot!" He declared his arrival.

---

Amity tilted his head. "I am not programmed to feel such things M'am" He'd slowly learned gender appropriate honourifics after all this time.

Asher nodded. "That seems sensible. I can't give you much, I don't think most of the crew would approve, but is there anything we can offer that would make your journey a little easier? Maybe a bag or two of blood or something?"

~~
Ethan yelped at the unexpected noise and turned around hastily, back pressed against the dresser. He calmed down after a couple seconds, seeing that it was just Mourn at the door. Whew. "Hello Mourn, excited to get off the ship?" He asked, trying to casually stuff some socks he'd been holding back into the dresser.

~~
"Aww, well then, I'll be excited for you," Ellie decided. "It's gonna be awesome out there, man! Ottawant...real?" It was kind of a mouthful of a name.

"Blood would be fine, you have done enough with Amari for me." marcus softly smiled, "He already acting better here... more at home." He hide the pain in his eyes, he knew there was no chance of a relationship with his son but he still hoped the best.

"Ottowantreal, largest city in north america." Amity started listing off facts and figures about the city's history and geography like some sort of encylopedia.

---

Mourn grinned. "What you doing?" He asked. "I come see if have badges, or stay on ship. Terrans stupid, very strict on badges, it going to be annoying." He made a face.

Asher nodded. "All right. And I'm sure you already know this, but I must ask you, please don't tell anyone anything you've learned about us. There's a lot at stake on this ship, and telling anyone anything could endanger everyone on board." He looked at Marcus sadly. "We'll do our best to help your son, I promise you. Maybe someday he'll see that you really aren't his owner, I don't know. We can hope."

~~
Ellie nodded. "Yeah! That city. I bet it's SO COOL."

~~
"I was looking for my badge, I think it's somewhere in here, just buried." Ethan turned to the dresser again, running his fingers through the clothes, then looked at Mourn again to speak, "I'm not sure Asher's going to let us out though, he's so paranoid."

He nodded, "of course, I will not endanger your crew." Marcus softly smiled, "I may not live to see the day, but I can hope."

Mourn shrugged. "You smart robots, you no tell anyone something that endanger cause." He had absolute faith in the androids on that front. He looked to the drawer. "If no find, come talk. I maybe have spares." He had a lot of random crap after all.

---

Amity smiled. "I do hope you enjoy your stay."

Asher smiled sadly. "Do you want to say goodbye to Amari before you leave?" he asked. He knew Amari was scared of Marcus, but a brief goodbye in a controlled situation should be okay.

~~
Ethan nodded. "We're not stupid. Not even James would risk fucking things up when this much is at stake, he's too smart for--ah!" He held up the gray badge triumphantly. "Good, now I can be more easily persecuted by random strangers," he said snarkily.

"I actually wrote something, for if he ever start to question..." marcus went to the dresser and pulled out a thick envelope, "It's written in Arran but in a Dialect that a translator can read and not screw up." He handed it to asher.

Asher took the envelope carefully. "I should keep it for him until he seems ready?" he asked.

"you stay with me, I no let anyone hurt robot." Mourn flexed his claws.

Marcus nodded, "That would probably be best, when he is stable enough to understand."