Starr's Shuttle, Pegasus

First topic message reminder :

I don't remember its name at the moment. Starr, feel free to edit the post title if you want lol

Nova chuckled and nodded. "True enough, especially given how long we live."

"That's true. It's nice that you have some time to find what you're looking for," Asher told Nova. He knew star dragons could live a very long time, but it was hard for him to comprehend the scale of it.

Nova nodded again then dipped her head a little "We do lose fertility as we age though, so it's best to find our soulmates when we are younger."

"I didn't know that, although it does make sense," Asher said. He smiled softly, "I'm sure it won't take you that long to find someone."

"I hope not, but then again it does take some freedom to do as you wish away. If I had a mate I couldn't have come with you on this trip." Nova said thoughtfully.

Asher considered that, and nodded. "It's not easy to leave someone you love," he agreed. "It certainly wasn't easy for me to decide to stay here on Terra, I knew how much my family would worry about me, and I don't at all enjoy putting them through that."
"I am glad you're here," he added. "I feel a lot safer with you here, and you're a much better shuttle pilot than I am."
He liked Nova, and was starting to think of her as a friend, but he didn't say that out loud. She was his employee, and he didn't want to make her feel like she owed him friendship.

Nova nodded then chuckled softly. "Yeah, but if I found a mate I could have eggs or young to worry about too. It's hard enough to be in the situation like you are where you have a mate and a child all separated." She said then smiled softly. "I am glad I make you feel safe, that is my job and it is one I like doing."

"True, that would make it much more difficult," Asher agreed. "In Danika's case, she basically has three parents, so at least she'll still have two meeting her while I'm here. But most kids don't have that many parents." He looked a little amused at the thought of all Danika's parents and extended family. Seriously, there were so many adopted relatives of various sorts now.
"Well hopefully by the time you find your mate, I won't be running around on missions and begging you to be my bodyguard any more. This mission is only supposed to be a few months, and then I fully intend to settle down and have a quiet life." He wasn't sure that would happen, but a guy could dream, right?

"Hopefully we won't have to be running around after this is over with." ova said with a smile. She liked that Danika had so many parents, it made it interesting.

"Let's hope," Asher agreed. "It can be rewarding to be part of something big and important, but I'd much rather be home." There was so much to look forward to on Vestia.

Nova chuckled again and nodded. "True, though some like the adventure a lot more than settling down."

"Not me," Asher said with a laugh. "My goal is to have the most uninteresting life possible." He'd kind of failed at that goal though, his life had been waaay too eventful. "How about you?"

Nova chuckled and shrugged "A bit of adventure is good sometimes, but I like calmer times too."

"Makes sense," Asher said. He looked out at the desert beyond the fenced area. "I suppose we should be looking around this place a bit more, we have to make sure it's good enough."

"Good enough?" Nova asked, wondering what he meant by that.

"The world is watching this investigation, trying to see if the Terran Empire is handling it ethically or not," Asher explained. "Independent third parties such as us need to be nosy, and investigate these android housing facilities very carefully to make sure they stay ethical. After that attack that happened a few days ago, it's worth being extra careful." That attack had been awful. Thankfully there had only been one incident where a guard had hurt an android so far, but it definitely meant that everyone needed to be vigilant.

Nov nodded in understanding. "Alright, so what do we do first?" She asked curiously. She wanted to be sure the androids were safe as they could be after all.

"I think this facility has a lab where psychologists are interviewing androids, to try to decide if we're alive," Asher said. "That'd be a good place to check on." He didn't want to terrorize any Terrans, but mildly intimidate them? Maybe.

Nova nodded "Sounds good to me. We can check how they are going about the questioning and the facility there."

"Yes, we can make sure they're following reasonable practices here," Asher said. He spotted an android and went over to ask her for directions.

The android apparently didn't have anything better to do, so she'd lead them off toward a building near the edge of the fenced area.

Nova smiled as she followed the two androids, keeping watch as she did.

The building was plain and unremarkable. Two soldiers were standing guard near the door, they watched the trio quietly, but didn't ask any questions.

The door of the building had a description painted on it: [Research Center]

The android who was acting as their guide led Nova and Asher into the building, into a small and rather dull-looking waiting room. A couple of androids were sitting together and looking at some fashion magazine. A few seats away from them, a Terran was reading something on his laptop. The receptionist was doing something on her computer that seemed to involve a lot of clicking, he was probably playing Solitaire or something, although he looked over when the trio came in.

Nova smiled at the people as they came in, looking them over and assessing the threat level, which was surprisingly low most of this trip so far. She was glad of that even as it made her wary of 'what if's'.

Asher smiled at Nova. This place didn't seem dangerous to him, which was nice. He went over to the front desk to talk to the receptionist, who assumed that Nova had come to turn Asher in so he could stay at the facility.

Asher explained that no, actually he had special permission to travel freely in the Terran Empire as long as he stayed with Nova, and he wasn't here to give up that privilege. They were just here to make sure that the androids who were staying here, were being treated well.

The receptionist didn't one hundred percent believe that, so he asked Nova for confirmation.

Nova chuckled and nodded "He speaks true. We came to check on the people here not to loose Asher. He is my boss currently, wouldn't do much good for me to fail my assignment by leaving him."

Asher nodded at Nova's words. "She's doing a great job keeping me safe. I'm sure safety here is excellent, but staying under her protection makes it easier for me to do my job."

The receptionist sighed. "All right. What do you want?"

"We'd like to sit in and see some android interviews," Asher said. "Also I'd like to talk to some to the androids who've been previously interviewed. The sapient rights groups like it when actual androids check on the condition of other androids, you know, and as an android I think it's vitally important that I try to help my people if I can." He gave the man one of his warm, nonthreatening smiles.

The receptionist sighed again. "All right. Down that hallway." He pointed.

"Thank you" Nova said though she thought the receptionist was less than enthused with this job. That could bode bad for this group.