Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Four

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Dawn would be alright, she just got bored laying there alone and without a project to do.

"Yes, I made them with the hope they wouldn't be needed, but to be quick if they were needed." Nova said, going over to Asher when they met again. "Hi again."

Asher had headed out into the hall while the other two headed up. He waved in greeting. "Hello again. What a coincidence to see you guys up here!" He laughed. It was nice to be out of the cargo bay.

Nova chuckled and nodded. "Now all you have to do is find a place to put the other stone for when you wish to either go back down or come back to the ship." She said, passing him to get the stone and bring it to him. "Yours will bring anyone touching you with you so you should be careful."

Asher nodded. "Good to know. I'll be careful not to take anyone anywhere by accident. That would be incredibly awkward and possibly illegal." He took the stone, tucking it and the other one in his pocket. "I hope that nothing interesting will happen on this trip, but I feel much better knowing you've created these to keep us safe."

Nova nodded and smiled again. "Yes, it would be awkward. Yours is the only one that will take more than the one person." She explained.

Asher smiled. "I'll try to be responsible with this special and incredible power," he joked. He started wheeling down the corridor, "James showed me a bit of this ship, and so did Luka and Rigel, so hopefully I'm not entirely turned around here."

Nova smiled and nodded. "This ship is much smaller than Vestia, it shouldn't be hard to know the way around."

"I just don't want to set anyone's expectations of my navigation ability too high," Asher said. He headed in the direction of the main living room.

Moriah followed along.

Esk had taken up position in the living room, after failing to get Mourn to get the hell outta his room. He could sleep through a lot of noise sure, but he didn't like sharing his sleeping space with someone who spent the whole time typing loudly and giggling to themselves.
He'd gotten too used to having his own space and Mourn had feigned inability to understand him when he'd tried to get the guy to leave last night.
Esk KNEW Mourn could read his lips, the fact Mourn shrugged, told him to go to sleep and promptly ignored him had just made him angrier at the invasion.

So he'd come up here to skulk about. Damn Felid.

He glanced up when people came in. "How the hell did you get up here?" He asked Asher.

Esk looked grumpier than usual.

Tala was also in the living room, still squinting at that stupid book and its stupid writing. She looked up curiously, nostrils flaring as she scented the group.

Asher waved a hand, smiling at them. "Hellio Esk. I can teleport now. Well, with the help of enchanted stones anyway, thanks to Nova." The guy looked pretty sour today, oh dear. "How're you doing?"

Moriah flinched at the sight of Esk. Nope, he didn't look like someone she wanted to be near.

"Teleporting?" Esk quirked an eyebrow and looked disdainful. "Suppose it beats sitting in the cargo bay the whole way." He smirked unpleasantly at Moriah, she was too flighty he decided, far too nervous.

"It is a safety measure." Nova said with a smile. "Everyone that goes on Mars will have a set."

Asher narrowed his eyes at Esk's expression. Even when his words were pretty neutral, Esk often seemed to be trying to goad people. It could be frustrating sometimes. "This is better than the cargo bay, yes. I was glad for the chance to make sure I knew how to use the teleporting stones ahead of time, too."

Moriah tried to look unfazed, but stayed quiet, and behind Asher and Nova.

"intending to start a fight so we have to run?" Esk asked cooly. Not that he disapproved of the paranoia, paranoia was a good thing he felt. Stopped you getting killed stupidly.

"The plan is to hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Asher said. "That's why Nova's here after all, to make sure nothing goes horribly wrong, and if it does, to get us out safely. Besides, who doesn't like being able to teleport?" He smiled a little as he said that, being able to teleport was nice.

Esk snorted. "All fine till it fucks up and you end up somewhere you didn't intend to be." He shrugged, he kinda preferred just running but he'd take magic if it was necessary. Though hmm, maybe he could get Mourn outta his room using one... He mused at that idea. "So everyone gets one?" He asked Nova. "How do they work?"

"You place one stone where you want to appear and keep the other on you. When you wish to teleport, simply say teleport and the stones will be drawn one to the other." Nova explained

Esk nodded slowly. that sounded simple enough.

Nova smiled at all of them. "I should finish the last ones. Most of them are ready."

"I should get going too," Moriah mumbled.

"All right," Asher said, frowning a little at Moriah's discomfort. He smiled at Nova though. "Thank you again."

Esk snorted. "She's scared of me." He told Asher, not even caring that Moriah could hear him. "I dunno what she thinks i'm gonna do, she could flatten me against a wall with one damn hand if she really wanted to. " Yeah, he'd learned his lesson about trying to take on androids in a fight. He might be fairly strong, but he wasn't made of metal like they were and he could feel pain.

Moriah flinched at the idea of flattening an organic against a wall. The idea of using your strength that way was soo wrong omg. "I wouldn't," she said uncomfortably. "That sort of violence is necessary, and entirely inappropriate. Just like your threats of gun violence." She added, "And I'm probably not that much stronger than you anyway." Female androids were still strong of course, but they were generally a bit smaller and so had a bit less weight and physical strength at their disposal than the males did. An unfortunate side effect of copying Terran appearance so closely.

Asher shook his head. "Hurting someone, letting someone be hurt, is practically unthinkable to a lot of androids. It's in our code to prefer to avoid violence. I mean, we can and do learn to act violently and without remorse, but it's not really how androids think by default." He sighed. "Moriah, don't worry. Esk isn't going to hurt you, or anybody unless they're trying to hurt us. He just likes to get a rise out of people sometimes."

Moriah looked unconvinced.

Esk waved a hand dismissively. "You'll learn self preservation soon enough. No more nagging shit in your brain forcing you to take people's crap." He shrugged. "Besides, you really think this lot is gonna let me intentionally hurt anyone? They'd kick my ass and throw me in the brig again." He glanced to Tala, yep, he knew she would.

Tala showed her lower teeth at Esk in a smile. "The young man is correct, we do not allow violence amongst the crew," she told Moriah. "Such misbehavior would be dealt with fairly and quickly, and not in a way the instigator would enjoy."

Moriah didn't know whether that was reassuring or not. "Well, I'm glad there are restrictions," she said weakly. "I don't think I'll change my mind about violence though."

Asher sighed. He'd felt that way once, like violence was never the answer. He kind of wished he could feel that way again, but it was too late now. He knew sometimes you had to do brutal things to ensure the survival of your loved ones. Knowing when it was necessary was a problem though.

Moriah frowned suddenly at Esk. "You're not trying to push me into 'learning self preservation', are you?"

Esk snorted. "nah, I don't wanna have to deal with broken bones again. " Yeah lesson learned there. Don't take on an android. "Still, at some point some asshole's gonna try to hurt you. The universe is full of assholes who get a kick out of hurting other people. " he absent mindedly scratched his arm. Thankfully long sleeves hid those horrible scars. "you'll figure it out. "

"Broken bones?" Moriah asked.

"He punched James in the face once. James has a very solid face," Asher said blandly.

"Oh, all right," Moriah said. She considered what Esk said, it still struck her as wrong, but she had to admit she wouldn't fault an organic for reacting in self defense. Hmm. "See you later," she said awkwardly, backing away.

Asher looked away from her to hide his wry smile. Android nonviolence logic had a tendency to be incredibly xenophobic. Androids in general were surprisingly xenophobic, in a variety of ways. Sigh.

Esk snorted again, bemused by Moriah's attitude. "how the hell are you gonna get these guys to rebel?" He asked Asher. If they were all so fearful and servile they stood no hope.