Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty

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Skye nodded and smiled a little "It's a little scary though, when you only see your own kind then see a city with the others."

"That or a sentimental attachment to an android." Esk reasoned. "Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a riot, I think i'd rather leave terra without having to run."

---

Matt tried not to laugh at that, focusing on filling the bottle with water vapor sucked from the air around them.

"Or that," Ethan agreed. "Well, if everything goes wrong, at least we'll be on Vestia where we can hide indefinitely."

Esk laughed. "yeah sure." He knew full well if anything did go wrong he'd be out there trying to find the missing crew and getting them back to the ship safely. He considered it his job to keep everyone safe after all.

Ethan smiled oddly. "I should be getting back to the library. Remember, if you have any specific requests about what books you want, send a message. I'll see what I can find."

Esk nodded "yeah... thanks." He didn't sound much like he overly meant that. But he took his heavy book and headed for the exit. "See you later Ethan."

"See you," Ethan said. He headed off toward the library. It occurred to him as he walked that he hadn't noticed Esk scratching himself. Oh well, Esk probably would have threatened to shoot him if he'd thought to ask, anyway.
Probably wasn't anything contagious, and even if it was, Ethan was immune anyway. So meh.

Shane chuckled softly, watching Matt fill the bottle with water. "That is a really cool ability."

~~~
Dawn frowned a little but nodded, it made sense that they would wait for the robot rights stuff, but she was as eager as the others to get their kids back.

"Yeah, Matt, that's awesome." Ellie had a thrilling thought, "Oh man, Shane can play handball and Matt can sell bottled water at important games! It's perfect!"

~~
James patted Dawn's shoulder. "I know. We all miss them, we'll go get them as soon as it makes sense."

Esk totally wasn't scratching, it was psychosomatic.
He headed back to his room with his books.

---

Matt handed the full bottle to Shane. "I don't think I can make that much without like... seriously messing myself up." He told Ellie good humouredly.

"Aww, disappointing," Ellie said. "Guess that business venture is over, then." She grinned though, it had just been a ridiculous idea after all.

Shane took the bottle and tried it to see how it tasted. "So, what's next on this sport's adventure?"

~~~
Dawn smiled and nodded "I know, waiting is just hard sometimes."

The water probably tasted well, of water. It was just pure h20 with no additives, except maybe the tiniest trace of beer that was left in the bottle.

Matt watched Shane drink it with interest.

"Uh, uh..." Ellie considered. "Something involving dragon-riding? Like, you ride a dragon? How's the water, by the way?"

~~
"Yeah, it really is hard, not getting to see the people you care about," James agreed. He sighed, then brightened slightly, "Hey, maybe Armin's awake. If he is, wanna go stop by and say hi to him?"

Shane chuckled at Ellie's thought then shrugged a little "It's like I thought, pure water, well, except the little beer that was left in there."

~~~
Dawn nodded then smiled and turned "Yeah, I have to get a breathing mask, but that would be good to see him again. If he's awake and up to seeing us."

"Matt could totally start some sort of business with that, even if it has to be small-batch designer water," Ellie decided.

~~
James smiled. "Sounds good. If he's awake, I'm sure he'd love a visit. Vestia, is he awake?"

Vestia would look into Armin's room to see if he was awake.

armin was awake and quietly working on something small to pass the time.

---

"artisan water" Matt laughed.

Shane chuckled and nodded, drinking some more of it then looking to the court again. "Would dragon riding even be considered a sport?" He wondered more to himself.
~~~
Dawn smiled at the news "Good, then we will come see him." She said, going to grab a breathing mask for herself.

"He's awake," Vestia told Dawn and James.

"Good. Then we can visit and see how he's doing, and if he doesn't want us, we can leave," James said brightly. He followed Dawn as she went to get a mask.

~~
"Sure, it's like horse riding, which can totally be a sport, except this time on dragons," Ellie said. "You can do all sorts of dragon sports, like stunt-flying, and competitive fire-breathing, and racing. I'm making this up, I don't know if dragon sports are a thing, but they sound good, right?"

"Can't see why not." Matt shrugged.

Shane shrugged and asked for a dragon riding scene. "Why don't you join me for this one?"
~~~
Dawn grabbed a mask and looked to James. "True, let's get going." She said and headed that way to knock on his door.

Ellie hesitated, she kinda wanted to, but she also didn't want to leave Matt down here on the ground by himself. That just seemed wrong to her. "This is your talent show to learn about your abilities," she told Shane, "We gotta watch you and give objective feedback, right?"

~~
James let Dawn knock when they arrived at Armin's room. "Yo Armin, you in the mood for visitors?" he called through the door.

Matt smiled at Ellie, yeah he saw through her. He was grateful. Sadly the holodeck couldn't quite manage to make him walk properly. Damn.

---

Armin set his sewing aside and called "Come in my friend!"

Shane shrugged and glanced to Matt. They had had him 'ride' a horse in the chair before, which was why he thought of it. He went to get on one of the dragons the computer made to try riding it.
~~~
Dawn grinned and opened the door to go in. "Hello Armin. How are you?" She asked happily.

The dragons the computer had made were pretty cool, very large and in lots of fun colors. Not telepathic, but otherwise they were about as awesome as a dragon could get.

They had fancy saddles with straps, too.

Ellie smiled at Matt, then stood next to him, watching. She didn't mind staying on the ground with Matt, it meant she could cheer Shane on in comfort. "Yeah, Shane! You're gonna be the best dragon-rider-dragon there ever was!"

~~
James followed Dawn, smiling at Armin. "Hey man!"

Shane chuckled as he got in the fancy saddle then waved to Ellie and Matt as the dragon started to move. Since they were on the holodeck, he asked for the stands they were in to be able to 'fly' alonside the dragon. It wouldn't turn but it would keep up with him and it was just the section they were in. It would sort of be like a kids roller coaster, no loops.

"I think he'll be okay at this." Matt nodded. "We believe in you man." Though he thought it'd be a bit weird to fly on another dragon's back when you were a dragon and could do it yourself. Heh.

---

Armin smiled broadly at Dawn and James. "I did not realize you were both here to see me. Is this a friendly visit or a medical one?" He asked, though he sounded happy just to have company. He was getting lonely here.

"Yeah, what Matt said! We believe in you!" Ellie said. She cheered some more as Shane took to the sky. They really did have a good view of Shane and the dragon thanks to his request.

~~
"Mostly just a social visit, but we'd be terrible medics if we didn't ask how you were feeling first," James said, smiling softly at Armin. Poor guy had spent so much time in here lately, it must be lonely. "You experiencing any new or worrying symptoms I should scan you for?"