Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Two

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James went into Armin's room. "Hey man, watcha working on?" he asked, seeing that Armin was sewing.

Esk laughed darkly. Yeah, that wasn't his concern, but whatever. He wasn't about to correct Ethan. "yeah... " He thought of Kay, who he knew was hiding something about Starr and her kid, he just didn't quite know what. Hmm... it troubled him a little.
"I suppose things are all a bit simpler when you were just put together in a factory. No real family, no blood ties and all the obligation that comes with it. " He made a face. "it's fucking annoying having family."

"Makes things simple, not having any family to worry about," Ethan agreed. "Just you, and whatever job you've been given. James says family's a good thing, he says it means you have a support network when things go to shit. Then again, he doesn't have any biological parents either." He shrugged, "Seems like you could walk away if you wanted. If James can choose to have a family, you can choose to ditch yours, right?"

Starr nodded and smiled again "Yes, it is good for the baby to sleep so well, but natural for us."

Esk shook his head. "they always seem to find me." He gazed out the window again. "no matter where I go or what I do, one of them ends up tracking me down or... stumbling across me. " He glowered at the stars. "My father doesn't like not knowing where his children are, we're like property or something, belongings he's not willing to misplace. That or he just gets a sick kick out of showing up randomly and acting smug. I dunno how he does it, but he always finds me. I've given up trying to hide."

"That's fucked up," Ethan said. He knew what it was like to want someone out of your life, but not have any way to escape them. "I guess putting a bullet in his face is out of the question, then?"

Esk snorted "don't think I haven't tried. He seems to expect it, it amuses him. I've tried shooting him, i've tried stabbing him, hell, i've even tried to get him sucked out a fucking airlock but the bastard always has some way of surviving. " He looked irritated. "Even Vicky shot him." He smirked at that, best thing that nutter ever did. "I suppose when half the universe seems to want you dead, you get really good at avoiding it." Bah, why couldn't that asshole just die already? "Someday someone will get him, and when they do I wanna find them and give them a damn medal."

"Seems like the more someone deserves to die, the harder it is to kill them. Hope someone gets him, he sounds like he really does deserve it," Ethan said. "Well, you can tell Luna about your father if she starts getting curious, convince her she doesn't want to know about hers. Or... whatever."

Esk snorted "You wanna give the kid nightmares?" He might have been joking, it was hard to tell.

"If it keeps her from wanting to learn about her father, maybe," Ethan said with a shrug. "You know more about parents than I do, so you're the expert here." He stood. "I should get going, I guess. Since I've already told you what I came here to tell you."

"Not really. I never had decent parents." Esk replied flatly. His mother had been distant his whole childhood and died when he was eight, his foster sister basically raised him, so no, he didn't really know much about parents beyond that they were supposed to be a lot of things, but often it seemed, really weren't.
He shook his head. "Back to your books then?"

Ethan snorted. "Maybe 'expert' is too strong a word, but you definitely know more about parents than I do." He nodded, "Books. They don't sort themselves, so someone has to do it."

"What, do they unsort themselves while you're gone?" Esk smirked. "or do people sneak in and mess em up just to fuck with you?" Ethan's antisocial nature wasn't really something Esk could blame, he understood completely wanting to be left the hell alone. He just found the excuses Ethan made for it rather amusing. "Have... fun? i suppose."

Ethan rolled his eyes. He wasn't a big fan of Esk applying logic to his excuses to disappear, although he didn't seem especially annoyed either. "You never know what some fool might decide to do. See you later." He headed for the door.

Esk nodded, took out his pencil and went back to drawing.

Ethan headed off. Being Ethan, he was probably going to avoid everyone for a while now.

(Do we wanna do some timeskippage around here? Or do we have other things we need to do first?)

(I can't think of anything)

(I don't know anything either, let's go )

(To the robot freedom/big battle day? I can write up a post if that sounds good. :) )

(Sure )

TIMESKIP – JULY 30, 2790

Vestia traveled on through the vast emptiness of space, moving farther and farther from the bright, busy core of the Terran Empire. By July 30th she was out of Terran space entirely, in the empty zone between empires. Everything had been peaceful, hopefully everyone was adjusting to having Luna on the crew by now.

In the Terran Empire, the robot rights movement had proved to be a resounding success. After much deliberation and research, much reviewing of footage and code, and many interviews of hundreds of androids and the employees of several major android manufacturers, the Terran Empire had finally concluded that there was absolutely no way they could deny the truth. The androids were sentient, and now they were going to have to do a lot to make up for those fifty years of horrible mistreatment.

Asher and Nova had spent the past few weeks visiting many parts of Terra, investigating the situation at various holding facilities, being interviewed by psychologists, talking to reporters and politicians, and basically going anywhere they possibly could to try to convince everyone that androids were sentient. There had been a lot of traveling, a lot of talking, a bit of racism, and a bit of homesickness, but when the Terran Empire had contacted them to tell them to invite them to the official announcement of android liberation that would be held later that day, Asher figured that it had all been worth it.

He sent a few messages to people on Vestia, telling Starr, Kay, James, Mourn, and all the androids the good news. The Terran Empire had said that the news wasn’t secret, so it was okay for him and Nova to tell anyone if they wanted to. He included a note about when the official announcement was going to be, and that androids from all the major manufacturers were being freed, including Terran United androids. Even just in writing, Asher managed to sound pretty thrilled.

~~
James was in med bay 2 with Tori when he got his message. He had been worrying pretty much nonstop since this protest thing had started, so when he got the good news, he just kind of stared stupidly at it for a while. It was hard to believe that the awful, stupid slavery he’d lived with all his life was suddenly coming to an end. Fifty years later than it should have, sure, but it was still incredible. He and Tori stared at each other in disbelief and excitement for a few seconds, hit pretty hard by how emotional this moment was, then hurried over to hug each other.

~~
Ethan had been true to his word and had visited Starr several times since the hatching. He felt like he should, it was important to be supportive of her at a time like this.
He was a little less excited when he got his message from Asher. Oh good, at least he wouldn’t have to wear a dumb badge ever again.

~~
The other androids were all doing various jobs around Vestia. They probably all headed to find each other pretty quickly when the messages arrived on their tablets though, this was the sort of moment you needed to share with somebody who understood.

Starr looked to her tablet, smiling at the message Asher had sent. It was good to hear it from him even if she was keeping tabs with Nova there. She enjoyed her time with the others when they came to visit but kind of wanted some time to herself, so she started looking into moving to the first class suite and asking if the others wanted to as well.

~~~
Shane went to find Ellie when he heard the news, wanting to share it with her and possibly plan a party for the androids on board.

Kay had watched just about every time Asher had appeared on the news, missing him terribly but glad to see he was safe and so so proud of what he was doing.
When the news came through he stared at his tablet for a while then burst into a huge grin and sent back a quick [That's incredible news! I'm so proud of you, you're amazing. ]

--

Mourn whooped when he saw the news, danced around his room, told Vestia and skipped off to go find the androids.

He'd been working hard on the terran united code and this whole rights movement from his end, avoiding giving away his anonymity but continuing to push on forums.

----

Matt would eventually work up the courage to visit Starr and probably wouldn't say or think anything too stupid.

He was walking better with his crutches now, but there was no way he could run, which for a guy so used to living his life at quite a pace, was a bit frustrating.

He was directing the cleaning bots around when Kay appeared, looking more happy than Matt had seen him in a long time.

"Hey.. what's up?"

They're free. They did it, the terran empire will anouce it officially later today!

Matt stared at Kay, then grinned back. "that's awesome!" He hugged his brother, nearly falling on him as he forgot the whole crutches thing. Idiot.

Kay tentatively hugged back and pulled away as soon as he was able.

"We should celebrate!" Matt insisted.

----

Armin had visited Starr daily, he was pretty devoted in that respect. He made sure she remembered to eat in that polite way he had, enjoying spending time with her and Nova who yeah, he already felt pretty protective of.

He came to see her.

----

Luka would remain oblivious unless someone told her the news, Oops?

---

Esk had spent his time studying, watching movies with Dawn and generally just killing time.
he hadn't been actively avoiding Starr, but neither had he bothered to go see her or Luna. He figured it really had nothing to do with him anyway.

Ellie was probably doing something in Hydroponics when Shane went looking for her. She hadn't heard the news from anyone yet, and wasn't proactive enough about this situation to keep tabs on it herself, so she was just enjoying a nice morning checking plant nutrient balances.

She might not notice Shane right away when he came in, she was a little distracted by a soy plant.

~~
Most of the MegaBrainTech and Terran United androids had gathered in a rec room on their floor, they were all chattering about the news. This was just such a big occasion, and a lot of them looked like they probably would have been crying if they could.

Moriah would spot Mourn first when he found them, and waved to him. "You heard the news?"

~~
James and Tori stayed in med bay 2 a while longer, laughing giddily as they tried to process what had just happened. Eventually they'd head their own ways, Tori heading off to to join the other androids, while James went to look for Luka. she was kind of like a sister to him, and since none of his other siblings were here right now, he should go tell her, right?

Mourn nodded eagerly "Yes yes, terrans decide to no be stupid!" He grinned lopsidedly. "you free!"

----

Luka was probably in the gym, working out partly to distract her mind from going home.

"We're free!" Moriah cheered. "I can't wait to visit planets without wearing a badge. And to tell the Terrans I'm a person too now." She grinned.

Levi was smiling his fake-looking smile. "It's incredible. I just can't believe I lived to see this day."

~~
James found the gym where Luka was and looked in at her. "Yo Luka, I have news!"

Mourn clapped his hands. "now just figure out how free terran united yes? Code... being annoying." He made a face, it was pissing him off that he couldn't crack it as easily as he'd thought.

---

Luka looked up from whatever she was doing and came over to James, picking up her bottle of water on the way and swigging from it. She was probably pretty sweaty, nice.
"Hey James. What news?" He looked happy, so she assumed it was good news.

Starr was glad of anyone who came to visit her, it made her feel better in it's own way. She was glad of Armin being there too, reminding her to take care of herself as much as Luna and her people. She looked up and smiled when he came in his time. "Hello again Armin. Have you heard the news?"

~~~
Shane smiled, watching Ellie then lightly touching a leaf on one of the plants before going over to her "Hey Ellie."