Tweak gladly boarded the ride back to Cirrus. Today had been hectic, putting it lightly, especially for her. Finding more of her own kind, then fighting them and finding out what kind of creatures they were, all while seeing how everyone else reacted toward them was having an emotional drain on her that the 'spacer neko was barely keeping under control. All she wanted to do was sleep. To get away from everything -- the fighting, her teammates, even her suit -- and just be alone with her thoughts and quiet. Meanwhile, she subtly avoided eye contact with Dream. Her friend's comment on the status of the nekos still stung.
Also troubling was the realization of what she had just asked of Deacon. The Kohanian had every reason to hate her now. She couldn't tell for sure, but Tweak had to assume that he knew something now, even if she hadn't used any of her more obvious abilities. Either way...she had to ask him what he saw at next opportunity. And this was _definitely_ going in her journal.
She tugged on one arm of her suit; it was itching in the area of her upper arm over her heat vents. The material seemed a bit on the hot side, and lightly deformed with a similar state present on the sides of her thighs but to a lesser degree. Tweak frowned, but stopped picking at it and let it be. The armor plates would hide it from casual eyes for now.
Abeck Winston said:
"Whew, you guys are lucky. From what the inspection crew back planetside can tell, it looks like you all jumped right into the middle of a neko slave-trade gone wrong. All those nekos are reprogrammed, and it looks like one of the ships destined to arrive on Prilisa IV was going to make a pick-up and head straight back to Nepleslia… they’ll be getting a warmer welcome than they expected once they break atmosphere, yeah? You all really lucked out this time…if these nekos brain’s where blank slates, I don’t think you all would’ve lasted very long.”
!!!
Tweak had been staring at the deck plating, but her eyes shot up to look at Abeck in surprise. Reprogrammed? So they were not naturally that way? Then the realization hit: Reprogrammed meant that they were programmed to begin with. But what were they when they didn't have programming? Tweak looked back down at the floor, her face thoughtful and a little confused.
---
Late that evening, back on the Cirrus Station…
Dream's mostly-finished (if it ever could
be finished) shrine in the abandoned armory was dark, with blinking LED lights here and there flashing and performing patterns to the night cycle of the station. In a far corner, though, behind a stack of storage containers, bits of scrap metal and a large generator block, a red-tinged light flashed in irregular intervals.
Tweak had been nearly first in line to change out of her CSS armor, glad to have worn her normal clothes underneath. She found herself unable to stay in the barracks, though. Even up on her bunk, it was far from peaceful in the room as everyone did their post-mission thing whether it was relaxing, talking, doing minor exercises...the cramped room just made it seem too busy. So Tweak left it and headed toward the shrine with her journal.
Now she sat on the deck behind the collection of junk, recording her day's experience on paper and in crystal. Even a summery of the day filled three pages, front and back. Encoded in the crystalline tags, of course, were the important parts: Her recollections of the nekos mostly, but also notes about Shastabaar and Deacon, the two newbies from races she had no knowledge of. The other additions to the squad had profiles added to her paper journal where she had already written information on the squad mates she had met when she joined.
Deacon's information had an addition to the physical description and semi-portrait: A transcript of the conversation they had shared on the shuttle before beginning their plan, including Deacon's mention of neko reputation on his world. Tweak felt a twinge of worry as she made a note in her book to follow up on Deacon, to find out what he thought of her now and whether he knew anything and if the promise he had made to her held any weight now.
The neko finished her note, then closed the book and set it on the deck beside her. The fact that Tweak knew she wouldn't remember anything in the morning never caused her so much worry as it did now. The neko pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them and smelling the faint scent of the heat-seared fabric (where her shorts had taken the brunt of the heat-dispersion vents on her legs during the mission) as she stared at the blurred reflection the LED lights in her hat made on the inside of her little 'fort'. A tear traced its way down her cheek, tickling her nose a little making her sniffle before it dripped from her chin.
With today, things were more complicated now. And even knowing she had people who would watch her back in a battle didn't keep Tweak from feeling very, very alone.
