Rigel
Ava is withdrawn. She has been this way for days,
I fill her food bowl with a wide variety of fruits, including ones she likes. "Kata Ava."
Ava reacts to the food the way she has to everything else. She lays on her blanket and faces the wall, ignoring me and the bowl.
I don't pressure her to eat (not this time), but I reread the entirety of the pet manual, Your Human and You. It is when I get to the section about the importance of socializing and exercising pets that I realize yet again, I have been neglectful of her.
So, during my lunch break, I take Ava to the park. Initially, she sits at my feet, looking at a clump of grass.
"Go play, Ava," I say wondering in what ways I am failing her now.
There's a peeping sound. Ava looks up. The little rahoni flies around her and when she opens her arms, the animal goes straight to her.
"Glow Ball," she says, hugging the little animal.
"We wondered how your pet and you were doing," says a familiar voice. It's Delphinus, Glow Ball's owner.
"Have you met Sagitta's pet," asks Delphinus.
I turn my head, only now seeing Sagitta, the owner of the horrid pet that scratched Ava. Unlike the last time I saw Sagitta, there are fewer scratches on his arms.
I look about, wondering if I should swoop Ava into my arms before Sagitta's pet springs out. "Oh no, where is it?"
Delphinus pats my arm. "Ah, there is it. Your pet has already found it."
"Guinea pig," says Ava, excitedly holding up what looks like a plump rodent while the rahoni swoops around her.
"Snuffy," Ava excitedly calls to an animal that looks like a tangled shrub.
The tangled shrub as I have dubbed the animal eagerly wags its large ears and brings me a ball over and over again. It isn't until I lob the ball far away and the shrub chases after it. If only the shrub were the only one to bother me because when I sit on the bench, it is as if the other pets are drawn to me, wanting to sit in my lap, flap around my head, or bring that infernal ball back to me to have me throw it again.
Right before I leave, Delphinus tells me the times they meet each day in the pet park.
Park time is for me and Ava, not all these scourges and their annoying pets, except for the first time in days, Ava is talkative and engaged, which is a response I have been unable to elicit in a while.
I need Ava to get better. I want her to be like she was before. Maybe this is the way?
So, for Ava, I change my schedule and establish new routines—meeting with these pet owners and their pets in the park and on some nights (like tonight) bringing Glow Ball into our home for sleepovers.
With Glow Ball in our home, Ava sleeps well, sheltered under my wing. I do not, since the rahoni digs its claws into my hair or the back of my wings and glows.
In the morning, I'm tired and grouchy. I don't think I can work and go back and forth from work to home and to the park during a lunch break, so I take Ava and the rahoni with me to work.
My workday is extra stressful, mainly because of Kayla's new computer program to implement some sort of program to identify pets at risk for abuse by using an algorithm (not that I know what she's talking about), but since this is a secret program and she wants to ensure they are properly screened, she sends those owners and pets to me. That means my workday is full of hostile scourge owners and stressed pets.
When a scourge cancels their appointment, I have a bit of extra time to draft a report. Ava and the rahoni sleep on the couch. I catch up on my report, with plans to take Ava and the rahoni to the park with me as soon as I finish.
"Visitors are requesting access to your office," announces my wall unit.
"Deny," I say. After the nonstop appointments, I need a break.
"Unable to complete your request," says my wall unit.
"Why?"
"Enforcers have the right to access all parts of the ship. Refusal to comply means they will forcibly enter in 5, 4—"
A chill goes through me. Enforcers are the Hydra arm sent to seize pets.
"Kata," I call, hoping to get Ava to me. The likelihood of me hiding her is low, but I need to try.
At the same moment I call for Ava, a loud pounding is at my door. Ava sits up, her wide eyes flicking between me and the door.
When a scourge fist slams through the middle of my door and the door crumples, Ava dives underneath the couch.
Bringing too much attention to Ava or any of the other humans on Hydra for their understanding of the scourge language might not go well, so I shut off the translator.
Two large scourge Enforcers, clad from head to toe in all-black, stand in the former doorway of my office. The larger scourge enters the room, his tail slowly swishing as he stares at Ava on the couch.
"Why are you here," I demand.
"We are here to seize the human, Ava," says the Enforcer.
My heart pounds in my chest. "You have no right to be here. My pet passed the test. I am her owner, and she is registered to me."
"Were her owner," says the Enforcer.
"She's mine!"
"If she is yours," says the scourge from the doorway. "Then why did you miss the deadline and fail to reregister her?"
"I... what?"
"By Hydra law, when she passed her evaluation, her application must be changed from temporary to permanent. Since you failed to file, we are here to facilitate the transfer of Ava, the human pet, to a new owner," says the Enforcer, advancing closer to the couch.
"You can't. She's skittish of scourges."
"She will get over it."
I stand in front of the Enforcer, widening my wings and shielding Ava from the Enforcer's view. "She's mine! Do not touch her!"
"Seize the pet," says the Enforcer in the doorway.
Only too late do I see the stick the approaching Enforcer holds. The tip strikes my abdomen. A fiery jolt rips through me and it feels like my muscles are on fire. There is the sound of someone screaming, and—
***
Kayla is gently tapping my cheek. "Are you back with us, Rigel?"
I look up at Kayla from the floor where I lay. Oh, my stars, my muscles are sore. "Yes."
Tarak stands where my office door used to be, now a gaping hole that opens straight into the lobby.
Kayla holds my hand. "What do you last remember?"
I squeeze my eyes shut. "Enforcers stormed into my office. They wanted Ava. I refused, shielding her with my body, and..."
Where is Ava? Her leash hangs on the wall and her bowls are on the floor. The little rahoni is on the couch where Ava was only moments ago, his body and wings now glowing red.
Kayla looks at me like she's worried. "Rigel, breathe."
Tarak watches me, his pupils stretching into long vertical slits.
"Where is Ava," I finally rasp, hoping that Kayla or Tarak might tell me that I am having a nightmare. When Kayla and Tarak stay silent, I ask my next question. "The Enforcers said... I failed to fill out a form on time... Is it true she will be given to a new owner?"
Kayla already has the keyboard from my desk, her fingers flying over the glyphs. "I found her. She is temporarily being held in a pet facility and scheduled for a transfer tomorrow, so for now, she is safe." Kayla rat-tat-tats on that keyboard and so many ship maps appear on the wall that my head hurts. "I am working on a plan, but..."
"What?"
"I should be able to arrange a detour, but the question is: do you want her, Rigel?"
"How can you even ask me that? I want her with me. She would be if those scourges hadn't taken her."
"You did miss a deadline."
Tarak bellows. "What is wrong with him? Why did he not file to adopt her like a proper pet!"
Kayla steps away from the keyboard and pulls Tarak into the lobby. With the now broken door, I can hear her speaking to him, telling him things like 'Stay calm' and 'Yelling at him will not accomplish anything.' Her voice gets even quieter when she tells Tarak it might be better if he leaves and that he should take the little rahoni with him.
The two of them return and Tarak picks up the rahoni, the little animal glowing in Tarak's arms. Tarak's footsteps move away from me, leaving through the lobby door and into the hallway (at least the Enforcers left that door intact).
She kneels near me. "Please excuse Tarak's behavior. He is gone now, but I do need to ask before we file anything. Do you want to officially register Ava as yours?"
I am momentarily struck by how I was once Kayla and Tarak's behaviorist, yet here she is, scraping me off the floor. I grasp the bottom of her shirt. "Will that get them to bring her back?"
"Maybe? It will be one of the cogs in a multiple-step plan, but...
I still need to ask. Is there some reason you did not file to adopt her before? Because I can still arrange a detour and maybe she can stay with Tarak and me if you don't want her."
"She is mine!"
"The question remains, though: why did you not do this before? Because sometimes, people (or in your case, Archae Bennuidae), say one thing, but then act in a way that shows that they really want."
Why is everyone focusing on the form? "I want her."
"I care about both of you. I ask because... I see how you both look at each other. But then even though you fill out reports and forms as part of your job almost every single day you fail to fill out the form to become her permanent owner. Do you understand the contradiction?"
"I'm cursed."
"What?"
I need to tell someone my secret. Make them understand how I want Ava, but why it is not possible for me to have her. "I like Ava, but I do not know how to..." My face feels hot and prickly. "On my planet, I never had the chance to be with someone, so I..."
Her eyes widen. "Are you saying... you've never been with a woman, so you are afraid of disappointing her the first time? The physical aspects might be awkward at first, but once you spend more time with her, it will come naturally, so don't worry—"
"I don't think you understand what I'm saying... All the female Archae Bennuidaes on my planet died when I was growing up, so... I have no idea how to be intimate with women, no matter what their species. I do not know how to show Ava I care for her. She deserves the best."
Kayla sighs. "Is Ava just a pet to you?"
"No! She is so much more than that. Maybe that is why I overlooked the form because ... I hoped someone worthy of her would take her."
"If you genuinely believe she is more than a pet, then shouldn't you ask Ava how she feels about this? That is how you treat her as a person and not a pet. Instead of deciding for her, let her choose."
Kayla makes everything sound so simple.
"So, what about this form," asks Kayla, projecting it on the wall unit. "Should we mark, yes to you being her permanent pet owner? If my plan works and a detour is arranged, then you two can work out the other details later."
With Kayla by my side, I fill out the form, making sure to mark yes to me becoming her permanent pet owner. Kayla clicks the keyboard, sending off the application.
Kayla escorts me back to my quarters. I feel numb and walk with her.
When we arrive at my doorway, I can't help asking. "What if Hydra refuses my appeal?" What I really wonder is what if she never comes back to me?
Kayla opens the door to my quarters. "Get into bed, Rigel."
I am so tired, I listen, lying down in bed.
Kayla pulls the bed sheet over me. "Trust Tarak and me. We have our ways. For now, though, I want you to rest. When we need you for our plan, you will hear from us."
Just like that, Kayla is gone.
When Kayla was with me, everything sounded so easy. Now that I am alone in my quarters, everything reminds me of Ava.
Even in my bed, I smell something sweet. That's when I notice her bowl, still full of untouched berries. Has she been eating? I cannot bring myself to get up and throw it out, though, because what if that is the last of what I have from her?
I double-clap, giving my wall unit instructions to turn off the lights.
"What about the language tutorial?" says the voice of my wall unit.
I have been working on learning her language, although I've mainly been doing that at work, not at home.
"Show me," I say, assuming I will see the words I have been studying to express how I am attracted to her, words like pretty and beautiful and smart, all so I could get her to understand how I feel about her. Maybe it will give me something to focus on before I fall asleep.
The phrase from the tutorial that appears on the wall is written in my language. It is more succinct and gets to the core of what I feel, but... this is not a phrase I entered. Is this Ava's tutorial?
Reading the words makes me feel worse. I miss Ava. I grab her blanket and hug it tight. I do not turn off the tutorial and leave the words from her tutorial shining on the wall.
I love you.