Synth

“I’m glad DH caught you.” Flit said once TO and DH returned, though they frowned once they realized Avery wasn’t with them. “Avery didn’t come back with you?”

“You were too harsh!” TO said, their ears pinning back, “And you know that! You made them cry!”

Flit sighed, “Yes, I noticed.” They said, “I also made them see how things are, didn’t I?” They shook their head, “I might be blunt, but that’s the only way I’ve been able to get so many resistant synths to safety in the past, and if it comes down to a choice between hurting Avery’s feelings, and risking lives for the thin hope that someone might be better than they’ve proven themself to be.” they shrugged, “I’m sorry, TO, but I will hurt their feelings to protect everyone, and that includes them!” They huffed, and looked away, “Besides…different or not, some people just can’t change no matter how hard you want them to.”

Snout put their hand on Flit, squeezing their mate’s shoulder for a moment despite the way their ears momentarily flicked back. “I wish they stuck around though.” Snout said, “But… I suppose it’s fine for now.”

TO sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. They were still angry that Flit had upset Avery, but at least now Avery understood Kei was dangerous. “It’s the last day.” TO said, “I’m guessing we have no plans to keep Decon from destroying life on Arkane?”

“Outside of just hoping that he chooses not to, no.” Flit said, “The best thing we could come up with while you were out last night was to find a reason for him to choose not to kill everyone on the planet. However, image is important to him more than anything else. To hide the inability of his troops to contain the threat, he absolutely would kill everyone here.”

“There’s not even any resource on the planet itself that he can use.” DH said. “He won’t want to blow it up because of the nearby moons, but he also won’t have any reason to keep the planet habitable.” They looked at Flit, “See, I pay attention.”

“They weren’t really paying attention last night.” Flit said in response to TO’s confused expression. “They were too worried about you.” They grinned at DH, “But, I guess if you could remember something then maybe you weren’t as inattentive as I thought you were.”

Flushing, DH huffed and looked away. “I can be worried About TO and pay attention at the same time you know.”

“At any rate.” Snout said, clearly amused by the antics, “We have nothing that would convince King Decon to simply not destroy the planet.”

“And we can’t defend ourselves, I’m guessing?”

Flit sighed, “We… had to talk to Vik about that.” They said, “We asked what access we’d have to the planet's defensive capabilities.”

“And?”

“And honestly, even if we had access to the planet's full capabilities it would only be a temporary solution. We’d be under siege which would just lead to mass starvation after a while.”

TO sighed, “So…We have no solution?”

“Not that we can see.” Snout said.

“Well.” Flit’s ears pinned back, “I don’t like thinking that there’s no solution. There absolutely is a solution, I know there must be, but with our limited time, limited resources, and far too much to do, I don’t think there’s a solution we can find or implement in time. We can only hope that King Decon decides not to kill everyone.”

“Which he likely won’t do because his image is too important.” Snout said, “And I don’t even mean that his image is too important to him. Arkane isn’t a big planet with countless resources; it’s relatively small and isolated so the fact that the insurgency has kept some influence here is a source of embarrassment.”

“It’s not just a source of embarrassment, it’s a threat.” Flit said, “If it gets out that a small knot of resistance lasted this long here, it could inspire more resistance on other planets. It’s not just ego, it’s strategy.”

TO leaned forward, resting their face in their hands as they remembered the woman from the Cottage Core Pub, the kids in the Outer Ring, and all the other people in the indebted center who they couldn’t help escape.

“It was an ambitious goal.” Flit said as they saw TO’s ears dip, “And we’re not in the best of situations to implement much of anything. We’re helping who we can.”

TO nodded, but didn’t respond. Much like Flit they believed that there was an answer, a solution hidden away from them which they just hadn’t seen yet. Things had been too chaotic, too emotional, too hard for TO to really throw themself into finding that solution. As much as they hated to admit it, the plan to stop Decon’s potential attack was not a priority for them, not when they were out dealing with everything else that had been happening.

“So now what?” DH asked.

“Finish your tasks…” Flit said, “Then pack up, and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.”

“Most of our stuff is on our ship.” DH said,

“Well, make sure of that.” Flit said. “Leave nothing important behind.

Flit’s words did trigger something in TO, and a sudden panic overcame them. They jumped up and ran to the box of clothes in the corner.

“TO, what’s wrong?” DH asked.

“I took this off back before I went into the Indebted center.” They said as they dug through the old clothes, “I hid it here so it’d be safe… Oh thank the stars.” They said as their hand brushed against something hard. A moment later they lifted the necklace that DH had gotten during that disastrous date; the roughly shaped half heart which had been so carefully cleaned and filled before being placed on a chain.

“What’s that?” Flit asked.

DH smiled, their ears coloring slightly as they pulled their half out from under their shirt. “Uh.. matching necklaces.” They said, “Just something TO got for me. A gift.”

TO frowned, “You got us the necklaces.” They said, “It was a gift you got me!”

“Yes, well, You got the crystal in the first place-”

“It wasn’t even a crystal! It was an egg sac for a Void Anemone!” They shuddered, remembering the morning it hatched. Even just thinking about it made them feel those little feet all over them.

“Adorable.” Snout said. They nudged Flit’s shoulder as their ears twitched in amusement. “How come you never get me space-bug by-products as a gift?”

Flit rolled their eyes, “Never crossed my mind.” they grumbled, “I’ll bring you some cooled Edacaeli feces when I come across some next.”

TO felt their ears warm at the teasing, but DH huffed, “It was heart-shaped, and I loved it!” they said, “And after it broke -”

“Hatched.” TO said,

“-I had the pieces turned into a necklace!”

Flit was about to say something more–clearly something they found amusing if TO were to judge by the way their ears twitched–but then their communicator went off. Flit gestured with their hand first, a reflex to activate their chip, then grumbled as they took out the small civilian communicator.

“It’s Vik.” Flit said, “I asked him to keep an eye out for anything that we might use to stop Decon.”

DH’s ears dipped down at the mention of the rodent-like creature. TO slipped their hand over DH’s and gave it a quick squeeze.

“I’m still amazed you trusted them enough to tell them.” TO said, “Given everything.”

“Well we were running out of ideas, and had few resources.” Flit said. Besides that, they were almost insistent on finding something to do for us.” They scoffed, “As though a favor would win back any trust after that stunt they pulled.”

“And although they don’t talk to their family, they do in fact have family here.” Snout said, “They do have an interest in protecting life on the planet.”

Flit shook their head and turned on the communicator, “You have something I can use?” they asked, offering no greeting or pleasantries.

“I might.” Vik said over the communicator, “Or rather… Pholi might.”

“Pholi?” Flit frowned, “Why didn’t he tell us yesterday then?”

“They went out yesterday.” Vik said, “They’re not a wanted criminal, and still have some resources. They called in some favors to get some supplies for us to bring, some medical stuff-”

“That’s a relief.” DH muttered.

“-And.. They brought someone with them.”

“Someone else?” Flit’s eyes narrowed, “We’re full up enough as it is-”

“Well, this person might have some information we can use.” Vik said, “GiDi will make the final decision tomorrow, but we’re trying to decide if we should bring him or not. We could use your input.”

“Well, if they’re here and we don’t need to worry about them selling us out then we should be able to bring them, especially if Pholi brought more food-”

“You’ll want to come and talk to this one before you decide.” Vik said.

“Why?” Flit demanded.

“Because, it’s Minister Noss.”

======

Last time TO had seen the sweaty security minister, it had been in Thalassa. They remembered how Minister Sally had been so disdainful to the short, rounded human, and they even felt a little sorry for him.

When they came into the main room with the others, they felt even more sorry for the pathetic politician.

Noss sat on a chair at the end of the table, with Tham on one side holding the multi-gun, and Goretta on the other. Even Mira and her friend had come up from the prisons to observe him. Nearby, Vik was still on their computer, typing frantically.

“The multi-gun is unnecessary.” Pholi said. , Minister of Language and Translations was currently making tea at the table in the corner, “He’s not armed, and he can’t run too fast-”

“You don’t know he’s armed.” Tham said, “That’s just what he told you.”

“Oh, I-I’m not armed.” Noss said. He had that stained handkerchief in their hand, and was continuously dabbing his sweaty head, “I can’t stand violence. I can’t even stand the sight of blood since…” They shuddered, and continued to wipe his face. “Well, I don’t carry a weapon.” He looked over as TO, DH, Flit and Snout entered the room, and looked over them with a frown, “W-who are they?” they asked.

“Oh, them?” Tham said, an innocent lilt to their voice as their tail flexed behind them, “You’ve met them before, Minister. These are the synths.”