Synth

There was very little that TO would have considered enjoyable about their training, especially in the early days. Of course, the time they spent with GiDi, DH, and Avery in the observation deck were pleasant times, but those times weren’t part of training; they were secret, stolen times where they could relax and not worry about all the eyes on them, watching and judging. They enjoyed flying, and simulations where they actually got to use their brain and come up with complex solutions to complex problems without an actual life or death threat hanging over.

Both things they missed from training, and both things they hadn’t been able to enjoy since they went on their placement.

When the wave of nostalgia washed over them as they sat in the dormitory's corner, working at a wobbly desk and sorting out the best way to store their supplies in their ship, it was a shock that it left them feeling almost relaxed and excited. It took several minutes of them working and puzzling over this feeling until they remembered what triggered it.

This was just a puzzle! They had a 3d version of their ship hovering in the air before them, 3d boxes with the weights and contents, and all they had to do was find the way to fit them in efficiently, and safely. It reminded them of the puzzles they used to do in the early days of training; the ones they had always excelled at, and enjoyed doing.

Once they figured that out, their work was almost fun, and they allowed the puzzle to absorb their attention. They hardly noticed when DH stopped by and set a drink down on the table for them. It was only when a soft, chirping chuckle escaped their mate that they realized DH was there and they gave a smile, a quickly muttered thanks, and a brief kiss before going back to their work.

Could this be a hobby? Were their other logic puzzles designed simply for fun? Could they find them? They decided that once they were on the ship and away from Arkane that they’d look into that. For now, they’d simply enjoy the fact that they found this essential, important task rather enjoyable! The puzzle engrossed them and stole all their attention, thus preventing their mind from drifting to less pleasant thoughts.

They were nearly done, focused on fitting in the last few boxes when Constance approached. TO was oblivious to the small child until she pulled herself up on the edge of the table, rising into TO’s field of vision like a shark out of the water. They gave a soft, stifled yelp once they saw her. Their ears flicking down.

“I’m sorry I scared you, but did you know you went all shivery just then? Even your ears shivered!” She giggled and lifted her hands up to her own ears in an attempt to wiggle them.

TO steadied themself with a deep breath, and smiled, “My ears move a lot.” they said, “All the time.”

“Why?”

“It’s part of how we communicate.” TO said, frowning as they considered the best way to explain it. “It s like facial expressions, but I can’t control them, and they also influence the meaning of my words when I speak my native tongue.”

“What’s that?” She asked, her tail flicking behind her.

“... You know, I don’t know what it’s called, properly.” They said, “We always called it synth speak, but I suppose it had a name before that.” they paused, their ears flicking back slightly, “Though… My knowledge of linguistics is limited, but I suppose if the language split far enough back, then ‘Synth Speak’ probably would have become its own language, and whatever it was before would have turned into something else.” “

Constance was silent as she pursed her lips and closed her eyes in careful thought. After a moment, she opened her eyes and asked TO seriously, “I meant, what’s a native tongue? But, what’s ‘linguistics’?”

TO stopped what they were doing and looked at Constance for a moment, then chuckled. As they did, the small shark-like child pouted and glared up at them. “What’s so funny!?”

“Nothing, nothing.” TO said as they composed themself. They still couldn’t suppress the amusement that was clear in their ears but the child wouldn’t recognize that. They had never considered that children would have such a limited vocabulary, and on the shows they watched, whenever children were depicted TO often figured that their limited vocabulary must have been exaggerated since it seemed strange to TO that a person would know so few words in their native language. “‘A native language’ is the first language that a person learns to speak, and ‘linguistics’ is the study of language.”

“Oh.” She said, falling silent for a moment before she asked, “Are you playing a game?”

“I’m not.” TO said, “But, I have to finish this.” They looked around, “Where’s your father? Or… who's watching over you right now?”

“Nobody! I don’t need to be watched!” She said, pouting once more. “And dad’s with Doctor Goretta. She put some kinda screen around his bed and told me to go play.” She frowned and looked at TO seriously, “I didn’t want to go play, I want to watch! I’m going to be a doctor one day, so I need to watch what doctors do! It’s very important!”

“Wait… He’s with Goretta?” TO’s ears flicked down, “Why?”

“She said she wanted to check his arm, but they never made me leave before so I think they’re lying to me!” Her tail lashed behind her, “Adults aren’t supposed to lie!”

“No… they’re not.” TO said, entirely distracted. “Maybe I should go talk to him.” They frowned as they looked at the screen before them. “But… I need to get this done first.”

“If you go, can you tell dad he’s not supposed to lie?”

“I will…” TO said, thinking about how they were going to focus on this with Constance there talking to them. Their ears perked up as they had a sudden idea, “But, in order for me to do that, I have to get this done. So why don’t you help me?”

“OK!” She said, her tail now placidly waving in their air, the fins on her head perking up a little. “What do we do?”

======

It only took TO a moment to explain how the 3D model worked, though they kept it in much simpler terms than they would have before. Once she seemed to understand, TO continued fitting boxes, arranging them by weight and size in the proper places on the ship. Constance did actually prove to be helpful, seeing a space that TO had missed because of their height and angle at which they were sitting, so they finished quickly and sent the information to Tham. A further stroke of luck meant they didn’t have to think of a way to keep Constance from following them to see their father; As they were heading to the corner of the dorms a few other children who were planning some kind of game called out to her and asked her to join them.

“You’ll still talk to my dad, right?” She asked, “And tell him not to lie?”

“I will.” TO said, “I promise.”

With that, Constance was more than happy to play with the others as TO continued down to Tham’s bed.

As Constance had said, they had drawn a curtain up around the bed so that TO couldn’t see anything that was happening on the other side. They were about to just pull the curtain aside, but then it occurred to them that if Goretta had the curtains up, she might be doing some kind of procedure which involved blood. They stopped just before they pulled the curtain and cleared their throat.

“Goretta? Mark? Is it ok for me to come in?”

Though they both spoke in whispers behind the curtain, TO could still hear them perfectly. Goretta asking Mark if he was ok with them coming in was as clear to TO as though she was speaking right next to them, as was Mark’s agreement.

“Alright, you can come in.” Goretta said.

“There’s no blood, is there?”

“No blood, no, not anymore.”

With that assurance, TO slipped behind the curtains and into the small, newly sectioned space that held Mark’s bed. As they entered, the true reason for the curtains became abundantly clear; it wasn’t because there was any blood or out of any need for privacy but to suppress the foul stench that came from the newly stitched up wound. It was so strong it made TO reel, and almost drove them to flee. A nearby bowl seemed to be the source of the stench, But even so it had a thick cloth drawn over it. It took little imagination to figure out what was in there as Marks’ arm now had a sizable dent in it, as though someone had simply scooped out a segment of flesh.

“The infection got worse.” Goretta said as she took bandages from her med bag, “I did my best to remove as much of the necrotic material-“

“Necrotic?!” TO’s eyes went wide, their ears dipping down.

“-And I’m giving another dose of antibiotics and hoping that works.” She continued.

“… Can you put something over the wound before you bandage it?” Mark asked, “I don’t want Constance coming in and seeing my arm like that.”

“Sure.” She said as she took some gauze from the bag and wrapped it into a makeshift pillow so that the bandages on the wound would be flush with the rest of his arm. “So… TO, what brings you here?”

“…Constance.” TO said, holding their hand to their face once more to protect themself from that awful stench. “She said you wouldn’t let her watch, and I wondered why…”

“Well, now you know…” Mark said softly as he watched Goretta work. “It’s because I had to have half a bicep cut away.”

“But… it’ll heal now, right?” TO asked, “I mean, she cut away the infected flesh, and you’re getting more antibiotics, so you should heal up just fine now without having to have your arm removed… Right?”

The silence that met TO’s question screamed with dread and fear.