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The reports were generally all positive.
Repairs to the ship’s most vital systems had been completed, the hull patches were holding well, and the internal damage to the Equator Ring had almost been entirely repaired. Even Watchito’s, heavily damaged by the detonation of the Hev boarding pod, was about to re-open.
There was a great amount of heavy work remaining to be done – replacing the outer seal with proper hull plates and very precise technical work on computer systems – but for being outside of a shipyard, it was very good.
Shifting away from the internal matters, Brooks looked at incoming messages. It was an incredible thing to receive semi-regular mail so far out in space. That they’d managed to build the millions of relay stations across their territories, to beam out compact streams of data through micro-portals in zerospace, and then detect and decipher the information was nothing short of miraculous.
There were messages for him from command, but none vital. He’d already received a message from Admiral Vandoss, congratulating him for the successful mission, and promising further support for the T’H’Tul to leave their old system. His old friend, Siilon, who was currently in charge of SU assistance to their migration would be glad about that, perhaps she’d be able to escape the place sooner than she had hoped.
Another message was noted as confidential; curious, he brought it up, but it would not open for him.
‘For Ambassador Kell’s Eyes Only’ it said.
It shouldn’t have even come to him, but then he saw attached instructions, for him to pass it on to Kell . . .
That the Ambassador never checked his messages was well-known. Brooks himself could attest to this from how rarely the Shoggoth answered him.
And since the battle, Brooks had been unable to speak to him at all.
The Ambassador was, at least, alive. He continued to send out requests for several hundred kilograms of food daily, but even the delivery drones had not seen him, only sent the carts into the room and then left.
He sent an override to Kell’s room; it would give him an audio alert that he’d received an important message. It was all Brooks could do, as Kell had not answered him any other time he’d gone in person.
So far, Brooks had been able to accept that. Eventually, though, he would need to talk to the Ambassador, and would not be able to be put off.
Several minutes later, he noted that the sensors in the hall detected movement inside.
Brooks could not confirm if Kell had looked at the message. But he’d at least moved.
Perhaps that was progress.
Apollonia’s finger danced over the call button for a moment before she sighed and pulled it away. For twenty damn minutes now she’d been trying to make this call.
Her system had even noticed her reluctance and asked if she wanted to just give a verbal command. But she’d told it to shut up, which wasn’t a very nice thing to do, though the computer in their systems did not seem capable of being offended.
Jeez, she hated talking to people.
And some people were easier to talk to than others. Dr. Y was very easy, but she wasn’t sure if she could deal with his light-heartedness on a matter like this, and Dark forbid he start making jokes. It would just make her feel far more awkward.
The only person she really . . . spoke to that would approach her question with the seriousness it deserved was, well . . .
Jaya.
If she didn’t do it, she knew she’d regret it. She should have brought it up earlier, when they were running, but panting and out of breath, she hadn’t felt quite able to muster the words.
She didn’t have any excuses left.
“Fuckitalldarkdamnit,” she muttered, and hit the dial button.
The connection was almost instantaneous to Jaya’s system, and she hit the message option immediately.
“Hey, Jaya, it’s Apollonia . . . I know you’re busy, so just get back to me whenever, but-“
The message cut off – and Jaya came on the line.
It was an image call, just as Apollonia had feared it would be.
“Apollonia,” Jaya said, looking surprised. “Why were you leaving me a message when I’m available?”
Apollonia froze for a moment. She had seen that Jaya was there. But she’d rather hoped that she’d sneak this message in without having to say it face-to-face to the woman.
“Ah . . . I guess I mis-read your status,” she said. “And I didn’t want to bother you if you were busy.”
“It is no bother. I can make time to talk to you.”
“It’s just not that important.”
Jaya frowned. “Just say what ‘it‘ is, please.”
Apollonia hesitated, then ploughed in. “Okay, I guess it is kind of important. At least to me – I wanted to find out if I could write to Squats on Sand’s family. I mean, I’m sure they got informed of . . . how he died. That he was a hero. But I wanted to tell them myself. Tell them that . . . that he was a hero to me, too. That he saved my life.”
Jaya was silent a moment, then nodded slowly. “I understand. That is not at all an unimportant request, and something you most certainly can do. Though . . . perhaps you should learn a little more about Abmon families before you write to them. It would help if you understood a little more of their culture and biology. But I will send you all you need to know in regards to contacting them.”
“Thank you,” Apollonia said, her mouth feeling dry. “Maybe it won’t mean much from me – if I say it to them. But I feel like I have to try. Someone . . . just needs to know, right?”
“Yes,” Jaya replied, and then studied her for a moment. “But why didn’t you ask me about this earlier?”
“I was too nervous,” Apollonia admitted.
“And so that’s why you wanted to leave a message.”
“Yeah . . .”
Jaya seemed a little amused. “If you wish to leave me a message in the future – do so. You could even just put it in writing if you like.”
“I should . . . you know, try to be braver about person-to-person contact,” Apollonia said.
“You are right to say that – but let’s agree that you can take things one step at a time, all right?”
Apollonia felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “Okay. Yeah . . . thanks.”
“One last thing,” Jaya said, studying her.
“Yeah?”
“I just want to say; your heart is truly in the right place, Apollonia.”
Other Terrestrial 
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