Octavia Girl

Chapter Six

Star Backwards Spells Rats

Apparently, there was no such thing as artificial gravity in space travel. The truth was that creatures that lived their whole lives in water were the ones best suited to space travel, which meant that people like the Octavians were very important to the proper working of the entire universe. They piloted the majority of the spaceships and laughed at how humans, who thrived on land and had the misfortune to breathe air, sucked at pretty much everything else they had to do in outer space.

A spaceship piloted by an Octavian was filled to the brim with water. There was still a quality of weightlessness without the weight of an entire ocean bearing down on the crew, but otherwise, they managed much better than humans did. The water behaved almost the same way in space as it did on a planet. Meaning, you weren’t just floating like an idiot with nothing to grab onto or push against. The water provided friction so someone could move as easily in space as in the sea. Well, it did, provided your technology didn’t need to be dry and provided you didn’t need to breathe air.

There were human space crafts with air in them, but there were unfortunate consequences for human astronauts in space. They had to train for longer, and work in space for less time if they wanted to maintain their muscle mass. They weren’t as good at thinking about what was around them in every direction, or in every dimension. Most of the time, it was just something simple, like that they had fewer brains and less gray matter in their bodies than an Octavian. Also, they were more afraid. Humans had finicky self-preservation instincts compared to an Octavian. Octavians were not afraid of losing huge chunks of their bodies. Octavians had four times as many arms and were less afraid to lose one than a human who only had two. Because of their fearlessness, they just made better crews for spaceships. A job that would take four men and a ton of tethers could be done by one Octavian with no tethers.

When humans, or Adamis as Armen called them, traveled in space, they were mostly sealed in and put to sleep. It was hard to give them a good time or turn a space journey into a pleasure cruise. It didn’t matter that the ship passed ringed planets, vibrantly colored nebulae, and so many moons they looked like broken stars… the humans couldn’t watch. The Octavians made movies of what they had seen and made a highlight reel to give to their passengers on arrival.

By that point in Sardius’s lecture, Jenna was starting to wonder why the Octavians needed to have a relationship with the Adamis at all.

“They’re customers,” Sardius explained cheerfully.

“Really? And what do we give you that makes any of this worthwhile?”

“Healthcare,” Sardius answered. “I don’t know if you know this, but it is really hard to treat wounds underwater compared to out of the water. We can’t do that for ourselves. We need air breathers to care for us. We give them space travel. They save our lives. Like this hospital that we’re walking through now. Ninety-six percent of the patients here are Octavians.”

Jenna nodded. That explained why they were in a hospital at first. There actually wasn’t much land on the moon of Octavia Three and almost all of it was used for healthcare facilities.

They walked slowly down the hall to Lucy’s room. Jenna was having a hard time walking since her space travel experience and the difference in the gravity on Octavia three, but she refused to be wheeled into her cousin’s room. She was trying to figure out how to handle everything that had happened, everything that needed to happen, and her place in the middle.

“So, Sardius, after this meeting, we’re going down to Octavia Prime?” she asked.

“As soon as you’re well enough to travel. The leaders have been notified of your retrieval and are pleased you’ve made the choice to act as an intercessor. However, they want to confirm your identity by meeting you in person. A few fake diplomats have been uncovered while we waited for your…” he paused, obviously uncertain how to discuss her unwillingness and their continual efforts to secure her participation.

“I want to see my cat,” she huffed as she struggled after Armen, holding tightly onto the rails that lined the walls.

Armen paused to wait for her.

“Is the gravity stronger here than on Earth?” she huffed.

“Yes, and the air is thinner,” Armen said.

“What about on Octavia Prime?”

“The gravity is stronger and the air is thicker. You’ll like breathing there even if you struggle to move there.”

“Will I get used to it?”

“Yes. Earth is actually very light. When I was there, I felt like I was walking on a cloud,” Armen said breezily.

“That’s because you were meeting me and it was magical for you,” she wheezed with a sour expression.

He looked unconvinced but he took her arm. “Let me help you.”

She shook him off angrily. “Can’t we just get Charm and leave Lucy here?”

“She’s your only Earthly companion and you want to leave her behind?” he asked behind a ridge of very firm eyebrows.

“It’s going to be your funeral,” Jenna cautioned. “Wait. Have you met my cousin yet?”

“I haven’t. She was recruited by one of the two hundred and twelve people you avoided, blocked, and refused to hear out.”

“I would like to point out that they all seemed to be men who had creepy intentions toward me. You were far better at not creeping me out than they were. Besides, how do you know I wasn’t approached by men so shifty that you wouldn’t have gone with them if you were flooded out and they were the only people in the world with a lifeboat?”

Armen rolled his eyes and collected his patience. “I appreciate what you’re saying, but a lot of the people who approached you were in disguise so they could fit into what is normal on Earth. I’m Adamis, but what I look like and what I am is not the norm in outer space. Most Adamis out here do not have the same proportions as Earthlings or possess the kind of coloring that is natural on Earth. They are sort of like you, but couldn’t pass for humans. You’ll see what I mean.”

Armen swung open the door just in time for them to see Charm seriously wound Lucy. The claw marks across the girl’s neck let loose a slasher movie amount of blood. Armen called for the nurse while Jenna caught the cat up in her arms.

“Hello, baby,” she said, not paying the least amount of attention to her cousin’s distress.

Armen tore a roll of gauze from a nearby shelf and immediately put pressure on Lucy’s gashes.

Lucy looked up at him like she wasn’t even hurt and said to him with an unconcerned smile, “Hello, pretty eyes.”

Her cousin’s weirdness had arrived on schedule and Armen averted his gaze.

Jenna leaned over the bed. “What were you doing with Charm? You know she hates everyone but me.”

“I know, but I thought she might be feeling lonely or scared, and she might rather have me hold her than nothing.”

“Well, I suppose you learned a lesson today,” Jenna said without remorse.

“Who’s Mr. Pretty?” Lucy asked.

“He’s mine,” Jenna said without an iota of pleasure.

“Can I borrow him?”

“No,” Jenna said firmly.

The nurse came into the room and relieved Armen, waving him away and assessing the injury. At a glance, Jenna could see exactly what Armen meant about Adamis not looking the same. The nurse did not look human. Her head and eyes were too big, but otherwise, she was obviously a close relative genetically. She was like a fire ant, while the rest of them were black ants.

Jenna and Armen stepped back and let her take over.

Jenna watched the medical treatment with fascination. Again, it was almost the way a patient would have been treated on earth. Antiseptic drops on the wounds, gauze on top.

It was the patient under that gauze that was the biggest problem.

Lucy was the opposite of Jenna. Lucy was the girl who ran off with every single man who asked her. She would have hopped behind the tree line with the man who had been looking for the golden retriever. She would have gone with the first alien who asked her. Lucy didn’t need a man who was one in a squillion. She was fine with the guy who was in the room, whatever he was doing, wherever he was going, whatever he thought, whoever he was.

The thing that was the strangest of everything was that Jenna and Lucy looked more like sisters than cousins. Their differences were few but poignant.

Jenna was like a heart, sharp with round edges. Meaning, that something about her was inviting. An undefinable part of her was begging to be loved, though it wasn’t in her voice, which often sounded critical. It wasn’t in her eyes, which were often looking for the thing to criticize. No, it was somewhere else.

Lucy was like a sun, she gave an excellent first impression. She seemed sunny and warm. On closer inspection, Lucy had no rough edges, she was round and cheerful. Unlike a real sun, she was blown about by every wind, taken to every place for a little while before moving on. It was no wonder she’d ended up in outer space. She always had a new job, a new apartment, and a new boyfriend with not a care in the world as to what happened to the last one. No one in the world, besides Jenna, had had very many experiences with Lucy. No one knew her.

As for their appearances, Lucy’s hair was closer to red, while Jenna’s hair was a lighter shade of ash blonde. They both had gray eyes and pointed noses and chins.

Armen looked at the two of them and it was clear he thought they had done very well to take both of them.

The nurse finished treating Lucy, meaning she had stopped the blood, and then coated each of the incisions in a clear gel. Apparently, it was a piece of technology designed to mimic the pigment cells on an octopus’ skin that allowed it to change color. The gel was designed to mimic the unbroken skin. Altogether, it meant that Lucy was not mended yet, but to anyone who looked at her, the lesions were incredibly difficult to notice.

“Can I get some of that?” Jenna asked the nurse, noting its effectiveness.

The nurse said it was in every first aid kit and Jenna could help herself.

“I thought you said Charm didn’t scratch you,” Lucy said grouchily.

Jenna ignored her cousin. “Has Lucy already met Favel?” she asked when she realized the blue octopus had not accompanied them into the hospital room.

“We thought we’d let you introduce him,” Armen explained.

Jenna frowned sourly at Lucy. “I hear you let them abduct you. Why on earth did you go with them willingly?”

“Our grandmothers were both from space, Jenna,” Lucy said, matching her cousin’s tone. “Yes, your grandmother was the famous diplomat with only one man in the universe who could match her. Yes. All that is true.” She narrowed her eyes and continued, “But our grandmothers were sisters. Marta should have been a diplomat too. They say there’s a shortage of diplomats and I’m going to be one too, Jenna.”

Jenna glanced at Armen to confirm if her cousin was telling the truth.

He nodded.

“Then she was not brought here for my pleasure, but for your purposes?” Jenna said sharply.

“I wouldn’t say it like that…”

“I would,” she interrupted. “That means that I was given seven presents and not eight.”

“You are one of her presents too,” Armen said firmly.

“Does she get a man of her very own too?” Jenna asked coldly.

“Yes, but she’s clearly not as picky as you. She will have the opportunity to choose someone.”

“From a lineup?” Jenna snorted. “That does seem very appropriate,” Jenna said, thinking of Lucy choosing a man from a line of suspects in a police station.

“What are you getting so snotty for?” Lucy interjected. “You don’t even want to be here, do you? Do you know what else they told me? That my coming will make it so you don’t have to stay. They say that if they can get me and seven other diplomats in place, you can return to Earth. You can retire, just like Letty did. Isn’t that what you really want?”

Jenna stared at her, unable to speak.

“Don’t you want to go home and not do any of this? I’m your key to getting out of here.”

Jenna knew exactly how much it pleased Lucy to say those words. She believed that Jenna thought she was superior to her because she had been the one who was crowned, but that was not the case at all. If Jenna could have given Lucy her crown, she would have done so years ago. Lucy had never even seen it. She didn’t know what she was asking for, and actually, Jenna didn’t know what it all meant either. The only thing that was motivating her cousin now was the belief that she was just as good as Jenna, their grandmothers had been sisters and been just as good as each other. It was just that one of them had to be the diplomat and the other one had to be supportive instead of authoritative.

Jenna swallowed. “Ask Favel to come in,” she instructed Armen in a quiet voice.

He went out to get him.

When Favel came in, he did not step on anything slippery on the floor. He didn’t say anything either, speaking out of his beak at the bottom of his body, and Lucy still fainted dead away at the sight of him.

They had to call the nurse back in.