✅ Project SETI 2: The Daxut Plan

Part XVII: Sympathy

"Temet?" Jarah called into her private residence as she entered. "Are you home?"

She heard a distant door close softly, and then another closer one opened in the hallway that was just ahead. A shorter Daxut in her late adolescence stepped forward, but she pointedly avoided making eye contact with Jarah; she looked down at the floor in front of her. Her crown was bright blue like her mother's, but it was short and trim rather than long, and her eyes were red other than orange, but other than that, she looked much like a mini-version of Jarah.

"I'm here," Temet responded quietly.

"Did you attend class today?" Jarah asked as she moved into the kitchen area nearby and began to prepare something to eat.

"Yes, I did."

Her crown twitched affirmatively. "I heard you're learning Saelan-speak. Why didn't you tell me? I had to find out from your instructor."

Temet sheepishly curled into herself. "I'm sorry. It's just that, everyone knows you're the best at Saelan-speak... I didn't want you to... hold me to a crazy-high standard."

Jarah clicked her beak in a sigh. "I'm 'the best' because I've had over a hundred years of practice," she explained gently. "I do not expect you to be as good as me. Show me what you got."

Temet straightened and cleared her throat. "I am going to my room now, and I would like to be left alone," she paused and tightened her focus, "please do not disturb me."

"I got shivers," Jarah said encouragingly. "But you'd need to be just a little more pronounced with your vibrato, if you wanted me to only be able to say yes to that."

She nodded and tried to hide her disappointment with the criticism in her response. "Okay. I will work on that. Goodnight..."

"Sleep well," Jarah called after her.

The young Daxut hastily turned back down the dark hallway that led into the rest of their home and slipped into her own well-appointed bedroom. Against one wall was a large unmade bed that faced a small reinforced window that showed a picturesque view of the planet nearby and the space surrounding it; there was also a long desk that housed many little bits and pieces of technology that she was currently fiddling with, as well as a sleek computer that was currently in the closed position.

There was another door in the far right-hand corner that acted as both a walk-in storage space and a small washroom. Since Jarah was usually too busy to be home, she'd given Temet the larger of the bedrooms available in the suite; and right now, she was extremely grateful for that.

She waited until the door was closed again before she clicked on the light. It illuminated a sink, a large shower stall, and a toilet-like metal protrusion in the wall that currently had the lid closed. She turned toward the gap between the shower and the wall that acted as a tiny corridor to the storage area and whispered, "You'll have to be very quiet, until my mom goes to sleep, okay?"

The fifth Nova clone—who had taken the feminine form of his name, 'Novala'—stepped out from behind the shower stall. Temet had given him something to wear when she found him, but it was Daxut clothing, and it hung awkwardly on his lean frame. The plain greyish pants were far too long, so he'd rolled them up, and the shoulders of the sleeveless top were set too high. Along with the socks Temet found lying around the apartment, it was serviceable enough.