The X Pathogen

Chapter Twenty-One

Ash's eyes were shining as they walked around the village. They'd never seen so many humans in one place. The largest gathering they'd ever witnessed was them, their parents, and their brother. And now they were surrounded by no less than a hundred humans.
    Gemma proudly pointed to the farms scattered about the village, "It took us a while to figure out how to farm here, a lot of common edible plants couldn't survive in this soil. But we found this," she held up a large, yellow fruit, "you can cook the rind, and it tastes great, and the fruit itself is so good."
    Ash gave her a wide smile, "this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen."
    Gemma set the fruit down and grinned. "I know, right! I spent three years in a lab, I never imagined having a life like this," She flung her arms out and spun around, spots of sunlight flickering across her skin through the leaves above. She stopped suddenly and curiously tilted her head, "so, how'd you end up as a cadet? I don't think I've ever heard of a human working for the GSA."
    Ash rolled a fruit between their hands thoughtfully, "oh... I uh, ran away from a bad situation and ended up in the sanctuary program."
    "Were you in a lab too?" Gemma's voice was sympathetic.
    Ash's shoulders tensed, their fingers tightened around the fruit for a moment. "No." They set the fruit down and looked away.
    Gemma looked embarrassed and quickly ushered them to the next stop, a large pond. Several teenagers their own age were swimming in the clear water, laughing and splashing each other.
    Ash smiled and waved at them. A few looked surprised to see non-humans in their village, but they all waved back.
    Gemma called to one of them, "Hey Deya, we're still on for tonight, right?"
    The girl in the water flashed her a thumbs up, "can't wait!"
    "My girlfriend," Gemma explained with a slight blush.
    Saji gave her a smile, "she's really pretty."
    Gemma blushed and giggled, "she's way out of my league."
They stopped at a large wooden building. She opened the door and gestured vaguely inside, "this is our medical facility, they handle any medical procedures, surgeries, pharmaceuticals, or prosthetics we need"
A man popped his head out one of the doors and smiled eagerly, "Gemma! What brings you here?"
"It's also where my dad works," Gemma said with an eye roll.
"C'mon in! I'm Doctor Burnick. I can give you a full tour of the place!" Gemma's dad excitedly waved them inside.
"They don't want a tour of a hospital, Dad," Gemma groaned.
"Fair enough, I know how teenagers are," her dad gave a hearty laugh.
Nadil was standing by a shelf, studying a row of prosthetic arms.
Dr. Burnick popped up next to him, "impressive, right? Took me forever but I figured out how to connect them directly to the nervous system. They feel as natural as an organic arm!"
Nadil nodded wistfully, "yeah. Pretty cool."
The doctor gave Nadil a long, thoughtful look. "Y'know... I've never made a prosthetic wing before," Dr. Burnick grinned, "but I've always wanted to try."
"Wha-?" Nadil stared at him in shocked silence.
"I mean if you want one, obviously you don't have to-"
"I want one!" Nadil said quickly, "I mean, uh, thank you."
"Excellent!" The doctor's face lit up, "Come with me, I'll get some measurements and get right to work, you'll be soaring through the skies by tomorrow morning."
Nadil was ushered away by Gemma's dad, leaving the rest of the group in stunned silence.
Gemma smacked her forehead, "Ugh, I'm sorry about him, he gets way too into his work."
Ash laughed, "don't worry about it, he seems great."
"Dads, right?" Gemma rolled her eyes.
Ash and Saji glanced at each other awkwardly.
Gemma either didn't notice their expressions or chose to ignore them, and happily continued on with the tour.
Their final stop was a sort of market place. Stalls had been set up in a circle around a large tree. The stalls offered a range of goods from food to clothing and art. Ash and Saji looked around in amazement. Saji's eyes were immediately drawn to a pair of beaded earrings.
"If you want those, I can buy them for you," Gemma offered with a smile.
Saji's face flushed, "oh, no thank you! I mean they're very pretty but I don't know when I'd be able to wear them, with the whole cadet thing."
Ash picked up a loose fitting shirt with two absolutely massive pockets, "this is glorious," they declared, "I would absolutely wear this."
Gemma laughed, "that is the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life, but you do you."
Ash flashed a grin, "I wouldn't wear it in public, but I'd totally wear this around my quarters."
Their eyes darted around the stall before landing on a delicate wire headband. The metal had been twisted to look like vines and leaves intertwined around flowers. Ash carefully picked it up and placed it on Saji's head.
The headband reminded Ash of a tiara. They couldn't help imagining Saji ruling over the forest, surrounded by little winged subjects.
"You look like a princess," they giggled.
Saji blushed, "really?"
"Absolutely," Gemma agreed, tucking a flower into Saji's braid.
Saji gave a timid smile then gingerly took the headband off and set it back down on the table.
The vendor at the stall smiled and waved at the three of them as they walked away. Saji gave her a nervous wave back and a small smile.
"I can't believe you have such talented artists here!" Ash marveled.
"My dad always said art was how our people kept their humanity, despite everything we've been through," Gemma said.
Ash nodded, "My older brother used to paint flowers for me. We lived on a rocky desert planet, but these little reddish orange flowers managed to grow anyway. He always said I'd bloom despite the harsh environment we were in," Ash blushed a little, "it was really corny, but it was pretty good for a ten-year-old."
Gemma smiled, "That's actually really sweet, I like it."
They walked around for a while longer, stopping at all the stalls to look at the clothes and art on display.
"What smells amazing?" Ash suddenly said.
Gemma grinned eagerly, "that would be fried rinds, come with me, and prepare to have your life changed forever.
A few minutes later they were all digging into fried rinds on sticks.
"Holy grick this is amazing," Ash muttered between bites.
"Right?!" Gemma wolfed down her food in three bites.
Saji nibbled at it hesitantly but was soon devouring her rind just as quickly as Gemma.
"I'd eat this for every meal for the rest of my life," Ash sighed happily when they were done.
"I actually convinced my parents to let me do that when I was younger," Gemma laughed, "Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much. I was so sick of it after a week but I was too stubborn to admit it so I kept it up for another week after that!"
Ash and Saji burst out laughing.
"That is a whole new level of stubborn! Why would you do that to yourself?" Ash chuckled.
"I don't know! I was like seven!" Gemma gasped with laughter, "I have some regrets, okay?!"
"When I was little my mom let me braid her hair into a bunch of braids. It always looked terrible, but I was so proud. She'd wear them all day and tell everyone her daughter made her look beautiful," Saji smiled faintly, "In retrospect I did not know how to braid."
Ash grinned, "that is actually adorable, and believe me, you know how to braid now."
"I still don't know how to braid my hair," Gemma confessed, "Deya does it for me every time."
Ash tried to braid their short hair, managing to pull it into a tiny braid that stuck straight up, "what do you guys think?" they asked, laughing.
"Beautiful," Saji giggled, "you should wear it like that all the time."
"Oh for sure," Gemma laughed.
Ash detangled the braid, "sorry everyone, but I think I'm gonna stick with my usual hair style."
Gemma snorted a laugh then glanced at her watch, "oh shoot, I gotta get going. I'll walk you back to the main building real quick though."
Ash shrugged, "no worries! We can find our way back, I don't want to bother you any more than we already have."
Gemma shook her head, "trust me it was no bother! Are you sure you can get back by yourself?"
"Giant concrete building we can literally see from here, I think we'll be okay," Ash laughed.
"Fair point," Gemma gave them a thumbs up, "alright I gotta run, I'll see you two later!"