Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Void Conveyed Contact

“That just doesn’t make any sense--why would they have been working on something like this?” An annoyed woman was muttering to herself and I reflexively cringed as I stirred from my slumber. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I steadied myself and recalled recent events. The woman...that had to be Alexis. She carried me to what looked like my quarters in the ship though something was...off. Everything looked slightly bigger than before.

I sat up and let my blankets slide off of me. I was down to my undergarments, a tank top and boxers, and I could see a slight red mark on my arm from what was probably the ship’s medic system checking my vitals. Standing up, I stretched and felt a remarkable absence of the usual pops and creaks that I was used to. I bounced in place and swung my arms out while shaking my legs. All of my limbs felt so light and effortless to move. Like putting down a heavy burden and just reveling in the airy feeling.

I peered outside the door to my cabin and saw Alexis pacing back and forth, the ship providing a rudimentary version of her overlay. I marveled for a moment at how human she was, far more sophisticated than the few attempts at a true AI I had seen back on Terra. She appeared lost in thought and was still muttering quietly to herself, so I figured I had time to take a quick shower. I gave myself a quick sniff check and was surprised to find that I smelled better than I expected, given my past experiences in the atmosphere suit. I smelled like something, but it was a bit sweeter and milder than my usual scent. I picked up a few other smells too, like the slightly stale scent of recycled air and the verdant aroma of my ship’s oxygen farm. That was interesting, usually my sense of smell wasn’t keen enough to pick up on that.

With a quick shrug, I slipped into the shower cubby attached to my cabin and tossed out my clothes. The shower started up after a moment’s delay and I found myself shivering a little. I peered at the temperature settings but nothing had changed from my last shower. I went ahead and bumped it up a few degrees and sighed as the water went from slightly chilly to delightfully warm. The display said the water was pretty hot at the moment but it felt wonderful to me. I wonder if maybe it needed recalibrating? Ah well, that was a problem for future me.

I hummed a bit as I scrubbed and washed my hair. Selene had gotten me hooked on proper hair care routines and I relished the feeling of the soft, sweet-smelling suds. This was my first proper shower in a while, since showering in space was not really a viable option, and it felt wonderful. My skin felt remarkably smooth and soft and I lost track of time for a bit as I rubbed my hands along my arms and wondered at how they had gotten so soft. A side effect of void stasis perhaps? Or perhaps the tank I had fallen into had been filled with some kind of exfoliating cream. I giggled at the thought. Sure, a secret lab to develop the finest of skin creams. That was definitely it.

Showers were my happy place. Surrounded in a cocoon of warm water, I could just let my thoughts drift and relax. Nobody expected things from you in a shower. You could just leave everything at the door and live in your own watery world for a bit. It was nice. I ran through various scenarios in my head regarding the power demands for the colony and how I would handle the layout for everything. Rosa had come up with some designs based on our records of the colony, but we had all agreed that I would likely need to modify them to adapt to the current conditions. I sang quietly to myself as I plotted and planned. Challenges like this were soothing, there were always specific needs and goals and a fun puzzle to solve in getting there. Easier than dealing with people, that is for sure.

I heard a knocking on the shower door so I turned down the water. “Yes?”

“I didn’t hear you wake up, are you feeling ok?” Alexis’ voice was so pleasant to listen to-- “Sol? Can you hear me?”

I realized I had been spacing out and scrambled to attention. “Yes! Yes I can hear you! I feel fine, better than fine really! Just taking a nice shower is all, I’ll be right out!”

“Ok, take your time. The med system gave you a clean bill of health, but there were definitely some anomalies you’ll wanna see. Nothing serious though, I think.” She tapped the door twice before walking away. I turned the water back up and slipped back into my reverie. If she didn’t think there was anything serious, I would trust in her judgement. She had been kind to me thus far after all.

***

A significant amount of time later, I stepped out of the shower and dried off, wrapping a towel around myself. Fullbody, rather than just lower body. Always felt better wrapping the towel like that, not sure why. With a long, drawn-out sigh, I stepped up to the mirror to do a visual check since Alexis had mentioned some anomalies.

A very pale man, the byproduct of long hours spent over a drone controller and avoiding the sun’s tyrannical gaze, looked back at me. Same disheveled brown hair. Same dull gray eyes. I tried to grin a bit to blunt the feelings of frustration that looking at myself always seemed to evoke and was surprised to see a bit of a tooth poking through my close-lipped smile. Opening my mouth fully, I noticed that both of my canines seemed a bit longer, perhaps. It was subtle if true.

Then I realized what had happened. They had made a VAMPIRE SERUM on Venus! Yes! That must be what I had fallen into. Selene was going to flip, they were obsessed with vampires. (And honestly, most queer folks I knew were.)

I giggled at the thought for a bit. Sure, vampires in space. That was the most likely explanation. Come on, Sol. Get a grip. It could just be a side effect of prolonged space travel, space did weird things to bones and teeth were like bones, right? I should check the medical archive later, see if that was true.

Ok so the teeth thing was possibly new, but very subtle. Worth investigating later. I stared intently at the mirror, trying to see if I could figure out if I had actually lost height. It was tough to pin down since I tended to not spend much time in front of a mirror and thus didn’t have a solid frame of reference to compare to. But I think I might actually be a bit shorter. Another effect of space on my bones? Or did it have something to do with my fall?

I couldn’t find anything else out of place so I finished up and got dressed. Alexis was waiting for me with a hard to place expression in the med bay.

“Have a nice shower?” She wouldn’t quite meet my eyes and shuffled her feet a bit. The contrast with her rugged appearance was amusing but also a bit worrying.

“I did, thank you, and I’m feeling much better now. You mentioned some anomalies?” I walked over to look at the console as she gestured.

“Yes, I’m really not sure what was in that tank you fell in, but it is having an effect on your system for sure. You’ve lost roughly 12cm of height and your endocrine system is reporting some weird levels. The lab you fell into was one of the restricted areas set aside for the Founder’s pet projects and was only accessible by him and his most trusted staff. I’m very worried about what they might have been making down there. Are you sure you are feeling fine?” Alexis loomed over me protectively and finally looked at me directly. Concern was written all over her face.

I wanted to respond immediately that I felt really good, but she was right to be concerned. Something strange was going on and yet it was hard to feel worried about it. I felt great and the med system didn’t show anything that warranted panic, not just yet anyway.

“I think so, Alexis. Honestly, I want to say that everything is ok and we have nothing to worry about, but you are probably right to be suspicious. Perhaps we should do some digging around, see if we can find any notes about what was in that lab. Surely there is something-” A soft ping rang through the ship and I checked the notification. “Ah, looks like the drones got the comms array up and working. We’ve really got to get the colony power systems networked to mine, but that shouldn’t be a problem with you here to guide me. In the meantime, I’m due for a check in with my commune.”

Alexis tilted her head at me. “Commune?”

I nodded back. “Yeah, my partner, their girlfriend, and their girlfriend’s wife. The four of us volunteered to be the first wave to scout out and rebuild Venus while most folks back home focused on Terra. Check-in should be just with my partner, they are all en route to Venus now, but Selene was planning to come out of cryosleep for a day or two on my arrival date. They are going to be so excited to meet you.”

Alexis smiled back at me. “It's been so long since I’ve talked to anyone. How is my hair, does my hair look ok? Lesbians are still doing the eyebrow notch thing right? I specifically included that to let people know. Aaaaah, I’m so excited! A polycule, just like in my yuri manga!”

She blinked as I gave her a thousand-yard stare. “What? Listen, I was alone for a loooong time with a massive repository of humanity’s knowledge and there was a lot of entertainment media in there. Don’t judge me.” I literally couldn’t process for a moment that a buff AI woman was pouting over the idea I might look down on her for her taste in entertainment. What even is my life?

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“I’m not judging! I swear! It’s pretty cute, honestly. I’d have no room to judge either, I like stories like that too.” Wait, why was I the one blushing now?

“Anyway, I probably need to make this call soon, Selene must be worried sick since I’m a little overdue.”

We both sat in awkward silence for a moment as we composed ourselves.

Alexis coughed quietly to break the tension. “Right, I’ll just...find something to occupy my time.” She started to walk away, but I caught her by the arm.

“You don’t have to go. I want you to meet them, all of them eventually, but I think Selene will be thrilled to meet you. And having you here is...nice. Keeps me from getting too worried about what is going on or giving in to the urge to just tinker with things.” I gave her my best pleading face, which I’ve been told is rather good if a bit disconcerting from a broody, bulky engineer.

“Oh, well! Then I guess I can stay. I’m excited to meet them too.” She looked away as she spoke, boring a hole into the med bay wall with her gaze. I took her by the hand and led her over to the bridge, to the comms array.

It took only a moment to send out the signal and then it was just a waiting game for the response. Alexis and I both fidgeted a bit nervously in our seats, unwilling to break the silence.

Eventually, the response ping went off and the viewscreen lit up. A smiling face, full of warmth, with deep brown eyes and complexion to match and contrast with the shining, silver hair cut short. Their smile was just as bright and I couldn’t help but grin back as their little crescent moon earring swayed in time with their movement.

“Hey there, Sunshine! It has been positively ages and you have no idea how much I want to get there and smooch the shit out of you. Sadly, I can’t get this ship to go much faster but if I could then oh the things I would do-” I cut them off, despite how much I loved hearing their voice again.

“Hey there, Selene. I’ve missed you too, but I thought you might wish to know that I’m not alone!” I pulled Alexis a little closer so we both fit in the frame. “Turns out, Venus was inhabited after all! Meet Alexis, she is an AI!”

Alexis gave a sheepish smile and a little wave while leaning on me a bit for support. “Hi there, it’s uh really nice to meet other people. I’ve been here on my own for uh quite some time.”

Selene’s face went from shock to smug as their eyes flicked from me to Alexis and back. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Alexis. I’m glad someone is there to keep my little star out of trouble.” I shuffled a bit in my seat, I should have known I had no hope of Selene’s many pet names for me remaining a secret for long. “You’ll see what I mean, he always has his head in the clouds, lost in his minutia to the point he trips and goes tumbling along. You two seem to be getting along, tell me how you met and what has been happening on Venus since he arrived.”

Glad to be able to shift the subject, fully aware that Selene would tease me until the heat death of the universe if I let them, I quickly filled them in on what had happened thus far. Alexis gave me a concerned look when I skimmed over the details of what broke my fall, but she let me tell the story as I would.

“Fascinating, absolutely fascinating. And Alexis, you picked that look yourself? Excellent choice if I do say so myself. I especially like the eyebrow notch, suits you.” It was Alexis’ turn to shift about. Nobody was immune to Selene and their affection it seemed, not even an AI. “Well, I’m glad you are ok, Sol, and I look forward to seeing everything when we arrive. The trip is going well, everything is in order on the ship. Celica has next wake up shift, so make sure you’ve got plenty of flora data for em by then, should be in about a week or two local time. I’m dying to know more details, but you’ve just arrived and I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your mind for now~” They looked at Alexis again and winked. I wasn’t sure how to interpret that, but I tended to have a hard time deciphering Selene’s mysterious phrasing even in the best of times.

“Stay safe and keep us posted. We love you and can’t wait to see you, Sol. Alexis? Take care of him, ok? And you two have fun alright.” They gave another knowing wink with that last bit.

I stammered out a response. “I love you too, Selene. Send Celica and Rosa my regards. I should have a good progress report for next check in. Sol out!”

Selene gave me a final wave and then the screen went black.

I sat there with a dumb little smile on my face for awhile until Alexis coughed again.

“So uh, that was your partner? You are one lucky man.”

“Yeah, yeah I am. I think they liked you by the way.”

“What tipped you off, was it the flirting, the smug grin, or the comments on my appearance?”

“FLIRTING??? IS THAT WHAT THAT WAS???” That made sense though, I’d flirt with Alexis...if I were Selene that is. Yeah, just if I was Selene. I blushed furiously at the thought.

Alexis started laughing so hard she fell off the chair and rolled around on the ground, overcome with mirth. I couldn’t help but start laughing as well.

And that is how I ended my first day on Venus.