Ah, why did it sound so lovely when he spoke her name for the first time?

“Yes?”

“Will you stay with me? And perhaps make the sounds you created when you were preparing the food?”

Every single one of her head tendrils fluttered. Oh no, you may not. Stop. She only said, “Of course. There is a melody my foremother employed when I was fractious. Would you like to hear it?”

“Please,” he said, as if there was nothing he wanted more.

Softly, she began to sing.

[  3  ]

Sleep was…strange.

Helix had no memory of accomplishing the process, yet he had apparently performed the task adequately. He had been listening to the Tiralan lullaby, and then, there was simply a gap in his recollections, as if he had stopped existing for that span of time. Truly, it was an unsettling, uniquely organic experience.

The day/night cycles on Tiralan were different than those on Barath, not that he’d ever perceived the shifts in the light personally. It came to him in the abstract, data to be processed, and that was cleaner. It was beyond strange to move through the physical world instead of parse it as a series of values and probabilities. For a few moments, he tried to get up, then realized that the trying part was wrong. In this realm, instincts regulated his ability to propel his flesh form. When he relaxed and stopped thinking, the motion happened, and he stumbled upright.

The movement triggered sensors that controlled the illumination system, creating a gentle, golden glow. Once, he could’ve connected with everything in the habitat, discover how everything worked, and optimize efficiency with the flicker of a thought. Now, he had no such aptitude, and he scarcely understood his new format, but it appeared that he had to touch things to interact with them.

So inefficient.

As Helix moved toward the exit, the wall parted to admit a small being, a quadruped with large eyes, a triangular head, and a slender body covered in feathery scales that gleamed with blue iridescence. Sharp claws tipped all four feet, a soft tapping as it crept toward him. Helix regarded the newcomer warily, wishing he could access his database and instantly identify this life form, but that information was fragmented and incomplete, transferred into an imperfect memory state.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Aevi, companion to Qalu. Who are you?”

He recalled the name from the night before at least; there was nothing wrong with his memory storage. “My designation is Helix.”

“Why?”

“I don’t understand the inquiry,” he said.