He must be talking about perfecting the prototype that permitted Helix to live in a biosynthetic form. A flush of pleasure flowed through her, assuaging some of the pain she felt about the growing distance between Helix and herself. Her head tendrils fluttered just a bit, as the quickest way to get on Qalu’s good side was to praise her work.

“I appreciate your kind words,” she said.

“Kind, what? I’m just being honest. When we get a break, I’d love to sit down with you and hear some of how you managed it.”

On Tiralan, she certainly would have refused such a request due to the risk of someone trying to copy and appropriate her research. But in the resistance, such behavior seemed unlikely. She wasn’t consorting with scientists any longer, but those who dedicated their lives to liberating AIs and bots.

“I’m willing to converse on that topic,” she said.

And Bojak flashed his teeth in a rather alarming display. “I’ll look forward to that. For now, I need to check our fuel reserves and do a little tweaking to make sure we don’t end up adrift with nothing left to burn.”

“Is that a risk?” she asked, faintly alarmed.

Bojak hesitated. “We had to burn a fair amount to shake that tail. Hopefully everything will work out, and if the numbers don’t look good, we’ll find a closer port than Altarion. It just…well, never mind. There’s no point in—” Here, the translator didn’t seem to know what Bojak was trying to say, so it simply stopped, and the human let out a noisy breath. “I’ll talk to you later, Qalu.”

“Understood.”

Aevi leapt from her grasp and Bojak caught her easily, letting the Pherzul perch near his head, as she preferred. To her surprise, Aevi nuzzled him, something she rarely did with strangers. Qalu supposed she should take it to mean they were in good company; she’d be even more terrified if the little one went around hissing at the whole crew.

“Can I come with you? I want to see the fuel cells. I can help. I’m very clever.”

“Of course you can come. And you’re smarter than me, guarantee you that. Nita helps me with all the higher math.” Bojak reached out and rubbed Aevi’s head. And she let him, no biting, not even a nip. The Pherzul wouldn’t waste her venom because she was apparently saving that for the bounty hunter, Toth Krag.

When she turned, the others were all headed off to their various tasks and she found Helix waiting for her silently. His posture and the agitated flurry of his head tendrils made it clear he was upset. She moved toward him, keeping her aspect calm and gentle.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.