Mia and Mishka and Rodneys story
Before I can tell you the story you wish to hear, I must tell you of Mishka and me. Without this you would not understand.
Ok said Weir looking around the table. there were several nods.
On my planet she started many thousands of years ago, the ones you called the Ancients came.Atr this point, we were very young in our evolution. We know this because we found the labs they used. They did experiments on our people, that gave us special powers. Or more acurrately the females of my species have powers. They are passed down from mother to daughter.
What kind of powers Weir interrupted.
Telepathy, telekenesis and the ability to use Ancient devises.
The gift is stronger in some than others, it depends on the breeding you see. the Ancients bred the ones with the greatest powers to each other. Those people were made leaders. The gift can be shared though she said. When a female chooses a life mate she is able to transfer some of her abilities to her partner during thier first bonding. The male will retain those powers until his mate dies.
And then he loses the powers, Weir asked
When we mate, we mate for life she explained. If one dies the other usually follows not too long after.
There is a cerimony for the first bonding rites she said, it is a beautiful event. It is done in a temple built centuies ago by the Ancients. It is attended by friends and family. The couple join in body and then in mind. From that time forward the two are as one. linked by thought and emotion.
You mean they can tell what a partner is thinking.
It depends on the strenghth of the genes the female carries. Of all our people, I have the most concentrated version of the Ancient genes.My mother before me. The details of our exsistanse are scertchy but what I do know is our dame was bred to an outsider. A murderer, a thief and an outlaw. Like i said I am not sure of the details.I do not know weather she fell in love with him, or he took her. Knowing what kind of person he was, i would venture to guess he wwould have to taken her as she would not have lay with him willingly. However her powers were formidable... she stopped and looked at Mishka. Whatever the circumstanses, he bedded her, and we were the fruit of that union. We were raised on our homeworld until we were 12 of your years. My powers were proving to be as great as my mothers, even though I was of impure breeding. many fought in concil against my ascension to the throne. The loudest voice was my mothers sister who wished the throne for herself.But in the end, her supporters gained the vote to allow me the right of the crown. However a concession had to made. i was to be paired with my cousin who would share my power. it was as much as my aunt could get as she was not going to win the throne. But before the cerimony could take place, our sire came and stole us away in the night. we lived on his ship as his slaves. He was a formidible man with a ruthless reputation and not many went against him and lived. it was a given that we were his property. We shared his quarters and as far as anyone knew, his bed. it woulud have been dangerous for anyone to know we were his offspring. We could have been used to depose him. But in the years that followed, he never layed a hand apon us. we served him and cared for him and he provided us with food, clothing and a shelter of sorts but there was never any love. Mishka and I learned to depend on one another. The crew came from every corner of the galaxy and from every walk of life. Some signed on at backwater bars on distant palnets. Some were pressed into service after we raided the ship or mining camp. The ones who were strong or could fight or had special skills were weeded out. they were given a choice, join our crew or die with your compatriots. Some came with us and some coose death.
Our father mishka flinched at the word, treated his crew like animals, except for a few. thery were the strongest and the meanest. They beat and starved the rest of the crew to keep them in line. We were above them, all of them, because we were the personal property of the captain.We always had the best food available and clothes to keep us warm and a bed to sleep in. He indulged our need to learn and found books and texts for us to study. We became knowledable in many languages and knew the history of most planets we visited. There are few who know more about our galaxy than Mishka and I. Our studies kept us from the crew which is what our father wanted. Until one day.
Mia stoppedand looked at Weir. We had knowledge of a nearly deserted world with a large supply of a valuable ore. The people that ran the mining operation were the worst of the worst. Nothing but profit meant anything to them and they made thier hordes of money by any means nessasary. They most often raided colonies and ships to fill thier mines with slaves, but a few worlds with over crowded prisons would sometimes sell thier wards to the mine. It cost them little and they never bothered to care for the slaves as there was always a supply of men that had noone to care about their dissapearance. Noone cared about the suffering only the commodity. The ore was rare and they controled it. They became more confident as time passed. The ones left behind to run the operation occupied themselves by drinking and torturing the slaves. The raid was carefully planned and executed. Their overconfidence in thier power and inebrated state made it all too easy to take the mine.
She stopped and swallowed. Our crew has seen much, but it sickened many this camp. The slaves didnt run, didnt fight. They just stopped where they were and looked at us as we finished off the men that had tortured them. They didnt seem to care if we were going to kill them or not.Complete resignation to whatever fate she demonstrated by waving her hands. The captain began to gather the slaves together to see if any were worth keeping. although it looked as if there was nothing more useful than the ore we came for, Mishka and i began to look around for any thing else of interest. We had just passed an outcropping when we saw a slave duck into a cave opening. We ducked in after him and followed at a discreet distance, curious about where he was going. The cave became a wide tunnel, the walls were of the same material as in our temple on our home planet.
You mean Ancient Radek interrupted
Yes, and if that wasnt enough, lights came on as the slave passed. We were surprised of course, we had never seen anyone besides our own people able to control Ancient technology. He stumbled throught he tunnel deeper and deeper. His fear was so strong, not of dying but not making it in time. A need, a desire so dear it was almost real enough to touch, consumed him. he was heading somewhere, he had something he hadnt had in a very long time, hope. I think he knew he was dying, and this might be his last chance, using what little life he had left. Even if we hadnt been able to read him, it would have easy to see he was in great pain. We could have followed him in the dark from listening to his breathing. He was as close to death as a human can be but he kept repeating in his head over and over, Home, home ,Home. He finally led us to a chamber and went immediatly to a control panel set into a large carved stone. The moment he touched it, it lit up. We moved further into the chamber and saw the Stargate he was trying to activate. He saw us then, he paniced, his fingers tried to move across the controls, but they were bloody and mishapen, crippled. We could see the frustration in his face, and feel it in his mind, so close only to fail. His despair was overwhelming, he saw that even if he activated the gate, we now stood between him and it. All of a sudden, all the hope, all the fight he had left him. For a moment, his eyes searched ours waiting for us to say or do something. Then he accepted death in his mind at least for we had no wish to harm him. His body seemed to give up then, he collapsed to the floor. We stood there for some moments letting the stong emotions that had assaulted us wash away in the silence of the chamber. We did not hear our father approach from the tunnel behind us.
His eyes fell apon the man and he said He is dead, lets go Mia, Mishka.
I did not often disput the authority of the captain, as to do so was a dangerous thing, but before i recognized my voice i was protesting. He is not dead i said.
He will be soon then he said.
i do not know why but I found myself asking him to take the slave with us.
He is beyond help, he said we do not have the means to save all of them. Although rough,it was the first time i had ever heard a note of compassion in his voice.
I heard pops coming from above and knew the crew were disposing of the slaves not being kept for service. to end thier misery was a blessing, but to him, it was nothing more than the neat disposal of a spent resourse.
I dont wish to save all of them, just this one father.
he looked shocked, i almost never used his familial title. He thought for a while, until the sounds of death above ceased then sighed.
I will not allot extra food to a man who is going to die anyway, youll have to share your own rations. I knew though he would never allow us to go without. then without another word he turned and walked away. mishka and i picked up the slave and took him to the ship, and put him in our quarters. it took no effort at all as he weighed little more than a child. He was filthy and infested with vermin, so we bathed him, becoming more horrified as the suffering he had endured was revealed under the grime. He was beyond thin, skeletal was more like it. His body had even eaten the muscle to survive. his hips and shoulder blades stuck out at sharp angles and his arms and legs were just bone with skin stretched over them. He was covered with bruises and cuts and whipmarks, and had many broken bones. Mishka knew he could not heal all of his wounds at once. The man was too close to death and could easily pull Mishka into it withhim. We decided to let Mishka heal the most life threatening of the wounds a bit at a time and use the knowledge we had obtained from healers througout our travels to heal the rest. It was a painful process for both mishka and the Slave. He had an infection in his lungs that was the most pressing and it took many sessions to bring it under control. Mishka had to rest between so it was a while before he could move on to his other problems. The man was in great pain, barely lucid, sometimes calling for people, sometimes crying out for us to kill him and end his suffering. We had drugs from raids but they didnt seem to completely ease his pain and not for very long. We fed him like a baby, mashing bland foods into a paste and hand feeding him every few hours a spoonful at a time, but it seemed like so little. We took his care in shifts except after a healing session when Mishka needed to rest, then i would take his as well. Every time we awoke, our first thought was is he still alive. After two weeks, his lungs were begining to sound clearer, the fever had gone.During this time, Mishka had also mananged to knit his broken ribs but it would be another month before he could move without pain. We treated his cuts and bruises without powers, washing away the infection and using the salves we had gathered to encourage healing. it was a long and difficult time. he could do nothing for himself so we did it for him, willingly. It seemed as if he hovered on the brink of death forever but finally after three weeks he seemed to be improving.He awoke more lucid although for only periods of time watching us carefully, never speaking. We tried to assure him that we were his allies and would not harm him , but he wouldnt believe us. I could see in his thoughts those that had claimed the same thing then unmercifully betrayed him. But as the days passed and he saw our dedication to him, I sensed his mistrust begining to ease. He felt helpless and even though his body had been used in the most horrifing ways, he was ashamed as we cared for his every need and guilty that we sacrificed so much of ourselves without anything in return from him. there came a moment when he wanted to trust again, he just couldnt. We talked to him constantly when he was awake, coaxing him slowly out of his quiet exsistanse, yet trying not to push too hard. One day it occured to me that while i journeyed into his thoughts, i had never seen what he was called. i asked him then what was his name, not really expecting an answer. He looked away to a point on the opposite wall his brow furled in concentration,
then he looked at me and said i dont know. Those were his first words to me. I was shocked at the sound of his voice for a moment. It was horse from disuse and wavered just a bit and it seemed to shock him as well. I eased onto the side of the bed trying not to do anything to make him pull back again and asked, what do you remember?
Mishka hearing him speak sat down next to the bed as well.
He looked away again and a pained look crossed his face..The m.mining camp he said his voice trembling now and a visible shudder ran through him.
And before that i asked, before the camp?
Pppeople he stuttered faces and a city.
Do you remember where you are from i asked him where is your city?
I probed gently into his mind and saw the faces he did and the city he spoke of, although clearer than his confused mind.
i dont know he said and the frustration he was feeling pulled at my heart.
I dont want to know he said finally resigned. I remember another place, before the camp. It was... I cant.. They left me there. They never came to get me,to save me. They said they were my friends and they left me to... a sob broke from his chest and sudennly he was in my arms crying like a child gripping me about the waist as if his life depended on it. i helsd him for some time until his sobs became hitching breaths and then settled into shallow slow breaths of sleep. I eased him down onto the pillow and covered him carefully as not to awake him. I wondered if we had traded one nightmare for another as life on the ship for slaves was not an easy one. When he discovered we had saved him only to plunge him into a nightmare almost as bad as the one he had just escaped, would he blame us. damn our arrogance for thinking we were showing compassion.
Mishka heard my thoughts, and moved to the bed to hold me.
Perhaps it would have been better if we had let the captain put a bullet in his brain I said.
No Mishka replied, There was a reason we did this. One that has not yet been revealed. Although I think it will get worse before it gets better.
And no truer words were said
A month after we brought him into our lives, the slave was able to get out of bed and move carefully around the room. He could get to table to eat and the bathroom by himself but I still helped him bathe as he tired before he was able to return to his bed and I was afraid of him falling. After a while, it became a habit more than a chore.
He was gaining some weight yet slowly. His skin no longer stretched tightly over his bones, although the smallest clothes we could find for him hung on his frame. he discovered the objects we collected from worlds we traveled to and ships we raided, tucked into the corners of our quarters. He began to show interest in them sometimes taking them apart then putting them back toghrter perfectly. The Ancient artifacts we had aquired, were of special interest to him. he turned them on and off and probed them carefully before breaking them down into a hundred pieces and declaring the object a weaon or a teaching device. he read every book and scrll we had collected and in between, had long drawn out discussions with ius on our observations about the text or the world we got it from. The mind that had lost so much seemed to be trying to make up for the missing information by filling it with anything he could. He was incredibly intelligent, and we found ourselves enjoying teaching him. When there was no more to read, he studied the scematics of the ship. he spent long hours wting notes and drawning diagrams for improving the ships speed, weaponry or defensive capabilities. He began to propose ideas to improve the sysytems. We looked them over and soon realized his ideas were brilliant although far surpassing the capabilities of our own crew, we were able to understand. Mishka and I went to the captain and told him of the slaves ideas. He was of course wary at first, but he had watched us study all our lives and knew we were able to understand. Of course we backed the slaves ideas. We started out small, ships environmental, then worked to better the sensors , communications were next. By this time, the captain has seen firsthand the benifits of our improvements and began to trust the slave. Our captain was not a man who trusted easily espesially when it came to his ship, but he saw the benifits and sought to take advantage of them. Before long it was the ships hull plating and shields, we gained an eighty percent increase in our defenses, and when the slave proposed new plans to increase the weapons the captain agreed without a moments hesitation. We had to find the parts he needed and visited some very disreputable planets that the Captain would have preferred to avoid to scavenge in ship yards. But after some time, the captain realized if the slave asked for it, it was because it was vital to his work. The slave stayed with us in our quarters and if the captain had reservations at first, they soon faded as he began to show his worth in improvements on the ship. The other members of the crew were jelous of the slaves abilities and intelligense and the way the captain trusted him. We started to care for him more than we could have imagined. Not for the things he was doing for us like the captain, but for who he was. At first he was quiet and shy, almost withdrawn, but as time passed, he opened himself to us and we found he even had a wit. He became a friend and then family to us. He did not trust all at once, he had been hurt and betrayed by those that claimed him as friend.
Ok said Weir looking around the table. there were several nods.
On my planet she started many thousands of years ago, the ones you called the Ancients came.Atr this point, we were very young in our evolution. We know this because we found the labs they used. They did experiments on our people, that gave us special powers. Or more acurrately the females of my species have powers. They are passed down from mother to daughter.
What kind of powers Weir interrupted.
Telepathy, telekenesis and the ability to use Ancient devises.
The gift is stronger in some than others, it depends on the breeding you see. the Ancients bred the ones with the greatest powers to each other. Those people were made leaders. The gift can be shared though she said. When a female chooses a life mate she is able to transfer some of her abilities to her partner during thier first bonding. The male will retain those powers until his mate dies.
And then he loses the powers, Weir asked
When we mate, we mate for life she explained. If one dies the other usually follows not too long after.
There is a cerimony for the first bonding rites she said, it is a beautiful event. It is done in a temple built centuies ago by the Ancients. It is attended by friends and family. The couple join in body and then in mind. From that time forward the two are as one. linked by thought and emotion.
You mean they can tell what a partner is thinking.
It depends on the strenghth of the genes the female carries. Of all our people, I have the most concentrated version of the Ancient genes.My mother before me. The details of our exsistanse are scertchy but what I do know is our dame was bred to an outsider. A murderer, a thief and an outlaw. Like i said I am not sure of the details.I do not know weather she fell in love with him, or he took her. Knowing what kind of person he was, i would venture to guess he wwould have to taken her as she would not have lay with him willingly. However her powers were formidable... she stopped and looked at Mishka. Whatever the circumstanses, he bedded her, and we were the fruit of that union. We were raised on our homeworld until we were 12 of your years. My powers were proving to be as great as my mothers, even though I was of impure breeding. many fought in concil against my ascension to the throne. The loudest voice was my mothers sister who wished the throne for herself.But in the end, her supporters gained the vote to allow me the right of the crown. However a concession had to made. i was to be paired with my cousin who would share my power. it was as much as my aunt could get as she was not going to win the throne. But before the cerimony could take place, our sire came and stole us away in the night. we lived on his ship as his slaves. He was a formidible man with a ruthless reputation and not many went against him and lived. it was a given that we were his property. We shared his quarters and as far as anyone knew, his bed. it woulud have been dangerous for anyone to know we were his offspring. We could have been used to depose him. But in the years that followed, he never layed a hand apon us. we served him and cared for him and he provided us with food, clothing and a shelter of sorts but there was never any love. Mishka and I learned to depend on one another. The crew came from every corner of the galaxy and from every walk of life. Some signed on at backwater bars on distant palnets. Some were pressed into service after we raided the ship or mining camp. The ones who were strong or could fight or had special skills were weeded out. they were given a choice, join our crew or die with your compatriots. Some came with us and some coose death.
Our father mishka flinched at the word, treated his crew like animals, except for a few. thery were the strongest and the meanest. They beat and starved the rest of the crew to keep them in line. We were above them, all of them, because we were the personal property of the captain.We always had the best food available and clothes to keep us warm and a bed to sleep in. He indulged our need to learn and found books and texts for us to study. We became knowledable in many languages and knew the history of most planets we visited. There are few who know more about our galaxy than Mishka and I. Our studies kept us from the crew which is what our father wanted. Until one day.
Mia stoppedand looked at Weir. We had knowledge of a nearly deserted world with a large supply of a valuable ore. The people that ran the mining operation were the worst of the worst. Nothing but profit meant anything to them and they made thier hordes of money by any means nessasary. They most often raided colonies and ships to fill thier mines with slaves, but a few worlds with over crowded prisons would sometimes sell thier wards to the mine. It cost them little and they never bothered to care for the slaves as there was always a supply of men that had noone to care about their dissapearance. Noone cared about the suffering only the commodity. The ore was rare and they controled it. They became more confident as time passed. The ones left behind to run the operation occupied themselves by drinking and torturing the slaves. The raid was carefully planned and executed. Their overconfidence in thier power and inebrated state made it all too easy to take the mine.
She stopped and swallowed. Our crew has seen much, but it sickened many this camp. The slaves didnt run, didnt fight. They just stopped where they were and looked at us as we finished off the men that had tortured them. They didnt seem to care if we were going to kill them or not.Complete resignation to whatever fate she demonstrated by waving her hands. The captain began to gather the slaves together to see if any were worth keeping. although it looked as if there was nothing more useful than the ore we came for, Mishka and i began to look around for any thing else of interest. We had just passed an outcropping when we saw a slave duck into a cave opening. We ducked in after him and followed at a discreet distance, curious about where he was going. The cave became a wide tunnel, the walls were of the same material as in our temple on our home planet.
You mean Ancient Radek interrupted
Yes, and if that wasnt enough, lights came on as the slave passed. We were surprised of course, we had never seen anyone besides our own people able to control Ancient technology. He stumbled throught he tunnel deeper and deeper. His fear was so strong, not of dying but not making it in time. A need, a desire so dear it was almost real enough to touch, consumed him. he was heading somewhere, he had something he hadnt had in a very long time, hope. I think he knew he was dying, and this might be his last chance, using what little life he had left. Even if we hadnt been able to read him, it would have easy to see he was in great pain. We could have followed him in the dark from listening to his breathing. He was as close to death as a human can be but he kept repeating in his head over and over, Home, home ,Home. He finally led us to a chamber and went immediatly to a control panel set into a large carved stone. The moment he touched it, it lit up. We moved further into the chamber and saw the Stargate he was trying to activate. He saw us then, he paniced, his fingers tried to move across the controls, but they were bloody and mishapen, crippled. We could see the frustration in his face, and feel it in his mind, so close only to fail. His despair was overwhelming, he saw that even if he activated the gate, we now stood between him and it. All of a sudden, all the hope, all the fight he had left him. For a moment, his eyes searched ours waiting for us to say or do something. Then he accepted death in his mind at least for we had no wish to harm him. His body seemed to give up then, he collapsed to the floor. We stood there for some moments letting the stong emotions that had assaulted us wash away in the silence of the chamber. We did not hear our father approach from the tunnel behind us.
His eyes fell apon the man and he said He is dead, lets go Mia, Mishka.
I did not often disput the authority of the captain, as to do so was a dangerous thing, but before i recognized my voice i was protesting. He is not dead i said.
He will be soon then he said.
i do not know why but I found myself asking him to take the slave with us.
He is beyond help, he said we do not have the means to save all of them. Although rough,it was the first time i had ever heard a note of compassion in his voice.
I heard pops coming from above and knew the crew were disposing of the slaves not being kept for service. to end thier misery was a blessing, but to him, it was nothing more than the neat disposal of a spent resourse.
I dont wish to save all of them, just this one father.
he looked shocked, i almost never used his familial title. He thought for a while, until the sounds of death above ceased then sighed.
I will not allot extra food to a man who is going to die anyway, youll have to share your own rations. I knew though he would never allow us to go without. then without another word he turned and walked away. mishka and i picked up the slave and took him to the ship, and put him in our quarters. it took no effort at all as he weighed little more than a child. He was filthy and infested with vermin, so we bathed him, becoming more horrified as the suffering he had endured was revealed under the grime. He was beyond thin, skeletal was more like it. His body had even eaten the muscle to survive. his hips and shoulder blades stuck out at sharp angles and his arms and legs were just bone with skin stretched over them. He was covered with bruises and cuts and whipmarks, and had many broken bones. Mishka knew he could not heal all of his wounds at once. The man was too close to death and could easily pull Mishka into it withhim. We decided to let Mishka heal the most life threatening of the wounds a bit at a time and use the knowledge we had obtained from healers througout our travels to heal the rest. It was a painful process for both mishka and the Slave. He had an infection in his lungs that was the most pressing and it took many sessions to bring it under control. Mishka had to rest between so it was a while before he could move on to his other problems. The man was in great pain, barely lucid, sometimes calling for people, sometimes crying out for us to kill him and end his suffering. We had drugs from raids but they didnt seem to completely ease his pain and not for very long. We fed him like a baby, mashing bland foods into a paste and hand feeding him every few hours a spoonful at a time, but it seemed like so little. We took his care in shifts except after a healing session when Mishka needed to rest, then i would take his as well. Every time we awoke, our first thought was is he still alive. After two weeks, his lungs were begining to sound clearer, the fever had gone.During this time, Mishka had also mananged to knit his broken ribs but it would be another month before he could move without pain. We treated his cuts and bruises without powers, washing away the infection and using the salves we had gathered to encourage healing. it was a long and difficult time. he could do nothing for himself so we did it for him, willingly. It seemed as if he hovered on the brink of death forever but finally after three weeks he seemed to be improving.He awoke more lucid although for only periods of time watching us carefully, never speaking. We tried to assure him that we were his allies and would not harm him , but he wouldnt believe us. I could see in his thoughts those that had claimed the same thing then unmercifully betrayed him. But as the days passed and he saw our dedication to him, I sensed his mistrust begining to ease. He felt helpless and even though his body had been used in the most horrifing ways, he was ashamed as we cared for his every need and guilty that we sacrificed so much of ourselves without anything in return from him. there came a moment when he wanted to trust again, he just couldnt. We talked to him constantly when he was awake, coaxing him slowly out of his quiet exsistanse, yet trying not to push too hard. One day it occured to me that while i journeyed into his thoughts, i had never seen what he was called. i asked him then what was his name, not really expecting an answer. He looked away to a point on the opposite wall his brow furled in concentration,
then he looked at me and said i dont know. Those were his first words to me. I was shocked at the sound of his voice for a moment. It was horse from disuse and wavered just a bit and it seemed to shock him as well. I eased onto the side of the bed trying not to do anything to make him pull back again and asked, what do you remember?
Mishka hearing him speak sat down next to the bed as well.
He looked away again and a pained look crossed his face..The m.mining camp he said his voice trembling now and a visible shudder ran through him.
And before that i asked, before the camp?
Pppeople he stuttered faces and a city.
Do you remember where you are from i asked him where is your city?
I probed gently into his mind and saw the faces he did and the city he spoke of, although clearer than his confused mind.
i dont know he said and the frustration he was feeling pulled at my heart.
I dont want to know he said finally resigned. I remember another place, before the camp. It was... I cant.. They left me there. They never came to get me,to save me. They said they were my friends and they left me to... a sob broke from his chest and sudennly he was in my arms crying like a child gripping me about the waist as if his life depended on it. i helsd him for some time until his sobs became hitching breaths and then settled into shallow slow breaths of sleep. I eased him down onto the pillow and covered him carefully as not to awake him. I wondered if we had traded one nightmare for another as life on the ship for slaves was not an easy one. When he discovered we had saved him only to plunge him into a nightmare almost as bad as the one he had just escaped, would he blame us. damn our arrogance for thinking we were showing compassion.
Mishka heard my thoughts, and moved to the bed to hold me.
Perhaps it would have been better if we had let the captain put a bullet in his brain I said.
No Mishka replied, There was a reason we did this. One that has not yet been revealed. Although I think it will get worse before it gets better.
And no truer words were said
A month after we brought him into our lives, the slave was able to get out of bed and move carefully around the room. He could get to table to eat and the bathroom by himself but I still helped him bathe as he tired before he was able to return to his bed and I was afraid of him falling. After a while, it became a habit more than a chore.
He was gaining some weight yet slowly. His skin no longer stretched tightly over his bones, although the smallest clothes we could find for him hung on his frame. he discovered the objects we collected from worlds we traveled to and ships we raided, tucked into the corners of our quarters. He began to show interest in them sometimes taking them apart then putting them back toghrter perfectly. The Ancient artifacts we had aquired, were of special interest to him. he turned them on and off and probed them carefully before breaking them down into a hundred pieces and declaring the object a weaon or a teaching device. he read every book and scrll we had collected and in between, had long drawn out discussions with ius on our observations about the text or the world we got it from. The mind that had lost so much seemed to be trying to make up for the missing information by filling it with anything he could. He was incredibly intelligent, and we found ourselves enjoying teaching him. When there was no more to read, he studied the scematics of the ship. he spent long hours wting notes and drawning diagrams for improving the ships speed, weaponry or defensive capabilities. He began to propose ideas to improve the sysytems. We looked them over and soon realized his ideas were brilliant although far surpassing the capabilities of our own crew, we were able to understand. Mishka and I went to the captain and told him of the slaves ideas. He was of course wary at first, but he had watched us study all our lives and knew we were able to understand. Of course we backed the slaves ideas. We started out small, ships environmental, then worked to better the sensors , communications were next. By this time, the captain has seen firsthand the benifits of our improvements and began to trust the slave. Our captain was not a man who trusted easily espesially when it came to his ship, but he saw the benifits and sought to take advantage of them. Before long it was the ships hull plating and shields, we gained an eighty percent increase in our defenses, and when the slave proposed new plans to increase the weapons the captain agreed without a moments hesitation. We had to find the parts he needed and visited some very disreputable planets that the Captain would have preferred to avoid to scavenge in ship yards. But after some time, the captain realized if the slave asked for it, it was because it was vital to his work. The slave stayed with us in our quarters and if the captain had reservations at first, they soon faded as he began to show his worth in improvements on the ship. The other members of the crew were jelous of the slaves abilities and intelligense and the way the captain trusted him. We started to care for him more than we could have imagined. Not for the things he was doing for us like the captain, but for who he was. At first he was quiet and shy, almost withdrawn, but as time passed, he opened himself to us and we found he even had a wit. He became a friend and then family to us. He did not trust all at once, he had been hurt and betrayed by those that claimed him as friend.