“Well ladies” Taron said as he angled his ship towards the massive gas giant Herakleos. “There it is: Avalon.”

Myona pressed her hands against the viewport of the Elysium’s cockpit and looked down at the pretty green and blue ball of the terraformed moon. She felt a well of excitement rising in her chest at the idea of visiting the near-mythical home of Pryvani Tarsuss.

“So humans live on that moon?” Shaar asked in a hushed voice.

“Yeah. The population is several thousand.” Taron responded. Shaar was amazed by the idea of that many humans living in the same place, without being a breeding farm anyway.

“They are like pets?” Shaar asked, and Myona could easily detect the guarded tone of her friend’s voice, though Taron likely couldn’t.

“No.” Taron shook his head. “In fact they live in cities and govern themselves, for the most part. Their culture is in a bit of an upheaval at the moment, but I’m confident they’ll find their way soon. Here we go.”

The nose of the ship angled down and they dove towards the upper atmosphere of the moon. Of course, thanks to artificial gravity, the passengers inside the ship felt none of this, but it was very exciting to watch.

The radio suddenly crackled to life and a female voice filled the room. “This is Valhalla traffic control, please identify yourself.”

Taron flicked the switch on his receiver. “Taron Dande piloting the shuttle Elysium.”

“Security check. Clearance code, please.”

“Ah geez.” Taron muttered squeezing his eyes shut in concentration. “Dande-One-One-Eight-Gama-Six-Ishaytan-Ehwaz-Thyrisaz-Ashay-Vader-Gama-Two-Two.”

“Security check cleared.” The voice on the other end of the line spoke after a few seconds of silence. “We’re sending you a landing vector now, Elysium.”

“Thanks control.” Taron said before clicking the radio off. He sighed and shook his head ruefully. “Only Rixie Tam would make a security code with letters, numbers, Jotnar letters and a human cultural reference.”

They broke through the atmosphere and began descending towards the tallest mountain in a range that seemed to stretch towards the horizon.

Despite her best efforts to appear aloof, Shaar’s eyes widened at the sight. “Wow…”

“That is Tayas Mons.” Taron said as he aimed the shuttle towards an opening in the side of the mountain that had previously been hidden from view. “That is where Pryvani Tarsuss lives.”

“Wow…” Myona pressed her nose against the viewport to get a better view.

“It’s where I live too, but you probably don’t care about that.” Taron chuckled.

Within moments, Taron was guiding Elysium into the shuttle bay and engaging the mooring clamps.

“And… we’re down.” He announced as the shuttle settled onto the floor of the docking bay. “Right. Ride’s over. Everybody out.”

Myona stepped out of the shuttle with Shaar riding on her shoulder and looked around. It wasn’t the biggest shuttle bay she’d ever seen, but there was ample room for the four designer class ships that were currently moored to the floor.

A tapping sound attracted her attention and she turned to see a woman, a few years older than herself, approaching. She had tanned skin and long dark hair streaked with blue, green and purple in the Aementi style. Her purple eyes were instantly familiar, however.

“You must be Zara!” Myona chirped, extending an arm and clasping wrists with the other woman as soon as she drew near.

“I am.” Zara smiled, and then slowly extended her smallest finger for Shaar to shake. “And you must be Shaar and Myona. My sister has told me quite a bit about the two of you.”

“I figured that was how Lady Tarsuss had found out about us.” Myona said with a grin, nearly bouncing with excitement. “I can’t tell you how great it is to be here.”

Zara nodded. “Well, we certainly could use your help with a small project. Something we’d like to test out in Atlantis.”

“Atlantis?”

“The largest human settlement out on the moon.” Zara explained. “But that all can wait. You have had a long trip, perhaps you’d like to rest.”

“I’m too pumped up right now!” Myona gushed, but then stopped and glanced down at the human on her shoulder. “But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to, uh, freshen up for a little bit.”

Zara nodded and turned on her heel. “Right this way, I’ll show you to your guest rooms.”

“Rooms?” Shaar asked as Myona quickly caught up with the other Titan woman.

“Well yes.” Zara said. “We assumed the two of you would want to have your own rooms.”

Shaar’s eyes widened. She had never had a space of her own; not unless you counted the hovels and hideaways she pulled together out of debris while fending for herself on Archavia. For a moment the idea of having an entire room to herself overwhelmed.

But then… she looked up at Myona.

“Oh… no, that’s okay…” Shaar shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t mind sharing, unless Myona does.”

“Nope.” Myona grinned. “Fine by me.”

Zara nodded.

“Follow me then.” The older woman said simply.

She led the two of them through a series of corridors in the compound. Myona’s neck was starting to hurt from constantly looking around.

“Unfortunately, Pryvani is away on an urgent business matter. She regrets that she can’t be here to greet you properly.”

“Too bad.” Myona sighed. “I was looking forward to meeting her.”

Zara turned back and grinned at Myona. “Oh don’t worry. Pryvani was very interested in the two of you. If this job she has goes well, there will be plenty more in the works.”

Myona practically vibrated from the excitement.

“And here we are.” Zara pressed her hand to a small panel next to the sky blue door of the room they’d stopped in front of. They heard the click of the lock disengaging and Zara pushed the door open.

“Here.” She said, handing Myona a small access card. “Your handprint isn’t programmed into our security system, so this will give you access to your room and the rooms with ‘guest level’ security clearance. If you need to go anywhere else just let Taron or I know, okay?”

“Okay!” Myona enthused, taking the card in her hand, and stepping into the room.

“We’ve had your luggage and gear brought here as well.” Zara added, nodding to the small pile of bags in the corner of the room.

“Have a good rest.”

The door shut behind Zara and Myona looked around the room in wonder. It was absolutely the biggest bedroom she had ever seen.

“Look at this place.” The red haired woman marveled. On the far wall were a set of double doors. She quickly walked over to them and stepped through onto the balcony outside.

“Wow…” She heard Shaar whisper and Myona was inclined to agree. The view in front of them was amazing.

“They say it’s almost Earth level gravity out there.” Myona told the human on her shoulder.

“What does that mean?” Shaar asked.

“It means that you would be able to walk freely, and I would be held down by my own weight.”

“I-”

“Oh look!” Myona cried, pointing. “You can see a city off into the distance there. I wonder if that’s Atlantis. You know, the city Zara was telling us about.”

Shaar peered in the direction Myona was indicating, and true enough she could just make out the silhouette of the city walls.

“Imagine Shaar… an entire city built by humans.”

Shaar blinked and took a deep breath. A city, full of people. A city where the buildings and roads and everything else were made with people her size in mind. Where she could sit in an actual chair at a table built for her. Where she could walk down the street without worrying about being crushed by an inattentive passer-by.

It was… well, it was almost hard to believe.

“I hope you get a chance to see it.” Myona told her friend.

“What about you?”

Myona giggled. “Me? I’d be too scared of breaking something.”

Shaar was about to respond when she was interrupted by a persistent trilling noise from inside the room. Myona stepped back through the balcony doors and over to where she had set down her data pad. A quick glance at the pad told her she had an incoming call. She pressed the answer button and a face appeared on her screen.

“Hello my dear.” Pryvani Tarsuss greeted her. Myona was almost as awestruck to be talking to her as she had been when Pryvani had first contacted her.

“Lady Tarsuss!” Myona grinned. “Nice to see you!”

Pryvani’s smile widened. “Please, none of that ‘Lady Tarsuss’ nonsense. I insist you call me Pryvani, darling.”

“Okay… Pryvani.”

“Much better. Now, I’m glad to see that you have made it to my home safely. I do apologize for not being there to greet you in person.”

“Oh it’s no problem.” Myona gushed. “Zara said that you had some urgent business to take care of or something.”

“Or something.” Pryvani agreed wryly. “Still, when it is all over I would enjoy being able to meet the two of you face-to-face.”

“I would love that!”

“Good.” Pryvani nodded. “Now, if you have a moment, I’d like to briefly go over the little task I need your help with.”

“Of course!” Myona replied. “We’re both very excited to get started.”

“Zara told you about the human city on Avalon, Atlantis, did she not?”

“She did.” Shaar answered before Myona could.

“Excellent. In that city, there is a… well, it’s a tavern run by a very good friend of mine named Alex. I need the two of you to wire that building with holographic projectors.”

Myona’s brow creased and she chewed her lip in thought. “A human sized building?”

“Naturally, darling.”

“Well… Lady Tar- …I mean, Pryvani… the problem with that is that your average holographic projector is… well, too big.”

“Some of them are probably bigger than this building is.” Shaar agreed, nodding.

“Yeah.”

Pryvani’s smile widened. “Of course, your average hologram projectors would indeed be far too large for this job. Fortunately, I’ve made the acquaintance with a rather ingenious fellow who has managed to build holographic hardware that is more suited to human use.”

Myona’s eyes widened. “He has?”

“Indeed.” Pryvani nodded. “He’s found ways to downsize all kinds of Archavian technology for humans to use. It’s all very exciting, really.”

“Wow.” Myona muttered, and filed away a mental note to ask Pryvani if there might be a way to get Shaar some tools and equipment that were built for her. Then she could teach Shaar how to code properly.

“Well, in that case I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to do this job for you, Pryvani.” Myona said happily.

“That’s good to hear.” Pryvani said. “It’s… well, it’s very important to that friend of mine. But, I know you’ve just arrived on Avalon, so we can worry more about that after the two of you have had a chance to rest properly.”

“We’re not tired.” Shaar said, and even she was beginning to be affected by Myona’s enthusiasm; along with her own desire to explore a human-sized city. “We can begin right away.”

“No, there’s no need to rush.” Pryvani chuckled. “Besides, I’m pretty sure your guide in Atlantis is asleep himself.”

“Oh well, we’d… uh… we’d hate to wake him then.” Myona said cheerfully.

“It’s settled then.” Pryvani laughed. “I’ll have Zara contact you once Nick has awakened. Until then, the hospitality of my home is at your service.”

*.*.*

“I’m back!” Tylum yelled as she pushed open the door to her college dorm house. The end of her vacation spent with her family had passed fairly uneventfully, especially as it had just been Tylum and her parents. Still, it had been nice to see them, although Tylum would have been lying if she said she wasn’t disappointed that her older sister Zara had been unable to make it home. Tylum had been dying to tell her sister all about what had happened with Pierce that semester. Not to mention the chance to sate her curiosity about just what had been happening to her sister on Pryvani Tarsuss’s moon.

She looked around at the empty living room in front of her. The house was far too quiet.

She knew that Fara and Aezhay were likely still visiting their own families, but that still meant that Daz, Myona and Rhionne should be around.

Not to mention Pierce and Shaar.

Tylum shrugged and shouldered the strap of her bag, thinking that maybe Pierce was in her room. So she tromped up the stairs. As she walked, Tylum reflexively kept an eye out for any humans that might be in her path, but there were none. She made it to the top of the stairs and down the hall to the door of her bedroom.

She pushed it open.

“Hey Pierce, I’m back! Did you have a good…”

Tylum stopped short. Something was different and she peered around her room to figure out what it was. After a moment she realized that Pierce’s bed was missing. In its place was a piece of paper that had been folded in half.

Curiously, Tylum grabbed the paper from the top of her desk. It was a note.

Tylum;

We’ve taken Pierce. He’s ours now, and so he will be living in our room. We promise that we will take good care of him, and feed him every day.

Love;

Daz & Rhionne.

Tylum stared at the paper, and then read it again just to be sure she’d understood it properly. She folded the note neatly and laid it back on the desk again. A small smile appeared on her face, which quickly grew into a very large grin.

“Well.” She said, simply. “Good for them.”

And then, Tylum decided to go for a walk, because she was hungry and there was a new Paerian restaurant that had opened three blocks over that she wanted to try.