Morning arrived in Mothership Velrakis. The artificial sunlight poured into the room, waking Tika up from her slumber.

From the guidebook she read before she went to bed, Tika found out that Mothership Velrakis had its own standard time that did not rely to planetary rotation. It made things more practical, especially when they travelled from one planet to another, which obviously had their own standard time.

One standard day in Mothership Velrakis had forty hours, with forty minutes each hour, and forty seconds each minute. There were five days in a week, twenty days a month, and twenty months a year.

From the same guidebook, Tika also found out that the Earth exchange members had fifteen hours (around six hours Earth time) to sleep and rest, another fifteen hours to study the Mothership, and ten hours (around four hours Earth time) to do other activities. This strict schedule hopefully would help Tika and her colleagues to study the Mothership as efficient as possible.

Tika wondered how did the people who arranged the exchange know about human’s circadian rhythm, before remembering that she and her colleagues were not, in fact, the first humans the citizens of Velrakis had encountered. After all, Indira Candrakirana had lived in the Mothership for a couple years. It was possible that they had studied ways to fulfill her biological needs, such as her dietary needs and circadian rhythm.

Thinking about Indira made Tika’s thought went back to Varka — Varka, the half-human. Varka, Indira’s child. She didn’t quite understand why she couldn’t stop thinking about them. Varka was an enigma, a mystery that Tika wanted to study.

God… Tika thought, putting her face in her hands. She sounded like a lovesick teenager. Let’s not get there now, shall we?

She sighed deeply, before rolling off her bed and padded toward the bathroom. She tried to rationalize what she was feeling. Perhaps she was simply curious because she wanted to know Varka more — as a friend. Nothing more. She felt more like herself after a quick shower, and her thoughts were no longer scattered like leaves in the wind. 

After wearing her UESA uniform and putting on simple makeup, she walked out of her room—

— and immediately bumped into Varka, who was standing by her door.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Tika bowed in embarrassment as she rubbed her face — the face that hit Varka’s broad chest.

It felt like hitting a solid wall.

“I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn’t be standing in front of a door”, Varka said in low voice. Their face was blushing purple from the embarrassment, before they managed to collect themself. “Oh, um. I just want to tell you that your colleagues have been waiting for you.”

Just like they said, Tika’s colleagues had been waiting on the sofa. Indah and Bayu were explaining about the concept of twins to Avamar, who looked incredibly serious as she listened to their explanation.

“And that’s how it is. We were born at nearly the same time”, Bayu ended his explanation. “How about you guys? Can you guys have twins?”

“All Anur Arta couple can only hatch one egg, as a population control in the Mothership”, Avamar returned. “If there is an excess of eggs, then they will be donated to those who are unable to produce their own eggs.”

“So you guys lay eggs instead of give birth?” asked Professor Ratri. “Then how about—”

Professor Ratri fell silent as she saw Varka approaching the group. Varka tilted their head gracefully.

“Genetical manipulation”, they said without waiting for Professor Ratri to finish her sentence. “It was… a complicated process. But after a couple years, my mother managed to conceive normally. Or, well, as normally as possible, I suppose.”

Bayu and Professor Ratri looked equally curious, but Avamar stood and greeted Tika with a polite smile.

“Since all of us have already gathered, let us go to the Royal Family Facet. His Most Imperial Majesty awaits”, she said.

Avamar and Varka then guided Tika and her colleagues to the train station. This time the train car that waited for them looked even more luxurious, decorated in intricate geometrical pattern. Two Velrakis-Aran members and four droids followed them into the train car, and the car moved as soon as the door fell shut.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the Royal Family Facet, and Tika couldn’t even hide her amazement.

It felt like being in a public aquarium. The hallway that took them deeper into the facet was made of glass-like material, allowing them to see various alien sea creatures swimming freely around them. Some of them glowed like some kind of oddly shaped lanterns. As they crossed the hallway, a large creature swam over their head, their wide fins made them look like some kind of an aquatic dragon. Tika and her colleagues could only stare in awe.

Eventually, they arrived in a room where a ring-shaped pond also dominated the room. At the center of it was a platform with a round table and several seats surrounding it. A dancing coral sat in a glass sphere at the center of the table.

An Anur Arta in a high collared cloak sat on one of the seats. His hair was as white as snow and his periwinkle skin was freckled white. He had to be His Most Imperial Majesty, Emperor Velandar — Varka’s father and the leader of Mothership Velrakis.

Avamar approached the Emperor. But instead of giving him a salute, she pressed her palm to his own. The gesture looked so intimate, like a kiss. The Emperor smiled sweetly at her.

“Greetings, Father”, Varka said, breaking the silence awkwardly.

Instead of answering, the Emperor clicked his tongue and tilted his head elegantly. Varka pouted, undid their braid, and sulkily took the seat on the Emperor’s left. The Emperor smiled in satisfaction as he petted his progeny’s hair.

Then, Emperor Velandar turned his attention to Tika and her colleagues.

“Welcome to Mothership Velrakis, esteemed guests, and please have a seat”, he said. His voice was heavy and kind of rough, like the voice of an old man. It made Tika wonder just how old the Emperor was.

Tika and her colleagues sat on the provided seats. Commander Jonathan took the seat across to the Emperor, with Professor Arga sitting to his right and Professor Ratri to his left. Bayu sat next to Professor Arga, while Indah sat next to Professor Ratri. Tika took a shaky breath, before taking the only unoccupied seat left to Varka’s left.

“So you’ve met with my beloved wife, Avamar, and my only child, Varka”, Emperor Velandar said. Avamar smiled and pressed her palm again to the Emperor’s palm.

“Thank you for the warm reception, Your Most Imperial Majesty”, Commander Jonathan replied. “We hope that this exchange will benefit us all.”

“Of course, Commander. We are so honored to welcome you all”, the Emperor said. “I hope the accommodation we provide meets your standard, but please don’t hesitate to tell us if something is lacking to your standards.”

“The accommodation you have provided is more than enough”, Commander Jonathan returned, making the Emperor smile in satisfaction. Once again, he pressed his palm to Avamar.

Tika and her colleagues didn’t know what to say seeing the Emperor and Avamar be so intimate to each other. Meanwhile, Varka let out an almost-inaudible sigh and rolled their eyes — they were clearly looking uncomfortable.

Thankfully, a handful of servants arrived bringing food to the table, and the uncomfortable awkwardness was gone just like that. The servants arranged everything neatly, and Tika couldn’t help but be amazed at everything they served. A clam larger than a chicken was arranged in the middle of the table, surrounded by loaves of bread (?). Around it, more food than they could possibly eat were laid down. They smelled really good too.

The head servant helped them slice the meat of the clam with a gleaming sharp knife, and served five to seven slices to everyone’s plate. That was when Tika realized that they were not given any eating utensils. Confused, Tika decided to look at Varka, to see how they ate, and hoped that she could imitate it.

Varka used their hand with absolutely no hesitation, wrapping the clam’s meat with a white leaf, and took a bite of it. Knowing what to do, Tika copied Varka, step by step, and took a bite of her own clam roll.

Almost immediately, a mix of sweet-salty-savory taste bloomed inside her mouth. The leaf was crunchy, but the clam’s texture was soft, so soft that it felt like it melted inside her mouth. It tasted just like Earth clams, and yet at the same time, there was something that she couldn’t quite put her fingers on it — a taste that was somewhat familiar, yet foreign.

“Ripika is one of our traditional foods, which went extinct after its main ingredient, the kvell, was wiped out during the destruction of our home-planet”, Avamar explained. “However, an effort was made to bring the kvell back from the extinction, and you can see the result. We now can enjoy ripika once again.”

Tika could see Bayu perking up from his seat. As a biologist, bringing a species back from extinction would benefit the humanity as a species.

“How did you manage to do that?” Bayu asked.

The talk about centuries long experiment to bring the kvell back from extinction flowed as they ate, though by the end of it, it somewhat turned into a conversation about the culinary diversity aboard the Mothership. Tika listened raptly as Emperor Velandar and Avamar told them about their favorite food and how they taste. It sounded very interesting.

Even so, Tika couldn’t help but notice the way Varka sulk as the conversation went around without them. Sometimes they glanced at the Emperor, an odd expression on their face. They looked as if they wanted to say something, but somewhat decided not to do that.

In the end, that breakfast was done and over with, and Varka went back into their usual prim and proper self. They braided their hair once again, before standing up in attention, while Professor Arga and Commander Jonathan did some smalltalk with the Emperor for the last time.

Once everything was over, Avamar guided Tika and her colleagues back to the train station.