Though Pearl was not very adept at giving tours and didn't know much about the ship and thus kept getting the two of them lost and allowing long stretches of silence to remain unbroken, she at least introduced Yaann to 31126. 31126 was essentially a robotic extension of the O.R.C.A who’d apparently been named ‘Annette’ by the captain. Pearl had found her one of the most intriguing aspects of life aboard the ship upon her arrival and from Yaann’s reaction the sentiment was shared.

“Whoa, this thing’s zoon!” the woman exclaimed upon seeing her.

The three of them were in one of Annette’s alcove’s; an opening in the wall which was designed to look like a themed seating area. There were several throughout the ship where she resided and recharged if she was in need of rest or not in use. Dismantling one of the lesser used alcoves was on Pearl’s unofficial ‘to-do’ list.

The alcove Annette was currently sitting in was designed to look like a park bench. Pearl didn’t know what a park was but that’s what it said on the plaque beside the alcove. A blue sky with individual white clouds was painted around the robot, climbing up. Annette’s eyes were closed. She looked like she was having a pleasant dream.

“Zoon?” Pearl asked.

Yaann nodded enthusiastically. “Zoon, you know? Groovy.”

“Groovy?” Pearl asked, thinking about areas of rock where her fingers slid in easily, natural indentations.

Before Yaann could respond, Annette seemed to become aware of their presence, opening her eyes with a soft beep and turning to the Teretiwelligan. 

The apparent general consensus on Annette’s appearance was that it was uncanny. Unlike other advanced humanobots, she did not have a face that moved along with her speech or projected emotional inflection. Instead, she had an immobile faceplate designed to look like a mannequin or a doll - every feature fixed in a pleasantly noncommittal expression. 

Pearl found Annette put her at ease. Nothing about her voice or mannerisms ever changed and though she occasionally gestured with her hands they were mostly held clasped together over her stomach, as if she were waiting patiently for something. 

“You must be one of our Teretiwelligan guests. Welcome to the O.R.C.A. Is there anything I can do for you?” Annette asked, standing.

Yaann reached up and began touching Annette’s face and hair, seemingly fascinated by the fact that it was all molded together. Annette’s pupils became larger, then smaller, then returned to their original size. She waited.

“Is there currently an emergency in medical?” Pearl asked her in the meantime.

“One moment,” Annette said, pausing to confirm. “No. Are you conducting a tour?”

Above them, the sound of a small group rushing by came through the vents. Pearl remembered how Cohen had called those vents ‘goddamn walkie-talkies’ when Pearl had stopped beneath one, listening.

“Yes,” Pearl said.

Yaann moved away from Annette and Pearl noted that she’d somehow affixed a ribbon to the robot’s hair shaped facial molding.

“Funny. Ha ha,” Annette said, stating her apparent laughter as two distinct words. Before Pearl could ask what precisely she found funny, the robot tilted her head as if listening to something. “...If you’ll excuse me,” she said. Then she turned on her heel and walked away.

“Can robots find things funny?” Yaann asked, following Pearl as she headed in the opposite direction, towards medical. 

As the two of them walked, Pearl noted how different their strides were. Yaann tended to move airily ahead, her interest piqued by all manner of things which she made curious contact with before returning to Pearl’s side. Pearl herself was used to stretching her legs out as long as possible to keep up with Novians in the water, her arms held bent at her sides. She still used them too much when she spoke, compared to other Humans.

“I do not believe she actually finds things funny. After a time, one is able to anticipate what others might find humorous and react accordingly,” she told Yaann.

At times, Annette expressed emotions in a perfunctory manner. She would say ‘how sad’ and ‘quite exciting’ and ‘oh no’ but there was never any further indication that these so-called feelings went beyond words. Pearl wondered if her creator had programmed her to give such reactions fearing that she would not pass as adequately warm, adequately human, without them. 

However, she did not pass regardless. 

“Do you do that?” Yaann asked.

Pearl gestured wildly. “I try.”

Yaann giggled. “Well I think you’re plenty funny!”

Pearl fell quiet as they passed medical. She could hear a small commotion inside which suited her fine. She hadn’t wanted to enter the room and now she had an excuse not to - it would be rude to interrupt valuable scientific and medical research with a mere tour.

Moving swiftly down the corridor and through another, the pair were silent. They only began to speak again once Pearl entered the lift and pressed the button labeled with a simple ‘c’ groove. Groovy, she thought.

“I am curious about something,” Pearl said as the doors closed. The interior of the lift was dim and music played unreliably from invisible speakers. 

Cohen had complained about how many of the interior mechanisms had been salvaged and brought together into what they called a ‘Frankenstein’s monster piece of junk that barely manages to spit you out where you wanted to go half the time’. Most of Cohen’s commentary about the ship during Pearl’s own tour (they had accompanied Hakeem, seemingly against their will) consisted of colorful ways of saying the entire thing was held together by sheer force of will.

However, if that will’s force was supplied by Cohen, Pearl doubted the ship would fall apart anytime soon.

“Hmm?”

“Do all teri- tet- your people. Do they all eat so strangely?”

Yaann tilted her head, her tongue flopping to the side along with her ears. “Maybe? I don’t know whatcha mean by ‘strange’.”

“You were eating nothing but vegetables and desserts,” Pearl explained.

Yaann perked up. “Ohh, well it’s healthy isn’t it? You’ve gotta eat as much as you can!”

The lift came to a stop, making a haggard noise as if exhaling before giving in completely. The doors opened.

“Healthy? That much sugar can’t be healthy.” Pearl said, stepping out.

The corridors ahead were dimly lit and most of the walls were piled high with storage boxes. The walkways remained vigilantly clear but the mass surrounding them made the path feel difficult to traverse regardless. Pearl had slept here many times, the darkness and the mass of unidentified boxes reminding her of home when things had been bad. Olaan had rescued her and since then she’d tried to keep her room clean. As a result there was nothing there and she found it difficult to sleep. 

“It keeps you energetic - sweets and greens should always be enjoyed together!” Yaann insisted, her tail waving in the air behind her. “Listen, listen. As a kid, didn’t y’ever think ‘if only cake were healthy’ or ‘if only veggies tasted good’? You should try it our way - It’s delicious!”

“Novians do not have many desserts,” Pearl said.

Yaann’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “What? That’s harsh in the extreme. Like, harshasharsh….” she said, shaking her head.

Pearl paused for a long while. “I don’t understand.”

“But you listen, that’s nice of you,” Yaann said with a smile. For a few moments they were both silent as the Teretiwelligan took the time to look around. “Where are we going?” she asked eventually.

“The cockpit. It’s where the pilots reside,” Pearl said, kicking a box aside.

“What?” Yaann laughed. “Are you joking? Who named it that? Did they hate pilots?”

Pearl waited for Yaann to stop laughing but when she didn’t she simply continued on, trusting the woman would follow her. She didn’t understand what was so funny about the name but that was typical. She’d try to look it up later, if she remembered.

Soon, the corridors grew even narrower and the boxes began to disappear. Now there were weather charts and medals attached crudely to the walls, presumed copies of certificates awarded to those who’d earned their licenses. Pearl noted Hakeem’s which was easy to spot due to the stickers and lipstick marks. They were close.

“It’s dark down here!” Yaann exclaimed.

“Can you not see well?” Pearl asked, finding the door easily. It was the only one with steps, two small ones, and a plaque at eye-level which had once read ‘cockpit’ but now read ‘rockpit’. Someone had taped a piece of paper reading ‘stars’ over the word ‘pit’.

“I’m more worried about the pilots.”

“No need for concern,” Pearl said, wrapping her hand around the rusty door handle. “Please watch your step, there’s a sharp incline.”

When the door opened it was as if a tidal wave of light spilled out into the darkened corridor, bidding them welcome.

The room itself was large, around the same size as the control bridge, with several stations set up in a semi-circle, facing a screen which wrapped around the room in its entirety. The O.R.C.A employed several pilots, all of whom had a different role to play in ship’s navigation. Aside from the large wraparound screen, every station had its own console with its own screen. All in all, it was like walking into a star within a star.

As Yaann marveled at the sight Pearl turned her head to watch the approach of someone who was already grumbling at the sight of them. He was a pilot but she’d only ever seen him managing the others - Botero. That was his name.

“More girls…” He sighed. “So you’re here to see Hakeem?”

Yaann grinned at him as Pearl walked past. “Hey, take it easy. If you greet beauties with a face like that they’ll never like you!” she said, patting his shoulder.

Botero’s lips twitched up into a smile, either uneasy with the woman or fighting his own joy in an attempt to stay professional. “Mhm…Ah!” He turned, shouting after Pearl. “Hey! We’re working here, you can’t just-!”

Pearl ignored him, climbing up the rows of pilots. Hakeem had likened the room to a ‘stadium’ but she didn’t know what that was. He’d said it was like a theater for sports and music. Opranov had theaters. People put on plays about everyday dramas or fantastical murders. A very popular theme was creatures from offworld invading and stealing the faces of loved ones. They would take everything and destroy it gleefully. 

When she reached the eleventh row she pressed the small buzzer by the stairs.

“That Pearl? Hey!” Hakeem grinned, looking first at then behind her. “You’ve got company,” he said, seeming amused.

Pearl glanced back at Yaann who had apparently followed her up without Botero on her heels. “I am showing her around the ship,” she explained.

“Well she’s gonna be pretty disappointed with the rest of it if this is the first place you took her,” Hakeem said, chest puffing with pride. 

His station was a mess of objects - bright, loud, objects. His every interest was painted across every space he habitually occupied, including his body. He was always dressed outlandishly to some degree. That day, he had earrings in; one was an ‘s’ with a slash through it and the other was a doll’s head.

“We have been to the canteen, the bridge, my room, Annette’s alcove…I am unsure where else to take her.”

“You avoiding the labs for some reason?” he asked.

“...Not in par-” Pearl began, interrupted by Yaann’s tail grabbing her arm.

“Hey, hey. You’re not gonna leave me, are you?” the woman asked, jutting out her bottom lip and widening her eyes.

Pearl did not recognize this expression. “No. I gave you my word.”

“Ohh…” Yaann breathed, blinking rapidly.

Hakeem leaned back in his chair, laughing in a genuine but distracted manner as he glanced back over to his personal console. “We got another casanova in the wings?”

“What is casanova?” Pearl asked, looking between the two of them.

Hakeem jerked a thumb in his own direction. “Yours truly.”

Pearl frowned but before she could say anything, the room was bathed in red and an alarm began to sound.

Yaann whimpered, grasping Pearl’s arm tighter, causing her to stumble as she was pulled closer to the woman. “Like, what’s going on?” 

“It’s the Kragorians,” Hakeem said. He’d sat up completely and was at the ready, fingers flying across his console as he focused on the screen. Information seemed to be pouring in. Pearl wondered how he could take it all in so fast. She tried to focus on the lines of text and data so she didn’t have to think about the fear coiling in her gut.

There was a strange look frozen on Hakeem’s face that Pearl couldn’t quite interpret. She didn’t need to - his trembling hands, gripping the sides of his display screen, said enough.

“They’re coming.”