Selene was happy to say the least when she learned that Dr. Bryant had left the Sequester inside a caasiok when he attacked them. It survived the battle, with only a few scrapes and dents to show for it.

  It was oddly nostalgic to see again, even though she only had the ship for a short-while. Then again, this whole 'queen of the swarm' thing was still relatively new to her. It only felt like years becuase her mind has been running full-blast since Camden found that larvae on Endelon.

  She needed a reset.

  To mentally prepare herself for what happens next.

  So Selene planned to spend a full day as a human, and walked through the ship.

  She stood in the cargo-hold, where they once played poker together as a crew. Danny would make some edgy joke, which Zephyr would laugh sarcastically at. Dr. Bryant would insist that counting cards worked, only to lose anyways. And Aboleth would assume everyone was only pretending to have good hands.

  Only for Raymond to get lucky and win.

  Then there was the ladder-room after, which separated the two floors. Leading off to the captains quarters, showers, or kitchen and pantry.

  Each represented something integral to her life.

  Her new bedroom, the captains quarters—where she decompressed the events of each day. Either by plotting or bawling her eyes out. Which wasn't always mutually exclusive.

  The kitchen, where Pipsqueak would curl up next to her as she drew while she snacked. She would look out the windows there, at the stars. The system she hoped to save one day.

  The pantry where she kept her first-ever Zykra.

  She moved around the ladder, and an image flashed through her mind of it covered in blood. Dripping.

  But it was clean now.

  She climbed up and looked around on the second floor, a type of hopeful melancholy that she'd see Raymond there, or one of the others. Each bunkroom was personalized now. Zephyrs, decorated with strings of lights, with a curtain that came across a section of bunk beds. The picture Selene had drawn of her was taped on the wall.

  Zephyr was half-smiling, holding the straps to a backpack as she hiked through the forests of Endelon 2, with a scantid following protectively. Selene sighed.

  Then started rifling around. Flipping through a stack of books on a desk she had there. Self-help books mostly. Some fantasy about a dark prince romancing the heroine. Cliche'. No journal or anything like that, like she hoped. In the end she would never know how authentic Zephyr was. She was just such a good liar.

  She took a jacket to remember her by, the yellow cropped bomber jacket. She sat down with the picture she drew and remembered a few of their times together. They left things off at an awkward point. Though that's easily half Zephyr's fault.

  After a fifteen minutes or so she went to Raymond's and Danny's rooms.

  She didn't spend as much time there as she would see them again soon. Probably. They'd contact them soon once they reached a certain rank within the resistance.

  As Selene approached the pilots cabin an image flashed through her mind, a black man with dreadlocks and a white lab coat stood at the helm, glancing over his shoulder with an eager, confident smile.

  She went to the holographic table and placed two hands on it, leaning on it. It was sad, but she just wasn't a crier anymore. There were no tears left. Only thoughts. Regrets and hope in equal porportion.

  The memories haunted her like ghosts. She could've done it differently. She will do it differently, next time.

  At some point her tablet made a bird chirping noise to signal that her nostalgia trip was over, and she left the Sequester. Running her hand down the metal of the ladder one last time before leaving the Sequester, parked on a hill on Endelon 2.

  "There was some of the colony left behind from before, so it shouldn't take so long to establish." Aboleth said.

  They stood beneath the shadow of a parked caasiok. Which was standing on the surface of Endelon 2, a protective giant.

  "That's good at least. How are the infest- uh, the hybrids doing?"

  There were some visible, moving around about the remaining shambles of the colony the resistance had left behind.

  "About as well as you'd expect. Some are still mourning their losses, and the rest are still adapting. They'll come around in time."

  Selene made a 'tsk' noise, for some reason phrases like that annoyed her. They felt like excuses to put off your problems.

  "—The IBT helps though. Engineers, farmers. Doctors. Things are moving forward. I'm coordinating with a lot of new faces... Even though it's not necessarily in my job description."

  Selene gave her an apologetic grin.

  "Sorry about that... I've been busy just thinking. I don't know how you do it Abby."

  Aboleth gave a few tilts of her head, as if balancing the idea out in her head. "It's fine. They'll probably be getting in touch with you soon though... It's not like this kind of thing happens often."

  "Did you call them yet?"

  This question confused Aboleth at first, then she realized what Selene meant.

  "...I'm worried what they'd think of me now. Imagine what my husband would say."

  Selene imagined the tiny major Masuka with straigth black hair standing next to the tall, muscular woman with wild untameable hair beside her now. It was a dramatic change.

  "Maybe your husband would like it." Selene joked.

  Aboleth half-smiled. "Maybe."

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  "I should talk to them." Selene said.

  "My family?"

  "No. Unless you want? I meant the hybrids. I know a thing or two about what they're going through. I'll just walk around. Let them come to me if they have something to say. Let me know if you need help setting up the infrastructure, or whatever."

  "We still have the meeting with the hybrid representatives tomorrow. Preston, Xaya, and Luan will be there too."

  Selene nodded, then started walking towards the colony. She was approached by a few, and it often grew out of control with her being surrounded. But Selene would tell them to disperse, and go about their business.

  She listened to them, some of them were resentful of her, but to her surprise most of them were open to what she had to say, and seemed optimistic. Being part Zykra wasn't all negatives after all.

  For example Selene found one woman about her age sitting alone just outside the colony on a rock, and decided she needed someone to talk to.

  There was also a scantid near her, it turned out the hybrids could command most other Zykra too.

  And some have taken to having them as pets, though many of them were still upset at the species for what happened to their colony. It was a good sign that they were adapting to their new lives quickly.

  "Hey." Selene said as she walked up.

  The green woman was surprised, she wiped her violet eyes and looked towards Selene.

  "Oh, hey... I didn't know there were regular humans running around here. It can be kind of dangerous this far out, there's predators on this planet, you know?"

  Her hair was curly and a deep red color, and she had dark freckles on her face. She had long antennae, one of which she was playing with as if it was a strand of hair, with a melancholic expression.

  "I'll be fine... They're pretty." She said with a polite smile.

  "Hm?" She followed Selene's gaze to the antennae in her hand. "Oh, that's very sweet of you, but I know what I look like now... I don't even know if I consider myself human anymore... The queen says we might be able to control what we look like someday, but even then I.. I don't know..."

  Selene allowed her own antennae to grow out too.

  The Renovian woman's eyes widened at the sight.

  "I'm Selene." She held out a hand. The woman, dumbfounded, slowly shook the offered hand.

  "I'm Ophelia... So you're her? The queen? I heard you got your body back. Must be nice, being able to change like that."

  Selene nodded, taking a seat next to her on the rock. She leaned back and sighed.

  "Yeah... Have you been to one of the battle-frigates? They're offering a few services you know. A shower might help you feel a bit better."

  Ophelia shook her head.

  "They look at us strangely—the normal humans. Most of us are just waiting until you get the colony up and running again..."

  "What did you do before?" Selene asked.

  "I was a hairdresser. In training."

  "Well, it should only take a few weeks for this place to start looking like a real colony. With hairdresser's and all that—now that we have the Protectorates backing... Honestly, it's so weird to be working with them now, after spending months fighting them. I don't know if you all know this, but I really don't like them."

  "Really? But I'm glad... I thought we were going to war. Lots of us did. We thought that was what we were made for. But now we're wearing normal clothes, being treated like citizens... It's a lot different than what we expected... Erm.. T-thank you. By the way."

  Selene shook her head. "It's the least I could do. And I'm far from done."

  Talking with people like this would really inform her decisions later when dealing with the Protectorate. Before she'd hardly stomache the idea, but just the look in their eyes was enough to make her second guess her choices.

  "You know—it gets easier. One day you might even like how you are now. I do."

  Ophelia gave her a confused look.

  "Then why do you look human?"

  She had her there.

  Selene shrugged. "I was trying to remind myself of who I was before all this... I meant it when I said you all should be able to change like this too, someday. I probably will leave my antennae out at all times regardless. Just to show that I'm not ashamed of what I am now. I've lived with this for like a year now... It is what you make it."

  "So before when you said I was pretty?"

  "I wasn't just being nice. I think most people would agree. It's not like we're actually bugs, we still look human in the ways that matter. In the end. And if some of you want to look as human as possible, I'll work to make that happen."

  Ophelia nodded. "Okay..."

  She seemed unsure.

  "Who's this little guy?" Selene asked, leaning down and patting the scantid on the head.

  "Just a scantid. I haven't named him, he's just been following me around... I don't hate it."

  "I used to have one too. Pipsqueak. They'll surprise you. The Zykra have a way of doing that. How's the uh... Connection? Feeling?"

  She didn't know how to label it. Most people didn't know about telepaths, so the whole 'psionic signature' stuff wouldn't mean anything to them.

  "It's weird. Some of us don't use it as easily as others and say something embarressing—most of us just keep it closed all the time."

  "It'll become second nature eventually. You won't even realize you're doing it—it just makes sense in that moment. If they seem outgoing you reach out, if they seem introverted you lay off, it's pretty much the same rules as always. Socially."

  Ophelia smirked like she was about to chuckle.

  "-What?" Selene smiled.

  "Nothing, it's just that... This isn't the kind of conversation you have with someone you just met."

  "That's probably just a quirk of my personality... I always try to cope like this. Trying to fix things that can't be really fixed because they just are. I know it's kind of toxic. Am I annoying? I'm annoying you. Sorry."

  Selene got up.

  Ophelia waved a hand. "No, you're fine! We can talk more if you want."

  "Uh, I would, but I can't... There's just so many people I have to talk to." She tucked her hands in her hoodie pockets awkwardly.

  "Oh. Okay..."

  Selene groaned inwardly—not all the hybrids reacted to her this way and it was refreshing. But it was important to hear the mean ones out too and not just play favorites.

  "See you later." Selene said with a half wave.

  "Bye."

  'Toughen up Selene' she told herself. This would likely become apart of her daily ritual, talking to people. All the time.

  Some of the elected representatives tried to talk to her, but she mostly ignored them or sent them away. They'd have time for that during their meeting.

  It was the non-formal stuff she wanted to handle today. It felt right. It was nice to have people around who related to being part-Zykra. Aging, sex, illness, it was all more optional for Zykra. Each of them could choose how exactly human did they wanted to be.

  It was nice to have other people to talk about that kind of stuff with.

  A few wanted to return to the Protectorate, start a new life there... That would be more difficult to accomplish. Maybe someday, she told them.

  As the sun set she said goodbye to the last few inquisitive hybrids and returned to the ex-resistance now Renovian battle-frigate parked near the colony to visit her family.

  Selene entered the room they were staying it, and the pressurized door closed behind her.

  A gray used-mop of a dog began to lap at her fingers them moment it did.

  She cooed and knelt down to pet him, jostling the sides of his face.

  "I missed you too Tywin. Where's mom an Camden?"

  He panted and followed behind her as she went to a bedroom door and opened it. It shuttered open quietly and quickly, as it was one of those flimsy lightweight doors.

  Inside a nightlight was on and her mom was lying in the bed holding Camden. She was asleep and Camden was reading the book out-loud.

  "I will dim...Nish, and go to, the west. She said. Now she was. Leaving middle urf. And the light, of her ring, was fading. But she turned, and looked to the land, she was leaving. And her tears, did not fall."

  "Hey." She said quietly, but energetically as she walked over. "Stay Tywin." The door shuttered closed again.

  He looked up at her tiredly, but still surprised.

  "Selene.." He said with a tiny voice.

  "I think your audience is sleeping."

  Their mom's eyes winced a bit. "No, em, I'm still listening hun."

  It made sense she had trouble staying awake, it was dad's book. And Selene's favorite.

  She got into the bed on the otherside of Camden and took the book, holding it in front of them.

  "..Selene?" Camden asked sleepily.

  "Yeah?"

  He rolled to his side and nestled into her.

  "Why didn't they just ride the eagles to the volcanoe?"

  "Because they're stupid." She flipped to another page, preparing to read. "The guy who wrote it says the eagles are too proud, or it was supposed to be hard, but I think he didn't think about it until after the book was finished. So I just chalk it up to Gandalf and the rest being kind of dumb."

  "They're not dumb... The guy who wrote it is dumb."

  She chuckled. "Hey you said it, not me."

  "What happens after?"

  "You forgot? Everyone kind of just went on with their lives. Frodo had to leave with the elves because he didn't fit in with the hobbits anymore."

  She started reading from where Camden left off after that.

  Behind the Chapter...

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