Souvenirs From Dead Worlds

Upon further questioning Sam had been surprised to discover just how little Kias had understood about how he’d been brought to Sam’s world and just how many odd assumptions Kias had made. To help explain things a little better, Sam had taken Kias to the hanger to look at his shuttle. They couldn't go inside the shuttle because Sam wasn't on assignment, but showing him the outside of it up close had helped make explaining a little easier. By the end, though, he still wasn't sure Kias understood much of it.

The trip out to the hanger had also served the purpose of giving Sam some new words to teach Kias. Sam had already started teaching Kias the basics, like how to say hello and goodbye, yes and no, how to introduce himself and how to ask for food, drink, and to go to the bathroom. Now he was teaching Kias the names of a few things they hadn't had on Kias' world.

"That," Sam said, pointing to an aircraft the size of a very large building sitting some distance away outside of the hanger, "is the mothership."

Kias repeated the word to himself quietly a couple of times, and then asked, "What's it for?"

"A while back, we used to have cities on other worlds." Sam leant back against the hull of his shuttle, the cool metal a reassuring force against his back. "We don't anymore, but when we did, the motherships were used to transport people to them en masse. That one's been rusting out there for about fifteen years now."

Kias' eyes skimmed over the huge vessel, taking in the details that could be seen at this distance. "What happened to the cities?"

"The same thing that happened to your world."

"Could it happen here too?" Kias asked, suddenly looking worried.

"No," Sam assured him. "Hmm, how can I explain this... Okay, so there are invisible holes in worlds that people can travel through. Or, invisible until someone opens one up, anyway. That's how we got here, remember? It's also how the drones got into your world. This world is secure, though, because we've built... Well, think of them like doors. There were holes and we built doors in front of them so that we could keep them closed and locked when we weren't using them."

Kias frowned thoughtfully. "I think I actually understood that. A bit, anyway."

Sam grinned. "Maybe you learnt something from looking through my old physics books after all."

Kias' face scrunched up in confusion. "What's fizz-icks?"

"Nevermind."

#

"Want to watch a movie?" Sam asked after playing games on his tablet for hours at a time had started to get dull. Kias seemed to be far better at tolerating inactivity than Sam was, but Sam suspected Kias had tired of looking at the pictures in Sam's old textbooks long ago.

"I don't know what a movie is, Sam," Kias said tiredly without looking up from the textbook he couldn't even read. Sam had no idea what Kias thought the diagrams in it were supposed to represent.

"Um, the moving pictures." Sam pointed to the screen behind his bed. "On the television." Sam had taught Kias the word for television, along with the words for all the other electronics and appliances around the room.

Kias frowned at Sam. "That was creepy."

Sam sighed. "Well, yeah, now that I understand I can see that. Cuddling isn't a required part of movie watching, though."

Kias' mouth quirked up at the side. "Cuddles aren't creepy, Sam. You can have cuddles. But the, uh... movie, thing? Yeah, that's creepy. There are animals and they talk? For some reason?"

Sam couldn't help laughing. He hadn't really considered what it might seem like to Kias. Really, Sam had just been equating Kias to a small child, as like a child Kias was new to this world. Sam hadn't taken into account that Kias would already have a fully formed worldview of his own.

"I think I can find one without any talking animals."

"It's weird anyway," Kias said, but he abandoned the textbook and walked over to slump on the edge of Sam's mattress. "Moving pictures of things but they’re not alive or magic, it's just bizarre and complicated."

Sam shuffled over on the bed, making room for Kias. "I don't actually really understand how a television works either, you know," Sam said, and switched the television on. "It's just a matter of accepting that it can work and that it does work and then moving on, I think."

Kias was quiet as Sam browsed through the movies. "Sam?"

Sam made a sound of acknowledgement. No talking animals disqualified a shocking number of childrens’ movies. Maybe something with a historical setting instead? Kias might actually vaguely be able to get what was going on.

"Well, I know you said cuddles aren't a required part of movies..." Kias fell silent again until Sam gave him a questioning glance. "Could we, anyway?"

Sam tried to hold back a smile but couldn’t help it. "Okay, but as the person introducing you to our culture I should tell you that that's not really normal. Guys don't normally cuddle with other guys unless they're... Yeah, you know."

Kias rolled closer to Sam. "But we can anyway?"

Sam lifted his arm so the Kias could crawl up next to him. "Yeah, we can do it anyway. Who needs normal?"

#

Ever since Kias had found out that Sam did not, in fact, mean him any harm, the desire he felt for Sam had steadily grown. He had always found Sam attractive, but now that he no longer resented Sam he had no reason to be torn on whether or not that attraction should warrant any kind of response. He was definitely, without question, interested in Sam.

The problem was, Sam didn't seem to be interested in him. Kias hadn't wanted to be too obvious or pushy because even though Sam hadn't complained when that other man had kissed him it didn't mean Sam was attracted to men. And even if he was, that didn't mean he would necessarily have any interest in Kias.

Of course, it didn't help that Sam seemed to be completely oblivious to Kias' advances. Whether it was due to cultural differences or some kind of personal defect that kept Sam from understanding the motivations of others, Sam often seemed to have no idea what was going on in Kias' head. Sam seemed to think that when Kias tried to get close to him it was simply because he was a cuddler, and while that wasn't entirely untrue it certainly wasn't the only reason. He was worried, though, that if Sam knew what he truly wanted his cuddle supply would be cut off.

Sam liked movies, and while Kias mostly found them disturbing they did provide a good excuse for cuddling. It had gotten to the point that Sam didn't even question him when Kias curled in close to his body during movie time. He expected it. Because of this movies had become a bit of a routine for them, and a few days later they were watching another one. Or Sam was, anyway.

"You want to watch something else?" Sam asked. Kias released Sam's hand, having been playing with its fingers for the last little while, and looked up to find he had even less idea what was going on in the movie than he had before. The characters in the movie had been on a big boat, which now appeared to be sinking.

"This is fine," Kias said, but his attention drifted back to Sam's hand. Sam's hands were a good shape and size, his fingers slim enough to be dexterous but not twiggy or weak. He took care of his nails, keeping them filed short rather than chewing them down. They were nice hands.

"You're not even watching it," Sam pointed out.

"The boat is sinking," Kias said, though he clearly wasn't looking at the television screen.

"Really, we can watch something else if you like. I've seen this movie plenty of times anyway."

Kias sighed. "Do you care about whether I watch the movie or not, or do you care whether or not I'm content? Because you're right, I'm not watching the movie, but I am content. If you really want me to watch it, though, I will."

"Nah," Sam said, and drew Kias closer. "If my hands are more interesting than a movie, I guess I should be flattered."

"Mmhm," Kias hummed, and continued his examination. He wondered if Sam was ever going to take a hint.

#

It was a week before Sam was called before the council, and he wasn't sure if he would have preferred to put it off longer or if he'd rather just get it over with. He'd make his mind up about that, he decided, after he found out what the ruling had been.

Though Kias hadn't been happy about being left alone, Sam got the impression that had more to do with his concern for Sam than it did any lingering fear on his own part. Sam had told Kias that he may end up losing his job because he’d saved Kias. He hadn't told Kias about any of the legal issues, or that even if he was allowed to continue his job taking care of Kias would get in the way of him actually doing so. Sam just hoped he'd be allowed to stay on the compound even if he could no longer do his job. The compound was his home, and the people who lived there were his friends. Sam could find a less demanding job if he needed to.

Although the council consisted of ten members, only three of them were present to inform Sam of their ruling. Sam was glad of that. Sitting under the judgemental gaze of three council members was bad enough.

"I've already spoken to you, Sam," said the Marshal, "so I don't think we need to get into a discussion of what you did and why it was wrong."

Sam kept his gaze on the desk. "No, sir."

"This has been a particularly difficult ruling to make," the Marshal said. "All agreed that policies clearly state that you ought to lose your job. The only matter of contention was whether or not those policies ought to be enforced.

"As you know, we've lost several field agents recently. Maria died while on assignment several months ago, and afterwards her partner resigned. Cooper and Jay are on stress leave, and Lisa's taking time off for maternity leave. We cannot afford to lose another agent right now."

The Marshal leant forward, bracing his elbows on the desk. "Would you like your job back, Sam?"

The very thought of it made Sam's heart clench with relief. But... "Kias... I can't leave him."

"We thought that you could take him with you," said the council member to the Marshal's right.

"He's not trained," Sam said. All agents went through years of very intensive training to get their jobs. It wasn't at all easy and almost everybody dropped out. That it was so difficult was why they had so few agents.

"We feel he might be able to offer some helpful insight and assist you in your job despite his lack of training," the Marshal said.

"In other words, you're desperate," Sam concluded.

The Marshal smiled. "A little, but I don't necessarily think it's a terrible idea."

"I would be putting him in danger.”

"You would need his informed consent, so in truth he would be putting himself in danger," the Marshal reminded Sam.

Sam made a face, still not entirely convinced it was the right thing to do.

"Think about it," said the third council member. "Talk to him about it, and let us know what you decide."

#

Kias was pretty sure that Sam had lost his job. When Sam had returned he had been distracted and morose, and whenever Kias had asked what had happened Sam would tell him that they'd talk about it later.

At first Kias had decided it would be best to give Sam the space he wanted, but as the evening wore on and all Sam did was lay on his bed and stare at the ceiling, Kias realised he was going to have to be more proactive. It would be dinner time soon, after all, and Kias had yet to master meal preparation.

Kias went and stood next to Sam's bed, staring down at him. When Sam's only response was to give Kias a disinterested glance, Kias made a sound of annoyance and climbed onto the bed.

Kias leant over Sam and pinned his shoulder down with one hand. "Okay, talking time."

Sam's lips quirked up almost imperceptibly. "And if I don't?"

Kias grinned. "You wouldn't fight an injured boy."

"Hmm." Sam brushed Kias' hair away from where it was tickling his chin. "I don't know, you've healed up pretty well."

"Saaam." Kias frowned and shook Sam's shoulder slightly. "Please?"

Sam sighed and leant his head back. "I guess ultimately it's your choice anyway."

Now that Sam had started talking, Kias released his shoulder and flopped down at his side instead. Kias' rested his forehead against Sam's shoulder, one arm sprawled over Sam's chest. The solid heat of Sam’s body always comforted him.

"Basically, the issue is that either I need to give up my job, or we need to make doing my job and supporting you into compatible things." Sam took hold of the hand Kias had rested on his chest and idly played with the fingers. "But that should be up to you, you know? It's kind of a stressful and dangerous job."

Kias squeezed Sam's hand. "You want me to go with you?"

"Well, if you want, I mean. You don’t have to." Sam shuffled his arm out from where it was trapped between them and wrapped it around Kias. "I told you basically what my job involves. You'd be like... my apprentice. You'd travel with me to whatever world I'm visiting and assist me and I'd train you on the job."

"I want to," Kias murmured.

"It's okay to say no," Sam continued. "I mean it's pretty dangerous. We don't really know how long we'll get on a world before the drones come, and sometimes we only get a couple of minutes warning once they're there. And when your own world has been destroyed... I mean, it's not easy knowing that in the end, you're going to have to leave everyone to die. So if you don't want to... I understand, if you don't."

"Sam." Kias pushed himself up on his elbow so he could see Sam's face. "I want to."

Sam studied him skeptically. "Really?"

Kias huffed. "You think I'd rather stay here on a world I really don't belong in, trying to find a place, and probably being a useless burden for the rest of my life? You think because your job is scary or dangerous or sad, I'd rather stay here and do nothing? I'm tougher than you think, Sam."

Sam smiled and rubbed the back of Kias' head. "I'm starting to see that."

Kias shut his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Sam's fingers on his scalp. He flopped back down next to Sam. "You like touching me, don't you?"

Sam hand stilled on Kias' head before starting to withdraw. "Sorry? I thought you—"

"I do," Kias interrupted. "You just said it wasn't normal. If people like it, why isn't it normal?"

Sam returned his hand to rest on the back of Kias’ head. "Generally, if people want to get handsy with someone they get a lover. If you get all touchy feely with someone, there's usually the expectation of more."

"Ah." Kias nuzzled his face into Sam's side. "Then I don't know if I should be glad you're willing to be abnormal, or wish you were a bit more inclined to conform."

Kias didn't really know what he was doing, blatantly hitting on Sam right after Sam had just made him an offer that expressed a huge amount of trust. Sam had made it perfectly clear he wasn't interested in Kias touching him intimately, hadn't he? But when Sam let Kias press against him like he was, let Kias touch him and reciprocated touch, it made it very difficult not to want more.

"What do you want?" Sam asked cautiously after a long hesitation.

Kias mulled that over. "Can I kiss you?"

"Why?" Sam sounded utterly confused.

"Because I want to?" Kias sat up so that he could watch Sam's face. "It's not that complicated."

Sam made a face and turned his head away. "It would just feel weird, because you... I mean, we don't really talk about this, so I don't really know what happened. But I know in the past you've been, you know... hurt. So it seems like maybe a bad idea?"

It was ridiculous how bad Sam was at talking about this. Sam's bumbling awkwardness almost made it hard to be angry at him for the stupid thing he'd just said. Almost.

"Okay, so I've had a bunch of bad experiences with these things, so now I shouldn't get any good ones?" Kias glared at the side of Sam's head for several seconds before sighing and shaking his head.

If Sam simply wasn't interested, that was fine. Disappointing... but fine. But that he would refuse to do anything with Kias out of some kind of misplaced nobility? That was ridiculous and unfair. It wasn't as though Kias had never had willing sex before. He had. A few times before he'd been taken off the streets, and then several more times after with the other boys, when nobody had been looking. And now Sam saw him as this poor damaged thing that shouldn't ever be touched? Fuck that, and fuck him.

Kias tried to shove away, but Sam caught his arm at the last moment and dragged Kias back down next to him.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Sam told him. "I just wouldn't want to take advantage of you like that. I don't want to be an asshole."

Kias glared at him. "Well, you're being one."

Sam let out a frustrated sigh and bit his lip. "You can kiss me if you want to."

Kias shoved Sam away and headed back towards his own bed. "When you want me to, let me know."

#

Kias had at least started acknowledging Sam again after Sam had made him stir fry for dinner, but things were still tense between them. Honestly, before they'd spoken Sam hadn't even considered that Kias might be interested. Sam had just assumed Kias was a cuddly kind of guy, and he had found he kind of liked that. Sam had been unbelievably naive, he realised, to have assumed a rape victim could never actually desire anything sexual.

The fact was, though, that Kias was not the boy Sam had thought he was when they'd first met. Kias was far more than just a victim, and it had been insulting for Sam to reduce him to that.

And, well... Sam couldn't honestly say that he'd never had impure thoughts about Kias, could he? He'd spent plenty of time feeling guilty about them. To be allowed to act on them, and for his actions to be welcomed, definitely didn't sound unappealing.

Sam was just worried that he'd mess up again. He'd already messed up so much with Kias, and the thought of accidentally doing something wrong in that arena and upsetting Kias... It was a difficult situation, that was for sure.

Sam's internal debate was interrupted by the buzzing of his communicator.

#

Apparently the council had reached their decision when they had for a reason, and once Sam had confirmed that Kias had agreed to work with him they’d been assigned a new job. They only had a couple of days to prepare, which was far from ideal, but as they never knew when the drones would come there was no time to waste.

Sam didn’t mind, though. Kias had almost recovered from his injury and he and Sam had been doing little more than languishing in their room, so Sam was looking forward to getting out and getting something done. Kias had seemed nervous when Sam had told him about it, but it was an excited nervous.

"Okay," Kias said, "there's one thing I don't get. If nobody here has ever been to these places before, how do we know anything about them?" Kias was examining the shirt which would be part of the initial outfit he'd wear when they arrived. He and Sam had been left in a side room to get changed before the final steps were taken to prepare for their departure.

Sam screwed up his face, trying to think of a way to explain such advanced technology to someone who didn't even understand electricity. "Well, there are these little machines, and they look like flies. We send them into crowded places in the city we choose and they watch and listen. After a week, they come back and we collect the information from them."

Kias gave Sam a blank stare. "You get your information from insect spies."

Sam grinned. "Yup. My little spies, they come and whisper to me, tell me how to speak the language."

Sam laughed at Kias' incredulous look. "How do you think I know your language? I didn't exactly spend years and years living amongst your people. I was there two weeks."

"You can talk to insects, and they told you how to speak my language?" Kias shook his head sadly at Sam. "This isn't even the weirdest thing I've encountered in your culture."

"I have a thing in my head, it's like a..." Sam paused to think. How could he explain the implant in his head that helped him learn new languages to someone who didn't even understand the basics of computers? "It helps me understand what the insects tell us about language, and it helps me remember it all."

Kias made a face. "That's creepy, Sam. In more than one way."

"Hush." Sam patted him on the head. "Put on your page boy outfit."

#

Sam had, initially, been against their assigned roles. Sam had been assigned the ever useful son of a wealthy merchant role, as he usually was, and Kias was playing the role of Sam's servant. There weren't many relationships which would make sense for them, as they were quite blatantly unrelated and Kias, though he was eighteen, would be too young to pass as a business partner.

Besides, as Kias wouldn't be able to speak the language a role where he was expected to remain quiet was ideal. Even so, considering how things had started out between he and Kias, having Kias in a role subservient to him bothered Sam. But, as Kias hadn't objected to the idea, Sam went along with it.

Sam liked the wealthy merchant role because he got to wear clothes that weren't too obnoxiously itchy and because he was able to buy culturally meaningful items rather than having to steal them. Well, most of the time. Other times there were things Sam wanted that money couldn't buy, and that meant stealing someone's priceless cultural artefact. Sadly, they wouldn't have long to miss it.

Kias wasn't so lucky on the itchy fabric front, his clothing being made of wool while Sam wore fine silk. Though Kias didn't seem to be particularly bothered by it, Sam vowed to buy him something nicer when they arrived, roles be damned. Another benefit of any role in which Sam was supposed to be wealthy was that as long as he had money, people tended to let him do as he damn well pleased. That seemed to be a constant among all societies, regardless of development level.

While Sam was more inclined to take his shirt off and replace it with the one from his outfit, and then do the same with his pants and shoes, Kias chose instead to strip down completely before even beginning to muddle out his new clothes. Sam tried very, very hard to keep his eyes where they were meant to be, which really was pretty much anywhere but on Kias' ass. It really was a valiant struggle, though one he was doomed to fail. When Kias caught Sam's eye and grinned, Sam realised Kias knew exactly what he was doing.

#

"Ready, Sam?" asked Charlie, one of the techs, as Sam and Kias entered the preparation room.

"Ah." Sam hadn't really considered where Kias would factor into the next step. It would probably be better if he was just out of the way. "You might want to leave the room for a few minutes," Sam told Kias.

Kias looked immediately suspicious. "Why?"

"Well, it's just that it'll probably be kind of scary." At Kias' scowl, Sam hurried to explain. "What I told you before, about the insects telling me the language stuff. It kind of hurts when it happens, and it'll probably look kind of distressing."

Kias scoffed. "So I should just leave you alone to be in pain because it might look distressing to me?" He gave Sam a reassuring smile. "If we're going to work together, I can't be stepping out every time things get scary."

Sam couldn't help but feel proud of Kias' determination to perform his new role properly, and he decided not to insult Kias by further questioning his fortitude.

"Okay, well first I have to sit over here." Sam went and sat on the floor in the centre of the room. "Then they'll do some things over there, and I'll hear all the things the insects have learnt about the language, and it'll hurt for a bit, and then it'll be over."

Kias nodded, and then tentatively asked. "What if I go over there too?"

Sam shrugged. "You don't have the thing to understand the insects, so nothing would happen to you."

In truth, he was carrying the whole insect thing a bit far. It was the complex details of the language which would be transferred to Sam, but that information had already been extracted from the spy robots and would be wirelessly transmitted to Sam where he sat on the floor of the room. Sam figured Kias would understand talking insects better than wireless data transmission, though.

Kias walked over to Sam and sat down in front of him. Taking Sam's hands in his own, Kias gave Sam a challenging look. Sam was sure this was a bad idea, but he didn't feel like arguing with Kias about it. Sam nodded at Charlie.

It started as a high pitched buzzing in Sam's head, more annoying than anything else, but quickly intensified until it was almost painfully loud. After that Sam's thoughts began to disintegrate, shattering each time he tried to catch hold of them as random words and phrases in a foreign language darted in and out of his mind. The vague idea that he shouldn't be squeezing his hands quite so hard entered his mind for a second before being pushed out again.

Sam's head hurt badly, and he was fairly sure he ought to know why but he couldn't quite manage to drag his thoughts together. He felt sweaty, though, and he was panting heavily. Was he sick? Did he have a fever? He was much too hot. He was slumped forward, his body exhausted, but something was holding him up. Someone. The pain in Sam's head was starting to clear, but his thoughts were still a mess. Sam tried to open his eyes and got a blurred close up of long, wavy, fair hair. Kias. The light hurt Sam’s eyes, so he shut them.

He must have fallen asleep with Kias holding him, Sam concluded. Sam had the vague idea this was odd, though. Had they been fighting? Sam hazily recalled Kias being cross over Sam not kissing him. Had Sam said sorry?

Sam tried to murmur an apology, but it came out garbled. He couldn't seem to get his voice to work right. Sam felt Kias pull away slightly and cracked his eyes open just enough to get an out of focus glimpse of Kias' face.

"Sam?" Kias' voice was too loud. It echoed in his head and made his brain hurt.

Sam couldn't seem to get his vocal chords to cooperate, but he wanted to say sorry, to tell Kias that he'd been an idiot because of course Sam wanted to kiss him. Kias was handsome and brave and so strong and of course, of course Sam wanted to kiss him.

But Sam couldn't tell Kias, so he showed him.

#

Sam had stopped shaking and making pained noises, but he still hadn’t seemed quite right to Kias. When Sam had tried to speak he'd sounded like a drunk one drink away from passing out. Kias had released Sam from his embrace and leant back to look at him properly. Sam had squinted at the light as though it hurt his eyes, and without Kias' body supporting him had swayed slightly where he sat.

It came as something of a surprise, therefore, when Sam launched himself at Kias. For a moment Kias thought he was being attacked, but then he felt Sam's lips on his. Well, more or less on his. Sam was having a bit of trouble with his aim and had ended up kissing only half of Kias' mouth, but the intention was nonetheless clear. Kias gave up on supporting Sam's weight and allowed himself to be pushed onto his back on the hard floor.

Under other circumstances, having Sam lying on top of him, kissing him, would have been exactly Kias' idea of a good time. This, though... Sam was blatantly out of it. Still, if this was the only kiss he would be getting from Sam, he thought he may as well steal a proper one. Kias held Sam's head still, aligned their lips properly, and kissed Sam deeply for a moment before gathering his strength and shoving Sam off.

A few seconds later Sam gagged and choked, spewing up the eggs they’d had for breakfast onto the floor. Kias' patted him on the back sympathetically. Yeah, this was sadly reminiscent of trying to get off with a drunkard. Kias glared at the man on the other side of the room who was staring at them with open shock. Sam flopped down onto his back, groaning dramatically.

#

Sam wasn't altogether sure what was going on just yet, but he was pretty sure he'd just made an embarrassing attempt at kissing Kias in front of Charlie. Sam was tired. Maybe he could just take a nap on the floor for a little while?

Someone was saying his name, and it wasn't Kias. Charlie? Sam just wanted to sleep, but Charlie was insistent.

"Sam," Charlie repeated. "Do you need a doctor?"

This wasn't normal for him, Sam acknowledged to himself, and Charlie, having helped him many times before, knew that. It was different for everyone, but for Sam it had always just consisted of intense pain followed by a short period of mild disorientation and dizziness. Sam estimated that several minutes had gone by since the pain had stopped, but he could still barely keep his thoughts in order.

"Sam," Charlie said again, and Sam swatted at him vaguely until he quietened.

"Mmyeah," Sam said, letting his arm flop back down to the ground. "I'm fine."

"Do you know where you are?" Charlie asked, and the edge of panic in his voice grated on Sam. He was going to make Kias nervous. Or more nervous. Sam had probably done plenty to get the nervousness started.

"On the floor." Sam waved his hand around until it came into contact with Kias, then grabbed a handful of Kias' shirt and tugged. "Help me up."

"Sam?" Kias said, but didn't obey.

Sam tugged on Kias' shirt more firmly. "Help me uuup."

"Um, Sam," Charlie said awkwardly. "Wrong language."

"Ah." Sam attempted the mental switch to Kias' language and discovered that it wasn't as easy as it had been before. Where before there had only been Kias' language, there was now also the new language which had been uploaded into his chip. So that was why it had hurt more than usual. Data in the chip had had to be shuffled around to provide room. Usually each language would be deleted from his chip after the assignment was over, but as he planned on keeping Kias' language permanently it looked like he'd have more intense data transfers to look forward to in the future.

It took several long seconds of concentration to muddle out the words he needed. "Help me up, Kias?"

Had Sam known this particular language upload was going to be so intense, he would have waited until after it was over and he'd had a shower to put on his new outfit. He'd at least managed to avoid getting any puke on it, but the blue silk shirt he was wearing clung to his sweaty body uncomfortably. Kias helped Sam into the bathroom that connected to the data upload room.

Sam rinsed his mouth out, washing out the taste of stomach acid, and splashed water on his face. That was about the best he could do just then without wasting a lot of time they didn't have. Slowly he began to sort his mind back into order and pull himself together.

"Sorry about that," he told Kias, the words easier to find this time. "I suppose when you said you wanted to kiss me, that wasn't what you'd had in mind."

Kias' reflection in the mirror above the sink gave Sam a cautious smile. "Are you okay now?"

Sam nodded and rubbed the water on his damp face away from his eyes. "Yeah, sorry. It's really not usually that bad." Sam decided it would be better not to tell Kias why it had been worse this time.

"As long as you're okay."

By the time they got to the shuttle, Sam was feeling much better. It was good to be inside her again, which... okay, sounded really wrong in his head, but whatever. It was true. Kias didn't look so certain, but considering what he'd been through the last time he'd been in her, Sam didn't blame him. Hopefully things wouldn't be quite so exciting this time.

"Okay, so we never really know how long we'll end up staying somewhere," Sam said as he buckled Kias into his seat. "Shortest I ever had was two days. Longest was a bit over three months." Buckles done up, Sam patted Kias on the chest and headed over to his own seat. "The communications we intercept only tell us that the bad guys have the intention to slaughter the inhabitants of a world, not when they'll do it."

"I still don't get why they go and kill everyone. What do they gain from it?" Kias undid one of the buckles and did it up again, testing its functionality.

Sam did the last of his buckles up. "Eh... It's pretty much what people have always done. They want some land, so they kill the inhabitants and take it. Kind of just on a broader scale, with spectacularly unfair odds."

Kias was quiet for a moment, and then, "Can't you stop them?"

"Noooo," Sam said as he pressed the initiation button on the console. "We weren't even able to defend our own colonies. Their civilisation is far more advanced than ours.”

"I'm glad we can at least make a record to remember them by, then." Kias gripped the armrests of the chair, white knuckled, as the shuttle began to lift off the ground. "Even if their society is probably as terrible at the core of things as mine was."

Sam grinned, the feeling of the shuttle vibrating gently beneath him as he began to fly her out of the hanger exhilarating him. "Well, I had to wear itchy clothes and boots that rubbed on your world, so I'm probably a bit biased against it." And the whole institutionalised rape of teenage boys thing, Sam thought but didn't say. "Ready?" Sam asked as they approached the portal.

Kias nodded his head firmly, but his knuckles stayed white where he gripped the chair.