Empyrean Iris

Chapter 41

 "There is something I need to show you, Captain."

Captain Vir turned to look at the large blue figure standing by his side. The way the alien—Sunny—towered over him, once intimidating, was now little more than an inconvenience to his neck.

His mind was still reeling from earlier revelations, and he had whiplash at what they had gone through: an amazing adventure that had included gun fights, and a chase, and espionage, well botched espionage, but what was a good action adventure without getting caught just a little bit.

She had saved his life and he had saved hers a time or two, and now, he couldn't muster up the hatred that had come so easily to him not hours before. She had proven herself worthy of his trust with what she had done.

"Alright." He said, limping a few hesitant steps after her and up the hall.

Then there had been the revelation about her father that made him more than a little uncomfortable to think about.

He had killed him and that in itself left a horrible thrumming build in the pit of his stomach.

With something like that, he had honestly expected her to be mad at him, but the way she had delivered the story was so.... Stoic... so, nonchalant almost, that he was sure that she wasn't bluffing.

She really wasn't all that shocked or horrified by her father's death, though the sadness in her eyes proved that it had not gone without affecting her.

Hmm, since when did he claim to be able to see the sadness in an alien's eyes?

Halfway down the hall, his leg locked up and he grunted as he staggered to the side to lean against the wall of the corridor.

Sunny turned to look at him, her bright golden eyes appearing concerned.

He grimaced, "Helpless as a lamb." He laughed awkwardly, limping back to his good foot, "Like wearing a peg leg."

"Peg leg?" she wondered.

He shrugged, "Yeah, back in the day before we had fancy prosthetics, sometimes you would just get a piece of wood, stiff and straight, no bend. My first prosthetic was a bit like that, sort of just a bar of metal where my leg should be, you know."

She glanced down as if trying to imagine, "Your people were living without legs before you made robotics?'

He shrugged, "Oh yeah, all the time, if you managed to live through infection that is."

"How long has that been going on?"

"Well over two thousand years I would say."

Her eyes widened a little, "You have been replacing your limbs for thousands of years."

He nodded.

She shook her head in shock, "I guess that is the nice thing about human society. Where you Drev focus all of your energy on war, we focus our energy on many things, science, economics, sports, art. That leaves it open for people to be many things, and some of those things don't require you to be physically strong. There have been men and women in history who contributed to the world while paralyzed."

She tilted her head.

"That is when you have a spinal injury that doesn't allow you to use any of your limbs. Some of them couldn't even breathe on their own."

She stared wide eyed.

"In human society, there is a place for everyone, and since everyone can contribute, humanity has moved forward in trying to make life easy for everyone. Where, once upon a time I wouldn't be able to run or jump anymore, someone decided that it didn't have to be a hindrance if we had robotics."