Page 19 of Mazorium Buys a Human

It had been almost a full rotation that Mika had spent sleeping. I had woken her up several times to eat and drink though. She’dgroggily do as I requested, hold Nadia for a little while, then drift back to sleep.

I let Nadia remain in the nest with Mika until the infant started fussing, then I plucked her up and tended to her. I didn’t need much sleep and knew from experience that I could go for several rotations on only quick naps. Caring for Mika and Nadia wasn’t difficult.

Until now.

After the last time I tended to Mika, Nadia woke up and refused to go back to a calm state, even after accepting some milk. She’d been this way for half a mark and I was flummoxed on how to fix her.

“Should I try to sing as your dam does?” I asked the pup. Of course the only response I got was more crying. I tried to mimic Mika’s sounds and melody.

Nothing changed.

“I don’t blame you,” I admitted. “My voice doesn't sound anywhere near as lovely as your dam’s. She has a melodious voice, and if I keep going I’ll probably damage your sensitive ears.”

That gave me an idea. I walked to the control room and sat at the command chair. It didn’t take me long to find all the examples of singing available from my ship's unibase.

“Do you like Delorta birthing chants?” I asked. The music filled the room, but it was clear after only a few mircomarks that Nadia wasn’t interested.

I tried again with the next sample available. “What about a Hoquin harmony?”

Nadia wasn’t a fan.

“This one is a Hunga melody," I said, starting the next one in the queue. I shut it down after the first few notes. It didn’t matter if Nadia liked it, Hunga music was an assault on the earholes.

“I think that could be used as a torture method,” I grumbled. “In this instance, your continued displeasure is completely justified. I apologize profusely. Let’s move on to the Leemron selection.”

We went through every bit of music I had access to and Nadia didn’t like any of it.

“It’s too bad your species is so rare,” I muttered. “Otherwise I might have human samples to play for you.”

A brilliant thought occurred to me. “Next time your dam is awake, I’ll record her caring for you. Then I can play back her voice later!”

It was going to be a great help next time, but right then I was still faced with an upset pup and no strategy to pacify her.

Getting up, I walked out of the control room. Nadia didn’t seem to care if I was seated or standing, but moving made me feel better. My walking took me to the open doorway of the galley.

“I think we could both use a nice cup of tea,” I said, going to one of the units and ordering a double strength tlash tea. I was tired, but more than that, I was frustrated. I needed to solve the mystery of crying Nadia!

The reconstituter pinged and I picked up the cup and took a sip.

With a rattle, I spat it out. I’d forgotten I’d set the reconstituter to a low base temperature to make several meals for Mika. The tea was nothing but bitter, lukewarm sludge at this setting!

I moved to shove the cup back into the reconstituter when Nadia made a burbling sound.

Freezing with the cup halfway into the unit, I looked down at the tiny human. She’d stopped crying and was staring up at me with a fascinated expression.

“Was it the spitting?” I asked her. We stared at each other for several submarks before her face screwed up again and she letout another cry of deep unhappiness. I brought the cup to my lips and filled my mouth with the sludge and spit it out again all over a nearby wall.

She didn’t stop crying.

“So it wasn’t the spitting,” I said. “But something I did appeased you. We will figure this out!”

I mimicked everything I had done, keeping my eyes on Nadia as I moved. Because I knew it wasn’t the tea, I used an empty cup. I pretended to take a sip and remembered I sounded a rattle of surprise. No, it wasn’t the rattle either. In fact, the rattle made her more upset.

“You got louder,” I marveled as her cry echoed off the walls of the galley. “I’m impressed.”

Her face was turning an alarming shade of red. If this continued for much longer, I’d need to wake Mika for advice.

“What else did I do, cub?” I asked her, starting the motion again. Cup in the reconstituter. Tap the display menu. Wait for the ding. Pull the cup out. Sip from the cup. Spit out the tea with no rattle this time.