Page 21 of A Day as My Alien’s Pet

I glanced at them. "Since when do you use daycare?"

"Since Eli discovered that staying home unsupervised means they can dismantle the water filtration unit."

"Again?"

"Third time."

I considered that.

"Perhaps daycare is appropriate."

"Thank you, O'li. Your professional assessment means a great deal to me." Their dry tone made my secondary vocal chamber vibrate with amusement.

We worked through the remainder of the morning without interruption. Once the timing problem had been identified, the solution became relatively straightforward: shift the temperature transition by one phase, adjust humidity reduction beforehand, then reinforce the most vulnerable hybrids until new growth adapted. The weather team accepted the model more quickly than I'd anticipated.

By the time we broke for the midday meal, we had already begun a controlled simulation.

The facility dining chamber was one of the few spaces in the building designed for conversation. Wide tables curved around the room, positioned beneath artificial skylights that mimicked the spectrum of the first sun. The food dispensers recognized each worker by biomarker and prepared meals according to metabolic requirements.

I collected mine and joined Terosm at a table where two members of the weather team were already seated. Pluralis was there and they had a pet. I knew this because everyone who had ever worked with Pluralis knew they had a pet. They were always talking about her pet. How could they not? Our pets were the center of our universe.

"She has learned to open the cold-storage unit," Pluralis was saying as I approached. Veyr, seated opposite them, made a sympathetic harmonic sound.

"That seems inconvenient."

"She doesn't even take anything. She opens it, looks inside, closes it, then comes to find me."

"Humans are rarely committed to efficiency," I said, taking my seat.

Pluralis pointed one eating utensil at me. "Exactly. Thank you."

Terosm sat beside me. "Eli dismantled their filtration system again."

Pluralis brightened immediately. "Third time?"

"Third."

"We should start recording these incidents," Pluralis said, laughing.

"Why?" Terosm asked.

"For comparison, of course." Pluralis said. "Which of our pets is the greatest brat."

I laughed and began eating. "Lucca would win." Then, I considered my statement. "Perhaps not."

That earned a burst of harmonic laughter from the table. We did this frequently. Aconchians did not generally form the kind of social relationships humans did. We worked together easily enough, shared information, collaborated when necessary, but companionship for its own sake had never been a strong instinct in our species.

Pets had changed that in unexpected ways. Give five Aconchians a shared project and we would discuss the project. Give five Aconchians pets and, eventually, we would discuss the pets.

Veyr was the only one at the table without a human companion. They had been considering a license for nearly a year.

"I visited a placement center last week," they said.

Pluralis immediately leaned forward. "You didn't tell me."

"And?" I asked. It was always life-changing to get a pet.

Veyr's fingers tightened slightly around their cup. "There was a male who kept bringing me objects."