3 months Earlier

"Have you considered joining the rest of your clan? A lot of them have seen some real improvements."

Sitting across the desk from him, the pearl Drev did not look up. She rested her good lower arm, on her twisted knee, "Dr. Krill thinks he can loosen the tendons in your arm, and even realign your leg. You could wear a brace like your brother."

Dzara didn't look up, "I... will not stop the rest of my clan from.... From taking those opportunities, but I do not wish to accept them myself.:

"Your decisions are always yours, but I think it would be helpful for you to hear your own reasoning. Why don't you want to do this?"

She sighed, shifting in the chair which was generally too small for most Drev, but what the perfect size for her, "This has been my life and my purpose for so many years that I'm.... not sure what I would be without it. If I am ever to.... Give this up, I want to make sure I have a personality before I do."

She looked away.

Dr. Riss sat back in his chair.

Across the room His companion, Dr Adric was busy typing away at his computer. They did not bother exchanging a look.

"have you had any luck?"

"Not yet.... I can't participate in many of their.... Activities."

Riss tilted his head, "really, there seem to be plenty of activities you would be good at.

"My leg...."

"Perhaps you need to stop focusing on the physical activities they involve themselves in. How about Videogames, I find that they are a great way for you to project yourself into someone who has abilities that you do not. I have enjoyed the games that I have played. Or literature, I have never see a race with so much literature. I feel like there is something for everyone. Or perhaps you could learn how to play chess." He looked across the desk at the Drev, who despite being usually very assertive in nature, now seemed so very small approaching the edges of her comfort zone.

"I don't mean to force any of this on you, at the end of the day these are just ideas to give you a direction of where you might want to go. I suggest human hobbies of course because all of them only tend to require two hands." He tried to sound reassuring, gentle, but at the same time nonchalant.

Dzara did not respond well to commands, not like most Drev anyway.

She was more like her brother than she was like her sister.

Not that he had any experience with Sunny.

She was just like Adam in that both of them tended to avoid the psych section of the ship if at all possible.

Dr. Adric was planning on changing that soon, but it would take some time.

"Just think about what we talked about, and give yourself some time. Have patience. With a personality like yours, you will make it work."

She stood on her bad leg and nodded to him, limping slowly towards the door through which she had vanished.

Riss sighed.

"That one is going to take a while."

"Most of them take a while, to be fair."

Dr adric grunted.

Riss leaned back in his seat.

"Have you talked to Krill."

"Not yet.... How do you approach someone about that?"

"Since it's krill we are talking about, I would suggest approaching him logically."

Riss shifted, "Well obviously, but I just don't want it to be.... Awkward."

Dr adric snorted, "It didn't take long for us humans to get to you. Since when did Vrul worry about being awkward."

Riss nodded, yes the humanization phenomena had taken him fast. Where Krill had gained human anger, Riss had just ended up with their ability to feel embarrassment, "I should probably just get it over with."

"You probably should."

Riss sat there for another silent ten minutes before standing and stepping out floating down the hallway and past groups of humans who waved him as he floated by. He saw plenty of people he was becoming familiar with.

Thomas

Kanan

Yeb

Simon

And others, all going about their daily tasks none of them having the slightest clue what Riss's mission was. Riss almost wished that the walk to Krill's office was longer as he would have had more time to collect himself, but the ship was only so large, and Krill's office was not nearly far away enough. He paused outside the door almost balking and turning away before forcing himself to raise a hand and knock.

The door slid open easily on command from the occupant, and Riss floated into Dr . krill's office.

He would have assumed Dr Krill to be the kind not to decorate his personal space, but it seemed that that particular human habit had also managed to find purchase with the doctor. The walls were decorated primarily by large shelves covered by climate controlled sliding glass cases. Inside he had plenty of large printed medical volumes, and even a few copies of his published articles. Picture lined the walls, primarily images of alien landscapes, some in small sizes and others in large prints. There were a few, however, of him with various members of the crew, him and the admiral, him and Dr. Katie.

There were a few commendations as well as his medical license right next to his board certification from earth allowing him to practice there as well.

Spaced between all that was a collection of human mind games and puzzles. He had a colorful collection rubix cubes in different sizes, more puzzle boxes, regular puzzles, and a stack of crossword, sudoku, and word search booklets stacked almost taller than he was.

At that point it was almost surprising to find a Vrul sitting in the middle of it, studiously working away at his computer.

Krill stopped to look at him over the top of his desk prismatic orange eyes surprisingly still for a vrul. His antenna remained primarily dormant, speaking only vocally, which threw Riss off as particularly odd. When he moved, he moved with the mannerisms of a human trapped in an alien body, leaning forward on his elbows against his desk, sometimes using two of his arms in synchronization like one arm.

He did not bother to float.

"Dr riss, I was not expecting your visit. Please, sit."

Even his speaking voice was.... Unusually un Vrul, carrying with it a certain cadence, which Riss was sure no other Vrul possessed."

He stepped up to the desk, inflating his helium sack instead of sitting, resting one of his hands against the desk.

"The Vrul council."

Krill stared at him, that same steady gaze, unusual and disconcerting in its intensity.

"What about them?"

"With everything going on, no one has had time to talk about them, about what they are doing, about how wrong it is. I know that you can see it, and I know that everyone else on the ship sees it. What confuses me is why no one is doing anything about it. Based on what I know of humans, the behavior of the Vrul council must bother them terribly, and they tend to get in everyone else's business, so why is it that none of you have done anything."

Krill leaned back in his seat pressing the tips of his digits together like a human might steeple their fingers, "Primarily.... Politics. To cause issues with the Vrul would be to set a precedent none of us can afford to deal with. If you know anything about human psychology, which I have no doubt you are knowing more than me, you will understand they are as violent as the drev as bureaucratic as the Rundi. They can't afford the trouble it would cause. Our only real hope is to encourage a revolution which, lets be honest, is unlikely with our species."

Riss sighed, "yes, I have been thinking about that, of course, and I know you are probably right, but there is one thing I have been thinking of. What is the one thing our species has always focused on."

"Survival."

It was not a question. It was a statement of fact.

"Exactly, so if we could prove to them that the council's way of doing things was inferior to a different way of survival, than perhaps we might be able to start something."

"Go on."

" Incubation."

Krill Tilted his head, the muscles in his face adjusting to seem as if he was raising an eyebrow even without having eyebrows, "Incubation?"

"yes, I know this is more your area of expertise, but I have been looking into the incubation of vrul eggs and it seems to me that.... That it is very odd that the council cannot just make everyone Alphas. The science is there. Why incubate the eggs in such an unstable enviornment unless you are specifically TRYING to create gammas and Betas, Why not incubate the eggs in separate climate controlled chambers , monitor every moment. My theory is that they don't WANT alphas because they become a problem. Look at you and me for instance, both of us alphas and both of us causing problems for them. Betas are great because while they are smart, they don't think outside set rules, the set rules that the council provides for them."

Krill paused and Riss waited, "That is true, the way the hatcheries work is.... Not optimized."

"And why would they do that if not to strictly control the population. Make sure that there are more Deltas and Gammas and Betas than there are Alphas."

"It makes sese, almost obviously so, but hardly something we would be able to prove."

Riss felt his antae tingle a little bit, that embarrassment creeping up on him.

"couldn't we?"

Krill tilted his head again, "I am not following your proposal."

"Think. We have access to eggs. We could easily prove that the council has been lying, show that there is a better way."

"Access to eggs, even if we did we would need fertilized..... "He paused, sat back in his chair again, "Oh."

Riss made a throat clearing noise despite having no reason to make it and awkwardly looked away, "You understand that we have an opportunity to free our species from the rule of dictators, not to mention that this experiment would quickly provide the ship with fast learning, quick witted crewmembers in whatever field we needed."

"You're trying to logic me into the idea."

Riss paused.

"No need, I can logic myself in or out." He looked Riss over with a critical expression, "you understand this proposal is highly unorthodox. It has never been done before and there is a high likelihood that it won' even work."

"Rally? You think you can't keep a few eggs alive?"

Dr Krill looked almost indignant, pausing when he realized how he felt, "Well, I suppose you are right."

Riss Cleared his throat again, "I understand you don't have the available time for.... Eggs."

"No, you would be right, my duties have never given me that time."

Riss held up a hand, "If I were to take that time, would you be willing to help me with the rest."

The doctor turned in his seat looking out the small viewing window onto the mosaic of stars and light behind him in the inky blackness, "I find it highly amusing." He said after a moment, "In a human context you have simply barged into my office ad asked me to do..... this." He laughed antenna buzzing slightly.

"That isn't a yes or no."

Another long pause.

"It is a Yes." He turned back to his work, "I will help you." He tilted his head as if to look Riss up and down, "There are far worse options than you."

Despite the offhandedness of the statement, Riss was surprised to find that he felt, somewhat flattered by the doctor's statement, and quickly stepped out before the moment could turn awkward.

He had what he needed.

Agreement

Hopefully this wouldn't end in disaster.