Aleph almost regretted that she was going to space.

It was a fleeting thing. Brought on by traitorous aching muscles and a stomach that would really like to not be dropped off the cliffs over a dozen times before breakfast.

That was Omega’s idea.

According to her most of their trip was going to be in free fall. With sudden lurches that will feel like gravity. So Aleph needed to get used to that according to Omega. So she got to go into a sealed capsule attached to a cable and dropped off a cliff.

Then she got to help omega crank the thing back up to the top.

Over and over and over again.

The first time she had thrown up.

And the third time.

And the time after that.

The fifth time she actually threw up from exhaustion trying to turn the crank.

Aoria did not have fancy flying machines, or electro rail lifters. But it did have an enormous bounty of extremely tall sheer cliffs. And Omega wise teacher that she was apparently had decided to use the riches of home to help train her ‘space cadet’ in the ways of free fall adaptation. So more than a dozen drops before breakfast. From varying heights so Aleph couldn't get used to the time between falling and the stretch of the chord braking her so she did not splatter like a egg on the rocks below.

“Hey sweet! Yo aleph! You didn't throw up once this whole batch! Lets go get breakfast!”

“Uergh?”

“Aw come on you need to shake off those wobbles, Up with ya! I’m hungry!”

Omega had been trained in the academy for this. She was one of the best Mediums in at least this quarter of the plate, maybe all of Terra! Aleph was one of Omega’s best friends who she had wanted to join her to the STARS!

Aleph had to remind herself of these things in the tumult right after a ‘acclimation session’.

“So after breakfast I’m thinking we need to check on your composure, so we will do the re-assembly drill with a surprise!”

“Is it really... Urk... Really a surprise if you tell me?”

“Of course, you’re not even going to see this one coming! Even if I told you what it is!”

Her feet didn't feel right, everything wobbled. Her balance was shot, She swore at times like these that she could feel the tumbling of Terra beneath her feet. She collapsed sideways onto the cushion at the table for the fast breaking. Then slowly pulled herself upright and tried to work up the appetite for her meal against the flip flopping of her stomach and the swaying horizontal.

“You, you went through all of this yourself?”

“More... I haven’t even figured out how we are going to get a centrifuge working out here... Might have to actually call up a friend from university to see if we can visit to use theirs, I’m sure they aren't using it much since we’re the last ones on the ticket of the colonial fund”

“Isin’t... Urk... isn't the point of you learning all of that so that I don’t have too?”

“Naw! If everything had worked out properly Aoria would have shared a berth complex with two or three other nations... I’d have four or five other people to be my backups minima. But we kept getting shoved to the bottom of the list because cargo space was not available on one ship, or extra came through on another but only if we shipped in bulk. Or some such... So we are actually short on hands, I promised to train you up to be my backup as well as my plus one! Halved the quibbling from the oversight board!”

Omega let the smile drift to something more solemn and she fixed Aleph with a calm in her tone that sometimes fell over her. When she actually looked as old as her soul was.

“We are going to be running on slim margins even with the two of us, if something happens to me you are gonna be one of the last hopes for the Aoria colony effort. The visitors will follow the contracts... It’s something they take very seriously apparently”

Aleph felt the queasiness of the early training fade as she leaned in to listen. Omega’s voice could get distant and so full of memory sometimes.

“The videos and the telelogues... The lectures... supposedly ships have gone to war over those contracts, Like rain down fire from the sky war, They war on each other over it”

Aleph stared as the darkness passed and the smile returned to Omega’s features bright, cheerful and carefree.

“So we put some of our best lawyers and diplomats and translators on writing those contracts... covering every contingency they can think of... but well the visitors are all DIFFERENT. Each one is its own crew of aliens. The ships are sometimes alive, sometimes big giant machines that look like cathedrals... They sometimes don’t even show up to greet us, just send aether codes and direct us with flashing lights to load things up.”

She laughed and the voice was confident and boisterous again. Not a hint of sombreness just wonder and curiosity at all that was left unseen from each traveler that had come and taken on the colonists past as cargo.

“That’s what me and if we can manage it in the next few years, you are going to be there for”

Aleph blinked and shook her head a little reaching down to a slice of fruit to bite it, it seemed like the little story had settled her stomach.

“Wait what do you mean? I thought you just said the contract is perfect! That the visitors go to war over ensuring their followed! So we can trust the visitors”

Omega laughed and waggled a finger in her face.

“No I said we put our very best on writing that contract, but that’s just it we only could do OUR best, and I just said every single visitor has been different, has been alien and strange and unique... Think about it Aleph the first visitor was Fifty years ago! The colony efforts been going since before I was born! And we’ve been seeing them and loading their ships with colonists since then!”

Aleph tilted her head and chewed a little bit.

“So...?”

“So... we’ve had to update and add things to the contract with some visitors. Basic things we never even realized were important... We have discovered assumptions with them over and over that don’t even register... We’ve dealt with two-three visitor ships a year for the colony effort! Once even six ships a year! For over FORTY years and NOT ONE has had crew that were the same”

Aleph blinked and tilted her head. Omega smirked in that mischievous way that suggested she had Aleph in a trap that was going to make her feel stupid. But finally she just slumped and muttered

“I don’t get it Omega, What’s the point?”

“Here let me give you an example: What is one thing that you figure wouldn't need to be said explicitly in the contract as a stipulation?”

“Uh...the colonists need to arrive at the colony safely? Like we already are paying for them to take the colonists there so it does not need to be stated?”

Omega’s teeth glittered in a grin and she laughed sadly.

“One of the visitors was going to start a forced breeding program on their ship and deliver the same NUMBER of colonists that boarded on arrival at the colony, but not the exact ones, they didn't see how this would be different and several diplomats had to go over it in exacting detail before they apologized for the misunderstanding and then refused to take it on as it was not in their interests. They apologized for the misunderstanding and gave us the schematics and formula for some of the metals now used in the port and some high tech industry in exchange for their fuel and docking time”

Aleph’s heart skipped a beat and she swallowed.

“The visitor was just going to keep them?! And force them to breed... ? then deliver their CHILDREN to the colony? And didn't find anything WRONG with this?! They thought this is what we asked them to do?! THey?! WHO THINKS LIKE THAT?”

Omega nodded and shrugged.

“The visitors are ALIEN Aleph. Every single one of them, and each one is going to be a new kind of alien, Even ones we’re pretty sure are the same species as earlier visitors are completely different, sometimes more so then examples we KNOW are barely even the same fundamental kind of life, We do our best but every batch of colonists needs to be able to support itself during the journey in as many ways as possible. And that is what you and me are going to be for. And as ambassadors to smooth over any hiccups or interpretation issues”

Aleph looked down at her breakfast and sighed before mechanically taking another bite and chewing.

“So we are going up there to keep everyone safe from some monster trying to just... keep them in slavery and auction off their kids? Make sure there isn't a misunderstanding that means something can just eat one if they feel peckish? What if there is a misunderstanding? What do we do?”

Omega gave a laugh and looked up at the roof of the little woven roofing of her ‘home’.

“They didn't like telling us this in the academy. But we all came to realize it on our own. I expect we will make a good effort to try and clarify any misunderstandings but if the Visitors transporting us really want to go against the contract we and all the colonists in storage will be totally at their mercy... We could all end up dead or worse. They can build starships Aleph, They can build starships the size of cities, we can hardly comprehend what their capabilities are. All we can do is be thankful they are so civil, and that they think there is room for us out there with them.”

Aleph shivered again and this time didn't have the stomach to finish breakfast. She pushed away the plate to indicate she was done.

“Worse than death... ?”

Aleph could barely comprehend how awful dying would be, let alone something worse. But Omega just smiled sadly.

“Worse than DEATH. At least according to the records the visitors gave us... A lot worse.”

Omega laughed again, brave as can be, like they didn't just go over how horribly dangerous their mission was. Aleph shook herself off. Right her friend had gone over every detail of this mission for most of her life, trained to be there and was still going, she couldn't let the risks scare her off! Leave Omega all alone up there with strangers in this!

“Right so let's try out that drill! I’m ready for your surprise!”

Omega just laughed.

“No you’re not, but it’s fine! Lets go!”

...

Aleph didn't quite know what Omega did after saying that, but the next moment she woke up with a headache, in the dark, covered in SOMETHING crawling all over her! She could feel rising panic. Breathing shallow sharp muggy breaths. Omega’s voice over the aether filled her with dread.

“This time you are going to try to repair the module blind, with a limited air supply covered in spiders. Their not LETHAL but they sting like a whip... you have a few minutes of air in there, so better get started fast!”

Once again Aleph wondered if going to space was worth it. But then she remembered how her friends face went from haunted to determined. She thought of all the souls who were going up there under storage with only three awake protectors against the unknown.

If she could help it she would help protect them! She got to work trying to re-assemble the air scrubber module blind, covered in spiders, with the air going bad around her.

Omega surely had a safety measure if she failed.

Right?