Omega was a miracle worker.

The filthy biohazard known as a prophet had been ‘guided’ to use their lay-over apartment to ‘clean’ herself. Then when that had not resulted in any apparent change Omega had offered to help show her how to actually get the scum off.

Aleph did not envy the poor cleaning staff.

She was pretty sure that washroom was never going to be the same.

That said at least Omega had something to occupy her time.

Aleph had declined being involved in cleaning what was apparently an invalid who did not understand proper hygiene.

Alone in their room

In the port.

With no money and just the meals provided in room by the authority while they waited for the Visitor to approve loading them aboard.

Aleph flopped onto the stiff rough linens of the bed and wondered how many colonists had lain there before her.

What had they thought? Not all of them left diaries, some had but most did not.

Thouse Aleph read were full of excitement, fear, hope, relief.

Many had gone with their families to start a new life in the early days.

Dozens of them shipping out in big berths, small communities of awake colonists and hundreds of thousands to a million stored ones.

A lot of engineers and life trained specialists in those groups.

And Aoria got Aleph, Omega and some kind of Idiot.

She flopped over face down into a pillow grabbed it on both ends to pulled around the sides of her head tight and started screaming.

She had gone through three years of punishing drills and borderline torture to meet up toe Omega’s standards.

Omega had gone through most of her life training to be able to lead this effort for her home land.

The Idiot prophet had apparently been left alone in a box for half a decade till she started jabbering something on the border of sense and then been coddled and served hand and foot for the next fifteen years because her soul was some kind of celebrity. Or something.

And apparently the authorities considered Quarti, Omega and Aleph equally deserving of the honor of forging the future of Terrans among the stars.

Actually Omega had been required to argue for Aleph joining the conscious crew. But Quarti got in just because of some bizzare poems that Aleph could not even fully parse that were written literally before the dawn of civilization?

And that was supposing that she could possibly be as old as everyone said she was. Just only recently Incarnated?

Aleph had dug into every piece of developmental spiritualism and developmental biology lecture she could find. Her spine burned with the resonance as she tried to reach souls alive and dead for input on the subject.

She poured things that she had never even thought about before through her head.

It had almost made her vomit. It was like trying to swallow her own stomach whole.

But it didn't give her a good reason for why Quarti should go conscious and awake like this.

Maybe it made an argument for her to go in storage in Aoria’s cache of crystals.

Not ALIVE and AWAKE!

Omega however even as lead of the expedition was not given the authority by the rest of the Aoria councils to refuse her. So her friend, her ingenious friend had already started on trying to make it less impossible to stand.

And was currently in the washroom with that sloppy mongrel trying to get basic hygiene across.

Aleph unclenched her pillow and rolled over, leaving a sopping snotty mess where her tears and screams had soiled it.

Breathing heavily.

She didn't feel any better. In fact all she felt was exhausted and unable to muster the excitement and joy that should have had her bouncing around the room waiting for summons to tour the habitat that would be their new home.

She and Omega had already gone over models, reconstructions and even walked through full scale replicas. But none of those would be THEIR Berth! The one they would ride into space and to the stars. Their third seemed to not even be fully aware that they were going anywhere but on a particularly long train trip.

This whole ‘thing’ with Quarti had left her listless and exhausted and angry.

She acted like this was going to be a fun respite and that she would be back on terra in a year or two!

Small blessings that the Visitor was apparently quibbling and being difficult in a uniquely new way.

Apparently the first two diplomats and representatives to deal with the sole crew member (They traveled in a starship by themselves?! How alien their minds must be) directly had quit immediately after the session.

Not just quit the posting, they had retired from their careers. Aleph heard rumors on the Aether that one of them had even been committed to a counsel and therapy center.

It was ominous but despite that the deals were progressing and all reports were that the Visitor was extremely amiable and friendly.

Maybe the stress of dealing with so much of the foreignness of the outsiders that was the Visitors had finally buckled those last two diplomats?

Aleph scoffed, she was made of tougher stuff than that.

She bet that Quarti would buckle into a dribbly scuzzy mess when they met the Visitor that was carrying them to their wonderous future in space.

“Okay... I think that just about was all of it. Who told you it was alright to grow that in your HAIR?!”

“No one-told of course, no one told anything... remembered proper like yeah? This is nice too though! Very soft and swooshsome! Much New, Such tech, Very Wow!”

Aleph groaned and looked over at the doorway of the washroom. Poor omega was... actually less splattered with filth they Aleph had feared.

Then again the sound of the shower had been less full of screams of dismay at precious dirt being scraped off then she expected too.

No sounds of struggle either.

And.

Oh my.

“Your hair...”

Omega gave a pained grin to aleph and shrugged.

Aleph looked back at the figure that was still recognizable as Quarti. It had the same face, the same slender build. But it was wearing actual clothes.

And the hair.

“My lovely locks are lickity split yah? It’s nice! Good paint job yah?”

Omega shook her head and laughed tiredly.

“Less paint, more stripping... I think we might need to order they declare that bath-tub either a wildlife preserve or a hazardous contamination site She had FOUR kinds of symbiotic ecologies in her HAIR”

Apparently Quarti’s Hair was actually black.

And straight.

And shining.

Aleph could only stare for a while before stating the only thing that these events could mean.

“You had things growing in your hair that made it bright yellow?”

She rolled over face first into another pillow and started screaming again.

It was not enough to drown out the sound of Quarti’s words.

“I thought pillow biting was like... Seventh base... when did that change?”

Aleph could not even.