After a few minutes to breathe, Aurora stood and grabbed the tablet. It didn't take long to find the program he'd seen her use before. In minutes she had a diagram of several components sketched out, and left it on his desk.
"What's that for?", James asked.
She pointed at his phone. "Box said anything. Will be bätter for make with...nice comm-pone-antsz.", she nodded sharply with each syllable of the last word. James thought back. Lee had said to have James ask for anything else she needed. She was actually going to take advantage of it...did that mean she could actually build the design she'd shown him?
"...Right. I'll put the design in and make it something he can read." He answered.
She surprised him with her hands on his cheeks, her forehead almost on his own. Her breath smelled slightly sweet. Somehow peaches came to mind. "Thänk yoo.", she said softly. Blue and brown simmered around her head. She let go and left the room.
He wondered what kissing her would be like, briefly. It wasn't a thought he allowed for longer than a fleeting moment before turning his attention to her diagram for a distraction. She came back with several eggs, and sat down with him. With her help, he modified the appearance of the design to a more recognizable one and sent it in a private email to Lee. Hopefully this could stay mostly out of sight for anyone else in their company. It consisted of a modified helmet with speaker-like objects inside that suctioned onto the side of someone's head. He imagined a human would have to shave their hair off, but a Novaxan didn't have to worry about that. Then, an injection of liquids involving saline and the Adenosine along with some blood plasma would be injected into the brain stem...that sounded unbelievably painful. Near as he could tell, what followed was information through the speakers and a screen modified to be placed like a visor. She confirmed his suspicion that it was a sort of learning machine.
The knowledge she had was staggering. He'd studied for years tirelessly to understand mechanical diagrams, and she could design circles around him. Including biological component.
He had to know. "I...hate to ask but. How old are you?"
She cocked her head. Crap.
"How long have you been alive?"
She perked up. "Ah. Twenty six Earth cycle."
So she's a little older than him...how much information could they learn that she knew enough for all of this? "Okay...how does that work for you?"
She thought for a moment, processing his question. "Nove...are not Earth." He had to hold back a sarcastic remark. "Nove is adult from twenty szix Earth cycle, and alive to...one hundred and twenty Earth cycle."
"Wait, you're barely an adult?", James furrowed his brow trying to understand that for a moment. As far as her species is concerned, she's barely at the end of puberty.
"How many cyclesz are Jamesz?", she asked while leaning forward.
"Uh... Twenty three. Humans are considered adults at eighteen, though, and we can live around like...eighty? I think? But that's if we're pretty healthy and nothing kills us."
She flickered yellow, and shifted into a full blue with a sad look on her face. "Oh...such small cycle."
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