Octavia Girl Vol. 1
Chapter 12 - Eight Jobs

“Can you ask them to turn down the lights while I sleep?” Jenna asked Sardius.

“No. They aren’t the brightest octopi in the garden and I would rather not ask them for something that finicky. What if they screwed it up and they couldn’t get the lights back on? Better not risk it.”

She groaned. “I don’t know if I can sleep buck-naked in this coarse sand with all this light shining on me. Even in a log, it’s too bright. I never sleep naked and I never sleep without a blanket.”

“If you get tired enough, you’ll probably sleep,” he replied.

“With this much interference, are you sure you can’t say some of those words you’re not allowed to say?” she asked tantalizingly. “I’m sure it would help us pass the time.”

Sardius sighed. “You’re that curious about me?”

“I’m very curious about you.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you and I think you’re lying to me.”

He gawked. “In what way?”

“I don’t think you’re a little octopus living inside the pearl in my ear. I think that if I broke it open, I’d find nothing but tech parts. You’re a real man, transmitting your info somehow.”

“How could I do that with all this interference? There are constant storms on the surface” he asked.

“I don’t know, but if we’re able to have a private conversation, I want to have it.”

“We’re not,” he said smoothly. “All my dialogue is recorded. And if you are too curious about me, they may change their minds about not recording you and begin. It isn’t safe.”

“Why can’t you just tell me if you’re a man or an octopus? You could just answer yes or no.”

“I’m an octopus,” he said firmly.

She huffed and said in a mopey voice, “I thought we were pretending you were a man.”

“Oh! Sorry. I didn’t realize that was part of our game,” he almost blustered, but something about his voice was too steady for him to do that. He still sounded remarkably self-contained.

“Forget it, Sardius,” she retracted. “I’m just getting carried away. You’re the only guy friend I’ve ever had. I’m bored and feeling frisky because I’m naked. I don’t really have an outlet for those kinds of feelings and you’re here. Sorry. I’m being a jerk.”

“Good news,” he said like he hadn’t heard the last thing Jenna said. “Favel is in orbit above our heads. He transmitted that he was dropping his ship to the surface half an hour ago. I didn’t get his message until now. The distance to the surface can be covered in twenty-one minutes. He’s probably already here.”

“Did he bring me clothes?”

“I asked him to.”

“Excellent.”

***

It was seven hours before a pod was lowered into the tank Jenna was housed in. The mechanical transport was streaming with water that drained off into the sand. The door popped open and there was a bag inside that was filled with the clothes she needed. She whipped on the black trousers and turtleneck sweater Favel had brought her. No underwear, but Jenna was not in the mood to complain.

Before Jenna closed the door to the pod for the last time she paused and asked Sardius, “Is there anything we can do to show these Octavians how much we have appreciated their help?”

“Blow a few kisses at the walls of the tank in all directions and you should be good.”

“I shouldn’t bow? I should blow kisses?” she asked skeptically.

“It’s a closer action to using an underwater siphon than bowing or waving. They’d like it better.”

“Right then,” Jenna said before she blew each wall three kisses. She hoped they saw her as she waved and got aboard the pod. She was too human to leave without waving.

Once aboard with the door closed, Sardius said, “Favel wants to talk to you. He’s underwater negotiating with the Octavians, so he’s sending the transmission through me. It will be like I’m reading you his text messages.”

“Kay,” Jenna said as she settled into her seat.

“He says he’s very happy that you are alive and unhurt. The pod Armen and Lucy were in also went down, though they were thrown into a different solar system and landed on a different planet. An Adamis crew went to collect them as their retrieval is considerably more complex than yours.”

“Why?”

“The ship that attacked ours thought Lucy was you because she was with Armen. They thought you were the worthless cousin and let your pod go. Armen and Lucy landed on a planet, but they’re being hunted. The Adamis government sent a few military units to retrieve them, but Favel insisted on coming for you personally, which they allowed because the AAMC also think Lucy is you. With any luck, they’ll provide enough of a distraction for us to get to Earth and get your grandmother’s crowns with as little mess as possible.”

When he said the word ‘mess’, something inside Jenna clicked. “Sardius, did Favel use that word or did you?”

“What word?”

“Mess.”

“Favel used an Octavian tentacle gesture that means ink in the water, so I guess I’m the one who said mess. Does that word bother you?”

“No. I have just lived my whole life trying to make as little mess as possible. I’m totally on board. I’m not sure where my grandmother would have left the crowns, but we can try.”

“You should know that Favel is deeply impressed with your plan and your willingness to send Armen with Lucy.”

“It’s not impressive,” Jenna scoffed. “You know I didn’t orchestrate it this way because I was trying to use her as my body double. I just can’t stand either of them, but I wasn’t thinking of sending them to die. I was only thinking of putting them in the car ahead of me so I didn’t have to listen to them breathe. Not that I want them to stop breathing. I hope they’re okay.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much. Partly because worrying is a waste of time and partly because two Adamis military units would scare the hell out of any backdoor assassins. One unit would have been overkill. When the assassins see those units, they’ll wet themselves and hide in an asteroid belt. Those AAMC guys sleep with their fingers on their triggers.”

“How much longer do you think Favel is going to be?”

“Don’t even think about rushing him. He’s doing eight jobs right now.”

“Really? Eight? How so?” Jenna asked, looking out the window of the pod at Favel, who was blue like a jewel compared to the muddy-looking Octavians next to him.

“He’s talking to me. He’s talking to them. He’s talking to his people back on Octavia Prime. He’s talking to his ship. He’s talking to the Adamis military to ensure that he stays out of their way. He’s talking to the Space Navigators about which routes to Earth will be most efficient and making arrangements to stay out of space that’s reserved. He’s talking to the people of the Cloaking Agency so that we can reserve equipment to hide our vessel when we’re in Earth’s space. He’s thinking about you and arranging for you to have a car when you arrive on Earth, but quite a few of those jobs aren’t going well because of the storms on the surface.”

Jenna had been counting the jobs on her fingers. “That’s only seven.”

“Yeah. Well, I didn’t want to mention the eighth. He’s had to pee for a few hours now, but his mind has been so occupied that it hasn’t occurred to him until now.”

“How can you tell?”

“His posture. The Octavians around him have probably noticed it too. If anything, that will be what gets us off this planet the quickest. He doesn’t want to pee on their world. It would be in really bad taste, so he’s going to have to head back to our ship.”

“Are you saying that Octavian pilots pee in the water everyone on the ship swims through?”

“They filter it.”

There was a moment of silence before Sardius said, “Shall I mention a few human equivalents?”

Jenna pinched her nose. “I don’t need to hear them.”

“All the same,” Sardius continued, “he’s been very worried about you if he’s forgetting to pee. As you noticed, he can do it anywhere, so for him to have been that preoccupied, he must care a lot.”

Jenna watched Favel as he wrapped up offering his thanks to the Octavians who rescued her. He swam up to the side of the tank and looked at her through the multiple panes of glass. He touched the glass with a suction-cupped tentacle. Jenna touched the spot with her fingers. He squinted his eyes in a gesture that reminded her of a cat kiss and swam to the ship’s gate of entry.

“Yeah, he’s pretty sweet,” Jenna conceded.

_________________

Author’s Notes: Thanks for reading! I finished posting the last chapter of ‘If Diamonds Could Talk’ if you want to go binge the whole thing. It’s ready. Please heart, comment, follow, and read more!

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