319 Downtime 1

"Ahh~ Delicious!"

"... I'm going to be sick."

While the Lazarus installation Dax's unit found themself having a little holiday on was technically a research installation, Ra and Mu's whims meant that there was a lot of stuff to do, in fact, it was like a tiny, hidden resort. Having decided to take full advantage of the current situation, Dax figured he would spoil the girls with attention, currently, he was in the mess hall in the progress of feeding Solaris his hand made filled chocolates, every time she tasted another one of Dax's hand made sweets, Solaris squealed with happiness as her wings fluttered in delight. With the two of them having created their own little world, Lux quietly expressed her disgust as she continued eating her morning cereal.

"Then don't look, besides I used to feed you like this all the time Lux, this is perfectly normal."

Maintaining a perfectly straight face as he fed Solaris another piece while addressing Lux's off hand comment, Dax temporarily turned his attention to his adopted daughter.

"While that might be true, I was six when I did that, this is different…"

"No, it isn't. I do this from a place of affection, same as I did with you. While I might not be able to internalize these emotions I find both you and the girls in high regard, I figured I should show that sometimes."

Faced with Dax's straight and honest response, Lux briefly found herself at a loss for words.

(He really is starting to change for the better…)

"... Haaa, okay then, just keep it in moderation…. And can I take a piece?"

"Sure, there's plenty. These are 65% dark flavoured with rum and filled with raisins, and those are 30% white, they're filled with a ganache, sweetened black liquorice and freeze dried fruits."

Figuring that there was no problem what they were doing, Lux surrendered as she reached out for the chocolate herself.

-

"Please take a seat here, just the best you're able to should be fine."

"... Okay, I'll try my best.

While Dax and the other hellwalkers were mostly just lazing around in the resort Lazarus had provided for them, serious work was actually being done.

"Your best is enough. Ke, is it?"

"Ah, yeah. And you're Ra, right? Dax's sister."

"Correct, it is once more nice to meet you."

Inside a frankly bit too cramped room, Ra was currently conducting a rudimentary medical examination of the refugees Dax had brought back from Marex 4, starting with just the village leaders so they could tell their people what to expect and help build up trust. 

"Likewise, Ra… So, why exactly is this necessary?"

Still not entirely sold on the need to have her body examined by someone she didn't know, and even her crush's sister no less, Ke fidgeted around as she nervously coiled her lower body around the chair she had been offered.

Tapping away at a tablet with near lightning speed, Ra casually explained just a tiny bit of the dangers Ke was unknowingly exposed to just by being in a different world, it seemed that she didn't really care to conduct the examination, but she still offered to do it for some reason.

"I-I'll do it!"

"Okay then let's start… Please open your mouth."

"Like thi-"

Not even caring for her response, Ra jammed some sort of rod into Ke's mouth as she was in the middle of a sentence.

"Yeah, like that, hold still for a moment."

As her large blue eyes caught even the smallest detail, Ra moved the rod around inside Ke's mouth as she occasionally glanced at the tablet she was still typing on at lightning speed with her free hand.

"Okay, I'm done now."

Removing the metal instrument from the confused lamia's mouth, Ra placed the instrument in some sort of machine as she continued her examination.

"Do you feel cold right now?"

"No, not particularly."

"Okay, so this current temperature is around what you're used to?"

Seemingly wanting to get through the questions as fast as possible, Ra returned her focus to the tablet as she continued her typing.

"Yeah, I guess."

"... I see, please put this around your wrist. Do you feel lightheaded sometimes? Perhaps in the morning or late at night?"

As soon as Ke would answer a question did Ra ask one or more new questions, this time she handed the lamia some kind of metal armband which Ke put around her wrist like she was told.

"I was really dizzy the first day I arrived here, otherwise I guess I've been a little lightheaded when waking up."

"Okay. That band is going to tighten a bit now, bare with it."

"Ow! AW! IT'S TOO TIGHT!"

Just like Ra said, the armband did tighten 'a bit' around Ke's arm, so much in fact that the person in question felt like she was going to lose her hand within the next 5 seconds.

"Ah, sorry about that. Is this good?"

"... Yeah, it doesn't feel like my arm is going to be cut off so it's fine, I guess?"

"Perfect, that armband is going to stay on for the next 4 hours, if you feel like it's pricking your skin underneath then that's entirely normal, but if you lose feeling in your hand or it starts to turn blue then contact either me or Dax immediately. While there's little overall chance that you'll suffer any serious damage from this device I'm able to repair even the worst case scenario so don't mind it."

"No, I think I will mind it, thank you very much!"

"That was a joke, at least some of it."

(Exactly what part of that was a joke!?)

Even as she was currently talking to her, Ke found it extremely hard to determine what kind of person Ra was. With what Dax had told her prior, Ra was a genius inventor who had designed most of the Galactic Empire's warships, drones and arms, but Ke found it hard to see any trace of such brilliance in this woman who seemed utterly uninterested in what she was currently doing.

('Eccentric' would be putting it lightly at this point…)

"Okay, we're almost done. Go ahead and lay down on top of this."

"Ah, yes."

Snapping out of her thoughts as Ra pointed to a large hospital style bed, Ke hurriedly untangled herself from the chair she had wrapped her lower body around and got up on the bed as Ra asked.

"Okay, lie still for a bit, I'm scanning your internals to make sure there are no major defects which require immediate surgery."

"Okay, I'll hold still."

Not really sure what Ra was talking about, Ke nevertheless made sure to keep her body still, not daring to move until about a minute later when Ra spoke up again.

"... That should do it, except for that armband which will fall off on its own, this medical examination is now over, thanks for your patience."

"Sure, then please excuse me."

Finding that the entire ordeal had been quite taxing on her mind, Ke quickly got up from the bed and attempted to leave the room as the door out closed right in front of her, refusing to open.

"I almost forgot, were you not the one that kissed Dax out of nowhere?"

Getting a cold chill down her spine as Ra's extremely cold sounding voice asked that question to her back, Ke attempted to snake herself out of her current problematic situation.

"N-no, that was one of my kin who I have already strongly reprimanded for her actions. I think there's something wrong with this door, it won't open."

"... Lying is meaningless before me, if you ever want to get out of this room again then take a seat."

"Yes ma'am."

Nervously taking a seat once more in front of Ra, Ke found that Ra's attention was now entirely focused on her, she had even put down the tablet which she had been typing on doing the entirety of the medical examination.

"So? Why did you kiss him? Was it a dare? Perhaps you felt like you could later use it as political leverage?"

"T-that's…"

Feeling her face heat up under Ra's sudden interrogation, Ke struggled to find the words she should use and fell silent, something which Ra didn't like one bit.

"It's also okay not to answer me at all, in that case, I'll just tell everyone that you accidentally fell into the trash compactor."

"Eh? N-no, please wait a second! It is true that I kissed him, yeah, but that's only because I failed to control myself, for that I deeply apologize!"

Finding that her life was in danger, Ke hurriedly lowered her head as she blurted out her true feelings.

"... I believe I already said that lying is meaningless before me."

"But it is true! When Dax suddenly grabbed my hand like that I was unable to contain myself, I am really sorry about that!"

Faced with Ke's sudden, teary eyed outburst, Ra narrowed her eyes as she checked the surveillance footage archives of her current conversation, making one of her server farms which she normally used for complex simulations run through every single expression Ke had made over the last few seconds, combined with the tone of her voice and vitals.

After a few seconds, Ra found that Ke was telling the truth.

"You couldn't contain yourself? What, did you fall in love at first sight like some sort of prepubescent schoolgirl?"

"..."

Faced with silence to her rhetorical question, Ra suddenly felt a headache build up in the back of her mind as she breathed a deep sigh before continuing.

"So, what exactly do you like about my younger brother?"

"... That's… Look, I realize I don't really know anything about Dax okay!? It's just that when I locked eyes with him for the first time I suddenly felt really hot in my chest, I can't really explain it, but whenever I talk with him I get this sudden urge to monopolize him, I want Dax to look at me, I want him to laugh and I want to be useful to him. But most importantly I want to make him happy… Is that really so bad? I have never really felt like this before, but my mother told me that if I ever felt this way towards someone I had to chase them, that's why..."

Slightly teary eyed from embarrassment, Ke looked straight into Ra's eyes as her face felt like it was on fire. Following Ke's emotional outburst, a somewhat awkward silence fell over the medical room, the frankly uncomfortable silence was only broken about a minute later when Ra breathed another deep sigh as she massaged her eyebrows.

"... You know that Dax is not able to return those feelings right?"

"Because he already has 3 other lovers?"

Still determined to be with Dax, no matter how small a chance she had, Ke didn't mind being number 4.

"No, because he's not chemically able to feel love, same as me and my sister."

"Eh?"

Seeing confusion spread on Ke's face, Ra breathed another deep sigh before she started explaining.

"You are aware of Dax's race right? Qiton's were created just like my own race for a single purpose by a long gone super advanced race."

"I don't see your point."

"A 'perfect' war machine has no need for love, the same as the 'perfect' researcher. Sure, we are able to understand the concept and feel a sense of comradery with people we have known for a long time, but we'll never be able to internalize romantic feelings."

"Then what about Dax's lovers?"

Not able to believe what she was hearing, Ke felt a strange sense of desperation which was only crushed by Ra's next words.

"They know about all this, of course, but in spite of that those girls have accepted Dax for what he is and still love him very deeply."

Met with only silence to her explanation, Ra breathed another deep sigh.

"The only reason I wanted you to know this is because I'm giving you my and my sisters blessing to go ahead and pursue Dax, as your intentions are pure. We're done here, you can leave now."