Chapter 20: Oops

Back aboard MOM, I furnished my pet Mermaid with an aquarium. Practice makes perfect and former practice with Pipsqueak is transferable. Soon we are chatting away. I enjoy talking with her. Her name is Oops. Spelled “bubble bubble or Oo pip pip.” Ooh plural pips. Pronounced Oops.

To improve our relationship, I suggest and Oops, in a show of trust agrees, to have her implanted with a non-sentient AI chip. What a difference that makes for our communications.

Re-linking up JoAnn, in an attempt to aid us in adapting to each other’s alien minds, turned out to be another fortuitous decision.

JoAnn introduced us to the virtual reality program Mark Hest played with. Oops is portrayed as a virtual conventional Earth mythology style Mermaid. That is easier for me to relate to. I figure Oops must see me as something similar to her own species, but she assures me she sees what I see. She likes her caricature and primps her abundant wavy red hair frequently. Sneaking a reality check look, she is actually smoothing and caressing her rosy tentacles. Okay by me. In reality and in the virtual world both, she has the same deep mysterious look in her large round saucer eyes. Very beautiful eyes I think.

Oops likes her mythological virtual appearance so much, she used her color change camouflaging ability to project an image on to her skin of the humanoid face in the caricature. It’s an attempt to make herself more attractive to me. That strikes me as a very feminine trait.

The important thing about our relationship is the information I’m gaining. About the planet and about her race.

Oops claims her race was once star faring, and the Merfolk on this planet are also a colony and were intentionally planted here. No one remembers when that was and nobody has seen any of their kind visiting, unless they visit in secret. If they are indistinguishable appearance wise, they could easily visit clandestinely.

I wonder. Carrock mentioned her eggs being fertilized and mine hatching on a moonless night. Maybe we already encountered the race that created this colony. Carrock gave us directions how to voyage here. Obviously, they are familiar with this sector of space.

She, and that’s a big assumption Carrock is a she, are fighting a war. A very good reason not to risk an enemy following them here and remaining aloof. My curiosity bump certainly itches.

Hope you’re enjoying.

Yob