Going Native: Taste of Life (Patreon)

Like so many times before, I woke up in a healing pod. The mask around me was a reassurance, I didn’t feel any pins and needles so my injuries must have healed already. I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of bubbles washing over me as I rested. My mind cleared of any thought, blissfully blank as I balanced on the border of sleep. 

Eventually, like all good things, my rest and blissful state of oblivion came to an abrupt end when someone started tapping at the glass. For a split second, I half expected to see Vegeta when my eyes opened. Instead, I saw it was Tora. 

“Time to get up. We’re closing in on planet Vegeta.” He informed, his words taking a moment to register. Planet Vegeta? Wasn’t that a week away from planet Rockoroad on a return trip? The thought of Rockoroad made my recent memories click into place, my eyes shot open.

“You destroyed the fleet — Fasha told me about that attack of yours, good going there. The rest of us dealt with the scarabs and finished purging the planet. All ‘n all, it was a pretty smooth mission. Way better than I thought.” Tora explained, memories surfacing of a destroyed fleet, my lungs burning and an attack I never saw before but knew how to perform. 

“How?” I asked, finding my voice, sleep vanishing like smoke in the wind. 

Tora gave a lopsided shrug, “we’ve been preparing for war with the Reach for a long time. Bardock knew that without blutz waves, we didn’t have a hope of surviving this war, so he created a technique that let us go oozaru without needing a moon.” Uhhh...wasn’t that...kinda a game-changing technique? How did I not know about this? Why wasn’t this included in my lessons-

“He only created it a couple of months before you got out of your pod. Probably too recent and untested for King Vegeta to bother making sure you knew about it. Wasn’t like you weren’t going to learn how eventually.” Tora answered my unspoken question before he leaned in closer, his nose practically touching the glass. “Now, what was that technique you used? Fasha was talking it up the past couple of days.”

The Kamehameha. It was different than the Galick Gun, Riot Javelin and other powerful named attacks that came to mind. I knew about them in theory, that they existed and who created them, but I didn’t know how to do them. I doubt I could manage to pull them off first try like I had the Kamehameha. 

Though, that was a near thing. When I imagined how the technique was supposed to look like compared to the one I made, mine was closer to a shaken soda bottle’s cap popping off rather than a focused ki blast. 

Tora tapped on the glass again to get my attention, reminding me that he was waiting for an answer. I told the truth with a helpless shrug. “I don’t know. I think I learned back in the gestation tank.” Instead of understanding like I anticipated, Tora’s row furrowed, giving me an odd look. 

“They taught you techniques in the tank?” He repeated, sounding like he never heard anything like it before. I gave a hesitant nod. Where else could I have learned the technique at? He frowned for a moment before shrugging, “huh. I guess being royalty has its perks.”

I frowned back at him, “I’m not royalty.” I reminded, narrowing my eyes into a glare. I felt...less certain that I was going to stick both my feet into my mouth every time I spoke to Tora or the squad. I guess after attacking a planet together, I felt a little more...confident. 

“Heh, fair enough.” Tora conceded, leaning back from the pod. “Well, I came to wake you up.” He said, stepping away from my pod. I considered going back to sleep, only to toss the idea out a moment later. With a tired sigh, I pressed the drain button, the healing fluid lowering before I could step outside. 

After popping my joints, feeling like I hadn’t moved in a week, my gaze was drawn to my armor. I shrugged off the chipped, broken and charred armor, seeing that it was painfully thin in some places. It protected my undersuit for the most part, thus me, but I saw a couple of singe barks where the armor couldn’t block all of the heat. 

A finger went to the cut over my heart, tracing the angle. The healing tank did what it could, but there was a slight groove that was a dark red mark that stood out against my pale skin. Reaching back, I felt that it was the same on my back. Not so distant memories came to mind of staring up at the scarab, grabbing the sword that ran me though, then a moon that seemed to dominate the sky. 

The transformation saved my life. The rapid change in biology, growing and changing, the wound was healed with brute force to complete the transformation. 

Another sigh escaped me as my hands dropped, looking at the other pods I saw that they were empty. Everyone was out and about. Looking back at my undersuit, I decided to grab a new one. After getting dressed, I found myself staring at the door. 

None of it felt real. It felt like a bad dream, like what happened was so horrible that it couldn’t be real. My gaze shifted down to my hands, thick calluses on my palm, poorly maintained fingernails...they were too small to belong to a killer: I expected...something. Vivid hallucinations of my hands being covered in blood, to hear the curses of vengeful spirits that haunted their killer. There was nothing. Just a pair of hands that didn’t look like they belonged to a child. 

For a third time, a sigh escaped me. I didn’t want to think about it. So, I didn’t. 

Pushing my darker thoughts to the side, I stepped out of the med-bay, looking for Tora. There had to be a reason why he was sent to wake me up. Sparing a glance and a thought of going back to sleep, the door slid shut, so I started to wander the halls. There were no sounds of laughter to guide me this time, which made my new scouter that much more convenient. 

Pressing the button, several power levels were outlined ahead of me. 4,429, 4,080, 3,952, 3,900, 3,829, 800. I blinked at the numbers, none of them the same as they were before and during the mission. The weakest must belong to Leek, but the others had to be the squads. 

Making my way there, I saw that they were in the cafeteria again. Again, as soon as the door opened, I was greeted with the smell of cooked meat. My stomach reminded me that it was empty, only the nutrients fed into me by the healing pod keeping me from starving. I paid the others no mind as I B-lined to the table, grabbing a slab of meat I hoped and prayed wasn’t Nepotin, I started stuffing my face. 

“You slept for a solid week, you know that?” Fasha commented, looking over at me from my right. She looked amused, I couldn’t respond for a moment, my cheeks puffed out like a squirrel. She rose an eyebrow when I chewed my food before speaking. 

“I was tired?” That sounds a lot better than I was too lazy to get up for a solid week. Though, I may have to keep an eye on that. I spent months in meditation, so it was all too easy to let a week go by in a blink of an eye. I should probably be glad that they cared enough to wake me up at all, otherwise I would have never woken myself up. 

“I would say so. So, that attack, what was that? How’d you do it?” She pestered, leaning in close as if a few extra inches would stop anyone else from hearing what I said. I looked at them, seeing Shugesh and Borgos pretend like they weren’t paying attention. Not seeing a reason to keep it secret, I answered. 

Though, how did I describe it in words? “It’s kinda like...Hmmm!” I started, cupping my hands, “then hnnn...then HA!” I continued, thrusting my hands out like I performed the attack. “Like that.”

Fasha nodded, the others doing so as well, “hmmm, hnnn, then HA. Gotta try that one out when we’re not in space.” She muttered, looking amused as we watched Shugesh mime the attack. He didn’t look embarrassed when he was caught, which is more than I could say. 

“It didn’t really hurt the scarab,” I felt obliged to tack on. If they wanted to learn the Kamehameha, then it was because they thought it was an attack worth learning, if they thought it was worth learning then they thought it was extremely powerful and cool. “It just pushed it back into the warhead.” Which killed it. 

Huh. I killed a vanguard scarab. That was...kinda awesome. 

“Yeah, but it pinned it down so it couldn’t get out of the blast. You’re only at 700, if one of us does it then the damage will be a lot better.” Shugesh explained, a cocky grin on his face as he finished off a slab of meat. I frowned, knowing that was true, but it still was irritating. 

As if sensing my annoyance, Tora spoke up from further down the table. “So, I heard you got your first scar?” He said, changing the subject. I looked at him, seeing that everyone's eyes were on me. I shifted in my seat, feeling embarrassed, but suspicious of the attention they were giving me. It was...odd. 

They were being nice. Last time we sat here, Bardock forced me to be an exposition dump for the team. Now, they were being...nice. At the very least, it felt like they wouldn’t boot me off the ship the first chance they got. 

Hesitantly, I nodded. Absentmindedly, I rubbed my chest. Tora noted the action then nodded, “you lucked out with that one. A stab through the heart...I knew going oozaru could brute force a serious wound close, but that's something else. We’re all really lucky that you thought of that.” Tora commented with a good-natured grin, taking a long gulp from his alcohol. 

I sent him another look, the feeling of embarrassment fading to give way to pure wariness. That was...weird. Why would they be lucky if I survived? We weren’t friends, we were barely squadmates. This whole interaction didn’t make sense. 

“Enough of that,” Bardock entered the cafeteria, the door slid shut behind him. His words were harsh, but the tone that he said them with was more exasperated than anything. He looked at me, his eyes raking over me like he expected me to fall over dead at any second before he nodded. I found myself returning it, unsure what else I should do. 

“We’re about to touch down back home. Straighten yourselves out. We have an audience with the king.” He informed, taking a seat next to me. I looked at him, catching him looking at me, while the others muttered amongst themselves, Borgos and Fasha walking off to clean themselves up for a royal audience. The others just kept eating, oblivious to the mounting tension as our staring contest stretched on. 

“...what?” I finally asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. He wasn’t looking at me in the eyes, he was staring at my chest. Where I was stabbed. 

“This mission was way above your level,” he stated bluntly as if I didn’t already know that. This was a suicide mission in general, but that went sextuple for me, or more. Probably more. And yet, somehow, I was still alive. In spite of all logic, not only did I not die, but we succeeded in our mission. 

Bardock took a bracing breath, holding it for a few seconds as he stared at me, his gaze flickering back to my face. “You did...good.”

Okay. Something about this made absolutely no sense. Bardock wanted me dead. He brought me in this mission to get me killed. And I survived. He should be mad or killed me on the planet so he could shrug his shoulders and say ‘oh well, I tried’ to King Vegeta. It made absolutely no sense if Bardock didn’t want me dead. 

So. What could he possibly mean when he said I did good? I did good...by nearly dying? That...this, none of this made any sense-

“Didn’t I tell you to stop thinking so much?” Bardock remarked, thumping me on the top of my head. Lightly. Enough to break me out of my thoughts, glaring as I rubbed the pain out of where the thumped me. “Just take the compliment. Who knows when you’re going to get another.”

I frowned at him, not responding. Maybe.., maybe it was how I was viewing the situation that was wrong? The more I thought about it, the less sense it made that he was trying to kill me. If he was then he passed up a perfect opportunity for seemingly no reason. Unless one of the team was a spy, and given how oddly close they seemed, I doubted that then it only made sense that I was wrong about him trying to kill me. 

Then what was his motivation? The new ship...the healing tanks...he mentioned something about leverage to get them...was...was he blackmailing King Vegeta?! Was I the leverage? Wait, no, that couldn’t be it either. King Vegeta couldn’t care less if I lived or died, so that didn’t make sense. 

What-

Bardock thumped me again, looking annoyed. “Seriously, stop that. Leave the thinking for the working-class.”

I glared balefully, going ignored when Tora spoke up. “Speaking of the working-class, you going to see Gine after the king?” He asked, earning a sharp look from Bardock, which earned a chuckle in return. Fasha had mentioned her before the mission. She was Bardock’s woman, whatever that meant. 

The glare fell as a sigh escaped Bardock, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. “Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her. Might as well since we’re going to be so busy now that the war is going to be in full swing.” He answered, sounding grumpy about it. 

“That kid of yours finished incubating yet?” Tora asked, getting a surprised look from me that I transferred to Bardock. He knew that he had a kid? He kept track of it well enough to know when the kid was going to get out of the gestation tank? This guy got weirder the more I learned about him. 

As if sensing my thoughts, he shot me a glare before nodding. “Yeah, but he’s going to be sent on an infiltration mission. Probably won’t come back with a power level of 2.” He muttered, looking at me like it was somehow my fault. 

“Hm. Gine’s going to be devastated, you know her. Though, maybe it’ll all turn out alright. He could get an easy planet, and Tarble is proof enough that low-class saiyans like…”

“Gine named him Kakarot...I think,” Bardock supplied, sounding much more like a typical saiyan father. 

“Kakarot could grow into a halfway decent warrior with enough time.” Tora finished, not exactly sounding like he believed what he was saying, but sounding hopeful. Bardock just huffed, grabbing the drink out of his hand and downing the rest of it in a single go. Tora glared mildly but grabbed Borgos’ glass without comment. 

“Maybe,” Bardock agreed, not sounding like he believed it for a second. I don’t think anyone would. With a pl of 2, the number of planets he could conceivably conquer were few and far in-between. Add that to the fact we were going to war with the Reach, odds were he would be sent sent to one of their planets to cause some trouble. Kakarot's fate was sealed. 

Before Bardock could say anymore about the subject, Leek’s voice spoke through my scouter. “We’re about to reenter Planet Vegeta’s atmosphere.” He informed. 

Bardock sighed while Tora drained his alcohol. “Let’s go meet King Vegeta,” he said, standing. I chewed on a piece of meat for a moment, looking at the table thoughtfully. I was about to meet King Vegeta for the third time in my life. The first time, I was still in the gestation tank, the second I was getting my teeth kicked in by a saibaman. The third time...I was coming back from a suicide mission. 

I could only hope that he would be happy about that.

Swallowing a sigh, I ran a hand through my still damp hair, my hair snapping back into place with enough force to send drops of healing fluid flying free. I followed Bardock and Tora out of the cafeteria, through the hallways and to the main entrance. The others made their way there after a few minutes, shortly before I felt a soft thump that told me that we landed on Planet Vegeta. 

The door/ramp cracked open, lowering to reveal somewhat familiar blue skies. There was no one to greet us, as we walked out, I realized that there was next to no one at all. A single person, his armor marking him as a working-class, dark bags underneath his eyes as he worked on a ship some distance away. The scratches, the puncture marks on the armor -- he wasn’t repairing some wear and tear. That ship saw battle. 

I paid so much attention to it, I was nearly left behind when the others floated off the ground. I managed to catch up with them, falling in place behind Borgos since he was the biggest, thus meaning I had to put up with less wind resistance. My gaze wandered as I savored the feeling of wind on my face, searching the skies for trouble. My last flight on Planet Vegeta all too fresh in mind. 

This time, our flight went in uninterrupted as we made our way to the palace. It was a large castle-like building that stretched on for over a mile, precariously placed on top of a cliff that overlooked a light blue ocean. It was impossible to not notice the tall marble walls, the alien architecture of saucer-like buildings and spires, one of which supported the cliff the palace was rested on because it was shaped like an upside-down L. 

With other planets dominating the sky, as we approached, I couldn’t help but think that the palace looked like it was ripped out of a storybook. 

We touched down at the front of it, a waif of a saiyan standing in front of a large set of double doors. His bushy mustache twitched when he looked at me, giving a low bow as he gestured to the large double doors behind him. “King Vegeta and Queen Teach are expecting you. Please don’t keep them waiting,” he asked, his voice perfectly neutral.

“We know better than that,” Fasha muttered under her breath, bringing her yellow leg warmer up a little more. She stood a little straighter as we walked through the doors, my head on a swivel as I took everything in again. This was the royal palace. The halls were richly furnished by artifacts liberated from planets, rare and valuable minerals and metals were used as decorations. 

I didn’t know enough to give a number to how much everything would cost, but I did know the amount of wealth was obscene. A reminder that the royal family stood at the top of the hierarchy. 

Eventually, we made our way to another set of double doors. Bardock came to a stop outside of it, raising a fist, he knocked on the door with surprising politeness. 

“Enter,” came a voice that I knew all too well. I swallowed thickly as Bardock pushed the door open, revealing a wide-open room that seemed to stretch on for eternity. A dark red carpet ran up the center, flanked by white rock, leading my gaze to the throne that rested on a high platform, letting King Vegeta look down on whoever entered. 

King Vegeta and Queen Teach sat in their thrones, ornately decorated with gold and other metals that glowed lightly in the dimly lit room, only stained crystal windows offering any light. Two others stood at their sides, I knew who they were with a glance. Matillo, an elderly saiyan so old that no one knew exactly how old he was, only that he had been alive since King Vegeta the Second. So, at least a hundred years old but likely way, way older. 

Next to Queen Teach was a much younger man. Parslee, a mid-class saiyan that just had his final growth spurt at twenty years old. Shaggy black hair, a strong jaw, prominent cheekbones, tall with defined muscles hidden underneath a white cloak that marked him as a royal guard. 

The silence was stifling as we approached, my gaze flickering between King Vegeta and Queen Teach. King Vegeta only stared at Bardock, his face carefully impassive to hide his thoughts. I doubt he even noticed I was here. Queen Teach, on the other hand, quickly noticed my looks and offered a wave and a cheeky smile that showed perfect white teeth. 

Awkwardly, with my face burning, I waved back, not knowing what else I should do. It wasn’t like I could just ignore her. Unfortunately, that seemed to be some signal because King Vegeta began to speak. Everyone dropped to a knee, with me doing the same a second later than everyone else.

“I have learned to expect a great deal from you and your team Bardock, but you still find ways to impress me.” King Vegeta complimented, his voice booming in the empty room. “A planet purged of all life, a reactionary fleet destroyed, and their occupational army dead. Already Frieza’s main forces have moved to secure it. Well done.” 

“We did what was expected of us, my king. Nothing more,” Bardock returned with modesty that he didn’t have. I spared a disbelieving look at him, going ignored as Bardock only had eyes for King Vegeta. Was...he trying to make a good impression? Was he trying to get into King Vegeta’s good book? 

“Perhaps, but what you managed is no less impressive because of it,” King Vegeta stated. “All without a single casualty.” When he said this, only then did his cold onyx eyes drift over to me. I met his gaze, too shocked to look away. His gaze lingered on me for a long second that seemed to last forever before he returned it back to Bardock. A breath I didn’t know I had been holding escaped me, my shoulders slumping. 

He...really doesn't care at all about me, I thought, clenching my jaw. I knew that. I learned as much when he okayed me going on this mission, but to see that I was just another low-class warrior to him, to stand before him and him not even acknowledge my existence… that hurt. That hurt more than words could say. 

It hurt because I knew what family was. It hurt because I knew they were supposed to care about me. Above all else, it hurt knowing that even if I did become an elite-class warrior, then they would only care about my class, not me.

Swallowing thickly, my eyes burning, I forced myself to listen to the conversation. “Frieza has seen fit to reward your squad since you all survived.” King Vegeta continued, making all the others perk up. There was no joy in his voice as he continued. “A planet of your choice. Each.” 

Shugesh sputtered next to me, making a pained noise while Fasha was choking down mad cackles of glee. I saw them eye each other over my head, Shugesh giving her the equivalent to puppy-dog eyes while Fasha just stared back smugly. Yeah, there was no way that she was going to give up an extra planet. 

A planet as a bonus was reserved for people like the Ginyu squad, who were rewarded one yearly. For low-class warriors like us, getting an entire planet as a reward was practically unheard of. What more, we got to pick which planet we got. 

Saiyans didn’t really care for money, not in the sense that other races did. If a saiyan wanted something bad enough, then they would just take it. Money served a very different purpose on Planet Vegeta. Money, or wealth, was simply a mark of status -- it wasn’t used for anything else. It represented success, of all the victories you had to get to the point you slept on a literal mountain of money. Saiyans didn’t care for luxuries outside of food. They wanted them essentially for bragging rights. 

A planet was...kind of ridiculous, now that I thought about it. Why would Lord Frieza ever let a planet be used as a reward, much less six? It was no secret that he disliked our race more than most. More often than not, he was shorting us a reward rather than being so kind. What was going on?

“Frieza’s generosity knows no bounds,” Bardock said, bowing his head in thanks. Because I was so low to the ground, I saw it was to hide a smile. It was a lot like a scimitar -- curved, sharp with a wicked point. 

“Hm,” King Vegeta grunted, a crack forming in his impassive face.”Take these catalogs of planets to make your choice.” He said, the saiyan from earlier walking over and started passing out metal tables connected with a dark piece of crystal. I took mine, gripping it so tightly, half expecting someone to yank it out of my hands. 

“With this move, the Reach has no choice but to declare war. Already, we’ve had some minor skirmishes.” King Vegeta continued, moving on. “As you’ve already proven your valor, with Frieza’s insistence, you will immediately be deployed to the front lines.” He pressed something on his throne before a light blue hologram of a star system appeared between us. 

“This is one of their fortified planets, a shield world, as they call them. Planet Sereall,” King Vegeta began, showing a planet with no moons, almost entirely covered by landmass. I couldn't tell how big it was without a reference, but being called a shield world, I’m guessing it was pretty big. “Planet Rockoroad was a strong opening move, but these shield worlds protect the heart of the Reach empire. All of them lay on intersections for slips space -- other methods of FTL are being considered, but the results are the same.”

He paused dramatically, his gaze sweeping over us again. This time his gaze didn’t linger on me at all. “These shield worlds must be taken to defeat the Reach.” He said, his voice echoing in the large room. 

I heard Leek swallow thickly behind me, so I wasn’t the only one feeling daunted by the task. Queen Teach seemed to be the only one who wasn’t if the fact she was playing what looked like the equivalent of candy crush on a tablet like the one I just got was anything to go by. 

“What’s more, the Reach has not been idle during the past few years,” King Vegeta continued as the hologram began to zoom out. It showed solar systems, hundreds of them, if not thousands, all of them belonging to the Reach. All connected by a thin line, which represented slipstream highways. Some of the lines were highlighted, marking them as important, with several planets highlighted with them. 

“These are stepping stones we must crush on our way to the shield worlds. All have a garrison numbering in the millions, a policing fleet supported by anti-air weapons on the planet. They are sacrifices to slow us down.” The Reach was beyond powerful, easily one of the strongest empires in the galaxy. The profitable relationship they and the Trade Organization once shared was biting us in the butt because it was because of us that they had these spare resources. 

Garrisons that had millions of soldiers. Each planet having a small feelt defending it. They had the resources to throw these things away to bleed us as we crawled forward. 

“What’s more, all must be taken, otherwise we will have countless armies and fleets poised behind us.” King Vegeta explained before one planet, in particular, was highlighted. “Your next mission will be to take planet Choco. The details will be sent to those datapads. You will leave in the morning.”

“Of course, my king.” Bardock said, rasing to his feet, recognizing the dismissal. He turned around, the others following suit as we started to walk out of the throne room. Despite every instinct telling me that I shouldn’t, I found myself looking over my shoulder to the royal family behind me. 

Once again, my gaze found King Vegeta’s. There wasn’t an ounce of warmth in his eyes, nothing in his body language giving me any hint on what he thought about the fact I was in the same room as him. Quickly looking away, my gaze found Queen Teach, who gave me another smile as she wiggled her fingers at me as a goodbye. 

Still unsure, I gave a small wave back. I still couldn’t read her, at all, but I think that was a good sign. Probably. She stopped when King Vegeta leaned over to say something to her, his voice so low that I couldn’t hear it. Realizing it was probably about me, I quickly looked away. I didn’t look back until the doors closed behind me. 

I just met my parents for the third time.

“Alright, you heard him. Met me at the launching pad bright and early tomorrow morning. We leave at first light.” Bardock said, stepping outside to a balcony. The others muttered their agreement, some with more enthusiasm than others, all of them clutching the datapad in their hands like a lifeline. “See ya’ then.”

With that, Bardock took off, followed by Tora, Shugesh, Borgos, and Fasha. Leaving only me and- oh, Leek kept walking. So it was only me standing at the balcony. I looked out at the horizon, the others were already little more than specs in the distance. My gaze drifted down to the table in my hands, a thumb brushing over the on button that made it light up. I saw that I had about twelve hours before dawn. 

What was I going to do with those twelve hours? Sleep? Where? I didn’t have a house. I just realized it now, but I was pretty much homeless. Should I train? Should I bother since we were about to leave? 

A sigh escaped me as I floated up, flying towards the landing pad. I might as well stay on the ship if I had nowhere else to go. It only took a few minutes to reach the ship, the front door still open. The saiyan I saw before wasn’t there anymore, though the battered ship he had been working on wasn’t there anymore either. 

Walking into the ship, I nearly walked face-first into the saiyan, making both of us stumble back a step. He held a welder in his hand, a section of the wall taken down to expose several wires. I looked at them, then at him, to see him staring at me with wide eyes and a bloodless face. 

“Sorry?” I muttered, shifting from foot to foot. I interrupted his work. “I was...just going to go into the healing pod, if that’s okay?” I didn’t know what he was working on, but I hoped that wouldn’t cause any problems. If I couldn’t stay here then I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. 

“Er,” the saiyan began, “that’s fine?” He said, sounding like he was asking me a question. “Who are you...exactly?”

Oh, right. “I’m Tarble. I’m on Bardock’s squad.” I think. No one really said anything about it, and since I saw the briefing, I’m guessing I was expected to go on the mission. 

“Oh. I, uh, I’m Beets. Mechanic,” Beets introduced himself. That explained why he looked so nervous, he was apart of the working-class. 

“Nice to meet you?” I continued, feeling myself slowly beginning to die of embarrassment, more heat rushing towards my face. Why was everything I said coming out as a question? I gripped the tablet in my hands, suddenly realizing something. “Uh, do you know if this can go in the healing pod with me?”

“...Yeah?” Beets continued, clearly put off by how awkward I was being. He lowered the welder, his gaze roaming over me, and the tablet before he nodded. “There shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Thanks. Uh, and thanks for fixing our ship.” The guy looked dead tired and he was still working when I interrupted him. 

“...No problem,” Beets muttered, scratching at his head as he looked away.

“Bye.” I blurted, walking past him as I stuck my nose to the tablet, feeling my ears burning. Why was I so bad at talking to people? I screwed up that entire conversation. I’m not sure how I screwed up that conversation, but if I was feeling this embarrassed then I must have screwed up that entire conversation. 

Getting in the healing pod, I put the conversation out of mind as fast as I could, distracting myself by opening up the catalog to pick my very own planet. As the healing fluid washed over me, a mask covering my face, I began to thumb through the hundreds of planets available. They were broken up into categories -- ocean worlds, arid, ice and many more. Those could then be filtered by all kinds of things -- exotic minerals, being located on a magic layline, which was apparently a thing, other special features. 

There were all kinds of planets. Lush green planets that had some kind of hive mind that killed everyone that stepped foot there, planets with a hundred times galactic standard gravity, planets that orbited a black hole that only maintained their atmosphere because of a ritualistic sacrifice to a dark god. 

As I flipped through I found another filter. Inhabited. Curious, I clicked on it and saw a list of all the worlds that were owned but still inhabited by a native population. The list was still dozens long, I took my time scrolling through them, reading about the aliens that lived there. Lizard people, alien jellyfish, insectoids, hive minds-

Uh. My jaw dropped when I found a familiar planet on the list. A Gaia world mostly covered by a deep blue ocean, white clouds swirling on the surface. Inhabited by a primitive species of bipedal mammals with the average pl of 5. It had exotic metals and was located on a magical layline, but it was so far out in the galactic boonies that no one bothered to purge the planet when the right to it was purchased ages ago. It was worth next to nothing, so worthless that I would have to purge the planet myself or hire a team to do it since it missed the benchmark for that to be included. Not that I wanted to.

Earth. I was looking at Earth. My home-...back when I was human, this was my home planet. I stared at it for a long minute, not so much as breathing. 

Then my thumb pressed the purchase button.