Isobel emerged from the winding corridors of the facility, her eyes widened in awe. The garden dome was by far the largest room in the facility, dwarfing even the workshop. Filled to the brim with alien flora of varying sizes and colours, Isobel found that she was constantly being distracted and slowed down. It was a dazzling array of colours and shapes, and brightly coloured trees were breathtaking. The flora was only separated by a wide concrete path. Despite her limited knowledgebase, she was impressed that such flora could live together in a carefully balanced harmony in this personal garden in the far corner of the galaxy. Aurelia was sitting on a bench in the centre, her head tilted to the sky above, eyes closed, and a pained look on her face.

Isobel made her way slowly to the scientist, her attention being grabbed by each of the plants she passed. “Hello, Aurelia.”

Aurelia’s eyes fluttered open, her gaze met with a bright blue butterfly resting on her nose. With a small huff, she sat up, and watched as it flew off to join its brethren.

“Hiya Isobel. How was breakfast?”

“Taste is a fascinating experience. I like the red soup and toasted bread I was provided with. It was a pleasant experience, but in a way different to the confectionary I was offered yesterday. '' Isobel quipped. As she sat down, the bench bowed under her weight slightly, letting out a small creak. Aurelia’s eyes widened in excitement.

“I also ate a fruit with my meal afterwards. It was sweet, with a hint of sourness.” The android responded thoughtfully. “Is it not mundane to hear about my breakfast?”

“Nothing about you is mundane to me. You are the most precious thing I’ve ever created. I am whole heartedly interested in every little part about you, and your journey you are about to undertake.” Aurelia beamed with pride, Isobel coupled help but crack a small smile at the overly enthused woman.

“Point taken. I forget the name of the orange fruit I was provided with, and brad is now my favourite food group.

“It’s an orange.”

“Yes and I forget the name. Very sweet though.”

Aurelia turned to stare at the android, receiving only a blank look in return. Isobel then cracked a smile and snickered.

“I was teasing.”

Aurelia gave a blank look, before looking like she was shot by an arrow.

“I am an idiot.”

Isobel responded only with a sly grin. Aurelia was overwhelmed with a giddy feeling. Seeing her life's work unfold in front of her, the best seat in the galaxy. She was happy that to see Isobel become more and more emotive with every passing minute, proof that her work was not in vain.

“Did you know that oranges come from the rust planet, Earth? It was the homeplanet for humanity.”

“Was?” Isobel inquired. The redhead nodded.

“Yeah. We nearly wiped ourselves out, so in a panic we had what was possibly our largest technological boom and moved a massive part of our population to massive stations across our planetary system. Still, billions died in the process.” Aurelia said nonchalantly.

Isobel offered a horrified look.

“Thats awful!”

“Ha! Yes it was, but we brought it upon ourselves. Though depending on who you ask, it was mostly the fault of those in power. Anyway, we had a collection of seeds stored for a rainy day, or in this case, an apocalypse. The orange was one of the plants humans took with us when we moved to space permanently. After we left the confines of our system through warp travel we were discovered by the Galactic Coalition. The first contact went well at first until they learned who we were. They ended up banning us from colonising any green worlds for five hundred and sixty two of our years.”

 “Are humans that scary? “

“Well, if you hadn’t been watching pornographic material for ten straight hours,” Aurelia gave a knowing wink, granting Isobel a new, unpleasant, experience, “You would have found out that we aren’t the most popular species. Stil, despite the scorn, the council is more than happy to send us to war. After the first one we were allowed to colonise again. They are more than happy to use our soldiers and fleets to fight their wars. This planet was actually going to be a human colony, but due to the hostility of the life here, and the distance from the Galactic centre, it was deemed too much effort to colonise.

After she was done, she looked at violet to see she was staring attentively, her cybernetic violet eyes wide with wonder. She pushed her glasses back into place. “Ah sorry, I tend to drop every bit of information I have on a topic when I get started.”

Isobel shook her head. “No, I think it’s fascinating. I think I would like to know more about humans.” her eyes widened. “I feel like I just have this… hunger for knowledge. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Aurelia nodded. “That was intentional on my part. Most species of children, from a young age, have this need to learn anything and everything they can. They are particularly receptive in the first two years of their lives,” Aurelia grabbed her cane.

“And since you have a different start to them, I preloaded you with many basic things. Language, general concepts, a few mannerisms. I wanted you to learn and develop yourself without as much help as I could manage. Who will you be? A kind soul who helps the needy? A tyrant who preys on the weak? A saviour who arrives anywhere she is needed? Who knows, the possibilities are endless. Regardless of who you turn into, it will be interesting.”

The inventor held out her hand to the android. “Now walk with me. I could do with some help standing and I want to get a bit of exercise in.”

Isobel took her hand, and as she went to pull the human up, Aurelia was instead yanked off her feet landing on the floor in a sprawl. Isobel looked absolutely mortified. The silence was cut when Aurelia broke into laughter, wiping a tear from her eye.

“I’m so sorry, I forget myself.” Isobel started. Aurelia waved it away, pushing herself off the android and sliding onto knees on the pavement.

“You weigh more than a quarter of a ton, and that knowledge somehow completely escaped me, probably due to the extreme exhaustion I am under. That being said, I can’t get up very easily from here, could you please help me up?”

Isobel stood herself up quickly, and knelt down beside Aurelia, offering her arm to her. The scientist nodded her approval, and the two stood up together slowly. Isobel was shocked at the vice like grip that the frail woman had. She winced a little, eliciting a concerned look from the scientist.

Aurelia offered an apologetic grin. “So, any questions eating away at you?”

The pair walked through the daunting corridoors, Isobel stayed silent, but her pensive look gave away how hard she was thinking. The rain had since ceased from the night before, Riths star shining its rays with a cool, red colour running through the sky. The only sounds were the clicking of Aurelia cane as it hit the ground with each step, and footsteps of the android.

Isobel broke her silence, “Why do you live here?”

“In the middle of nowhere as far from civilised space as possible? Would you believe me if I said it was because I enjoy the scenery?”

Isobel cracked a small smile. “Probably not.”

Aurelia’s eyes took on a steely look, her voice more serious. “I needed to be away from everyone and everything.”

Isobel decided that she was going to drop the subject, and decided to move onto questions that would help her understand her creator better in a less invasive way.

“Okay, what’s your favourite food? I love bread.”

“That is a difficult one, but the cuisine from Xiveron is delicious. Humans as a whole can’t handle spicy food very well, comparatively to some species, but there is no species that makes more flavourful and spicy food than those little dogs. Absolute havoc on my insides though, so I only go once a decade.”

“Interesting. I think I would like to try that some time, especially if it is something you are interested in. I think I love food.”

“Oh I love food too. I looked into marrying the concept of food but it was revoked.”

Isobel feigned shock. “That is atrocious! You should be able to marry whoever you want!”

“I know! I will never be the same. Woe is me!.”

The pair giggled together, until the speakers sparked to life.

“Excuse me miss, you have a pair of visitors requesting to see you. Diplomats from Guul apparently.” Addison chirped.

Aurelia pinched her brow and frowned. “Did you try turning them away? I am somewhat extremely busy right now.”

“They are rather insistent. They are near the WGS on standby.”

The scientist sighed in irritation.

“Fine. Send them through. Direct them to landing pad five. We will be in the garden waiting.”

“Of course, miss.”

The pair continued on, arriving back to the garden in only a few minutes.

“I assume that they are not friends of yours?” Isobel inquired.

“No one from the Guul empire is a friend of mine.” Aurelia stated bluntly.

Isobel was directed to a table in the garden, a florally decorative metal table, flanked by a trio of plush outdoor chairs. She carefully helped the hunched redhead down into before sitting opposite to her.

“Addison, bring us something for lunch. I am famished.”

“Yes miss, anything in particular?” the facility AI asked.

“Well since we were talking about it, bring us something spicy. It will be amusing to see how Izzy takes to it.” She said, cracking a devious grin.

“Of course, miss.”

Isobel had a quizzical look on her face, her nose scrunched up.

“Izzy?”

“Ah, just what many people shorten your name to. A nickname of sorts. I can avoid calling you that if you want?”

“No, it is fine. It is rather charming!”