Kitten nodded as she listened.  “But…but…there…SOMEONE has to pay…i still don’t understand how…how it can function without…you know…ummmm”, she said and then nodded as Dugilit said “Capitalism?  Money?  Summat bein on the bottom while another on top, ya?”

“Well, that’s easy.  Master spent quite a bit of time on this with me.  So the basic needs of any sophont are shelter, food, and clothing.   So…under the Accord, I worked all those hours so that I could afford a place to live and food, right?  Well, with atomic compilers, food is free, along with pretty much any other material components you need.  Like clothing.  Sure, some sophonts like Leiara make them, but that’s because they WANT to.  And that’s a labor of love, which is our next tier of necessity, but we’ll get to that in a moment.   Affini construction is far cheaper and has every amenity you could want and is, again, free.  In fact, most places have Affini who will work with you to help you design the hab that makes YOU happy, rather than some pre-fab generic tiny waste of space.  The medical care is far above what the Accord had, as I'm sure you could agree, and it’s free.  And we won’t even get started about florets, and all that.”

Kitten listened, blushing and nodding.  “You’re…umm..you’re describing the Hierarchy of Needs.  It’s…umm…Maslowski’s Hierarchy of Needs.”  When they looked at her curiously, she nodded.  “Learned about it in nursing school.  See, there’s seven levels of a pyramid, and everyone needs to have all seven levels to be met in order to be truly happy.  Basic things like food and security are at the bottom, and they form the basis of everything.  Then esteem,  accomplishment and love.  It was made back in the 1970’s, but then was revised in 2010.  Then they revised it again in 2334 to include a clean environment and a well paying job as important for people to feel secure and have a sense of well-being..”

“Exactly!! And the Affini are here providing all that, Kitten”, Laria said as her wings fluttered.  “Pick a need and the Affini are providing it.”

“Yer got..ummm…what yer called ‘ccomplishment.  Well…even iff’n yer no a floret, das easy.  Pick yer goal and jest do it.  Iff’n yer a floret…well, das e’en easier.  Pick yer goal, an tell yer Affini ‘bout it.  They’ll help, yea, and they get e’en more pride in seein ya achieve.”  Dugilit nodded as they spoke.  “Me, woodworkin.  Always wan’ed ta try me hand, but wood be frightful expensive in The Nick, iff’n ye could find’t.  Told Mistress ‘bout it, en we had tools en classes en she smiled brighta’na  star seeing me first spoon.”  He smiled, remembering.  “Still got it hung in me kitchen.

Kitten nodded, lost in thought.  What she’d seen so far was certainly not remotely anything like she’d heard.  Everyone was…well, nobody was in the mines.  Everyone was happy, and they were being cared for…She took a deep breath, and decided that she was going to take a chance.  

She was a bit quieter for the rest of the time that she was in the lobby, and after a while, Gladialis came over, after looking at her.  Head cocked in the way that she had when she was noticing something, the Affini asked Kitten if she was ready to head upstairs.  After a few goodbyes, she said hello to Elie and looked out the window as the elevator rose up.  Looking up and out, she saw buildings with other lights, “stars” in the sky, and even the lights of another hab ring.  Once they were back in the hab, she turned to Gladialis.

“Ummm…I’m just gonna…gonna read for a bit before supper, ok?”, she said, sounding as tired as she felt.  She was certainly feeling drained, in addition to just feeling tired.  An odd combination.

Gladialis nodded, smiling gently at the Terran.  “Of course, little one.  How about something smaller and a bit easier to make?  Hmmm….Toads in a Hole?  It’s normally breakfast food, but who cares?”, she said with a smile.  

“Ummm..a what?  Is that food?  Toads…aren’t they frogs?  I was reading somewhere that they were amphibians that ate insects”, said a confused Kitten.

“Well, you’re not wrong.  This is a food that comes from England, on Terra.  And their naming conventions for…well, everything, was an interesting one.  But I’m going to serve the American version, which is far quicker and easier, ok?  Why don’t you read, freshen up, and I'll call you when it’s ready?”, she said, already going to the compiler, vines taking out some pans and whisks and things.  

“Sure,'' she said, and then debated climbing up onto the counter.  ‘Nah, she cooks there, that’s rude,’ she thought, and sighed.  “Gladialis?  Can you fill the water bottle, please?” she asked, and Gladialis quickly filled it.  Water bottle and tablet in hand, she freshened up and then  climbed the couch.   She sat there reading about xenodrugs again, she paused  for a second and raised her head.  “Hey, Lena?”

“Yes, cutie?” the AI asked her.

“Can you play some music, please?”  she asked and was delighted when the AI chirped back an affirmative.

“Such a polite little dear!!  Would you like to listen to the collection called ‘Kitten’s mix’?”

“Oh…um….sure”, she said, blinking as apparently the AI had saved her earlier preferences.  The music started, a song about how the sophont was beautiful no matter what.  Listening, finding that she enjoyed this one, she asked Lena to set aside the name and title in a separate list.  Once that was done, she went back to her research, digging a foot into the tight space in between the cushions.

  Class-Z’s were a group of xenodrugs that were used to regulate sleep-wake cycles, and could help treat all sorts of insomnia.  They were also used to peacefully subdue sophonts without causing harm.  Kitten blinked for a second as she absorbed that.  The Affini were just putting it out there.  That pink swirly gas…..it was aerosolized Class-Z.  And they were so confident in things that they just told sophonts what they were using.  Shaking her head, she went back to reading, now curious about how they worked.  She sipped from her water as she read.  There were several different subtypes, in addition to an antagonist.  Kind of like a super-caffeine which had a warning that repeated use was dangerous and was grounds for compulsory Domestication.  ‘Makes sense.  You’d die of exhaustion that you’d be unable to feel,’ she thought as she scrolled lower down.  THAT one worked by inhibiting the transition of beta waves in the brain to alpha, keeping the brain awake and ready for action, in addition to promoting a slow release of catecholamines into the bloodstream, in addition to epinephrine.  There was a genetic similarity to another class, a certain type of Class-A commonly called cerysinil that could bring on wakefulness and increased focus, along with a strident warning to never mix the two.   

There was another subtype of Class-Z that gave vivid dreams by increasing the length of time that theta waves propagated in the brain.  Theta waves were the measurements of the brains activity during dreaming, she knew, an active brain in a non-active body.  There were even documented reports of the sophonts in question being able to recall their dreams with greater clarity.  Going back to the section before, she read it again, going over the mechanics of how it worked.  The basic action was that it worked on the hypothalamus to overproduce and “dump” a massive amount of GABA, a neurotransmitter that basically relaxed arousal centers in the brain.  At the same time, adenosine was released, which induced sleep, and the pineal gland released a large amount of melatonin into the brain.  On it’s own, each of these things might make a sophont sleepy.  But taken in aggregate, they rapidly transitioned a sophont from wake to deep sleep.  Scans of Terrans showed the transition from “waking” Beta and Gamma waves to the deep sleep Delta waves.  A multi-pronged approach, and one that worked, according to the data.  She notated everything, interested in them.

One caught her eye.  It was a subtype called Class-Z-h, and was used for sophonts who were in stasis pods.  ‘Just like the urn’, she thought, ‘but larger.  For transport?  Or maybe to keep them alive until a doctor can be found, or surgery in cases of trauma’, she reasoned.  Nicknamed “Hibernation”, she was intrigued.  It suppressed Delta waves even further, basically slowing the brain down to almost negligible amounts of activity.  Which made sense, since brain activity would increase oxygen consumption and cellular activity, which was the opposite of stasis.  But also because the sophont would be awake during the whole time that they were in stasis, which could be… She shuddered at the thought of an active brain stuck in a stasis pod, unable to move but able to think and feel for years.  Shaking her head, she went back and began to read something different.  Another vampire story, this one a recommendation from Gladialis.  ‘Salems Lot, it was called, and it started out great.  She settled down, sipping water and looking up as she sniffed, smelling something really delicious.

“Dinner is ready!!” Gladialis said as she appeared in the living room.  She watched as Kitten carefully put her tablet down and jumped off the couch, landing easily and bouncing up.  “Well, good to see that your acrobatics are unchanged”, she said with a smile as she watched Kitten climb up into her chair.  “Here you go, little one!!  One American style Toad in the Hole!!” as she slid a plate down in front of the little Terran.

Kitten stared at the plate.  It, in fact, did not look anything at all like what she expected.  It certainly did not look like an amphibian.  In fact, it looked like…”Ummm… What is it?”, she asked Gladialis.

“Well, this is the american version, so it’s a an egg cooked inside a buttered piece of toast.  The English version, from Britain, is far different.  But that one takes a bit more effort and time, and you look all tuckered out, as they say,” Gladialis said.  “i’ll make that one another time.  It got its name, allegedly, because the egg, or the sausage, looked like a toad sticking its head from a hole”, she said as Kitten began to eat.  

Kitten forced herself to slow down for the second piece of toast, since she was done with the first one in short order.  Taking a drink of water, she chewed, tasting a bunch of different spices on each, as if Gladialis was experimenting with what she enjoyed.  Once she was done, she thanked Gladialis, and as her plate was taken and washed, she jumped down.  Mind whirling, she walked out of the room, and quickly got into her pajamas.  She brushed her teeth, jumped off the counter in the bathroom and heard the now-familiar, “What was that?” from the kitchen.  

“Just Kitten jumping…..again,” Lena said.

“Oh.  Good point”, Gladialis said as she finished washing the dishes from dinner and turned to find Kitten standing there in her pajamas.  “Dirt!!”, she said, jumping slightly.  “You REALLY enjoy doing that, don’t you?”, she asked with a wry grin.

“Ummm…can…I…ummm…”, she hummed, holding her plushie as she squirmed, turning beet red.

Gladialis took pity on the poor girl.  “Whatever it is, Kitten, if it’s within my power, you’ll have it.  So why don’t we go to the living room and you can tell me what it is that you need, ok?”  She followed Kitten to the couch, and after watching Kitten climb up and sit in her usual spot, Gladialis sat down.  Watching as Kitten scratched her arms, dug her foot into the space, and generally displayed all the signs of anxiety that Gladialis would expect to see, her vines itched to pick her up and soothe her.  To make her smile and smooth the worry lines on her face.  She wasn’t sure what was making Kitten so scared, but whatever it was, Gladialis was going to solve it.  If she had to single-vine-dly Domesticate half the universe, she’d do it.  “It’s ok, Kitten.  No shame or judgment, ok?  You’re ok, no matter what.”  She smiled and focused on Kitten, who swallowed hard and spoke again.

“So..umm…,” she said, blushing and nervous.  “I…ummm…I've been having these nightmares, right?  Fucking scary as fuck.  And I was doing research…and…umm”, she said, twisting the hem of her shirt as her other foot dug into another space in the couch cushions.  “Ummmm…ireallywannatryaclasszandseeifithelps”, she blurted, and swallowed hard.  This was worse than her first shift in the ICU as a brand new nurse.

Gladialis nodded slowly, a bit surprised.  She wasn’t sure that Kitten could even be near an Affini without squeaking, let alone take Xenodrugs  Granted, she’d only been here four days, but still…..  “If you’re absolutely sure, Kitten, then of course.  I’m happy to help in any way that I can.  But you’re better off taking this in your bed, because Class Z’s work really fast.  And I don't have the oral forms of anything on hand, I sort of wasn’t expecting this.”

Kitten nodded, and got off the couch, jumping and then walking to the bedroom.  Sitting on her bed, she watched as Gladialis came in and knelt next to the bed.  

“Kitten?  Are you sure?  I don’t want you to think that this is something you have to do.  We can try something else if you want”, she said, wanting to make sure that Kitten was doing this of her own will.  It HAD to be her own choice, or…no.  It was, Gladialis told herself that.  Repeatedly.  

She nodded.  “Yea.  I…ummmm…I wanna try.”

“As you wish, Kitten.”  A vine grew from Gladialis’s forearm, snaking its way through the air towards Kitten.  The little Terran flinched as it moved, and it paused, began to withdraw.  “No…please.  I…I don’t want to have any nightmares tonight.  Please, Gladialis, I just want a night of sleep where I don't wake up screaming.  Where I don’t have to be back there.  Please,” she begged.  She was tired, so very tired.  Gladialis clearly was torn, but the vine resumed its prior course.  A foot or so away, the tip opened, blooming into a gorgeous yellow flower with red streaks inside.  No needles, just a soft fuzzy look to the inside.  But it looked off center, the petals on the lower half longer and wider.  It was a mask, she realized.  Even now, Gladialis was giving her the choice.  “Will…will it hurt?  Or feel weird?” she asked.

“No, Kitten.  It’s as simple as taking a breath, and just as painless.  Nothing but much-needed rest.”

She reached out, flinching again as she took hold of the vine.  It was warm, pliant in a way that she’d not expected, and just sat there in her hand.  She could feel little irregularities, as well as something that felt almost like small hairs.  She sat there for a moment, just examining the vine.  She’d seen the other Affini use them almost as extensions of their hands, as Gladialis had when she was cooking.  But this was the first time that she’d been in contact with one willingly.  “I’m…umm…sorry for…for flinching”, she said.  “It’s just…”  

“Shhh, it’s ok.  I understand completely, and it’s ok, Kitten.  Worry not.”  Gladialis didn’t move, merely sat there as Kitten explored her vine.  Like a newborn kitten, cautiously examining the world outside its crate.  Sarthusea had sent her the video, squealing and telling her that her ward “reminds me of this and oh Roots you need to watch this right now!!!”  Turns out she wasn’t wrong.

Kitten took a deep breath, thinking this decision over.  What was one night? Maybe she’d not have any nightmares tonight?  But what if she did?  But so far everything that Gladialis had said was true...everything.  Maybe she should just...Taking a chance, she raised the mask to her face, the vine moving easily, as if it was waiting for her to make the decision.  And it was, she knew.  Gladialis would never force anything on her.

And she breathed in the sweet smelling pollen.