Peppy Pusher returned a few days later, red-eyed, sore, and exhausted, to a sight she never thought she’d find: Logistics completely calm and organized. With it was something she’d somehow expected even less: Cypress, sitting at one of the desks, going over a report, looking up at her when she entered, and smiling. “Oh, hey, welcome back, boss.” Later he would treasure the thunderstruck expression on her face.
Naturally, she asked to see what progress he’d made with regards to digitization, and he was only happy to show her. She managed to prevent her eyes from bugging out, but could not contain her surprise and incredulity. “Everything?”
“Everything, yep.”
“All the reports, everything’s been counted up?”
“As thoroughly as I could. You’re free to check if you think I—”
“No, no, I’m sure you got everything. Still, I’m surprised. I would have expected you’d still have a little left over.”
Cypress, abashed, chuckled. “Well, not to make it a point or anything, but I had a lot of free time, so I thought I might as well go all out.”
Peppy nodded, and though she refrained from smiling, she gazed at him, impressed. “We may make you a logician yet,” she said. Cypress maintained his smile even as he repressed a shiver; getting his boss to admire him felt prophetically disconcerting.
When she was gone, Kai, who had been listening from outside, whistled. “You sure you don’t want to tell her you had help? She might make you do more work as a reward. Might not even let you transfer out anymore.”
“Now you tell me. I’m seriously reassessing letting you two help,” Cypress replied.
They trotted out of Logistics to find Station Thirteen awake and lively. Engineers, technicians, and astronomers raced up and down the corridors, spouting off numbers and orders to their walkie-talkies. The PA system played live updates of what was happening, though it was largely a garble to their ears. Everything tingled with barely suppressed anticipation, yet Cypress and Kai continued at a leisurely pace.
“Anycreature else bothering you?” Cypress asked.
“Nah, not particularly. The guards still give me the stink-eye whenever I see them, but I’m starting to think they give that to everypony. Easier to ignore, at any rate.”
“And the engineer?”
“The other one, the female—she told me that he transferred out recently. I guess that’s the best decision any of us could have made.”
“It’s not your fault, you know.”
“I know.”
“That’s good. And your project?”
They rounded the corner, making their way to the cafeteria. “Like I told Roccu, it’ll take a bit, but it should have made considerable progress by this time next year.”
“Just in time for the next sighting. You think you can work that fast?”
“Contacting the proper manufactures to find the necessary parts, discussing the basics of robotic engineering with field experts, working out how to write and understand blueprints?” Kai shrugged. “Honestly, I’ve worked harder jobs at other places, and with even less time available.” Cypress couldn’t help but chuckle.
When they entered the cafeteria, they stopped to scan the throng of ponies. Kai spotted what they were looking for and pointed a hoof in that direction. “There.”
Roccu was cleaning and dusting the area. It stopped as the pair approached. “Master Kai, Master Cypress! I trust your supervisor was quite satisfied with your work?”
“Maybe too satisfied. Couldn’t you have made it look a little sloppy?”
“Sloppiness is outside the scope of my programming. Besides, I quite enjoyed the counting.”
“And what’s your excuse?” Cypress asked Kai.
“I got swept up in the fervor of good work.” Kai gestured to Roccu. “You got a few minutes for a quick break?”
“A quick break? Oh, I don’t know. There’s still so much to do—”
“Come on. It won’t be long. Our treat.”
Roccu beeped. “I… I couldn’t ask you for this. You’ve already done so much—keeping my theft to yourself, adjusting the digital records so that—”
“It’s fine,” Cypress said, smiling. “Besides, you definitely don’t want to miss this.”
Roccu was convinced, and followed them out of the cafeteria back into the corridor. They could not have chosen a better time. The PA system announced the telescope had spotted it. With a whirl of gear and machinery, every window in the station collapsed into a set of screens projecting exactly what the massive lens had picked up. The lights in the corridor dimmed and all the noise settled into an anticipatory silence. Even wayward Cypress was caught up in the splendor of waiting.
His mind traveled back to that night in the storeroom, after he and Kai had promised not to tell anyone about the thefts. “It’d be an easy enough thing to falsify,” Cypress had told the repentant thief. “Besides, it’s not like anypony was hurt.”
Roccu didn’t understand. “But why? I have committed a crime. All for a selfish reason. Why this gesture of courtesy?”
Kai had been the one to answer. Their answer seemed to echo around Cypress as he, the Changeling, and the robot all turned their view to the screens, which now displayed a darkness so thick, one would have thought there’d been a malfunction. Then, there was a spark, and a gasp that rang throughout the station—a gasp of astonishment, discovery, and thrilling satisfaction. It was accompanied by the most marvelous sight: that of a pair of pearlescent bodies twirling eternally in a dance that stretched the cosmos. The comets had come.
“Because,” Kai had said, and which Cypress now remembered, “no one deserves to feel alone.”
The End