"But all she could read is regret"

The laborer has paused again.

It is unclear to Scraps of Coral why this keeps happening. She has seen this creature endure many hardships without growing weary. There are countless times of danger that seemed impossible to avoid, only for the laborer to overcome it. They are constantly on the move, whether it be land or water. And despite everything they never seem exhausted by the time they reach shelter or the destination that is Passing Time.

So why is it that every so often, Ice in Summer finds themselves stopping on their mission, only to sit in silence? Leaving themselves out in the open much longer than Coral wanted, and wasting such little time they have. They never do anything when they stop too, they just stare off into the distance or look at the ground. Coral doesn't like it.

She can never understand her own peers' thoughts, let alone the thoughts of a slugcat that seemed well beneath her. She beckoned for them to come over. They do so slowly, dragging their paws along the earth. Their head is down and looking away from Coral's teal overseer. It's obvious they don't want to bother with the iterator's demands right now. But even so, the antenna is still in range for communication.

Scraps of Coral designed these antennas originally for the few loyal scavengers that she does trading with. It's common for them to come and go, some move on to new locations while others die. But she had grown fond of the more frequent visitors. They have always been the most clever and persistent when it came to errands. And since then, it inspired her to work on a new invention that would revolutionize her communications. A simple implant in their skulls—a harmless procedure when done right—would allow her to deliver messages similar to the way her overseers would communicate with others. That way if there were any changes to her list, she could contact them and give a thorough update on what to grab instead.

This never got tested with the scavengers. Coral had planned to, that is until a new visitor came to her superstructure. It was a long orange slugcat, with remarkable whiskers and gills. She's heard of the little creatures before, but she had never gotten the chance to meet one. Especially one with a mark of communication. It must have been fate considering how they somehow knew about Passing Time. They had met the dying iterator in their superstructure, which was now falling apart. She doesn't know if Passing Time had sent them here or if it was just a coincidence, but now she can finally do something useful instead of dealing with her emotional colleagues. This was a chance to restore Passing Time. So Summer was the first subject to receive this implant, allowing Coral to communicate easily.

As soon as they were close enough to the overseer, Coral immediately sent a message.

[YOU NEED TO QUIT PAUSING FOR NO REASON. I SEE THAT YOU ARE NOT INJURED, EXHAUSTED, OR HUNGRY. THEREFORE, THERE IS NO NEED FOR YOU TO PAUSE.]

Summer didn't look back up. They didn't seem to care at the moment. They only flicked their tail in irritation, giving enough of an answer to make Coral annoyed.

[THERE IS NO NEED TO ACT LIKE THIS. PASSING TIME'S FATE IS IN OUR HANDS, AND I DO NOT WANT TO KEEP THEM WAITING.]

Suddenly, Summer barged away from the overseer in a rude manner. Their ears were flicking and their feet kicked up back at Coral. They began marching off in the directions Coral gave them earlier. But she was willing to put aside that behavior for now. At least they were getting back to work.

...

It didn't take much longer for the cycle to come to a close. The rain was beginning to pour, and the laborer retreated into a nearby shelter. They crawled in through the tight tunnels, falling belly-first onto the ground and refusing to get back up. Coral popped by to deliver one final message before they went to sleep.

[WE ARE CLOSE TO PASSING TIME'S STRUCTURE. I WILL LOOK TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY SHORTCUTS WHILE YOU REST. IF YOU DO NOT SEE ME WHEN YOU WAKE UP, THEN CONTINUE GOING THE NORMAL ROUTE.]

They only flicked their tail again and brought their paws to their head. Their ears and eyes were covered, trying to shut out Coral's words. Their attitude hasn't changed since that talk, and now Coral was getting bothered by it. Her laborer can't be throwing a fit or slacking off right now. Not when they are so close to restoring more power to Passing Time. It's moments like this that Scraps of Coral find emotions tedious. It's complicated, and she doesn't like things that are too complicated to understand clearly. Organic life always seems like that though, and for some reason while Remnants and Blue Skies can understand that, she can't. It's all just pointless and stupid in her eyes.

She was about ready to leave the slugcat alone and work on the shortcut plans, but the idea of something being wrong haunted her. She can't afford to lose Summer right now, and the fear of them abandoning the mission was strong. She needed to find out what was wrong. And lucky for her, there was something she could do. Because at that moment, she remembered the other feature that the antennae implant brings to the table.

Not only was it for far-away communication, but it was also for status updates. If she wished, she could tune into the installed chip and be able to get a reading on their conditions and thoughts. It's not strong enough to completely understand every little thing, but enough to get a basis on whether the helper is deceased or if they have no intentions of helping her. It's handy for those who don't have much of a voice to give.

Ice in Summer laid there on the metal floor. They were curled up with their tail wrapped around their body, and their paws still covering their face. It was the perfect moment now to tune in since there would be no other thoughts to get in the way. This was Coral's opportunity before they fell asleep. So she cut out all of her own thoughts. She focused in, using her own upgraded antennas to reach out to Summer's signal.

The first thing she noticed was how cloudy their thoughts were. It was most likely because they were drifting off to sleep. But she was still able to search through to find any underlining feelings that wouldn't be leaving their head tonight. Something that was strong enough to affect them for long periods of time. Coral's main goal was to find a reason for the problem. She needed to know why they were acting up so she can fix it. Maybe she did something to annoy them, or maybe they were feeling unwell. And the more she dug into these thoughts, the more clear it became for her. She was finally able to get a reading of what Summer was feeling.

Regret. 

From what she could gather, this doesn't seem to be a new feeling or at least something that was stirred up recently. It wasn't regret against working for Coral, which made her feel a bit better. But whatever this was, it was complicated. Scraps of Coral is unable to see Summer's memories As cool as it sounds, she has yet to figure out if it's even possible. So no matter what, it would be hard to put together the whole story on her own. Making claims isn't easy when you can't ask the subject for information. However, there was one underlining thing she could tell. There were certain thoughts that were associated with regret, often coming up when the feeling was at hand. She tried focusing more to figure out what those thoughts were.

Regret. Unforgiven. Abandonment. Rejected. Family. Sibling. 

For once in Coral's life, she feels very strong emotions. Painful emotions. Enough to break someone's heart. Now she is not so sure if she wants to hear any more of Summer's thoughts. So she leaves the slugcat to their anguish and starts looking at their routes. After all, offering comfort has never been her strong suit.