After Aster nonchalantly accepted her eventual godhood, Ikina left and Artemis became enthralled in something on a small device in front of him. After a few moments of standing there, Aster asked what was supposed to happen now.

Artemis suggested she go to bed. She was tired enough to agree, though somewhat let down nothing of further excitement was to happen, and allowed one of the creatures to guide her to a bedroom. Then she fell asleep.

The next morning- or, next wake, as her room had no windows and she wasn't sure how time worked in space anyways- she got up and found new clothes had been placed by her bedside.

They were definitely the sort of future wear Aster had been expecting, but she was not pleased with their overall fit. Instead of pants she had some sort of thick, fleece-lined stockings, and she had a long shirt instead of a dress. Still, she had never been the type to fuss over clothes, and accepted she probably needed to look like she fit in.

Of course, that would be impossible, as there didn't seem to be a single human aboard the ship. She stepped into the hall with the intention of exploration, and all she found was a great many creatures. She gave a half wave to the first few she met, and said hello, but they did not show any sign of response.

The ship seemed fairly long, and there were no maps to be found. While the idea of aliens had sustained itself in Renen culture, there were few people who had spent time documenting these laughable accusations, so Aster had no basis of knowledge to work off of when confronted with what was definitely a spaceship. In space! With... dog aliens.

She tried to take note of everything she saw, but after twenty minutes of wandering, she seemed to have seen it all. The halls were bright, narrow, and grey. The aliens all looked fairly similar, with only slight changed in coloring. There were few rooms she could enter, and the ones she could were mostly metal boxes with a couple beds in them. Once or twice, she found a small medical room.

Eventually she realized she had turned enough corners to end up where she had begun, gave up on her exploration, and sought out Artemis.

He was sitting in the bridge- she didn't know why that word came to mind, but it seemed to fit- on the same chair as before, sitting in the same way. It was like he hadn't moved all night.

"How long does it take to become a god?" Aster asked him.

"Any amount of time. Could be a day if you're desperate to rush. Ioro is the one this benefits, and I doubt he isn't capable of seeing every 'change' godhood brings you no matter what arrangement of time it takes."

"I'm not interested in a day." Aster said. She had just been curious. "Though. Do you know? You called me Laila's niece last night, which isn't... really possible, is it?"

"I was being facetious, yes." Artemis said. Aster breathed a sigh of relief. "But according to Ikina, you used to call her your aunt. So I had imagined that would not be something you'd need to turn to me for, answers-wise. I do not know it."

Aster narrowed her eyes and thought. Repressed memories- well, they had never been that. Illogical memories. Daydreams that had mixed together with reality. And she did not remember calling Laila an aunt, but she did remember having an aunt. An aunt who was Laila, the great god of the land?

That... was worrying.

"I guess." Aster stuck to saying. She blinked a few times, listening to the humming of the bridge's machines. "How does one become a god?"

"Well, anyway one likes." Artemis said with a teasing tone.

"Are there... textbooks... involved?" Aster was really not sure where this conversation was going.

"Anyone can be a god with enough confidence. All it takes is the authority to stride out there and declare a planet yours. Check in every so often, rile the people up a bit, and let them fester. Enough careful tending and you'll have worshippers by the millions."

"Isn't there something beyond that though? I mean, Ikina can transport themself at will instantly, shape-shifts, and I think gets some sort of energy from prayer. Not sure about that last one, but surely they get their energy from somewhere." The idea of prayers and worship being energy to the gods was actually a common religious belief, but Aster didn't want to sound foolish in front of Artemis.

"Ioro is... different from gods like me and potentials like you. Powers like shape-shifting and teleportation are all achievable, but Ioro is not a good model of comparison when it comes time for you to practice them. You'll end up a lot like me, probably. All the practical power with minimal supernatural elements."

"What's so different about them?"

"It's- It's in his blood, I believe." Artemis seemed oddly unsure with his answer, squinting down at his hands while thinking.

Aster paused. "But how do I begin?"

Artemis gave a fast smile, but it was not a friendly one. His face did not seem to have the disposition to smile. "Get creative." He said. "Ioro doesn't want you practicing genetics, so we'll take the good road and only practice on animals. Humans later, if you're skilled." He threw some sort of plastic object at Aster, who caught it in her hands. "Think of something ridiculous and we'll try to bring it to life."

Aster examined the plastic he had thrown her. It seemed to just be an overly high tech drawing board, and she unfolded it and sat down. "I can't actually draw." She said, ten minutes later when the board was full of bad doodles of animals that looked mostly like blobs.

Artemis got up and looked over at her work. "I never said you had to draw. List. Write out thoughts. I'm going easy on you with this- honestly, I'll make sure whatever monstrosity you try and put together doesn't die from a coding error."

Even if she didn't have to draw, Aster was not suited for creative endeavors. Of course, everything was so high tech here that she couldn't say she excelled in technology anymore either. Excelling in technology back home was being able to make a projector work at school or knowing that for most machines to work, they had to be plugged in.

If she had been asked why the drawing board in front of her was able to follow her touch and save drawings, she would have likely decided on something along the lines of 'witchcraft' and left it at that.

After a good twenty minutes of brainstorming, Artemis again stood up to look at her work. He picked up her board and held it close to his face like he was near-sighted, then titled his head. "I almost forgot you have a ridiculous written language. You'll have to narrate this to me."

"Oh. Right." Aster said. Somehow, she had forgotten that barriers of language could exist. "You're speaking the same language as me!" She said, almost alarmed it had taken her this long to realize how odd it was for an alien to speak her language.

"There are many planets with the same language. There's little clusters of language throughout each galaxy, and considering this ship's not really built for long distance traveling, I've been keeping in the same district for centuries. On a good, natural planet you see hundred of languages develop, but those are pretty rare."

On her planet, there really was just one language- most countries had a few dialects with a couple unique words, but the barrier of language was never a problem. Aster had never realized how odd that was until now.

"Natural?"

"Well, Ioro made your planet. Out of all the things that surprise you, that shouldn't be one of them. But without the interference of gods, life still can develop. Sure, sometimes it's as simple as an inhabited planet getting hit by a meteorite and a chunk of ice and bacteria getting tossed about the void for a while. But the end result is a planet utterly unique. And not home to humans."

"How many planets are there? Are many home to humans?"

"Humans are everywhere." Artemis said with exhaustion. "I can't quite express distaste, being one myself and helping spread them myself, but humans are the go-to sentient inhabitant for any god trying to make their name."

"So there's thousands of planets, all exactly the same and filled with humans?"

"Roughly. Some get more creative." He ran a hand through his purple hair to demonstrate this fact. "Don't freak out so much, kid. Every planet ends up developing different cultures and leading different futures. It's just that some gods, like Ioro, really love their humans. Now, read me your notes, here. Let's not get too off topic."

It didn't seem very off topic, but she complied. "If you want me to create new animals, I guess I was thinking- Like, a cat. But underwater."

"Exactly a cat, but exclusively aquatic?"

"Yes."

"Does it really need fur, then? A cat's tail is utterly useless as a flipper, so what purpose is it to serve? How do its eyes fair from constant exposure to water and increased pressure? How does it mate, and give birth to its young? This isn't about a few keywords. It's about messing around with concepts until you create something that could have evolved on its own."

Aster crossed out half her board, the one devoted to the words 'water cat' and a crude drawing of a cat underwater, in frustration. "The only other thing I have is... like, a bear. But smaller, and it can climb trees. Like a squirrel. But I don't have any more specific details than that."

"You don't need to have a chart of how everything works. My earlier questions were just an example of the level of thought I want you to put to this. Placing a common animal underwater is not quite the landmark idea of the century." He took the board back from Aster, wiped it clean with a tap, and folded it away. "We'll use your miniature bear idea as a model."

"What happens next, then?"

"We construct one, seen what goes wrong, and construct another."

"How long will that take?"

Artemis gave a sigh of exasperation. "A few seconds. I know your planet is a mix of technology bordering on anachronism, but I'd hoped you'd adapt quicker than this. I take all my machines from civilizations far ahead of the level of knowledge you're comfortable with. We'll likely visit some of these places. You need to accept that the concept of designing and creating artificial life- and any other high tech mechanics we'll be examining- are all very simple to use."

"Okay. Fine. I was just curious."

"Only think, don't wonder."