"I mean could you class us as human, right?" Laika turns away, slightly offended by the prompt.

"Of course we're human!" Arden rolls his eyes.

"I mean we were literally made in a lab, and we don't act like humans do" Mae folds her arms, a sucker for playing devil's advocate.

"We still have their anatomy though!" June exclaims, never having pondered the fact that she may not be a person.

"A heavily modified and advanced version," Mae reminds everyone.

"Our bodies function exactly the same! Just a bit more efficiently..." Akari trails off, remembering how he had to take two medical degrees- one for the six of them and one for 'normal' people.

"Then it's just down to philosophy isn't it? What does it mean to be human?" Eros asks, leaning back in his swivel chair.

"I don't know,"

~

"Give it a couple hours, Kari and Kaz will write a song about it," Eros teases.

"Jokes on you I already have the lyrics," Akari responds, "Plus Mae will make a robot that will tell us in a much better way than I ever will,"

"Or even you Ros! I can already imagine the gallery, a massive canvas with your art," Laika holds out her arms, describing the layout of the exhibition.

"Don't forget JJ's dance piece and Denna's short film- together we'll definitely have the answer somewhere,"

~

"We are human, right?"

~

(5 years later🤭)

"Are we even still human?" JJ whispers, holding her new Alcyone Colony citizenship ring, "What is tying us to Earth at the minute?"

"Our mission."