[If you can gather up at least one of the Harpia, I think that we have something that will work. The virtual reality simulation isn’t perfect at predicting the interaction of medications with various physiologies, but from what I can tell, human-developed medicines should work on the Harpia.] Nico informed Max a half hour later.

[I will go talk to them and see how they feel about testing a medication for memory. I’m sure that at some point in the past, there have been other attempts.] Max replied, then began to look up their addresses.

There was a short pause, and then Nico sent another message. [Possibly not. They are officially semi-sentient species from an advanced planet where they are the minority. According to the research team, they’re loveable idiots, so it might not have occurred to anyone else that there could be a reason to change them. Some planets basically keep them as pets but call it a live-in employment contract, like with the slime maids, except the slimes just refuse to leave.]

That made Max check over the employment applications, and he found that the four were assisted in their applications for off-world work by the Black Market and that they had been left behind on a ship that had been sold.

The Harpia hadn’t been informed that they were fired, so they just assumed that they would keep working in the same place, but the ship was being retrofitted for cargo, and the new owner found them all jobs on Absolution.

Max searched for their minds to see if they really were only semi-sentient. If they were, then no amount of memory medication would help much. But, he didn’t think that was the case, as they functioned quite well in society other than their memory issues.

Sure enough, he found the four families all at home in the same building, getting ready for the parents to go to work for the night while the kids were playing video games. Their thoughts were no more primitive than most, but Max noticed as he travelled that their train of thought had no branches. They just went with whatever they were thinking, and what they weren’t still thinking of simply vanished from their minds.

Sometimes they would be able to pull it back up, and almost certainly, if they had deemed it to be quite important, but their memory just didn’t want to keep all the little details. That was a common affliction for Mecha Pilots who had taken head injuries, and humans had developed a huge number of treatment methods for it over the millennia.

Everything from medication to cybernetic implants that would help restore the lost function was possible if the brain couldn’t be healed well enough to recover on its own.

Max arrived at the building and found his way to the sixth floor, where all four families stayed. It seemed that the rooms were arranged for them by their boss, a black market arms dealer who ran the club they worked at, so he had just put them all in one spot so he could send someone to find them if they were late.

In fact, he was thinking about it now, as shift change was in an hour, and he wanted to remind someone to check on them since they were some of his highest earners.

[Boss Su, this is Commander Keres Max. I am visiting your employees at the moment, with an offer to help them with their memory issues using human technology. I will bring them to the club when we are finished.] Max informed the man with a text message.

[Understood, Commander. I don’t know who told you, but it means a lot to me that you would go so far to look after your tenants. If you need more time, let me know, and I will give them time off.]

Max didn’t bother to mention that this was for their good, not because their boss was a Black Market bigwig from a non-Alliance species who was intending to work on a trade deal to move human weapons through his connections.

Max knocked on the first door, and all four opened at once, with eight inquisitive heads looking out into the hallway. All eight spoke in rough unison, all with the same conclusion.

“It’s not work time yet, is it? I thought we had more time. We will finish up quickly.”

“It’s not work time yet. I came to ask you if you would like to try a human medication that should help you with your memory. Our species often suffer memory issues if our heads are injured, so we have developed a lot of treatments over the years.” Max informed them all as a group.

“Medicine, like when we’re sick? We’re not sick, are we? Oh, we should see the clinic if we’re sick. I put the location in the notes.” One of the Harpia replied.

“No, not because you’re sick, but to make your memory better. How do I put it, to make your lives easier, as a luxury, not because you’re sick.”

A small Harpia giggled in the background. “Humans are funny. They made luxury medicine for memories, instead of the little blue pills that the Giants take when their feenis don’t work right.”

The rest of the group, Max included, began to giggle at that, but after a moment, Max turned serious again. “How about it? Would you like to give it a try?”

The eight adults looked at each other, then nodded. “We can do it now if you have it or after work if we need more time.”

Max mentally checked the location of Nico and the Medical Research Team and found that they were directly above him in the labs, less than two minutes away by transport pod, and luckily not halfway across the ship.

“We have time before you go to work. Have you finished eating and fed the little ones?”

The Harpia all nodded. “Yep. We’re just naked still. We always forget which outfits go to which days, and we always forget to put the labels that the boss gave us on them after we wash them.”

One on Max’s left shrugged. “It’s not like it actually matters if we match the rest of the workers. The uniforms aren’t that different. I told him to keep the accessories there for when we start our shift, but he didn’t want to give up a private room to make an extra changing room.”

“Alright, come with me up to the medical research wing, and I will get you started.”