Miles and Maya's North Atlantic Adventure

"We're parrots, Maya. Not humans. We can't do this."

Miles slouched against the massive, green-tinted crystal that served as the boat's steering wheel and stared at the map in his hands.

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, continuing to scowl into the open ocean before them. She had been doing exactly that for hours; her eyes were red, her skin was hot, and her feathers were ruffled. "You've told me a hundred times how we're just like humans," she continued. "We have opposable thumbs, we are capable of speech, you've even said we could even procreate with them."

"Yes! But that's not what I meant!" Miles snapped, standing up straight and pointing at her. "I mean it doesn't matter how similar we might be to humans because our brains are *not* human! Our prefrontal cortexes won't function properly in this environment! We'll lose our minds if we try to stay here any longer!"

"Well then let's go back home," she said, looking off into the sky instead of at him as he continued to rant. The sun was setting; it was getting darker outside, but the stars were already starting to shine brightly above them.

"Maya... I can't go back there." He had begun to cry again; he hadn't stopped crying since he'd left his sister behind on land. He turned away from her and pressed his face into his wings. He didn't want her to see him like this anymore than he wanted to see himself like this. Maya walked over to him and put an arm around his shoulder in a gesture of comfort that only made him feel worse: he knew she felt terrible about seeing him this way, but they both knew there wasn't anything she could do about it. She couldn't help him get better when she was standing right there with him every second of every day feeling just as bad. And so they continued onward without hope or reprieve as they searched for their lost city far out at sea amidst a purple-tinged night sky lit by orange and yellow stars.

No one understood their situation more than each other, but Miles still couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth about why he had fled their world. It wasn't because he was afraid for his sanity; it was because he thought she would hate him if he told her the truth about who had truly driven him from home and what they'd done to him while he was gone. His sister had explained everything else to her when Maya had asked why he hadn't returned after so long:

"They used him for sex," she'd said fearfully, looking down at the letter in her hand that contained all the details of what Miles had endured while away from them all those years ago. "They forced themselves onto him over and over again until they got pregnant."

Maya hadn't known what that meant exactly since their kind didn't reproduce sexually like humans did; they reproduced through cloning technology that took place in labs throughout their civilization - labs that weren't controlled by humans but instead by other parrots like themselves who were suppose to help them find a cure for their disease rather than use them for sex slaves as Miles' captors had done repeatedly on top of all his other torments over those long months away from home when Maya had been unable to reach out to him through time or space for fear of being discovered herself.

She hadn't known much about any of these things until Miles went missing - what a human would call 'missing'. They'd never been taught about any of these things in school or by their parents because they were supposed to be learning about science and medicine so they could cure themselves of their disease so they could live normal lives just like other intelligent creatures such as dogs or dolphins or elephants across Earth who were able to live happy lives despite being burdened with physical ailments brought on by natural causes such as birth defects or injuries or illness brought on by predators or natural disasters like earthquakes. But then again Maya hadn't learned about any of this stuff until after Miles went missing because even though he liked spending time with humans he always kept people from talking too much about himself or his family because most people didn't know how special they really were aside from their obvious differences from everyone else around them due to the fact that they could talk and walk upright along with dozens of other key factors that made them different from other animals such as bats or bears or tigers or monkeys who lived among humans around the world but never interacted with them beyond simply passing each other on sidewalks along busy streets where some people lived and worked alongside others thanks primarily due to some genetic quirk unique only among them - unique only among Miles Malone's family... unique only among Maya Jones' family... unique only among thousands upon thousands more across Earth hidden amongst unsuspecting crowds of people who never realized how very important they really were... never realized how very special they really were... never realized how very lucky they really were...