“Todella-Vahvawhiskey. A case,” she says without pause.
Vittu!I should have known that would be her price. How she tolerates the ridiculously expensive, top-shelf igniter fluid she considers liquor is beyond me.
“It’s yours as soon as we get to the next system.”
Igid lets out a littlewhoop,and her image disappears when she disconnects.
Shoving my comm back into my pocket, I find myself back at the med-tube, staring at the female once more.
Her eyes dart back and forth beneath her eyelids, and I wonder what she’s dreaming of. I hope it is pleasant. I press my hand to the glass view screen and catch myself wishing it was the side of her face I was touching instead.
“What is it about you?” I ask, knowing she can’t answer me. “How have you gotten me so tied up in knots?”
The screen to my right flashes. The read-out has finished calculating and displays that the scan will, indeed, take several hours. There is considerable damage caused by the translator the Xar’ads inserted into her head.
I clench my teeth.Those fucking Xar’ads and their venerable tech.The agony she must have gone through at their hands. It takes all of my self-control not to storm back to the other ship and inflict some of that agony back on them. Instead, I stay beside the tube, staring at the alluring woman inside and absently rubbing at the center of my chest, where she has somehow invaded my heart.
8
Anna
The faint sound of beeping, followed by the gentle hiss of… of what, I don’t know, works to rouse me. When I try to open my eyes, I’m met with resistance. When I try to lift my arms, they feel weighted down.
Oh, no. Not again.
Dragging a deep breath into my lungs, I crack one of my eyelids, only to flinch at the bright light. Another breath clears my head a little more. This time, I get both eyes open, but my brain is having trouble processing my surroundings. Nothing is familiar. The light is a cool blue/white, and it illuminates the… tube I’m in.
This time when I raise my arms, they don’t feel so much like lead, but my muscles tremble when I press my hands to the glass panel above me. And when I try to lift it, nothing happens.
How the hell did I get stuck inside this thing?
Curling my fingers, I rap my knuckles against the glass.
“Hello? Is anybody out there?”
A face appears above me, and I jump, letting out a surprised squeak. It takes a moment before recognition hits me, and I realize it’s Rovos staring back at me. He taps his fingertips to the glass above my head, before holding up one finger in the universal sign forhang tight for just a second.
A loud hiss, like the sound of pressure being released, makes me jump again, and then the lid lifts.
“How do you feel?” Rovos asks as he ducks under the lid. He helps me sit, being careful not to jostle me too much.
“Um, groggy,” I admit, swinging my legs over the side. I take a deep breath. “What happened?”
With my hands gripped in his, Rovo looks…Guilty? Sad? Relieved?
“You had an extreme emotional reaction,” he tells me. “I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I brought you here. The med-bot suggested sedating you. Then it mended the damage the Xar’ads’ translator did.”
“Oh.” My fingers go to the spot behind my ear. The disk is still there, but the surrounding skin no longer feels swollen and hot. The near constant throbbing headache has vanished as well. So has some of my anxiousness.
This tube—med-bot—did all that? That’s amazing! One of these could revolutionize healthcare on Earth. Especially in remote places where medical care isn’t always available. A med-bot could buy precious time. It could save lives.
“Thank you,” I say, turning my attention back to Rovos.
He nods, still holding my hands. I find myself focusing on the way his thumbs slowly slide back and forth across the backs of my hands.
“I want you to know that I would never reveal your origins to anyone,” he assures me. “You can trust me, as well as my crew, to keep you safe.”
When I look up from our joined hands, I’m captivated by the brilliant green and gold of his eyes. It’s strange: mostly they appear green with flecks of amber, but a couple times now I’ve seen them almost glow with golden fire. Like they are right now.
