“It’s a very old ship,” Griiek said, her muffled voice coming half from the access panel and half from Ellix’s datpad. “Unusual original build with a lot of repairs and renovations. But since Mr. Evens brought me in to work with the most recent overhaul team, I got to know the systems. At least I thought I did.” With a grunt, she backed out of the panel, a small object clutched in one forefoot.
Ellix squinted at the toothed clip in her webbed fingers. “Does that belong to Felicity?”
“I was running a final diagnostic when Director Rowe walked by and I didn’t have enough binders on me to separate out the passing conduits—” The Monbakkan must’ve noted his impatient expression. “Anyway, she gave me this to clip them out of the way, and I forgot to return it.” She flapped one webbed foot over her moist, hairless scalp and made a gulping noise of amusement. “You’d have more use for it than me, Captain.”
He held out his paw. “I’ll give it back to her. You think this caused the problem?”
“No. It’s a simple non-reactive alloy, not conductive. I don’t see any cause here for continuing distortions.” She looked at him, all four eyes constricting and focusing in sequence. “Might be the shielding is having trouble calibrating for the changing ionization of all these moons. I can run more intensive diagnostics with approval from the chief engineer, but it would require interruptions to non-essential services.”
So, not unlike his own interactions with the cruise director which should have been non-reactive and not conductive, with zero reason for fluctuating distortions. And looking deeper intothatproblem was definitely non-essential.
One flicker wasn’t enough to disrupt a charted course.
Or shouldn’t be.
“We only have one more moon,” he said. “Keep the sensors at max sensitivity, and tell me of any internal deviations or external interferences at once.”
“Of course, Captain.” Her deference held just a hint of soothing reassurance. Yea, she knew what had happened to his last ship.
The scars, only partially hidden by his regrown fur, stung with the memories, and he bared his teeth as he turned away. He would not let paranoia control him. Those fears had no more power than an imaginary haunting.
Or a hopeless hunger.
Chapter 4
The longer interval until the third sunset had seemed like the perfect time to play the dating game. Felicity had invented it for the mingling time once the passengers had been introduced to each other, any nervousness softened by snacks and synthequer cocktails.
The game was just a bit of fun, a little intimate, with the hidden tokens designed to mix and match the guests beyond what the IDA algorithms suggested. Because even though she believed in the science—shewason a spaceship, after all—she’d told Mr. Evens there had to be a place for serendipity and synchronicity.
If only the captain had waited just a little longer, she could’ve asked him if he wanted to play the first round. It would’ve been more than a bit of fun to watch him growl a nay and stalk away.
She caught the wayward wicked thought before she could accidentally envision where a little intimacy might’ve taken them. That wasn’t why she was here. She wasnotthe sort of person who would challenge someone to sexy sunset shenanigans. Especially not her boss!
If you demand.
She had never been demanding. There’d been too much turmoil in her childhood to ever think anyone would care about her problems. Heck, her last relationship before she’d left Earth—not to saythereason she’d left, or not the only reason—had ended with the man-boy moan “you can’t keep asking me for stuff.”
So, what would it even be like, a one-night stand with an alien pirate captain lion-man? He was so much larger and stronger than her; would he ever let her take control? She’d have to not call him captain. Ellix… Maybe she could twine her fingersaround those long, probably very sensitive whiskers, gently but inexorably urging him closer…
“And then what?”
The question from Remy knocked Felicity out of her reverie, and she focused on the crowd of curious faces turned toward her. Her body flushed with heat—the embarrassed kind, not the sexy kind. She could only hope the Earthers in the audience blamed a sunburn through the viewport.
“Um. So tokens like this one are hidden here and elsewhere around the ship.” She held up one of the game pieces modeled after D&D die; so many fun shapes and colors! “When you find one, you then search for its match. But there are many ways to match since each facet has a different linking signal.” She summoned up a cheery smile. “And of course there are prizes, including our next Cosmic Connections Cruise to a secret pleasure satellite. Shall we begin?”
As the passengers milled about, enthusiastically seeking the first tokens, Felicity surreptitiously toggled her datpad. She kept her voice below the ambient excitement, pitched to Steady Professional Who Had Zero Thoughts of Kissing at Work. “Er, Captain Nehivar? I was wondering—”
The lights went out.
Not just on her device but in the salon. With the sun only partially eclipsed by the third moon, there was still plenty of illumination. But the music cut out as well, leaving the festivities suspended in bewilderment.
The remnants of mortification washed out of her, leaving cold shock. “Everyone, please stay calm.”
“The only time anyone ever says stay calm is when it’s definitely time to panic,” Remy drawled.
Someone—Felicity thought it was Mariah, another Earther new to the Big Sky IDA—giggled a little hysterically and then abruptly shut up.
Considering she might’ve said exactly that to her therapist once or twice—with and without her own giggle—Felicity couldn’t really object.
