“You—what? Absolutely not.” The sharp crack of Ellix’s refusal was like the voice of her own fear. And part of her—not just the part that had signed a contract acknowledging the chain of command—wanted to flee back to him.
Another part of her—the part shocked yet thrilled to discover the existence of the Intergalactic Dating Agency—knew Mr. Evens had revealed the secret of a universe of opportunity and adventure because he believed she was ready.
And once again, she could choose fear or curiosity.
She stepped into the salon.
Without all the guests, the big chamber felt a little sad and also scary. Or…was that the anomaly? She’d always been sensitive to others’ moods—hypervigilant, her therapist had corrected—and yet that awareness left her prone to doubting her own instincts. Launching herself into space might have been partly about running away, but she’d also realized she was runningto—to a new job, to unexpected chances, to another way of looking at herself.
Forcing her feet forward was hard, as if the magnetic clamps on her boots had activated. A faint sound reached her, not through her comm but not quite in her ears either, more like a reverberation in her atoms.
All connected.
All alone.
Which one was true? The threads of possibility binding them or the emptiness between?
Tentatively, she reached out to the viewport screen where the fractal fingers—some no thicker than her own pinkie, some as wide as the captain’s body—stretched like a desperate hand. She touched slightly cool plasteel.
For an instant, a mix of relief and disappointment rippled through her. Just a strange energy glitch after all?
Then one of the filaments of light phased through her finger with a tingle more than electrical.
In the very next instant, every sci fi horror movie she’d ever reluctantly watched through half-slitted eyes flashed through her brain. What if she was infected? Or impregnated! What if—?
“Felicity!”
Chagrined, she glanced over her shoulder at Ellix as he charged into the salon. “There’s something here with us.”
Chapter 8
Those clear Earther blue eyes rolled back in her head, leaving only a terrifying white. And she slumped to the deck.
Ellix slapped his hand over the door lock and leaped across the room, catching her before her head slammed against the flooring.
With his arm cradling her head, he watched the rapid thrum of the pulse in her neck. She wasn’t dead. The scanner options on his wrist datpad were limited, but they reported all her vitals met Earther norms. He snarled under his breath; just like the sensors found no oddities in the ship?
“Felicity may have had contact with the distortion and is unconscious,” he reported in his comm. “Initiating isolation protocol.”
This was supposed to be just a three-sunset tour. They didn’t have resources for a serious medical emergency—nor any weapons for dealing with a hostile takeover.
He glared at the energy filaments spread across the viewport. They’d been moving around and over Felicity when he’d raced in, but they were static now.
He turned his glare down to the unconscious Earther in his arms. “Why? Why would you try to touch it?”
For the same reason she’d touched him?
Carefully—his claws were out in response to the threat—he brushed strands of hair out of her face. The decorative tie did a terrible job of containing the fine, flyaway strands. But he couldn’t really blame it considering he’d had no more luck with ordering her around.
“Felicity,” he whispered. “Wake up. Please.”
Rising to his feet with her held tightly against his chest, he carried her to one of the luxurious padded benches, as far from the frozen anomaly as he could get.
When he’d first seen the ship’s remodeled decor, he’d disapproved in the privacy of his own head. So many silly little lights. Such overstuffed cushions in bright colors. But of course it made sense for a dating cruise. Now at least the bench was properly soft to hold her.
Kneeling at her side, he lowered his forehead to hers, letting his whiskers sweep forward to brush her face. Kufzasin didn’t rely on the receptor organs in the long feelers anymore, since they’d evolved past hunting in the dark and tearing out throats with their incisors. But the whiskers were sensitive to the vibrations of electrical fields, and thefeelof Felicity’s aura was still strong and purely her.
For a heartbeat, he held the contact. He just wanted her to open those blue eyes again.
