"She will have to wait for a few more days. Once we reach Astrio—" he interrupted himself. He looked almost stricken.
"What?" I demanded.
"We had a change of plans; instead of Astrionis, I will be taking you to Morrakbarr."
"Why, and what is Morrakbarr?" I narrowed my eyes. He didn't look happy about his new orders, which raised a silent alarm inside me.
"Never mind that. You still have some explaining to do."
"I just told you." My hackles rose.
"That you were trying to fix the nutrition dispenser, yes. I'd still like to know why you thought you could."
"Oh, I'm sorry, does a woman trying to fix things not fit into your world?" I fumed. I had gotten a lot of shit from many people—men and women—over the years. Apparently, a woman engineer didn't fit into our soacceptingworld.You're a what? people would ask at parties, dinners, and even conferencesforengineers. Most of my peers were happy because I was someone they could hit on when their nerdiness kept most of the female population away. ThinkBig BangTheory… Comics and ComiCon were only the tip of the iceberg. No self-respecting woman wanted to stay home on the weekends to play video games or theorize about a nuclear chip that might make cars drive without gas. Yet even they couldn't hide their smugness over small female brains. So yeah, I was a bit sensitive when anybody tried to allude that I was incapable of fixing a motor or computer simply because I was a woman.
"Of course not," Xyrek denied my accusation. "Females are good at a lot of things. I meant what made you, as ahuman,think you could fixourtechnology."
Well, those words weren't much better. They were just as insulting. "So you think my small human mind can't grasp your alien technology?"
"Yes," he simply answered, his eyes challenging me to contradict him—his black, unsettling eyes. I hadn't seen them this close before; I mean, I had noticed that his eyes were black, like all of them, like there was no white sclera or iris of a different color—there was only black. I just hadn’t anticipated how unsettling having those eyes fixed on me would be.
His words, however, didn't sit well with me; they churned my already irritated stomach. "Well, I’ll have you know then that it wasn't my fault that the nutrition dispenser short-circuited," I shot back, crossing my arms. "I was working with subpar alien tech that looked like it was designed by a drunk octopus with a soldering iron. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to run high-voltage circuits next to a fluid injector? That’s just asking for a meltdown. If anything, you should be thanking me for saving your entire kitchen from turning into a smoking crater."
I jabbed a finger at him. "And for the record, human engineers do know how to fix things—when the tech isn’t held together with what looks like wishful thinking and space duct tape."
His unsettling black eyes narrowed. “Our technology is superior. It has sustained my species for millinias.”
I scoffed. “Yeah? Well, my species figured out how to put wheels on luggage, and it only took us a few decades. So forgive me if I’m not impressed by a machine that explodes when someone tries to make food taste better.”
His jaw tightened. “It did not explode.”
“Oh, right. My mistake. Itviolently malfunctionedin a completely controlled and non-destructive manner.”
He exhaled sharply. “Do not ever touch anything on my ship.”
“Next time, build something that doesn’t fry itself when you press a button,” I retorted. "Are we done now? Can I go back to the others?"
XYREK
I hadno idea why I brought her into my quarters in the first place. No one had ever been in my quarters. If I had any lingering doubts about why I avoided company, the human female was doing an excellent job of reminding me.
She was exasperating. Irritating. Andloud.
I waved a dismissive hand to shoo her away, barely lifting it before something caught my eye—black lines snaking across my skin.What the frygg?
"Ugh, what is that?" the female squealed, flailing her arm, where the same markings were appearing.
Annoyed, I stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, ignoring her gasp. The instant my fingers brushed the black lines, a jolt shot through me like an electric charge. My entire bodyhummed. The strange sensation urged me to pull her closer.
Instead, she ripped her arm away. "Don’t touch me!" she snapped, but her expression betrayed uncertainty—she had feltsomethingtoo.
The moment she broke contact, the overwhelming pull between us dulled. It didn’t disappear, but at least I could think again.
"What the hell did you do to me?" she raged, her green eyes sparked with a mix of fury and… fear?
Ignoring her, I stalked to the wall cabinet and yanked out a healing wand. Whatever this was, I would fix it. I always fixed things. Except this time… I didn’t.
The markings remained. I scowled and rolled up my sleeves, only to curse under my breath.Frygg.
