When the sun is up, I start tinkering around on the ship.
I don’t have many supplies to fix all the little issues, and now that the engine’s solid I’m less worried, but it makes me feel useful to go over every inch of the vessel. It’s good to do this type of maintenance anyway, and I haven’t gotten much chance the last few weeks.
“Find anything?” Yvonne’s voice startles me while I’m on the right wing, laying on my belly leaning off the edge to get a good look at the guns. They’re disabled, but it still makes me queasy sticking my face so near the massive muzzles.
I glare at her, annoyed she startled me, my head killing me from the various injuries while I’m hanging half upside-down. “Not yet.”
She doesn’t appear remotely phased by my scowling. “Lex is making waffles.”
My stomach growls. At least I’m too high up for her to hear. It’s mid-morning, and even with a large dinner, waffles do sound like a good idea. I can’t remember the last time I had them.
“Are they as spicy as whatever the hell it was we ate last night?” I ask, scrubbing the collected dust and soot out of the big gun.
“Be grumpy all you want, you looked like you were in heaven eating that.”
“Don’t watch me eat.”
She snickers. “Come down and have breakfast.”
“Busy.”
“Hey, cyborg. I don’t know what bee flew up your butt, but get down here and knock it off.”
I think about throwing the bristly brush I’m using down at her, but she’s just grinning at me, hands on her hips. She’s as bad as Zane, though I don’t find Zane nearly so annoying now. I don’t want to come down off the ship and have her sit next to me while I eat so she can get obnoxiously close to me like we’re friends or something.
She’ll probably get more annoying if I ignore her.
Grumbling, I roll off the side of the wing and drop to the ground.
“Didn’t that hurt?” Yvonne asks, grimacing at the drop.
“Not as much as getting shot in the face.”
She gives me an even stare. “What are you so upset about?”
Wiping my hands on my pants, I head for the house. “I’m not upset.”
I catch her eyebrows shooting up as I walk through the front door. I ignore it. Zane is on the couch, petting one of the smaller dogs.
“What do you think you’re doing up?” I ask him.
“This is hardly up,” he grumbles, head resting back on the cushions. “I had to pee, anyway.”
I give him an equally dirty look, but he doesn’t deserve my attitude, so I sigh and keep the rest to myself. His walking a few paces is probably good for him. I’m still not feeding him anything other than soft foods. No waffles for him. Not even if he gives me sad looks.
Abraham is still happily at work putting together the robot. He even cracks a smile when he sees me watching. Whatever damage there is to his head, it evidently didn’t affect this. But now I’m feeling awkward. I didn’t do anything wrong by coming out of my room and watching them cuddle, but I feel like I intruded upon something too private. Then again, I’ve never known an unregistered cyborg to have a relationship with anyone, romantic or otherwise. It’s odd enough to see him happy here, but stranger still those two apparently have something going on.
Lalia is already stuffing her face with three waffles without bothering for a plate. She takes a look at my smudged clothes and raises an eyebrow. “Can’t believe Yvonne got you in here. I told her to leave you alone—you looked like a man on a mission out there.”
I manage not to do what pops into my head and mimic her. I don’t think she realizes why I’m suddenly in a foul mood—quite frankly, I’m not sure why I am—so I guess I’m just scowling too much. I work on flattening out my expression and stand in the corner of the kitchen, not wanting to sit on Lex’s table chairs with my sooty clothes.
She looks me up and down, makes a similar expression to Lalia, and says, “Sit. I’m hardly uptight about such things.”
I think about changing my clothes but do as I’m told, ignoring Yvonne sitting next to me. At least she’s wearing more than just a shirt. Bat appears from somewhere under the table and leaps onto my leg, perching like a cat, his head over the edge of the table, watching Lex hungrily. I force myself not to smile. We don’t make sugary breakfasts very often, but I’m afraid he’s about to make a mess of this poor woman’s table.
“Be polite,” I tell him.
“I am,” he says, tapping me with his back foot.
I’m being watched by several of the dogs from the edge of the kitchen.
“Where’s Anya?” I ask, realizing she’s the only one missing and not keen on the idea of the child wandering around this place on her own.
“Shower,” Yvonne says and props her feet on the edge of my chair. I manage not to scowl.
I suppose she doesn’t deserve my attitude either, but it’s weird how friendly she’s being. There’s nothing I can think she wants from me, we both have the same plan from here on out—get the two of them back to their parents without Captain noticing. She was perfectly fine being a little snot to me when she wanted to get her sister off Amerov, so I’m not sure why she’s trying to be nice. At first, I figured she was simply happy I got her sister off Facility One, but it’s continuing enough I’m starting to get suspicious.
Problem is, I don’t have any theories. I can’t imagine what she would want out of me.
Anya appears on cue, taking a look at my scowling face before sitting on my leg again. Bat growls at her from my other knee but doesn’t bite or move from his spot.
“Excuse me,” I mutter and only get a giggle as she leans against my arm. “Don’t you have a sister you can pester?”
She makes such a pouty, fake-sad face I just ignore her. I’ll move her off me to eat. She could be more annoying than she’s being. She could be her sister.
“Aaron,” Lex says. “Does your ship have anything on it that may trigger the authorities?”
I narrow my eyes at her. Did she look us up on the bounty chart? The one Lee gave me to look at didn’t have my ship listed on it, but that could change at any minute. I should check on my own tablet.
“Why do you ask?”
She sets a plate of waffles on the table and gives me a look more exhausted than defensive. “Because it occurred to me that you all are obviously trying to lay low, and as I mentioned, sometimes the authorities pass by here trying to catch me doing something. If your ship is parked out front with some sort of warrant, that would be bad for all of us.”
She’s right, and I’m annoyed with myself I didn’t consider it sooner. “We can leave.”
“That’s not what I meant. There are some caves on the other side of the hills there—” she points out the window past the grasslands and the tree-coated hills we’d been exploring “—it stays pretty cold in them. Stay until you’re ready to go, but I think you should park your ship in one of them. It’s a tight fit but I think they’re large enough. No one really goes over there and it’s cold enough to disguise any heat signatures from above. Go ahead and eat first.”
I nod, uncomfortable with the continuing niceness. But it’s a good idea. I watch Bat chomp away at his waffle, eyes scrunched closed. It would be nice to stay here another day or two. Technically, Zane seems stable enough to head out—so long as we have more medical supplies, the ship is just as good for his recovery as this house. But it’s calm and peaceful here, and our next stop will be Zar, where it would be best if Zane is able to be up and about.
Unless we head to Hytha first. To Zane and Lalia’s parents. It’s closer than Zar.
I grimace. That’s still a stupid idea. I don’t know why it keeps popping into my head. I really don’t know what’s wrong with me ever since all these humans started crowding into my ship.
“I’ll do that, thank you,” I say, because just nodding silently seems rude after how helpful Lex has been.
“I’ll go,” Bat says. Well, I suppose he’s fine talking in front of these two new people. I pet his ears.
When the sun is up, I start tinkering around on the ship.
I don’t have many supplies to fix all the little issues, and now that the engine’s solid I’m less worried, but it makes me feel useful to go over every inch of the vessel. It’s good to do this type of maintenance anyway, and I haven’t gotten much chance the last few weeks.
“Find anything?” Yvonne’s voice startles me while I’m on the right wing, laying on my belly leaning off the edge to get a good look at the guns. They’re disabled, but it still makes me queasy sticking my face so near the massive muzzles.
I glare at her, annoyed she startled me, my head killing me from the various injuries while I’m hanging half upside-down. “Not yet.”
She doesn’t appear remotely phased by my scowling. “Lex is making waffles.”
My stomach growls. At least I’m too high up for her to hear. It’s mid-morning, and even with a large dinner, waffles do sound like a good idea. I can’t remember the last time I had them.
“Are they as spicy as whatever the hell it was we ate last night?” I ask, scrubbing the collected dust and soot out of the big gun.
“Be grumpy all you want, you looked like you were in heaven eating that.”
“Don’t watch me eat.”
She snickers. “Come down and have breakfast.”
“Busy.”
“Hey, cyborg. I don’t know what bee flew up your butt, but get down here and knock it off.”
I think about throwing the bristly brush I’m using down at her, but she’s just grinning at me, hands on her hips. She’s as bad as Zane, though I don’t find Zane nearly so annoying now. I don’t want to come down off the ship and have her sit next to me while I eat so she can get obnoxiously close to me like we’re friends or something.
She’ll probably get more annoying if I ignore her.
Grumbling, I roll off the side of the wing and drop to the ground.
“Didn’t that hurt?” Yvonne asks, grimacing at the drop.
“Not as much as getting shot in the face.”
She gives me an even stare. “What are you so upset about?”
Wiping my hands on my pants, I head for the house. “I’m not upset.”
I catch her eyebrows shooting up as I walk through the front door. I ignore it. Zane is on the couch, petting one of the smaller dogs.
“What do you think you’re doing up?” I ask him.
“This is hardly up,” he grumbles, head resting back on the cushions. “I had to pee, anyway.”
I give him an equally dirty look, but he doesn’t deserve my attitude, so I sigh and keep the rest to myself. His walking a few paces is probably good for him. I’m still not feeding him anything other than soft foods. No waffles for him. Not even if he gives me sad looks.
Abraham is still happily at work putting together the robot. He even cracks a smile when he sees me watching. Whatever damage there is to his head, it evidently didn’t affect this. But now I’m feeling awkward. I didn’t do anything wrong by coming out of my room and watching them cuddle, but I feel like I intruded upon something too private. Then again, I’ve never known an unregistered cyborg to have a relationship with anyone, romantic or otherwise. It’s odd enough to see him happy here, but stranger still those two apparently have something going on.
Lalia is already stuffing her face with three waffles without bothering for a plate. She takes a look at my smudged clothes and raises an eyebrow. “Can’t believe Yvonne got you in here. I told her to leave you alone—you looked like a man on a mission out there.”
I manage not to do what pops into my head and mimic her. I don’t think she realizes why I’m suddenly in a foul mood—quite frankly, I’m not sure why I am—so I guess I’m just scowling too much. I work on flattening out my expression and stand in the corner of the kitchen, not wanting to sit on Lex’s table chairs with my sooty clothes.
She looks me up and down, makes a similar expression to Lalia, and says, “Sit. I’m hardly uptight about such things.”
I think about changing my clothes but do as I’m told, ignoring Yvonne sitting next to me. At least she’s wearing more than just a shirt. Bat appears from somewhere under the table and leaps onto my leg, perching like a cat, his head over the edge of the table, watching Lex hungrily. I force myself not to smile. We don’t make sugary breakfasts very often, but I’m afraid he’s about to make a mess of this poor woman’s table.
“Be polite,” I tell him.
“I am,” he says, tapping me with his back foot.
I’m being watched by several of the dogs from the edge of the kitchen.
“Where’s Anya?” I ask, realizing she’s the only one missing and not keen on the idea of the child wandering around this place on her own.
“Shower,” Yvonne says and props her feet on the edge of my chair. I manage not to scowl.
I suppose she doesn’t deserve my attitude either, but it’s weird how friendly she’s being. There’s nothing I can think she wants from me, we both have the same plan from here on out—get the two of them back to their parents without Captain noticing. She was perfectly fine being a little snot to me when she wanted to get her sister off Amerov, so I’m not sure why she’s trying to be nice. At first, I figured she was simply happy I got her sister off Facility One, but it’s continuing enough I’m starting to get suspicious.
Problem is, I don’t have any theories. I can’t imagine what she would want out of me.
Anya appears on cue, taking a look at my scowling face before sitting on my leg again. Bat growls at her from my other knee but doesn’t bite or move from his spot.
“Excuse me,” I mutter and only get a giggle as she leans against my arm. “Don’t you have a sister you can pester?”
She makes such a pouty, fake-sad face I just ignore her. I’ll move her off me to eat. She could be more annoying than she’s being. She could be her sister.
“Aaron,” Lex says. “Does your ship have anything on it that may trigger the authorities?”
I narrow my eyes at her. Did she look us up on the bounty chart? The one Lee gave me to look at didn’t have my ship listed on it, but that could change at any minute. I should check on my own tablet.
“Why do you ask?”
She sets a plate of waffles on the table and gives me a look more exhausted than defensive. “Because it occurred to me that you all are obviously trying to lay low, and as I mentioned, sometimes the authorities pass by here trying to catch me doing something. If your ship is parked out front with some sort of warrant, that would be bad for all of us.”
She’s right, and I’m annoyed with myself I didn’t consider it sooner. “We can leave.”
“That’s not what I meant. There are some caves on the other side of the hills there—” she points out the window past the grasslands and the tree-coated hills we’d been exploring “—it stays pretty cold in them. Stay until you’re ready to go, but I think you should park your ship in one of them. It’s a tight fit but I think they’re large enough. No one really goes over there and it’s cold enough to disguise any heat signatures from above. Go ahead and eat first.”
I nod, uncomfortable with the continuing niceness. But it’s a good idea. I watch Bat chomp away at his waffle, eyes scrunched closed. It would be nice to stay here another day or two. Technically, Zane seems stable enough to head out—so long as we have more medical supplies, the ship is just as good for his recovery as this house. But it’s calm and peaceful here, and our next stop will be Zar, where it would be best if Zane is able to be up and about.
Unless we head to Hytha first. To Zane and Lalia’s parents. It’s closer than Zar.
I grimace. That’s still a stupid idea. I don’t know why it keeps popping into my head. I really don’t know what’s wrong with me ever since all these humans started crowding into my ship.
“I’ll do that, thank you,” I say, because just nodding silently seems rude after how helpful Lex has been.
“I’ll go,” Bat says. Well, I suppose he’s fine talking in front of these two new people. I pet his ears.
