After standing listlessly in the shower too long, trying to wrap my brain around the entire night, I dry off, glad I brought extra clothes from my ship. My face looks extra beat up when I dare to glance in the mirror. My injured temple still appears worse than it is, red and angry but at least scabbed over. I poke at the destroyed port that held my comm and grumble about having to replace another implant. My eyes are annoying enough. At least my head isn’t killing me. I could take some pain meds, or I could crash and sleep like a log for a while. Or both. I dig the medicine out of the pack I have in my dirty pair of pants and take two. If I wake up in the middle of the night in pain I’m gonna be an extra layer of grumpy.
Yvonne is curled on one side of the bed, a poof of dark hair sticking out from under the covers and a dim heat signature under the blanket.
I briefly consider walking to my ship. But I don’t want to leave them all unattended, even if I think Lex and Abraham are perfectly kind people. I could also just sleep on the floor. I’ve slept in worse places. It isn’t particularly comfortable to begin with, less so with my metal components and body feeling beat to hell.
I sigh.
Lex has lots of pillows. They’re stacked along the headboard and in the chair in the corner. Woman likes her pillows. Small blessings for me.
I grab an armful, eyeing Yvonne, but she seems to be sleeping peacefully, breathing slow and steady. Pushing back the covers, I nudge the pillows between us and lay down as carefully as possible. Lex’s bed is more comfortable than my ship’s. I hadn’t considered it until now, but maybe I should get a more comfortable mattress.
I don’t want to think too much, but my brain settles into spiraling about both the siblings and Yvonne. When I was up and walking around, I didn’t need to think about it too much. Now, it’s quiet and I’m doing my best to relax, and my brain’s going to keep going until I either fall asleep or the pain pills kick in and make my head fuzzy. I stare at Lex’s ceiling. The wood is patterned and swirled, and I follow the grains of it with my eyes where I can in the dark until yesterday’s sleepless night finally catches up to me.
My face is pressed into the pillow when I wake. My head is stuffy, vision bleary. Well, I slept better than I expected. Finally exhausted. I’m laying a little bit too much on my injured temple to be completely comfortable, but am too heavy to want to roll over with any determination. Dawn is grey-blue and still chilly. I don’t need to get up yet. The house is quiet, the heat signatures of the humans and Bat through the walls faint but still.
There’s nothing to do but decide what we’re going to do next, and I can do that perfectly fine while under a pile of blankets.
It’s nice to be warm and comfortable, my implants and sore muscles appreciate it. Actually, my back feels very warm. I blink, remembering who I fell asleep next to last night despite my intentions to the contrary. I turn my head as much as I can without dragging the fragile skin on my face against the blankets and find Yvonne’s hair in my nose.
She hasn’t moved the wall of pillows I stuck between us—in the light of day, that seems pretty silly—but managed to wriggle half on top of them enough her head is resting between my shoulder blades, one arm curled there as well. I can’t imagine that’s comfortable. I’m boney, and my spine is metal. My face heats despite no one being here to see. I’ve no idea if she did this in her sleep or decided to move over onto me.
I should get up before Lalia decides to wander in. I’m not sure which would be worse: Lalia or Anya noticing.
But I’m fairly sure if I move too much it’ll wake Yvonne up. Then I’ll have to confront that.
Though I’ll admit she’s pretty warm. And it isn’t uncomfortable having her half on top of me. She’s much softer than I am in pretty much every way. She sighs in her sleep and shifts, and it was too much to hope she’d simply shift off me, since she ends up even more atop my back.
“Premeditated,” I grumble.
I decide to leave her. I’d rather not wake her up, and I’d rather not get up myself. But eventually, there’s movement from what seems to be Lalia, and shuffling from the living room once the sun starts rising.
Carefully, I put my hand back under Yvonne’s cheek, trying to wriggle my way out without shifting her too much. I’m so lucky she’s dead the world because it isn’t exactly a graceful maneuver. My injuries are complaining worse now than they were yesterday, somehow. I grind my teeth, trying to be careful, slow, and silent as I eventually succeed in worming my way out from under her. Her cheek is squished against my palm as I hold her head up, mouth open. Totally crashed. Biting the insides of my cheeks hard so I don’t laugh, I ease her back to the pillows, creeping around the foot of the bed to find wherever I left my boots.
When I turn around, Bat is standing in the doorway. I jump. His ears are perked, looking as amused as I’ve ever seen him. Putting a finger to my lips, I shoo him out as I retreat from the bedroom.
“Don’t wake the sleeping monster,” I whisper.
Bat snickers. “What was going on there?”
“My bed was taken, I was sleeping there and I guess she decided to use me as a personal heater in the middle of the night.”
He gives another rough choke of a laugh, and I nudge him with my foot—gently, he did get tossed across the hangar the other day—telling him to keep quiet.
“How’s Zane?”
“The same, but he hasn’t woken up yet. Are we leaving today?”
I don’t mention that I caught him letting Anya give him cuddles. “I don’t know. I can’t decide if it’s a good idea to lay low here or in the middle of space.”
He stops in the empty living room, jumping onto the armrest of the couch while I sit and put my socks and boots on. “What about Hytha?”
Him too? “Everyone keeps asking me that.”
“You had that look on your face yesterday like you were considering it. I know that look. That look is either usually a brilliant idea or a stupid one.”
Feels like most of my ideas have been stupid recently. “Seems like a recipe for problems to me. Why don’t you tell me what you think.”
He cocks his head, rubbing his shout against my arm until I scratch his ears. “I think Lex could use some help getting rid of that official busybody who keeps checking in on them.”
“Mmm, yes. Ignore our problems, fix someone else’s?”
“Right.”
I chuckle, even if it hurts most of my ribs.
“How would you do that?” Abraham asks from behind me.
He’s watching us from the doorway of the kitchen, expression curious, a part from the robot held in his hand. He sure does like putting that thing back together.
“I don’t know. I’m sure if we all talked we could put something together,” I say. “If push comes to shove I could scare the crap out of him if you want. I’m good at that.”
Abraham grins, looking over his shoulder at Lex’s shape in the kitchen before coming out to sit in the chair beside the couch. I suppose he’s entirely gotten over his shyness. It’s a weirdly satisfying feeling—knowing he doesn’t see as us a threat. He’s by far the gentlest cyborg I’ve met, though it makes sense considering he doesn’t have his chip. And he’s living happily with Lex. I might be a lot gentler if I lived in a place like this. I’d try if I didn’t love being in my ship more.
“You know you’re not supposed to be here,” he reminds me. “It’ll get us in trouble if he finds out you’re here with us.”
I nod. “I don’t suppose me playing the bad guy would help? Pretend I’m staying here against your will.”
He shakes his head. “He’s been acting suspicious of Lex for ages. That would just make it too complicated.”
Good point. “Hmm. Well, maybe we can think of something. We’ve got a little while to come up with something conniving. Unless Lex is sick of us.”
“I’m not.” Lex appears around the edge of the couch, coffee in hand, and squeezes in next to Abraham in a way that still makes me awkward. “Coffee’s in the kitchen, and it’s quite nice having some visitors who think like us. We don’t get much company.”
I don’t get the feeling they need much company, but I’m assuming she means it’s good for Abraham to have someone like me around. Maybe it’s because I’m more messed up than he is, or maybe just because we’re both unregistered and have been through some rough injuries. Either way, I don’t disagree with her. I’d probably be happy staying here until Zane is all better if we weren’t dragging our bounties along with us.
I don’t want to put these two in any danger by staying a long period of time.
“Thanks,” I say, heaving myself off the couch to head for the smell of coffee wafting out of the kitchen. Lex is a good cook too, better than I am, and it’s nice having someone cook us all food better than most markets. She seems to enjoy it, what with all the supplies and utensils lining her kitchen walls. She’s even making bread. I didn’t know people still do that by hand.
Mist hangs along the clearing when I wipe condensation from the broad kitchen window. Sunlight is beginning to break through, but the air is still chilly, light gray-blue. I wonder what the hotsprings look like right now. Thinking of that reminds me of Yvonne. Last night was strange. Utterly bizarre. What if she changed her mind about all that? It only now occurs to me she might not feel the same in daylight, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to react if that happens. She’s living in my ship, after all.
Two mugs of coffee in hand and a little more concerned, I head for Zane’s room, Bat clicking along behind me.
“I want coffee,” he says.
“Absolutely not.”
“I don’t think you can tell me what to do.”
“Last time you had coffee you nearly tore a hole in my ship. If you want coffee you have to stay outside the entire day and just destroy the local wildlife instead.”
He hisses at me, but it’s half-hearted, more a rumble than a threat. He knows I’m right. He doesn’t like the bitter drink anyway. Well, I suppose he would if I put cream and sugar in it, but why wouldn’t he at that point?
Anya isn’t in the room, and who knows where she went, hopefully, to see her sister. I don’t think she’d leave the house very far by herself. Lalia is unknotting her hair. I hand her the extra coffee.
“Thanks,” she says, looking about as sleepy as I feel.
“Where’s mine?” Zane grumbles. He has a habit of looking like he’s asleep when he isn’t. Must be all those near-death injuries.
“You can have a little with your oatmeal.”
“Ew.”
I shrug. “Don’t get blown up next time.”
He eyes me with the one not bandaged, sticking his tongue out. I see we’ve reverted back to being five years old. Seems about correct.
“I’m going to shower,” Lalia says, stretching and shuffling out of the room. She’s wearing the same clothes as before. We’re going to need to get her and Zane some new stuff either on this planet, Hytha, or Zar. Probably not here. Too dangerous for me to go out in public, and too dangerous for any of the humans with their bounties.
I stare out the window, considering, before Zane finally asks, “What?”
I eye him. “I wanna tell you something.”
That perks him up a little. He edges onto his elbows, leaning against the bed frame and blinking expectantly. Gossip really cheers him up, I guess.
“Yes?” he asks when I continue staring. Bat has settled on the other side of him, picking at the frayed edge of the bandage on his wrist with his little metal claws.
They both look at me.
“Yvonne kissed me.”
Zane blinks. Cracks a smile. Then giggles enough I’m worried someone will come see what the commotion is. Bat just looks confused.
“Will you hush,” I grumble.
He giggles even more, holding his middle. “Ow.”
“Uh-huh, ow. Stop laughing you idiot.”
“No, I’m not laughing at you,” he says, leaning back. “You did not hear your tone just now. You sounded so put out.”
Did I? I’m not really. Shocked, sure. Unsure of what to do about it, definitely. Worried she’s gonna take back the kind things she said, quite a bit.
“I’m not put out…” I say, though I can’t put into words what I am, either. “I just don’t know what to do about it.”
“Well, usually, when a pretty girl kisses you, you kiss back.”
I roll my eyes, “Thanks, Romeo. I knew that part.”
He giggles again, but I don’t believe he’s laughing at me. At least, not in a cruel way. I sit next to him, leaning back against the headboard. “I asked Lalia yesterday what Yvonne was up to and she just laughed at me.”
“Sounds about right. You really didn’t figure it out?”
I scowl at him. “It’s been made very clear to me I’m stupid, thank you.”
“I don’t get it,” Bat puts in.
“Yes, well, you’re a badger.”
He snickers too. “She seriously kissed you?”
“Yes.”
“Like in movies?”
Well, considerably more awkward than that. “Yes, Bat.”
Zane is shaking in silent laughter. I nudge him gently, not actually wanting to hurt him. He only snickers harder. Bat gives that snarling grimace he does when he’s grinning. I shake my head. Fold my arms. Press my lips together so I don’t laugh.
Laugh anyway.
After standing listlessly in the shower too long, trying to wrap my brain around the entire night, I dry off, glad I brought extra clothes from my ship. My face looks extra beat up when I dare to glance in the mirror. My injured temple still appears worse than it is, red and angry but at least scabbed over. I poke at the destroyed port that held my comm and grumble about having to replace another implant. My eyes are annoying enough. At least my head isn’t killing me. I could take some pain meds, or I could crash and sleep like a log for a while. Or both. I dig the medicine out of the pack I have in my dirty pair of pants and take two. If I wake up in the middle of the night in pain I’m gonna be an extra layer of grumpy.
Yvonne is curled on one side of the bed, a poof of dark hair sticking out from under the covers and a dim heat signature under the blanket.
I briefly consider walking to my ship. But I don’t want to leave them all unattended, even if I think Lex and Abraham are perfectly kind people. I could also just sleep on the floor. I’ve slept in worse places. It isn’t particularly comfortable to begin with, less so with my metal components and body feeling beat to hell.
I sigh.
Lex has lots of pillows. They’re stacked along the headboard and in the chair in the corner. Woman likes her pillows. Small blessings for me.
I grab an armful, eyeing Yvonne, but she seems to be sleeping peacefully, breathing slow and steady. Pushing back the covers, I nudge the pillows between us and lay down as carefully as possible. Lex’s bed is more comfortable than my ship’s. I hadn’t considered it until now, but maybe I should get a more comfortable mattress.
I don’t want to think too much, but my brain settles into spiraling about both the siblings and Yvonne. When I was up and walking around, I didn’t need to think about it too much. Now, it’s quiet and I’m doing my best to relax, and my brain’s going to keep going until I either fall asleep or the pain pills kick in and make my head fuzzy. I stare at Lex’s ceiling. The wood is patterned and swirled, and I follow the grains of it with my eyes where I can in the dark until yesterday’s sleepless night finally catches up to me.
My face is pressed into the pillow when I wake. My head is stuffy, vision bleary. Well, I slept better than I expected. Finally exhausted. I’m laying a little bit too much on my injured temple to be completely comfortable, but am too heavy to want to roll over with any determination. Dawn is grey-blue and still chilly. I don’t need to get up yet. The house is quiet, the heat signatures of the humans and Bat through the walls faint but still.
There’s nothing to do but decide what we’re going to do next, and I can do that perfectly fine while under a pile of blankets.
It’s nice to be warm and comfortable, my implants and sore muscles appreciate it. Actually, my back feels very warm. I blink, remembering who I fell asleep next to last night despite my intentions to the contrary. I turn my head as much as I can without dragging the fragile skin on my face against the blankets and find Yvonne’s hair in my nose.
She hasn’t moved the wall of pillows I stuck between us—in the light of day, that seems pretty silly—but managed to wriggle half on top of them enough her head is resting between my shoulder blades, one arm curled there as well. I can’t imagine that’s comfortable. I’m boney, and my spine is metal. My face heats despite no one being here to see. I’ve no idea if she did this in her sleep or decided to move over onto me.
I should get up before Lalia decides to wander in. I’m not sure which would be worse: Lalia or Anya noticing.
But I’m fairly sure if I move too much it’ll wake Yvonne up. Then I’ll have to confront that.
Though I’ll admit she’s pretty warm. And it isn’t uncomfortable having her half on top of me. She’s much softer than I am in pretty much every way. She sighs in her sleep and shifts, and it was too much to hope she’d simply shift off me, since she ends up even more atop my back.
“Premeditated,” I grumble.
I decide to leave her. I’d rather not wake her up, and I’d rather not get up myself. But eventually, there’s movement from what seems to be Lalia, and shuffling from the living room once the sun starts rising.
Carefully, I put my hand back under Yvonne’s cheek, trying to wriggle my way out without shifting her too much. I’m so lucky she’s dead the world because it isn’t exactly a graceful maneuver. My injuries are complaining worse now than they were yesterday, somehow. I grind my teeth, trying to be careful, slow, and silent as I eventually succeed in worming my way out from under her. Her cheek is squished against my palm as I hold her head up, mouth open. Totally crashed. Biting the insides of my cheeks hard so I don’t laugh, I ease her back to the pillows, creeping around the foot of the bed to find wherever I left my boots.
When I turn around, Bat is standing in the doorway. I jump. His ears are perked, looking as amused as I’ve ever seen him. Putting a finger to my lips, I shoo him out as I retreat from the bedroom.
“Don’t wake the sleeping monster,” I whisper.
Bat snickers. “What was going on there?”
“My bed was taken, I was sleeping there and I guess she decided to use me as a personal heater in the middle of the night.”
He gives another rough choke of a laugh, and I nudge him with my foot—gently, he did get tossed across the hangar the other day—telling him to keep quiet.
“How’s Zane?”
“The same, but he hasn’t woken up yet. Are we leaving today?”
I don’t mention that I caught him letting Anya give him cuddles. “I don’t know. I can’t decide if it’s a good idea to lay low here or in the middle of space.”
He stops in the empty living room, jumping onto the armrest of the couch while I sit and put my socks and boots on. “What about Hytha?”
Him too? “Everyone keeps asking me that.”
“You had that look on your face yesterday like you were considering it. I know that look. That look is either usually a brilliant idea or a stupid one.”
Feels like most of my ideas have been stupid recently. “Seems like a recipe for problems to me. Why don’t you tell me what you think.”
He cocks his head, rubbing his shout against my arm until I scratch his ears. “I think Lex could use some help getting rid of that official busybody who keeps checking in on them.”
“Mmm, yes. Ignore our problems, fix someone else’s?”
“Right.”
I chuckle, even if it hurts most of my ribs.
“How would you do that?” Abraham asks from behind me.
He’s watching us from the doorway of the kitchen, expression curious, a part from the robot held in his hand. He sure does like putting that thing back together.
“I don’t know. I’m sure if we all talked we could put something together,” I say. “If push comes to shove I could scare the crap out of him if you want. I’m good at that.”
Abraham grins, looking over his shoulder at Lex’s shape in the kitchen before coming out to sit in the chair beside the couch. I suppose he’s entirely gotten over his shyness. It’s a weirdly satisfying feeling—knowing he doesn’t see as us a threat. He’s by far the gentlest cyborg I’ve met, though it makes sense considering he doesn’t have his chip. And he’s living happily with Lex. I might be a lot gentler if I lived in a place like this. I’d try if I didn’t love being in my ship more.
“You know you’re not supposed to be here,” he reminds me. “It’ll get us in trouble if he finds out you’re here with us.”
I nod. “I don’t suppose me playing the bad guy would help? Pretend I’m staying here against your will.”
He shakes his head. “He’s been acting suspicious of Lex for ages. That would just make it too complicated.”
Good point. “Hmm. Well, maybe we can think of something. We’ve got a little while to come up with something conniving. Unless Lex is sick of us.”
“I’m not.” Lex appears around the edge of the couch, coffee in hand, and squeezes in next to Abraham in a way that still makes me awkward. “Coffee’s in the kitchen, and it’s quite nice having some visitors who think like us. We don’t get much company.”
I don’t get the feeling they need much company, but I’m assuming she means it’s good for Abraham to have someone like me around. Maybe it’s because I’m more messed up than he is, or maybe just because we’re both unregistered and have been through some rough injuries. Either way, I don’t disagree with her. I’d probably be happy staying here until Zane is all better if we weren’t dragging our bounties along with us.
I don’t want to put these two in any danger by staying a long period of time.
“Thanks,” I say, heaving myself off the couch to head for the smell of coffee wafting out of the kitchen. Lex is a good cook too, better than I am, and it’s nice having someone cook us all food better than most markets. She seems to enjoy it, what with all the supplies and utensils lining her kitchen walls. She’s even making bread. I didn’t know people still do that by hand.
Mist hangs along the clearing when I wipe condensation from the broad kitchen window. Sunlight is beginning to break through, but the air is still chilly, light gray-blue. I wonder what the hotsprings look like right now. Thinking of that reminds me of Yvonne. Last night was strange. Utterly bizarre. What if she changed her mind about all that? It only now occurs to me she might not feel the same in daylight, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to react if that happens. She’s living in my ship, after all.
Two mugs of coffee in hand and a little more concerned, I head for Zane’s room, Bat clicking along behind me.
“I want coffee,” he says.
“Absolutely not.”
“I don’t think you can tell me what to do.”
“Last time you had coffee you nearly tore a hole in my ship. If you want coffee you have to stay outside the entire day and just destroy the local wildlife instead.”
He hisses at me, but it’s half-hearted, more a rumble than a threat. He knows I’m right. He doesn’t like the bitter drink anyway. Well, I suppose he would if I put cream and sugar in it, but why wouldn’t he at that point?
Anya isn’t in the room, and who knows where she went, hopefully, to see her sister. I don’t think she’d leave the house very far by herself. Lalia is unknotting her hair. I hand her the extra coffee.
“Thanks,” she says, looking about as sleepy as I feel.
“Where’s mine?” Zane grumbles. He has a habit of looking like he’s asleep when he isn’t. Must be all those near-death injuries.
“You can have a little with your oatmeal.”
“Ew.”
I shrug. “Don’t get blown up next time.”
He eyes me with the one not bandaged, sticking his tongue out. I see we’ve reverted back to being five years old. Seems about correct.
“I’m going to shower,” Lalia says, stretching and shuffling out of the room. She’s wearing the same clothes as before. We’re going to need to get her and Zane some new stuff either on this planet, Hytha, or Zar. Probably not here. Too dangerous for me to go out in public, and too dangerous for any of the humans with their bounties.
I stare out the window, considering, before Zane finally asks, “What?”
I eye him. “I wanna tell you something.”
That perks him up a little. He edges onto his elbows, leaning against the bed frame and blinking expectantly. Gossip really cheers him up, I guess.
“Yes?” he asks when I continue staring. Bat has settled on the other side of him, picking at the frayed edge of the bandage on his wrist with his little metal claws.
They both look at me.
“Yvonne kissed me.”
Zane blinks. Cracks a smile. Then giggles enough I’m worried someone will come see what the commotion is. Bat just looks confused.
“Will you hush,” I grumble.
He giggles even more, holding his middle. “Ow.”
“Uh-huh, ow. Stop laughing you idiot.”
“No, I’m not laughing at you,” he says, leaning back. “You did not hear your tone just now. You sounded so put out.”
Did I? I’m not really. Shocked, sure. Unsure of what to do about it, definitely. Worried she’s gonna take back the kind things she said, quite a bit.
“I’m not put out…” I say, though I can’t put into words what I am, either. “I just don’t know what to do about it.”
“Well, usually, when a pretty girl kisses you, you kiss back.”
I roll my eyes, “Thanks, Romeo. I knew that part.”
He giggles again, but I don’t believe he’s laughing at me. At least, not in a cruel way. I sit next to him, leaning back against the headboard. “I asked Lalia yesterday what Yvonne was up to and she just laughed at me.”
“Sounds about right. You really didn’t figure it out?”
I scowl at him. “It’s been made very clear to me I’m stupid, thank you.”
“I don’t get it,” Bat puts in.
“Yes, well, you’re a badger.”
He snickers too. “She seriously kissed you?”
“Yes.”
“Like in movies?”
Well, considerably more awkward than that. “Yes, Bat.”
Zane is shaking in silent laughter. I nudge him gently, not actually wanting to hurt him. He only snickers harder. Bat gives that snarling grimace he does when he’s grinning. I shake my head. Fold my arms. Press my lips together so I don’t laugh.
Laugh anyway.
