Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,72

the enemy ships are gone.” Zaroc pilots the ship out, through the invisible forcefield that separates airless space from the docking bay, then hits the engines so the ship shoots out of the station.

“I detect some contacts,” Koyanara says. “But they’re hanging back. I think they’re mercenaries, only paid for that first attack, herding us back to the station. Nobody expected us to come back out again.”

At a proper distance to the station, Zaroc pulls the lever, and the ship jumps to hyperspace.

He stiffly stands up, then hobbles over to the elevator.

I go after him. “You need medical attention, Zaroc!”

He doesn’t look at me. “I have a diagnostic kit in my cabin. You can stay here.”

The next moment he’s gone down.

“Huh.” I return to my seat.

“Will anyone tell me what happened in there?” Koyanara says, exasperated.

I give her a short account, shuddering at the thought of IruBex and that constrictor net in his hand.

“Donna wanted to come with us, I don’t know why. She was stung by the mosquito guarding her, and Bathosc shot her dead on the spot. It was merciful. Nobody wants anyone to be eaten from the inside by grubs.” I dry my late-reaction tears of fear and horror, my hand still shaking. “Well, at least she died the way she lived, calling me by the wrong name even when she needed my help.”

“That sounds terrible,” Koyanara says softly. “How did that make you feel?”

“Afraid. Shocked. Sad. I mean, she was a bitch. Really. But she and I have lived on a prison planet for two years. I can’t blame her for that experience making her a worse person. It probably did that to me, too. We all have to cope with it in our own way. Her way could have worked for her if she wasn’t harvested.”

“Averie,” Koyanara says, “right now, if I had my body, I would hug you and tell you to cry on my shoulder. You’re tough as nails, and still you have a charity in you that I think is rare. So please forgive this old lady for her stupid words in the beginning. I remember pointing out that I’m not your grandmother. Which is true. But now that I know you, I want to add that I sincerely wish I were.”

I’m stunned for a moment. Then I take the little computer casing and aim the eye at my face. “Thank you. The feeling is very mutual. I wish I had met you… you know. Before.”

“Perhaps. But maybe not. I suspect I was more like Donna than like you, back when I was alive. I think dying changed me, hopefully for the better. You look terrible, by the way. All rumpled and dirty. See? I still have that bitchiness in me.”

I put the little casing down and get out of the seat, my limbs stiff and my elbow sore where I hit it on the floor. “Maybe, but you’re not wrong. I feel filthy. I’ll take a shower.”

“All right. I’ll try to figure out where Zaroc is taking us. I’m not sure I like this direction.”

I make my way to my cabin and take a shower, with hot water now that I know how it works.

Not bothering to get dressed, I lie down on the bed and pull the covers over me.

“Things are actually not looking great right now,” I narrate to the phone. “We barely escaped Zaroc’s hunters. And mine. I guess they’re working together now. If Bathosc hadn’t helped us, we would probably have been dead. I hope Zaroc would have shot the chief hunter, even if it meant making a hole in the wall behind him and opening the station to empty space. It would probably have killed everyone on it, though. Not just our enemies and us.”

I don’t know what else to say. It’s like all the energy has left me. I turn the camera off and just lie there, staring at the ceiling, the ship humming everywhere around me.

‘Take me with you,’ she screamed.

And I didn’t do it.

- - -

I wander around the ship aimlessly, just moving. Whenever I lie down, I hear Donna’s desperate scream when something in her snaps and she realizes this might be her last chance to get away from slavery.

Outside the windshield, the hyperspace swirls away. Koyanara tries to strike up a conversation, but I make it short and then leave again. That last encounter with the Bululg shook me to the core.

I end up outside Zaroc’s door.

“Zaroc?” I call. “Are you