wings that matched his long golden brown locks, his full lips, firm jaw, cleft chin, and skin-tight leggings, she had to admit, he was flat-out gorgeous—even if his round, crystalline blue eyes were a bit strange.
A moment later, she took one peek at Moe, who easily eclipsed any male beauty Val might have possessed. “Um, no, it doesn’t.”
“Glad to hear it. If it did matter, we would have to talk.”
Klara rolled her eyes. “Even with the ‘mated Zetithian’ thing going for us?”
“Well, probably not,” Moe conceded. “Especially since I’ve never heard of him being interested in anyone—male or female—of any species. But then, as I said before, I don’t know him very well. Larry would be the one to ask.” He peered over the edge toward the lower deck, then looked at his mother. “Speaking of Larry, where is he?”
“He’s outside,” Jack replied. “Thought someone should stay behind to keep an eye on the Nedwuts.” With a slow wag of her head, she added, “Never thought I’d see the day I’d feel gratitude for anything a Nedwut had done. Still can’t quite wrap my head around it.”
“Better get used to it, Mom. They have as much of a stake in this rebellion as the natives do. Although they may just want to go home once we’ve recovered the money.” He turned to face Val, who was already perched in front of one of the control panels. “Think you can figure out what Pelarus did with all the money he’s squeezed out of this world?”
“All I need is a place to start,” Val replied.
Moe nodded. “He was plotting a course when I got here. I’ll check that out real quick and then you can get started—unless you actually need to go there.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Val said with a shrug. “Depends on where it is.”
Moe somehow managed to get to the navigation console without stepping on Pelarus, leaving Klara to wish he’d been a little less nimble. Even though Val’s opinion of the matter was reasonable, she still felt like kicking the bastard while he was down. For Moe to have accidentally stepped on his wings would have been perfectly understandable.
A few taps on the navigation panel had Moe grimacing. “You aren’t gonna believe this; he was headed to Orpheseus Prime.”
If it weren’t for the flap of his wings to restore his balance, Klara suspected Val would’ve fallen off his chair. He was silent for several moments, and when he finally spoke, his voice trembled with emotion. “I might have guessed.”
“Don’t want to go back there, do you?” Jack said gently.
“No, I do not.” Val’s voice sounded stronger now. “And I do not believe your husband would care for it, either.”
“You got that right,” Jack said with a shudder. “I wasn’t real crazy about the place myself, even if I did find Cat there. Never been anywhere that smelled as bad as Orpheseus.”
“Clearly, you’ve never spent any time in the Barrens,” Klara muttered. “I can’t imagine any place that smells worse.”
“You might be surprised,” Jack said. “I had to wear an ultra-filtration respirator to keep from puking the whole time I was there. Don’t know how I lasted as long as I did.”
“Yeah, well, that was years ago,” Moe pointed out. “Maybe it’s better now.”
“I doubt it,” Val said. “It always smelled awful. You would think that having been born there, I would’ve grown accustomed to the stench, but I can’t say that I ever did.”
“And your nose probably isn’t as sensitive as a Zetithian’s,” Jack added. “Dunno how Cat stood it.”
“Stood what?”
Klara turned around as a man who looked remarkably like Moe stepped from a hovering platform. Dressed in a white shirt, tan breeches and tall black boots, he carried a large canvas bag slung over his shoulder.
“The nasty air on Orpheseus Prime,” Jack replied. “You didn’t even have a respirator to protect you from it.”
The man wrinkled his nose as though recalling an unpleasant odor. “It was disgusting, but there wasn’t anything I could do to escape it. After all, I did have to breathe.”
“Um, Klara,” Moe began. “As you might have guessed, this is my father, Carkdacund Tshevnoe, also known as Cat.”
Cat held out a hand. “Pleased to meet you, Klara.” As he grasped Klara’s hand, he paused, tilting his head to one side. “Two girls and a boy?”
“Geez, Dad,” Moe exclaimed. “You mean you’re just figuring that out now? I thought sure you would’ve known at the moment of conception.”
“Damn. I must be slipping.” Cat set down the