but she couldn’t deny that Raze was extremely attractive—in a really big, intimidating kind of way.
“Let me get you all the equipment you need and show you everything you need to do, then,” she said instead. “Kittens are fragile. Even when they seem healthy, they can go downhill quick. So you have to keep an eye on them.”
“Thank you—both for the equipment and for your time tonight,” Rave said gravely. “How can I pay you?”
“Oh, no—I can’t take your money!” Luci protested. Besides, did Kindred even use Earth money? She doubted it. “I love caring for animals—it’s my job,” she told him.
“But I can’t just take all your supplies and not repay you somehow,” Raze protested. “Is there are least something I can do for you in exchange?”
Luci sighed.
“Not unless you know how to fix ‘Earth vehicles’ as you call them. Mine broke down today—that’s why I had to take the bus home.”
Raze brightened.
“Maybe I can. I’m a mechanic up on the Mother Ship—I work on all kinds of engines there. I can’t imagine yours would be too difficult considering…” He trailed off.
“Considering what?” Luci asked, curiously.
“Well…” He coughed. “I admit I was going to say, considering how primitive your technology is. But that kind of makes me sound like an asshole.”
Luci laughed.
“No, that’s okay—we are kind of primitive compared to the Kindred, I guess.” She shrugged. “You can take a crack at it if you want, but you’ll have to come to my work to look at it. I can’t afford to get it towed to a garage.”
Raze nodded thoughtfully.
“I can do that.” He raised his eyebrows. “As long as you don’t mind telling me where you work? And will you be able to tend the cattens—I mean kittens—while I work on your vehicle? I don’t want to leave them alone in my domicile—I mean, my apartment.”
“Well, sure—that’s no problem.” Luci smiled at him tentatively, but then she thought of something. “Oh, but won’t you need tools? I mean, if you have to get down into the engine and do…whatever you have to do to fix it?”
“Luckily I brought some with me” Raze said. “I was hoping to get to look at some of your primitive engines while I was on leave.”
“Wow, that’s convenient!” Luci said. “I’m glad you brought them.”
“I am too—though I haven’t had a chance to use them until now. I ought to be able to fix whatever is wrong with your vehicle without any other tools. Unless something needs to be replaced, of course,” he added.
Luci didn’t want to think about that. There was no way she could afford a new carburetor or alternator or even a new battery right now. But at least she had someone who was willing to work on the car for free—that was something, anyway.
“Of course,” she said, echoing his words. “But if—”
Just then her front door opened and four voices called for her at once.
Four
Raze looked up and saw an older human female and three young human children—all under the age of seven cycles, he estimated—coming into Lucia’s apartment. The minute she saw him, the older female gave a gasp and put her arms around the three children, who were calling for Lucia.
“Dios mio,” she muttered, eyeing him mistrustfully. “Luci, what’s going on here?”
“Oh, hi, Mami.” Lucia turned to look at the older woman, frowning. “What are you doing here? I thought you were afraid to drive at night.”
“I got worried,” the older woman—who Raze guessed was Lucia’s mother—said. “You didn’t come home and I thought something awful might have happened.”
“I’m fine,” Lucia said. “I know I should have called but my stupid cell phone died again. And besides, I got distracted with these little guys.” She nodded at the kittens. “And uh, this big guy,” she added, giving Raze a shy smile.
Raze felt his heart squeeze in his chest. He’d been trying not to notice too much—trying to concentrate on the kittens—but Lucia was a truly beautiful female. With her short, curvy figure and her long, curly brown hair and big brown eyes, not to mention her caramel colored skin, she was lovely.
“Hello, I’m Raze,” he said, nodding politely to Lucia’s mother and the children—which had to be hers as well, since they looked so much like her. He liked young ones and didn’t want to scare them.
The older woman was still looking at him mistrustfully but suddenly the little female—little girl, that was what humans called it, Raze thought—broke away and came towards him.