comfortable future for me and my baby. If I ever got back, I’d be a wealthy woman who no longer needed to work and could dedicate her entire life to raising her child.
I had so much waiting for me back on Earth.
Aware of Wyck’s large figure looming over me, I thought back to the conversation we were having.
Loss and grief were the things I knew way too well.
“What has been helping me deal with the pain is all the good memories we’d made when we were together,” I said softly. “Before I fall asleep, I often think about a trip we took together or our family celebrations. All moments are precious, even the smallest ones—like the many times my dad made me laugh or when my mom held me close while I cried over a scraped knee. Keeping my parents alive in my memories helps me deal with them no longer being here.”
Wyck held still, and I looked up to see his reaction. He stood over me, watching me like some kind of a novelty, as if the concept of honoring the loved ones through memories was entirely new to him.
“Tell me about a good moment with Crux,” I asked, hoping that talking about the one he had lost would help ease his grief, too. “Something you two did or shared that made you feel happy.”
The furrows on his heavy brow grew deeper. His features hardened in concentration, then he winced, not saying a word.
Were there no good memories of the person who had been like a father to him?
The most recent thing Wyck had said about Crux was that he’d introduced him to all the sex videos in the library. Yet Crux didn’t seem to show him any of the other ones in this large collection.
What kind of a parent was Crux if he hadn’t even bothered to teach Wyck how to read in all those years?
The silence that stretched between us threatened to remain infinite.
“Well,” I spoke first since it didn’t appear Wyck would say anything any time soon. “I think some of these slates might work.” I crouched by a shelf at the wall farthest from the entrance. It contained purple glowing slates with titles suggesting the subject of arts and entertainment.
I accidentally pushed a slate with the side of my hand while taking a few others out. Instead of stopping at the wall, the slate disappeared somewhere behind it, landing in the darkness beyond with a thud.
“What’s there?” I asked Wyck.
“Where?”
“There’s no wall behind this shelf.”
“Really?” Pressing his shoulder into the corner of the unit, Wyck easily shifted the whole thing aside, revealing a dark cut-out in the wall.
“What is it?” I moved to poke my head in, but Wyck stopped me quickly with a hand on my shoulder.
“A sure way to lose your head on the Dark Anomaly is to stick it into unknown places.”
He got a flashlight out of his pocket and flicked it on.
The beam of light fell inside a windowless room beyond the wall.
“Is it someone’s hiding place?” I ventured a little closer since the place seemed completely deserted. “Why is it here?”
“There are a lot of hidden places all around. When ships crash into each other, pockets of space end up being created. We don’t know about all of them. Many aren’t easily accessible.”
“Well, the access to this one has been created by someone.” I slid my finger along the edge of the cut-out. The paneling had melted around it, as if it’d been cut through with a tool that produced heat.
Lesh released a hissing sound, and Wyck stilled suddenly. A moment later, the sound of footfalls out in the main corridor reached me.
“Someone’s coming.”
“Maybe they just need some slates?” I suggested.
“Maybe, but they may want something else if they see you. Here.” He shoved me into the space behind the wall.
Wyck then quickly got in with me, too, and called Lesh to follow us as well. He then yanked the shelf unit back in place from the inside.
The footfalls stopped at the entrance to the library as the person entered a code in the panel.
Lesh hissed in warning again.
“Quiet.” Wyck placed his hand on the animal’s middle head.
Crouching by the opening, I peeked out through the gap between the slates on the shelf.
The tall boots of Vrateus, the captain, came into my view as he entered. He headed to a unit that held gray glowing slates and added the two he’d brought with him to the shelf.