exact combined mass of the metal wreckage of the Anomaly. I’d also have to get to my ship and the spacesuit somehow with enough time to assess it for any damages, fix them if necessary, then connect the fuel cells and program the trajectory.
Then, I would need to find my way out to the surface of the Anomaly disk.
To figure all of this out, I needed information that Vrateus must have. He was the captain of this place, after all. Which meant that as little as I wished to speak to him again, I would have to.
The door swished open as soon as I finished my breakfast, making me wonder if I had been watched.
“How are you?” Vrateus entered.
His appearance in my room jolted me with a shock of awareness through my system.
He must have just had a shower. The fur on his head, hands, and tail appeared damp. The faint scent of the same soap I used drifted my way. On him, it had the added flavor of male spice—his very own unique scent.
I had been apprehensive about seeing him this morning, but the effect was even stronger and somewhat different from what I had expected.
Hoping to escape his scent, I took a step back. My eyes however kept taking in the sight of his tall, well-build body, dressed in another one of his ridiculous, wide-sleeved, crispy-white shirts that he somehow made look appealing.
This must be some lingering side effect of the flowers.
Why else would I find anything about this man appealing?
His arms folded across his chest, he drummed the fingers of his right hand against his left bicep, waiting for my answer.
I made an enormous effort not to think where those fingers had been last night when he held me so close to him.
“I’m fine.” My voice came out husky, and I cleared my throat, schooling my expression into something hopefully neutral and casual. “I’m very good, actually. Feel free to show up here with a whole bouquet of those flowers next time.”
“You can’t have them often.” He shook his head with a grim expression on his face. “If you give in to the craving, the juice of the irsen flowers would eventually rot your brain.”
“Isn’t that true about many kinds of cravings?” I muttered, blankly staring at his hand.
When was the last time I had a man make love to me? Definitely not while on the mission. Relationships didn’t last long in a cramped environment of a research station. I had stayed away from the men on my team to avoid the awkward situation of potentially living and working side by side with an ex for the rest of the project if things didn’t work out.
My parents had me during the one and only assignment they had ever worked on together in space. Neither of them had planned for me to happen, and neither wanted to have anything to do with me or with each other, when the project ended.
Nearly a year of no physical contact whatsoever had made me suddenly ogle with appreciation the man who had publicly molested me just a few hours earlier.
Disgusting.
“Possibly.” He reached for the empty bowl in my hands.
I blinked, snapping back to the task I had identified for myself.
Information.
I needed him to tell me more about the Anomaly, to possibly show me as much as possible of it, too.
“I’d like to go for a walk, please.” I clasped my hands in front of me, giving him a friendly smile.
“A walk?” He stared at me as if I had just asked for something unreasonable, like going on a spacewalk in the nude.
“Yes. I’ve been here for two days now, but still haven’t seen much of this place. I’d love to learn more about everything you have here. How do you operate things to ensure your survival? Where does the food come from? The layout of the entire habitable area. How large is it?”
“You want to leave the room?”
He seemed to struggle to grasp the concept of my simple request.
“Yes, please. You can set a time limit if you wish, and I promise to return before it’s up.”
“It’s not safe out there on your own.”
As if I didn’t know that. The amount of rude behaviour I’d encountered in the past two days by far exceeded anything I’d ever faced during my entire life.
“I’m well aware of that, and I’ll be careful. I can go out at night when everyone is asleep. Or any other time of the day you’d suggest. I’ll stay