Page 22 of Right on Time

Guilt squeezed his upper heart. This was his fault. Every single moment of pain Loe had experienced because of the munchjies was his fault. He should have escorted her to her cabin and personally ensured it was safe. Instead, he had let her be licked. Multiple times.

The Commander would have his head. Nitiel himself should submit his resignation for this.

“It’s my fault, really,” Loe said, eyes downcast. “Trixie warned me not to touch them and to take cover, but I didn’t listen. They looked so cute when several emerged from the drain, so I went to pet one and… yeah. I’m an idiot.”

Nitiel shook his head. “You couldn’t have known they would perceive you as a threat and initiate a group licking attack.”

“But I should know better than to try petting a wild animal, be it on Earth or in space–Please, be careful,” she warned when he caught a munchjie.

“Have no fear, I can handle them.” He had to throw all of the critters out of the cleansing chamber. The cleaning crew would deal with them in the sleeping chamber; his priority was making this space safe for Loe. “You are not at fault here,” he told her as he worked. “I am.”

Loe wrapped her arms around herself. “You? But why–”

“You mentioned Trixie. Did she flee the cabin when the licking attack began?” She must have been the one to alert Vrixiel to the danger.

“She shouted she would go get help, then I have no idea. I’ve been hiding in this dome ever since.”

Nitiel sighed in relief. It was bad enough that one niela had been hurt; if Trixie had been licked as well… Vrixiel would have his wing feathers.

As soon as Nitiel sent the last munchjie bouncing out of the chamber, he slid the door shut. One quick call for a cleaning crew later, he focused on Loe again. “It’s safe to come out now,” he told her through the glass dome. “I know you have no reason to trust me to keep you safe, but I give you my word I would lose all my feathers before I let anything else hurt you.”

A small smile appeared on her face. “I trust you, Nitiel. It’s just that… Can you close the drain? In case there are more munch-jies in there?”

Nitiel looked at the drain. The small hole in the metal floor between the shower dome and the excrement unit was usually closed with a grate that was sealed in place, but here the grate lay to the side.

“The creatures pushed it aside,” Loe explained. “After the first several got out, the rest literally erupted from there… Do you see more of them?”

“No, the drain looks empty.” Still, he pressed the grate back where it belonged. He had never seen so many munchjies in one place, so everything was possible at this point.

“What are those things anyway? Pests?”

“Not unless they are too many, no. And we have ways to keep their numbers under control. They lick the corrosion away from the metal across the station. They tend to shy away from other creatures and live in tight places where our repair crews can’t easily deal with the corrosion.”

“Well, sorry to say it, but the numbers of these munchjies here don’t look under control to me.”

“No, they don’t.” And that was another detail to add to the strange list along with the unsealed grate. But that was a question for the cleaning crew. “You can come out, Loe.”

“Umm…” She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know how. Trixie was just about to show me how the shower works when the first of those animals popped up.”

“I see.” That would explain why Loe was wearing nothing but a towel, and why Vrixiel had not been on site at the time of the incident. Nitiel wouldn’t have been either, come to think of it; he would have left Loe alone to her shower, as was proper. He might not resign just yet–

Loe was wearing nothing but a towel! A towel much shorter than the dress he had seen her in before. Leaving her legs on full display, from her tiny feet to her shapely thighs. He could almost imagine those legs wrapped around his head as he feasted on–

“Nitiel? Are you alright?”

A rumble rose in his chest, one born out of disgust at himself. How could he think of pleasure when the evidence of Loe’s pain was right in front of him, clear to see? He might not resign, but he should not be the one responsible for this stunning female’s safety until her meeting with her niel. His judgment was too clouded by lustful thoughts. His desire for her was a threat in its own right.

“Nitiel?”

“Forgive me,” he said firmly and pressed his hand to the center of the dome’s door. “A touch from the inside would open it just the same.” He stepped back, leaving room for the large rectangular piece of glass to lift up.

“Wow, I feel like stepping out of a fancy car, with that door opening vertically.” Loe accepted his hand without hesitation. She clutched the towel to her chest with her other hand, for which Nitiel was very grateful. If that towel slipped lower–

“Ow, ow!” She began jumping on one foot, hand still clutching his, face contorted in pain.

Panic gripped Nitiel once more. “What is it, Loe?”

“Something sharp. It’s small but stings like a motherfudger–Hey!”

---