Page 16 of Catching the Kot'oll Driver

I take another mouthful of noodles to balance out the salty sauces. This is probably just meh food, but they taste amazing to me. I must be starving.

He is still watching me, seemingly trying to figure out what to do with me. I hope he isn’t going to do what he threatened me with. Maybe he only said that because I’ve never been nice to him.

I put down the empty packets. “Um... Thank you.”

He says nothing and heads out of the kitchen. I toss the packs into the bin and follow him. Do I go back to his room? But it is his room, so I probably shouldn’t act as if I’d expect him to let me have the bed.

He is heading to the driving dashboard. There are windows along the corridor, which... Maybe I’d rather not see them. It is still dark outside apparently, without a hint of light.

I clear my throat. “So, the power isn’t back up.”

He turns around and glances at me, but he says nothing. He continues on his path while I resist the urge to hiss at him. I think I should control myself. Maybe he is one of those who are quiet.

Well, he didn’t have a problem arguing with me earlier, though. So... maybe he looks down on me and thinks that I’m so not worth it that he doesn’t even care to talk to me. How dare he? I can kick his ass and show him what I’m capable of.

No... I shouldn’t do that.

I take a breath to slow myself, trying to make myself remember that bigger beings aren’t out to get me, and even though this guy said that I was a waste of effort, it was probably because we were arguing.

We arrive at the driving dashboard. He is at the window, running his finger down the glass. I head to his side. He doesn’t stop me.

There are water droplets on the glass. Maybe it is getting even colder outside by now.

Everyone else must have left the building, and... Maybe they don’t even care about me. Or this guy. Maybe in the hurry of getting everyone out, they didn’t remember about me. Maybe the captain thought I had already left when the power went out.

He says, “My phone doesn’t work.”

Instead of teasing him over that, I pull out my work phone to check. This place is supposed to have the public communication channels blocked so that whoever is withheld here wouldn’t have a chance to seek help from the outside.

My work phone is fine, but I already tried calling for help when the power went out, but no one picked up. Maybe the captain was busy at that time, but... I tried more than once, yet...

I dial, lifting the phone to my ears. “It didn’t work a while ago, so...”

He looks at the window again, but doesn’t seem to have his hopes up.

Nothing... There’s only white noise on the other end of the call, so... “I wish I knew what was happening. it... usually, I can at least reach someone from here, but apparently... Maybe the outage is worse than we expected.”

My work phone only connects to the internal network within the building. If the power is down, there’s a chance nothing’s working.

He muses. “A police facility.”

I shrug. “This is a stupid place, right?”

He looks at me as if I’ve said something dumb. I look at him too. He says nothing and looks away.

I sigh. “I guess we’re stuck together for a bit now.”

He snorts. Maybe he thinks that he is going to kick me out of the spaceship now, but...

I clear my throat. “So, I’m sorry about what I did. I didn’t mean to hurt you or anything. I...”

He shrugs. “Don’t care.”

Oh...

He continues, “Too late.”

“Sorry... Um... I’m Kendra.”

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