Page 33 of Ava Greasemonkey

She stood in front of him, chest heaving with repressed emotion. Vox cocked his head questioningly, watching her.

“You never were restrained at all?” Her voice cracked halfway through, her fists slightly shaking. She angled her head upward to meet his eyes.

“Hmmm . . .” Vox said noncommittally. His large eyes watched her face raptly.

“Answer me, please,” Ava whispered. She could feel her face flushing.

He had just killed who knows how many creatures and here she was demanding answers from him. In the back of her mind she questioned her judgment but pressed forward foolishly regardless.

“Do you prefer males of your species helpless? Judging from your anger now, is capability not attractive?” Vox’s eyes widened and she felt the full measure of his attention.

This threw Ava for a moment, making her blush in a different way than anger. Silence stretched for a beat before she responded, “We prefer not being lied to and taken advantage of.”

Vox made a low growling noise, eyes narrowed. “Your mind is full of twists and turns I cannot comprehend. Lying to youwas never an objective, it was a necessity of our mission. Why must you take it personally when it was just a result of circumstances?”

The fight flew out of Ava in the face of logic she couldn’t argue with. It didn’t change the fact that she still felt betrayal in her heart, but really, it had been an exhausting few cycles. She shifted her feet on the floor restlessly.

Feeling much smaller and with tears threatening, she asked, “Why did you kill them all?”

“Because it needed to be done for our objective. They would not stand down,” he answered simply.

“And why am I still here?” Tears started rolling down her face in earnest.

Vox’s eyes began tracking them, and he reached one slender finger up to her cheek, where a tear rolled onto it.

“Because you do not compromise our mission. Because you helped us. Because I did not want to see you be cold stillness.” He took her tear and pocketed it in his mouth, his long blue tongue coming out to catch it.

Ava watched him as he made another growling noise, not knowing what to make of his actions. She took her hand and rubbed the rest of her tears away herself, leaving another smudge of dirt across the bridge of her nose.

“What are you doing?” she said in a small voice.

“It has salt. Like a mineral block.”

“No. Not that. Yes, tears are salty. With this, Vox. What is happening? All the crew. What is going on?”

Vox smiled, and despite herself, Ava found herself admiring how smiling lit up his face.

“Did you really think those stupid Tuxa could have bested us? No, we are going to their planet on our own terms.”

“You never were a prisoner? You planned this? So you’re going to their planet and are going to . . .” Ava couldn’t finish. Her hands were trembling. It was too much to take in at once.

Down the hall, far away, screams continued.

“I would love to say yes, but we will not be leaving the universe in a blaze of glory. The Tuxa have stolen our females from us. I wish I could spend my last breath eliminating as many of them on their home planet as I can but, we are here to rescue the females. Spilling Tuxa blood is a side benefit. They will not get away with taking them or thinking we are so weak they can steal from us what is ours to protect.” His grin turned feral as he talked, his eyes narrowing.

Ava felt a shiver of fear run through her at the change in his expression.

His face softened a moment later, and he looked like the male she’d met in the prison once again.

“Why would the Tuxa be so reckless as to do that?”

“Our females have a type of pheromone that resonates with many other species and compels them to want to mate with them. They are genetically blank, meaning a lot of species can create young with them without having a crossbreed. It was the main reason we have been fighting with them all these years. Other species can control themselves, but the Tuxa have taken it upon themselves to covet our females and claim them as their own.”

Vox inhaled deeply. “You also bear a trace of that pheromone as well, but it is hard to tell under that suit you always wear.”

Ava was taken aback, unsure what to say. “But I am Human.”

Vox nodded. “It is very interesting to us. Perhaps in the cycles before this is resolved we can examine you out of that suit.”

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