Page 15 of Sy

“Hey.” Kal’s voice cracked slightly on the word, and a flush crept up his neck as he leaned on the support strut opposite. He stared at his hands for a moment as if he wasn’t sure whatto do with them and then shoved them in his pockets. Her eyes widened a bit as she focused on the page in front of her. Was he nervous as well?

His friend stayed silent, prowling the edge of the platform with a fluid grace that reminded her of the big cats in the nature documentaries she’d seen. Something about how he moved made the hair on the back of her neck stand up…

She forced herself to look back at her sketchbook, adding random lines that probably didn’t match what she’d already drawn. The silence stretched awkwardly.

“What are you drawing?” Kal finally asked, taking a hesitant step closer.

“Oh, um, just the view.” She angled the book slightly so he could see. “The way the sun hits the trees is really different from Earth.”

Tor drifted closer too, still moving with liquid grace. He didn’t speak, but his head tilted as he studied her sketch, his red eyes intent. This close, she could see how the black coating on his skin shifted and rippled, catching the light like oil on water.

Her fingers itched to capture the effect on paper, but she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by staring. Instead, she focused on adding detail to the tree line, hyperaware of their presence. The platform wasn’t huge, and they were so much bigger than her, but she didn’t feel crowded or scared. Just… nervous in that flutter-stomach way that came with trying to talk to cute boys.

Even if these particular cute boys were alien berserkers-in-training who could bench press a flyer.

“That’s really good,” Kal said, leaning closer to look at her sketch. “The way you captured the light through the trees…”

Heat crept up her neck at the compliment. “Thanks. I like to draw. It helps me think sometimes, you know?” She traced her finger along the edge of the page, not meeting his eyes.

The silence stretched between them again, broken only by the distant sounds of construction below. She looked at the view and then bit her lip as she started packing away her sketchbook and pencils.

“Why are you stopping?” Kal asked, a note of disappointment in his voice. “The drawing isn’t finished.”

She sighed, pulling out her tablet computer from her bag. “My mom’s a slave driver about schoolwork. If I don’t do at least one lesson today, she won’t let me come up here to draw tomorrow.” She glanced at the lengthening shadows. “Besides, the best light for drawing is going away now anyway. Might as well get some studying done.”

She pulled up the lesson on her tablet, the holographic display flickering to life with an image of massive ships against a starfield. To her surprise, Kal settled down next to her, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. Even Tor drifted closer, curiosity flickering across his features.

“What’s that?” Kal asked, pointing to the ships on the screen.

“These were the arc ships that left Earth centuries ago,” she explained, pausing the video and turning the screen so they could see. “Back before we had the kind of faster-than-light travel we use now, humanity sent out these huge ships to colonize other worlds. The crews went into hypersleep… like a really deep frozen sleep because it took them hundreds of years to get to their planets.”

Kal’s eyes widened. “Hundreds of years? Just floating through space?”

“Yeah.” She zoomed in on one of the ships, expanding the hologram. “Each ship was like a small city, with thousands of people sleeping while a small crew and the automated systems kept everything running. Some of them are still out there, actually. They never reached their planets, so no one knows what happened to them.”

“So some of your ancestors might have been on these ships?” Kal asked, reaching out to rotate the hologram with careful movements of his blunt-ended fingers. She risked a glance. He didn’t have claws like Tor.

“People who my ancestors knew, yeah. A lot of the records from back then were lost, but…” She trailed off as she noticed how close they were sitting, their shoulders nearly touching as they both leaned over the display. That cedar-metal scent was stronger now, making her pulse quicken slightly.

She focused on pulling up another image, showing the interior layouts of the arc ships. Better to think about history than how nice Kal’s arm felt pressed against hers or the way his hair fell across his forehead when he leaned forward to study the details.

“Each level had different functions,” she continued, grateful her voice remained steady. “The sleep chambers were in the core, protected by layers of shielding. Then you had hydroponics, life support systems…” She pointed to each section as she named them, hyperaware of Kal’s presence beside her.

“Power generation,” he picked up reading from the screen. “Secondary support systems.”

She blinked, her brain catching up with what just happened. “Wait, you can read Terran? I thought the translation matrices only worked for spoken language.”

“I don’t have a translation matrix.” Kal shrugged, his shoulder brushing against hers with the movement. “I was too young when I came here to have one implanted.”

“You’re not missing much. I had the worst headache for days after they put mine in.” She rubbed the spot behind her ear where the tiny device sat. “Is Tor the same?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t he be?” Kal’s brow furrowed in confusion.

Heat crept up her neck as she gestured vaguely toward Tor, who stood at the railing watching them with those unsettling red eyes. The black armor-like coating on his skin caught the sunlight, making it shimmer. “I just… I wasn’t sure if you were both the same kind of Izaean.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to snatch them back.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean… that was probably really offensive.” Her stomach twisted. Way to go, insulting the first aliens who actually wanted to talk to her.

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