Page 20 of Alien Engineer's Mate

"Of course." His deep voice sent a shiver down her spine that she immediately squashed. "It would be my honor."

Kyle pressed against her leg, studying the warrior with obvious curiosity. "What are those marks?" he asked, pointing to the intricate patterns on Maax's collar. "They're different from the other aliens we saw."

"Kyle, they’re warriors, not ‘aliens’,” she corrected him. “We’re the aliens here.”

Maax crouched down, somehow making his massive frame less intimidating.

"These show that I'm Lead Engineer," he explained seriously. "I help maintain the station's systems."

"Like the machines that clean the air?" Kyle's eyes lit up. The boy who'd been so quiet during his medical exam was suddenly animated.

"Exactly. The environmental systems are crucial for everyone's safety and comfort aboard the station." Maax traced one of the emblems. "We monitor everything from air quality to power distribution."

"Mom fixes those!" Kyle straightened proudly and looked up at her. "The old colony ones that nobody else could get working. She made them work again when the dust storms got really bad."

"The intake valves were just corroded," she said quickly, heat creeping into her cheeks as Maax looked up at her. "Anyone could have fixed them with the right tools."

"The whole maintenance crew couldn't," Kyle insisted. "Remember when Paul said it was impossible and you stayed up all night and?—"

"Kyle," she cut him off gently. Some colony stories were better left untold.

Maax's expression sharpened with interest, but before he could speak, Kellat cleared his throat. "I have a waiting room full of warriors who managed to injure themselves during combat training.Again. Some of them are starting to bleed on my clean floors."

The healer's departure left them standing in a slightly awkward cluster. Leo, who had been unusually quiet, shifted closer to her side, watching Maax with careful assessment. She recognized his protective stance—the same one he'd developed after James died and Paul started paying too much attention to her.

"This way," Maax gestured toward one of the corridors. "The residential sections can be confusing at first."

The corridor opened into a wider passage, its walls lined with status panels and diagnostic displays. Grace skipped ahead to walk beside Emily, the two girls already chattering about their interrupted playtime. Kyle stared at a glowing panel, his eyes wide as he took in the dancing lights and scrolling information.

"Would you like to learn how to read the system status displays?" Maax asked.

Kyle nodded eagerly, some of his usual shyness melting away as he moved closer. Her heart clenched as she watched him reach up and slide his hand into Maax’s big one.

"See these indicators here?" Maax pointed to different colored lights on the panel. "Green means everything is functioning normally. Yellow means maintenance is scheduled."

"What about the red ones?"

"Those indicate something needs immediate attention. Like this one." He gestured to another panel. "The readout shows the specific system affected. This is monitoring the power flow to?—"

His wrist device chimed, interrupting the impromptu lesson. A rapid stream of alien speech emerged from it, most of which Eira's newly-installed translation matrix couldn't process. She caught fragments about "coupling" and "failure," enough to recognize the urgency in the mechanical-tinged voice.

"Draanth," Maax muttered. "My apologies, Lady Coleman. There's an urgent matter I must attend to." He looked down at Emily. "And this little one needs rest after her adventure. Time to go, poppet.”

"Of course." Eira nodded, recognizing the weight of duty in his tone. "Thank you for showing us the way."

"The pleasure was mine, Lady Coleman." The formal title in his deep voice sent another shiver through her. "The residential quarters are just through there." He pointed to where the corridor branched. "The gardens are on the level above… they're open to all families."

Her eyes widened. "There are gardens? Real ones?"

"Yes," Maax replied, his severe expression warming slightly as he scooped Emily up. "Several different types. The hydroponics section grows food, but there are ornamentalgardens as well. The environmental systems maintain Earth-standard conditions."

The thought of real gardens, not the makeshift greenhouse she'd cobbled together from salvaged parts, made her heart ache with possibility. On the colony, every plant had been precious, every green shoot a victory against the hostile environment.

His wrist device chimed again, more urgent this time. The stream of Latharian was too fast for her translator to catch more than one word in ten, but she recognized the tone of engineers with an emergency. He answered in the same language, his deep voice clipped and professional.

He inclined his head formally before turning away, still speaking rapidly into his communicator.

“Bye!” Emily waved goodbye over his shoulder, and Grace waved back enthusiastically.

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