Page 98 of Return of the Nine

He turned off the tap and then rummaged through her bag until he found a soft cloth that he soaked in water before cleaning her face. “I can move through stone, find minerals and shatter rock if necessary. Far more force than delicacy, I am afraid.”

Cavos seemed very attentive and careful of her skin as he finished cleaning the streaks of Zaphling blood from her cheek. The scent of roasting meat started to reach them, and he chuckled. “Did you need to soak more? I can bring you something to eat.”

She laughed. “No. Give me a moment to wash my hair and I will be right out.”

“I will help you.”

Niika wanted to fight but having someone help her was far too tempting with her body still exhausted from the agony of the braces locking. She nodded and reached an arm out of the tub, next to his thigh, until she grabbed her bath pack and pulled out a swatch of dry shampoo. “Get this wet and work it through my hair. The gel will swell quickly.”

With his hands on the paper-thin sheet of shampoo, she quickly untied her braid and then dunked her head to wet her hair. He worked his hands through her hair with the ease of previous practice.

“You have done this before.”

He grinned. “I have four little sisters. Bath time was always hectic, but at least you are not trying to splash me.”

She chuckled. “I could if you like.”

Cavos snickered, “I can even braid your hair into a bow if you like.”

He carefully kept the soap out of her eyes while they bantered. He eased her into the water and her hair was sluiced clear.

When her hair was clean and the water was pink again, shewrinkled her nose at how much blood must have been on her head.

He helped her to her feet, draining the tub with a flick of his wrist.

She blushed, but he seemed more interested in checking on the functioning of the braces than he was her nude body. It would have been insulting in any other circumstances.

She had to wipe off with the tiny towel she kept for that purpose but when she eased into her coveralls, relief went through her. If Cavos wasn’t just flirting, she might be free of the braces. It was a possibility she had never considered from the moment Ularica had put them in place.

Cavos held her arm while they walked slowly back into the main room where the rest of their party had commenced roasting a meal without them. She grinned, “Well, I am guessing I have nothing to teach you.”

Morro cocked his head, and his ferocious expression grew contemplative. “I believe you could explain to us why a person of Gaia is wearing a Tokkel torture device as the means to mobility.”

Niika sat on her bedroll, and she stretched out her legs, massaging the muscles out of habit. “Well, since you already know, you may as well know the whole thing.”

Chapter Six

Niika looked out the archway toward the fountain in the centre of the square. “It was a plain, ordinary day. Em and I were foraging along the coastline when we saw a strange streak of light, and being curious idiots, we ran to see what impacted the ground with enough force to shake us.

“Now, remember, we hadn’t seen a Tokkel ship before. The attacks hadn’t started, and this was the first alien craft that any Gaian had seen since before the colony began. I headed for the silver hulk while Em ran back to the habitat to alert her parents and call the authorities. The ship opened, and a gross, green, lumpy hulk of a man stepped forward, shouting at me in a language I did not understand. He fired and missed me by inches, so I turned to run. That is when I was struck in the back.

“Pain burned outward from the strike point, and I blacked out.”

She shuddered at the memory of what happened next. “When I woke up, I was in a full-control harness. I could move my body slowly, but whenever I shifted quickly, I locked in place and fell over.”

Cavos nodded. “That is the tricky bit of those harnesses. The moment you are in one, you are a slow, plodding worker for the Tokkel. It is a very effective restraint.”

“It was three days with that creature shouting at me until I understood his language. Once I knew that he was a scout and he wanted my help repairing his ship, I knew that I was being faced with a choice. Live my life in that damned harness or die trying to escape. I managed to liberate a shard of steel from the inside of the ship, and slowly and carefully, I slit his throat frombehind.”

Cavos took her hand to encourage her to continue. “What happened next?”

“I left the ship and found my family. He had shifted us down the coastline, and their search party was on their way to find me. The first thing Em did was get me out of the harness and that is when we found out about my little problem. My legs didn’t work. I had feeling but no muscle control. Ula was there to see the ship, and she immediately altered the harness into something that could be worn under my clothing and that I could live with. That was six months before the first warship attack on Gaia. We warned the government about what was coming, but the violence of the attacks still caught everyone by surprise.”

The men in the room nodded, and Tidae grimaced. “And then, we arrived and the Tokkel were driven off.”

Cavos tilted his head. “What happened to the ship?”

“With Ula’s guidance, we gutted the AI and turned the ship into the Nitdka. Em’s sea skimmer. It took months of work, but it was easier to tell folks that we salvaged a severely damaged ship. The AI was pulled apart, and Ula integrated it into her personal defences when she went off for her privacy.”

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