Page 11 of Fighting Gravity
I released my hold on her mane and stepped back. “There is more. Military is not worth that much syfer. If they wanted military power, they would have paid the monrians for it. Cehthos knows they have the means to do so.”
She had to know more than her device was telling me. She was on the freighter trading with the scum valerians. She knew something. She had to. And I needed to know what it was. Their alliance wasn’t good for my people.
I hit Quinn once and nearly broke her. Noted. She was fragile. I hadn’t put my full force behind it and yet she nearly passed out. She couldn’t go very long without air, either. And when I cut her soft skin, she bled. There was no layer of armor. No natural protection. There were too many vulnerable spots and too much potential to kill her too soon.
And by her attitude, she would have let me torture her to death before revealing anything to me about her people. Perhaps the threat of death did not phase her.
I commended that, but it also frustrated me beyond measure. It had been too long since the gek had had a significant victory and it was weighing on me.
After getting nothing from her that I didn’t already know from studying her wrist device, I left her. I needed to think.
So did she.
When I returned to continue questioning the human, it was obvious she was in no condition to talk. So, I reluctantly unfastened her from her bonds and brought her to the infirmary for further study and treatment. Veron was better suited to study her anatomy. The wrist device provided a bit of medical information, but I had skipped over most of it. It was a bore and only served to tell me how weak the species was.
In the infirmary, Veron was waiting, straddling a chair and chewing on kelp weed. I hated the smell of it, but half my crew chewed it, so I’d grown used to the stench. She stood when I entered, swallowing her food.
“She passed out?” she asked. “Already?”
“I told you she’s soft,” I groaned, laying Quinn on a metal exam table.
“Yes, but I didn’t think you meantthatsoft.”
“I think her diet is too little. She looks starved.”
“They all look starved,” Veron laughed. “Humans are brittle little things. They look like that naturally.”
I stepped back, watching Veron unfasten the strange suit the woman was wearing and peel the filthy thing off her body. As pieces of clothing fell away, I found myself looking at a slender, naked form far meeker than any creature I’d ever seen. No ridges. No real muscle mass. Her skin was smooth and white besides an array of strange markings that didn’t seem natural. Her dark mane was fanned out around her head like a paint spill. Two, supple mounds sat on her chest and I assumed they were meant for reproduction and nursing like gek females judging by the darker area at the peak, but gek females only had them when they were pregnant or raising young. Was the human pregnant?
Scanning down her body, I noticed a narrow waist, gracefully flared hips, and a patch of dark curls between her thighs.
Curious creature.
“You know, humans are said to be modest things,” Veron sighed. “She probably wouldn’t want you staring at her while I do my exam.”
“Why? It is only her skin.”
“Yes, they’re not fond of strangers looking at it.”
“How do you know? None of that information was on her wrist device.”
“Got my hands on some holo vids from Earth when we went to Epsilon. I just know.” She rolled her dark eyes. “But I don’t care, really. I think it’s disgusting. I don’t know why you’re even staring.”
I growled low at the strangeness of the whole situation and turned, leaving the room. Not that I cared what the human thought, but I had work to do and Veron was faster without watchful eyes.
“I’ll return after last meal,” I said, slipping out through the door. “Learn everything you can.”
5: Rhone
Last meal was always small for the crew and we ate separately. Not like first meal in the common room. It was quick and I grabbed a small loaf of olikas for Veron, despite that she was being a handful. After giving her a little more time with the woman, I made my way back to the infirmary only to catch Veron walking in the opposite direction down the hall. She had a sour look on her face, but it was nothing new.
“She’s healthy, from what I can tell, but yes, she would probably benefit from a more substantial diet,” she informed me. “Although I have no idea what humans really eat. They’re omnivorous, like the valerians, judging by her teeth and digestive capabilities, so,” she shrugged. “Get her something a valerian would eat.”
I handed the loaf of wrapped olikas meat to Veron.
“Really? There was no felbaruk?”
“Umos took the last of it,” I said.
