Page 45 of Dark Space
Despite the danger, Islept like the dead.
When I woke, I kept my eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the cell. There weren’t many: my own heartbeat; Vesper’s too-even breathing as he pretended to sleep; the scuffle of Willow rifling through his bag, then, soon after, his quiet, bored sigh.
I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘What would you be doing if you weren’t here?’ I said, poking my face out from my blanket nest.
He gave me a gentle smile. He really was very pretty, once you got past the lack of pupils. The Roth didn’t seem to have them either – or perhaps they did, but they were hidden in their wide black irises – but somehow I didn’t find their eyes as strange as Willow’s glowing moss-green.
‘I’d be in my lab,’ he answered. ‘It’s time to give the younglings on the ship their yearly vaccinations. They get annual shots for standard viruses, but I need to tweak it each time for theenvironments we’re most likely to visit in the upcoming year. These ones need to be adjusted for the marine viruses common to Natare. It’s a fair amount of prep work, not to mention getting through the shots themselves. Once the younglings are done, I move onto the adults.’
‘What is your ship like?’
He described the shape of the ship, and their central Forest – he said the word reverently, like it deserved a capital letter – but skirted over the detail and didn’t mention any names, which I could understand. He was in a cell with Vesper, after all, and he knew next to nothing about me. ‘What’s this ship like?’ he said, when he’d finished describing something that sounded like it belonged in a fantasy movie and Vesper had proved that he was definitelypretendingto sleep by a sniping comment about the size of Willow’s ship.
‘I haven’t seen that much of it,’ I said. ‘Just the corridors when I was brought on board, and the doctor’s lab.’ Anger flared in my stomach. ‘And the Prince’s chambers outside this cell. I don’t know why I’ve been kept in here.’
‘My Captain often makes choices for reasons that are not immediately apparent,’ Willow said. ‘We come to understand in time. She has all the information, after all, and we see only part of the picture.’
‘All the Prince can see is the body part he’s thinking with,’ Vesper muttered. ‘Also very probably not enormous.’
‘Thank you, Vesper. You seem to have strong opinions about the Prince’s body parts,’ I said.
Willow turned his face away to hide his smile.
I sat up and smoothed my blankets. The fabric was so soft; it was like petting a kitten.Oh goodness,I thought.I hope this isn’t made from space kittens. ‘Do you have a family, Willow?’ I asked, mostly to distract myself. ‘A partner? Children –younglings?’ I corrected, remembering what he’d called them.
‘No younglings,’ he said, though his voice was full of yearning.
‘But you want them.’ I glanced at the glass. There was no way to tell whether the big Roth was there or not. The healing wound on my shoulder seemed to throb. ‘I do, too. But I don’t want to beforced,’ I said, thinking of the Prince’s marriage offer. ‘I want to have them with someone I love.’
Willow took my hand and squeezed it. ‘That is preferable.’
‘Do you have someone? Someone you love?’
Vesper straightened, but didn’t open his eyes.
Willow gave me a searching look, then – apparently after some consideration – answered. ‘I have two someones. Maybe even three.’
I blinked. ‘Three?Gosh. That’s … a lot of personality to keep track of. Most humans can’t cope with one.’ My eyes darted towards Vesper before I could stop myself.
He sniffed.‘Mosthumans seem like fools.’
‘Four is a small family for Tirians,’ Willow said. ‘Most families are seven or more.’
‘Family?’ I repeated.
‘A … Aharem, I think. A female’s group of lovers.’
I gave a shocked laugh. ‘Goodness. Lucky female.’ I paused, my brain catching up. ‘Wait. Does that mean that your someones, your …family… are waiting somewhere, wondering where you’ve gone? Are they worrying about you?’
Willow looked away. ‘I hope they are,’ he said. ‘Yes. Yes, I think they will be worrying.’
I stared at him for a moment, thinking about how I’d felt when Tessa went missing, how it felt not to know where she was, or who’d taken her, or if she was safe, or if I’d ever see her again.
‘Nope atthat,’ I muttered, pushing myself from the bed. My arms trembled and the wound on my shoulder pulled, but I struggled until I was on my feet, then staggered to the glass wall. ‘Tall, Dark, and Looming!’ I shouted, thumping the glass withmy fist. ‘I want to talk to you!’ The glass cleared immediately, revealing my unnecessarily tall Roth.Really, whoneedsmuscles like that?
He frowned at me. ‘You should be resting.’
‘Shouldn’t you beflying this ship?’ Vesper muttered behind us.
