Page 127 of Seven Oars
Someone loomed over her, his frame large, rigid, and imposing—and familiar.
“Phex,” she whispered.“They let you go!”
“I let myself go free,” he said stiffly.His face was rough with bruises.
A small smile tugged at her lips. He was still the First One.
“Then I found Thilza and showed him what he could do with his chains,” he continued.“He’s going to need a new pipe now.”
“Oh no.”
She tried to sit up, but he gently pushed her back down on her thin mattress.
His brows lowered into a hard line.“It’s only fair. I’m done being their whipping boy.”
“You never were.”
It seemed wrong. Starting a fight was something Nud would’ve done, or Xorris. Phex shouldn’t waste his energy on getting back at a pirate. His focus should be on making escape plans.
But she was so fuzzy in the head. It was hard to think about what he should do and why.
“I told you not to go to the Service Block,” he chided her.“Now look at you.”
“It’s just… time,” she whispered.“I’ve never had a lot of it.”
She sensed his doubts.
“Is there anything we can do?”
With a burst of self-pity, Rosamma noticed how he said“we,” not“I.”
She’d never become his responsibility any more than the other women. He’d never made her his problem, and he didn’t intend to fuss over her now. He never really saw her, after all.
“I’m not sure anything can be done,” Rosamma admitted, her gaze dropping from his alien, beautiful face.
In the background, Gro started crying, the sound constricting Rosamma’s fluttering heart with aching sadness.
Tutti’s intrusive whirring broke the moment. The blinking belly light seemed duller than usual. Everything was dim.
“This thing now follows me around,” Phex said in a low voice, and then louder to Tutti,“Get gone.”
Tutti, of course, didn’t go. It rolled around in a small circle, rotating her uneven eyes and scanning the room. It hummed and beeped in the most obnoxious way.
“I want to trash this thing so badly,” Phex muttered.
“One day, you will,” Rosamma said softly.
Her hands moved restlessly, making her bracelets chime.
Phex lingered by Rosamma’s side, but Tutti’s hovering presence ruined the moment.
“I’ll ditch it and come back,” Phex promised and stood up.
Without a backward glance, he left, and Tutti followed him with her rotating light and swaying, uneven robo-breasts.
Rosamma knew she’d never see him again. She was just glad he’d come now.
She allowed her body to relax on the mattress. Her skin was burning hot, but on the inside, she was cold as ice. Pangs of pain as if from hunger wrecked her core. Her head hurt.
