“Cool,” Ollie said louder. “Usually we would have to wait for nighttime. But it’s always dark in space, right?”
“Unless you are orbiting a star,” Teq noted. “Then it’s always day. At least on one side of the ship.”
Ollie laughed. “I love space.”
When Ollie raced back to his quarters because “I gotta get something,” Adeline said softly to Teq, “Really, you don’t need to do this. I know you aren’t looking for…for feelings.”
“It’s time for uroondu anyway,” he said. “But also, I am a crusher, and part of that means I am in charge of protecting this ship, not just during collection and extraction, but always. If there is something strange happening to your hatchling, I will stop it.” He lowered his voice. “And if something is trying to make him afraid, I will make them know six times the fear.”
She gazed up at him, the stark dread in her eyes stabbing through him. “You think someone is doing this to Ollie on purpose?”
“You and your hatchling are safe on theDeepWander,” he swore. “I will see to that.”
He thought maybe she would refuse to leave their quarters, but when Ollie raced back with a small sack in his arms, she said nothing.
“This is my special adventure backpack,” Ollie explained. “Mom made it for me cuz she said if we ever had to leave home because of an emergency like an earthquake or a flood or…or anything, we would be okay and could help other people too.” He looked up—and up—at Teq. “I guess that’s why we’re here, huh? Because we had to have a special adventure, but we can also help you cuz Mom knows all about big fancy parties like the Luster. She’s practically a princess, ya know.” He rummaged through the pack. “Okay then. Got my flashlight. Let’s play!”
After Oliver explained the rules of the game, Teq suggested the gather-hall as the graveyard where they could hide and hunt in the many nooks—while still being safely contained.
Oliver agreed with enthusiasm. “I’ll be the ghost first,” he said when they reached the hall. “You and Mom will have to find me, and then I have to catch you before you make it back to home base. I have the datpad in my special adventure backpack, so you can call me, just in case you aren’t good at finding. Once you know how to play, we can see if June wants to play too.”
“We will do our best,” Teq promised.
When he darted off, Adeline took one step after him. But she was already stopping even as Teq reached out to snag her hand. The memory of her mere five fingers pressed into his bigger hand still lingered from before lunch, and he wasn’t sure why he needed to reinforce that sensation.
“I will not burden him with my worries,” she whispered. “I will hold all the fear and ugliness apart from him. The only ghosts he will ever know are the friendly ones.”
“He can’t get lost,” Teq murmured. “We are on a ship in the middle of space.”
“I know that. Believe me, I know,” she said. “So why can’t I convince myself?”
“If it would help, I will take you with me the next time we spacewalk to an asteroid.”
After a startled silence, a breath of that Earther laugh emerged from her. The sound tickled his antennae, and the spark in her dark eyes was like the warmth of a distant star getting closer. “I’d be terrified,” she said. “But I would like to see what you do, or maybe more like see what I’ve gotten myself into.”
“It’s worth seeing,” he assured her. “To catch a rock that’s been tumbling through space for eons, to reveal the treasure inside it. And even if there’s nothing, seeing in all that darkness an infinite number of chances to try again.”
She blinked up at him, the corner of her mouth curling. “Why, Crusher Teq, I believe you are a little bit of a poet.”
He tilted his head. “All orcs are a little bit poet. What else can you do in the dark?”
Again, that strange, enticing heat flashed across her cheeks. “What else… Oh, we can look for a ghost, I guess.” She scuttled off in the direction her hatchling had gone, calling, “Twelve o’clock midnight! Hope I see a ghost tonight!”
Bemused, Teq followed.
It wasn’t hard to know where Oliver had gone, of course, considering his heat trail lingered and he was whispering, “Don’t be scared. It’s not that cold and dark anymore.” Teq’s chest tightened at the thought of the hatchling trying to comfort himself, even though he’d chosen to hide. He wanted to go to the little Earther right away, to add his bigger voice to the reassurance.
But that wasn’t the point of the game, was it? They were practicing to be clever and courageous and committed, all good orc attributes. So he followed the rules and pretended he didn’t know where Oliver was, the same way Adeline mused aloud, “Where could that pesky ghost be? Maybe it’s invisible. Maybe it floated all the way to the sky…er, no, not that far, probably.”
As they searched through the nooks and crannies of the salvaged stone, her voice echoed in the empty hall.
Empty?
Teq grabbed her hand again, not just because he wanted to touch her. “Adeline,” he said softly. “Stop.”
She peered up at him. “It’s just part of the game.” But then she fell silent, eyes widening in concern. “What is it?”
“Oliver isn’t in the hall.”