Page 16 of Star Bright
To her horror, her sinuses stung with the threat of tears. No, see, this was why she’d agreed to Brin’s dog-sitting offer so that no one would see how pathetic she was. Which, oh god, now that she thought about it, had she said anything incriminating in front of Ug, who obviously had his own universal translator. She needed to get one of those, stat, if she was joining the IDA.
As staff,notpatron.
She rocked back to her heels. “I’ll let you rest and make sure Kong has sent that message for your people.”
When she started to stand, he reached for her hand. “It probably doesn’t mean much coming from me, but… I won’t forget your kindness, Darcy.”
She gave his hand a quick squeeze but quickly disentangled. No sense letting her fingers tingle again. “Meet you for round two of taste-testing later?”
“It’s a date.”
She dredged up a smile.
He’d told her the universal translators weren’t perfect. Maybe a date meant something else in drakling.
+ + +
She’d managed to get her feelings—regret and annoyance thinking of Christopher, plus regret and humiliation for having told Vash—under control before dinner. Ug joined them (dining on a bowlful of something that looked and smelled very much like dog food) and explained through Kong that he’d spent the day rushing the cleaning cycle as much as possible so they could open more rooms.
“No void vipers found,” Kong told them. “A message was posted to the planetary authorities but there has been no reply yet.” At Ug’s growl, the robot’s clear dome twinkled. “Yes, the winter weather could indeed be a factor. Any outpost staff returning will likely be forced to wait out the worst of it.”
After they ate—with Vash approving all the remaining meal options with extra spice—he insisted on cleaning up the bar, including Ug’s licked-spotless bowl.
“The droid indicated that exercise would speed my recovery from cryo.”
“At least let me help since I know where it all goes.”
“That makes sense.”
They chatted as they straightened, nothing significant, just two people putting away leftovers and drying dishes. She told him about Brin and the hoax-busting that had led to her friend’s discovery of the Intergalactic Dating Agency. He talked about his job as a climate engineer in one of his planet’s agricultural regions.
“The weather on Skyearth is volatile, and while we have the technology to monitor and mitigate, we don’t have perfect control.” He hesitated. “Or we didn’t. Maybe that has changed now.” He stared down at the glass clenched in his hand, but she thought he didn’t even see the etched IDA logo. “Why are there still holes in my memories like clouds no probes can pierce?”
She eased the glass out of his fist. “Your children will wake soon. Maybe seeing them will clear the last of your fog.”
Sparks guttered in his eyes when he looked at her without answering, but she suspected they were both thinking the same thing.
What if it didn’t?
Chapter 7
After their late meal, Kong announced that a post-prandial walk was good for digestion and the revivification process, so Vash headed for the door. He needed all the reviving he could get.
But the Earther evening beyond the windows looked like space—cold, dark, and lonely.
Was he unknowingly oblivious to another imminent crash?
Darcy’s voice brought him around. “Want some company? Or would you rather have the time to yourself?”
Grateful for the distraction, he gave her the lip curl that indicated Earther amusement. “You just want to make sure I don’t fly away and leave you with two drakling fledglings.”
She smiled back, but her eyes stayed serious. “I think I have never been so sure of something not happening.”
Maybe she just meant that she would not take guardianship of younglings not her own, but for some reason he was forced to admit, “I would rather not have time to think by myself. I am prone to a condition that draklings call spiraling, where our thoughts and the beasts’ instincts and the winds of the world knot together in contrary ways.”
“Oh, here on Earth we have the same term. We don’t have wings, of course, so maybe the spiraling looks more like running around in circles, but it’s still annoying. I suppose we can at least do it outside and call it exercise.”
She had her own heavier layers for the local weather, and he found a thick cloak in the storage container from the ship. He swirled it around his shoulders, and Darcy made a little sound. But when he glanced at her in question, she just shook her head.
