Page 6 of Invasive Species
I clench my fists, then force my fingers torelax. If Arra-bellah senses my hatred, or if any of the Parthiastocks overhear my traitorous thoughts, they’ll euthanize me and I’ll fail Ilia.
When Arra-bellah opens the door, I slip inside, waiting a few seconds for the rain to slide down my scales and puddle on the floor of this small airlock-like atrium before I enter the house itself.
The kitchen is the only area of the house we’ve been invited into. Here, El-len prepared a protein-laden morning meal for us all. The pans hang neatly on the beams overhead, kitchenware gleaming, a marked difference from when we first landed and were dragged in here. It feels more organized now, even though I itch to sort and store the wood-based substrate papers covering the table in piles. My sensitive olfactory nerves catalogue the woody scent of the beams across the ceiling, the gritty dust of the stones enclosing us, and the ghosts of the egg breakfasts El-len served us.
Arra-bellah stands to one side, bundled up in a warm fur-like fabric belted at the waist. Her scent is complex: as well as salt, there’s a blanket of something warm and spicy in it, like the cinnamon she sprinkles over her morning porridge. Despite being wrapped, she rubs her arms, teeth chattering. Humans are unable to change their body temperature much; they aren't robust at all.
She catches me staring at her, but instead of being offended, she explains, “I have no idea where the heating is in Ellen’s house.”
"I will find it." I pull out my diagnostic tool, looking for movement in pipes within the walls. "Small electrical signals lead… here." I point to a small analogue display near the kitchen sink.
"Brilliant." Arra-bellah swoops in, pushing all the buttons on the tiny console.
Which is probably what she did on our ship. "Wait, wait,"I caution, then bite my tongue. I’ve just told a female to wait. She’ll probably have me whipped.
Stomach clenching, I go to one knee as I’m supposed to. "My deepest apologies," I grate out, keeping my head lowered as endless silence rolls out around us.
I risk a glance to see her looking down at me. Her gaze passes over me, measuring me, memorizing me, judging me.
As if she can see everything I try to keep hidden.
"It's fine,” she says, as if it's nothing.
But I know it isn't. What weakness will she discover to hold over my head? I can't afford to show her anything less than a perfect clone, or she'll use it as an excuse to punish us all.
She perches at the well-worn kitchen table, still facing me, picking her nails. “I probably broke the system poking at it, anyway. Like that robot."
The unsaid hangs between us. A shiver runs through my limbs, reliving the desperate dash to snatch Arra-bellah out of range of laser fire as the sleeper bot activated. I shake the memory out of my head so my healer’s instincts don’t kick in.
I clench my fists. Females always expect clones to fix their mistakes, even at the cost of our lives. Still, its target had been me, as one of the escaped exiles, and robots don’t care about collateral damage. Perhaps it hadn’t recognized her as female.
“Level with me. Will she be safe?” the tiny female asks, green eyes wide.
For a moment, I don’t know who she’s talking about. “Oh, El-len? Of course she will. On Oloria, females are prized and treasured by all.” Somehow, I manage to say that with my voice flattened out and emotionless, so I don’t give away my true feelings.
She slides one leg over the top of the other, bouncing her foot in midair. “I don’t mean to offend, but… none of us are intrepid international explorers, let alone interstellar ones. And, like, she’s going to a whole new planet, that’s scary as fuck.”
“Of course.” Never mind we’d experienced the same thing. I fall into a reporting cadence, staring above her head. “We explore many planets. That’s Ilia’s role, his purpose, and he selected us as his crew rather than other Gerverstocks because he needed our skills. Pilot, psychics, medic.” I point to myself as the last one.
“Other planets, huh? You’ll have to tell me more sometime, but, right now…” She sighs. “I just want Ellen to be safe, you know?”
A churning maelstrom twists my stomach thinking of my brave and kind leader being dragged to an ignoble death he doesn’t deserve.Drok na, these females. They’re the same the galaxy over: selfish and uncaring.
“Any female will be treated to Oloria’s finest,” I reassure Arra-bellah automatically. “Food, lodging, entertainment, whatever she desires will be given to her.” Not so for Ilia.
A smile tugs the edges of her lips. “You’ve sold it to me. All this is… so alien. The tech, the… the way you act. The ship.”
She glances out the window to El-len’s garden, where the crashed ship rests in pieces, and then back at me. Taking a deep breath, she blurts out, "Are the two guys okay?"
I didn’t expect her to even ask, but she might want their status to know how quickly they’ll be useful again. I report, "They hardened their scales in time, and the bot’s blast was far enough away to be weaker by the time it struck them. They will be fully operational by Earth midday tomorrow, but I overclocked their nanites so they'll heal faster and be able to return to work at sunrise."
"I’m glad they’re okay." Her foot stops its maddening bounce. “But they can have tomorrow off if they need to recover.”
This is a trap. It has to be. “They do not need anyallowances. They will be fully functional in a few Earth hours.”
“What about you? You got hit in the back, right?”
I didn't expect her to notice. “Yes, but my internal healing abilities along with my nanites are superior among all clone types. My scales will repair in less than two Earth hours.”
