Chapter Four
The Draell ship’s bridge was enormous, and reminded Rosamund a little of old Star Trek reruns. Banks of computers ringed the space, flashing lights and high-pitched alerts summoning Draell crewmembers, who moved around the space in an efficient, well-choreographed bustle. All of the crewmembers wore black silk tunics and pants, with an insignia of a red dragon breathing fire stitched onto the right side of the shirt.
A vast viewscreen showed scattered stars and the occasional tumbling asteroid. It made Rosamund feel odd, as if she were falling through the night sky. She quickly looked away. The last thing she needed was to get spacesick. Was that even a thing? Probably, knowing her luck.
In the center of the bridge were three big leather chairs, each with a freestanding console. Behind each sat a Draell officer. Rosamund supposed they were…setting a course or engaging the thrusters or whatever it was shapeshifting alien dragons did on their spaceships. She wasn’t exactly an expert – a few weeks ago she hadn’t even known there was life on other worlds.
Kodran had left her to deal with some official business that he’d tried to explain but that had made her eyes cross. But before he’d left, he’d steered her towards the communications officer, Prenzal, who’d opened up a channel on a hyperspace frequency so she could call Talia. Dot-R, who was apparently done with her sulk, was there too, chatting with the crew and examining their control boards with fascination.
Prenzal was watching Rosamund with a wary expression, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of her.
First Rosamund tried to call Talia and Lukan at the birthing center. As it turned out, Talia was busy giving birth – finally!. Rosamund figured that Dot-R’s parental units were probably with Talia, so she left a message with the attendant at the birthing center, saying that Dot-R was with her and she was safe. Then she had Prenzal call Darfan.
His face appeared on the screen in front of her. He was mostly human in appearance, except for his pointy ears, tufted with fur. All Vulfans had pointy ears even in humanoid form, unless they took medication to suppress it, like Lukan had when he went to Earth.
Other than the ears, Darfan just looked like a perpetually annoyed, middle-aged bureaucrat with a squarish face and streaks of gray in his hair.
“It is about time you called!” he snapped, sounding annoyed. “We are hearing conflicting reports from downtown. Some of them say you were kidnapped by the Draell that you were supposed to fire. Some of them say you proposed marriage to him.” He scowled at her. “That’s not true, is it?”
Rosamund winced. Word travelled fast. “It’s really hard to explain. It’s really just a big, hilarious misunderstanding, you know.” She forced a chuckle to show how hilarious it all was.
The expression on Darfan’s face – that of a man who had just smelled something really bad – didn’t change.
She sighed. “So, what happened was, I didn’t propose marriage to Kodran, but he thinks I did.”
“That is very bad news,” Darfan said, looking alarmed. “Once you have proposed marriage to a Draell, there is no backing out.”
Prenzal, who was standing nearby, nodded in agreement. So did several other crew members who were within earshot. Apparently everyone in the universe knew that but her.Literallyeveryone in the universe.
Rosamund shot Dot-R a dirty look. “I’ll get you later,” she warned.
“Ha! I am faster than you,” Dot-R informed her. “And I am made of self-repairing nanite metal, so I am hard to damage.” Then she stuck her silver tongue out at Rosamund – and all the Draell in the vicinity, including Prenzal, burst out laughing.
If Rosamund survived this ordeal, she was going to have some serious words with Mar-ee and Far-ex about their robot offspring’s AI design. A sass module, indeed.
She returned her attention to Darfan. “It’s fine. He says that he will take me back to Agora. We’re just, uh…taking a short trip first.”
Darfan shook his head angrily. “No, that is not acceptable. You must come back at once.”
“I can’t. They purchased some medical supplies and they have to drop them off first. I’ll be back in about six solar circles, I promise.”
Darfan looked suspicious. “I have heard nothing of this. What kind of medical supplies?” he demanded. “Who are they delivering them to? Why don’t they just transport them?”
Members of the Galactic Federation could travel instantly by transporter – but the transporter had some limitations. There had to be both a sending and a receiving station, and the transporter could only send a maximum of a thousand pounds at a time. Also, it took an enormous amount of power, and had to recharge for several hours after each transport.
So small groups of people and small amounts of goods, such as medicine, could be sent via transporter, but spaceships were used to transport large amounts of cargo and large groups of people.
“I don’t know,” she said impatiently. “You’re asking me about interstellar transport? I just found out that aliens are real three weeks ago.”
Darfan scowled. “This situation is more complex than you realize. You must return at once.”
“Gee, I didn’t know you cared.”
He snorted. “I don’t. I didn’t even want to hire you. But you are important to Lukan’s pair-bond, which means I must keep you safe. Which means this is a terrible inconvenience to me. And if you die, Lukan will very likely remove my pelt and make it into a wall hanging as a warning to others. So I am ordering you to return at once, if you want to keep your job.” His frown deepened. “Also, there are things you do not know about Kodran – things that make it very dangerous for you to be anywhere near him. Tell him that you demand to be returned at once.”
She shook her head in exasperation. “I can’t. I’m not going to interfere with the delivery of emergency medicine. Oh, listen! Space interference!” She pressed a button in front of her and made loud crackling, hissing noises with her mouth. “Sorry, bad connection, gotta go!”
“I can still see you,” Darfan said, scowling. “You are just sitting there making those noises yourself.”
