Page 116 of Every Almost

At that, Charlie looked back at Torvax, who was standing at attention near the door, still watching her. She saw him slightly differently now.

"Thank you, Torvax."

A hint of a smile hit Torvax's face, there and gone so fast it might have been imagined. Charlie didn't think anyone caught it. But apparently, she was wrong, because it seemed Reyna had, and Charlie watched her look at Torvax with a raised eyebrow before moving on to where the elder woman sat in the corner of the office in what looked like one the comfiest chairs Charlie had ever laid eyes on. The woman smiled up at Charlie at her approach.

"My name is Selowen," she said, her voice low and deliberate, every syllable given its full weight. "I'm Kaelari-Brontari and I oversee the animal habitats aboard this vessel."

"You're two species?"

Selowen's smile was slow. "It's a longer conversation for another time. But yes."

Charlie had questions. A lot of them. But they could wait.

"Wait a minute. Did you say 'animal habitats?'" Charlie looked from Selowen to Reyna and back again. "You haveanimalson this ship?"

"Many," Selowen said. "From many worlds."

"That's what we do here," Reyna said. "We rescue, care for, and transport animals from all over the universe."

"Holy shit," Charlie uttered, amazed that there was a mission of this kind in the universe.

Reyna laughed beside her. "Yeah, I guess 'holy shit'isfitting." Charlie smiled sheepishly before Selowen spoke again.

"If you would ever like to, you are welcome to visit them, if you wish," Selowen said. "Many of them are always happy to meet someone new."

"I absolutely wish," Charlie said immediately. Selowen's smile was slow and deep, and Charlie felt that structural calm again emanate from the woman in front of her. "Thank you for the offer, Selowen." Reyna began to move forward, so Charlie said a quick, "It was nice to meet you," before following the captain to the next person.

As she followed Reyna to the next person, something about Selowen's presence lingered. That deep, permanent calm. Charlie had known one other person who carried herself like that.

She pushed the thought down before it could form a name.

Reyna led Charlie to stand in front of the doctor herself. She regarded Charlie with the same clinical assessment from before, but the edge had dulled. Slightly.

"I've already scanned every piece of your insides, so introducing myself to you formally seems unnecessary now. However, Kess Pheras. Chief Medical Officer. Kaelari."

"My trusty doctor," Charlie said, nodding. "Got it."

Kess's pale green eyes narrowed just a fraction. "Your examination results will establish a baseline. We will do further checks as necessary to monitor your progress on board our ship."

"Looking forward to it," Charlie said, which she had meant to sound confident but it came out slightly terrified. Kess's expression didn't change, but Charlie could swear she saw the twitch of a smile there.

Next came the quiet woman that had stood near the doorway back in the galley. She stepped forward with a warmth that surprised Charlie, given how reserved she'd seemed before. She introduced herself as Maren Laith, a Noethan, and someone from the engineering division. There was something in the way she said "engineering" that made Charlie's ears prick up.

"Engineering?" Charlie asked.

Maren nodded, a small but genuine smile on her face. "If you need anything related to the ship's systems, I'm your person."

"Thank you," Charlie said. "I appreciate that." Charlie made to continue with a question. "You said you are Noethan. What does that mean?"

Maren's violet-gray eyes shimmered briefly. "Well, Noethans are one of the older species in the Coalition, mostly because of our ability of perfect recall." Maren's eyes shimmered brightly as she spoke of something she obviously cared deeply about. "So, for me, every schematic, every manual, every image I've ever seen of an engine, system, or panel? All right here, stored in perfect clarity." At this, Maren pointed to her head. "Nothing is ever lost."

Charlie's brain caught fire. "Wait, you can remember everything? Even complex systems?"

"Yes!" Maren said, and Charlie could see the pride in it.

"Okay, okay. I'm curious. Do you have anything like a closed-cycle gas-core nuclear rocket? With fissioning uranium plasma suspended in a hydrogen vortex, contained by a transpiration-cooled reactor wall, with a regenerative nozzle assembly? The fuel system alone has over three hundred independent pressureregulation points. On my planet, the best engineers alive haven't been able to build one. They've been trying for thirty years."

Maren's violet-gray eyes shimmered again. "I've built two. The second one took my team about six hours. The first took eight, but we were still calibrating our workflow."