Page 12 of Trove’s Purpose

She frowned. Why was he doing that? His data said he was intelligent and charming, not a dummy with no sense of propriety.

“Hey, Trove,” Garnet called to him with a knowing grin, rubbing her belly. “Want to join us? We’re doing a grand tour for our new client. She’s going to be staying with us until we can fetch this magical cup her boss is after.”

Trove didn’t answer her, but he did finally move. His feet, at least. He walked her way without once blinking. Did his eyes not dry out?

Chee broke eye contact first, looking at Garnet as he came to stand near her. Not really super close, but close enough that she couldn’t escape his gaze.

“It’s amazing,” she complimented Garnet on the ship, ignoring Trove completely.

A task that proved more and more difficult as Garnet led the way around. Tanin shooed the twin avanava males away with a wave of his hand, but they were replaced by the blinkless Trove as the four of them went around.

The single entrance into the hall, Garnet explained, was a safety feature so that anyone who used the only entrance into the storage room could be bottlenecked right there. Chee chose not to think about why that was a consideration.

Beyond that, the hallways were deliberately laid out in an uneven, almost mazelike pattern. Another safety feature if anyone got past the bottleneck. But the tour and guiding part did become a necessity for her then because there were deliberately no signposts.

The first floor – though, she guessed this was the second since they had to climb up to get through the door – was all public space and included the galley, a rec room, a gym, a meeting room, storage rooms for the crew and a few other spaces. The galley was nice with an alcove for the synthesizer and a few cozy tables that could easily be pushed together to make one big table. The rec room was a bit sparse, but that was because, they told her, they were waiting until they could leave this place to fill it. The ships here had a lot of stuff, but not anything that would really fit well in an entertainment room.

The gym had somewhat of the same problem, but there was some basic equipment for lifting weights. Nothing fancy, probably nothing permanent either, but enough to make sure these huge, muscular guys had something to burn off any extra energy. Though, considering how well built this place was, even if it had taken months, Chee didn’t know how they’d have any energy at all.

One floor down, Garnet explained as they got onto a lift in the center of the ship, was where they had more storage, the entrance to the two landing shuttles, and their new nursery. Chee didn’t need Garnet to rub her belly to figure out who that was for.

They continued up though instead of down. The next floor had all the private rooms. Everyone lived on this level and there was, as promised, even an impersonal guest room that had its own desk, storage space, pod bed, and privy that was all clean and prepared.

Chee wasn’t given a tour of the private rooms, but she was told where Trove’s door was. Garnet certainly made sure to mention that little detail. Chee had to resist rolling her eyes.

The halls were, once again, laid out with little concern for ease of navigation, but once they made their way through and back to the lift, Garnet took them to the final floor. Right to the bridge which was split into two distinct areas.

In front of the lift was, Chee realized, the shark nose of the ship. There was a large, half circle console with only two chairs that appeared designed to move along that circle easily. Though both the same height, one had its seat higher than the other and a couple little steps to climb up – and she imagined that one was designed for a human. The console was on, all the various read outs glowing and moving right along, while the glass in the nose looked forward at the hanger wall.

Around the back of the lift, there was another room. It was behind tinted glass, allowing no one to easily see in, but those inside to easily see out. It was dim inside; there were two more chairs and another table. It also had its own consoles glowing, but no windows.

The captain’s room, Garnet explained, walking to the back. She pressed the top of one of the consoles there and it went dark before lifting up, revealing an open space underneath that had an impression in the shape of an egg.

Chee held her hands behind her back as she watched. Garnet turned as Tanin took something from his pocket. She recognized the cord she’d brought. Tanin stepped forward to plug it into the spot at the top. There was still an empty void there, but the cord they’d been given as advance payment was in place, so it was just a matter of time.

Chee had suggested to Hyde that maybe he shouldn’t give them the cord immediately. It was clearly important to them, and it was just good business to not give the biggest part of the payment up front for jobs like this. But Hyde had assured her that, despite what she might think, these people were honorable and would still complete the job. He had a lot of faith in murderers, she had to admit, but she also wasn’t going to say he was wrong. What people held as right and moral didn’t always have to match the textbook definition, after all.

“Goldie is bringing up Alred,” Garnet said to Chee as Tanin stood straight. “Once we get him integrated into the system, we can finish all the takeoff procedures.”

“Great,” Chee said, nodding along.

Garnet gave her a look. It was unreadable but cold. “So, you know Alred.”

Ah. That had been a test. Chee nodded. “I was told.”

“How much were you told?”

“Oh, probably more than you want me to know,” she admitted, shrugging because what else could she do. “I know what you guys do, where you’re from. I know everyone’s original names. I know probably only a bit about what the guys are accused of, but certainly enough.”

“And yet you’re not running,” Garnet said thoughtfully. “You still agreed to come here.”

Chee let out a long breath. “Yeah. Guess I did.”

Unable to help herself, she glanced over at Trove. He was standing just a few feet from her. Not so close that she felt him invading her bubble, but certainly close enough that she couldn’t get away from his presence. His eyes weren’t super wide anymore, but he was still staring.

This time, Chee just kind of stared back.

Charming her left foot. She didn’t know who put that in his file, but they clearly had no experience with people. Or maybe the culture was so different that this was considered charming. Felt more like a challenge, and this time she met it, staring back hard. Neither of them moved until she heard the lift bringing up another person.