AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can’t let her do this,” Nilt says, putting his hands over his collection. “No eating,” he says. Picking up one, he puts it to his mouth then shakes his head. “No eating the rocks. No.”
“You’re using the Khscc word for no. Use the Gharian,” I say to help them both.
“Oh.” He rolls his eyes. “Fine.” Holding up the rock again and miming eating it, he says, “No,” in Gharian. “No.”
She laughs and stands, going over to our pathetic excuse for a kitchen, bringing back an eating utensil and a handful of napkins. She sits again, putting a rock on the utensil and mimes eating it. Laughing, she says, “No. No,” in Gharian, grinning at Nilt and then goes off, speaking in Earther again.
Putting the utensil aside, she smiles at S’Tou and taps his datapad. He glances at me, asking, “Should I let her? What if she accidently contacts the empire?”
“What do you think the chances are she will with us sitting right here?” I ask, unable to keep the sarcasm from my tone.
“Fine,” he grumbles and slides his device closer to her.
Jessica grins and puts a napkin over its surface. Protection, I assume, as she holds up the pad, making it hover over the table. She even makes a sound like a Kostan cargo ship.
She’s describing the abduction. My heart wrenches at the realization. She glances at me before bringing each stone to the datapad, a few from each color group. They’re all on the datapad. She taps her chest with the ordinary rock she’d picked up and places it on there, too.
The datapad slash Kostan cargo ship lifts before she lowers it. Making the engine sound, she places the pad on the table. Then, she says in perfect Kostan, “Remain calm. Rough activity will be punished.”
All of us are stunned and after she’s repeated herself a couple of times, Quin says in Kostan, “Do you understand us?”
Jessica stares at him, fear marring her face. I growl in Gharian, “Bikking pless, Quin. She probably only knows that phrase and worse.” To her, I put a hand over hers. “Jessica? Yes?”
She nods, giving a wary look at Quin before taking a deep breath and resuming her story. Once more, she says, “Rough activity has been detected,” then pushes several rocks to the side of the datapad before taking them off entirely.
The stone representing her remains with the others on the pad. She puts another small rock next to it. Even after moving the others around, the two stay together. Tears fill her eyes until she blinks them away. Making the pad rise again, she resumes the engine sound before making the pad dip and tilt. To her credit and S’Tou’s relief, she makes crashing sounds with her voice, but gently places his datapad on the table.
She takes several of the rocks off of the napkin, setting them with the other dead. Sniffing because she’s crying again, she has several of the stones hop to what I’d assume were our mountains with the two stones going last. They go a little distance from the pad, then she stops, stands up, and looks around.
“They crashed and now she’s confused?” Quin offers.
“So am I,” Nilt says.
She comes back with an award coin of S’Tou’s. He’d saved someone’s life before his run in with the empire. It’s the only meaningful thing he has left of his former life. I’d tell her to be careful, but she wouldn’t understand.
By the time my attention returns to her, she has the disc hopping to her rock and her stone friend as they both hop in my direction. One of the stones, the friend, lingers and the coin catches up to her. The Jessica stone moves back and forth a couple of times before coming to me.
By now, Jessica’s face is streaked with tears. I take her hand, which she covers with her other before pulling away. She puts everything aside but her stone. It’s in the middle now. She takes the datapad, removing the napkin and has it hovering over the stone. Speaking in Earther, I can only guess what she’s saying now. Again, the stone hops to her, then back to me, back and forth a couple of times.
Finally, she takes the stone, holding it above the datapad and take both to the waste receptacle. She drops the stone into the waste and takes the pad back to S’Tou. She says something in Earther, taking each of Nilt’s specimens back to the shelf in her shirt.
Once she’s seated at the table again, Nilt sighs. “I’m so glad she didn’t eat them.”
S’Tou smacks his shoulder. “She just told us the story of how she arrived here and your rocks are all you can think about?”
“Well, not all. She does tell a good story,” he offers.
“She doesn’t think the Gharians will protect her,” I tell them. “She thinks she’s disposable to them.”
Quin shakes his head. “The empire might not be perfect, but they do value Sixth worlders. She might be a Lesser citizen, but she wouldn’t be harmed by them.”
“What if Nilt or Quin takes her to the Kostan wreck?” S’Tou asks. “Let the empire find and take care of her.”
I want to tell him to go to tunsa if he thinks I’ll let the empire take my bondmate from me, but refrain. “I’d prefer her to learn more about the galaxy and her place in it, first.” I stand, needing a drink and to get her some clean clothes. “I also want to let her shower with us not around.”
Our viewer begins to vibrate like someone’s shaking it. All of us look at each other before Quin goes over to look before I can protest. If there’s anyone peering in at the other end, they’ll see us in the mirrors. If the authorities know we’re here, I’ll need to get Jessica to the safe room.
“There’s a Kostan fighter engaged with a Gharian,” Quin says. “Almost a relief because I was afraid I’d be looking into some ugly face.”
