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Jessica
I settle into my chair. The dinner Nilt whipped up for all of us makes my stomach growl, but that tikk still haunts my nightmares. “What is it?”
“A Khscc twist on a Gharian classic, pajii and luz,” he replies when I give him a side eye.
“But no tikk?” I ask, fingers crossed they’ve left off that killer spice.
Nilt laughs. “Not a speck.”
S’Tou and Quin walk in at the same time with Quin peeling off toward the bedroom. S’Tou glances from one of us to the other while finding his seat, saying, “Please tell me it’s a new joke that’s making you two laugh. I’ve heard all of ours hundreds of times.”
I shake my head. “No joke, just Nilt reassuring me my tikk fears are a thing of the past.”
“They are,” Cinq says, walking into the main room.
I can’t help but sigh. He’s amazing. When he watched Nilt and me look at some strata across the cave, I couldn’t help but sneak peeks at him every so often. Nilt teased me a little but I didn’t mind. Being with Cinq was worth a little ribbing from an alien lizard guy.
Quin is watching me with a knowing grin. I shrug because yeah, I was caught ogling some guy who calls me his mate. Nilt places dinners in front of us as everyone settles in. The men talk about their day. I just listen because I’m not chatting about the amazing sex with Cinq. It’s too special to make public just yet.
I eat, the men talk and eat. I watch how the men have an easy camaraderie from years of sharing a living space. I feel like I’m the fifth wheel yet like one of them at the same time. The meat and potato-like stuff is so good. I dig in, enjoying every bite.
“Jessica?”
I glance up at Cinq with a grin. “Sorry. I’m hungrier than I expected.”
“Don’t apologize,” Quin says. “This isn’t the newest model of replicator, but it’s not bad, either.”
“It’s great and I want one at home,” I tease and everyone exchange glances. Uncomfortable. All of them seem to think I can’t return home, either. I check out Cinq and his eyes are glassy. S’Tou’s the same. They’d all been talking aloud until now. “Are you all using a mental telepathy thing?”
“Yes, sorry,” Cinq says, wearing a guilty expression. “Sometimes we fall back into the habit of using innercoms, but really need to remember to accommodate you.”
“I’d appreciate it,” I say. Giving Nilt a grin, I ask, “Did you tell them about the geology we found today?”
“No, I figured I’d let you do the honors.”
I might have judged Nilt too harshly when we first met, mainly because he was a bit snake-ish. “Thank you.” All of the men are looking at me as if they’re interested. I need to be careful with this. If I’m not, I’ll tell them far more than anyone but a geology professor would want to know. “Well, based on the surface and then this structure, I expected mostly igneous rocks.”
“But,” S’Tou says, leaning forward while pushing his empty plate aside.
“But,” I continue. “There’s an interesting line of metamorphic rock where I didn’t expect it. A thin line of green marble near a lava tube. I mean, I’m not sure if it’s rare here, but do know I’ve never seen it on Earth. To be fair, though, this isn’t my area of expertise.”
“What is?” Quin asks. “What did you do on Earth?”
“I’m a hydrologist. I gather and correlate data on an ongoing basis for my state. Most days, it’s great, but sometimes, the weather can make things tough.” Talking about my work makes me happy and sad at the same time. “Look, I know a little about rocks and enjoy studying them. I’m also starting to get restless being cooped up in here. Is there any chance we can go on a field trip sometime?”
“Maybe when the Gharians are cleared out of the system,” S’Tou replies with a glance at Cinq, who nods.
Quin leans back, stretching his wings. “That won’t happen soon enough. I’m tired of being grounded. I miss the open skies.”
“We all do,” Nilt adds. “But I’m not eager to revisit Ghar as a hybrid.”
I don’t say anything. He’d talked about his life there as never belonging anywhere, making my resolve to go home even stronger. I’m not sure I’d want to live among strange aliens for the rest of my life. Not even if Cinq is with me. I glance at him to find he’s looking at me. After giving him a smile, I ask, “What planet is this, anyway?”
Cinq exchanges looks with S’Tou before saying, “Different people call it different names, but to our world, it’s X-113.”
“Not very pretty,” I comment. “What do you all call it?”
“Nothing else. It just is what it is,” Cinq replies and stands. “I have a few things to take care of before bedtime.”
