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12
We skirtedthe edge of the forest, alert for hazards amongst the trees and in the sky. Once in a while, in the corner of my eye, I saw movement. When I looked straight on, it was gone. Or maybe I imagined it.
"There's no such thing as invisibility cloaking devices, are there?" I asked Brinley.
She shook her head. "Not that I know of."
"Me either," Slek said. He seemed weary, his eyelids heavy. His head injury must be wearing on him more than I had suspected. He could use a doctor to assess him, or better yet, an infirmary.
"Are you all right?" I put a hand on his bicep as we walked. The muscles under my hand screamed 'invincible alien badass.' The lines on his face suggested mortal still recovering from an injury which might have killed him had he been far from medical help.
He covered my hand with his large one. "I'm okay. I could use a big chunk of Parvoran boar steak right about now."
J'avet glanced back over his shoulder at him. "Don't start thinking about food. We have a long way to go."
"Can't a pod come and get us?" asked an evacuee who walked behind us. He was tall and lean, with the yellow skin of a Centauri. He had given his name as Humar, but he seemed anything but funny.
"Not without drawing attention to whatever destroyed the ship and other pods," J'avet snapped.
"That could get us all killed," Slek said.
"So will starving to death," Humar said. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Absolutely certain," Brinley said. "It's not that far. We've covered four kilometres already."
Humar groaned. "Only four?"
"You could always sit here and wait until someone comes for you," I snapped. "None of us are having fun here."
Danec murmured his agreement.
Humar grumbled something but fell silent.
I breathed out through pursed lips. "We could probably do with a break. Just five minutes. It's been traumatic for everyone."
I thought J'avet would refuse, but he stopped for a moment, then nodded. "Five minutes. Under the trees. Keep your eyes open."
"For what, sir?" Danec asked.
"Anything," J'avet replied smoothly. While most of us sat under the shelter of some tall trees, whose lowest branches were too high to reach, J'avet leaned against a trunk.
"Does he ever rest?" I whispered to Danec. I hadn't seen J'avet sleep on the pod either. An exhausted leader wasn't a good thing.
"I think he lay down for a little while," Danec whispered back. "On the pod, as we were going to sleep."
"Maybe he's an android." Slek grinned. "I bet he's the kind programmed to do any function required of him."
"Any?" I blushed.
Slek chuckled.
"He seems humanoid enough to me," Brinley mused. "Some people don't need much sleep."
"Others do." I nodded to where Humar lay beside a bush, eyes closed, breathing softly.
"Centaurians sleep more than they're awake," Slek said.
"That is incorrect," Humar said, without opening his eyes. "I am merely tired from a long shift and sudden evacuation."
