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19
RHIANNON
When I woke the next morning, I found myself tucked neatly beneath the dense fabric of the duvet and my head resting upon an enormous overstuffed pillow. I looked around the room curiously, seeing it for the first time in daylight and taking my time to examine its many features. This had to be Nikathy's personal room, judging by the modern decor and his personal effects on the bathroom counter.
I expected him to come walking into the room any second to greet me, but after several long minutes of staring at the walls, I got the sense that I was all alone. I shook my head, wondering how long I'd been asleep and why he hadn't bothered to wake me if he was going to be leaving somewhere. It would've been the proper thing to do, I thought. But all the same, I stayed in bed a while longer, enjoying the floating sensation before attempting to drag myself out from under the covers. The walker was tucked neatly in the corner across the room.
I stopped, considering my options, and then decided that I was going to reach that damned thing even if I had to crawl across the floor to do it. I wasn't going to sit in here and wait for Nikathy to come save me again. Ready or not, I was going to take matters into my own hands.
Somewhere beyond the closed curtains of the windows, I heard an explosion and nearly jumped out of bed right then. I needed to know where the Patrol ships were and what they were doing if I was going to deploy another successful weapon.
When I found him, I was going to give him a piece of my mind, but first, I had to reach the opposite corner of the room. I had to make several attempts to get out of the bed before I was successfully on my feet and walked around the room by keeping one hand on the wall for balance. As I slid my feet along the floor, cautious not to trip on anything, I heard another ship go sailing by outside and more gunfire erupt. The ships were so close overhead the walls rattled, and I feared that the Patrol had already taken the city, or if not, that they would land any second.
I made it to the walker and turned to the door, happy to have regained some speed in my step. Out in the hallway, I looked both directions, curious where Nikathy might be. Everything inside the house was quiet. Finally, I had to make a decision and went back toward the radio room where Nikathy and I had spoken to the pilots the night before. It wasn't too far, and it was as likely a place as any for the him to be holed up.
To my relief, as soon as I pushed the door open, I spotted Nikathy at the console, his headset pulled up over his ears and his face looking haggard. He turned to observe me as I entered the room, and I offered him a demure smile, unable to stop myself from thinking about the way our bodies had collided the night before. But to my surprise, he didn't smile back. Instead, he gave me a curt nod and then turned back around, grumbling something into his radio and resting his chin upon his hand as he stared at the monitor before him.
Discouraged, I pulled up a chair beside him, happy to sit and wait until his call had ended. I truly wished he would come to me and place his lips against mine again, but he showed no inclination of doing so, and eventually I sat back in my chair, waiting impatiently for him to address me.
Despite the two ships that had passed overhead earlier, the sounds of the battle appeared to be moving further away. This gave me hope things weren't as dire as they seemed when I had first woken. But as time dragged on and he didn't even bother to look sideways at me, I felt myself growing tense. I was getting the impression that he was ignoring me on purpose.
The longer I dwelled on it, the more self-conscious I grew. My mind retraced my steps from the previous night, reenacting every conversation he and I had shared, and by the time I was done reviewing the footage in my mind's eye, I was on the verge of tears. I realized that some of the heat I had felt between us might have only been a mirage, created by the sense of danger that pervaded our day together. Nikathy hadn't brought me to his bed because he was enamored with me, but because he was convinced that we would be dead by morning.
Tears stung my eyes, and I turned away from him, but I did not leave the room. I wanted to learn what I could about the battle. I wanted to know when I could join Tayla, and how I could be of help to them while I waited. There had to be something more I could do from down here, especially if the ships kept flying so close to the estate.
Tired of waiting for Nikathy's approval, I grabbed a headset for myself and listened in on the chatter between the pilots. They sounded worn down, but occasionally one of them would let out a victorious whoop that would make my ears ring, and I knew that they had taken out another Patrol ship. Still, it took me a while to find my bearings and a get a genuine sense of what had been happening while I was sleeping.
Eventually, I could piece together that the Patrol had pulled back to regroup, only to form a new battle line with reinforcements and make another charge at Kychek during the morning hours. Our pilots were prepared, at least as well as they could have been, but they still sustained heavy losses, and many of our ships were now grounded, leaving large holes in our defense. In order to close the holes, the pilots had retreated slightly, moving closer together, but also drawing the Patrol closer to the city as well. It was not ideal, but it was the only thing they could do under the circumstances. Now they were counting on help from the ground to regain the advantage, and I had just the thing for them.
Giving Nikathy one last sorry look, I shook my head in disappointment and grabbed my walking device. I had to get outside and get working on my new plan, if I was going to be of any use.
