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“And stop apologizing so much,” she added. “It makes you appear weak and vulnerable. You’re too needy to please everyone.”
“Right.” I nodded and swallowed hard, feeling slightly stilted but trying not to show it. Clearly my efforts weren’t working either way.
Silver’s expression softened and she eased up on me a bit as we cut a corner and began walking down another corridor.
“I’m only telling you these things because I’m trying tohelpyou.”
“Okay.”
I wasn’t sure exactly how she was trying to do that, but I took her word for it, until she started explaining what she meant.
“If you show weakness in front of Amada, she will eat you alive. She will prey on you as if you’re a parasite. It’s not just you. She will do this to anyone. I’m just giving you fair warning. Heed my advice or not. It makes no difference to me.”
I offered her a meager smile while tucking a strand of unruly brown hair behind my ear. “Well, um… thanks.” I was going to prove to her that I was resourceful damnit, if it was the last thing I did.
“You are going to have to work under Amada whether you like it or not,” Silver explained.
“I was kind of afraid you’d say that, but at the same time I kind of expected it,” I responded.
“Amada is head of the ship maintenance crew, among other things. She is going to be unavoidable to you, so I suggest you try to get on good terms with her, or at the very least, not get under her skin.”
I scoffed, laughing lightly. “Yeah, well, she hasn’t said two words to me since I got here, unless it’s some kind of scathing remark so I doubt it will be hard to avoid her.”
“Just keep your head down and do your work and you’ll be fine,” Silver instructed.
“I understand I’m at the bottom rung of the ladder, here,” I said, “but a little mutual respect can go a long way.”
The A.I. released a bout of rich laughter. “Good luck trying to get that. Amada doesn’t respect anyone but herself.”
“You never know,” I said. “Maybe I’ll win her over.”
“If you win her over, then I’ll buy you dinner if we land on Earth,” Silver said.
I smiled, happy to finally be cracking through with her, but I still felt like I had a long way to go.
At least Silver would speak to me, which was far more than I could say for my apparent ‘boss,’ Amada.
ChapterTen
CYBURN
Carmela entered the hangar just as I was getting everything set up for the next drop at the next station. It had taken several weeks, but we were finally in the ending stages of getting most of the humans dropped off at the embassies or at the home-worlds where they were currently residing.
It was a carefully calculated procedure. It had begun with a random system to system jaunt. It took weeks at sublight to drop off each of the kidnapped people, but we were making progress.
I tried to stay on Amada’s good side, given the fact that she was the chief engineer and we needed her more than ever. If she decided to form a mutiny against me or quit altogether, we would be royally screwed. If I stayed under her radar or at the very least, did little to piss her off, then I bettered the chances of survival and headway for all of us.
I knew Carmela was getting frustrated with the tension between her and Amada. It bothered me too, but I didn’t have time to put a lot of focus on it because there was so much else more pressing going on.
Not to say that Carmela’s mental health and wellbeing wasn’t at the forefront of my priorities, but I was stressed out trying to keep Amada in line.
Amada was like a loaded stick of dynamite ready to blow. If you weren’t careful with that one — she was bound to explode all over you.
“Hi,” Carmela said, casting me a meager wave and a melancholy smile.
I turned to face her all the way, providing her with an enthusiastic grin. “Hi there.”
“How is it going?” she asked.
