AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” I explained, aiming to restore calm. “Jun was badly injured in the fight. Dare I say, without knowing for sure, but his injuries could prove fatal in the end. It’s just a waiting game for now.”
“We don’t havetimefor a waiting game,” Amada scathed.
I glanced briefly in her direction. Carmela was sitting in a chair near me, peering up at me with a look mixed with admiration and confusion.
Shehadto have been wondering what was going on between me and Amada. All this was new to Carmela. It was probably overwhelming for her to be here at all on this ship, much less be met with such aggressive antagonism from Amada the moment we docked and stepped foot into the hangar.
I made a mental note to talk privately with Amada about this later and give her a lecture on how to treat our new guest. Carmela had just as much to offer us as Amada did. There was always room for two — as long as it wasn’t both on a romantic level.
I knew I was going to have to explain to Carmela about the severed relationship I had with Amada, and how that on a routine basis — it was most insufferable for me.
However, I had to find a way to tolerate it, especially in dire times like this. As begrudging as it was for me to admit, Amada was our chief engineer and we desperately needed her. She knew this of course, and sometimes took advantage of it to get what she wanted.
“What happens now, you might ask?” I began again.
All eyes were on me, looking for a way out of this. They wanted good news. They wanted the reassurance that they were going to survive. It was like playing a cat and mouse game with the Belic. As soon as we took one step forward, we had to take two more back.
It seemed like the Belic were always ahead of the game, and this was somewhat maddening. It was a frustrating process, but we’d managed to survive this long.
I was living in a constant state of reminder about my father’s legacy, and how I would stop at nothing to fulfill it and get our planet of Alesis back from the crippling grasp of the Belic Empire.
I had a lot riding on this. It was often disconcerting to think about just how many people relied on me for their own survival. If I thought about it too much, it became a mind-boggling concept that was difficult to grasp.
“As I said, Jundidescape with his killbot soldiers.” The killbots were like bodyguards to Jun and the other higher ranking Belic members. “Unfortunately, we believe at this time that he survived long enough to give our last known coordinates to the Empire.”
I paused and glanced between a somber Silver, our resident A.I. whom I’d been talking to through the radios while we were on the Harvester ship, and Amada, who looked more than displeased at this new development.
“I know it’s a lot of information to process,” I said, raising my voice to get it above the buzz of fear and disappointment now filtering through the mess hall. “But we can’t be burdened with any inkling of defeat. Wemustpersevere, and in the meantime, we need to get out of the area — fast for two reasons. One because of the impending explosion of the harvester ship, and two, if we don’t, other Belic ships might be sent in our direction.”
I’d planted the seeds of aggression and protection against our enemies, and now that everyone had been informed of the current situation, we could start the process of acting on things.
Our survival instinct was what kept us going. We were oppressed, but we were retaliating against the Belic with every ounce of fight we had within ourselves.
I tried to keep my hopes held high. After all, we were in better shape than when we started. We had an experienced roboticist on our side now — and she was super cute and sexy to boot.
My eyes locked with hers. Carmela’s cheeks blushed pink. She swiftly moved her gaze to her lap. She pushed a strand of her unruly brown hair off her face. I saw underneath her smile that she got just as hot and flustered when she looked at me as I felt when I looked at her — which, if you asked me, was a thrill that kept me going.
ChapterThree
CARMELA
Ithought it was important in the beginning, that I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible. Not that I didn’t want to offer my assistance and support, but I thought it was important that I observe the dynamic between Cyburn and his crew mates first before I tried to dip my expertise into the pot.
Most of them seemed keen on working together to map out the escape route. We all had one common interest — survival.
I found Silver, their self-aware A.I. to be particularly interesting. Sometimes she got a little defensive and quipped back about something, and other times she seemed genuinely invested in the entire crew’s wellbeing and safety. She had a dry sense of humor, which made it more amusing when she attempted to be snarky with the others. It was entertaining to see an A.I. with such a flavorful personality.
She had a long, slender frame and her body was mainly a metallic shiny color. If I had to guess, I’d say this was probably the origination of where her name came from.
She sat perched at her station on the bridge, shoulders squared and straight, poised as she attempted to calmly and rationally iron out the wrinkly edges amongst the others and their tensions and temperaments.
Nix was there as well, holding his newborn son and swaddling him in his giant arms as he rocked him back and forth. He bounced him around while the little tot adoringly blinked up at his father with a stargazed smile.
Nix continuously planted affectionate kisses on the green-faced baby’s chubby cheeks. Every now and then the baby would swat his adorable, dimpled fists and pump them through the air with excitement and animation.
Eventually, Nix’s wife entered the room. She was a tall woman in stature who wore long flowing dresses and had a gypsy quality about her. She adorned herself with heavy golden and silver chained jewelry too, although not nearly the same amount as Amada and Cyburn wore.
Even as a bigger woman, she had this feminine grace about her that was almost ethereal. As she floated into the bridge to quickly gather up her cooing and cackling infant, I could see how much she loved her husband.
