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Fucker. Caligher had kept her in that cell for a little too long. The days had bled into months and her world had narrowed to the confining walls and the aliens’ voices. It was nearly as isolating as it had been alone on her ship.
Caligher moved to the pirate to deliver his meal. They exchanged a few unfriendly words as she took in her expanded surroundings.
She should flip this, somehow. Get Caligher into a cell and give him a severe talking-to. The moment her toes pointed to the dungeon entrance, Caligher’s voice pierced through her.
“Lucca.”
It was a threat—and it worked.
He cut his interactions with the pirate short and joined her. They walked up the steps into the rest of the ship, her legs wobblier than ever. Even the hum and hiss of the ship startled her into jumping and clutching her heart.
“Is this what you want?” she asked quietly. He shot her a querying look. “For it to always be like this?”For me to be reduced to this easily frightened human?They’d been doing so well—had found their stride—simply for him to ruin it.
He didn’t answer until they made it to the cockpit. He stood at the threshold, grasping the edge of the door frame with a pinched expression.
He looks like he’s in pain.
Finally, he shook it off and met her eyes, guilt and misery flashing through his expression. “No, Lucca. This isn’t… it isn’t forever.”
“It changes things,” she said gently. “You get that, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Still holding the frame, he pushed himself upright. Maybe the gravity was weighing on him. So much mass on that body, it had to take a toll. But if he kept it off indefinitely, her body would weaken faster.
“Are you okay?” she blurted. She’d had a different perspective behind the cell door, but he’d never been this bad before.
“Fine,” he said through his teeth.
Her outrage drained. Something was wrong, but she didn’t know what. She didn’t know how to help him. “Should we turn off gravity for a while?”
* * *
They settled together in the cockpit, gravity disabled, with his tail curled around her to keep her from floating off. It seemed to help.
Once his breathing evened, she relaxed into his body, combing her fingers through his fins and toying with her tablet. She didn’t have a working plan to make him see reason, and the nagging sense that he was in pain threw off any notion of cunningness.
“I don’t like seeing you like this, Cal.”
“It’s normal.”
“Normal for who?”
“…Me.”
She inhaled, trying for patience. “Shouldn’t you see a doctor?”
“There’s a med-room onboard.”
She stiffened. “Will you pleaseuseit, then?” She pointed her face up, meeting his eyes. Something in his irises shuttered, filing his secrets away from her. “Caligher.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s just…”
He squeezed her gently.Let’s just have this moment, for a while, the gesture said. A bubbling sensation filled her chest, knotting in her throat. She couldn’t stand this.
His finger brushed over the map of the Aerinus she’d been toying with and he prodded her with short questions until he got her talking.
Talking about the Aerinus. Old jobs. Earth. Anything. His pauses were stretched and his silence loud, but he seemed to breathe easier when she kept talking.
Somehow she lost track of time. She rambled until they gravitated back to the topic of the Aerinus. Caligher was going about it all wrong. Luccaneededto get him on the same page as her.
