AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He didn’t know.
He did know he’d wanted to tell her all about the device since he’d decided to bring her along to the Forum. But each time he felt her presence in the lab, he hesitated.
Now she told him she thought the portal was spectacular and that she admired his work and he had to disappoint her. While they still had two more hours to go before reaching the mountain resort where the event would take place.
If Nazyn would start fidgeting in the driver's seat, nobody could blame him. But Deruzians didn’t fidget. They just let their hearts beat out of control and pretend everything was fine.
He gripped the steering wheel tighter, fighting the urge to look her way, as he’d done since she’d first sat down. Her cheeks held a distinct shade of red he found quite pleasing, and her hair smelled like the tops of the Annator mountains just when Deruzia’s star, Verity, rose across the desert.
He clenched his jaw. Darcy was his new employee. He should not have been thinking about her hair unless a strand of it somehow got tangled in one of his devices. But it was so short and soft-looking, just right to caress and–
“We’re presenting a hologram device,” he said before his thoughts could run any wilder.
“Oh. That’s…interesting.” But she didn’t sound interested at all. Which only made Nazyn want to impress her even more. “I’ve seen some prototypes at college.”
“Deruzian holograms aren’t like that. They feel real.”
“How real?”
Nazyn could explain it to her in minute, technical detail. But why explain when he could show her? Especially now, since more employees of Alien Inc. had access to the device; more testing could only mean improvements.
He took out the black box that housed the technology, small enough to fit fifty of them in his palm, and slotted it inside the board.
“Call Kiara Earhart,” he said. The board buzzed and, in the next second, a miniature hologram of Kiara appeared right underneath the windshield.
“How does this damn thing–Oh!” Kiara’s frown turned into a smile as her eyes dashed from Nazyn to Darcy. “Hello, hello. Fancy seeing you here. Literally, because you’re like real life people in my office right now.”
Darcy blinked a few times too many, as if she couldn’t quite believe it. Then she leaned forward, lips parted. Nazyn felt a weird sense of pride at seeing amazement in her gaze.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“Why, thank you.” Kiara laughed.
“It doesn’t flash or anything.” Darcy lifted her hand, fingers going straight through the hologram. It didn’t move an inch.
“Now, Darcy, we barely know each other. You at least have to buy me dinner first before you do that,” Kiara said.
Darcy yanked her fingers back. “Sorry. But you look so real.” With a grin that made her look astonishingly beautiful, she turned to Nazyn. “It comes in real sizes, too?”
“Yes,” he said, smiling too. He couldn’t stop it. Her enthusiasm was infectious.Thiswas the reaction he wanted from Darcy. Why, he couldn’t tell, but it thrilled him immensely.
“It’s really awesome. And it can be used in so many ways. Artists appearing on stage from another continent. Talking to aliens galaxies away. Hell, even attending some garden party when you can’t leave your house,” Darcy went on.
“I don’t know about the garden,” Nazyn mumbled, loath to admit it. But he’d promised Darcy he’d tell her about the device. And a promise made was a promise kept, every Deruzian worth his horns knew that.
Darcy gave him a curious look, but her attention returned to the miniature hologram of Kiara.
“It’s so clear, too. Amazing,” Darcy went on in that same awed voice. “Oh, this is going to sell. Big time.”
“Yeah, it’s so clear I can see you sweating,” Kiara said. “Is Nazyn giving you a hard time?”
Nazyn stilled. Was Darcy uncomfortable around him? He had noticed her fidgeting, but it wasn’t unusual for humans.
“I–no.” The redness in Darcy’s cheeks intensified. “I still have my coat on and it’s kind of hot…”
Kiara rolled her eyes at Nazyn. “Nazyn, I know for a fact Deryg discussed social cues with you.”
Nazyn didn’t answer. He was too preoccupied with the idea that he hadn’t noticed Darcy’s discomfort, so he had not done anything to prevent or stop it. “I apologize, I did not notice. Why didn’t you tell me?”
