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“That’s out of the question,” Kiara said. “I mean, if youwantto quit, I can’t stop you. But I advise against it. Do you want to?”
Darcy shook her head.
“Then that’s settled. God, I hate Intelligent Inquisitor. They’ve been a thorn in my side since I started working at Alien Inc., always asking weird questions and trying to dig up dirt on our company. Guess they finally found it.”
Nazyn tilted his head to the side. That same whisper of a hunch he’d had at breakfast came back, full force. He envied humans’ intuition. Since Deruzian couldn’t lie, theoretically, they hadn’t evolved the ability to suspect. Not like humans, at least. Rynar was just about the only Deruzian Nazyn knew who possessed such a skill and he was fearsome when he needed to.
But Nazyn had a skill, too. Calculating probabilities, dissecting information and then piecing it back together. And right now, things didn’t add up.
He was no longer on Deruzia, with its strict rules and traditions. He’d found a new sort of freedom on Earth, but he needed to keep in mind that humans played by different rules.
It was time Nayzn learned them–and how to break them.
“Kiara, has anyone other than the Inquisitor askedweirdquestions?” he asked, a convoluted plan taking shape in his mind.
The Nines had created a perfect Universe. There were no coincidences.
“No, the rest of them mostly stick to the same old corporate communications pattern. The Inquisitor stopped calling about two months ago.”
Alarms rung. Two months ago. Around the time Alien Inc. announced it was coming at the Forum and Nazyn was forced to send an internal message about having difficulties with their technology. Luckily, he hadn’t mentioned the device and what it could do, but he had explained some of the technical barriers he was facing with the wireless system. Enough for an intelligent human to discover the issue, just like Darcy had.
There werenocoincidences.
“Why didn’t I know of this?” Nazyn asked.
“Because you don’t work in the PR department?” Kiara said. “I told Deryg and Yakirian about it. Who, by the way, is beside himself right now. I heard his desk got the brunt of it, he’s ordering a new one.”
Yes, Yakirian probably hadn’t taken the news lightly. “Deryg and Yakirian are two highly skilled Deruzians, but their knowledge of technology lacks.”
Kiara rolled her eyes. “The Inquisitor just got tired of me saying “no comment” on whatever wild story they tried to concoct.”
“Or they found another source for their information.” Nazyn turned to Darcy. “Would Richard have the technology to breach another company’s system?”
“Yes,” Darcy said, with no hint of doubt. “After I left him, I suspected that’s how he got a lot of information.”
“Can you create a system to stop that from happening?”
“Yes. I did my thesis on closed platforms. For use in commercial robots, but the theory is the same.”
“Good. That will be your first task once we get back to Alien Inc.” He turned back to Kiara. “Any operation not relating to intergalactic shipping or emergencies needs to be shut down until we get back.”
“What the–” Kiara shook her head. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“No, I’m trying to protect Alien Inc. I believe Richard has gained access our system. Not terribly well, but enough to cause issues.” Richard might’ve been the worst sort of thief and liar, but, sadly, he wasn’t stupid. He’d figured out–or had someone else do it for him–that whatever Alien Inc. prepared to launch would be hindered by those Nines-damned plants. He’d figured it out before Nazyn had. Richard was dangerous. “I should’ve killed him when I had the chance.”
“Absolutelynokilling,” Kiara snapped. “I’ve already seen comments online aboutaliens coming to steal our women. Imagine the absolute chaos that would happen if a Deruzian hurt a human, let alone kill one as well-known as Richard Dyson. You would be hunted on the streets.”
Nazyn clenched his jaw. It wouldn’t help to point out that normal human weapons were useless against Deruzians.
“We all need to calm down. One issue at a time,” Kiara said, taking a deep breath. “I’ll tell Yakirian about the system shutdown. Or I’ll have Deryg do it, he seems to like him more. He is not going to be happy about a hacking attempt. Now, about the whole press conference and kissing mess.”
Kiara’s gaze ping-ponged between Nazyn and Darcy. “There’s no easy way to say this. I empathize with you, I do. This Dyson dude seems like an asshole. And it’s not okay that your personal business was plastered for the entire world to see. But you two have to get your shit together and not draw attention to whatever is going on between you two right now. This isn’t okay. For you. For Alien Inc. For Deruzia. For Earth.”
“We know,” Nazyn and Darcy said at the same time.
“If I wasn’t so mad right now, I’d tell you how cute that was. But I’m upset, so I won’t.” Kiara took another deep breath. “We need to think of a way to spin this and get ahead of the human-Deruzian hate train. I’m going to write a statement about the blatant xenophobia in these articles. Are you two fated mates like Zaryn and Lily? Because that would help.”
Darcy sucked in a breath. “Fated-what-now?”
