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He chuckled as he unloaded the contents of the tray onto the table, including two full glasses of the pink juice.
“Hmmm, something smells good,” I said in an enthusiastic voice as I lifted the cover of one of the trays.
“Hopefully, I got all your favorites,” Jaek said, pulling a chair for me to sit.
I gave him a grateful smile as I began to sit, my gaze taking inventory of the food in my plate.
“It certainly looks like you did! Even blueberry pancakes! How did you remember… Oh!” I said, taking on a crestfallen expression.
“What is it?” Jaek asked with a sliver of worry.
“Hmmm.. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I said with a smile in my best interpretation of someone disappointed but pretending they were not. “Have a seat. I know you have a busy schedule ahead.”
As I had hoped, Jaek frowned and took on a mulish expression. “No, thereissomething. What’s wrong?”
I shifted in my seat and gave him a sheepish smile. “It’s really not a big deal. I noticed there is no syrup for the pancakes. But I can do without.”
I had accounted for a variety of things that could be missing, based on the types of dishes Deimos had brought me over the past few days. The pancakes couldn’t have been more perfect.
Jaek blinked, his eyes flicking to my plate before locking with mine again. “Oh! I didn’t realize you liked syrup. I don’t recall you ever having much of a sweet tooth.”
“I didn’t use to,” I said with an embarrassed expression. “I mostly still don’t, but Melinda converted me into adding a dab of syrup on my pancakes, and the occasional cream in my cof.. gwar.”
Jaek scrunched his face in disgust. “I willnotassist you in ruining gwar with cream—not that we have any today—but I can take care of your syrup addiction.”
I giggled. “It’s not an addiction, but it does make pancakes perfect. Unfortunately, my replicator here doesn’t make any,” I said in a dejected tone. “So, I’ll make do without this time.”
“Absolutely not!” Jaek said in a tone that brooked no argument. “I’ll go fetch some for you.”
“Oh no! You don’t have to do that!” I said with the proper level of guilt.
“I insist. It will only take me a few minutes. Be right back.”
Without giving me a chance to argue further—not that I would have—Jaek left the room.
As soon as the door closed behind him, I grabbed my glass and rushed to place it inside the replicator. I set it to heat, my heart beating into my throat as I watched the second go by at a painfully slow pace. The whole time, I prayed the juice wouldn’t change color, or otherwise have some weird reaction that would give away that I had tampered with it.
Although Jaek had said thirty-six degrees for thirty seconds to nullify the effects of the drug, I couldn’t risk waiting that long. I needed to cool down the drink again and tackle the second glass before he returned. As I didn’t know how close or far the mess hall was located, he could be back in two minutes or five. Therefore, I set it to forty-five degrees for fifteen seconds, before cooling it over forty-seconds to avoid too drastic a temperature reversal that could shatter the glass.
When I pulled the glass out of the replicator, my heart sank at finding it at room temperature instead of cold. If I spent more time on this one, I probably wouldn’t have time to repeat the process with the second glass. Raising it to my lips, I carefully took a sip and almost cried with relief when the taste turned out not to have been affected by the heat.
Taking a quick decision, I put that first glass back inside the replicator to cool it for a few seconds more. While it did, I rushed to the hygiene room and turned on the faucet. Leaving the water running, I hurried back out and grabbed the second glass on the table.
I could barely breathe, my chest was so constricted with fear. Worse still, I dreaded not hearing the door chime when Jaek returned as my heart was pounding so loudly in my ears. Thankfully, this time the first glass had cooled to an appropriate temperature. I put the second glass to heat while returning the first one next to Jaek’s plate.
Even if I didn’t have enough time to properly ruin my own drink, its effect would wear off early as it had over the past few days. Getting Jaek free of the compulsion was my priority. I was halfway through cooling the second glass when I heard something outside. The ship being very-well soundproofed, outside noise extremely rarely seeped into my room.
Panicked at the thought it might be Deimos coming to spy on us, or Jaek already returning, I took the drink out, distraught at finding it barely lukewarm.
It’s my drink. He won’t notice!
As I was bringing it to the table, my door chime rang. By some miracle, I managed to suppress the frightened yelp that rose in my throat. In my haste to put the glass down next to my plate, I spilled a few drops. Sparing them no mind, I ran to the bathroom and shoved my hands under the running water.
“Just one minute!” I shouted as I turned off the water and grabbed a hand towel.
I hurried back to the door and opened it, hoping I didn’t look too flustered. Jaek was standing outside with a slight frown, a small bottle of syrup in his hand.
“Sorry,” I said with a sheepish expression before showing him the towel with which I was wiping my still damp hands. “I was in the hygiene room.”
