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“Oh, niña.” My heart pinched, and I leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead, right in front of her little horns. The lizards might have kept me as a pet, but they’d only been able to do so because of the Grug had sold me in the first place. And from everything Raxnor and Tark had told me, the Grug were willing to do a lot worse to all of us. Wehadto find a way to protect ourselves. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they never hurt either of us again.”
“Good. Me like.”Then she rested her head on my thigh and fell asleep, her feet twitching as she chased lizards through her dreams.
I kept working, trying to absorb everything I could about the state of metallurgy in the seven sectors. It was fascinating. In some ways, they were far ahead of the level of technology humans had when I left Earth. The lizards certainly had a few asteroid mining techniques I itched to try.
But in other ways, their knowledge seemed strangely lacking, especially considering the level of technology in this shuttle. Hell, the level of technology it took to make the phone in my hand!
Eventually, Raxnor walked through the main cabin, grunting something about dinner.
Lila jolted upright at the first mention of food and sprang from my lap to follow him to the tiny galley area.
Tark emerged from the cockpit.
“I don’t get it.” I set the phone down and rubbed at my tired eyes. “Why isn’t there more information on the technology needed to form special metal alloys? You must have it. If your computers are anything like ours, they require a lot of alloys that aren’t very abundant in nature.”
Tark spread his hands wide. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it. All my engineering training is based on premade parts. The Grug make all the ships and computers standardized across the seven sectors so that the same replacement parts work for almost everything.”
“That’s why what Tark’s done with the stealth shuttle is groundbreaking,” Raxnor said. “He’s making his own designs instead of using what the Grug give us.”
I leaned forward. “How’d you make the stealth fabric we used?”
“We have a clothes fabricator on theDaredevil.” Tark shrugged. “I gave Kirel, our computer specialist, a list of specifications, and he programmed it for me. But it only does fabric or flat, composite panels. It can’t handle metals.”
Mierda! I thought I’d found a solution, only to have it immediately snatched away.
“You need to eat.” Raxnor unfolded the table from the wall beside me and set down a plate holding a sandwich wrap and my favorite dipping sauce.
My stomach let out a loud growl, and I dunked and took a bite, sweet spice bursting over my tongue. As soon as I swallowed, I said, “Thank you.”
He grunted his pleased grunt and took a seat across the table.
Tark sat just across from us, using a chair on the other wall, and Lila ate like a little pig, gobbling down the meat he’d torn into pieces for her.
Raxnor followed my gaze, watching the kreecat for a few moments. Then he murmured, “She went without for a while. She’ll settle down once she’s back to her normal weight.”
“How underweight is she?” Worry ate at me. “I fed her every chance I could.” But my life hadn’t been my own while under the control of the lizards. I couldn’t take care of her like I wish I could have.
“Not very. She’ll be fine in a few more days, though it might take her longer to overcome her fear of food scarcity.”
I took another nibble, contemplating his words. “How do you know so much about animals?”
“I grew up in the country. We had mirol pups.” He stilled, and a ghost of a smile twitched his lips as his eyes went distant. “They were my best friends.”
I touched the back of his blue hand, which had paused, holding up his sandwich. “I’m glad you had that.” Especially since it seemed his family hadn’t been very warm.
He showed me a picture on his phone.
“Oh, they’re purple like Lila!” The puppies were little, but the adults were tall dogs, and thick with it, having lots of heavy muscle through the chest. They looked strong and fierce, with short snouts and long fangs. But the purple color also made them cute.
“It matches the vegetation on Zaar,” Raxnor said. It made sense, because his teal, blue, purple skin held some of the same the same tones.
“Are there any mirol pups on theDaredevil?” I asked.
“No, they’re not telepathic, so it’s not safe to have them on a spaceship. Kreecats are the only pets most ships allow.”
“Like me! Me smart!”Lila pranced over, her tail waving like a proud flag.
“We do have Vree,” Tark said. “He’s a mirol pup robot.”
