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She narrowed her eyes at me. “You know, hot shot, I was going to fix up a phone for you when we got back since you never got your communicator. But just for that, I’m not going to. You’ll have to make dowithoutour ‘inferior’ technology.”
Krux! Me and my big mouth. There was no knowing when the next shipment was going to arrive, especially after what had happened this time. We never did get a reply from the mining ship. If it was compromised as well, we might notgeta shipment at all.
“I still can’t believe what happened to the mothership.” Sam’s whole body sagged. “What are we going to do now?” The question ended in a swallowed sob, as if she was trying not to cry. There were unshed tears in her eyes.
Her sense of loss regarding our mothership was so palpable that I could feel it in the air between us. It confused me. She was acting like she’d personally lost something immensely important.
“Why are you so upset?” I asked. “It’s a Xarc’n ship, not a human one.”
She looked at me like I’d suddenly started growing extra arms, then shook her head with a disappointed look on her face. “You don’t get it. You really don’t get it.”
“I do not.” I didn’t understand. What was there to get?
“I thought that after living with us for a few weeks, you’d start to, but you really are stupid when you want to be.”
I growled. “I am not stupid.”
“Kan’n, if you can’t understand why I’m upset at the loss of a Xarc’n ship just because I’m human, then I’m sorry, but yes, you are.” Her desperate sadness gave way to anger. “Once this is all over, you might as well catch the first flight off the planet and go somewhere else. We don’t need you here. You’re as bad as the humans who are against working with Xarc’n warriors.”
I took a step toward her and grabbed her shoulders in anger before I could stop myself. “I am not.” The words echoed through the room louder than I’d meant to say them.
She didn’t show any fear or shy away from my burst of anger. Instead, she shoved me back, hard, looking utterly disgusted.
“Let me say it in the simplest-to-understand terms for you. There’s no human side and no Xarc’n side in this war. There’s onlyourside together, or the bugs’ side. Everyone else just gets in the way. Me, I’m onourside. And every loss, human or Xarc’n, isourloss. So tell me… Are you on our side or not?”
The weight of her words rolled over me. This was what Haax’l and Lok’n had been trying to tell me, but all I’d chosen to hear was that we were not strong enough on our own and that we needed assistance from humans. I’d rejected the idea since it made me angry.
But Sam’s words made sense. In my anger, I’d lost sight of who the real enemies were.
“I’m on…our side.” There, that wasn’t so bad.
“Good to know.” She started out the door. “Also, Jask’l offered me a job on the mothership. So yeah. That could’ve been my new home.”
I knew it! I knew Jask’l was after her. “Did you accept the offer?”
“What? Worried you’d end up taking orders from me? I’d outrank you.” Her bitter laugh rang out through the hallway.
I gritted my teeth, determined not to reply.
The next two doors were the bathrooms. After we checked them to make sure they were empty, Sam asked me to wait outside while she did her business, and I realized this was whatshe’d meant bynature calling. She dropped her bag with me at the door, not before digging out a plastic package and bringing it in with her. She came out wiping her hands on a wet napkin that smelled artificially fresh and floral before tossing it into a bin.
The next few doors were labeled as meeting rooms A through D and had nothing but tables and chairs in them. The door at the end of the hall opened into the big room we’d seen earlier. Sam made to step inside, but even though the space looked empty, I stopped her.
“We will go back and check the other hall.”
She shrugged and followed me back down the hall. We walked into a room full of shelves, all lined up in long rows. The shelves were filled with books, and everything smelled musty and old.
“Let’s just check the perimeter of the library to make sure there aren’t any other doors,” she suggested.
There was indeed one door, but it was easily blocked by pulling over a shelf.
“We can burn these for warmth.” I didn’t need the warmth, but she was still hugging herself against the cold, despite the warmer temperatures inside the building.
She looked ready to protest for a moment but then eyed the books dubiously. “I know it’s blasphemous, but I’m freezing. We’ll do it if we have to. But only as a last resort. And none of the useful books.”
To me, they were all the same. I didn’t comment.
The next door opened onto a long, covered corridor that led to the adjacent building. Buffeted by the growing wind outside, the thin walls rattled and shook so violently I wondered if they’d survive the coming storm.
