by Layla Stone
He smiled a deep, genuine expression that hit her in the lower parts of her belly. Wow, he had a potent smile. But she wasn't interested in him or what he could offer, despite his magnetism. She could see why females often fell into bed with Red Demons, though. "As I said, I don't mix business with pleasure." She grabbed the Minky pad, pretending to read something.
"The only other room available is with the Cerebral. But you won't have a problem with that, will you? Now that he's out of his cage?" He gave her a knowing smirk.
"I have no idea what that smile is supposed to mean," she said.
"It means that you're going to like your new bunkmate." He slapped the table as he stood. "Go easy on him, hellcat."
"I'm pretty sure you’re making an insinuation." One that’s right on the mark. She hated that Pax knew it.
“Call it intuition."
"I call it, get out of my bedroom business."
Pax walked by, too close, rubbing against her slightly as he did, and she pulled back with a slight snarl. She did not like pushy men.
"The room, if you choose to take it, is E-140," he whispered with a smile.
Sasha waited until Pax left the eating area to make her way to E-140. Sasha stopped at the shoppet to pick up some much-needed personal items like more clothes and deodorant. The cleaners were set up with hair and body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and all other bathroom needs. Before she left the store, she saw a deck of Terran playing cards. She bought them, hoping that Sci would enjoy playing with her. Conversations with him were great, but she needed to do more than just sit and talk.
***
The station was not a ship, so it was one circular platform. The entire thing was a thirty-one loop. Sasha had walked at least five miles looking for the right room. The hallways looked the same on all three levels of the circular station, and it was maddening to try and figure out the illogical numbering scheme.
The cabin, E-140, was the last of the rooms on deck three. Standing outside the door, she could hear the whirling of the ecosystem generators. Taking a deep breath and accepting that she was going to be living next to a constant thrumming, she pushed her new Federation ID card into the door lock reader.
The panel slid back, and she found herself looking right at Sci. He was lying on a cot, one arm behind his head, and his ankles extended and crossed. His eyes moved over her. Sasha pointed to the bed against the other wall. "Is that bed taken?"
"It's yours if you want it."
She moved to it. The room felt different, standing across from Sci without a cage separating them. They both had their own cleaning units, but the storage shelves and Minky screen had been mounted in the middle of the space, so they would have to share. It seemed intimate. If she were honest, she was excited about their new living arrangement.
Sasha dropped her bags and immediately took off her boots. Digging out the playing card pack, she held it up and grinned. "Do you know what these are?”
He shook his head slightly.
“Playing cards. Also known as super fun. I need to do more than just sit here. I’m an on-the-go type of lady.”
Sci rolled up to sit, and Sasha sat down on the floor between both cots. She pulled out the deck and shuffled the cards three times before setting the cards down. “Okay, now you have to cut.”
Sci’s eyebrows furrowed for a second as he looked at her, then he slowly took the top half of the deck and set it next to the bottom. She picked up the bottom first then the top. “This is called speed. My mom taught it to me but then stopped playing with me when I kept winning.”
He didn’t laugh. Sasha internally frowned. She’d thought that was hilarious. Her mom seriously pouted about it. Sasha explained the game to Sci, enjoying his nearness. This was the closest they had been since the awkward hug incident.
“Any word on when your arraignment is?" she asked as they began putting down their cards.
He was so focused on his cards and putting down the next ones that she didn’t think he would answer. Then, after a long pause, he said, “No.”
The combination of playing and talking was second-nature to her. Her mother didn’t like talking while they played, but she hoped that Sci would be able to do both. At the moment, it looked as if he were struggling. Regardless, Sasha quickly emptied her hand and won the first game. She took the deck and shuffled three times again.
Sci didn’t hesitate to cut the deck this time. Picking up the cards, she dealt them quickly, and they began their second game. "Are you worried? With all the help you gave with the Donnies, I would imagine it will look good for you with the Federation."
“You have asked that before,” he said. He lost the second game, but this time, he picked up the deck and shuffled once awkwardly then perfected it the next two tries. He put the deck down so she could cut it and then dealt. “Are you worried for me?”
“I like you as a roommate,” she said, giving him a playful shrug.
“So, you liked me in a cage? That’s the only roommate experience we’ve had.”
With a nervous laugh, she forced herself to answer. “You’re high-quality goods, remember? I’m roommates with a Cerebral, no one can compare to you. Remember what I said before, if you’re going to kill me or something, I’d prefer it to be quick,” she replied.
He didn’t answer her right away. “Aside from what happened with the Donnies and the pirates who kidnapped me, I have never hurt anyone in my life.” Sci placed his last card down, and Sasha’s jaw dropped as she realized she’d lost.
It took a moment for that to sink in.
She shuffled the deck, her turn to deal. “Sometimes, all it takes is once for someone to change. Now that you know what you can do, you might do it more if the situation presents itself.”
He frowned. “I am the same as I was. As I will always be.” His hands moved quickly, but not as quickly as hers now that she was focused on her hand. They played in silence until she smashed the last card onto the pile. She smirked. All was right in the universe again.
Sci picked up the cards, his turn to deal.
“No one stays the same forever.” She had meant to say that lightheartedly, but Sci’s frown deepened.
“Cerebrals’ connections to one another keep our society chaos free. We all share the same ethics, follow the same natural laws. It would be perverse to change who I am.”
Sasha decided not to comment on that. Sci probably wouldn’t like it if she told him that his entire race sounded like a bunch of mindless drones. She didn’t want to be rude.
They played one more round, and she won again, but it was only because she had quicker hands. Sci grunted, and his lips pressed together. Her mom had made that same look when she was frustrated.
Thanking Sci for the game, Sasha excused herself, put away the cards, and picked up the Minky pad to search for ways she could test out of courses in the Federation pilot program.
She found the one that read pilot, selected it, and began reading the qualifications. The screen prompted her to enter her species, sex, age, name, experience, and training. Taking her time, she entered all her recent information, experience, and scheduled training and then pushed submit.
Half a minute later, the program pinged her. She opened the message. In bold, red letters, it said that she had been denied pilot training due to her species: Terran. Slamming the pad on the bed, Sasha held in a scream. Sci had turned her way, but she wasn’t ready to talk about it. She had flown all the way from Lotus Nexis as an intern pilot, dodging asteroids, avoiding cannibal Donnies, and she didn’t even earn a tryout? It was perversely unfair.
“What?” she snapped. Sci was looking at her, expectantly.
His expression morphed from concern to something indistinguishable. He opened his mouth, and Sasha thought he was going to say something. She was ready to snap back with a thousand different retorts if he dared to ask her what was wrong. Closing his mouth in a tight line, he shook his head.
Now she was pissed at him for keeping whatever he had been about to say to himself. “What were you going to say?” She was readying for a fight.
He ignored her question. His dismissal spun her into a state of anger she didn’t know she was capable of. Standing up, fists hooked on her hips, she hissed, “Oh, right…I forgot how much you hate answering my questions.” Sniffing back tears, her emotions got the better of her, and she walked out. “I take back what I said about being a good roommate. You suck.”
Stomping out of their room, Sasha was barely hanging onto her sanity as everything around her fell in on itself. Pilot training gone, internship that now sucked, and family that was likely being tortured right at that moment—and she was too far away to do anything. Her world was collapsing.
Chapter Seventeen
Free Floating
Sci watched Sasha. Several minutes ticked by before he walked over to her cot and picked up the thin, black Minky pad.
If she didn’t get into the Federation, it would solve his problem. He wanted to take her with him when he left.
He would have to come up with a plan to save her mother, but he could think about that later. What he needed to do soon was talk to her about leaving with him.
Pax had told him that as soon as he was seen by the Federation courts, they would decide what to do. But the Red Demon had also added that Sci should not be worried.
He wasn’t.
Sasha stomped back in to grab her jacket. Eyeing the Minky pad in his hand, she asked, “What are you doing?”
Putting his plan into motion, he said, “What are you upset over?” He held the pad up higher.
“The Federation rejected me from the pilot program. I needed this job to save my mom and my best friend.”
Jandy, Sci had forgotten to include Jandy in his plans. Knowing that the girl was important to Sasha, he mentally noted that he would have to save her, too. “So, it’s not that you can’t be a pilot, you’re upset because you don’t have the means to help your family? Is that right?”
He watched her mind and noticed something off. She genuinely did want to be a pilot. “My family comes first.”
And she was telling the truth, but she was holding back how much she wanted to fly. How much she loved being in the pilot seat, the air acrobatics, the pressure, and excitement of it all. It was her dream.
Damn.
Thankful that the Numan had removed his cerebral blocker, Sci mentally contacted Ansel, who was sitting in his own cabin. The bed next to the medical officer was empty, but as soon as Yon made a recovery, the Yunkin would be in the adjacent bed.
Sci went over the scenario quickly, sending images to Ansel to explain what he needed, looking for help. Sci was learning from Sasha that, sometimes, you had to put others’ needs above your own. He was going to do everything he could to get her into the pilot program.
Ansel quickly relayed how to take the entry exam, using a non-user identification. That way, if she passed, they had to give her a training spot. It was Federation regulations.
Sci powered up the Minky pad and did exactly what Ansel had told him to do. He held out the tablet. "Once you hit start, you will begin the pilot entrance exam. If you pass, you will get an automatic spot."
Sasha didn’t move. “What do you mean?”
“It means, you can still be a pilot. As long as you pass this test.”
Slowly, she inched forward and took the pad. Without looking at the screen, she asked, “How do you know this?”
For reasons unknown to Sci, he said, “How about, from now on, you just assume I can fix any problem you have.” He spread his arms out wide. “In here, on this station, until I am sent home, you can trust me. You can count on me.”
The words came from his soul. He meant every word and hoped that Sasha would rely on him more. He wanted her to think of him as her protector. Even if it was going to be short-lived.
Sasha’s mind was quiet. Her ears and mind registered what he’d said, but something was causing some numbness that he couldn’t place, and he didn’t know what or why. It took another moment before she moved to her cot and pushed the button to start her exam.
He didn’t see the screen himself, but he did see it through her eyes. It was a game with a small pointer ball that bounced around. She had one thin paddle to keep from entering into the random and moving holes on the four walls.
She rolled her eyes and quickly moved past the first level.
Sci sat the entire time and noticed that she was faster at the exercise than she was at her card game. He even witnessed when her mind turned almost all white as she went into hyper-focus.
An hour and ten minutes later, she set the Minky pad down. Her feet started twitching. “That was easy.”
Sci had relayed everything he saw to Ansel.
“It shouldn’t have been.” The words that Sci spoke were Ansel’s. The Numan was sure that Sasha wasn’t a Terran, and now he wanted to do some research. He didn’t have a lab, but he could scrape together enough stuff to check out her DNA.
Sasha let Sci’s comment go, but she seemingly didn’t like it. It appeared she thought he doubted her abilities. Sci thought about telling her that he didn’t, but feared he wouldn’t be convincing enough. Instead, he watched as she squirmed in her seat.
Possibly residual adrenaline.
“Would you like to try something?”
Leaning back, she crossed her arms. “Like what?”
He grinned inwardly and lifted his finger. Without touching her, he floated her into the air. Her eyes widened, and she smiled so big, he felt her happiness in her consciousness. She had a hard time moving in the weightless environment, but that didn’t stop her from shoving against the wall to push herself across the room, seven feet above the floor.
“How are you doing this?” she asked as she tried to do a somersault, failing halfway through.
“Telekinesis. And a lot of mental training." His ability was still weak, but he was able to keep control better now since he had already gained that knowledge.
You can train on me, any day, Sasha thought.
Sci blushed.
“Son of a…how the hell did you get in my head!” she exclaimed. It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. She pointed at the cerebral blocker. “I haven’t taken this thing off since it was installed.”
"Yours is broken," Sci said unapologetically.
"I'm going to get a new one." She flapped all her limbs in the air, trying to get down.
"No, you’re not," he said. He would never allow that. He had come to depend on Sasha’s thoughts and her mind. He’d come to rely on her being inside him too much.
"Did you do it in my sleep? That’s so wrong!"
"I didn’t touch you while you were sleeping. That would be ill-mannered." Sci moved towards her, using his ability to hold her still. With one long, cold finger, he moved a strand of her blond hair from her face. “I remember when I first connected to your mind. You were outside the ship with your friend, Jandy. I remember her being sad that you were going to leave, and how she was never going to take another friend because she wanted to get off that planet. I remember how you felt when you met Pax and the captain, and mostly, I remember how much you didn’t like the idea of having something permanently stuck to your skin. I’ve only been blocked from your mind for all of thirty minutes. You scratched at the blocker so much, you disconnected it.”
She shook her head but not enough to shake off his finger. She liked his touch, and he knew it. “I’m pretty sure this is exactly why Cerebrals are forbidden in Federation space.”
"Privacy is an illusion," he said, his tone dark with amusement.
"It's not. It's a real thing, and I should have it. I can’t believe you’ve been in my head the entire time and you never told me. That’s wrong." More to the point, he knew she desperately wanted to ignore the truth that he knew all the things she had been thinking about him.
"I didn’t
break into anyone else’s blocker," Sci said.
Her thoughts were crystal-clear. She was relieved. She was genuinely worried about Sci. He liked that about her. He enjoyed it too much and knew that when he had to leave, it would haunt him forever. She would haunt his mind until he died if she wouldn’t go with him.
"Your thoughts are chaotic for sure, and your emotions are unchecked. Your mind couldn't be more different from mine, but it’s pure in a way I can't seem to put into words."
"Because I'm Terran?"
"I have been in the minds of other humans. It's not because of your race. It's you."
Oddly, she felt flattered. Sci felt the emotion and her confusion.
He pointed at her. "There. That. I can't understand how you went from anger to concern to happiness, nervousness, and now pleased."
Suddenly, the cabin door slid back, and Sci let Sasha fall. He didn’t want anyone else knowing his skills had improved so much.
Sasha fell onto all fours. Sci moved and grabbed her hand, pulling her up. “I’m sorry.”
She waved him off. “It’s fine.” But he knew she was looking forward to Rannn leaving so she could float again.
The captain stood at the door, watching them as if he knew their secret.
The captain ignored Sasha and addressed Sci directly. "Back on the scavenger ship, you gave an offer to allow Ansel to see how far your abilities could be pushed. I'd like to accept that offer."
Sci noticed Sasha’s concern, but he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to train in a way no Cerebral had ever done before. To learn to fight. Now that he’d had a small taste for it, he couldn’t say that he hated it.
"I'd be interested to find out myself," Sci answered, following Rannn out the door. Inside the closed cabin, Sci could feel that Sasha felt left out. She didn’t want anything to happen to him, and Sci decided to try something else with her now that she knew he was able to get into her mind.
He sent her a mental picture of them hugging. The virtual embrace would seep into her nerves, and she should be able to feel it under her skin.
