Chapter Eight
“ O ne of them is talking!”
“That’s great news, Doc!” Kamau put a plate of sausage and toast in front of the graying Leonid physician.
“Her name is Abigail, and she works at a credit exchange office. She remembers asking some questions about unusual intergalactic processing charges from the Pantherite Provinces, stepping away to get her supervisor—and waking up here.”
“Oh, Bastet! That’s horrible,” Rupex clutched his daughter tighter as he fed her porridge. Little Alana objected and hissed a tiny hiss, waving her paws and sending splatters of her meal across her uncle.
“Sweet Sirius. What about the other girl?” Jaxson asked, wiping himself down without a second thought.
“She’s still largely unresponsive. She’s tiny, even for a human. They gave her too much neurosuppressant for her body weight, that’s my guess. She’s able to open her eyes but not speak.”
The table fell silent. Kamau moved to stand behind Nessa, wondering if he should pat her shoulder to comfort her—or would she want to keep their night of passion secret?
“Nessa, when you’re done speaking with the authorities, Abigail should talk to them. I’ll stay with her on the call,” Marcus said, taking his plate to go. “Kamau, can you whip up some more broth and custard and have it brought to the med bay?”
Jaxson picked up his plate, too. “I’ll bring it over, Doc, and then I’ll sit with our silent visitor. You all know I can talk enough for seven.”
Chuckles and cries of agreement ran around the table.
“Are you feeling better, Nessa?” Wendy asked in her ever-sweet voice. “Do you want someone to sit with you during your calls? I mean, besides Rupex and Talos?”
Nessa’s eyes traveled between the Leonid and Tigerite. “Um. No. I’ll be fine.”
Kamau kept his ears aloft with an effort. If she were mine, she’d want me with her. This proves it. Last night was only physical—and I should have resisted.
“HI, DAD.” NESSA SMILED into the screen.
Her dad’s clouded eyes stared vacantly back. “Ness?”
“Yep.”
“Where have you been, sweetie? Didn’t call your old man on the weekend like you always do.”
“I know, I know, but did you get my message yesterday? I called you as soon as I could.”
Confusion washed over his face. He finally grunted, “Mhm.”
“You must have been so worried.”
“About what?”
Nessa bit her lip. Like many families on Sapien-Three, her parents had not been able to afford a child until they were older. Her father had been in his early forties, and he was now in his late seventies, a miraculous age for anyone but the wealthiest. Living in a chemical haze had definitely aged him mentally and physically, but Nessa had to bite back tears when he said, “About what?”
As soon as she could speak clearly, she’d asked to call her aging father, but he hadn’t answered. Imagining it was night on Sapien-Three, she hadn’t worried and simply left a message saying she was fine and would call back to explain what happened in more detail. She’d assumed he’d already heard from the MWIP or the police that she was missing.
“Didn’t someone from work call you and tell you I was missing?”
“Uhhh. Oh! There was some awfully angry fella who sent a bunch of comms. Said you were gone for more than three days without calling in and you were fired. I figured he had the wrong girl. My Nessa is too responsible for that.”
“Fired!? I was kidnapped!”
“What?” Her father’s eyes bugged out, and he grasped his chest. “Kidnapped! Hold on, baby girl. I’m getting on a transport shuttle right—”
“Daddy. Dad, sit down! You can’t come and get me—I’m in another galaxy.”
“What?” Her father staggered back into his chair. “Honey...”
“I’m fine. Very fine. I’m rescued, okay? And I’ll be back home in a couple of weeks, I promise.” As she said the words, she knew they were true. Felix Orbus was just a vacation. It could be a lifestyle... if not for her dad. “Dad, why don’t you come live at the port base with me? You know I ask every year! Your pension and my pay—we could get a two-room place.”
“I am not going up on no shuttle! Your—”
“—Uncle Abraxton died in a shuttle explosion. I know, I know. I just worry about you living in St. Albany alone. Do you even leave the apartment?”
“I don’t. And I’m not the one who got kidnapped and fired, now am I?” Her father sat back and crossed his arms with a smug grin, sharp and lucid again.
Well. He has a point there.
“I think they’ll give me my job back once I explain what happened and law enforcement gets involved, Dad.”
“Fine... But if a job can’t even tell you’ve been kidnapped and just thinks you’re playing hooky, I don’t think they’re much of a job. You used to be so excited to work at that place, but I haven’t heard you say one good word about the port in months. Maybe years.”
“That’s true, but it pays, and everything is convenient. Guaranteed housing and way less pollution than on Sapien-Three. If I did get another job,” Nessa spoke slowly, a persistent thought nudging her when it had no business doing so, “I might look at putting my contract up in another galaxy. I really like Felix Orbus.”
“What about those cat-men? They have big teeth. I heard they ate some girl all up!” Her father smacked his cane on the floor and waved his wrinkled hand over his smooth, bald head so violently that his glasses fell into his lap.
“Maybe they meant to say ate her out,” Nessa mumbled under her breath.
“Ate her what?”
“Nothing! Nothing, Daddy. The Felids I’ve met are awesome, and so are their families. I think you’d like them.”
“Well, I’m not gonna follow you to any blasted planet where I have to use a litter box.”
“Dad! They have Felid features, but the genetic splicing was hundreds and hundreds of years ago! They have nicer bathrooms than we do!” Nessa sat back and sighed. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.”
“Neither can I. Oh, some guy called me a bunch of times, looking for you. He said you're fired.”
Annnd we’re lost again. Nessa bit her lip, nodding. “I know, Dad. I’ll um... I’ll handle it. Don’t worry. What was his name?”
“I don’t know. I can never remember how to get my messages after the first time. “
“It’s okay. I’ll figure it out. Love you, Dad.”
“Love you, Ness.”
She ended the call, heart tight.
“Layla!” she called, voice loud and clear to make sure any tears knew their place.
Layla came into her office at once. “Ready to talk to Sheriff Dane with Talos and Ru?”
“In just a minute. How do I get a call through to the MIWP on this thing?”
“NESSA? NESSA, GIRL , you look amazing.”
Nessa rolled her eyes as Merton’s face filled the screen. Good. Let him suffer. She did look good in her current Felid-curated outfit of charcoal pants suit and silvery blouse, clothes she could have never afforded or had occasion to wear back at the MWIP. She looked powerful. Knowledgeable. Perfect for speaking to people with weight to throw around.
“Merton, my dad got a call saying I was fired. You’re the supervisor of my division—why would someone call him and say that?”
“Uh... Probably because you haven’t clocked in for days and gave no notice before leaving. You know the rules. Miss three shifts without notice or approval, and you’re out. Out of a job and out of staff housing. All of your stuff is sitting in a box in the Inspectors’ Staff Room.” Merton shrugged, bulky form shifting in his swiveling chair, seeming too large for the tissue-paper thin white shirt and cheap black tie. He mopped his shining brown face. “You can pick it up until the end of the cycle. If you don’t collect it by then, they toss it. I’m gonna miss you.”
“I was kidnapped, Merton! I didn’t just leave a job I’ve worked at for years—not to mention a place where I have been trying to get a promotion for the past six months.”
“I know, I know, you deserve it, Nessa! But you have to understand, people saw us together last time we went out, and I need to—”
“‘Wait a year before you can sign off on my promotion,’ I know, I know. I didn’t sleep with you to get ahead. I slept with you to have a good time.” Which didn’t happen—and why is the issue the promotion and not the damned kidnapping?!
“Exactly. That’s what I would tell the promotions review board, too.”
“Well, tell the review board I got shoved into a shuttle by two assholes with hot-beam lasers, and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks!” Nessa hissed, slamming her hand down on the flat white desk, making the database computer she was using jump.
“Well, this is new to us! We thought you just disappeared somewhere. Hopped a shuttle and took off.”
“There are cameras and security drones everywhere. Someone had to have seen what happened.”
“Um, yeah. I’ll look into it, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure I tell the review board what really happened,” Merton nodded, mopping his face again. “Can I have the details of the incident—and where you are now?”
“Right, you need a report. Well, I was completing routine inspections in my section when two men approached me. They owned the shuttle in berth thirty-eight. Shouldn’t you be typing this in?”
“I’m recording. Keep going.”
“Sure. Anyway, they tried to give me 300 credits ‘for my trouble,’ which immediately made me suspicious.”
Merton muttered and shook his head.
“I know, idiots. When I started to inspect their shuttle, a lot of things didn’t pass, including the exterior siding. The life system and pressurization boxes were—”
“What happened when you went in the shuttle?” Merton demanded.
Nessa hesitated. She wasn’t sure what she should say about the other women on board.
Was she supposed to report that to the police first? Would she compromise any investigations or tip off the traffickers if she revealed their plans were foiled? Would they catch two other girls and send them instead? “Well, when I got in the shuttle, it was dark, and I noticed there was some... shady stuff going on, and it definitely wasn’t going to make an intergalactic jump.”
Merton nodded. “And?”
“I went to confront the two men who owned the shuttle, and one of them attacked me! They both had hot-beam lasers. I pulled the shuttle door shut and ended up being sent into space. A hyperjump, Merton! I went through a hyperjump without a hypersleep chamber. Thank God I landed where there was trained medical staff, or I’d be space dust.”
“Where are you?”
“The Felix Orbus Galaxy.”
Merton’s dark skin paled. “My God. That’s a dangerous place. They... I heard they hunt humans.”
“That’s such nonsense. The people I’ve met are lovely and welcoming.”
“Who’s with you?”
“Oh, a few human women, some Felids from across their galaxy, and some Canids, too. I don’t think that really matters. What matters is that those two thugs attacked and set a chain of events in motion that could have killed me. I had no control over it. I didn’t leave my job, my job almost killed me .”
I don’t think I like my job anymore. “And you’re pretty much my boss. So what the hell are you going to do about it?”
“DANE IS WAITING, AND so are council members from the Intergalactic Criminal Investigations Office, two branches!” Talos hurried up to Layla’s office door and spoke to Kamau. “How long is she going to be?”
Kamau pushed a tin of floribunda biscuits into the Tigerite’s hand. “For your Queen. I don’t know how long Nessa will be. Excuse me, I have a course on human nutrition to finish.”
Kamau stalked away, breathing hard.
He shouldn’t have opened Layla’s office door. He shouldn’t have listened in—even for a few seconds.
I was so eager to see her again. Eager to give her floribunda cookies, to tell her they were nowhere near as sweet as the taste of her on my tongue.
I slept with you to have a good time.
Her words echoed in his head, booming in his ears.
To have a good time.
She’d had a good time with him last night. He’d had a good time.
Tears stung his eyes, and he refused to let them go, head tipped back to gaze at the ceiling while he sniffed in hard and willed the wetness to sink back into his tear ducts.
Like that would work.
You were just a good time in a bad situation. She needed comfort, you gave it.
You should have resisted harder if you were going to be a cub about this, crying for her like she was...
My Queen.
I thought maybe someday I could win her.
Fool.
Idiot.
Dinner is going to be millet cakes and razortusk bacon. That’s all I’m up for cooking.