Chapter Fourteen
Her drone returned, waiting above the bath doors for her as she pulled on fresh clothing.
Xexis put away their soaps and was pulling his suit pants on when the doors hissed open.
Grooug stood in the doorway, helmet tucked under his arm.
He immediately froze and glance up at the metal octopus.
Her drone bobbed through the doorway and lazily floated toward Aphrodite.
She caught him and turned him off for the moment.
“Sorry, little guy, I’ve got to fix my data pad, so all that hard work was for nothing. ”
“Kannatch, Mphronatch.” Grooug bowed his head to both before standing up straight. “Boarded.”
“Vels zet” Xexis bowed his head to Grooug. Turning to Aphrodite, he offered a hand., “The ship is ready to launch, will you come with me to the controls?”
She nodded, tying off the top of the shirt above her breathers.
There was a lot of work to be done about her wardrobe now that she couldn’t cover her whole stomach.
Either she was cutting holes in everything she wore, or it was space edgy crop tops for the rest of her life.
Xexis said there was a fabric engineer, aka a seamstress, at their home station who could address the issue.
For the meantime it was basically leggings and tank-tops or t-shirts for now.
Aphrodite gathered up her offline data pad and followed the two out of the bathroom.
She rushed to keep up, doing her best to keep the exhaustion at bay.
“Vels Zet?” she asked, glancing up at Xexis.
“Many thanks,” Xexis answered.
She was going to have to start a dictionary…
or actually learn the language. She wanted to know his language just as he knew hers.
It wasn’t fair that he was a translator all the time.
Even though he was conversational in English, she would like one day to be able to whisper something in his language into his ear. A cute idea, really.
They strode across the bridge over all the labs.
Movement caught her eye. She glanced over the railing, inspecting the easily visible stations.
Some were completely encased in glass, while others were open for observation.
Many were working on armor or weapons. One being in a lab coat aimed a massive cannon at a dummy.
It flashed a brilliant light, and the dummy was gone.
The four behind the scientist clapped as they adjusted their protective, tinted goggles.
“What is that?” she gasped.
Grooug and Xexis glanced down at it before they both grunted in unison, “Pest control.”
“What pest?” She scoffed, rushing to keep up with them.
“Brexzkit,” Grooug shook his head with a sigh, “dark beasts that exist in dark places.”
“Cavern dwellers,” Xexis added.
“Oh! So, you need the light to destroy them!” Aphrodite was awestruck.
“They have a nasty habit of not dying if there is no light.” Xexis grimaced, putting a hand to her lower back.
“Nasty, bitey habit.” Grooug shuddered before pulling up the lose fitting fabric on his right thigh.
The crew having ditched their armor for more relaxed outfits.
He nodded at Aphrodite before jabbing a finger at his thigh.
They all stopped to observe at the jagged, moon-shaped scar. He huffed, “Brexzkit did that.”
“Ouch!” Aphrodite hissed, tenderly prodding at the healed scar.
“Agreed, ouch. Much puss, much blood, ouch.” Grooug spoke with a display of hands and a look on his face that said he was none-too-pleased. He dropped the flowy fabric back down his leg to where it met his heavy boots.
“How did you kill it back then?” Aphrodite furrowed her brow.
He scowled, staring ahead as if he were revisiting the memory. Then the hunter smirked as he returned his attention to her, “I blew up the cave.”
Xexis motioned for them all to continue across the bridge.
Aphrodite dropped the subject, seeing it was a sore one for the hunter.
Though, she made a mental note to ask Xexis about more of it.
She wasn’t sure humans had records of Brexzkit or if that was another thing they never told their scouts.
I’m not a biologist, I make explosive darts and fix drones!
Aphrodite always had her suspicions there was more they didn’t teach her. Damn human education system.
They stepped into an actual command center and her eyes widened.
Xexis dropped his arm as she stepped closer to the control panels.
Three people loitered around the glittering desk full of crystal screens and buttons, comparing information on their data pads.
As impressive as the controls were, it was the ship Aphrodite gawked over.
She stepped up to one of the many panels at the side and gasped as the glass slid open, exposing a colorful dashboard.
She wasn’t ashamed; she geeked out. Spinning to face Xexis, she clutched her drone and data pad to her chest. “You aren’t using crystal or fuel switches, there’s nothing for combustion! You’re completely past fuel! You’re a self-charging ship, aren’t you?”
Xexis beamed, but his mouth hung open. Like he wanted to be excited but she could see the words she lobbed at him go right over his head.
However, one of the three people in the room turned away from the group to face her.
Dressed in familiar engineer overalls but black fabric much like all the other suits, a being much like Xexis.
An Om-Nom...er, a Vroskrowz. Fuck, you can’t say that out loud.
Get it out of your head. Out! Out-out-out!
The Vroskrowz engineer wasn’t bulky like Xexis, and their face was rounder.
A deep teal and spotted emerald color, their pincers were longer and they stood another six inches over Aphrodite.
They pushed round goggles off their eyes.
“You’re correct, how did you know that?”
“Rexna, this is my mate, Aphrodite.” Xexis stepped away from Grooug, toward Aphrodite. “Rexna is engineering technician for the ship.”
“Ah!” Rexna put a fist to their chest and bowed at the waist. “Mphronatch.”
“That’s what they call me,” Aphrodite laughed, offering a hand. Rexna eyed it with marvelous wonder before putting their own hand out to Aphrodite. The engineer clasped their hands together and shook. “Nice to meet you, Rexna.”
“This is a handshake, yes?” Rexna squealed, bouncing from foot to foot and clenching their fists. “I’ve heard about them! Humans use them as a sign of endearing greeting, yes? That means you enjoy my company.”
Aphrodite giggled, a hand clutching her mouth.
She didn’t have the heart to correct them.
With a nod, Rexna pumped two fists into the air.
Xexis cleared his throat, and the engineer flushed a deep, indigo shade across their sea tinted skin.
Dusting off their hands on their overalls, Rexna motioned to the panels, “Apologies, Kannatch, Mphronatch, it truly is an honor. And you are correct; we are a fully self-sufficient energy system. One of the first for the Vroskrowz, no more burning through crystals or fuel or tanks. We soak in solar energy from the stars as we pass them and store it for use. When we are at rest, the vessel recharges its batteries.”
“Amazing!” Aphrodite gripped one of Xexis’ arms. “I was working on making my scout shuttle into a self-charging, but that was maybe one fifth the size of this! I’d love a tour sometime of the insides.”
Rexna nodded vigorously. “I would be honored, Mphronatch.”
Xexis pulled Aphrodite against his side and motioned with one arm to the rest of the individuals in the command deck.
They all snapped to their places, including Rexna, who bowed once more before bolting to their position.
The main pilot took their place behind the center chair.
In quick succession, the ship roared to life, they slipped up above the trees, and the pressure of blasting off knocked her fully into Xexis’ side.
She stole a glance at his face, finding it jovial and entertained.
But the grip he had on her side, the tension on her arm, said something completely different. Had it been something she said?
The second they hit the stars, Xexis turned to Grooug.
He whispered something to the hunter before hoisting Aphrodite up onto his hip.
She clutched her drone and offline data pad to her chest once more as she was whisked out of the room without another word.
He passed through the doorway and stormed across the bridge.
“Xexis, was it something I said?” she squeaked.
“My mate, I did warn you,” he sighed playfully, but she was missing context for the puzzling expression on his face.
“Warn me? About…oh,” it became obvious as he stopped, mid-step what he meant. Aggressively attractive. Right. He studied her with a raised brow muscle.
“If you do not wish-”
A wheeze of air escaped her, “do not threaten me with a good time.”
“I would never threaten you? Even if it was into having a good time.”
She snorted, “We’re going to need a whole lot more healing goop.”
“Aphrodite,” his tone hardened, his voice strained. “Yes or no.”
Aphrodite might have been playing games with him until she realized Xexis was still reeling from their miscommunication.
He wanted permission. He wanted consent.
He wanted her desperately but was still asking.
Well, talk about aggressively attractive.
His little march away, ‘I did warn you’ tease, all of that started a warm tingle in her core.
His hard ‘Yes or no’ and stare deep into her eyes so that she knew that she could say no and he’d put her down immediately?
That started a fire in her belly that couldn’t be doused even with gallons of water.
“Yes.” She answered with a sharp, hungry nod. “Yes, very much, yes.”