Chapter Nineteen
Reevar stepped beside Aphrodite, watching the door in horror.
They both stood silently, unable to move until her data pad chirped.
Aphrodite lurched, nearly dropping the slippery thing.
Her hands trembled as she signed into it once more.
The screen cleared and she was back to the station neutral screen.
Except, when she tried to engage the drone, it buzzed and flashed a dull orange at her.
Drone not detected.
Aphrodite furrowed her brow and glanced up at the bobbing octopus beside her head. “Uh, Buddy, why aren’t you connected?”
The drone twirled in a quick circle before chirping metallically.
His camera lens shuttered before it continued to bob up and down beside her.
Maybe a question for a different time. She returned her attention to the data pad.
Ready for it to glow red with alerts or scream at her, she waited.
Even Reevar moved away from her to pull his flight suit on his flesh and collect all the armor pieces for everyone.
He was carrying arms full when the data pad finally connected.
A green light flashed on her screen, and she was greeted with an incoming call. From Winrow Smith, the scouting mission general. Her heart raced. Without thinking, she accepted the video feed. As Winrow Smith came on screen, the sounds of screams filled the hall. Reevar jumped in front of her.
He jutted an arm out in front of her, the pieces of armor clattering to the ground.
The doors to the baths hissed open seconds before a body passed through it.
One of the researchers she hadn’t met toppled to the ground with a large blueish green alien attached to their throat.
An open maw like an angler fish with an antenna eyeball, four arms and two legs, hunched over the corpse and took a large bite from the Vroz’s body.
The angler fish stood, webbed arms and fingers spread as it gulped down its prey.
Crunching bones and slurping blood before it focused its attention on Aphrodite and Reevar.
“Technician Kerso!” Smith’s bark filled her ears. Her focus, however, was solely on the beast approaching.
“Zhat muq brotesqu,” she breathed. Reevar blocked her from the view of the bloody person. As he intercepted, the angler fish tossed its head back and let out a spine shattering howl. It was loud, wet, and bounced off the walls around her.
“Fqa!” Reevar barked but it did nothing. Fqa lunged across the floor and Aphrodite bolted. She’d seen this horror movie, too.
“Sorry Smith! I’ll have to call you back!
” she screamed seconds before hanging up the call.
Disconnecting the data pad from the human station, she darted around the baths to put space between her and the creature.
Reevar launched, pinning the attacker to the ground.
Aphrodite saw her drone hovering over them. “Buddy, where’s his weak spot!”
Buddy, his new name, flipped on his orange beam of light and scanned the two wrestling beings.
Her data pad booted up without her command.
She would have to talk to Buddy about his sentience later.
For the moment, she was relieved to see a different screen on her pad.
Not her station’s screen, but a neutral command window.
Weakness: Breathes through skin. No breathers detected. Semi-Aquatic.
Aphrodite smirked. Leaping over the tangled duo, she raced for Xexis’ compartment. Her heart racing in her chest, she rummaged around. It took her fingers a long time to comprehend. Finally, she wrapped her fingers around the jar of soap. Ripping the lid off, she rushed at Reevar.
“Move!” She screeched.
Reevar broke away from Fqa seconds before she hit the rabid creature with a glob of soap.
Her angler fish screamed, swatting at the soap.
Heart pounding in her ears, Aphrodite lurched forward and smashed another glob into its face and extra eye.
The being teetered backward, fumbling with the foaming soap in its eye.
Reevar took the jar from her and poured it over Fqa’s head.
Sunk to their knees, the rabid one shrieked.
The tub already starting to fill once more.
Thrashing back and forth until they tossed their head into the shallow water.
Suds filled the tub. Reevar took Aphrodite by the bicep and led her backwards.
Water rushed out, filling the tub rapidly.
With each slosh of water, she expected to see Fqa rise back up.
“Are they dead?” Aphrodite whimpered.
“No,” Reevar breathed. Only the screaming of alarms over their heads and the thunder of her heart against her ribs surrounded them. That’s when Fqa breeched the surface of the tub.
Fqa crawled from the bath, eyes red and angry.
Screaming like a rabbit pinned to the floor, fingers scraping at the tile, their aggressor blindly searched for them.
Aphrodite could taste her heart and organs at the back of her tongue as Reevar backed her into a wall.
Her drone scanned again with an orange beam. Her data pad showed a new statement.
Skull is brittle. Lifeform has deteriorated. Pest.
Aphrodite let out a heartbroken sob as she showed the screen to Reevar.
He shared the same torn sentiment. She mouthed ‘I’m so sorry’.
Reevar shook his head and returned his attention to Fqa.
Backed to a wall, Aphrodite froze while Reevar flew over the angler fish creature.
Landing majestically over them, Reevar snatched Fqa by the eye stalk and swung with his other fist. His knuckles landed square in the middle of the skull.
Perfect aim. A sickening crack echoed within the bathroom, bouncing off the tile.
She cried out, tears spilling as she watched Reevar drop a limp body.
Fqa smacked against the floor. Their skin squelched as it flattened to the tile.
Aphrodite covered her mouth, shaking from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes.
Xexis and Grooug appeared in the doorway shortly after.
The doors had never shut, forced open by the body in their wake.
Aphrodite sank toward the ground. Xexis flew to her side, but she was staring at the body.
Tears flooded her vision. Max. All she saw was Max, crumpled to the floor.
His space suit suctioned to his body. Blood floating in the space, void of gravity.
Sobbing, Aphrodite couldn’t blink away the vision until it ripped at her heart.
Her data pad fell out of her hands. She grabbed ahold of Xexis and clutched him but couldn’t look at him.
Not while the burned eyes of Max stared at her through the alien’s sockets.
“Kannatch,” Reevar exhaled, stumbling away from the corpse.
“Have the baths scrubbed,” Xexis snarled, lifting up his mate from the floor.
Aphrodite shook, clawing at him as if to bury herself in his throat.
She felt him bending to pick up the device dropped to the side.
The familiar whirling of her drone over their heads was little salve to the pain in her chest. Finally able to control herself, she latched around Xexis and dug her fingernails into him.
Zhat muq brotesqu.
She let him carry her away from the baths. All thoughts of this morning or of breakfast were gone. The only words in her mind were Kiefgr’s prayer. She pressed her face flat against Xexis’ thick throat.
“My mate—”
“Don’t.” She hiccupped.
“I apologize, I wasn’t there.” He hugged her with two arms. “Mates should fight together.”
“How?” she croaked, pulling back. They were in the halls again but not headed for the room. Instead, they were headed to the rear of the ship. She straightened, furrowing her brow. “How did they get to the baths?”
He shook his head. “Air vents; they are very slick and fast. Escaping the research lab then disappearing, we searched for them. Only when I heard you, I accessed the sensors of the ship did I find an unknown person in the baths. I came, but the ship is large.”
They passed through a massive archway into a glass dome.
Xexis stood still under the whizzing starlight, holding her tight.
Aphrodite couldn’t stand the feeling. Not while…
Max. She pushed from his arms. Xexis resisted for a moment only to place her down gently.
Aphrodite shuffled away, chest tight and lungs like stone.
Cupping her mouth, she stared out into the abyss beyond them.
One last tear fell down her cheek as she clenched her eyes closed.
Breathe. I can’t control everything else. I can only control myself.
“My mate, I promise you never have to be scared again—”
“I’m. Not. Scared!” she bit out. Her mantra, her mask, fell and shattered across the floor like a vase that teetered off a high up shelf. It was only a matter of time. Spinning to face him, her hands shot out to her sides. “I am traumatized!”
Xexis blinked slowly, brow knitted tight. “I do not understand.”
“Of course you don’t!” she hissed. Xexis crossed his arms over his chest. She hated how sharp her tone came out, but she couldn’t help it.
Everything was wrong.
She inhaled sharply, but it was broken and wet.
Her insides shuddered. Gasping for air, she tried to speak.
Everything is still wrong. Aphrodite blurted out, “I forgave you Xexis, I don’t blame you, and you didn’t even cause half of them; Tedros and Max weren’t your fault.
But I still watched them die. I watched my crew die, and I have to live with that.
I can’t stop seeing their faces. And when Fqa died, all I saw was Max. But you don’t understand.”