Chapter 3 #2
“I think she’s saying she’s like us,” I tell Niri, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms over my chest. Smart thing.
I can’t deny that I’m attracted to her like mad, but wouldn’t any man in my situation?
Long time celibate, naked, attractive girl…
but there’s something more to her. Maybe it’s her sweet, innocent expression, her wide-eyed wonder as she looks around her.
Makes me want to protect her from anything that might harm her… even me. Or Niri. The captain. Trakan.
Not that I think they would… It’s just that she’s mine.
“Well, she’s definitely descended from mesakkah stock,” Niri says, interrupting my possessive thoughts. “The scan reads that her DNA matches up perfectly with ours. But she’s not speaking any tongue that I know of.”
“She stranded here, then?”
“I don’t know. I think she was born on this planet.” Niri moves the scanner over her. “I don’t see any signs of tech implants anywhere. No surgical scars, no dental modifications, nothing. She doesn’t have a single vaccine, and she’s got parasites. Isn’t that grand?”
“But she’s healthy?”
“Oh, she’s stunningly healthy,” Niri says, putting her scanner away with a click. “Other than the parasites, of course. I can remove them once we’re done with her pet here.”
“And the eyes?”
She shrugs, putting her equipment away and checking on the herbivore. “Possibly a chemical reaction to something she ate? I don’t know. Like I said, everything registers as healthy.”
“Sa-khui?” the girl says again, looking over at me. “Vo?”
She wants answers, and I don’t blame her. I tap my chest. “Mesakkah. That’s my people. I’m from Ubeduc VII, Cap City.” I point at Niri. “She’s mesakkah, too, but she’s from the homeworld, Kes. And that’s probably way more than you needed to know.”
“Cap see-tee?” she replies, tilting her head. She gestures at me. “Cap see-tee?”
“I think she thinks it’s your name,” Niri murmurs, amused. “I need to work on her furry little friend here. You want to take her to your station and see if you can get a language scan to match?”
It’s a brilliant idea, and I’m annoyed I didn’t think of it. I’ve been scrambled ever since the girl ran right into my arms, buck naked. “Will do. Come on,” I say to the strange woman, and offer her my hand.
She looks at her pet, worried. “Chahm-pee?”
“He’s going to be fine,” I tell her, keeping my tone reassuring.
It must work, because she puts her hand in mine, and I lead her out of the room and onto the bridge.
Luckily, the captain and Trakan both must be in their quarters, because it’s deserted.
I move to my seat and turn on my work station.
I fire up a translator and make her sit down in my seat, then crouch next to her. “Need you to talk.”
She touches my arm. “Cap see-tee?”
I sigh and rub my brows. Kef. She probably does think that’s my name now. Nothing to be done about it until I figure out what language she’s speaking and set my aural implants to the correct frequency. I gesture at my mouth. “Talk.”
“Spisak?” She gives me a curious look.
All right, maybe I need to try a different tactic. “Cap City,” I say again, and tap my chest, then I gesture at her. “You?”
Her smile broadens, and she’s so stunningly gorgeous that it takes my breath away and makes my blood quicken.
There’s nothing coy about her smile; she just beams at me like she’s the happiest person in the world, and I love it.
She begins to chatter, gesturing at her chest and letting out a stream of words that are so quick that I can’t follow them. If her name’s in there, I’ve lost it.
The language program starts to run, scanning through all the sounds she’s spitting out, and when I gesture for her to keep talking, she does. After a moment, the computer comes back with an answer.
88% match - Old Sakh.
Holy kef. Old Sakh? From the Old Sakh Empire?
No one’s spoken that language in a thousand years.
The Sakh Empire broke up and formed several coalitions of different planets, and my home world is one of them.
Niri’s, too. Well, that explains why I can’t make heads or tails of what she’s saying.
I tap a few commands into the computer, sending the language file to my aural implants, and wait for it to start up.
It chimes a moment later, letting me know the sync is complete, and I gesture for her to talk again.
She hesitates. “I am not sure what you wish me to speak about. I have already told you about my people and my home, but it is useless. You do not hear my words.”
I can’t help but grin. “I hear them now.”
Her eyes go wide.
FARLI
He finally speaks words I know! I smother my gasp and reach for his grinning face, wanting to caress his mouth. “Say it again.”
“I know your language now. Kind of an obscure one, but I have it.” He reaches past me to peck at the strange table. “I’ll send it to Niri’s oh-rahl eem-plants, too, so she can talk with you.”
“Niri. Is that the female?”
He nods at me. “That’s her name. What’s yours?”
Oh, he wants to know my name. I squirm in my seat, filled with joy and a touch of arousal. He’s looking at me, so pleased, and it makes me feel all flushed inside…though that could be the temperature in their cave. It is uncomfortably hot in here. “I am called Farli.”
“Farli,” he repeats, and he says it strangely, clipping the sounds with his tongue. I do not even care; it sounds beautiful to my ears. “I like it. Pretty.”
I brim with happiness. “I like your name, too, Cap see-tee.”
He chuckles, and I feel as if he’s touching my teats just with that delicious laugh.
“Cap City isn’t my name. That’s where I come from.
I’m sorry if it was confusing to you.” He puts his hand on my knee, and I feel scorched from that small touch.
“My full name is Bron Mardok Vendasi, but you can call me Mardok.”
Such a strange name. So long and fluid. I am fascinated by this. Fascinated by him. “How did you learn my language so fast? Did your cave tell you?” I look around. “I do not see a red beam to shoot into your eye.”
“Huh?”
“That is how we learned the human language. The Elders’ Cave spoke, and we told it to teach us to communicate with them, and it gave us words.” I tap my eye. “A red beam of light went right here and gave me language.”
He rubs his ear. “Translation must be off, because none of that made any sense to me.”
I am crushed. “I apologize.”
“Nothing to apologize for, Farli.” His thumb brushes over my knee, and I feel the liquid warmth sliding between my thighs. I am resonating so very hard right now, and it’s distracting me. “You can call me Cap City if you want.”
“I will call you by your name. Mardok.” I do not say it exactly as he does, but he smiles anyhow, and I feel better.
“What are you doing here, Farli? Near the ship?”
Ship? “Is that what your cave is? A ship?” I look around in wonder.
So it is not a cave, after all. Ship. I mentally store the word to share with my chief and the others when I return to the tribe.
“And I am hunting with Chahm-pee.” I bite my lip and look back at him, my tail flicking in agitation.
“Will he be all right? I do not understand what happened.”
He looks upset. “I jumped the gun. Made a mistake. Niri is working on him right now.”
“She is your healer?” I do not understand everything he said, but it can be told another time.
“Of a sort yes.”
“Will he live?” I feel the tears approach again. “He is fearless because I have raised him since he was a kit. He does not know to be afraid of sa-khui. He does not think he is food. He is a pet.”
Mardok looks even more pained at my words. “It’s my fault. I’m going to make this right for you, I promise.”
I do not understand how it is his fault. Did he make the flash attack Chahm-pee? “The healer will cure him,” I reassure him, though I do not know if this is true. “All will be well.”
He studies me. “I have a million things I want to ask you, Farli.”
“And I, you. We are one.” I wait for him to bring up our resonance, but when my khui sings louder to him and he remains silent, I realize…
I am the only one resonating. It is like when Vektal met Shorshie and he told us that she did not resonate until she had a khui.
Oh. I am disappointed to realize he does not feel what I do.
Well, I must simply go back to the tribe and organize a hunting party to go after a sa-kohtsk so my mate can remain here with me.
I have so many things I need to tell him, but when I look back at him and he is half-naked and his skin is covered with the strange, whirling designs, I am distracted by his nearness.
Some hunter I am. A handsome stranger walks in front of me and my mind turns to scrambled eggs, like the kind Stay-see makes for breakfast.
“How did you get here? To this place? And aren’t you cold?” He crouches near my feet, looking up at me expectantly.
“Cold? In here? I am sweating.” I fan my face with my hand. It seems easier to blame my flustered, heated cheeks on the warm air than my own need. “It feels nice outside. Good weather.”
He looks surprised. “This is good weather?”
“In the brutal season, it is much, much worse. More snow. The air is so cold it hurts to breathe in.” I shrug. “But then it warms all over again and the suns come out.”
He shakes his head. “Kef me. That’s incredible. And it doesn’t bother you? The cold?”
“The khui keeps me warm.” I tap my breast. “The humans were cold before they had theirs put in. You will be fine once you acquire one.”
“A khui?” He repeats the word, though it is clear he does not know what it is.
“The creature in my chest,” I tell him. “It keeps me healthy and strong. It protects me from getting sick. It makes the air safe to breathe. It picks the best mate for me so we will have strong kits.”