Chapter 31
Myrum
It took two full rotations with Steady’s crew and the outpost staff working together to finish preparations. Now they were all gathered in the command room on Steady, watching the large display at the far end of the room.
“We’re outside the shock zone,” Teshor said. She was the only one sitting at a workstation.
Helmen turned to look at all of them. He and Amina were standing at the front, with the rest of the Ossisos standing a little behind them. Although it was clear Amina didn’t want to be their official leader, they still tended to look to her for instruction or comfort, especially Gis.
Part of it might’ve been that she, a small, defenseless-looking human, killed a guard that had terrorized them. The other part was that Gis was constantly deferring to her and the others followed his lead.
“After this, there’s no going back,” Helmen warned.
“That happened the moment Lorse died,” Gis said.
Helmen gave him a little nod. “Right.” She turned back to face the display. “Teshor, you have permission.”
Teshor tapped a sequence and looked up. They stared at the display, but nothing happened.
“Did something go wrong?” Myrum asked.
“Patience,” Amina said. “The chain reaction takes a—”
The display lit up so bright it made both of them flinch. The Ossisos gave a collective gasp. A moment later the explosion dimmed, and they could see the burned-out wreckage of the outpost’s securing points, but the rest of it was gone. Most of the debris was sent flying out into space.
“There’s nothing left,” Nashie said, sounding shocked. “I knew it would be a large explosion, but I didn’t think it would destroy everything so thoroughly.”
“And that’s why always checking your enviro-controls is important,” Amina quipped. Teshor, Desur, and Jossulum chuckled.
“They’ll know it was sabotage,” Jul said.
“They may suspect, but they’ll never be able to prove anything," Teshor said. “If they find the outpost recorder, everything will point to an enviro system catastrophe. It will also say you were all aboard.”
“The debris will either land across the planet or be scattered across space,” Jossulum said. “They’ll never be able to gather enough to prove anything.”
“That means our families are safe,” Sar said. The others murmured in agreement.
Desur moved to stand next to Helmen and face the Ossisos. He threw his arms wide and declared dramatically, “You’re all officially dead and get to be reborn! How does it feel?”
For a moment the Ossisos stood in silence, then a few let out a round of their hiccuping-laughter.
“I’m not sure how I feel,” Gis said, taking Desur’s question seriously.
“It might take some time,” Myrum said. “After I recovered and realized I couldn’t go back to doing the work I’d trained for most of my life, I had to think about who I was.”
“Have you figured it out?” Gis asked.
Myrum looked down at Amina. “Yes.”
Before she could look up at him, he let go and stepped away. Now felt like the right time to do this.
Dropping to his knees, he bowed down until his forehead was on her feet. She gasped and leaned over to try and tug him back up.
“Myrum, what are you doing?”
“I think he’s proposing,” Helmen said. “In the traditional way.”
“But he’s not Ugarian,” Amina said, trying to pull him up again. He refused to be moved. He’d talked to Helmen and the rest of the crew when Amina was busy. They’d made the process very clear to him.
He couldn’t move until Amina either accepted or rejected him.
“Proposing the Ugarian way makes sense. He wants to marry you, and you’re basically Ugarian, even if you’re kinda short,” Desur said.
“Call me short one more time and I’ll make sure you never have a comfortable experience in the cleansing unit again,” Amina growled. She stepped back to move her feet out from under Myrum’s head.
He crawled forward and put his head back on her feet.
“Amina, say the words,” Teshor urged. “He seems pretty determined.”
“He’s only doing this because he feels trapped,” Amina said.
It was hard, but he remained silent, even though he was desperate to ask her why she’d said that.
“Myrum, you don’t need to really marry me,” she said, wrapping her hands around one of his arms and pulling with a surprising amount of strength. “You don’t have to do all this. I’m not going to leave you to die.”
“What do you mean trapped?” Desur asked.
“Forget trapped, why did she say that she wouldn’t leave him to die?” Jossulum asked.
Amina let go and straightened up to talk to her crewmates. “Talins do this thing called scent-bonding, and if they go too long without their partner, they die.”
“I know what scent-bonding is,” Helmen said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Is he emotionally blackmailing you? Did he scent-bond with you without your permission?”
Guilt almost made Myrum give up. He’d done exactly what Helmen was accusing him of, but he didn’t think he’d survive this assignment. Trapping Amina had never been any kind of plan. He only wanted to experience the visceral joy of it all.
“No, it’s not like that,” Amina said. “We fell in love; it’s just that he calls it scent-bonding.”
His heartbeat kicked up at her declaration. She loved him and announced it to everyone. Did that mean she’d accept his proposal?
“Myrum, you don’t have to do all this traditional stuff,” Amina said. “We’re together. That’s not changing. I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.”
Silence filled the room. He’d been warned that if he said anything, the proposal would be ruined.
Desur had been adamant; this was a test of his commitment, and partners weren’t supposed to accept right away.
They were meant to voice all their concerns and potential challenges to the marriage. His job was to remain still and silent.
His fortitude paid off when she voiced her true fears.
“You have a family and a clan back in the empire. You’d have to give them all up,” she reminded him.
“I can’t live in your empire. I know you wouldn’t see me as a real pet, but I couldn’t live in a place where my freedom could disappear at the whim of an inspector.
You told me how all the humans on Kalor are free, but they still face a huge risk.
What if your government decided to shut down Kalor and transfer everyone to other places?
I’m sure there is some legal mechanism to do that.
I could be taken away from you and have to wear a real collar and be subjected to someone else's will. I couldn’t ever do that. I’d rather die.”
He’d rather die too.
“I know we could break the scent-bond with drugs,” she continued.
“It might not be fun, but you won't die. I did some research and found out that the Hoquin do something similar to scent-bonding. They have a whole medical protocol for when partners can’t or won’t be together any longer.
Your life isn’t dependent on me. You can go home if you want to. ”
“But he doesn’t want to,” Jossulum said.
“He’s wanted to settle at home on Ineeko almost from the first,” Teshor pointed out. “I don’t think he wants to go back to how he was living before. We all knew you guys didn’t plan on getting married; we were messing with you. Except I think Myrum took it all seriously.”
They did? That was news to Myrum. They’d all seemed so sincere. He felt a little disappointed.
“What?” Amina said, her voice louder than necessary. “I can’t believe you guys did that!”
Ah, he felt better knowing Amina hadn’t known either. It wasn’t malicious if they were doing it to her also.
“I agreed to go along with it, but I always thought you guys should be together,” Desur said, his voice full of longing. “The connection was obvious after Myrum’s meltdown on the ship.”
“Don’t remind me about that,” Helmen grumbled.
“If Myrum can’t speak on his behalf, I have something I want to say,” Restic declared. This was an interesting development. She was one of the shyer Ossisos. What could she want to say?
“Go ahead,” Amina said in a gentle tone. He could picture her giving the Ossiso an encouraging look.
“We were talking about our families at dinner last night,” Restic said. “His family has all stopped interacting with him because he doesn’t have a prestigious career any longer. They called him pathetic and broken.”
“Why didn’t I hear that?” Amina asked, her voice shifting so he knew she was looking down at him. “I remember you talking about your sibling, but not that.”
“You were waiting for the second round of jefs to finish in the reconsitutor,” Desur said. “I meant to tell you what he said, but I forgot. Sorry.”
“I don’t think he wants to be a Talin Empire citizen any more than you want to be a pet,” Helmen said. “Besides, who would want to belong to a civilization that saw a change in career as shameful? I’m sorry, Myrum, but your species has some strange ideas.”
He couldn't agree more.
There was another silence. Myrum hated that he couldn’t see her face, but he was determined to do this the proper Ugarian way.
Her loose, bulky jacket rustled as she crouched over him, parting her knees to keep from knocking him in the head.
“You really want to be with me,” she whispered, stroking a hand over his head. “This isn’t because you feel obligated or because you're grateful. You really want me for me.”
Yes, that was it exactly! Had she heard his earlier thoughts?
“Myrum, I find you worthy of marriage, and I accept you,” she said, running her hand down his face so she could cup his chin. He let her lift his head so their eyes could meet. Then she added something extra to the traditional line. “Thank you for accepting me.”