CHAPTER 2
Sirin asks me a million questions, feeds me, and helps me start getting my things sorted out by how I’m going to have to clean them.
I almost don’t have time to think about the way my skin crawled or the walls tried to close in around me.
And then, a chime sounds, and the door slides open.
The alien who comes in wears a station facilities uniform. They’re Coliad… bright pink and blue and the circular pattern on their amphibian-like skin reminds me of smoke rings.
Sirin greets them and they hesitate, looking at me with a curious smile.
When they speak, the room speakers translate. “Do you want me to tell you this in private?”
“Anything I need to know, she can know too.” One of his tentacles wraps lovingly around my waist. “Annika, this is Tiffy. He’s the facilities manager that oversees security. Tiffy, this is Annika, my mate.”
Tiffy’s eyes—all three of them—go wide. “Oh, congratulations.”
Something in the way he says it makes me think that's the best the translator could do, not exactly what he said.
“Go ahead,” Sirin guides me to the couch, sitting me down, though he remains standing.
“We found pieces of a recording device. It was removed in a hurry, and the broken fastenings were left behind. Part of the casing, too. Which is why we’re sure of what it was.”
“What kind of recording?”
“Video, but we don’t think audio. The wiring wasn’t compromised enough for that. Do you know if they had electrical issues before?”
“Yes. For about two months.”
Sirin looks down at me with an unhappy scowl. “You should have gotten it fixed earlier.”
“I know. Kita is mad at me about it too.”
“I didn’t realize it was your apartment.” Tiffy looks more concerned now. “What we’ve found leads us to believe that you were being recorded without your knowledge or consent and that the person used our system feed conduits to remotely access that footage.”
“Gross.” We’re back to skin crawling again.
“Thank you.” Sirin doesn’t tell Tiffy to leave, but he nods and the other man dips in a strange sort of bow.
“Congratulations again and best wishes to you both.” He hurries out the door, like he’s upset he intruded.
Sirin takes a deep breath before he looks down at me again. “I have to go through the footage. Do you want to be here for it, or would you like to go relax in the other room?”
I don’t think I want to, but at the same time… “I think I have to see it.”
He nods, and one of his tentacles wraps around my arm, holding my hand as he cues up the station security feeds and navigates to the right one.
“Shouldn’t someone else be doing this?”
“This is one of the things I am always the one to do. Everyone on this station is under my care. If someone has to intrude on their privacy like this, it’s going to be me.” He looks at me with a rueful smile. “Among other things, I know I won’t use anything I see against them.”
“Did you ever look for me?”
“No.” He sighs. “I also know I won’t watch anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“You should start this morning. After we left, I went to put in my maintenance request… It happened sometime after that.”
He picks a timestamp close to when we left and pulls up the camera in my corridor. The video speeds through the morning. I come, I go. Aoe peeks out of her door once. And then pulls in a delivery of food and other supplies.
Otherwise, the hall is empty as the time flies past.
Until it isn’t.
In five-times speed, a person zips down the corridor and into my apartment.
“There they are.” I shiver, hating that we’re about to see whoever it is. For some reason, having a face feels like it will be worse than not knowing anything about them.
Sirin slows the feed and then jumps back to before the blur of a person appeared.
When they do, walking at normal speed, I can’t believe my eyes.
I stare at the screen and my skin heats. “What the fuck?”
“That’s what I was thinking…” Sirin sorts through the video one frame at a time until he turns, looking down the corridor, guilt written in the suspicious glare on his face.
Agan slips into my apartment like he has complete access.
“He must have gone straight to your apartment after his outburst.” Sirin captures the frames of Agan opening my door, and entering.
“Is that what we’re calling it?” I watch as he moves the footage forward again until Agan comes out, carrying the recording device Tiffy found remnants of.
I was right. Knowing who it is is so much worse.