Chapter 7
- Krix'vorr -
The female is by the transparent wall when I return.
For a moment I watch her without announcing myself. She stands with her back to me, staring out at the stars.
She should be resting. Instead, she has spent my absence investigating my quarters.
I pause in the doorway and watch her.
It’s the first time I see her standing up. She still wears the improvised covering fashioned from the medical sheet. The transparent garment remains absurd. It hangs unevenly around her body and appears held together by determination rather than design.
Unfortunately, because it clings to her body, it draws attention instead of discouraging it.
My gaze catches on details I would prefer to ignore.
The curve of a shoulder. The line of her neck.
The wide hips and the beautifully rounded rear, so full and soft and heavy-looking.
The unfamiliar movement of muscles beneath flesh that lacks even the most basic armor.
The female has none of the characteristics that should provoke attraction. She lacks a proper exoskeleton, antennae, claws, and mandibles. From a rational perspective, she should appear entirely unremarkable.
Yet every time I look away, my attention drifts back toward her.
And the pressure behind my groin plate is becoming impossible to ignore.
It's as if she were designed to distract males. Every curve draws the eye. Every movement seems softer than it should be. And it’s all so defenseless!
She’s just there, with no obvious way to defend herself.
Her claws are laughable and her fangs tiny.
And I know that the most female part of all is just as small and fine, impossibly delicate and reactive in the most extraordinary way, even when she’s badly injured. Her scent was unusually fresh and the little sprinkling of hair made it all exotic and special.
Oh, I’m glad it worked…
A possibility suddenly occurs to me: Has she been sent specifically to allure me?
Certainly I would not put it past other Harrowers to try to trip me up and send me on a wild resource chase through a deadly minefield.
I must be skeptical of whatever she tells me.
All her information may be designed to trick me.
The possibility annoys me enough that I clear my throat.
She spins around immediately. Surprise flashes across her face before the familiar suspicion returns. She studies me carefully, trying to decide whether I am dangerous.
That question has an obvious answer. I have even showed her my trophies to assure her that I am both powerful and dangerous.
I gesture toward the doorway. Her eyes follow the movement and return to me. When I repeat it, her suspicion deepens. Apparently she believes I am trying to lure her into a trap.
"Come," I say, pointing toward the corridor. The word means nothing to her.
Before I can try again, Sris emerges from behind a storage shelf. "Still unable to converse?"
"Your insight continues to amaze me."
Sris ignores the remark. "Perhaps she understood the star map after all."
The thought has crossed my mind. If the female understood my question and chose not to answer, then gaining her trust may prove harder than learning her language. "I don't think so."
I gesture toward the corridor again.
This time she hesitates. Her gaze moves from me to the doorway and back again while she considers her options. Eventually she steps away from the wall and approaches.
With an extraordinary gait that makes her most remarkable parts jiggle luxuriously, she walks over to the discarded roll of packing sheet that I tried to have her put on earlier.
“Yes,” I encourage. “Wrap it around you. I can’t have you distract my crew too much. Sris, help her!”
Sris assists the alien with putting on the stiff wrap. It covers her like a barrel from shoulders to ankles, and it looks wide enough to allow her to bend her knees and walk.
“Good,” I praise her. “Now come along.”
She moves carefully at first. The healing process repaired most of the damage, but her body is still recovering. I stay close enough to catch her if she stumbles inside that absurd covering, though she reaches the doorway without trouble.
The living corridor immediately captures her attention. Her gaze moves across the walls, the membranes, and the passage stretching into the distance. Curiosity again.
Behind me, Sris clicks her claws together. "Excellent. You're taking the valuable discovery on a sightseeing tour."
“She may come from a valuable target that we can Harvest,” I point out. “Or she may be a trap sent from a rival. Either way, I want her to see my power.”
“If she’s come from a ripe world, then she may be overwhelmed and speak more easily,” Sris sums up my argument. “If she’s a trap, she may see that you’re a better bet than whoever sent her.”
I allow myself a tight smile. “Precisely.”
The female studies the corridor for another moment before stepping through the opening. As I follow, I find myself unexpectedly pleased that she chose to come willingly.
The female follows me into the corridor, and the Beast immediately captures her attention.
I notice it in the way her head keeps turning. Every opening membrane earns a glance. Every pulse beneath the walls draws her eyes. Twice she slows when the corridor moves around us, as though she expects the living passage itself to do something unexpected.
In fairness, that expectation is often correct.
The corridor widens ahead, and several crew members emerge from a side passage carrying supplies. The moment they notice me, they straighten and perform the proper gestures of respect. Then they notice the female.
Conversations stop. One underling nearly walks into another before recovering. Several antennae lift. More than one crew member turns to look again after passing us. The female notices the attention immediately. Her gaze moves between the crew and me, clearly searching for an explanation.
"Remarkable," Sris observes from my shoulder while we continue walking. "The distraction effect remains consistent."
"She's unusual," I reply.
"That is one word for it."
“A suitable word.”
The female is already studying something else.
A transparent section of the corridor reveals part of the Beast's outer surface.
Beyond it, several maintenance creatures move across the hull.
Their long bodies cling to the living tissue while they repair damaged areas with secretions produced from their own bodies.
The female stops walking. I stop as well.
For several moments she studies the creatures. Her suspicion fades into concentration as she follows their movements across the hull. Then she points toward one of them and looks at me. When I don't immediately react, she points toward another farther away.
Questions again. There is no fear in the gesture. She doesn't retreat from things she doesn't understand. She examines them.
The realization pleases me, for some reason.
Most species become cautious when confronted with something unfamiliar.
The female appears determined to learn how everything works.
Even now, aboard an alien vessel surrounded by strangers, curiosity continues competing successfully against common sense.
She points toward a third maintenance creature.
“Yes,” I reply as if she can understand.
“That is indeed a Gluns. They are used for maintaining and repairing equipment. They come from a planet my brood stripped bare, and were spared for their skill. They now work for us. A Gluns.” I’m happy with my idea.
If she knows that perhaps her kind will not be devoured by the swarm, she might be more cooperative.
The female immediately turns back toward the transparent wall and continues studying the workers outside. Watching her, I realize I have unconsciously slowed my pace to match hers.
At first her attention remains fixed on the living corridors and the crew moving through them. Then we enter a larger chamber. A central shaft rises through several levels of the ship while workers travel up and down its sides. Cargo creatures haul supplies through openings that appear and close.
The female slows near the railing and studies everything. I find myself watching her instead of the chamber.
Every new discovery earns the same sequence of reactions.
She begins with caution. Then curiosity takes over.
After that she starts examining details, trying to understand how the unfamiliar pieces fit together.
The pattern has become familiar enough that I can almost predict what will catch her attention next.
Sris climbs onto the railing beside me and follows my gaze toward the female. "She notices everything."
"She’s quite intelligent,” I agree. “Making her way almost through the mine field was proof enough."
"Intelligent enough to know where she came from."
I suppress a sigh. The topic keeps returning no matter how often I dismiss it. "We've already discussed this."
"We discussed methods." Sris watches the female for a moment before looking back at me. "We never finished discussing value."
The irritation arrives immediately. "The value is obvious."
"Then perhaps it deserves reporting."
The suggestion annoys me. The Queen doesn't need fragments, guesses, and speculation.
She needs facts. "The Queen can wait until I know something useful. For instance, what if these aliens are unusually good space pilots? Perhaps, when we Harvest their world, we can catch some of them and have them work for us. That would make my discovery even greater! The Brood and our Queen would benefit more.”
The female glances back toward us. She cannot understand the words, but she clearly recognizes that the discussion concerns her. Her eyes move between us while she tries to read meaning from expressions and gestures alone.
Sris notices it as well. "The answer is standing right there."
"The answer is standing there wrapped in packing material," I scoff. “We will extract the information we need. At the right time.”