Chapter 6 #2
The fix for the stabilizer wasn’t complicated.
Not when she was able to just slip her hand in through the bottom and twist her fingers around to reach the part that had come loose and needed tightening.
There was no way Vytln’s large hands would be able to do it – or probably most people in the Coalition considering humans were the smallest species within it.
“Not bad,” Vytln said, admiring her work with obvious appreciation when she finished. He held up the part and it no longer made that worrying clicking sound that, while soft, spelled impending doom if it went unaddressed. “You’re good.”
“What about that one?” She asked, pointing to the next project on the bench. One she hadn’t seen him messing with since she had been in here, but one that caught her attention because the various screws and parts and wires were so much smaller than it appeared he’d be able to handle.
Sure enough, she saw his gaze dart from the project, to her hands, to the stabilizer, then back again. He set the stabilizer aside and pulled the unfinished project forward.
Vytln’s voice was rough, deep and hard, like rocks grinding together.
But it was somehow pleasant as he explained the broken equipment to her.
It was part of their shooting gallery – a virtual gun range they kept in their training room.
It had stopped tracking the ‘bullets’ correctly and Vytln had broken down the machine, isolating this particular section as the source of the problem.
But his fingers were too big for the delicate work required to fix it. He’d looked up the repair and found it required a suite of tools he simply didn't possess as well as dexterity he didn't have.
Haven figured then it was okay to show him one of her secrets.
Her old high school letter jacket – fake red leather with a big ‘S’ on the front, her name on the back, and ‘gymnastics’ written on the bottom – served the dual purpose of keeping her warm and helping her conceal her tools.
Haven kept a duffel bag full of clothes and supplies as well, though it was still hidden in her wall space. It had a mixture of a few things from Earth and a few things from space, making up an eclectic wardrobe that came from both.
Her letter jacket, however, she always wore because she was always cold.
When she had been captured, she had been wearing it over a simple white shirt made of a super stretchy, almost cotton like material that was resistant to tears and stains that she got from Hir-Fallow.
Her jean shorts, in contrast, were scuffed and both stained and faded from their long life helping her fix things both here and on Earth.
They’d been pants once, but a couple of large rips crawling around in the space station had corrected that.
The loops of those jeans, however, helped hold up a fancy belt she got from Holotulle.
She compared it to Batman’s utility belt – a place for her to hide and store all the various tools of the trade she used.
And most times, her letter jacket was long and poofy enough to hide it.
As Vytln watched, she pulled her gloves from one pocket.
They were fingerless, but there was a strip of lights along the knuckles that would illuminate her work surface surprisingly well without her needing to hold a flashlight or headlamp.
With those on, she reached for one of the front pouches.
With a touch, the seal deactivated and it unrolled, folding down past her short jeans, revealing all the small tools she’d pulled together and created as she needed.
They were much smaller than anything Vytln would be able to use with his big hands, and they’d be much more suited to this delicate work than anything he had in his workroom.
Bending over the project, she felt the familiar thrill of a new challenge as she began poking and looking around. Learning this new machine.
She was surprised when a flash of light appeared out of the corner of her eye.
Vytln had activated his combot and brought up 3D schematics for the device he must have already loaded.
It could zoom, explode outward to show each individual part, and twist in the air as she needed to see it from every angle.
She definitely didn't have that, but she suddenly wanted it.
“Can you take off that panel with those?” Vytln asked, pointing to the device, not the holo model.
She could, and did. Demonstrating the use of her tools, she loosened the panel, letting him remove it, and giving them both a look at the internal workings.
It was probably one of the more modern things on the Humility, definitely a splurge purchase.
She didn't know who bought it, but it certainly saw a lot of use as most of the guys could shoot, and Garnet practiced on it every few days.
As she and Vytln poked around inside, she began to pick up on how the combot holo display was used.
She had a little tablet that she’d rigged together, but she hadn’t been able to get a combot.
To make, or even fix, one required specialized equipment she had yet to gain access to and so she hadn’t been able to learn.
It seemed to be fairly intuitive overall though, and as she got used to it, she quickly began manipulating the 3D model herself.
“Try there,” Vytln said, pointing over her shoulder at one of the wires.
But she completely forgot what she was looking at because Vytln’s nearness, his heat, set her heart racing and butterflies dancing in her belly. Even stronger, even more intoxicating, than when she first looked into this new machine.
Hm…
Her fingers paused and she turned her head, looking at him. Fascinated by his nearness. By the focus on his face as he turned the 3D model in the air, comparing it to their copy and trying to locate the problem it was having.
Yes, a very interesting face indeed.
Haven wasn’t sure what prompted her to kiss his cheek.
Maybe it was curiosity over the texture of his skin and what it would feel like against her lips.
Maybe it was that deep, instinctive thing other people spoke of that craved an intimate connection with a guy she’d agreed to mate and was attempting to look at in a romantic light.
Or maybe it was just a brief flash of insanity.
Whatever the reason, she did it. And was rewarded by the stunned look he shot her. The surprise turned to heat in his molten eyes that seemed to burn her insides as well.
“You little pest. My people do not do intimacy like that without a mating connection.”
“Okay,” she agreed easily. That was what she wanted anyway.
His entire expression closed up and he stood. With a scoop of his arm, he hauled her back up. She cried out in disappointment as their project fell away from her hands. But even as she was reaching for it, he was walking her forward.
“That’s enough of you pestering me for today,” he growled, voice deep and rumbly and doing wonderful things to her nether regions as it vibrated directly into her body.
But before she could explore that feeling, he was pushing her inside the hole of his mating trap. She slid down, right back into the comfortable nesting pile.
For a moment, she thought he was agreeing with her, that he was about to mate her. But the familiar sliding of metal told her that the trap was actually closing. She whipped around, looking back, but only saw his face in the small hole.
“I’ll get your third meal,” he growled before turning and stomping away, his big feet loud even above the constant rumble of the engine.
Haven blinked at his retreating back before snickering.
For such a huge, intimidating, rough looking guy, he was kind of cute.