Next morning, I get Yvonne to stop hovering around me long enough so I can get some privacy and take a shower. She was concerned about me taking some of my other bandages off, but I heal fast, and the doctors here are apparently rather good. With relief, I get rid of the rest of the gauze until I’m only stuck with the cast on my arm, and stand in the hot water for long enough my human skin starts wrinkling, my arm hung over the glass door so it doesn’t get wet.
This room’s bathroom isn’t large, but it’s fancy. Compared to my ship, it’s practically a palace. I think it’s larger than my bunk room, though that’s not saying much. The tub is large and shimmering, and all the tiles and fittings of everything are similarly brand new in appearance.
It takes me a minute longer than it should to figure out how to even turn the shower on.
At least the water stays hot forever.
I don’t so much as wash myself as just stand here until nothing can possibly be left on my skin from the whole experience on Zar, and what’s left of the stench of the mossy water is finally gone from my hair.
Someone knocks, and I jump before hearing Yvonne ask, “You okay in there?”
I roll my eyes. If I’m being honest with myself, her concern isn’t nearly as annoying as it should be. “Girls aren’t the only ones who can stand in the shower for twenty minutes, ya know.”
“Uh-huh. Just making sure you didn’t fall on your face or anything.”
“I’m fine—”
“Ya need some help in there?”
She isn’t even in the room, but I feel my face turn hot. “I’m perfectly capable, thanks.”
She’s definitely giggling as she walks away. Mumbling to myself, I switch off the water and find a towel, finally daring to get a good look at myself in the steamed-up mirror.
As anticipated, I look rough as hell.
Blotchy bruises are still decorating most of my skin, particularly along my ribs and shoulders, and back, and alarmingly where my flesh meets metal. Many of the minor cuts and scrapes are healed of their own accord. My face looks about the same save the repaired implants in my temple that originally got damaged by that psycho number back on Lee’s ship. The new hearing aids behind my ears look shockingly like the last ones, but those were newer too, stolen from the hospital on Amethyst.
My eyes are a different color.
I squint into the mirror, blinking at myself. I don’t look much different, but it gives a certain uncanny feeling that some of the major implants in my face are new and slightly different in appearance. I mess with the little switch along my eye Yvonne showed me, turning the heat signatures on and off. They work so smoothly I can’t believe how bad my old ones were. They are a slightly greenish shade, but not as jarring as I anticipated.
All in all, I don’t look as bad as I anticipated, but I was out for a few days, and it’s been another day or two on top of that. Between the passed time and the fact I had some actual doctors looking after me, I’m in a lot better shape.
I still haven’t asked Yvonne what the doctors said about me. Something was certainly damaged on my insides. I’ll have to get up the courage to ask her about it. Or the doctors. Considering she’s warned me they’ll probably want to look in on me again.
Shuddering, I wiggle back into a fresh set of clothes—Lalia was thoughtful enough to get some of my own clothes from out of my ship, which was more touching than I know how to admit—and poke my head out of the bathroom door in case Yvonne is standing right on the other side waiting to ambush me.
Empty.
The broad curtain over the window is open, and I can see them all outside. I spy for anyone other than my set of humans—Yvonne apparently chased her cousin off from popping in on us once already—and grab some of the coffee from the little kitchen counter before heading out to join them.
Yvonne sits on the top step just outside the door with her own steaming cup and turns back to smile at me softly.
“Hi,” she says gently. “Feel better?”
Nodding, I seat myself next to her. Lalia is nowhere to be seen. Zane is down on the grassy section one level below, kicking a ball back and forth with Anya. Bat stalks the round little inflatable toy, sometimes stealing it for his own and nosing it across the yard before either Zane or Anya chases him down. I feel myself smiling.
“You’re sure we’re okay here?” I ask, suspicion automatically coming with the level of peace.
“You know I would be out of here in two seconds if I didn’t think we’re safe. I’ll drag you out to meet my cousin in a day or so, you’ll see what I mean. Plus it’ll satisfy his curiosity. Try not to panic too much, at least today.”
I roll my eyes again, but her certainty is comforting. She’s about as paranoid as I am, by this point, and she wants Captain to show up on our doorstep about as much as I do.
I don’t think she’s precisely clear-headed about all of her family, but she’s right about one thing: we’ve been here long enough that if Captain was going to show up, he would’ve.
“How’d it go with Zane?” she asks, quiet enough they won’t hear. “Saw you down there talking with him. Couldn’t hear what you said.”
Yesterday’s conversation makes my throat burn. I clear my throat and sip some coffee. “We’re alright. Or, I guess they will be, eventually. I suppose I need to talk to Lalia, too.”
Scooting closer to me, she leans gently against my arm. “You’re a good…friend to them. Even if you’d rather die than admit it.”
I know what she’d been about to say, but don’t bother bringing it up. I keep making the mistake in my own mind. As long as I don’t make it aloud and bring Zane or Lalia any more unnecessary suffering, I’ll figure out how to reconcile this all in my mind eventually.
Bat spots me, scurries up, sticks his nose in my palm, and runs back to chase the ball. He can probably hear us with those big ears. Yvonne spins her coffee mug on the step between her knees and squeezes my hand.
She says, “I did talk to her a little. Lalia. I think she talked to their parents about it. I’m not entirely sure how she’s doing, but I think she’s managing okay. You should still talk to her, though.”
I nod. As if called by the words, Lalia appears from a different section of the garden, past the fountain where Zane and I talked, and heads up the platforms to us. Her clothes are different, lighter than usual, and I wonder if she got them here. I try to think of something to say, but she sits down next to me and puts her arm around my back, squishing me between her and Yvonne. Yvonne chuckles.
I let them. Not much use for my ego anymore, not with this.
I don’t know what to say, not with Yvonne sitting right here as well and Bat certainly listening. Zane casts us a small smile in between his little game with the princess. Is there anything I can say to Lalia? Probably not. I want to try, as I tried with Zane, but I feel out of words. I’m certain he told her what I said to him. If he didn’t, I don’t have to manage to repeat them right this moment.
I try, “La…”
“Aaron, I can feel you trying to think of something to say. Just relax.”
Grumbling, I lean into her until my weight nearly takes her down. She huffs and manages just barely to shove me back up.
Quieter, she says, “We can talk about it later, it’s alright,” and grabs my hand.
I nod, still feeling the weight of a thousand unsaid words, squeezing her fingers in return. We have time to figure it out, I suppose.
Anya wrestles the ball away from Bat, unable to get it from his jaws and ending up just picking it up, Bat dangling by his teeth. Yvonne snorts.
“You three, get up here,” she calls. “I wanna talk about something.”
I glance at her, but she ignores me. Probably, this has something to do with Neyla Ve. We’re close to the planet as it is, Zar is over and done with, and we can’t stay in this place forever.
I stare at the grass as Anya drags Bat up here and sits between my knees. Zane sits down cross-legged in front of Lalia, giving me a kind swat on the leg.
“I take it you’ve thought of a plan,” I say. “Because stars know I haven’t. I’ve no idea how to get you two back to Neyla Ve in one piece without—”
“I wasn’t planning on letting you just drop us off and head out,” she says, and all of us glance at her. Bat stops playing tug-of-war with Anya.
“What?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Don’t get me wrong, I had no idea how I was planning on pulling it off, but you’ve been trying to come up with a way to get us there and get out. I’ve been trying to figure out a way where you all don’t have to run away. I don’t want you gone. I figure you know that, but don’t really know it. But I don’t want you off in the stars where I can’t find you. The four of you mean too much to both me and Anya.”
Finally, she glances my way, and I stare at the ground, more embarrassed than I likely should be by this point. I didn’t want that either, but there isn’t precisely a way around it. Yvonne underestimates Captain, perhaps not as much as she did when we first met, but she still doesn’t understand how much power he holds. More than her parents, not in name but in actuality.
Perhaps she’s starting to understand.
She looks as if she may cry. “I’m not going to watch what happened to you on Zar happen again, not for me.”
I clear my throat, not quite knowing what to say. “There aren’t many options…we’ll figure something out along the lines we were already planning. A way to get you two directly to your parents, and we’ll take off. It doesn’t have to be…forever.”
Even as I say it, I’m not certain it’s true. Bat and I will be heading into uncharted space. Zane and Lalia probably will as well, either with me or on their own. There isn’t much contact with our galaxy out there. I don’t know what will happen after this is all over but for our own safety and sanity…
I probably won’t see the royals again for a very long time.
I try not to dwell on the thought too much. Even with the conversation centering around it.
Yvonne shakes her head. “I’m not doing that to you guys.”
“What do you mean?” Zane asks.
“The worst than can happen to us if Captain gets ahold of us before our parents do is he might take Anya back to Amerov for a week or two and lock me up there. Anya’s much too healed for him to justify actually keeping her there, no matter how petty he’s trying to be. Eventually, our parents will get him to knock it off. She’s spent the last few weeks trampling around space with a bunch of criminals, they know she’s fine.
“The worst that can happen to all of you is being dismantled and your minds wiped. It isn’t exactly equal.”
We’ve known this the whole time, but hearing her say it broaches no argument.
“So, what?” I ask. “You’re just going to fly home with Anya and hope Captain doesn’t intercept you? He will, you know.”
Her fingers draw a gentle circle along my knee. “That’s the last resort.”
Anya wrinkles her nose, but she doesn’t seem as upset as I expected. I wonder if Yvonne’s already had this conversation with her. I hate the idea of it, but she’s right.
“And the first resort?” I ask.
“Well, we’re here with some of my relatives. Which means there’s tech here that isn’t in your ship or anywhere else we’ve had access to.”
I raise my eyebrows.
She lets out a slow breath. “Alar…my cousin… says there’s a direct line here to call my parents. I’m going to try to call my father or mother.”
Next morning, I get Yvonne to stop hovering around me long enough so I can get some privacy and take a shower. She was concerned about me taking some of my other bandages off, but I heal fast, and the doctors here are apparently rather good. With relief, I get rid of the rest of the gauze until I’m only stuck with the cast on my arm, and stand in the hot water for long enough my human skin starts wrinkling, my arm hung over the glass door so it doesn’t get wet.
This room’s bathroom isn’t large, but it’s fancy. Compared to my ship, it’s practically a palace. I think it’s larger than my bunk room, though that’s not saying much. The tub is large and shimmering, and all the tiles and fittings of everything are similarly brand new in appearance.
It takes me a minute longer than it should to figure out how to even turn the shower on.
At least the water stays hot forever.
I don’t so much as wash myself as just stand here until nothing can possibly be left on my skin from the whole experience on Zar, and what’s left of the stench of the mossy water is finally gone from my hair.
Someone knocks, and I jump before hearing Yvonne ask, “You okay in there?”
I roll my eyes. If I’m being honest with myself, her concern isn’t nearly as annoying as it should be. “Girls aren’t the only ones who can stand in the shower for twenty minutes, ya know.”
“Uh-huh. Just making sure you didn’t fall on your face or anything.”
“I’m fine—”
“Ya need some help in there?”
She isn’t even in the room, but I feel my face turn hot. “I’m perfectly capable, thanks.”
She’s definitely giggling as she walks away. Mumbling to myself, I switch off the water and find a towel, finally daring to get a good look at myself in the steamed-up mirror.
As anticipated, I look rough as hell.
Blotchy bruises are still decorating most of my skin, particularly along my ribs and shoulders, and back, and alarmingly where my flesh meets metal. Many of the minor cuts and scrapes are healed of their own accord. My face looks about the same save the repaired implants in my temple that originally got damaged by that psycho number back on Lee’s ship. The new hearing aids behind my ears look shockingly like the last ones, but those were newer too, stolen from the hospital on Amethyst.
My eyes are a different color.
I squint into the mirror, blinking at myself. I don’t look much different, but it gives a certain uncanny feeling that some of the major implants in my face are new and slightly different in appearance. I mess with the little switch along my eye Yvonne showed me, turning the heat signatures on and off. They work so smoothly I can’t believe how bad my old ones were. They are a slightly greenish shade, but not as jarring as I anticipated.
All in all, I don’t look as bad as I anticipated, but I was out for a few days, and it’s been another day or two on top of that. Between the passed time and the fact I had some actual doctors looking after me, I’m in a lot better shape.
I still haven’t asked Yvonne what the doctors said about me. Something was certainly damaged on my insides. I’ll have to get up the courage to ask her about it. Or the doctors. Considering she’s warned me they’ll probably want to look in on me again.
Shuddering, I wiggle back into a fresh set of clothes—Lalia was thoughtful enough to get some of my own clothes from out of my ship, which was more touching than I know how to admit—and poke my head out of the bathroom door in case Yvonne is standing right on the other side waiting to ambush me.
Empty.
The broad curtain over the window is open, and I can see them all outside. I spy for anyone other than my set of humans—Yvonne apparently chased her cousin off from popping in on us once already—and grab some of the coffee from the little kitchen counter before heading out to join them.
Yvonne sits on the top step just outside the door with her own steaming cup and turns back to smile at me softly.
“Hi,” she says gently. “Feel better?”
Nodding, I seat myself next to her. Lalia is nowhere to be seen. Zane is down on the grassy section one level below, kicking a ball back and forth with Anya. Bat stalks the round little inflatable toy, sometimes stealing it for his own and nosing it across the yard before either Zane or Anya chases him down. I feel myself smiling.
“You’re sure we’re okay here?” I ask, suspicion automatically coming with the level of peace.
“You know I would be out of here in two seconds if I didn’t think we’re safe. I’ll drag you out to meet my cousin in a day or so, you’ll see what I mean. Plus it’ll satisfy his curiosity. Try not to panic too much, at least today.”
I roll my eyes again, but her certainty is comforting. She’s about as paranoid as I am, by this point, and she wants Captain to show up on our doorstep about as much as I do.
I don’t think she’s precisely clear-headed about all of her family, but she’s right about one thing: we’ve been here long enough that if Captain was going to show up, he would’ve.
“How’d it go with Zane?” she asks, quiet enough they won’t hear. “Saw you down there talking with him. Couldn’t hear what you said.”
Yesterday’s conversation makes my throat burn. I clear my throat and sip some coffee. “We’re alright. Or, I guess they will be, eventually. I suppose I need to talk to Lalia, too.”
Scooting closer to me, she leans gently against my arm. “You’re a good…friend to them. Even if you’d rather die than admit it.”
I know what she’d been about to say, but don’t bother bringing it up. I keep making the mistake in my own mind. As long as I don’t make it aloud and bring Zane or Lalia any more unnecessary suffering, I’ll figure out how to reconcile this all in my mind eventually.
Bat spots me, scurries up, sticks his nose in my palm, and runs back to chase the ball. He can probably hear us with those big ears. Yvonne spins her coffee mug on the step between her knees and squeezes my hand.
She says, “I did talk to her a little. Lalia. I think she talked to their parents about it. I’m not entirely sure how she’s doing, but I think she’s managing okay. You should still talk to her, though.”
I nod. As if called by the words, Lalia appears from a different section of the garden, past the fountain where Zane and I talked, and heads up the platforms to us. Her clothes are different, lighter than usual, and I wonder if she got them here. I try to think of something to say, but she sits down next to me and puts her arm around my back, squishing me between her and Yvonne. Yvonne chuckles.
I let them. Not much use for my ego anymore, not with this.
I don’t know what to say, not with Yvonne sitting right here as well and Bat certainly listening. Zane casts us a small smile in between his little game with the princess. Is there anything I can say to Lalia? Probably not. I want to try, as I tried with Zane, but I feel out of words. I’m certain he told her what I said to him. If he didn’t, I don’t have to manage to repeat them right this moment.
I try, “La…”
“Aaron, I can feel you trying to think of something to say. Just relax.”
Grumbling, I lean into her until my weight nearly takes her down. She huffs and manages just barely to shove me back up.
Quieter, she says, “We can talk about it later, it’s alright,” and grabs my hand.
I nod, still feeling the weight of a thousand unsaid words, squeezing her fingers in return. We have time to figure it out, I suppose.
Anya wrestles the ball away from Bat, unable to get it from his jaws and ending up just picking it up, Bat dangling by his teeth. Yvonne snorts.
“You three, get up here,” she calls. “I wanna talk about something.”
I glance at her, but she ignores me. Probably, this has something to do with Neyla Ve. We’re close to the planet as it is, Zar is over and done with, and we can’t stay in this place forever.
I stare at the grass as Anya drags Bat up here and sits between my knees. Zane sits down cross-legged in front of Lalia, giving me a kind swat on the leg.
“I take it you’ve thought of a plan,” I say. “Because stars know I haven’t. I’ve no idea how to get you two back to Neyla Ve in one piece without—”
“I wasn’t planning on letting you just drop us off and head out,” she says, and all of us glance at her. Bat stops playing tug-of-war with Anya.
“What?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Don’t get me wrong, I had no idea how I was planning on pulling it off, but you’ve been trying to come up with a way to get us there and get out. I’ve been trying to figure out a way where you all don’t have to run away. I don’t want you gone. I figure you know that, but don’t really know it. But I don’t want you off in the stars where I can’t find you. The four of you mean too much to both me and Anya.”
Finally, she glances my way, and I stare at the ground, more embarrassed than I likely should be by this point. I didn’t want that either, but there isn’t precisely a way around it. Yvonne underestimates Captain, perhaps not as much as she did when we first met, but she still doesn’t understand how much power he holds. More than her parents, not in name but in actuality.
Perhaps she’s starting to understand.
She looks as if she may cry. “I’m not going to watch what happened to you on Zar happen again, not for me.”
I clear my throat, not quite knowing what to say. “There aren’t many options…we’ll figure something out along the lines we were already planning. A way to get you two directly to your parents, and we’ll take off. It doesn’t have to be…forever.”
Even as I say it, I’m not certain it’s true. Bat and I will be heading into uncharted space. Zane and Lalia probably will as well, either with me or on their own. There isn’t much contact with our galaxy out there. I don’t know what will happen after this is all over but for our own safety and sanity…
I probably won’t see the royals again for a very long time.
I try not to dwell on the thought too much. Even with the conversation centering around it.
Yvonne shakes her head. “I’m not doing that to you guys.”
“What do you mean?” Zane asks.
“The worst than can happen to us if Captain gets ahold of us before our parents do is he might take Anya back to Amerov for a week or two and lock me up there. Anya’s much too healed for him to justify actually keeping her there, no matter how petty he’s trying to be. Eventually, our parents will get him to knock it off. She’s spent the last few weeks trampling around space with a bunch of criminals, they know she’s fine.
“The worst that can happen to all of you is being dismantled and your minds wiped. It isn’t exactly equal.”
We’ve known this the whole time, but hearing her say it broaches no argument.
“So, what?” I ask. “You’re just going to fly home with Anya and hope Captain doesn’t intercept you? He will, you know.”
Her fingers draw a gentle circle along my knee. “That’s the last resort.”
Anya wrinkles her nose, but she doesn’t seem as upset as I expected. I wonder if Yvonne’s already had this conversation with her. I hate the idea of it, but she’s right.
“And the first resort?” I ask.
“Well, we’re here with some of my relatives. Which means there’s tech here that isn’t in your ship or anywhere else we’ve had access to.”
I raise my eyebrows.
She lets out a slow breath. “Alar…my cousin… says there’s a direct line here to call my parents. I’m going to try to call my father or mother.”
