For his part, the weapons officer didn't seem offended when she acted more professional while they were around other people. He might've even been a bit relieved that they were avoiding unnecessary tension and drama.
Early on the morning of the fourth day, Lana was on her way to the ship's small exercise room, where Dax spent at least an hour of his limited time off-duty mechanically working the required muscle groups for that day's regimen to remain in satisfactory physical condition. Lana did her best to keep up with him the entire time so she had an excuse to keep him company, mostly so she could admire the way his muscles moved in his workout clothes.
Surprisingly, she also found she enjoyed the smell of his sweat, although she had no idea why and would never admit it.
By the time they finished each day's workout she usually felt like keeling over dead, although she was secretly pleased by the slight hints of respect he let slip through his stoic exterior. It felt good to impress someone who pushed himself so hard, as if he was acknowledging that she was doing her best too.
Lana's thoughts were on her plans to find an excuse to finally sit on Dax's lap sometime before her shift ended that day, see if that would break through his aplomb and he'd finally show some surprise, when she walked past the medical bay, not even looking inside. Which was why she jumped half out of her skin when Ali called out the door for her to come in.
Backing up, Lana peered into the small room, and the companion patted one of the medical cots in an invitation for her to sit down. She did so hesitantly. “What's this about?”
Before answering Ali went and closed the door. “For privacy,” she explained in her warm, soothing voice. “I felt we should discuss an issue of some . . . delicacy.”
She couldn't for the life of her think of what. “Okay?”
The companion settled down on the cot beside her, dark blue eyes warm and supportive. “Ship's logs show that recently you've been making quite an intense study on human sexuality and the various common applications of it, including informational texts, videos, and entertainment media. I believe you even went so far as to borrow one of Miss Ishiv's romantic full immersion dives.”
Lana froze, feeling her face turn scarlet with mortification. She had, in fact, been looking into that. But only because it was obviously so important, and she felt she should know more about it. She certainly wasn't researching it with the idea in mind of practicing what she learned anytime soon.
Especially not with, say, handsome weapons officers she was currently spending all her time with.
As for Belix's dive, she'd lasted about two seconds before escaping back to reality and returning it out of sheer embarrassment. Which had grown by orders of magnitude when the elfin woman had slyly suggested that if full immersion romance was too much for her, she might want to try exploring by herself alone in her cabin as a first step to learning about all this.
Not that Lana hadn't half considered taking that particular nugget of advice.
Seeing her obvious embarrassment, Ali gave her a reassuring smile. “There's no need to feel self-conscious, it's a perfectly normal thing to be curious about, especially given your situation with no memories to fall back on.” She patted her hand. “Besides, as a companion I don't judge, and as your medical practitioner I have an obligation to keep your sensitive details private.”
Well, that was a relief. At least she hoped it was. “Okay.”
The companion patted her hand again. “I noticed especially you've been researching virginity and the, ah, unique circumstances of a woman's first time. If it eases your worry, I can assure you that my medical checkup from when you first came aboard confirmed your hymen is not intact. Which means your, ah, new first time will likely not be as painful.”
Lana wasn't sure what to feel about that. Such an important thing, and she had absolutely no memory of it. Had it been with a man she liked? Had it been a man? Had she enjoyed it? Had she done it more than once? And . . . considering she'd been taken by slavers to be sold to a brothel, had she had any choice in the matter the last time or times it happened? Or while living on the streets of the miserable colony planet where they'd picked her up?
Maybe it was better not to remember. “Good to know,” she said stiffly, wondering if she meant that. Better to think she was a virgin, since as far as she'd known she had been.
“This topic is making you uncomfortable. Not unexpected, but I perceive I may be pushing it too far.” Ali withdrew her hand. “I just wanted you to know that if you have any questions or concerns you don't feel like you can share with the others, I'm always available to talk.”
Great, an offer to learn about sex from a sex robot. And one owned by Captain Aiden, of all people; could she really trust that Ali wouldn't tell the man any of this? She didn't think she'd ever live down that embarrassment.
“I'll keep that in mind,” Lana said, standing and starting for the door. “Thanks for the, um, talk.”
“One last thing,” Ali said before she could escape. Lana paused, once again wary, and turned back as the companion offered her a small bottle that rattled slightly as she accepted it. “Now that you're a member of this crew, pregnancies are a matter of interest to the medical officer
