First, the sand nesters and now this.
Then it hit him. The sand nesters only hunted when they smelled blood and though the pod was airtight, they’d smelled her blood.
There must be some breach in the escape pod. How else would the smell have escaped?
Running his fingers along where the lid met the rest of the body of the vessel, it was a theory he hoped was true. Gaze fastened on her face as he circled the pod, his hearts were now thumping so hard in his chest with each second that passed that he could feel them swell and contract.
But as his fingers ran along the lid, they picked up no anomalies. He couldn’t find it. There was no breach.
“For all that is Polvrak and mighty!” His curse was loud in the quietness of the desert.
He shouted her name to try rousing her again but nothing changed. If he could just get her to wake up, she could press the release button and he could get her out.
He was still circling the pod, searching along where the glass met the rest of the pod’s body, when his fingers went over a slight deviation in the panel.
It was small, but the impact had caused the lid to shift just a little. The space was enough for him to slip the tip of a finger in but not nearly enough for him to do anything else.
He needed to get in.
Pulling his blade from its sheath along his spine, it glinted in the light as he slid it into the small gap.
He’d have to cut along the perforation or maybe he could use the blade as a sort of lever to pry the pod open a little more.
His blade was made of the same material that made his brother Xul’s spear. As a matter of fact, the blade had been a gift from Xul after he’d saved his life on a particularly dangerous mission orbits ago. It was made of rare metal. Rare and ridiculously strong.
There was a possibility the blade could pry the pod open, though he wasn’t completely sure.
Pulse rising, he put pressure on the blade, bearing down on the hilt as he used his weight to increase the upward pressure.
Gritting his teeth, a grunt escaped him with the effort. The pod was resisting. After all, it wasn’t meant to be opened this way.
Exerting more pressure on the handle, he felt the gap give a little and that was enough encouragement.
But as if Polvrak was watching him, when he bore down again, the gap ceased moving.
Glaring at the small opening, Kyris kept his blade in the space as he braced into the pod.
His gaze fell on the human’s face again and he felt something wring in his chest.
Dark hair…dark eyes…
She was still just sitting there. Peaceful. Seemingly sleeping.
She had no idea what was happening around her.
Running a hand through his hair, Kyris frowned at his own reflection coming off the pod’s surface.
His eyes were afire with something he’d never before seen in his own reflection.
There was annoyance…frustration…and something else.
Slamming his fist against the glass, the pain in his shoulder pulsed as if to remind him that he was injured.
It only served to annoy him.
But as he glared inside the pod, the yellow button that should be pressed to open the vessel came into his field of vision.
It was right across from where he stood.
Glancing at the tip of his blade and then back at the button, he knew exactly what he needed to do.
The gap was enough for his blade to slide through it. He just had to hope the blade was long enough to get to where he needed it to go.
Sliding the blade through the space and further into the pod, he slid it across her body, praying to Polvrak that she didn’t jerk awake at that moment.
The last thing he wanted to do was slice right through her.
As he angled the blade toward the button, a grunt left his throat as he pressed his body against the vessel for ultimate leverage.
Almost.
Almost there.Just a little more.
But the hilt of the blade was flat against the pod now and there was no more give.
It was lined up with the button. There was only about a centimeter left to go and qrak! The darned thing refused to go farther.
A surge of frustration welled within him.
Balling his hand into a fist, he slammed it against the handle of the blade, ignoring the jolt of pain and the beads of blue liquid that rose slowly from his knuckles.
The next sound was something he never thought he’d be so happy to hear.
As the blade moved the extra centimeter and depressed the button, the soft hiss of the escape pod releasing was like music to his ears.
It couldn’t open fast enough. Sheathing his blade, he was already crawling into the small space before the pod could open fully.
Touching the wound on her head, Kyris swallowed hard.
“Song?” He turned her name over on his tongue. There was a little buzz inside him when he said her name, one that surprised him, causing him to say it again.
“Song?”
Her lack of response was worrying.
Her skin was cool. So cool, that it felt strange in contrast to the heat of the desert.
Pressing his hand firmly against the right side of her chest, his palm covered a round, soft mound and his eyes widened slowly as he froze, unable to remove his hand as he realized just what he was touching.
Even in that way she was like Vaen women…
Was she similar in all ways?
He wasn’t trying to touch her indecently but...qrak.
Thankfully, her eyes remained closed.
Willing himself to focus on what was underneath the soft, supple thing he was touching, he realized that what he was feeling for was not there.
Her heartbeats. Her heartbeats were missing.
No heartbeats meant…
No! He refused to even think it.
Maybe, just maybe, her hearts weren’t in the same spot his were?
She was another species after all.
Human.
She was human.
Different from his own people, the
