Again, he didn’t budge.
Instead, his gaze fell to their hands, and she realized that somehow, they’d switched. It was no longer him holding on to her, but the other way around.
She was holding on to him.
She dropped his hand quickly, too quickly.
“Come on.” She motioned to him and hastened down the corridor.
With the smoke slowly being sucked up by the vents, she could move faster now as visibility was better, but she soon realized she was moving alone.
A glance behind her and the alien was standing in the same spot that she’d left him, seeming completely unbothered.
Now, what the hell was wrong with him?
For a moment, her heart skipped a beat, and not in the good way.
What if he wasn’t there to help her? What if he was working with the ship’s captain who’d refused to let her off the vessel in the first place?
He was Merssi like the ship’s captain. Maybe they knew each other?
Were they working together?
His nonchalance was concerning.
“It’s locked.” His voice reached her. “We couldn’t open it even if we tried. I triggered a lockdown of the lower sector.” He glanced about the walls and took a few steps in the opposite direction from her. “It seems we’ve foiled each other’s plans. Maybe…” He eyed her again. “…you didn’t need my help after all.”
“I do need help!” She gestured around them at the walls and the obvious fact that they were sitting ducks. That’s when she realized she still had one shoe waving in her hand.
Cursing underneath her breath, she put the shoe back on her foot.
Didn’t he see they were stuck?
He chuckled again, at her tone possibly, before he turned in a slow circle, his gaze moving over the walls and floor.
In one smooth movement, he got down on all fours and began tapping the floor with one four-fingered hand as he felt against the surface with the other.
What in the…
Nia watched him, her heart beating hard in her chest.
The metal clanking she’d heard earlier sounded louder now, and she kept glancing from one closed end of the hallway to the other.
She had no idea what he was doing, and she felt helpless just standing by and watching him.
What if the smoke had gotten to his head?
“Here,” he suddenly said as he tapped somewhere on the floor. At the same time, there was a creak and a large panel lifted enough for him to slide it off.
“What’s that?”
Of course, he didn’t answer.
He can’t understand you, Nia.
“Well,” he said, green gaze finding her, “we can’t go forward and we can’t go back. As we speak, Niftrills are piling up at both exits.”
There was a low inconsistent sound, almost too low to hear, and she realized it was the confused chatter of many beings coming from the doors closest to her.
“Apparently,” the stranger continued, “we had the same plan and thwarted each other by accident.” He jerked his head at the doors. “They’re armed.” He cocked his head as if listening. “Charged laser blasters. Third improvement. Twenty of them at that end, give or take two. I’m sure Herza told them to shoot to kill. She’s not one to take chances.” He studied her. “We only have one option, ta’ii.”
She had no idea what ta’ii meant, but knew he was talking to her. Who else would he be talking to?
“What?”
The stranger slid the flat piece of metal to the side, revealing a narrow dark hole beneath the floor.
“We have to hide.”
11
“Ihn deer?”
The human’s little nose wrinkled at the section between her eyes and she gave him a slightly alarmed look.
She took a few steps forward and peeped into the hole.
Her body shook as if she was cold, but the temperature was fine.
“Noh.” She took a step back and began looking around the corridor as if seeking another option.
Ka’Cit looked down into the hole.
It was a below-deck storage space, originally used for storing food rations for the ship’s occupants many moons ago.
Most new ship owners no longer used the space—it wasn’t big enough to hold the modern cargo crates—and some didn’t even know about it.
He was going to bet that Herza was one of those captains that hadn’t cared to go through the manual in detail.
His ears perked, lifting from the sides of his head and pressing against the inside of his mask. He could hear the Niftrills behind the doors on both ends.
They were trying desperately to override the lockdown.
That meant he and the human needed to get going.
He reached a hand in to shake the narrow ladder that led down below.
It wasn’t in the greatest of states, but it would have to do.
“We have to go down.” He glanced back at the human.
She could understand him, but she was still shaking her head and her breath was coming through her nostrils hard.
“Ai cahnt…”
Her gaze darted around the hall once more, but this was the only way they were going to get out of this.
They had to go down.
Either that, or they would have to allow themselves to get caught.
The latter wasn’t an option. Not with her in his care.
His gaze moved back to the hole.
The human seemed terrified of it.
He racked his mind for information. He didn’t know much about her species, only that his only two friends, Sohut and Riv, had found their gnora—their soulmates—with two humans.
Were humans afraid of the dark?
Small holes?
Ladders?
He wasn’t sure.
“I will be right here with you. I won’t…”
He was going to say he wouldn’t allow the darkness, the hole, or the ladder hurt her, but his words died on his lips.
Her head was moving from side to side so hard now that her hair was shaking like a dark curly cloud surrounding her head.
“Yoo dohnt uhnderstahnd. Ai cahnnnttt. Ai’m kloss-tro-foh-bik.”
She heaved after each word, inhaling so aggressively it was audible, and though he had no idea what she just said, she seemed distressed enough that he rose from the floor and took a step toward her.
His arm reached out before stopping
