My wings opened, spreading out to touch the viewing panels above the controls.
Alder was still pacing, his body slicked with excretions now as his hands fizzled and popped with his power.
“Alder,” I said his name again, this time louder, using the effects of my humming to pitch my voice low and deep.
He finally stopped moving, blinking up at me with wide eyes.
“What the hell, Morph?” He gestured up and down toward me. “I didn’t even tell you what happened yet.”
“And are you going to tell me? Or will you continue pacing like a lunatic?” I kept my wings extended, my posture straight, as I stared down at the smaller lifeform.
“Fine, fine,” Alder muttered before slumping down into a jumpseat near the bridge exit. “I walked in on Evik and Lise making out. They were touching each other and… kissing,” he said quietly, crossing his arms over his body like a sullen child. No, not a child. I would not offend the small ones of my planet. They came to life with the ability to fly and hum and contribute to the community.
Alder was like an overgrown Shastalynx. They mewled for milk and cried for affection for many, many star cycles after birth.
“You are upset because Evik and the human woman Lise… became affectionate?” Though I was dismissing Alder’s sour mood, I too felt a twinge of dislike in my chest. There was something about Lise. I’d liked her from the start, though she’d basically blackmailed us into becoming her crew.
“Yes,” he nodded quickly, “I wanted to rescue her, but you and your big stupid enhanced strength got there first. If I’d rescued her, then maybe she’d be grateful. Really grateful. That didn’t work out. But I knew she wasn’t going to grow attached to a giant butterfly mutant, so I still had a chance. Who’d have guessed that Evik, of all the bugs in the universe, would get there first? It’s just wrong.”
“A giant butterfly mutant,” I rolled the name over my proboscis. No, I did not like that any better than ‘Altered One’. “Is there a reason, Alder, that you seek to anger me?”
“This isn’t about you,” Alder countered, waving me off with a shake of his hand, which no longer sparked wildly. “It’s about what makes sense. I’m the most human guy on this ship. She should be attracted to me. We’re…physically compatible.”
“If she and Evik were intimate, then their anatomy must also be compatible.” I shrugged, trying to sound like I didn’t care that Evik had been pawing all over Lise with his multiple appendages. I knew, all too well, how intensely he could sexualize a situation when his mating cycle was upon him.
“They are not compatible. He’s a damn bug!”
“And you, according to human lore, should be four inches tall with wings. A creature of the forest, with small magicks best used for growing plants. Evik and I may have similar attributes to these things you called bugs,”—a flash of a dung beetle crossed my mind. Earth was a treasure trove of strangeness—“but we are most certainly not. We are sentient beings, Alder. Powerful, intelligent, and sexually charged. You would do well to remember that.”
“I’m a prince. I should get what I want,” he grumbled, leaning back in the jumpseat and shutting his eyes.
“You are not a prince on this ship. Just as I am not an experiment.”
Blue pinged into the conversation, and I was grateful for the interruption. And grateful to realize that my moxyclorate levels had decreased significantly.
“Morpheus, Lise is on her way to the bridge to discuss your plan.”
“Great,” I replied, flicking a glance back at Alder, who was standing again, fingers tracing through his hair to make it tidier.
Now that the rush of war was leaving my body, I could focus on things other than escape and helping the many female-gendered species on board.
I could really focus now on what Alder had said—that Evik and Lise had kissed. More than that. They’d touched one another.
That same pang of dislike from before shot through my chest again and I frowned.
It had been many star cycles since I had been with someone of the opposite sex—of any species. Before the torturous experiments. Back home, with my wife. Who was now mated to another.
I folded my wings back down, ensuring they did not scrape the floor again. Before I could reseat myself in the captain’s flight chair, Lise strode onto the bridge.
She wore the same oversized clothes, her right shoulder uncovered as the too-large neck fell to one side. She was not impressive in many ways, yet in others she was breathtaking.
She was stronger than she looked. Tougher. Smarter. I had said as much to her before, only using different words, and staring at her now, I knew suddenly why the sight of her healed in the medbay had struck me so sharply.
Lise reminded me of my wife. Perhaps not in looks, but in fearlessness.
I felt protective of my new captain’s small body and keen mind behind the brilliant blue eyes.
I wanted her to stay safe.
17
Tommelise
I stepped onto the bridge and froze, startled by the strange energies swirling through the air. Morpheus and Alder both stood facing the entrance, staring at me, their gazes oddly intense.
“What?” I frowned, resisting the urge to reach up and smooth my hair. It was crusty with the same goo that had dried on Morpheus—plus, I suspected, some of the blood from the empress’s medtech had crusted on me, too.
I needed a sani-shower. Especially if I was going to keep my promise to Evik to pick up where we left off.
Not that the Chilchek had seemed to mind my lack of recent bathing.
The memory prompted a small, secret smile as I ignored the other two men’s odd behavior and headed toward my seat.
“Gargh.” Alder let
