Maisie grunted. “I’d like to see you in a kitchen first.”
“I told you,” I said. “I can’t. Having the captain in the kitchen doesn’t have the kind of image I’m trying to cultivate.”
Maisie folded her arms. “But it does when you’re stuffing your face with my cakes, I notice.”
“It’s the crew. I can only be what they expect me to be. And after this soup, they’d expect me to have some treacle pudding.”
“You couldn’t keep it down.”
“Then I’ll have the pleasure of eating over and over again.”
She curled up her face in disgust. I loved teasing her. “I would find that funny if I didn’t think it was the truth.”
“It is the truth.”
“That’s why it’s disgusting.”
Not for the first time, I wondered how I could trust Maisie—this human female—with my life when I could never do the same with my crew.
I laughed and immediately wished I hadn’t. It sent shockwaves through my brain like it had its own private storm.
“You need to go to hospital,” Maisie said, pressing a hand to my forehead. “Sooner rather than later.”
I shook my head. “A Titan doesn’t visit hospitals.”
She braced her hands on her hips. “Then you’ll be visiting the morgue.”
It was my foolish pride that prevented me from having a secret supply of medicines. I assumed I would never get sick enough to need it.
“I need a new translator strip,” Maisie said, pointing to the one across her throat. “My old one’s damaged.”
I waved a hand at my desk. “Take one from the drawer.”
Maisie pulled it open, took one of the translator strips, and tucked it in her front pocket.
It was unusual for Maisie to ask for anything. She always tended to muddle along with whatever faulty item she had until it finally broke completely and there was no other option but to replace it.
We had advanced equipment she could use for cleaning but refused to replace her long stick with floppy cloth at the end. I think she called it a mop. Old habits died hard, I guess.
I wiped the bread around the inside of the bowl and sucked on it. I couldn’t swallow anything solid. Humans might be a backward species but they sure knew how to cook delicious food.
The headache dissipated but a deep lethargy came over me. I leaned back, my eyes already beginning to shut.
“Get some rest, Captain,” Maisie said, collecting the tray before it slipped off the bed.
As if I had any choice. By the time she shut the door, I was asleep once more.
I ran the words Stryder said to me just ten seconds ago through my mind: “Captain, we’ve had an escape.”
“An escape?” I said. “Who?”
“The last human female in the cargo hold.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. In all the years I’d been a smuggler, I’d never heard of anyone escaping the pods before. It was meant to be impossible.
It was a long walk down to the cargo hold but I needed to see this for myself. When we got there, I stood staring at the pod, empty, just as Stryder had said it was. I marched along the other pods, already empty from having been delivered.
“She was spotted coming out of the shuttle bay,” Stryder said.
I drew to a stop. “Coming out of the shuttle bay?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why was she coming out? She could have jumped in a shuttlecraft and taken off.”
“I don’t know, sir. Maybe she didn’t have access to a translator strip. Or else she didn’t know how to pilot a shuttle. Humans have yet to colonize their own solar system.”
I continued walking down the hall. “So, where did she go?”
Stryder twisted his neck and swallowed hard. “I’m… not sure, sir.”
“You’re not sure?” I said. “We saw her come out of the shuttle bay and we don’t know where she went?”
“No, sir.”
Stryder looked embarrassed. Of course, it wasn’t his fault. But someone had to take responsibility for this mistake.
“How did she even manage to escape in the first place?” I said. “We put her in the pod three weeks ago. We’ve been delivering merchandise every few days… and you’re telling me no one knows where the female human is?”
“That’s correct, Captain.”
I couldn’t believe this. “We’re supposed to deliver her in three days. Are you suggesting we should hand over an empty pod?”
“No, sir.”
A bolt of pain stung the front of my brain. I massaged my temples. “Who was the last person to see her?”
“Rattigan and Xerxan,” Stryder said. “When we delivered the previous human.”
“And they report seeing her in the pod?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then she must have gotten out recently. No one has reported seeing anything suspicious?”
“No, sir.”
It still didn’t make any sense. There was only one way for her to get out, and that was if someone let her out. But that would have informed Computer…
“Computer,” I said. “Was there any notification of a human pod being opened within the past few days?”
“Negative,” Computer said. “No human pods have been opened.”
I shook my head and returned to the original pod. I paused, noticing something off with the security module. It was responsible for keeping the merchandise alive and functioning.
There was a black hole where something had burned into it. I fingered it, the tip of my finger disappearing inside.
Had someone burnt the security settings to get at the human inside? If so, what had they used to form the hole? What made them think they would get away with it? And how did they think they could keep the human from being discovered? I needed to have the crew’s quarters searched.
As I stood up, I glanced at the front wall that fed into the main hallway. A light blinked at me. I approached the wall and the light momentarily disappeared from view. I ran my hands over it until…
I felt it.
A hole. I slipped my finger through it. It was marginally larger than the one in the security module on the pod. It too was charred around the edges.
Stryder had a confused look on his face. “Sir?”
I stepped through the door and drew
