I was incapable of hurting her. She was just about the only person I could trust aboard this infernal ship. But if she helped a human female that’d escaped… Perhaps I shouldn’t put so much faith in her after all.
The anger seeped from me like water from a sponge left out in the sun.
“Don’t do it again,” I said coldly. “Go.”
I feared if she stayed in my presence any longer, I might harm her. Anger management wasn’t exactly a strength of my species.
She nodded her head and shuffled out of the cargo bay.
If even Maisie defied my orders, what chance did I have the rest of the crew would follow them? Did I even deserve them as a crew?
I coughed. It sent shockwaves through my skull.
The crew must have sensed my weakness. Eventually one would take it upon himself to take action and Challenge my leadership. I didn’t blame them. A crew needed a strong leader. That was how I’d become leader, after all.
I Challenged our former captain after he’d lost his mind and ordered us to steer the ship into a blazing sun. I beat him in single combat and stripped him of his mantel. I would have kept him on my crew, except he had clearly lost his mind. I stabbed my blade deep in his chest in a sign of mercy rather than anger. He’d been like a father to us.
And his final words as he took his last gasp? “Destroy us for we destroy worlds.”
Maybe he wasn’t so crazy after all.
I made it to my quarters and immediately stumbled onto my bed. I’d marched with my chest out, my chin raised the entire way, concealing the sickness consuming me from the inside.
It was exhausting. I was lucky no one stopped me in the hallways.
I let the bed absorb my weight as I sank into it. My entire body ached and the drumming in my skull was louder than ever before. I needed sleep—real, genuine rest rather than the fitful bursts of nightmare-filled dreams I endured.
I got comfortable and felt myself slipping off the edge of consciousness. The gray mist of dreams wrapped around me, not as a comforting blanket, but a torture device designed to keep me in place. I frowned, preparing myself for the impending onslaught.
That’s when something straight and, I thought, very sharp slid beneath my chin. It remained there and didn’t move.
The fact it hadn’t moved, hadn’t instantly opened my throat meant it couldn’t possibly be one of my crewmates. Not all of them had honor. Some attacked from the shadows.
Through the misty haze of the sickness, I opened up my senses. I sniffed through my nostrils and caught the scent of her. She smelled exquisitely feminine. She was bold to have come here. Clever too. It was the one place the drones wouldn’t venture. All she had to do was wait for me to turn up and make myself comfortable before sliding into position.
Despite myself, a smile curled my lips.
“Don’t move,” she said.
She had no idea the strength and speed a Titan could move. How could she? Her species hadn’t met any other forms of intelligent life.
I reached for one of the knives I kept tucked in my bed’s frame for such emergencies as this. I fingered the handle, getting a good grip on it. I remained alert but did not act.
“What’s your name?” I said.
She snorted. “You don’t even know the names of the innocent women you kidnap?”
“I could check my files if you let me get up…” I said. Of course, there were no files.
She stiffened with that blade to my throat.
“What do you want?” I said.
“I want my freedom,” she said.
“If you wanted that, you should’ve taken the shuttlecraft earlier,” I said.
“I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s something else I need to do first.”
“To kill me?”
“To make you an offer.”
That gave me pause for thought. “What sort of offer?”
“You’ve been feeling sick lately, haven’t you?” she said.
Had Maisie told her? Damn that fool woman! Didn’t she know that particular whisper heard by overly inquisitive ears could wind up getting both of us killed? I’d have to have a word with her later.
“A Titan doesn’t get sick,” I said, hedging.
“What’s a Titan? Is that what your species is called?”
“Yes. We don’t get sick and recover fast from wounds. So, even if you cut me, you’ll never manage to kill me.”
“I don’t want to kill you,” she said.
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” I said.
She sighed but didn’t remove the blade from my neck. “I’m not a killer. I’m a regular girl. I don’t want you dead because that won’t help me. I’ve seen what your men are like. I overheard them talking earlier. About your sickness.”
She couldn’t have seen my reaction, crouched to one side the way she was, but my eyes boggled almost out of their sockets.
“You’re lying,” I said. “They don’t know about my sickness.”
“That’s funny,” she said. “I thought Titans don’t get sick? So maybe this knife could hurt you after all.”
I heard the smile on her lips and it made me feel sick to my stomach—for once having nothing to do with my illness.
“What did you hear them say?” I said.
“The reason you’re not getting better—even though you are one of these Titan things—is because your crew is the reason you’re sick.”
A red mist descended over my eyes. At this human female? At my crew? I couldn’t decide. “You’re lying.”
“They have some kind of black creature. It’s shaped like a ball with long gangly legs. It’s slimy, with something that looks like oil all over it.”
Of course! Why hadn’t I thought of this before?
The creature she was describing was called an Absor. They were used for assassinations. Creep close enough and slip it in their food or drink. It took on the shape, color, and most importantly, flavor of whatever they were put in. They produced common symptoms like stomach cramps, headaches, and nightmares.
The same symptoms I had.
The bastards!
I cleared my throat. “Thank you
