Page 31 of Ensnared By the Rabbit Genius
Thankfully, they recognized the captain and had questions for him as well. I could see him becoming overwhelmed and had an urge to point and laugh, but didn’t want to bring anyattention on myself. One of the humans asked if they could pet him.
“Hey,” Ellis said, suddenly in front of me.
I grabbed his shoulders as an idea hit me. “I apologize,” I whispered, “but your services are required.”
“My—”
I scooped him into my arms. “Don’t worry,” I said loudly, “I’ll take you to our quarters right away. Just rest. Everything will be fine.”
“Uh, what’s happening?”
“Act ill.”
He blinked at me, but then pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. “Oh, I’msosick! Whatever could be wrong with me?”
Itsked at him. “You’re a terrible actor.”
He snorted and relaxed in my arms. “It’s not like I had time to prepare. Why are we running away and pretending I’m sick?”
“So I can get away from the humans and their endless questions.” I was practically leaping down the bridge tube. “Our quarters are in a different section of the ship to theirs, but I don’t want them to be able to stop me. If you see some of them, feign distress.”
Ellis chuckled with his face pressed into my neck. To a lesser observer, it might appear that he was crying. That was an improvement in his acting skills.
“Oh, god, Seiwa,” he said as he wiped at his eyes. “You’re terrible.”
I was not. “Three people asked about the warp core, Ellis. Three! And many of them seem to think I’ll give them a tour of theentireship.”
“Well, you could or?—”
“I have no access authority on theShendo-kine. I’m a passenger!”
“Ah. Okay.”
“Besides that, any one of them might touch something.”
He shook his head, eyes wide. “And we can’t have that.”
“Of course not.”
Ellis poked my cheek. “I seem to remember someone bouncing all over experimental equipment in his bare feet.”
“Their equipment can’t get us to a different galaxy.” Obviously.
“Hmm. True.”
Oh, goddess, I had accidentally caught up to the last three groups of humans to cross the tube. I came to a halt since the only way onto the ship was through them.
Ellis groaned loudly and curled into himself. “Oh, mygod, I think I’m going to be sick!”
That was very impressive acting. I nearly believed him except for the fact he peeked up at me and subtly cocked his head as if to tell me to keep walking. I looked up to find Squire covering his grin with his hand and waving me ahead as well.
I excused myself through the parting throng of humans and didn’t waste a moment getting us into theShendo-kine. Thankfully, we had already checked in with security when we brought over our personal possessions, so they waved us through now. I quickened my pace to get to the lift that would take us up to the officers’ quarters and far away from the berths the humans would occupy for the journey.
Seven days trapped with four thousand curious humans… I may never leave our quarters.
Safe in the lift, I set Ellis on his feet, but he stayed close and held my hand. I studied him, noting the way he leaned against me. “Are you comfortable with leaving today?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “As much as I can be. It’s not like we can change our minds now.”
