Page 6 of Ensnared By the Rabbit Genius
“Seeing what’s on the other side.”
Oh, well, at least he was cautious sometimes. “What’s on the other side?”
“A—” He eyed me for a second. “A rocket engine.”
I could’ve bitched about him using little words or something, but I just said a sincere, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Dumbing it down. I’ve barely understood a single thing you’ve said in those meetings.” And, frankly, it was gettingannoying that I didn’t. I knew I wasn’t on his level of things, but I would’ve hoped some of it made sense every now and then.
The commander grunted. “No onehas understood a single thing I’ve said in those meetings.” He looked up from his tablet to stare at the ceiling for a moment and sighed. “I miss my team on the ship. They understand me.”
Poor little genius, all alone in a world full of idiots. But, seriously, we couldn’t be that bad.
“Noneof the human scientists get what you’re saying? Like, none of them?
He shrugged one shoulder. “Proctor and Caspari are close.”
“Well, that’s something I guess.”
He grunted again and scrolled through a section of his tablet’s screen.
I’d heard a few whispers that we were a decade or so behind the Norlons, but I had a feeling we were something more like a century behind them. Our space travel had gotten pretty cool, but we weren’t even close to sending ships to Mars, let alone a whole other solar system. It had to feel a little like he was talking to children sometimes.
Ialmostfelt a little sorry for him.
But then he used his tablet to unlock the damn door. I heard it thunk, and then he had to use both hands and put his back into it to rotate the wheel. The door protested like it had never been opened since it was made, and in walked Commander Heremod.
“Seriously,” I said as I followed him, “I don’t think we’re supposed to be in here. Not with a door like that. Oh, fuck.”
We were inside one of the testing rooms. Had to be. There was a very obvious-looking engine that was as big as a VW Beetle suspended in front of a tunnel that I bet was meant to have fire shooting down it when they turned the thing on. And the commander was practically bouncing as he walked around it, touching everything. If he started taking it apart, I was going tohave to call someone. I got my phone out only to discover I had no signal, not even SOS.
Oh, this was bad.
All of a sudden, he sprang up and landed on top of the engine. There was a clang as I gasped in horror while the whole thing swayed. This was so, so wrong.
“Oh, my god! You can’t justjumpon this stuff,” I stage-whispered up at him as I looked to the window high up on the wall where I figured observers stood to watch the tests. Was anyone up there now?
“Sure, I can.”
“Commander, you?—”
“Seiwa.”
“—can’t walk around in your dirty boots on this equipment. I’msureyou can’t. This is probably one of those clean rooms I’ve heard about. We should be in full body suits or something.” Especially since he was literally covered in fur.
I could see his bunny ass wiggle around for a moment before he dropped his black boots down to land beside me. I actually stomped my own foot as I hollered, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”
He chuckled.
Son of a bitch, he was bouncing all over the engine in his bare feet. Not that I didn’t wonder for a moment if large toe beans could be as adorable as tiny ones, but he wasstanding on the fucking experimental engine.
“Get down from there! What if the oils from your skin heat up when they test this thing and cause a fire?”
It was quiet for a moment, and then he peered over the side down at me, his lip curled up so that I could see his front teeth. “What?”
“Come down!”
