Page 95 of Galactic Sentinels: Vol. 1
‘’No? I'm disappointed.’’
She chuckles softly, and it's like music to my ears.
‘’I'm willing to bet you picked up a few more of these in your brief outing. We're in the dark and I can't see them, but I can feel them. I still have your magic pen in my hand.’’
‘’I don't want you touching those bugs. We'll be fine until we get back to SIL.’’
‘’No, that won't do!’’ she says, contradicting me. ‘’They eat flesh. We have to get rid of them as soon as possible.’’
‘’We don't know if they can't change hosts. I don't want to take any chances with my Dedicated Soul.’’
‘’I told you I'm fine! They didn't have time to come back.’’
‘’Perfect. You don't mind if I check, do you?’’ she asks, putting her hands on my shoulders.
I flinch a little. There's nothing on my shoulders, but I think I've recovered one or two around my waist.
‘’Ileana, please remove your hands from my person. We'll deal with this later.’’
‘’I'd love to agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong. So I'm gonna do what I said and make sure you haven't brought any unwanted creatures with you. If you want to help me, it'll go quicker, if not, too bad!’’
‘’Pfff! I let out a deep sigh. Like I said, you're stubborn. My shoulders are fine. Check lower down.’’
‘’Like this?’’ she asks, moving down to my chest.
‘’Even lower!’’ I whisper. ‘’Even... even lower.’’
‘’But... are you kidding me?’’ she says indignantly.
‘’Why's that? Ah, I see what you were thinking! Men don't just have one thing to worry about, you know,’’ I say with a smile. ‘’Check a little below my waist, please.’’
Without a word, she keeps going with her thorough check. I can barely feel the warmth of her hands on me, my skin half-anesthetized, though burning.
‘’I can feel it!’’ she says, focused on her task. ‘’Rhoo, that's a big one!’’
If Wingo were here, he'd probably have something to say about it, whether he needed it or not. But the Flots know this isn't a laughing matter.
‘’And here's the second!’’ she gloats.
Ileana must be right. Besides the semi-anesthetic in their saliva that keeps us from screaming to death and the coagulant that stops us from bleeding, they must have some kind of psychotropic or other substance that would explain why my thoughts are inappropriate when the situation is serious.
I just got a few muscles chewed, I'm trapped with my companion in a huge animal egg, I've made a terrifying Srebat mad by lying to him, I have no idea how long it will take Wingo to find us, and finally, I'm not even sure I'll have the strength to swim to the only platform suitable for the SIL. But even with all that, Ileana's innocent words still manage to get me going.
‘’Hmmm, trust me, you don't want one of those things to come into contact with your... your trunk!’’ she says, slipping in when she realizes what's going on.
These words have a huge effect on my distracted thoughts. I mean, the thought of one of his nibblers on my most precious body part is pretty scary!
My sweetie finishes her task with application and I don't move a muscle.
‘’Do you think we could open for a few seconds and throw their bodies out? The smell is terrible.’’
‘’We're out of niank oil. I think we should save them for our next trip. What do you think?’’
‘’I think this is a very bad idea. You've seen how their saliva affects us. We're not about to smear ourselves with it!’’
‘’Ah, yes!’’ I say simply as I feel myself floating gently away.
We wait in silence as the sounds of searching outside intensify. I doubt they'll find us safe in this place.
