Page 111 of Sky Song
Cricket agreed with him, for the moment. But she filed that information at the back of her mind. “So, what’s next on the agenda? Get the records?”
He turned to her. “Maybe.”
Chapter 14
Paloma came over after darkness fell.
“Hi there, Hipper!” she crooned at the scared Hipper who tried to make himself one with Lyle’s leg.
“Where’s Ren?” Lyle asked. Cricket loved the sound of his voice - the timbre, the inflection, the register. The way the Universal words came out of his mouth was smooth and dark, like warm wind in the dead of the night. She shivered from the dark fantasies his voice brought to mind.
“Oh, he’s coming, Rix,” Paloma sounded breezy but two barely-noticeable creases around her mouth revealed a subtle tension. “There’s no way I’m going to talk business with you without Ren present.”
“As it happens, I need Ren more than you.” He leaned down and pried Hipper from his leg. “Take him. Or I’ll trample him at some point.”
Lyle gave Hipper to Cricket, and she accepted the pitiful lump of brown fur, holding him against his chest. Hipper whimpered and nested against her, going quiet.
“Is Mr. Sulys not at home?” Paloma asked.
“He wasn’t when I lifted the animal from his house earlier in the day.”
“How did you get into his house? I know for sure he doesn’t forget to lock his door.”
“That means nothing to me.”
“Unbelievable.”
Ren knocked and Paloma let him in, and for once, Hipper hadn’t given them warning, snuggled and content in Cricket’s protective arms.
“Hey, everybody.” Ren reached for Paloma and the two twined hands. “Is it the troublemaker?”
“Of the animal variety, yes.”
Ren came close and inspected what he could see of Hipper. “Paloma, he isn’t very… attractive.”
“So? If you smile at Hipper, he smiles back. Every. Single. Time. You can’t beat that in a pet.”
“What are they talking about?” Lyle wanted to know. He was tense today, giving off waves of disturbed energy that were hard to ignore.
Cricket put a calming hand on his sleeve. “They are arguing over Hipper. Ren thinks Hipper is unattractive.”
Lyle scoffed. “What’s there to argue over? Anyone with the benefit of owning eyes can see that.”
“Paloma and I don’t think he’s ugly. Well, not anymore. He grows on you.”
He stared at her even though his eyes were too large and black to show the exact direction of his look. “You have a soft core.”
“That is not at all true,” she went on the defensive. “You are mistaken. I’ve survived a lot of hardships.”
“And despite them, you haven't lost your gentleness. It pleases me.”
He smiled at her, revealing his tooth gap and the boyish expression that went with it, and Cricket’s heart melted, proving that she was soft and malleable inside, easy to fall under his charms. She pursed her lips. “I want to argue with you some more about that.”
“We better get our talk going.” Paloma got serious, switching to her broken Universal.
They all sat around Cricket’s small round breakfast table that could barely accommodate four. Their knees bumped. Cricket held a sleeping Hipper in her arms. He was warm and smelled fishy but not altogether unpleasant.
“There’s a secret basement at the hospital where Cricket works,” Lyle explained simply. “I need to get in.” He filled Ren and Paloma in on the genetic experimentation that had migrated from Earth and was now supposedly taking place right under their noses. Ren and Paloma listened without interrupting.
