Page 30 of Sky Song
“What if the night is their best friend?”
“Then I feel sad for them.”
Lyle grunted, and a puff of air from his alien nostrils reached Cricket’s forehead. They drifted together and were standing too close, and she had no idea how it happened.
She shook her head and took a step away. “Do you want coffee?”
“Is that a drink?”
“Yes.”
“I have a confession to make.”
“Oh?”
“Last night, I was joking. I don’t drink.”
“You don’t drink coffee?”
“I don’t drink anything. Rix bodies aren’t designed to drink liquids.”
How very peculiar. “Nothing at all?”
“Nope.”
“It can’t be healthy. How do you pee?” she asked without thinking. “Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”
He was smiling that wicked smile she came to recognize as his own brand of mischief. “We don’t do that gross thing. No need to have those unnecessary organs like in your species.”
She couldn't stop her wide eyes flickering to the front of his britches. Immediately, she looked away, but not before catching a glimpse of the silvery fabric stretched tight against the crotch that was smooth and… not bulging. Something was wrong. Where was the bulge? She wanted to see a bulge.
No, she didn’t want anything of the kind. His lack of alien body parts was none of her goddamn business. But out of a purely scientific curiosity, she wondered…
“What are you going to do?” Cricket asked him after he shared a tiny piece of her breakfast. He barely ate anything at all. “I have to go to work in the afternoon.”
“I’ll stay here.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Okay, I won’t,” he conceded quickly, which told Cricket he expected her objections but threw the hook in the water anyway. “I can go to work with you.”
What an outrageous man. “Actually, it isn’t a bad idea. Dr. Ragberg will take you off my hands.”
“Yeah, maybe I won’t go with you, after all. I’m scared of that person Kim. She’ll catch me and stuff me in the bottle full of chemicals and keep me on display like some two-headed alien.”
“Lyle, I’m serious! How do you plan to go home?”
“I don’t, my hearts. All I can do is wait.”
Cricket deflated. He didn’t show emotion, but she wondered if on the inside, he worried. If he was sad or scared. She remembered her first few weeks on Meeus well - she had been completely disoriented, but at least she was one of thepeople. She spoke their language. She didn’t have to hide in the shadows or risk consequences if discovered.
An idea to cheer him up - never mind he didn’t know he needed cheering up - occurred. “How would you like to drive around Shadush with me? We can rent a rider. And I can show you areas your delegation hasn’t seen.”
“It sounds wonderful.” He smiled his carnivorous-boy smile.
Cricket’s personal policy went strictly against spending any money frivolously, but she went ahead and called for a rental rider. It would be her gift to Lyle. It would be a treat to herself, as their closeness brought her so much enjoyment.
She briefly wished they could walk around in the open, but maybe not. It might look like they were a couple, and with the way human-alien pairings were actively and aggressively discouraged on Meeus, she wouldn't dare risk it.
