Page 30 of Stealing the Star Stone
Eli pushed off the bed, stomped past the man, then paused in the passage.He had no clue where to go, probably to those labs he’d glimpsed.
When she tried to follow, Frederik dominated the doorway.“Just Ms.Blake.”
“What am I supposed to do?”She flung out her arms.“Twiddle my thumbs?”
The door shut on her panicked expression.
Eli grimaced.Seemed like they shared a hatred of boredom.Frederik nudged his chin to the passage on the left.Eli marched along it, not even bothering to check if the bodyguard followed.
“Y’know, black is so cliché,” Eli said.“I suppose Orien doesn’t want you to blend in.”
“It hides blood.”
Eli pinched his lips.What a mood killer.How would Nova react to that tidbit?“So does the color red.What you meant to say is wet anything.Black’s good for that.”Yup, that sounded like something she’d say.Sassy to the end.Fearless.He liked that about her.
The lab Frederik led Eli into was blinding white; probably to see all the bodily fluids, wet or dry.There wasn’t a stainless steel mortuary slab at the center.Counters formed the shape of an ‘S,’ with microscopes and other devices across the gleaming surfaces.
Not a medical lab, then.
Odd.
Various staff focused on strange machines on the counters before them.Their gazes whipped up when he entered.And judging by their expressions, they were as pleased to see him as he was to be there.
“We’re not used to taking samples from living specimens.”A white-clad man stepped forward, his nametag claiming him to be ‘K.Doukas.’He shoved a tool into his lab pocket and shambled closer.
Eli frowned.Prepared staff would’ve been appreciated.Though he doubted his opinion as Nova Blake, aka lab rat, mattered.“What does Orien expect then?Carbon dating?”
Doukas had the decency to blush.“Skin and blood, maybe hair.”
“How much blood?A pinprick?”That was doable.Eli couldn’t see any of those here able to use a syringe.
“For now.If we find any anomalies, we’ll take larger samples.”And in the man’s knobby fingers was a pin.
Eli took a step back and bumped into Frederik.“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
What followed was a little painful with Doukas pricking and bleeding each of Eli’s fingers until ten slides had been smeared.The scraping of his skin was along his forearms.Swabs were taken of his saliva, and chunks of hair snipped off, a few plucked for the follicles.
“Frederik will take you to the cargo hold to be X-rayed.You aren’t pregnant, are you?”Doukas paled.“We’ll need to know before we subject your body to ionizing radiation.”
Eli blinked at him.“No, I don’t think I’m pregnant.”Shit, he should’ve asked Nova.This was a serious question with lethal consequences.
“If this was the Haeldull culture, you could pee on a tilqea bark and know in seconds.”Doukas offered a kind smile.“If we had any tilqea bark on hand, it would be a sure way to test this legend.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Eli snapped, channeling his best depiction of Nova.“You need a baseline.If I even consent to pissing on your bark, what does that prove?If Iampregnant and nothing happens to the bark, that only shows the legend’s wrong.And if I’m not pregnant and nothing happens, then the legend is right, but you still won’t know whether I am or I’m not.”
Doukas blinked at him like he was mad.“All right,” he sighed, “we’ll stop at the next station and pick up a pregnancy test kit.”
“Lord Orien won’t like that,” Frederik said.“Any delays will be frowned upon.”
“We have no choice.”Doukas grimaced.“I’m a xenologist, not a doctor.None of us signed up for this.”
“I won’t be held responsible for killing a baby,” a young woman called from the back of the lab.Nods followed.
“Well, we have some samples to work with.”Doukas’s tone was that of a man projecting control.“Let’s start with that.”
The lab’s door swished open to a beaming Orien.His timing was almost too spot on.“Status?”
“We’ve taken what we can.”Doukas wrung his hands.
