Page 11 of The Price of Peace
As the door slid open, I peered over Xyrox’s shoulder and saw nothing but a gloomy, dark room. “Shine your light in here,” he said, stepping inside.
I flicked my light stick back on and held it in front of us. A few feet from us was a low-slung seating area with cushions in a hideous orange and green print. I followed my prisoner into the room and shined the light around. A small OmniChef oven was tucked against the wall and an orange table with three green chairs took up another corner.
Whoever they were, they had horrible taste.“ I made a face. So much for the Pleiadians’ supposed superiority. Suddenly, bright light nearly blinded me. I yelped, covering my eyes.
“You’re not kidding,” Xyrox said, ignoring my cry of surprise and pain. “This is horrible. It’s even worse in the light.”
I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the sudden change of brightness. “I can’t believe there’s power. Does that mean there’s heat, too?” I rubbed my arms and started searching for a thermostat or heating unit, moving away from Xyrox.
“Found it!” he called from a doorway on the other side of the room.
There was a clank, and then a clunk before the room filled with the noxious smell of burning dust. But then I felt the warm air flowing from the overhead vents. I tilted my face to the warmth and smiled. It was glorious!
Before long, the small space was comfortable, and I shed my parka. This place might’ve been used for sketchy scientific experiments, but its construction was solid. I explored the quarters in earnest. It looked like the inhabitants left in a hurry, abandoning most of their things.
Blankets lay in a heap across the horrible couch. Two sets of shoes were discarded near the door. A ceramic cup sat next to some kind of dish cleaning unit in the small kitchen area.
One by one, I studied framed photos on tables next to the hideous sofa. Two women smiled in them, but their smiles didn’t reach their eyes. They seemed haunted. I shivered and moved away from the pictures, wondering what they had gone through.
“I wonder whether this thing works.”
I startled at Xyrox’s voice. He stood before the small food replicator, rubbing his hands together and peering at the buttons of the OmniChef. I choked back a bark of laughter as I glanced up at him. He turned at the noise and I couldn’t hold back a full belly laugh any longer.
“What?” His dark brows knitting together.
“What are you wearing?” I sputtered, motioning at his chest. A bright turquoise T-shirt strained over his bulging muscles. On the front was an owl in a flat black cap with a tassel, licking a brightly colored ball on a stick. “Does that say, ‘How Many Licks’?” I succumbed to my laughter, doubling over and clutching at my stomach until I collapsed onto the couch.
Xyrox rubbed his chest and grimaced. Had his skin not already been a dark red, I’m sure he would have blushed. “It was too hot to keep wearing my coat and there weren’t any other clothes for me in the emergency bag,” he explained. “This was all I could find that had enough stretch to fit. Would you prefer I take it off?”
“No!” I threw up a hand in protest as he reached for the hem. Better to laugh my ass off than face all those yummy male muscles again. “You keep that on. I’m sorry. It just took me by surprise. That color looks good on you.” I sputtered a little at the last but schooled my face back into a pleasantly neutral expression.
Scowling at me, he dropped his hands. “Fine. Let’s see if this thing works.”
Getting off the ugly couch, I walked up to look closely at what he was doing. “What does it matter? We don’t have anything to use for replication.”
Xyrox looked at me like I was a simple child and pointed to a larger piece of equipment sitting next to the OmniChef. “This is a Pleiadian molecular rearrangement bot. It can make virtually anything you wish on demand from raw materials. Those materials are in here”—he tapped a large metal cylinder standing adjacent to it with his toe—“But don’t mess with it. It’s under pressure.”
“How does it work?” I didn’t recognize any of the words on the buttons, but, at this point, we were both so hungry it could make Jovinian Mako worm casserole, and I’d eat it. Giving up, I stepped back. “Just make anything. I’ll search for water.”
His eyebrows rose into his hairline. “You sure? I mean, I’m not picky but, in my experience, females …”
Holding up my had, I glared at him. “Don’t even finish that sentence, fugitive. I’m a survivalist. Food is fuel. Just do what you’re told.”
“Okay, okay.” He raised his hands in defeat. “This thing should be able to make water, too, if I can figure it out.”
“Ifyou can figure it out,“ I sniped. Pushing past him to reach the kitchen cabinets, I searched for some kind of potable liquid. I had just located a stash of silver hydration packs when I heard a ding behind me.
“I think we got lucky.” Xyrox said as he removed two plates from the OmniChef, his tongue snaking out sniffing quickly at the steam. I bit my lip and fought the urge to squeeze my thighs together, like I did every time he did that.Good goddess, Peace, get your shit together!
“Uh, yeah,” I agreed, concentrating hard on quieting my thoughts.
The plates held two stacked discs made up of two slices of some type of bread with a round disc of cooked meat in the middle. I wasn’t familiar with the green and red vegetation peeking out from under the top piece of bread. A yellow sauce dripped off the meat and onto the plate.
Small brown, cylindrical objects sat in a pile next to the meat stacks. I took one and popped it in my mouth. It was crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and slightly salty. “Oh, holy goddess, these are wonderful.” My words of pleasure escaped my lips before I could stop them.
Xyrox’s mouth quirked up on one side at my reaction.
I narrowed my eyes, willing him to remember he was my prisoner. “What?”
