Page 38 of Collision!
But as he avoided Nehivar’s probing look, Suvan locked eyes with Mariah quietly entering the storage bay.
His pulse changed again, even faster.And this was why he didn’t like all the distractions.Unless there was a problem, he and his engines performed at a predictable, steady rate.Interacting with others muddled him.
Tightening his jaw, he strode over to her.
She was standing next to the EVA suit, her brown eyes wide with alarm.“You’re leaving the ship?”
With a quick, accusing glance at Ikaryo who must have explained to her already, Suvan took her arm and turned her aside.“We don’t have external manipulators with the motor control to complete the install.Captain Nehivar and I discussed it, and I have the proper skills and experience to do the final fittings.”
Judging by her scowl, she was entirely willing to toss the captain out to do the work, maybe without a suit.“But you don’t even like leaving the lower deck.”
Having her question him too, as Nehivar had, rankled.He knew she was only sharing her concern—sharinghisfear with him—but he could shake the old, withering feeling that he was on the outside, alone.“And yet here I am.”
“Suvan…”
Since he was already encased in the EVA suit liner, which compressed his quill-scales uncomfortably, she was able to grasp his arm without risk.And despite his disquiet—only worsened by the validity of their apprehension—he couldn’t help but lean into her touch.“There’s no one else.”
He couldn’t quite finish the thought.
Her dark gaze searched his for another long moment before she straightened with a brisk nod.“How can I help?”
“You already have.”He reconsidered.“Although we need a name for our future product sales.”
She blinked at him, bemused.“Our what?”
“You sell your knitting, yes?The ghostform is the same.What do you think of ghostform adaptive silhouette matrix?”
“Ghost… I can’t even remember all that.”
“We can call it a GASM.”He stared at her.“An optical resonance GASM.”
“ORGAS…uh, Suvan!”She shook her head.“Be for real.”
“I am.We’ll be rich.”
“We?”Her lips trembled, and he thought it was a smile, tentative and not a little surprised.
She stepped back while the captain and Griiek clamped the EVA suit around him, but Suvan kept his gaze locked on her.At least no one could track his compulsive focus as the helmet settled over his head.
He watched as she pointed out to Ikaryo and the assisting passengers how to maneuver the folded segments of the fabrication into the outer hatch for in-order assembly.With an acknowledging nod, the augmented bartender handed her a comm button that she pressed behind her ear.
As Griiek fastened a heavy toolbelt around his hips, Mariah returned to hover beyond the little Monbrakkan, her lower lip caught between her teeth.
Struggling to ignore the strangling constriction of the suit, he toggled the comm inside to a private channel.“Mariah?”
“Where’s your tether?”
He hefted the cord that the captain had fastened at the outer hatch door.
“Come right back,” she murmured.
He decided not to tell her that he hadn’t been in an EVA suit since he and Nehivar had all but destroyed their last ship fighting off pirates.
As the inner bulkhead came down, sealing him in the outer bay alone with the prepped fabrication, he kept his attention on the mechanical arms as they maneuvered into place, controlled deftly by Griiek.The supply bay had several manipulators suitable for loading provisions and materials containers, and they could do all the awkward lifting and positioning.But he would have to link the precision laser relays by hand to power it all.
The hatch opened.
His heart seemed to stop.
