Page 43 of Collision!
When the door whispered shut again, Mariah bent her head to Suvan’s hand, lax on the covers.
What was the point of chasing the resonark’s dream if she lost this one?
Even thinking it terrified her, and she shoved away from the bed, as if the doubt might infect him.She wished she’d asked Felicity to stay for a while, but she knew there was too much to do elsewhere.They wouldn’t be truly safe until they were back in port.
“If I’d voted to go back, this wouldn’t have happened,” she whispered.“But if we’d gone back, you and I would never…” She clenched her doubled fists against her mouth, unwilling to give any breath to that path not taken.
Thrusting to her feet, she paced across the room.Felicity’s care package caught her eye, and she poked through it: snacks, including gulab jamun from Anoushka, a larger datpad, and a get-well-soon card signed by everyone—which would probably make Suvan stare in confused consternation.
If he would just wake up.
She hugged herself.Why did she still feel cold?She checked the room temp, but it was already within a supportive healing range for Szauralithyn, according to the med bay protocols.Maybe another blanket…
“Oh no.Lub.”Spinning on her heel, she reached for the datpad to contact Felicity.But, no, she couldn’t send anyone else to fetch the bitey goblhob.
“Stay right here,” she told Suvan.
Then she laughed, but she had to admit, she sounded a little hysterical.
Was it late?Or early?She’d lost track of time, but as she raced through the ship, she found it deserted and felt very alone.The darkened engine module was worst of all, a lonely mountain hollow made lonelier still without its gargoyle man.
She wasn’t sure she’d even be able to access the module without him.But for some reason, the closed portal unsealed at her touch.
Had he programmed the door for her and never said anything?
“Lub?”
The subsonic thrum of the engines vibrated through her.Like a growl.Or was that the goblhob?
A shadow flickered at the edge of her vision, and she spun to track it.Ducking around the disconnected capacitorus, she made her way to the far corner.
“There you are.”
Only the lure stuck out above the larf-hide blanket lumped at the end of Suvan’s bed, but the bioluminescence was dimmed.
Her heart cracked.“Oh, Lub.He didn’t leave you on purpose.”Crouching down, she held out her hand.“I won’t leave you.I promise.”
The goblhob emerged teeth first, and she almost cringed away.
But what were a few fingers compared to what he’d risked.
“Can we be best friends, Lub?For him.”
The orange glare fixed on her with steadfast suspicious.
Good thing she’d brought a treat.Rummaging in her pocket for the gulab jamun, she unwrapped the sticky doughballs.The fragrance of rosewater wreathed their tense standoff.
The goblhob sneezed.
Mariah held the treat at the tips of her fingers.“This has to be tastier than larfs.”
The lure popped a little higher, and when she tossed the milky donut in a shallow arc, Lub lunged out of the blanket to grab it.
Once that comfort zone was breached, it seemed the goblhob had no problem snuffling over for the rest of the dessert.
The leathery head butted under her hand, and Mariah gave it a tentative pat between the stubby devil horns.“Come on.Let’s go wake him up.”
She took the blanket too, and slipping back through the quiet ship, she felt like the saddest lost little girl with her blankie and ugly dog at her side.
