Page 71 of Tempting Cargo
They shared Airida’s taller, more narrow build, his lean ear ridges, his more slender headspines, and even the unusual bumps between them. On two of them, they could even have been the nubs of horns. But their muscles were defined, strong, vital. No trace of illness. No trace of weakness or fatigue.
I pushed myself off the wall I’d been slumped against. “I have to get out of here. Do you remember the way back to the speeder bay?”
Muzati gave me a look, brows raised, lips quirked, but dropped it as she clasped my arm. “I think so. Come on. I’ll comm Paiata on the way.”
She rented us a small speeder, and before long, we were back within the familiar walls of theDorimisa.
It was too quiet. I told myself it was because Paiata wasn’t here, even though he was the quietest member of the crew.
“What are we doing, Captain?” Muzati said.
“Waiting for Paiata to join us so we can leave.”
“Uh huh.”
The hiss of the drinks machine triggered temporary white noise in my brain, but the smell of chrya brought everything straight back.
“Garrison was going to buy me a mug of fresh chrya,” I heard myself saying. “The fresh stuff is always better.”
Muzati returned to the machine, one cocked hip against the counter as she drank. “He still can, you know.” One of her legs bounced exorbitantly, and I could only imagine how hard it was for her to hold back from one of her effusive verbiages.
“I can’t do it, Muzi.” I tried to close my mouth, to stem the tide that threatened to flood the empty room, but I was beyond control. “It was bad enough having to leave him in the first place. But now this? Those people?” I wouldn’t think on the logical possibilities. “No matter who they are, those strangers can’t help Airida.”
“Okay.” The heel of her boot practically vibrated on the locker door.
Okay? “Why aren’t you arguing with me?”
“Because you don’t need me spouting off about what I think, Sho.”
I was spoiling for a fight she wasn’t giving me, and I answered the angry buzz of my wrist-comm with the frustration I felt. “Where are you?”
“I’m still in town, Captain,” Paiata said.
“Why aren’t you on your way back? I gave you an order.”
“And I’m disobeying. You need to come back.”
“What the skyk? Paiata, you get your sorry arse into a speeder and back here now. I am done with this planet and everything on it!” My shout rang out in the silence that followed, and as Paiata stared at me, I felt his determination through the small holoscreen.
“Sorry, Shohari. Can’t do that.”
The empty screen stared back at me before winking out into nothing.
My jaw dropped open. “He skykking closed on me.”
Muzati crossed her arms across her chest and took a deep breath. “Look, Cap, I’m no Paiata, so I’m just gonna come out with it. Is this about the shaa’ith, or is it about Garrison?”
My feet shifted on the floor. “Obviously the… those people. The human has a new home. There’s nothing to discuss.”
“If you say so.” She twisted a tool in and out of her headspines. “Don’t you think it’s worth talking with them? They were willing to talk, you know. That’s what Paiata and Garrison were doing.”
With a sigh, she pushed off the counter and faced me. “You’re always saying you want information, but at the first sign of finding out something big, new, and probably skykking important, you stick your arse to it and run back to the ship?”
All my muscles tensed. “That’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not. You’re not being fair to yourself because the captain I know doesn’t run away. I don’t want you to make a decision you’ll regret, and neither does Paiata.” Her voice softened. “I know it’s scary, Sho. But not talking to them doesn’t make any sense.”
I threw back my head and roared at the ceiling, as though the air vents could take my angry breath and recycle it into something more helpful.
