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I limited myself to quick, efficient showers; I’d gotten the process down to thirty-six seconds. Today, it might take a little longer to wash off all the blood, since my fur had started to grow back and I was due for another shave.
With the sprayer, I rinsed away the blood, soaped, rinsed some more, and then patted dry with a towel. Forty-seven seconds. Bearable.
The projectile had ripped a hole in the sleeve of my jacket and shirt, but the garments were still serviceable—or would be after cleaning. It was hard to find Terran clothing with a hood large enough to cover my horns. Although smaller than average, the bony rack instantly marked me as an outsider.
I filled the basin and then, grimacing at the contact with the water, swished the garments around then tossed the shirt and jacket into the washer chute. This wasn’t my first experience cleaning blood out of my clothes. While I’d never been shot before, I had been stabbed with a variety of blades.
Back in the main room, I sank onto my sofa and hailed Jovi. Multiple antennas writhing like serpents on his head, he appeared on my handheld screen. “You get it?” he asked.
“I couldn’t find it.”
“Are you sure she had one?”
“I followed her home. She had one. She hid it somewhere in her apartment. She caught me inside.” There had been only two options: slip away unseen without the goods or confront her and try to scare her into giving it up. Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked out the way I’d hoped.
“Chyt! Did she realize who you are?”
“I don’t think so. She’ll assume I’m just a burglar.” Except a human wouldn’t demand a handheld. Would Jessie make the connection?
“You have to get that device.” All three eyes in the middle of his forehead narrowed.
Getting the device back was extremely important, but I wasn’t sure it was worth my life. “Well, there’s another little glitch. She’s armed.”
“Zigqat! She has one of our weapons, too?”
“No. She has a primitive Terran weapon. She shot me.”
I could hear the relief in his exhale. “Thank the stars she doesn’t have a blaster.” His antennas stopped moving. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Thank you for asking.”
He looked chagrined. “Sorry.”
“The weapon left a gash in my arm, nothing the med scanner couldn’t fix, but she could have killed me.” She’d threatened to. Would she really have killed me? I couldn’t let go of that thought.
“How much do you think she remembers about the space cruise and the aftermath?”
“Enough to hide the handheld,” I answered grimly.
“She could ruin everything. She must be neutralized.”
I sighed. “I’ll take care of it.”
Chapter Three
Jessie
“The 300 Star Cross passengers who were abducted but rescued will confirm your story?” His expression skeptical, Garrison rocked in his chair.
Unnerved by the burglary, my boss’s reaction shook me even more. Never in a lightyear would I have guessed he wouldn’t believe me. I should have leaped over his head and gone straight to the president, but, naively assuming he would help me, I’d followed the chain of command.
“No. I told you. They won’t remember anything.”
“Because of the memory serum administered by the Alliance of Galaxies,” he said in such a condescending tone, I itched to punch him. Unfortunately, Human Resources had rules against hitting another employee.
“The League of Planets,” I corrected through gritted teeth. “Because of the embargo. To prevent a mass of people from coming home and reporting how they’d been abducted, the LOP administered a memory wipe. They will have only hazy memories of the cruise.”
“The memory serum didn’t affect you though.”
