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I waited until she was alone, looking at one of their screens—without the ’qa, humans were forever finding ways to transmit information from one to another—and let my thoughts reach out to hers.
I wasn’t intrusive; I couldn’t be without a bonding, but I could get a feel for her just as I had the manatyls.
And when my mind touched hers, I found her mind busy.
Her thoughts were like glints of sunlight on mica in black sand—or viewing the stars above the sea.
I couldn’t tell what she was working on, but she was thinking hard, trying to figure it out.
I watched her pace, I watched her draw, I watched her stare off into space—even sometimes outside, and I wondered if she thought at all of tomorrow, or meeting me—and then she came to some kind of quick decision, and I followed her through the building, until she took off something from her hand and threw it into the water to land beside me.
A token for good luck?
Or another piece of the trash the humans seemed so fond of throwing in the ocean?
I waited until she’d left the room to pick it up and inspect it.
It was a ring, and while it must have come from her fingers, it was far too small to ever fit on mine.
I rolled it in my palm and then placed it into one of the pockets on my belt.
When I’d arrived at the station two days ago, I’d found the structure that must’ve attracted their attention, after swimming out in a spiraling circle with my chromophores lit just enough for me to see.
It was behind a rippling ridge of rocks, and it appeared to be like some of the very large dwellings I’d seen before in human minds. It had a floor and a ceiling, although I couldn’t find a door, and on the whole everything was at slightly curved angles. Portions of it were covered in eons of silt, but the part that was exposed was made of metal and tasted weird when my suckers touched it. I surveyed all of it and found it twenty-lengths high, and thirty-lengths long and wide—and noted a strange graveyard of remotely operated vehicles irregularly scattered around its base.
I couldn’t figure out a way in, but I also didn’t try very hard—I didn’t want the humans to come across it later and see tentacle marks where I’d accidentally smeared biofilm off the sides. Clearly they had a plan for what was going on, and as long as I was included in it, and thus my people, I could bide my time.
Her ring now in my belt-pocket, I swam back to her room, feeling her mind begin to get tired. Once she was there she walked to the window, and I could clearly see concern on her oval face as her full lips pulled into a frown.
What was bothering her?
I found myself curious—and then angry about my curiosity. I shouldn’t care. I shouldn’t even have to be here! I would bond with her tomorrow and then put in the bare minimum of effort so as to seem helpful, and when this mission was through, I’d be free.
Then she leaned forward, placing her hand against the window. Her skin gave off a low-level light, and I swam back on instinct before realizing the irony of the situation—we would touch in the morning for the bonding.
I just hoped she would be the last person I would ever have to touch.
chapter 10
ELLE
I got up when a melodic alarm rang inside my room.
My body ached, and I had a headache like a hangover except the only thing I’d had to drink for the past two weeks had been water.
I’d been doing too much thinking, too hard, and operating heavy machinery on three hours of sleep was probably not going to be optimal, same for meeting other species, but I still I swung my feet out of bed.
The thrill of the hunt would make everything worthwhile. Deciphering a thus far unknown language? Learning new words and their world? I couldn’t imagine anything better. I’d been fueled by adrenaline before. I knew it could keep me going for days—and how amazing it would be to use it for something I enjoyed, rather than stalking up and down hospital corridors after dropping off Lena.
I went to the bathroom, pulled on a swimsuit and another set of my cotton scrubs, then walked to the dock. On my way there I found coffee, a bowl of oatmeal, and pieces of bacon left out on the kitchen counter—practically civilized. I gulped the coffee, wolfed down the oatmeal, and took the bacon with me.
I’d worked side by side with certain telepathic species in the past, but I’d never had to bond with any of them—just mostly keep my thoughts to myself, which wasn’t that hard. I tended to get obsessed with any project I was working on, so it was easy enough to think on that, or if I noticed my thoughts trailing, something innocuous, like small white dogs or English tea sets. If that made me seem weird to the monsters listening in, they’d always been kind enough to keep it to themselves.
You only had “don’t think of the pink elephant” problems when you were too nervous to think of an actual pink elephant, but I was rather shameless where my work was concerned, and willing to think of anything if it got me closer to my goals.
Then again, all of those times before had happened before, when I’d been happier.
Right now I knew if I stopped moving forward, I’d fall apart. It felt like my past was chasing me like a boulder in any number of archeological thrillers I’d seen as a child.
