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“I have to send a communication to my mom and tell her I’m okay,” Kesser finally told him. When she was traveling, she communicated with her mom at least once a planet rotation. That was their agreement. “A less ship-like background image for that communication would be great. If we could add footage with Talley to it, that would be even better. My mom could then send it to Talley’s dad, and that would reassure everyone.”
“Both modifications are easy to apply.” He reached around her and tapped his fingertips against the control panel embedded in the console.
“I’m not ready to send the communication right now.” Kesser set the beverage container on her lap and hurriedly pulled his hands away from the control panel. “I don’t yet know what to say.” The words had to be as reassuring as the images. “Yes, we’ll have to tell my mom everything eventually.” As Syndiculous 5’s leader, her mom would have to know about the abduction. “But I prefer to do that as we’re returning home. After Talley and Tsadok are rescued, and we’re all safe.” She paused. “If we’re all safe.”
“You’ll be safe.” Her cyborg took the container of beverage from her and placed it on the console. “Inform me when you’re ready, and we’ll record the footage of you. Then we’ll craft the rest of the communication.”
“Thank you.” That was a solid plan.
She now had to tackle her part of it.
* * *
Crafting her message in her head took Kesser several moments. She wasn’t a great liar, and it had to be convincing. If she couldn’t pull that off, her mom would worry and would likely send out a search team to look for her.
“I’m ready.” She glanced over her right shoulder at Strike.
His face was a tongue length away from hers.
Which meant…he’d be in the footage.
Explaining the presence of a cyborg warrior would be challenging.
“Should I move to the next chair?” She wiggled on his lap.
“We’ll erase my image, my female.” He clamped one of his big hands down on her hip, and that stopped her movements. “And we’ll record you from the chest up.”
That would work. “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”
“We’re recording.” Her cyborg kissed the back of her head.
She assumed he’d erase that part also. “Hi, Mom. Talley and I decided to rent a set of private chambers closer to the events.” Her mom wouldn’t be shocked about that development. They had done the same thing during The Guidance three solar cycles ago. “There was a reduction of credits if we rented them for four planet rotations, instead of the two, so we figured…why not?” She grinned. “Can you tell Talley’s dad she’s fine? She…you know how that situation is.”
Talley didn’t have the open and easy relationship with her dad that Kesser had with her mom.
“Thanks, and love you.” She waved. “Don’t work too hard.”
She patted Strike’s leg.
“Ending the recording.” He swept his hands over the controls. A transfer of credits from an unknown source was made in her name.
“What is that?” Kesser frowned.
“You’ve rented a set of private chambers for four planet rotations.” Her cyborg shrugged.
“I’ve rented a set of private chambers…” The full impact of that transaction hit her. “I didn’t lie to my mom.” That made her happy. “I didn’t tell her we’d be staying in those private chambers, only that we’d rented them. And now, I’ve done that”
She turned her head and gave Strike a quick kiss on the chin.
He blinked.
“You’re the best.” She beamed. “I’ll pay the credits back.”
“Credits are numbers in a database.” His tone was gruff. “And you’re my female. There’s no need to pay them back.”
He was clever and generous. Joy gripped her. “Let’s see the recording.”
Strike played it for her.
