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Gladly.
Alina snatched Kaia’s breakfast box from the counter and scurried from the canteen.
Kaia was looking worse, and Alina practically shoved the breakfast in her hands when she rounded the corner to the command center.
“He’s not here yet,” she said in a hushed voice, hoping that meant Kaia could relax and eat.
“How do you know?” Orion Halen asked, glancing at the closed doors of the command center.
“I just saw him at the canteen.”
Kaia and Orion exchanged glances as Kaia took the food. The way the overhead lighting hit her face at that angle accentuated the blue shadows under her eyes and her sunken cheekbones. She’d gained so much strength and muscle since she’d arrived onColossal, but now Alina saw the shadow of that bony malnourished girl she’d met when Kaia first arrived. How could that happen in just a week of occupation?
“You should go to the medbay and get checked out, Mrs. Halena,” Alina suggested. Her gaze slid up to Orion. “And you should make her.”
She wasn’t used to being so forceful with those in authority, but this was ridiculous. Kaia’s husband, the rightfulcommander, should be caring for his wife, and his wife looked like crap.
Orion Halen’s nostrils flared at the insinuation, but Kaia put a hand on his as he began to step forward.
“I’m fine,” she said, offering a small smile.
“You’re not though, Kaia. Clearly?—”
“Alina.” The smile was gone now, and Kaia’s eyes flashed in that way that was creepily reminiscent of her husband. “I said I’m fine. If I want further medical advice, you’ll be the first I call. But good job on noting the uhyre’s whereabouts and reporting back. Keep doing that. It’s… it’s important.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Alina said flatly, following the pair into the command center and taking her seat in the observation pit to the side.
The day was all wrong from the start.From the embarrassing surprise therapy appointment, which she was still trying to get over, to offering restaurant suggestions to the invader, to giving unsolicited advice to her charge and pissing off her part-alien husband by insinuating he wasn’t taking care of her.
Alina had screwed up at every turn, and it wasn’t even 0700 yet. She just needed to get herself under control. That clearly meant not trying to speak to anyone because every time she had, she’d put her damn foot in her mouth.
Alina sat there and wondered if she could convince the uhyre to let her take up her laundry shifts again. Maybe then she’d get to talk to some of her friends. She needed to dosomethinguseful with herself or she’d go stir-crazy.
Yeah, like you’re so special.Everyone had to be going stir-crazy these days.
Alina tensed as Threxin entered the command center. She cringed as his cold gaze paused on her before he folded his massive form into the commander’s seat. He probably thought she was so dumb with her food advice.
Just think about something else.
So Alina made plans. When Kaia dismissed her, she’d use up her daily water ration to make a cup of cultured mint tea back in her cabin. She’d bundle herself into a heavy blanket in bed and put onGuy Meets Girl, an Old Earth “sitcom” about a bunch of kids growing up together. It had been a comfort watch that helped get her mind off things ever since she was a kid sneaking in an episode or two between errands. If that stopped working, she’d go straight to the dock and pick up an extra shift.
CHAPTER 9
ALINA
“Three through fifteen today,” the dockmaster said gruffly as he checked his sheet. “Wait. Aren’t you off today?”
“Yeah, but I’d rather just do this,” Alina said.
The dockmaster eyed her through wiry eyebrows. “Can you do five hours?”
She nodded. The shift would end at 2300. Late, but she didn’t mind. She may as well be useful. The dockmaster looked skeptical, but handed her a sheet with a list of Ariels. With so few people left to do the job, Alina knew he wouldn’t turn down an offer of extra work.
When Kaia had first assigned her to the docks, she knew nothing about ship maintenance. She still knew next to nothing about it. She’d wondered why the ships even needed scrubbing. Not like they got dirty out in space—not like they evenwentout to space these days.
Alina soon learned that the Ariels, well, bled. Millions of tiny oil capillaries within their carbon skins kept the machinery self-lubricating when running. They also served as a heat source out there when the engines warmed up the oil. But when sitting unused for a long time, the oil wouldstagnate and eventually seep from the tiny pores all through the outside of the ship. If taken out regularly, it wasn’t a problem; the temperatures out there would freeze the pores, preventing the capillaries from bleeding.
But now the ships were stagnant for months at a time, even before the invasion. A thin layer of oil had developed on all their outer surfaces. That attracted grime and made each Ariel sticky to the touch. The longer they sat there, the faster this rate of “bleeding” became, until they each needed a good scrub-down every two weeks.
