Page 14 of Trove’s Purpose

With a dramatic burst of life, a being made of light burst into life in the center of the room. A male with a long, fluffy tail and triangular ears more towards the top of his head. A hard ‘v’ on his hair line led into a squared nose and jaw. His hair was long and just as luxuriously fluffy as his tail. But most obviously, he was all yellow. He was a hologram person, made completely of light, and he very much looked it.

“Ah, it’s good to stretch!” He declared, his light body doing just that. Though it couldn’t possibly give him the actual relief of a stretch, right? It was just a hologram going through the motions of a stretch.

Goldie, beaming, ran up to his side. Looking at his light body like he was the sun. Chee had to quickly avert her eyes because the moment, though brief and in front of everyone, looked a little too intimate and personal for her to witness.

“Alright,” Tanin declared, looking out over his crew, half of which were smiling with satisfaction at Alred’s return. “Let’s get back to work. The sooner we get off this rock, the better. Trove, escort Chee back to her room.”

“Aye, captain,” everyone responded.

Chee had to bite her lips to avoid asking Tanin not to send her off with him. Trove hadn’t actually done anything but stare at her. And she would like a chance to tell him, firmly and privately, to knock it off. And she couldn’t avoid him forever. It was a big spaceship but it wasn’t that big.

Everyone quickly melted away – Alred’s light form literally melting away – as they went off to complete whatever jobs could possibly remain on this fantastically built ship. Goldie practically ran towards the lift, and Chee wondered what she was beaming so brightly about.

The lift was round and big enough for everyone to fit on if they didn’t mind a squeeze. Chee rather minded a squeeze, so she waited until the others had all gone down – trying not to look at Trove as he stared at her – before taking it herself.

She was grateful for the escort because she didn’t know the exact route back to her room. Trove took her to the entrance and waited while she keyed the control panel to herself so she was the only one who could lock and unlock it. She was sure Alred, as the AI of the ship, could override that lock, but it was a basic safety thing that made her feel a bit better.

She stepped into the room and immediately turned, intending to block Trove if he tried to come in after her. But he hadn’t made any attempt to follow. And the look on his face killed the words in her throat before she could do more than take a breath.

Heartbreak.

Trove was staring at her like all his dreams, his hopes, had all shattered at the same moment. As though her very presence had destroyed something pricelessly valuable and he’d never be able to get it back. It hurt in her own chest, just out of pure empathy, to see someone look like that. To have that sort of gaze directed at her…

For a long moment, neither of them said anything. Just stared at each other. Chee couldn’t think of words to say and Trove…

Trove just stared.

He was the one who broke contact this time. Without a word, without explanation, he just turned and walked off. Each step looked heavy. His shoulders and head slumped over.

Chee watched him until he was gone around the corner and she was alone. Just standing in the doorway, her heart pounding, feeling near tears.

It was just… empathy, she told herself quickly, taking a step back into the room. As she turned around, she somehow wasn’t surprised to see the luggage from her little spaceship sitting, waiting for her on her bed. She was also pretty sure it would have been thoroughly searched.

Okay. She let out a long breath, running a hand over her head. Step one done.

Chapter 5

Trove

Chee kept to herself. According to Alred, she only emerged from her room to get food. She’d get a tray, return to her room, eat, then come out to return the tray, and go right back. She didn’t interact with anyone. She didn’t try to mingle with them. She didn’t interfere with the last of the work they were doing to get ready for takeoff.

She was just there.

Trove’s job was to finish setting up the last of the gun turret houses. All the starships stored in the facility had weapons stripped before storage. Just like none of them had subspace crystals or food synthesizers or anything else useful like that. They stole the food synthesizer from the kitchen of the facility itself, so that wasn’t a problem, but there were no munitions to load, so right now they just had the casings for them. Since Trove was in charge of weapons, he was in charge of making sure all of those casings and houses were ready for takeoff from the surface. That would be the most stress the ship would ever be put under, so they had to be careful, but once they were off, they were set for whatever else might come.

Honestly, the work was a relief. While he was working, Trove could pretend he was able to ignore that itch under his skin that demanded he be next to Chee, that he learn more about her, that he fight her. She didn’t have any family here to act as her protector for him to fight, but that didn’t mean anything to his instincts. That just meant she was her own protector, and he wanted to fight her instead.

It was clear, however, that she was not feeling the same pull towards him. And he wanted to both despair and celebrate that fact. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to tolerate it if she came after him seeking to flirt or fuck.

But she didn’t. She never made a single indication that she wanted anything to do with him. And that hurt just as badly. There was no scenario that would make him happy, it seemed.

Trove didn’t see her again until the day Tanin announced that they were taking off. Garnet, Goldie, and Grace were all put in the safe room that was built under the nursery. It was highly reinforced and made specifically to protect them in case of catastrophe. The bridge was also decently strong, but not nearly so much. Since the takeoff was the most dangerous part of this process, Tanin wanted all of them as safe as they could be.

For the females, that was in the safe room. For the males – and Haven – that was on the bridge so that, if things did start going wrong, they would be able to respond immediately and try to mitigate or stop any potential disasters. Haven wasn’t hide while the ship she built was taking off. She insisted on standing right there beside her mate, watching everything with bright, excited eyes.

Chee was not one of them, so she was not given access to the safe room. But Tanin wasn’t so heartless that he wouldn’t let her in the safety of the bridge.

Trove wished he could argue for her to be in the safe room. But he also wasn’t unhappy to have her in the safety of the bridge under his watchful eye. Though, he didn’t like how she stood back, away from everyone.