Page 84 of Stripped By the Alien

"I touched your eye first."

"And I touched everything else after."

I rest my forehead against his. "Best two out of three?"

His arms tighten around me. "I accept."

- - -

We're spooning on the floor, half dozing, when the door membrane peels open and Lucius floats into the room.

The black disk hovers in the doorway for several seconds. His sensors move from me to Krix’vorr and back again, as though evaluating the scene. “Excellent. You're both available.”

“What is it?” I ask, getting up and winding the tape back on me. “Thanks for waiting, by the way.”

“I have learned what those sounds mean,” the drone says. “It seemed appropriate to wait them out. I am in need of assistance with accessing certain information.”

I fasten the tape with pieces that still have adhesive on them. “So?”

“So the Beast is keeping many records of her travels, but many of them have been hidden in various compartments that she refuses to open. At least she won’t open them for me.”

“She’s been alive for a long time,” Krix’vorr says. “You want to find out what she remembers?”

“Exactly, Chief Harrower.”

“Can you just ask her?”

“I can, but her answers are slow and incomplete. I suspect she stores her memories outside the brain, in other compartments.”

“I’ve never heard of that,” Krix’vorr says. “But I suppose it’s worth a try.”

Lucius rises an inch in the air. “Wonderful! A try is exactly what I need. I have some useful data from the crew, but not enough to even make a guess at the location of the Gzet planet. Could you assist, sir? Now?”

Krix’vorr reaches out and strokes a hank of my hair behind my ear. “I think we’ve done everything important today, so we have time for it.”

Lucius rises another inch. “Oh, I assure you, sir, this could be far more important- ah. I see. It was a joke. Will you come too, Captain?”

“Is it dangerous?” I ask.

The drone wiggles in the air, its way to shrug. “I see no danger about it. But it means going into parts of this Beast that I haven’t seen.”

- - -

As it turns out, the parts of the Beast that keeps memories is on the other side of a labyrinth of tight tubes that Krix’vorr and I have to crawl through. He’s in front after the first membrane simply wouldn’t open for me.

“The Beast likes me more than she likes you,” he calls back over his shoulder.

I crawl on. “We already knew that. Two attempted murders is a language of their own.”

“To be fair, you did set yourself up as an easy kill both times.”

“And someone really helped me along that second time.” I point out, glancing behind me at Lucius.

“Yes? I did wonder,” Krix’vorr says.

I snort, but the sound is strangely dampened in the cramped tunnel. The walls pulse gently around us, warm and alive. Every few seconds the passage narrows enough that my shoulders brush both sides.

Behind me, Lucius follows at a cautious distance, occasionally bumping into something and producing irritated mechanical noises.