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"No, Faye." Klinn looked tired for an instant. Under the low light of the spaceship, I noticed the faint circles under his eyes. What was keeping him awake at night? "I told you, I need your help."
Hearing the vulnerable note in his voice, I felt a nervous tension rise in my limbs. I touched the underside of my wrist where my com link used to be. "Given our history on opposing sides of the law, you need to provide more details."
"I was framed. I never stole anything or committed a crime on Earth."
He tossed his new story at me, each sentence one fastball after the other. "That doesn’t seem likely. I went through the evidence of those stolen artifacts from the world’s museums. It all led back to you."
"Someone else stole them and made it look like I did."
"How can you expect me to believe you when I saw your accomplices passing a gold orb to each other in the marketplace today?"
"Oh, that thing? It’s a replica."
"You’re saying you have a fake in your possession?"
"There’s a whole market here for replicas of human-made art. You’d be amazed how many rich aliens collect them. Or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised. Humans are like that, too."
"Replica or counterfeit? Because the intended use makes a difference."
"Replica. I’m not trying to fool my customers." He pointed to a corridor behind him. "I can prove I’m not lying to you."
I wasn’t getting off this ship anytime soon. I might as well see what new so-called business Klinn got himself in. Who knows? Maybe during this little tour, I could see what I could use around here to get me back in contact with the Wanderstar Fleet for help. "Show me what you got."
"This way." He waited for me to enter the corridor. I had to squeeze past him again to get into the narrow space.
There was his expensive cologne again. I wanted to know what smelled so good, but no way was I going to open my mouth to ask.
I started single-file down the corridor, my footsteps echoing on the metal grating on the floor. I glanced at him over my shoulder. He lifted his eyes from staring somewhere within the vicinity of my backside and gave me his version of an innocent smile.
"You’re glowing." I remarked as his skin turned bioluminescent again.
"A couple bulbs are out. Figured you could use the light."
His effect did keep me from grazing a wall. Air circulated as we reached the end of the corridor and arrived at the main control room.
"Hey, boss." Gravix sat in the cockpit, his large eyes half-closed while the autopilot did the work. He found a set of pillows to elevate himself to see over the dash this time.
Klinn nodded to him before directing me to a slim door on the left. Gravix narrowed his eyes into slits at me when his boss wasn’t looking.Hey,buddy, you beamed me up.
"This is the designated storage unit." Klinn shut the little door behind us.
I rubbed my arms as the temperature in here was several degrees cooler than the rest of the ship. The lights in this area were motion sensors. I saw my reflection in the metal cabinets.
Klinn keyed in a code on one of them to get it open. He withdrew the gold orb I saw Zorbluk carrying around in the marketplace. "This is what I'm doing these days until I make enough to start over." Without warning, he tossed it to me.
"Hey." I caught the orb, fumbling to secure it.
"It’s fake, remember?"
I expected the thing to be heavy. I examined the orb under the light. "Nice attention to detail."
"It may not be the fanciest, but selling replicas to fully informed, paying customers is completely legal in both galaxies, last time I checked."
"Can’t argue with that." I gave him back the orb replica. In doing so, my fingertips grazed the palm of his hand. Its texture was a mix of velvet and fine sandpaper against my human skin.
"So do you believe me now, detective?"
"Your new hustle isn‘t a Get Out of Jail Free card."
