AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The memory of the scent made her pause. She approached the hydra station in the wall once more, glancing at the buttons. Some had cold H2O, others hot, even flavored. There was a button for pea milk. But there it was—coffee. Was she allowed to dispense that? Per Halen hadn’t specified a caffeine ration.
Kaia decided to take her chances. She watched a few dollops of dry brown powder land in her cup, soon topped with steaming water. Kaia found stirring sticks in a container next to the cups. Her parents used to agitate their coffee with similar instruments, so that's what she did.
The smell was like Orion, but even more potent. Bitter,fulldarkness wafting to her nostrils. It made her want to curl up somewhere warm. She cupped the glass in both hands, drawing in more of that aroma.
Kaia climbed into the bed with her drink, nestling under the thick cover. She was intending to drink slowly, savor the delicacy. But she couldn’t. Each sip compelled her to take more. Each kick of that strong flavor a portal back in time to her parents and her brother in their little home on Artega Seven.
Once the glass was empty, Kaia set it next to the bed and curled up on her side. The overhead lighting dimmed of its own accord, fading out into total blackness.
* * *
Kaia’s sleep was restless, if she could even call it sleep. Usually she didn’t have trouble knocking herself out. Not in her cabin on Riker 109, and not even in Loran’s bunk when she ended up there. But here, in the most comfortable bed she ever had, after a shower and a glass of water, she kept tossing and turning. She repositioned her pillow. Was it that? No, the pillow was perfect. Soft and shaped to support her neck in a way no pillow had before. So why couldn’t she fucking sleep?
After what felt like hours of restless tossing, Kaia threw off the cover and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She got up to pace the cabin, hands twitching in jittery contractions.
This couldn’t be normal. Was it something in the air? She hadn’t slept in more than an Old Earth day. Why couldn’t her brain just fucking switch off?
She stomped into the bathroom, squatted at the toilet to empty her bladder. Then, pinching her nose, she shoved herself back into the base layer of her flight suit. God, it was smelly… It seemed like a crime to put her clean body into that thing. But if she spent any more time staring at the walls, she would go crazy.
With the black base layer on and boots cinched around her ankles, Kaia stood before the door. Dim lighting had come on when she got up before, so the cabin knew she was up, yet the door remained shut. She felt for an indent on either side, some pressure-sensitive area for her palm. Nothing.
Could it be voice activated?
“Umm, open?”
No response. Kaia traversed the cabin, searching for a control panel, but found none. Slowly, it dawned on her that maybe the problem wasn't with her lack of familiarity with these modern amenities.
Did they lock her in?
“Hello?” she called. “Someone there?”
Nothing. She took her fist to the door once more, harder. “Open the fucking door!”
What if no one ever came? What if Orion forgot about her in all the commotion? Or what if his mother convinced him bringing her here was a stupid idea, and he was just gonna leave her there? The walls suddenly looked very close together. They shrank in a stifling distortion. Heart hammering, Kaia spun on her heel once, twice, sucking for air in the tiny space. Everything was too small and too cramped in this luxurious coffin. Kaia wasn’t thinking anymore when she came at the walls with a flurry of kicks and punches, leaving no marks at all on her target and plenty on her fists.
Just as she had grabbed her helmet by the chin strap and swung her arm back for another slam against the door, it slid open. The hiss startled Kaia, and the helmet clattered to the ground.
CHAPTER17
ORION
“The fuck…”
He stood before a creature in a fit of rage. Red-rimmed eyes stared wide and unseeing. Patches of sweat had seeped through her clothing. Lips peeled back to reveal grinding teeth through which she wheezed shreds of air.
The clang of her flight helmet against the floor snapped him into action. He stepped into the cabin, allowing the door to slide shut behind him.
Kaia rounded on him, hands balled into shaking fists. “You fucking trapped me in here. You can’t just do that. I didn’t come here to be your prisoner. Don’t care how much fucking water you ply me with, you asshole. And this fucking cabin. The fuck is wrong with it? Can’t fucking sleep in here.”
She prowled before him, crossing the floor in two steps to the left, then right, and back again. Orion raised both hands, palms out in front of him in a placating gesture, and took a tentative step. Kaia jumped back, eyes snapping to the door behind him.
“Hey. Hey…” Orion continued to advance, albeit slowly, sending her backward until she hit the edge of the bed. “Breathe. I didn’t know they locked the door.”
He had come to take her to his cabins, since she had no business being in one of her own. Kaia stared at him for a good while, then lowered herself onto the bed. She raked both hands through her hair. “I’m so tired.”
“Why don’t you sleep?”
“What, locked in here?”
