Total pages in book: 175
Estimated words: 166095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 830(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 166095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 830(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
“It’s not that I don’t enjoy company. It’s that company doesn’t really enjoy me. Most people can’t wait to get away from me.” She leans back against the control panel, a challenging look on her face. “Sure you don’t want to run?”
“I’m sure. You’ve been so kind to me —”
Bethiah immediately hops to her feet. She strides over to me and covers my mouth with her hand, glancing around. “Hsst! The walls have ears.”
I stare up at her in confusion as she scans the room with her gaze. She…thinks we’re being spied on? And she doesn’t want them to know she’s kind? “Should I pretend you’re mean?” I ask, my words muffled under her larger hand. “That I’m afraid?”
That won’t be hard. I spend most of my time absolutely terrified.
She brightens. “That might be a good idea.” Leaning in, she whispers, “It can be our little secret.” With that, she pulls her hand from my mouth and wipes it on my sleeve. “Now what did you want to ask me about?”
I’m not even sure I want to ask now. She’s so very confusing. But she’s also an alien, I remind myself. Maybe it’s a cultural thing and I only find her confusing because I’m unaware of how her people operate. Or maybe my cloned brains are more scrambled than I’d like. Either way, I’m pretty sure I’m the problem, not her. “I came in because I wanted to talk with you about my place here on the ship.”
“As my pet human, yes.”
I inwardly wince. While a “pet” means that she’s keeping me, it also means she doesn’t view me as an equal. I’m something to be coddled and cared for as long as I don’t piss on her shoes. It’s…not great. But I don’t have a lot of options so I can’t truly complain. “I’m doing my very best to stay out of your way,” I point out, just so she knows that I’m trying. “But I’m also well aware that this situation would be better if I pulled my weight. I thought I’d clean for you, but you have bots that take care of that sort of thing. So I thought I’d volunteer to paint instead.”
“Paint?” She frowns at me as if I’ve said a dirty word. “Paint what?”
“The ship?” I gesture at one of the hideous, beaten-up looking walls. “I thought some paint on the interior would give it a fresh look. Maybe brighten things up a bit. Make it look…clean…er…” I slow down, the words dying at the sight of Bethiah’s horrified face. “I take it that’s a no.”
“This ship has character,” she says, indignant. “I can’t believe you’d want to strip it away from her. What, I suppose you liked the look of that other ship better? The Little Sister?”
I did, actually. And the Scarlet Gaze. And pretty much any ship that doesn’t look like it’s going to fall to pieces with a strong breeze. But I’m the interloper here. “It was just a suggestion,” I say meekly. “I didn’t mean to offend.”
“Well, you succeeded,” Bethiah huffs, moving to the wall and stroking one rusty-looking piece of metal as if to placate the ship. “You learn to appreciate things that are different. Things that have been pieced together with heart and soul. Things that have history behind them, that show that they’ve come a long way.” She gives the wall another loving touch. “They’re just as worthwhile when they’re ugly.”
“Of course they are.” My stomach tightens, and I feel a little sick that I’ve hurt her feelings. This is her home and I’m here only through her kindness. “I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry.”
“We don’t abandon things that aren’t perfect,” Bethiah says. “And we certainly don’t try to change them into something they’re not.”
Why do I feel like we’re not talking about the ship anymore? “Then tell me what I can do.”
“Do?” She turns away from the wall and gazes at me. “For what?”
“For you,” I say. “To earn my way on this ship.”
Four
BETHIAH
Dora blinks at me with big eyes and it occurs to me that she has no idea what she’s offering.
“I’m sorry, I think I heard wrong,” I say to her. “Repeat that?”
She bats her eyes at me, all innocence and human frailty. “I want to stay on this ship and I want to please you. Tell me what I can do to earn my passage.”
“Earn your passage,” I echo.
Dora nods. “This is your ship. I’ll do anything you want. Just name it.”
A hot prickle starts at the base of my horns and tickles my ears. I’m reminded of another situation like this, with another human, and how I’d ended up falling in love with Rhonda, who’d taken my heart out of my chest and stomped on it with her dainty human foot. I’m not falling for this nonsense again. “What you’re offering, the answer is no.”