Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
What in the Seven Hells?
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
3
MOLLY
About an hour or two after starting work, Molly took a much-needed bathroom break. Her last call had been from a fourth-grade teacher and her class and while she had enjoyed answering all their many, many questions about the Mother Ship and the Kindred who inhabited it, her bladder had been poking her fiercely by the end of it.
Molly had signed off for a moment and run to the nearest bathroom—or “fresher” as the Kindred called it. After washing her hands and making a cup of coffee, she felt refreshed and ready for the next call.
That was one nice thing about working for the Kindred, she thought as she made her way back to her desk. They didn’t time your bathroom or coffee breaks or act like you were some kind of criminal if you needed a minute to yourself. They didn’t…
Her thought trailed off as she made her way down the aisle between the cubicles. Was it her imagination or was everyone staring at her? Surely not—she had to be wrong. But it certainly seemed like no one was working and everyone was looking at her instead. Karen Geners narrowed her china blue eyes and actually gave her a look of disgust! What was that about?
Feeling worried and weirded-out, Molly put her coffee down on her desk. But before she could get back to work, Lana was there.
“Molly?” Her face was white and pinched-looking. “I have to tell you something.”
“What?” Molly had a sudden awful thought—what if something had happened to someone in her family? What if her little sister had been in a car wreck or her Mom had had a stroke? But how could Lana know something like that? How could she—?
“Ms. Byrne? Could I see you in my office, please?”
The deep, rumbling voice made Molly’s head jerk up. She saw Commander Torus standing in the door to his office, a stern look on his face. His arms were crossed over his broad chest, making his biceps bulge.
“Oh, no!” Lana gasped out in a tight voice. “Oh, Molly you can’t—” But she cut off abruptly, clearly fearful of what their boss would say.
Molly’s heart was suddenly jack-hammering in her chest.
I must have done something wrong—but what?
Frantically she went over her last several calls in her mind. Had she said something wrong? Had she been rude to a caller? But no—she couldn’t remember anything like that. Who could have complained about her, then? What had she done?
Feeling like a scolded child being called to the principal’s office, she headed toward her boss, her feet dragging like her shoes were made of lead.
“Go on in. I’ll be there in a minute.” Commander Torus had one hand on the doorframe now and he was so tall Molly was able to walk under his arm without even ducking. She settled in a chair across from his desk as he shut the door behind him.
Molly heard him talking to her coworkers, but his voice was nothing but a deep rumble through the thick metal door. What was he saying? Was it about her? What had she done?
What if it’s Zach? What if he—?
No. She pushed the thought away. There was no way—she was safe up here. Besides, her ex didn’t even know she was on the Mother Ship. There was no possible way he could have found her up here.
She hoped.
By the time her huge boss came back into his office and closed the door, Molly’s stomach felt like she’d swallowed a fist-sized lump of ice that refused to melt. He sat across from her, in his immense office chair that was the size of a love seat behind his enormous glass desk.
“Ms. Byrne…” he began and then stopped, a perplexed look on his face.
All his furniture looked like movie props from a film about giants, she thought randomly. The thought skittered across her mind and was gone again to be replaced by relentless worry.
“Please, Sir,” she blurted out, unable to help herself. “What did I do? Whatever it was, I swear I didn’t mean to do it!”
He shook his head and she thought she saw compassion cross his stern features for a moment.
“It’s hard to talk about this—maybe I’d better just show you. Come around my desk please.”
Her stomach twisting nervously, Molly rose and came around the side of his desk. Though he was sitting and she was standing, the big Kindred was still a bit taller than her.
“What is it?” she asked numbly. “What…what do you need to show me?”
“This.” He pointed to his monitor and hit play.
At once, a video began and Molly’s heart sank.
It was her—lying in the bathtub completely naked. The soapy water in the tub was shallow, so it was clear to see what she was doing—masturbating.