My voice came out surprisingly smooth when I said, “To the interrogation room first.”
Chapter five
Rain
Accessingmemory03058718068Code:010507 \ * * * * * * * * System flux: 8 sksk sldk
Memory accessed:
“Uh-uh,nope.”
I froze mid-kneel as Nera leveled her gun at me.Major, oblivious to the intensity in Nera’s voice, continued winding his lithe body between my feet and rubbing his furry face on my ankles.I’d been about to pet him, but that had been too much for Nera.
“Stop doing that, you traitor,” she hissed at the cat, who was perfectly content as he twined around me.
She’d put me and my bubbling computer in an empty room on her ship rather than leaving me on Klio-3.Why?I didn’t know.I had a feeling Nera didn’t either.To protect me from Earth Space Fleet?To keep me close if she had more questions?To help ensure she had no problems with her pregnancy?
I often wondered about her motivations.
When Major didn’t stop, she huffed a breath, picked him up, and then left, locking me inside.Not ten minutes later, the air shaft vent clattered to the floor, and out hopped Major.Instead of attacking the bubbles floating out of the computer that soon popped, he curled up in my lap.
He had a little kitty smile on his face as he slept with no concerns that I’d hurt him.He trusted me, like Nera once had, and that meant more to me than anything else in a long, long time.
Memory 03058718068 Code: 010507 \ * * * * * * * * System flux: 8 sksk sldk.
Memory terminated.***
Chapter six
Nera
Thedimlylitinterrogationroom had none of the exquisite beauty of the rest of the castle and looked more post-apocalyptic than anything else.
Mosely and I stood across from the almost assassin, who was chained to the desk in the center of the room.From the looks of him, he was a Pelikr alien with gray skin that appeared chiseled out of stone and covered in ink by a particularly angry tattoo artist.Most of the designs had an awful lot of teeth and gouged-out eyes, but it was kind of hard to tell because he had so many bruises and gashes marring his skin.
The Xenoxx warriors had done quite the number on him already.
“You really think those make you look tougher?”I asked, nodding down to his ink.
He glared at me, his eyes colder than the vacuum of space.“You really think your tits make you look prettier?”
Oh, good.A sexist asshole.Just what I needed.
Next to me, Mosely tensed and snapped the toothpick in his mouth in half.“Why don’t you fuck off with your little attitude problem and tell us who hired you to kill the Xenoxx princess?”
The Pelikr leaned back in his chair, his chains following his every move, and crossed his arms over his barrel chest like a fortress wall.
“All right, all right, I get it,” I said, holding up a hand for Mosely to ease off.We wouldn’t get any info out of him if he closed off like that.“You’re not a fan of hard questions.”I leaned forward, fixing him with a steely glare.“So start with your name instead.”
“My name?”He scoffed.“Really?At least the ones before you knew that already.”
Oh.So maybe we should’ve debriefed with the Xenoxx before coming in here since Axxel hadn’t mentioned this guy’s name.Of course, he’d had other things on his mind too though.Still, you’d think this was our first rodeo.
“Mosely, get his name out of him,” I said, nudging his elbow.
Nodding, he cracked his knuckles and advanced.“I think I’ll start with Picasso’sGuernica.”
I nodded, only sort of familiar with that painting.“Lovely choice.I approve.”
