Daniels didn’t look at him. He no longer registered Hysterian’s presence at all. A smile crept onto Daniels’s face, and then he was gone.
Hysterian gazed at his former officer for a moment, never liking this part. That moment when a human succumbed to the reaping. He always thought if they fought it hard enough, death wouldn’t come.
Daniels hadn’t put up a fight at all.
With a sigh, Hysterian picked up Daniels’s corpse and carried him to medical. He had no fear of being caught; he already knew the path was clear. He placed the corpse into one of the cryo units and sealed him in.
No one would look for Daniels there. And at the end of the day, when theQuestorreturned to Earth, he’d make sure the man would at least have a marked grave.
Hysterian straightened, pulled up his mask, and made his way to the bridge.
The last twenty-four hours had been hell. He questioned his decision to hire a crew. Because, apparently, death and drugs followed him wherever he went.
Maybe his brethren had it right all along: surrounding themselves with machines instead. Or just the one or two crew hands when things got out of hand… If Hysterian had machines working for him, he’d never have to worry about them doing the work—though they did lack the added touch of a human. But they always listened, and weren’t killable, weren’t poisonable. He would just have to keep their software updated and code them to his liking.
He tried to be like Cypher, but it wasn’t working. Having spent two months on the bear’s ship, witnessing Cypher’s affection for his woman, Hysterian wanted that for himself.Hah. His boots thudded as he approached the bridge. He’d seen Vee in her little red dress, he’d seen the way Cypher fucked her mercilessly like he woulddieif he didn’t.
Hysterian had been fucking envious.
He wasn’t a good enough being to win the heart of someone like Vee. She was far too young and innocent for him. She kept Cypher’s bed warm every night, but there was no past haunting her eyes, nothing that made herrealto someone like him. No, Hysterian needed someone who didn’t care about his flaws, someone like a psychotic sycophant groupie. Either way, he was going after a woman that he could call his once he was cured.
For now, he’d enjoy Alexa.
Her back was turned to him when he entered the bridge.
She gazed at his seat and the controls of the ship, turning her head only to glance at the main station controls Horace and Daniels used. She was completely unaware of his return.
He leaned his shoulder on the door frame and watched her.
Nine
Alexa couldn’t believeher luck. She rubbed her shoulder as she glanced about.
She was in the bridge. She was in the bridge and Hysterian had left her there, knowing she would be alone.
The wordperfectionfluttered through her head.
She’d been surprised to find Horace making his dinner and having a beer in the lounge, and even more surprised to find Daniels and Hysterian in the middle of what seemed like an argument, but none of that mattered anymore, because now she had the freedom to find what she was looking for.
It also gave her another moment to collect her wits. Yesterday, when she’d invited Hysterian to kiss her, she’d been deranged and frustrated.
Waiting for Hysterian’s return from Titan had wrung her dry. Her thoughts were all over the place, and all she felt was guilt. The dried tears on her pillow were evidence enough of that.
How could she betray her dad?
What kind of person was she, wanting her dad’s killer to kiss her? Even if it was a test.
There was her loneliness too. Pigeon had asked her if something was wrong, and even Raul had started talking to her again, but she couldn’t confide in them. Alexa hated to admit it, but she was beginning to care for some of them despite her best effort not to. She couldn’t stop hearing about their lives, their jobs, their woes, and their happiness when they conversed around her.
She imagined what it would be like to be one of Pigeon’s daughters, living without this burden of loss and hate. She even considered accepting Raul’s invitation to become something more with him.
Lovers. It’d be easy. They already slept in the same room. And maybe having Raul beside her would distract her from whatever was happening with her regarding Hysterian.
I’m going to kill him. That’s what’s happening.
Raul could be easy and fun…
Alexa cleared her throat.
