Everyone reminding me that I was awesome and to ignore the things that Rema’s people said to me wasn’t exactly filling me with a whole lot of confidence. I mean, how bad could they be?
Chapter 3
Patty
The ship we’d beengiven was for clout. It was a showy, intimidating white middle finger to the royal family saying, ‘We are better than you and can afford better shit.’ Because nothing impressed the rich like someone richer.
The inside was gold. Gold floors and gleaming white walls with gold inlay. I raised my eyes to the ceiling, my eyebrow arching at the precious gemstones set into the ceiling with soft lighting shining from behind the gems. Somehow, what shouldhave looked gaudy in every sense of the word managed to convey both extreme wealth and good taste. It still hurt my eyes to look at it, the glittering meld of so many colors making a headache threaten in the background of my mind.
I was more of a cool tone kind of girl, and all the gold in this ship made my skin crawl. Jack would have loved it, pink gaudy loving bitch that she was. Rema led the way down the corridor away from the shuttle bay, and through an open doorway into a social room that resembled what I would assume was a type of receiving area. A glam receiving area that had my lips lifting in a sneer. It all but screamed, ‘Welcome, please wait here while your host puts on their good diamond shoes’.
“This will do nicely,” Rema stated, lower hands on his hips, upper arms crossed over his chest. He flared his wings slightly and I caught a tantalizing view of his fine ass before they dropped back down.
I had a few coins in my pocket that I was going to test the bounce with, I just had to find the opportunity. Damn wings kept getting in the way. Reaching into the pocket of my pants to jingle the coins around, I fingered the little cylinder of lube I’d brought with me. The Healer told me only a little was needed, but I was determined to use it all before this trip was over. I’d also slipped Ohem a vial as we’d said our goodbyes before they’d left for Earth. Jack had better send me a thank you card.
“Patty?”
I jerked my attention up and found Rema smiling at me. “What?”
“I called your name twice. What were you thinking about?”
Anal. But I couldn’t tell him that. I’d promised no pressure, and I was going to keep that promise.
“Jack and Ohem. And that I am not a fan of gold.”
He moved closer to me, his upper hands coming to grip my shoulders. I shivered a little at the warmth, and flowers boomed along my neck.
He glanced at them for a moment, his jaw clenching and unclenching, his pupils dilating again, and then met my eyes. “They will be okay. I miss them all too.” He stepped away from me, his hands falling away and looked around. “Gold is not what I would have picked, I enjoy what your people call purple. Though I don’t think we see the colors in the same way.”
Aliens had more cones in their eyes than humans, so this gold probably wasn’t even gold to them. I wonder what the white looked like to them?
“Aliens are weird. Maybe we can change it when we are done with our ambassador stuff.”
Rema grinned at me as his lower hand reached out and took mine. “Perhaps, but I would like to point out that you are the alien here, and I agree, they are very strange.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, earning a chuckle before he pulled me along after him past the receiving room and down a long hallway with many doorways. We entered a portal tube and exited out into a bridge that would put a rave to shame. It looked like a blacklight party in here, with a control center lit up with neon buttons and a massive vid screen ‘windshield’.
“Okay, this is cool,” I said, pulling away from Rema to wander around. So many buttons, my fingers twitched to touch them and I curled my hand into a fist to avoid it. The floors were tiered, with the highest point being the entryway. The middle tier had cushiony high-backed black chairs that swiveled around, and the bottom tier was the main flight deck, with a single long half circle desk with two chairs in front of it.
I plopped down in one of the high-back chairs and sighed when I sank into comfort. The Rijiteran’s traveled in style, I’d give them that.
I looked back at Rema with a smile. “Is this ship automated, or will you have to fly it?”
Rema descended to the flight controls and pressed a few buttons, bringing up a vid screen. “It is set on an automated course to Tuanov but I could take command if I chose too.” He turned to give me an apologetic face before coming to take the seat next to me. My eyes widened when the chair morphed to accommodate his wings, large slits opening up in the back that Rema slipped them through. “Ah, that is a considerate thing,” Rema murmured.
Anu was the ultimate host, she really thought of everything. Best creepy AI grandma ever.
“You took your jump sickness medication, yes?”
I jerked my head away from his chair to the vid screen when the telltale whirring started. “Yeah, but I should have grabbed knock out drugs instead. I fucking hate this part,” I said, pressing back in the chair and squeezing my eyes shut as my stomach started to cramp. I didn’t need to see the blackhole forming ever again.
Space was beautiful and interesting and I’d never leave, but transitioning would never be fun.
The whirring intensified, and the ship moved forward into the jump point with a smooth hum. I shuddered as the sickening pushing, pulling sensation started up immediately. It felt like you were both free falling and being crushed by an immense weight at the same time. My muscles and skin pushed hard against my bones, just to lift away again until it felt like I was going to rip apart, and then the process repeated again, over and over. My stomach churned, twisting and flopping around until with a soundless pop, we were through.
I sighed, blowing out a hard breath and wiping at the sweat that had gathered on my face, plastering my hair to my forehead,and looked at Rema. He was poised, casual, like we’d just stepped through a regular doorway.
“How are you used to this?”
