“I think she’s saying she’s like us,” I tell Niri, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms over my chest. Smart thing. I can’t deny that I’m attracted to her like mad, but wouldn’t any man in my situation? Long time celibate, naked, attractive girl…but there’s something more to her. Maybe it’s her sweet, innocent expression, her wide-eyed wonder as she looks around her. Makes me want to protect her from anything that might harm her…even me. Or Niri. The captain. Trakan.
Not that I think they would… It’s just that she’s mine.
“Well, she’s definitely descended from mesakkah stock,”Niri says, interrupting my possessive thoughts. “The scan reads that her DNA matches up perfectly with ours. But she’s not speaking any tongue that I know of.”
“She stranded here, then?”
“I don’t know. I think she was born on this planet.” Niri moves the scanner over her. “I don’t see any signs of tech implants anywhere. No surgical scars, no dental modifications, nothing. She doesn’t have a single vaccine, and she’s got parasites. Isn’t that grand?”
“But she’s healthy?”
“Oh, she’s stunningly healthy,” Niri says, putting her scanner away with a click. “Other than the parasites, of course. I can remove them once we’re done with her pet here.”
“And the eyes?”
She shrugs, putting her equipment away and checking on the herbivore. “Possibly a chemical reaction to something she ate? I don’t know. Like I said, everything registers as healthy.”
“Sa-khui?” the girl says again, looking over at me. “Vo?”
She wants answers, and I don’t blame her. I tap my chest. “Mesakkah. That’s my people. I’m from Ubeduc VII, Cap City.” I point at Niri. “She’s mesakkah, too, but she’s from the homeworld, Kes. And that’s probably way more than you needed to know.”
“Cap see-tee?” she replies, tilting her head. She gestures at me. “Cap see-tee?”
“I think she thinks it’s your name,” Niri murmurs, amused. “I need to work on her furry little friend here. You want to take her to your station and see if you can get a language scan to match?”
It’s a brilliant idea, and I’m annoyed I didn’t think of it. I’ve been scrambled ever since the girl ran right into my arms, buck naked. “Will do. Come on,” I say to the strange woman, and offer her my hand.
She looks at her pet, worried. “Chahm-pee?”
“He’s going to be fine,” I tell her, keeping my tone reassuring. It must work, because she puts her hand in mine, and I lead her out of the room and onto the bridge. Luckily, the captain and Trakan both must be in their quarters, because it’s deserted. I move to my seat and turn on my work station. I fire up a translator and make her sit down in my seat, then crouch next to her. “Need you to talk.”
She touches my arm. “Cap see-tee?”
I sigh and rub my brows. Kef. She probably does think that’s my name now. Nothing to be done about it until I figure out what language she’s speaking and set my aural implants to the correct frequency. I gesture at my mouth. “Talk.”
“Spisak?” She gives me a curious look.
All right, maybe I need to try a different tactic. “Cap City,” I say again, and tap my chest, then I gesture at her. “You?”
Her smile broadens, and she’s so stunningly gorgeous that it takes my breath away and makes my blood quicken. There’s nothing coy about her smile; she just beams at me like she’s the happiest person in the world, and I love it. She begins to chatter, gesturing at her chest and letting out a stream of words that are so quick that I can’t follow them. If her name’s in there, I’ve lost it.
The language program starts to run, scanning through all the sounds she’s spitting out, and when I gesture for her to keep talking, she does. After a moment, the computer comes back with an answer.
88% match - Old Sakh.
Holy kef. Old Sakh? From the Old Sakh Empire? No one’s spoken that language in a thousand years. The Sakh Empire broke up and formed several coalitions of different planets, and my home world is one of them. Niri’s, too. Well, that explains why I can’t make heads or tails of what she’s saying.I tap a few commands into the computer, sending the language file to my aural implants, and wait for it to start up. It chimes a moment later, letting me know the sync is complete, and I gesture for her to talk again.
She hesitates. “I am not sure what you wish me to speak about. I have already told you about my people and my home, but it is useless. You do not hear my words.”
I can’t help but grin. “I hear them now.”
Her eyes go wide.
FARLI
He finally speaks words I know! I smother my gasp and reach for his grinning face, wanting to caress his mouth. “Say it again.”
“I know your language now. Kind of an obscure one, but I have it.” He reaches past me to peck at the strange table. “I’ll send it to Niri’s oh-rahl eem-plants, too, so she can talk with you.”
