“Amina.”
Her name flowed out of his mouth as if his fractured mind wasn’t screaming for him to do three different things at once.
“Myrum, what’s going on?” Amina asked, stepping past the Ugarian who had brandished the pole at him.
There was so much information he needed to impart, but all he could do was murmur her name again.
“Amina.”
“How do you know this Talin?” the Ugarian next to her asked.
“Um, I might’ve met him on the station,” Amina said. Her expression was apologetic but not intimidated or fearful. He had vivid memories of Amina handling aggressive Hulgs with ease. If she wanted to get away from the Ugarian’s around her, she certainly could.
Could it be that these Ugarians weren’t a threat?
Except part of his mind was screaming at him to get her away from everyone. Only he could protect her. Only he could keep her safe.
But was that true? He hadn’t been able to keep Ruby safe.
“Ruby.”
The word came out of his mouth without him realizing it. Amina’s attention was on him again, and she took another step closer.
“Ruby? Is there something wrong with your jeweled lizard?”
She was gone. Lost. Maybe dead. How could he explain it all to Amina?
He made a “come to me” gesture with both hands again. Amina took another step, even as one of the Ugarian’s hissed out a breath.
“Amina, he could kill you faster than any of us could move.”
Amina gave the Ugarian a confident look. “He’s not going to hurt me. Look, he’s calming down. He just needed to see a familiar face.”
“He told me to put him down if he acted out,” the Ugarian said.
Amina scowled at the Ugarian. “We aren’t doing that,” she snarled.
When she turned her face to him, her gentle expression was back. “Hi, Myrum. It’s nice to see you again. I’ve been thinking about you a lot. If I’d known you were going to be on my ship, then I wouldn’t have left you so abruptly."
It was true that on the station she’d disappeared, like Ruby here on the ship.
Amina had reappeared, but would Ruby?
Desperate to keep her safe, he gestured for her to come closer again.
“It seems like you’re having a hard time talking. Do you know the silent tapping language of the Norka?” she asked, taking another small step.
Lifting her hands, she tapped a simple greeting. He knew the language but couldn’t figure out how to use it any more than he could use his verbal skills.
“Welp, that didn’t work,” she sighed, dropping her hands to her side.
“Talk to him in Universal,” one of the Ugarians in the back said. “Maybe his INT is malfunctioning and he can’t understand.”
“Good idea, Desur,” Amina said and then spoke to him in Universal. He didn’t speak the language but his INT was working perfectly fine, so everything she said was translated. “Are you ill? Are you in pain? We can help, but we need to know what’s wrong.”
By the ancestors, she was kind. She was much too small and fragile for this universe.
“Amina. Closer.” He was proud of himself for getting two words out this time. As if rewarding him, Amina stepped within arm’s reach.
