“You did the right thing,” Helmen assured her. “Are you well?”
“Except for the guilt, I’m fine,” she answered. “He’s going to be really out of it when he wakes up.”
Helmen’s ears went flat against the back of her head in anger. “That won’t be our problem.” She looked up at Teshor. “Go to control. Find the nearest station, planet, or outpost we can dump him off at without being fined.”
“No!” Amina objected. “We can’t do that. He’s helpless. Let him wake up and explain himself.”
Helmen ears remained flat. “You’re assuming he’ll be able to speak intelligently.”
“He was talking and interacting perfectly fine when I met him on Polkor Station,” Amina pointed out. “What was he like when you were showing him around the ship?”
“Normal,” Helmen admitted. “But we don’t know what caused him to become violent. What if he does it again and hurts someone?”
“Give him a chance to explain. If there was a trigger, maybe we can keep it from happening again,” Amina said. His repeating Ruby’s name came back to her. “I think losing the jeweled lizard might have caused this. He was upset on the station when he couldn’t find food for her.”
“So you got involved to help?” Helmen asked, her voice heavy with judgment. “We’re going to have a long conversation about you approaching unknown Talins.”
Amina bit her tongue to keep from saying something sarcastic. She’d already apologized for going off on her own, she wasn’t going to do it again for interacting with someone in a public place.
“I’d rather we didn’t,” Amina grumbled.
“It doesn’t matter whether this outburst was caused by a trigger or not,” Helmen continued. “He can’t be trusted. We need to get him off this ship.”
“If he goes, then I go,” Amina said. “Don’t test me, Helmen. You know I’ll do it.”
Her statement made Helmen and the crew gasp. As usual, they all started talking at once.
“Helmen, don’t let her do that!”
“Why is this Talin so important to you, Amina?”
“Maybe we could keep him drugged until we get to his destination.”
“Keeping him drugged would be dangerous, but we could secure him in his room.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea! We could put plenty of food in there, and he’d be fine. When we got to the station we could secure all the doors except for the one to the docks. He’d have to leave, and we could stay safe.”
“No, I have a better idea. When we dock, let's gas the room and drag him off the ship. We could be gone before he comes to.”
“We aren’t doing any of that!” Amina shouted over everyone. “We’re going to put him in his bed. When he wakes up, I’ll talk to him. I’ll find out what was going on and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“I’m not leaving you alone with him,” Helmen said. At least she wasn’t threatening to drop him off at some remote spot.
“One of us could stay with her,” Desur offered.
Amina shook her head. “I think it’d be better if he woke up with only me there. He seemed to calm down when he saw me. He must be desperate for something familiar.”
“Then he’ll need to be restrained,” Helmen said. She held up her hand, halting Amina’s arguments before she could start. “Either he’s restrained to the bed and you’re allowed to be in the room with him, or he’s locked in the room alone. Those are the only options.”
She could tell by Helmen’s tone that she wasn’t going to back down. “Fine, but only his arms.”
“Arms and chest,” Helmen countered.
Amina nodded. “Fine. Let’s get him up and comfortable in his bunk. He’s going to wake up confused. I’d rather he didn’t wake up in pain because we left him on the cold hard floor.”
Chapter 7
Myrum
