Soon they were walking into the small command room. There were only three seats, but one of them was piled high with items and the control panel in front of it was in parts. Desur was kneeling next to it, his face so close to a section his forehead was almost touching it. He and Helmen were the only ones in the room, and both of them looked up.
Desur gave them a pleading look. “Amina, tell Helmen this unit can’t be saved please. We need to replace it.”
“Let me see,” Amina said, letting go of his hand and crouching down next to Desur.
Desur pointed to a spot Myrum couldn’t see. “It looks like the main terminal leads are all burned out. We could fix it, but we’d have to pull the rest of it apart.”
Standing up, she faced Helmen. “Desur’s right, the better thing to do would be to remove it. Then there’s nothing to inspect, right? You’ll still have a redundant control panel, that’s a minimum standard.”
Helmen sighed. “I was really hoping it was fixable.”
“We’ll get it completely refurbished,” Desur said. “After we finish in Ossiso space.”
“Fine,” Helmen agreed then looked at Myrum. “You shouldn’t be in here.”
Her words were firm but not harsh. Amina jumped up and put herself at his side before he could respond to the captain's comment.
“I brought him in,” she said. “You need to take his collar off before we dock at Tik.”
The tips of Helmen’s ears folded. “Why do I need to do that?”
“Because the Ossisos don’t like slaves,” she answered. It wasn’t entirely accurate, but he didn’t correct her. “The Ilgorian Federation doesn’t have a trade or travel treaty with the Ossiso, so we need to tread carefully, right?”
“Yes, you're correct,” Helmen agreed, obviously not happy about it. “I really regret taking this assignment.”
“Ah, don’t be like that,” Amina said. “After this is all over we’ll get drunk and laugh about all the minor things that went wrong.”
Helmen’s ears pricked up, an Ugarian sign of surprise or disbelief. “Minor?”
“Did anyone die?” Amina asked.
“Not yet,” Helmen grumbled, then looked over to Desur. “Have the tools ready to take the collar off but only when we’re about to walk off the ship. I’m not giving trouble any extra chances.”
Chapter 11
Myrum
The moment he saw Ossisos in the flesh, memories of being rescued came back to him. Three-fingered Ossiso hands lifting him, touching him, and holding him down. They had lower tusks that extended far past their upper lips and were even with the top of their short snouts. When they spoke, they all had a slight lisp because of the tusks. That was also familiar.
He stood perfectly still for several moments after the main hatch opened to reveal four Ossisos waiting for them. It wasn’t a memory episode. The room around him wasn’t closing in, and there was no fear or panic.
Seeing and hearing these Ossisos, even though they weren’t the ones who saved him, tickled his brain. It made him want to remember the lost time between being found and “waking up” on a Talin ship.
Like the Ugarians, they were covered in fur, including their faces. While the Ugarians' fur tended to be uniformly short andthe same color all over their bodies, the Ossisos had a mane around their necks that ran up the backs of their heads, and the part under their head was shockingly white. They also had short, round ears he thought looked a little comical in contrast to the fluffy mass of their manes.
Males and females had the same basic body build, and their only difference was subtle but noticeable. Males usually had dark brown eyes that looked almost black, and females had eyes that were bright amber. The one thing he remembered reading was to ask someone how they wanted to be referred to if their eyes were any shade in between.
“Oh man, they look so snuggly,” Amina whispered. “I want to hug one.”
Desur snorted, and Helmen shot her a warning look. “Do not get us in trouble or I’ll report you to the moms!”
That struck Myrum as an odd threat, but it was effective. Amina’s smile disappeared, and she gave Helmen a nod of agreement.
“Welcome Primary Security Coordinator Myrum,” one of the Ossisos said, stepping forward. Dark eyes indicated he was male. His outfit was elaborate compared those of the others with him, indicating he was in charge.
“I’m not Primary Security Coordinator any longer,” Myrum said, stepping past Amina and Helmen to greet the Ossiso. “You can call me Citizen Myrum.”
The Ossiso gave a little bow of his head. “Citizen Myrum, I’m Station Sub-Director Nirot. I’m honored to have you as a guest on Tik Station. Planetary Expansionist Lorse has made it very clear that we are to treat you as a member of his family.”
