10
Aweek after finding herself on a space station in the middle of another galaxy, Tina was pretty sure she must have drowned in the cave back on Earth, and this was heaven.
Because seriously.
Who would believe she could find such joy and pleasure from an alien cyborg? Was this what she thought her heaven would be? Never, not in a million years, but truly, just being there, around Kolvin and Gianna and Marcin, and she was even getting used to Solkan and his grumpiness.
She secretly believed that Solkan wasn't as grumpy as he seemed, and it was some kind of act for some reason. Maybe a defense mechanism?
Vinka was in and out all the time. Said she was changing jobs and working for the Intergalactic Dating Agency or something. They had outposts or offices or whatever all over the galaxy, and how they managed to keep it all straight, Tina had no idea. She could hardly find her way around the space station. Though, really, who was she kidding, she rarely went anywhere without Kolvin.
And Kolvin.
He was amazing.
Stiff and a little stubborn, but he carried a great deal of passion in him. He could say it was his Craving, some primitive side of his species, but it was him. He was absolutely a passionate being. The cybernetics held it back, but it wasn't enough. That passion was leaking through, whether he liked it or not.
Part of it was, she thought, the reason he had the PTSD nightmares. Lost in the world, whatever it was, and she didn't know how to help him out of it other than to comfort him when they came on. What else she could do, she didn't know.
"So, are you ready?" Gianna asked, coming to her apartment door.
Tina nodded. "You know where we're going, right?"
"Of course. It's super easy to find."
"Maybe for you," Tina said. She still hadn't learned much about where anything was in the station.
Gianna, however, seemed to know where everything was almost instantly, or so it seemed.
"You didn't really tell me where we were going," Tina said. And she wasn't sure she was comfortable taking off while the boys were gone, but all three of them had left early, said they had to investigate something on an upper level today, so she and Gianna were on their own today.
Tina thought it had something to do with that vendor that Kolvin had talked to a couple of days ago when they were out walking, but he wouldn't tell her what it was.
Which only proved that it was a man thing, regardless of the species.
Gianna led Tina out of the apartments. She'd been illusive as well about what they were going to be doing but said it would be very much worth it.
"Where are we going?"
"You have to trust me."
"I don't want to trust you."
"Well, what choice do you have?"
Tina sighed. Gianna knew exactly where she was headed, and they made a few turns, until they reached an office. The Intergalactic Dating Agency office.
Tina got a strange feeling in her gut. "What's going on?"
"Come on."
"What?"
Gianna walked in, palming herself into the offices. How she was just able to walk into the door, Tina didn't know, but she walked in like she owned the place, and led her down the hallway.
"Can I do that?" Tina asked.
"Not likely," Gianna said.
