Still, Karuk’s team lined up, and the others stepped behind him so that he was in front, and the first one on their squad to go.
Wasn't very encouraging. Of course, they still weren't big fans of his anyway. The last few weeks had been challenging, but the team had come to a basic sort of agreement—Karuk would do what he was told, and so would they. That's as connected as they would be.
Fortunately, his ear clip kept most of their random angry thoughts about him from getting through. Only once in a while would he hear one.
And they were all the same thing—that he annoyed them.
Fine.
Karuk was annoying to them.
Probably because he attracted a lot of attention on the station. Everywhere he went, someone stared.
There weren’t a lot of Dalgurians out in the universe. They stayed in their own world, away from others.
For a myriad of reasons, mostly, though, because many other species didn’t trust them.
So Karuk felt it here as well as anywhere else—the lack of trust and the suspicion. He knew the score. Either he was untrusted, or used as a pawn in a bigger game.
Neither were Karuk’s choices.
He mostly just wanted to be left alone.
A clatter drew Karuk’s attention. A construction worker had dropped a tool, and it clattered on the hard floor, echoing in the large room.
The chamber didn’t look like any kind of medical bay. Initially, they'd been told it was a medical scan, and Karuk figured it was some kind of regular exam. It wasn't an uncommon practice in labor jobs for regular medical attention. Companies made sure their workers were in proper health for their jobs. Especially hazardous ones, like Karuk's, doing hull work and other labor-intensive tasks.
No one on his team, he could feel their emotions even with theearpiece on, seemed very enthusiastic about the procedure. He didn't know what they were about to do to him, but he didn't have a good feeling about it.
It didn't look like a room that anyone would have medical procedures done in.
Since he would have been getting scans, he had thought it would be a medical bay. Some place with medical equipment and medical sounds.
This wasn't it.
This was a modified landing bay. Exposed conduits and circuitry scattered the bay. A team installed panels over one section, the sounds of tools chiming in the reprocessed air, withworkers coming in and out. Voices murmured as they worked, punctuated by noisy clatters from tools being tossed around.
A platform near the entrance hummed, and a medic gestured to it. Like he expected them to know what he was doing. Other construction teams hauled in items and setting up the bay into, well, something. What, he wasn't sure, but they worked hard on making it into some kind of place.
"Hey, I said, get up on the platform," the medic said, gesturing to the platform that was raised off the floor a bit, just enough that it was a high step to get on it.
The team pushed Karuk to the front, none of them wanting to go first.
He grunted as he took a couple of steps forward to right himself, his frustration with the team growing.
It was like every little thing needed to be aggressive. Pushing him toward something—a confrontation he knew would come, eventually.
Something he didn't want to happen.
He didn't come all the way out here to make trouble. He just wanted to do his work and go his own way. And stay off of anyone's detection. The last thing he wanted to do was attract attention to himself. Even when he dressed, he wore dark, bland clothing so that he didn’t stick out any more than necessary.
The medic was muttering something, and Karuk was certain he heard the male say something about a database. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
Databases meant registries. Registries were how others found someone.
This was not a good idea.
He paused before stepping upon the platform.
