The male groaned. "You're not part of this," he fired back, coughing as he tried to right himself.
The female glared at the alien, her markings around her brow glowing bright red in fury. "Shut up Jovank. You shoved me down the stairs you dung piece!"
"I would have caught you," Jovank replied as he stood up.
"With what?" she fired back. "You have nothing that'll reach what I have!"
Karuk positioned himself between the two of them and glanced at the female. "Are you injured?"
Her hands shook, and she made fists. "I'm well, thanks to you. Him? I'm so finished with his stupid--"
"Come on, Feoa!" Jovank replied. "This was just a--"
"You. Pushed. Me. Down. The. Stairs!" Feoa charged forward, like she was going to attack him.
What in the stars had he walked into? Karuk thought. Had he walked into a lover's quarrel?
"You need to stop," Karuk said, hand out to keep Jovank back, and another that kept Feoa from leaping at him.
Feoa growled. "Let me go," she snapped.
Jovank yelled back at Feoa, and they continued to fight, with Karuk in the middle, attempting to keep them both separated.
About that time, station security arrived, their orange and blue uniforms clashing against the gray and white metal all around.
"Freeze, all of you!" The guard surrounded the three of them.
Karuk kept his hands out, and the other two still snapping at each other, but at least slowing down.
One guard ran his gaze over Karuk. "Pretty boy, you start this?"
Karuk sighed.
So this was how it was going to go.
Perfect.
4
Suitcase in her hand, purse under her arm, backpack with all the essentials, and a cat carrier in the other hand, Jenny stood at the sliding doors, waiting for them to open, along with the other engineers from Oakwood.
While some of them were familiar to Jenny, she couldn’t call any of them friends. Faces she’d seen around, maybe.
“Look, another door,” one of them, a man named Mitchell, muttered.
“If you don’t want to be here, there’s the exit,” another girl said with a serious expression.
The shuttle bus that had delivered her and a handful of other people to The Bridge had pulled inside the main garage-door like entrance. All of them had packed for an extended stay.
Well, within reason, anyway.
Security had been tight, with layers of men with big guns surrounding the tower and the base. The windows of the bus were almost black, but she still felt like every one of those security officers could see her and everyone else inside. Made her lean away from the windows, far enough that she could without looking suspicious.
It didn't help that paranoia still lingered.
The drive up had taken longer than she expected, since they had to go through several security checks, and the fencing kept any curious eyes away.
And all of them stared at her one extra carry-along.
