“Both of you have been conferring about me?” Karuk asked.
“Only when it affects us,” Girrick said.
“And how does it affect you, Girrick?” Karuk asked.
“Because if Resko is distracted, I wind up floating away on a repair,” he said with a laugh.
“He’s not wrong,” Resko laughed as well. “He’s really in this for himself.”
Karuk chuckled, amused at the two of them, and surprisingly pleased to feel the brief camaraderie for the first time in a long time.
Working so hard to keep himself isolated and as unremarkable as possible, to have a laugh with others, it moved him.
He glanced back at Jenny.
She was watching him.
He felt that pull in his chest again when he looked at her.
He turned back to the others. “Well, if it’s for the good of the team, I guess I must be social with the Earthlings,” Karuk said and stood.
The other two watched him as he picked up his tray.
Resko and Girrick glanced at each other.
Karuk didn’t trust that they were being truthful about their reasons, but he felt they were not out to see him harmed.
If it had been Cher and Bardon?
He would not have listened to them. Their intentions he questioned almost every shift. They seemed to want him off their team more than anything. Whether they were hoping he would quit or leave, he didn’t know, but they didn’t share any desire to befriend him.
Still surprised at Resko and Girrick, he partially wondered if this was some kind of trick they were playing on him, and Cher and Bardon were involved.
But did it matter if they were? He should still speak to the girl, to Jenny, again. He felt it was the right thing to do, even if he was encouraged to proceed.
Karuk took his tray over to the recycling station and decided he would approach the Earthlings after he put his tray away. If only to expedite the process.
He set the tray into the recycler and turned to walk toward their table.
And there she was.
“Oh, um, hi,” Jenny said, and smiled at him.
“Greetings,” he replied. He watched her face, and she kept a smile on, but her gaze shifted around, at first, looking at him, but then her gaze kept going other places.
His chest pulsed again with that draw he’d been feeling in her presence. The strong psychic connection wasn’t there, but something else was.
“Yeah, hi,” she replied.
“Are you well?” he asked. And he waited for her to respond. She said nothing, merely stood there, staring at him.
He did not speak either, giving her patience. Patience was something that?—
“Um, sure,” she finally said, her posture shifting from one foot to the other.
“Will you move it?” came another voice.
Karuk looked for the speaker. It was another one of the Earthlings.
