Her fingers paused, and she pressed her hands flat on the glossy surface. A heavy sort of responsibility hung over her because of him. Her duty to report his presence to the authorities weighed on her, a physicalburden across her shoulders. But she couldn’t warn the research station, or anyone on this planet, until she reconnected with the grid. Did she even want to? A solid answer refused to form.
On an exhale, she left him there, and returned to the kitchen. The pot of soup had cooled, and she retrieved a stack of containers out of the wall compartment beside the dispensary.
Setting the stack beside the pot, she found a ladle in the drawer and portioned it out one container at a time.
His footsteps stopped in the doorway, but Wynn didn’t look up. He remained there while she finished packing everything up.
She hesitated a moment, then left one container out before taking the rest to the refrigeration unit. Only when they were all placed neatly inside did she turn around and meet his gaze square on, using the wall compartment behind her for support.
His stillness, the glint in his eyes, took her breath.
“That’s for you,” she said with a jerk of her chin toward the container of soup.
He looked between her and the container, then his gaze resettled on her.
She shivered and pushed away from the wall. “You can use Foster’s room again.”
And she left him there, staring at soup.
Chapter fourteen
The door to her quarters shut with a softsnick, and Iax felt her absence poignantly. He knew not to follow this time, no matter how much his insides urged him to do so.
He adjusted the spectral wavelength of his eyes instead, watching her movements as she strode deeper into her space. She stopped in the center of the room. Her shoulders rose and fell in a long breath, then her head lowered a moment later. She wrapped her arms around her middle.
Her defeated posture tugged at him. He took a step forward, then stopped himself.
She stood that way for a long while, then crossed to her washroom. Hesitation coated her, then she was moving again, cleaning up the items on the floor, using the toilet, then washing her hands and face.
Out of the washroom, she changed her clothes, swapping out her long pants and shirt for shorts and a top without sleeves.
But she did not lie in her bed to sleep. Instead, she paced the width of the room back and forth. Her lips moved, but no words came out. She continued the activity until she stopped, took another one of those long breaths, and finally retreated to her bed. She covered herself completely, her back to the door.
Iax remained in place until her breaths evened out and she fell into a fitful slumber.
He wished he could help her with that too, that there was some way to calm her mind and ease her distress. He would give it some consideration. Perhaps something would occur to him the longer he spent in her company.
Lightning flashed, and a low rumble of thunder followed. The sound dragged his gaze to the narrow window at the end of the hallway and the weather outside. He had used the addition of the storm to land on this planet undetected, but the progression of its intensity threatened this structure. His return home had always been ambiguous, with many paths open to achieving his goals. But this storm added a layer of difficulty, lessening his options. Adaptability and stealth were key.
He adjusted his eyes again, examining the molecular construction of the support beams. It should hold as long as the storm did not become exponentially worse.
He turned back to the kitchen and stared at the food she had left him. He had already eaten today, and would not have needed more sustenance for some time, but she had left him more.
Two steps, and he stood next to the counter. He stared down at the golden liquid. It looked different from what she had given him earlier. Chunks of vegetables floated in the thicker broth. She had cut all of those with her own hands.
Intrigued, he grabbed the container by its sides and lifted it to his mouth. It was room temperature, but flavors exploded in his mouth, much more when compared to the one-note liquid from earlier. He drank it down in greedy gulps until the container held only drops.
He set it on the counter and licked his lips, tasting the lingering spices. If sustenance tasted that good when done by hand, he wanted to learn.
Turning, he scanned the hallway to Wynn’s quarters, and found her in the same position. The urge to go to her raced through him again, but he kept his feet planted, standing guard.
It was some time later when a beeping noise from another room called his attention. He strode across the living space, and through the short hallway to the lab. A light flashed on the main terminal, and he strode toward it.
After a cursory glance, he noted it was a report Wynn had been running. The terminal beside it was black, turned off, and he pressed his hands flat against its shiny surface, infusing it with his essence. It lit up as he connected, his consciousness extending beyond himself to slide and coalesce with the technology. The report did not relate to his purpose here.
He delved deeper. Massive amounts of data bombarded his mind, almost too much to process. Most of it was data from the scientists’ research and the fields they tended, years of study observing delicate balances as they attempted to grow edible food on Earth’s surface. Many of the logs were entered by Wynn, the others by Dr. Foster Kish.
Iax searched further, knowing there must be more. He stretched his abilities, then hit a wall, a security barrier that tried to keep him out. He pushed past it, accessing the data Dr. Kish had hidden there.
