Could she be trying to use the sanitary facility to escape? How would that be possible?
Ice grips my limbs. She is small. She is so small she can get out of places no Sarkarnii ever could. In two strides, I am at thedoor, my claws reaching for it, ready to rip, ready to rend, ready to tear.
The door slides open. She jumps in alarm at my proximity. For a moment, her eyelids flutter. I think she is going to go limp again, and I stick out an arm. She ducks under it, and in a flash, she is behind me.
“What do you think you are doing?”
“I thought you might be trying to escape,” I growl. “There is no escape from me.”
“I was doing my business, not trying to escape. I can’t slip through pipework,” she says, her eyes not on me but on the outside.
“How do I know?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” she says.
“You cannot escape,” I snarl.
Her eyes snap back to me, but this time I’m not sure there is fear in them. This time maybe there is defiance instead.
“This is my sector. I know every inch of it. I will find you,” I say, with slightly less growl. “Unless the vegetation takes you first.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think all of this is for show? I brought some of it back from the second continent, and it seems to have established itself very well.” I look out over the valley. “All deadly, of course.”
“Of course. I’d expect nothing less.”
I look back at my little female. She is sitting on one of the seats my mate used to like in her biped form. But this creature has her legs curled up under her. She looks like she has always been here.
A rumble rips through my chest.
“What are you doing?” She’s on her feet, eyes darting from left to right before alighting on me.
“Nothing.”
“That noise…the one you’re making.” She glares at me. “What is it?”
“I am not making any noise, little female, or you would know about it.” My chest rumbles again.
“Perhaps you’re hungry?” she says.
I hadn’t actually thought about food for a while. In fact I hadn’t thought about food at all since I took her from the Sarkarnii fortress and brought her here.
My little ember slept a long time.
“Maybe I am.”
“Then perhaps you should eat something?” she suggests.
I look at her and then around us.
“Like what?”
“The food dispenser.” She points to the wall nearest me.
I shake my head and then thump my fist to the side of it.
“Food dispenser,” I snarl. “Make food.”
