They’ll need to be fed soon… That reason alone was good enough for her to stay behind. She grumbled for having not thought of it. She and Raul could set them up to be manually fed, but the locusts were finicky with the machines and so they did it themselves.
A thump sounded, and her gaze snapped to the male locust. Its four forearms were braced against the glass, framing its large, fanged face, and between its furry legs was its rigid cock, purple and meaty. Hell.
Its eyes were on her.
Like Hysterian’s.
The male locust watched her constantly. It made her skin crawl.
The locust was almost worse than Hysterian. She didn’t know if the locust wanted to eat her or to do something far more horrific. Considering its bulge, she had an idea… She did her best to ignore the beast as much as possible, only approaching it when necessary. Even Raul noticed how much the alien creature was interested in her. He offered to do its feedings.
She appreciated his concern but refused him. If she couldn’t handle the first alien animal to be transported, then she wasn’t qualified for this job.
Which amused her to some degree since she only took the job for one purpose only: to get closer to her target. Still, she didn’t want to do a bad job in case it took a while for her to figure out how to achieve her goal.
Getting fired is out of the question.
It was perhaps also hope that she’d survive destroying Hysterian and that she’d have a real future someday.
After all was said and done, she’d go to Gliese or another world like it, get a quiet position, and live a quiet life. If she could help it, she’d never return to Elyria.
Alexa made quick work of feeding the locusts then stepped out of the menagerie. She looked at the armory but kept going, leaving the weapons for another day. Passing the medical chamber and the side passage that led to the reactor and the ship’s bowels, she made her way to the stairs beyond them that led to the upper level of the ship. Sleek silver and white walls surrounded her on every side. Tubes of light ran across the ceiling as well as the floor, embedded into the ship.
The Questor was gorgeous, brand new, completely remodeled from a previous EPED ship. The remodel was obvious, even if she wasn’t already privy to that information. Alexa had never seen a nicer ship.
She was lucky—real lucky—to be here.
Just need a new captain… Then the job would be perfect.
Getting to travel around the universe, seeing exotic faraway places that others couldn’t because of travel restrictions, tasting new food, meeting new people… It was a dream.
Someone else’s dream.
Coming upon the lounge, she peeked in to see if Daniels was within. He wasn’t, which meant he was either in his room, the gym, or in the bridge. She’d have to be careful. Excuses ran through her mind, in case she was caught lurking.
She lingered on the lounge for a moment, eyeing the cleaning bots lasering the floor. There was a round table in the center and two booths to the left. The rest of the room was covered in food replicators of different varieties and activity stations to relieve boredom. It was the far wall that kept her rooted in place, though, where there was a porthole.
Outside, she could see Luxor Port, and the vast wasteland-like moon sprawling beyond. Huge, industrial buildings littered as far as the eye could see. From them, smoke plumed into a hazy pink sky like spiraling pillars. Drones and skiffs flew between them.
Luxor was a dreary place. Most moons were.
Alexa turned from the lounge, glanced at the gym across the way, and kept going. Ahead, she could see the hatch at the end of the hall that opened to the bridge. Before that was a series of closed doors that were more rooms used for housing the crew. Including one filled with dormant androids if the need for them ever arose.
All the doors were closed except one.
Her brow furrowed.
Hysterian’s room was open.
Alexa glanced behind her. She was alone.
I saw Hysterian leave. There’s no way he got past me. Why is his door open? Is it being cleaned?
She heard shuffling within. Instead of turning back and fleeing to the laboratory like she probably should—because it could be Hysterian and then she would have to explain herself again and he probably wouldn’t believe her. Alexa quietly tiptoed to the room.
She heard a bang followed by cursing.
“Fucking hell, where is it?”
Alexa stepped into the doorway to find Daniels rifling through cabinets at the back of the room.
“What are you doing?” she accused.
Daniels jumped, fear exploding in his eyes. When he caught sight of her, he straightened, stepping away from the drawers he’d been digging through. “Dear.”
“What are you doing?” she asked again, looking around the room pointedly. Multiple cabinets and drawers were open. Cabinets and drawers she would die to scrounge through herself to discover the secrets within.
But instead, it was Daniels doing it. Her lips pursed as her curiosity skyrocketed. Straight through the roof and into outer space.
“It’s not what it looks like.” He raised his hands. “Captain asked me to fetch his glock.”
She wasn’t buying it, not at all. “He needs another gun to pick up vaccines?” She’d seen Hysterian leave with a laser pistol.
“Don’t ask me why our captain wants another weapon. It’s not our place to question him.”
Fucker. I caught you red-handed.
“Right,” she agreed. “So he sent you into his quarters to retrieve it.”
Daniels scowled and pushed past her, striding out of the room. The door didn’t close behind him. Alexa turned, not wanting to lose sight of him. He was sneaking, like she was, but she didn’t know why he would be.
And that posed a problem. A big one.
If Daniels had an agenda, then they were bound to tangle. Why did he have an agenda? Was he looking for something of Hysterian’s or was he after the Cyborg like she was?
Alexa’s heart thundered. Were there others Hysterian had wronged? There had to be. She just never thought about it. Did everyone on the ship have an agenda?
Her eyes watered, staring at Daniels, unable to blink. Impossible.
But now Daniels had been caught, and cornered prey was the most likely to strike out. She finally blinked.
Daniels was halfway down the hallway toward the crew quarters when she spoke. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He stopped. “I’ll fucking kill you if you tell him,” he said, not turning back.
It wasn’t what she was expecting, but Alexa wasn’t surprised. “Tell me why you were really in his room.”
Shoulders stiff, his empty hands clenched at his sides. “None of your business, Dear. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut and stay out of my way. What I’m after doesn’t concern you.” He started walking again and went into his quarters, leaving her alone outside Hysterian’s room.
Alexa stood in the corridor for a few minutes, replaying what had just happened. Was there really someone else who had an ulterior motive? Though whatever Daniels was after, she had no idea whatsoever. If he wants Hysterian dead…then I might have an ally. Alexa shot down the thought the moment it went through her head.
I have no allies.
She couldn’t trust Daniels, not for a second. He could turn on her, use her, offer her up as a scapegoat if things went sour. And if Daniels had no intention of killing the Cyborg, she was practically putting herself naked on a platter if Daniels betrayed her.