“I am, now that I have a routine and a set sleep schedule.”
He nodded. “Then it’s settled. After my rounds on the bridge, I shall escort you.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“If I may impose on your appreciation…” A mischievous glint made his eyes shine. “Allow me to inform Doctor Gyan you will not visit the infirmary tomorrow.”
“If you want.”
“I do.”
“Have at it.” She made an offering gesture.
With a brief shake of his head, he said, “Not now. I would not interrupt our dinner or his. I will inform him in the morning. Personally.”
She chuckled, imagining Captain Kader and Doctor Gyan facing off over monopolizing her time. Not her. Never her. While Doctor Gyan’s interest was purely scientific, and he always had something new he wanted to know, she got the feeling the act of annoying Doctor Gyan motivated Captain Kader’s request.
She wouldn’t allow herself to believe otherwise because that would get her hopes up needlessly. Wouldn’t it be nice if jealousy did prompt Captain Kader’s actions? Not that she wanted anyone fighting over her or because of her.
She wagged her finger at Captain Kader and said, “No dominance displays. The infirmary doesn’t need any more dents in the floor.”
“As you request,” he said with a bow of his head.
The formality of his response seemed to imply his acquiescence held significance. Or was her imagination working overtime?
“Doctor Gyan said warriors have a really high tolerance for pain.”
“We are trained to, yes.”
“Trained to? How?”
“Cadets are subjected to it constantly and in ever-increasing levels until pain is something they no longer fear nor does it hinder them in battle. Those who pass the training become fighters. Those who do not become security.”
“Is that why there are so many females in security?”
“No. All female cadets inevitably become fighters and then warriors. All. No female would enter into such training lightly and without the conviction to succeed. It is the males who underestimate the cadet training simply because of the females in the warrior ranks.”
“Serves them right. I don’t know about your females, but human women automatically have a higher threshold for pain than men. We have to. We give birth.”
“Khartarn females are the same. Our enemies have learned to fear our female warriors more than the males. They are lighter, faster, and much more lethal. What they lack in strength they make up for in sheer relentlessness.”
The pride in his voice indicated he was speaking of a specific female, pricking her jealousy. “Speaking of someone in particular?”
“My sister. We entered cadet training together, and she bullied me into enduring.”
“I can’t imagine anyone bullying you.”
“And thus you understand how truly fear-inspiring my sister is, because no one would dare bully me, then or now, but her.” A gentle smile curved his lips.
“Do you keep in touch?”
His smile dropped and his tail swished quickly. “No. Not since I became captain of this ship.”
Semeera sensed an end to the topic and let it go. She didn’t like to pry and got the feeling going further—or trying—would ruin the evening. “So how many dents have you and your pain-resistant tail put in the ship?”
Captain Kader grinned slowly. “I do not count. I have received several carefully worded complaints from my repair crew, that I’ve thoroughly ignored over the years, about having to fix the dented floor plates.”
“Giving them something to do?”
“I see it that way, yes. The damage I inflict on my ship is on average with other captains and, in some cases, much less. They should thank me for my restraint.”
“You could hit the floor softer and not dent it at all.”
“I could also hit the floor harder and require the panels be replaced instead of repaired.”
Jesus! Did her clit just twitch? And the temperature in the room went up a little, too. Since when did strength displays get her hot? Then again, the other reason she had let her gym membership lapse was because she couldn’t stop staring at the guys on the free weights long enough to actually exercise. The first reason being her issues with her ex.
She took a long drink of water and tried to ignore Captain Kader’s flicking tongue, hoping he didn’t smell her arousal. Or if he did, that he ignored it. Nothing to see here. Just a silly human having fanciful thoughts that would amount to nothing.
Standing quickly, she said, “Dinner was delicious, Captain Kader. Thanks for sharing it with me.”
“And to you the same, Artist Sssemeera.” He stood as well.
She nodded to him and stepped back from the table. “Good night. I’ll see you in the morning for my tour.”
“You will. Good night.”
She turned away and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as naturally as possible.
Don’t run. Don’t run. Don’t run.
And stop swaying your hips so damn much!
Semeera sauntered from the table to her room. There was no other word for it. Captain Kader was watching her, so she played to her audience.
Once she was behind her closed bedroom door, she groaned over her flirty behavior. What was wrong with her? She needed to stop making a fool of herself before Captain Kader caught on and put her in a room as far away from him as possible. The last thing he probably wanted was a human mooning over him.
Chapter 8
A nervous Semeera waited, perched on the edge of her bed, for Captain Kader to come and start the tour the next morning. She’d spent the whole night chastising herself until she fell asleep and then woke up to warn herself away from any and all stupid behavior while on the tour. She’d even toyed with the idea of calling it off but decided to let it happen after she’d pretty much guilt-tripped Captain Kader into offering.
The knock on her door made her yelp.
“Artist Sssemeera, are you well?” Captain Kader’s voice was devastating to her senses as usual.
She rushed to the door and opened it, plastering a smile on her face. “Good morning. I’m fine. You just startled me.”
“Forgiveness.”
“No. No. It’s fine. I was lost in thought, thinking about nothing and everything.” She stepped out of her room, which meant stepping closer to Captain Kader, who didn’t back up. She tamped down the urge to press against him. “Shall we start the tour?”
“Yes.” He stepped back and to the side and gestured to the door. “Where would you like to start?”
“The bridge. I’m really curious about your setup. I’m betting it’s not as cramped and full of blinking lights and buttons as what humans currently have.”
“It is not.” Captain Kader led the way through halls that emptied as he neared.
Semeera couldn’t tell if everyone was trying to appear busy because the boss was coming or if they were taking themselves out of the line of fire, as it were. Either scenario was equally plausible and sexy. She felt as if nothing could touch her so long as she walked beside Captain Kader. That level of safety was a huge turn-on.
And she really needed to stop thinking like that or else she would end up embarrassing herself.
To get her mind off naughty thoughts, she asked, “Was Doctor Gyan upset when you told him I wasn’t coming today?”
A grin that could only be described as evil settled on Captain Kader’s face, making her shiver. He said in a triumphant tone, “The doctor was not happy but saw the necessity of this outing.”
“And did your tail happen to make a dent in the floor that helped convince him?”
“It did not. My words were enough.”
She would bet his words had been full of veiled threats. It would really be flattering if she didn’t feel like a toy caught between two boys who didn’t want to share. But she said nothing about it. The issues Captain Kader and Doct
or Gyan had with each other were based on their society’s caste system. Grudges like that were indoctrinated over generations. A stern talking-to wouldn’t make them see reason.
Smoothing Doctor Gyan’s ruffled feathers would be a task for the following day. She boarded an elevator to the bridge, and it dropped so fast Semeera grabbed onto Captain Kader’s arm without thinking. And she was a little frazzled when the elevator finally slowed and then stopped. “Holy crap, that was scary.”
“You are perfectly safe, Artist Sssemeera,” he reassured her in a soothing tone.
“Does it always move that fast? And why did we go down and not up?”
“Yes. The bridge is in the middle of the ship.”
“The middle?”
He pressed a button and the elevator doors slid open.
Semeera released him quickly and stepped out to face the stares of twenty or so surprised khartarns.
Captain Kader stepped out behind her, urging her forward with a gentle nudge to give him room.
She whispered an apology and moved to the side, but her full attention was for the layout of the bridge.
It was a circular room with giant monitors that started at eye level—her eye level—and stretched up the dome-shaped ceiling, reminding her of an IMAX theater. There were three tiers, one inside the other like an upside-down wedding cake, descending. In front of the workstations that lined the walls of each tier, khartarns sat with their tails wrapped around the base of their stools.
The top level where Semeera stood had four doors equidistant apart, separating the workstations as well as the captain’s chair. She assumed it was his chair since it was big, had lots of empty space around it, and no one else was sitting in it. The bottommost level held nothing. It was just a round area, which seemed a waste, given how crowded the workstations appeared.
Captain Kader cleared his throat.
A male nearby flinched and jumped to his feet before saying in a loud voice, “Captain on the bridge.”
Semeera mumbled, “I’m pretty sure everyone figured that out already.”
She thought she heard a few snickers after the statement she hadn’t meant anyone to overhear.
Everyone jumped from their seats and snapped a quick salute that Captain Kader returned. They resumed their seats, still staring at her.
“You know about Artist Sssemeera, even if you haven’t seen her before now. Curiosity is to be expected. Rudeness will not be tolerated.” Captain Kader thumped his tail softly on the floor.
Softly for him. The loud thump startled Semeera and several others. She gave them an apologetic smile, knowing her presence was probably making their work environment more stressful than it usually was. Then again, with Captain Kader as their boss, anytime he was in the room was probably stressful, so her contribution maybe didn’t amount to much.
Several people turned back to their tasks while others continued to stare.
Ignoring everyone, she asked Captain Kader, “There are just monitors? No windows?”
“Windows would be impractical because we are situated in the middle of the ship and because they are a weak point in construction, an automatic target in an attack.”
“Ah. Makes sense.” She looked at the monitors again, which were currently blank. No stargazing on the job, she guessed. “Why the middle?”
“In this way, the bridge is the most heavily fortified. Should anything happen to the ship, the bridge is built to withstand damage and remain intact, acting as a command escape pod, automatically aiming for the closest safe harbor with all the ship’s data.”
“Like a giant black box. Neat.” When Captain Kader didn’t reply right away, she looked up at him.
He appeared to be listening to something. Probably an explanation from the translation program about what a black box was.
The translation program offered explanations from time to time when someone used a term or idiom that didn’t have a correlation in English. It made sense it would do the same going the other direction.
Captain Kader nodded. “Exactly like that.”
“Do you have a ready room?”
“Yes, this way.” He led the way around the room to the door directly across from the elevator entrance and opened it.
Semeera peered inside and was a little disappointed.
A desk and a chair sat in the cream colored, cube shaped room. And there was nothing on the desk.
Captain Kader gave new meaning to the concept of a spartan lifestyle.
“You need a picture or something in here to liven the place up. I’ve seen crypts cheerier than this.”
There were more soft snickers from behind her. She ignored them, as did the captain.
He asked, “Would you draw me one, then?”
“Sure. I’m an artist, after all. Graphic designer, actually, but I won’t quibble over semantics. What did you want? A landscape? A seascape? Geometric shapes in random patterns? Doctor Gyan’s portrait?”
Captain Kader hissed and snapped his tail to one side. “I will assume your last suggestion was meant as a joke and ignore it.”
She giggled softly.
“A spacescape featuring Earth.”
Immediately Semeera knew exactly what she would draw. The picture was clear in her mind because she’d seen photographs of it so many times before: Earth as seen from the moon. She tamped down the wave of homesickness the image invoked.
“Sure. I’ll need supplies.”
“Provide me a list and I shall have them ordered.”
“Will do.” She backed away from the doorway. “Where to next?”
Captain Kader gestured to the elevator door and then followed her as she headed back.
Before she stepped on, she waved to everyone. “Bye. Sorry for causing a disturbance.”
A few of them waved back.
The doors closed and Semeera grabbed the captain’s arm as a precaution.
He chuckled. “Where would you like to go?”
“I’m following you. Show me whatever.”
“Very well.” He tapped the wall and a symbol lit up a moment before the elevator shot upward.
Semeera whimpered as they left her stomach behind. She hated rollercoasters because of that sensation. When the elevator stopped, she sighed in relief.
“Forgiveness for your discomfort, Artist Sssemeera. We shall take a different way after this.”
“No, it’s okay. If this is the only way to get around, I’ll deal.”
“It’s not. Only the fastest. The other way requires a lot of walking.”
“Walking works for me. I love walking. I need the exercise anyway.”
The moment she stepped off the elevator someone yelled, “Captain on deck!”
Everyone in the room snapped to salute.
The “room” was actually a hangar with several vehicles parked in it. They resembled extra-large minivans with wings. There was also an even larger, sleek craft that couldn’t be anything except a fighter. Plus, the gun turrets gave it away.
Captain Kader gave the same speech and tail thump he’d done on the bridge, though most of the people in the hangar didn’t appear as surprised to see her.
The bridge crew had probably warned them. In fact, the entire ship was no doubt on alert, awaiting their arrival.
“The hangar,” Captain Kader said.
“I gathered.” She added a smile to lighten her words.
“Here are stored the transports used to travel to Home World as well as my fighter.”
“Your fighter?” She looked at the craft again with new appreciation. “It looks fast.”
Captain Kader regarded her for a moment. “It seats two. Would you care to see how fast it goes?”
Several people gasped. One crewman stepped forward with disbelief in his eyes. “Captain, that isn’t—”
A hiss from Captain Kader stopped the male cold. The captain’s features softened as he said to Semeera, “Forgiveness.”
She glanced between the crewman, who appea
red ready to risk saying his piece, and Captain Kader. With a wry smile, she said, “I can’t handle the elevator. What makes you think I would ever set one foot in that thing?”
Captain Kader grinned. “I would go slowly.”
“Uh-huh. Yeah, right.” She turned her attention to the transports. “So, you said those travel to Home World. Does that mean you never land the ship?”
“We cannot. It is not meant to. The propulsion would burn the atmosphere upon entry. The ships are built in space and stay in space.”
She looked around and didn’t see an opening big enough to allow any of the crafts to exit. “How do you get out of here?”
Captain Kader pointed to a wall. “There. It opens.”
“Opens? All the way? Wouldn’t everything and everyone get sucked out?” She knew the question was stupid the moment she uttered it. If that were the case, then no one would open the door. But she didn’t take it back.
“There is an atmospheric shield in place to keep that from happening. The same is present all over the ship, to contain hull breaches. I could have the door opened and show you.” He looked at the crewman who had spoken earlier.
Before anyone could jump to obey that order, she said quickly, “Pass.”
“You’re sure?”
“Very.” While she knew she was in space, a part of her was still in denial. Not having windows made that easier. Having a gaping hole open up and show her otherwise wasn’t something she could handle just yet. “Maybe next time. This is supposed to be a quick tour. I don’t want to take up your entire day.”
Captain Kader leaned down and said in a low voice only loud enough for her to hear, “My duties bore me. I would much prefer to do this. You would do me a great favor if you allow me to draw out this tour.”
She giggled softly, something she did a lot around Captain Kader. She felt like she was back in high school, flirting with the captain of the basketball team. Except, she wasn’t supposed to be flirting. “Sure, but not that way. Show me something fun.”
“Fun?” He straightened with a thoughtful frown. “There is the recreational facility, the gym, the—”
Alien Mate Experiment Page 9