His own capsule appeared completely dark from my room—the glass too opaque to see through.
“Yes,” he said, obviously not finding anything wrong with that.
“All the time?” I couldn’t recall every embarrassing thing I might have done while thinking I was alone, but that was not the point anyway. I thought I’d had privacy, when in fact I had none.
“I watched you whenever I could.” He went to the door identical to my bathroom door.
“Why?”
“I had to make sure you were safe.”
I folded my arms across my chest. Irritation and embarrassment stirred inside me, but I forced them down. Getting angry with him wouldn’t accomplish anything when he clearly didn’t understand my take on it. Just like with the weekly sessions in the mess hall, he believed he was doing the right thing.
“The only reason I made it to the airlock in time last night,” he added, “was because I noticed you weren’t in your room when I was going to bed.”
I tried to see this through his eyes. At the same time, I wished he would understand my feelings as well.
“You should have told me I was being watched.”
He stopped in front of the bathroom door.
“Why?”
“So, that I knew.” How would one explain the concept of privacy to someone obviously unfamiliar with it? “I’m sure I did things I didn’t want you to see. Maybe even some embarrassing things. I would have acted differently had I known you were watching me.”
“You did nothing embarrassing.” He waved me off.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve walked around naked a few times.”
“You have. But you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You look good naked.”
“It’s not about that. It’s just that...” I rubbed my face in frustration. “Anyway, spying on people is wrong. Watching them undress when they are not aware of being watched is also wrong. Okay?”
“Okay. So, next time I’m watching you, I’d have to tell you about it first. Would that make it better?”
Well, it was better than nothing.
“Ideally you wouldn’t watch me at all. But if you must, yes, at least let me know what you’re doing.”
He nodded, moving to the wall with charts. “We need to get going, now.”
I stepped away from the glass.
“Where to?”
“Out of here. Eventually, Crux will send more people to investigate what happened to those who were supposed to retrieve you. If he’s been looking for weapons, he may order to search my room, too.”
“Where will we go?”
“Here.” He ripped one of the large drawings off the wall. “This is the latest map of the inhabited segment of the Dark Anomaly.” He pointed at the section along the arch in the drawing. “Here is the kitchen. The mess hall. This is the main corridor. And we are here. See? These shaded areas are the cavities inside the crashed ships. Some formed between the hulls when two or more spacecraft crashed onto each other.”
“How often does that happen? The crashes?”
“We get a few a year, all around the outer edge of the Anomaly’s disk. As soon as the crash happens in our section, we cut through the hull then weld the new ship solid with the rest. If it’s a large spacecraft, I order the oxygen supply and ventilation system expanded into it. If it’s a smaller one, like yours, we just cut openings in a way that ensures the best air circulation inside it.”
“What happens to those that crash outside of your sector?”
“We use the spacesuits to travel along the outer edge of the Anomaly and collect whatever we can salvage from them.”
“So, the gravity doesn’t squish you on the outside?”
“Not if you’re on the surface, no. Only if you build up some distance from it, it reins you back in with a vengeance.”
“Do you know exactly what distance that is?” Even if I never fully explained the mystery of the Anomaly, I couldn’t stop trying to solve it. I kept collecting every bit of information I could find.
“I believe there is no exact distance.”
“What do you mean?”
“From the data we have from the crashed ships, not all of them travelled at the same distance from the Anomaly when they got sucked in. Some were fairly far away.”
“I know I was.” I believed I was safe even as the crash happened.
“Right. The Anomaly’s gravity acts in a similar way to a star’s energy, with flares that reach out into space at irregular intervals.”
I’d had the same idea myself. Which meant the reach of the Anomaly’s gravity field was even wider than my research team thought.
“So, this...mass is sitting there, like a giant squid deep in the ocean, and it throws out tentacles to capture unsuspecting travellers.”
“Not exactly a squid, more like a whirlpool in space,” Vrateus said. “It spins, drawing the spacecraft in, compacting them into a disk in the center of its force field. The ships crash along the edge. They then get compressed closer together over time. See?” Vrateus placed the paper in his hands over another similar drawing on the wall. “This one was made by one of the earlier dwellers of the Dark Anomaly, someone who died way before my ship crashed here.” I could see the older drawing through the paper of the newest one, backlit by the Anomaly’s lights. Vrateus circled a few shaded sections with his finger. “The cavities within the ships have been getting smaller with time.” He moved his finger along the radius down to the peak of the segment on the map. “Closer to the center of the Anomaly, all spaces between the walls eventually disappear completely. The ships end up being squished together with no cavities left inside or in between.”
He glanced my way.
“I suspect the middle of the disk is compressed so hard that all materials merge. Particles of all substances squeeze between each other, creating a homogenous mass of a high-density material which may be in a liquid state.”
“Have you ever gone that way? To the center?”
“Not too far. But when I was little, I climbed through the cavities inside the ships and between them as far as I could squeeze through. At some point, I remember hearing the metal groan, as the Dark Anomaly crushed and compressed the ships deep inside it. I felt the vibrations through the walls, too.”
I stared at him, imagining the little boy wiggling his way through the metal body of the Anomaly. It was a miracle he didn’t get trapped somewhere.
“And on the surface?” I asked.
“When we go outside, we only travel along the edge.”
“You’ve never explored the rest of the surface of the disk? To see if you could travel to the center from the outside?”
“No. You can see from the edge that the middle is not flat like the rest of the Anomaly. The center of it is bulging out like a sphere. If the material there is liquid, it could also be hot and dangerous. Life around here is all about survival. I can’t afford to send people exploring just for the sake of exploration.”
“I understand.”
He ripped all drawings off the wall. “We better take them all with us, no need to leave Crux a map on how to follow us.”
He rolled the drawings together then took a tablet frame and gathered a few opaque inserts from the desk and the bed.
“These, too.” He retrieved a long leather bag from a trunk by the wall, packing everything in it, then added a coil of thin rope and a change of clothes. “I’ll get us some water.”
With two canteens in his hands, Vrateus went to the bathroom.
“Can you grab some blankets, please?” he shouted over the noise of running water.
“Sure.” I looked around in search of them.
The fur spread on his bed was soft and luxuriously decadent. Its red color changed to bright orange and yellow in my hands when I picked it up. Despite being thick and fluffy, it took little space when I rolled it into a bundle and stuffed it into the bag.
“You like pretty things,” I observed when Vrateus walked out
of the bathroom.
“As long as they’re also functional.” He handed me the filled canteens to put in the bag. “Come.”
Taking the bag from me, he picked up the metal-cutting tool then headed back to the bathroom.
“That way?” I asked, confused.
“We need to get more weapons, remember?”
“In the bathroom?”
“Not exactly.” He lifted a piece of wall paneling, revealing a hidden door behind it.
“Is that where your weapon storage is?” I gasped. “Crux would love to know that.”
“He might still figure it out.” Vrateus entered the hidden room, gesturing for me to follow. “Maybe.”
The room behind the door was at least ten times larger than the bathroom. Shelves lined the walls, displaying a collection of weapons that would make any museum proud. The earliest models Vrateus had might have been millennia old. Though I couldn’t date them accurately, as many seemed entirely unfamiliar.
I recognized a toolbox from my ship standing in a corner.
Vrateus locked the door behind us.
“Let’s see.” He took a leather belt with holsters from a peg on the wall then turned to me. “This should fit you.”
Leaning over, he wrapped the belt around my waist then buckled it in the front. “These go here.” He slid a small gun into the holster on my left then put a slim knife into the sheath on the right. “And this will go here.” He took a cluster of narrower belts with a sheath. Getting down on one knee, he wrapped the belts around my right thigh.
“I’m not sure how to use any of these.”
“You did pretty good out there.” He tipped his head toward the corridor that must still be littered with dead aliens. I had shot some of them. The reality of me being a murderer still hadn’t settled in. “This gun is like the one you’ve used.” He took the small weapon out of its holster on my belt then showed me how to use it, explaining its parts. “Shoot from a distance,” he added. “Aim for their face, neck or stomach. Most of the species have thinner skin, smaller scales or a finer chitin layer in those areas.”
He placed the gun back into its holster. Sliding his fingers around my leg, he adjusted the straps of the dagger sheath around my thigh next.
The sudden awareness of his hands skimming the inside of my thigh sent a warm shiver up my body. He must have sensed it too, as his fingers stilled on the strap.
His hand splayed on the back of my thigh, he released a shuddered breath, letting his head drop between his shoulders.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, my voice unintentionally breathy.
“Now, more than ever, I need to be fully alert. But you’re such a distraction, Svetlana,” he groaned.
It didn’t come out as an accusation. Still, I felt a pang of guilt. The image of him chugging the poisoned wine after my failed escape attempt rose in my mind.
“I’ve been wreaking havoc on your world, haven’t I?”
“You have no idea,” he growled.
“I’m really sorry about how it all happened. I didn’t know that Crux would use my escape attempt as a distraction and strike against you.”
“I’m not blaming you for my lapse in caution.”
“For what then?”
He lifted his gaze, meeting mine.
“For everything that has been happening inside me.” A storm was churning in his vivid eyes.
“What would you have me do to change that?” I asked quietly.
“I don’t want to change a thing, Svetlana. From the moment you arrived, you’ve scrambled my thoughts, deprived me of focus, and wreaked havoc on my body.” He remained on one knee in front of me, his hands splayed on my thigh. “There is a pleasure in this torture, though. I don’t understand it, but I don’t want it to end. In fact, I crave more of it.”
I stared down at his face, confusion visible in his hard features. His physical reactions weren’t surprising. If I was the first woman he had ever encountered, some surge of hormones, pheromones, or physical desire on his part could be expected.
What had been shocking were my own feelings for him. The initial resentment had disappeared, slowly replaced by desire. Now, the genuine attraction was growing strong inside me.
I craved more of him, too.
He slid his hand down, to the back of my knee. My skin inside my suit tingled from the warmth of his palm. Suddenly, I knew what about his touch was so incredible—the gentle reverence with which he treated my body—even when he had touched me for the entertainment of others. I always sensed that, for him, every moment with me was special. He had made it intimate, even when we’d been surrounded by hundreds of sex-starved males.
I hovered my hand next to his face then gently placed it on his shoulder instead.
“I like you, Vrateus,” I confessed. “I tried not to. I didn’t believe it was right for me to have any kind of sympathy or attraction for you. But I ended up having both.”
With a long exhale, he pressed his forehead to my belly.
“You can’t imagine how good it feels to hear that from you. I’ve sensed your animosity with my skin.”
“It wasn’t for you, Vrateus, but for this entire situation. I dislike being put on display for your crew. For me, the intimate touch between two people is not supposed to be shared with anyone else. If the intimacy is real, it shouldn’t be for the entertainment of others. That was probably why it felt so exceptionally wrong—because with you, it did feel real.”
“You should have told me that sooner.” He gazed up at me.
“I’m afraid I couldn’t have properly explained it before.”
“It won’t happen again.” Determination flashed in his eyes.
“But it has to.” I cupped his face, gently tracing the sharp ridge of his cheekbone with my thumb. “I understand now why you did it. It’s survival, Vrateus. We both need to do what we have to do to survive.”
Chapter 19
INSTEAD OF GOING BACK through the doors, Vrateus used the tool to cut out an opening in the back wall of his weapon storage room. We exited into a narrow tunnel behind it then climbed through the crumpled bowels of the Anomaly.
I held up a piece of the thin rope he’d cut from the coil in the bag. As soon as he’d cut it off, the piece glowed bright blue, lighting our way.
Using the tool and consulting the map from time to time, Vrateus cut through the walls that blocked our way, opening a section of a ship or a sealed tunnel between two hulls, allowing us to keep going.
“We should be close,” he muttered under his breath, setting the tool down and taking the bag off his shoulder.
“Close to where?” I asked since he still hadn’t shared our final destination with me. The habit of being on his own and doing everything alone obviously wasn’t that easy to shake off for him.
He pointed at the map. “I slept in this space often when I was younger. It’s just behind the library. We’ll need to turn here.”
He folded the map, then picked up the bag and the cutting tool.
After another turn, we squeezed between two wall panels into a small room with no doors or windows.
No one must have used it since Vrateus. It was empty and clean of any garbage.
“You’ve slept here?”
“Sometimes.” He tossed the tool aside then took the blanket out of the bag. “There was no library back then. Just a storage room full of stuff looted from ships. Right behind here.” He splayed his hand on one of the walls.
“How old were you?”
“Eight, when I first got to the Dark Anomaly.”
“That small?” My breath caught in my throat. “What happened to the rest of those who were on your ship? Did anyone else survive the crash?”
“Some. But not for long.” His jaw flexed. “I’ll need to go out, now,” he changed the subject. “You’ll wait here—”
“Wait, what?” I grabbed his arm. “You want me to stay here, while you’re out there alone? Facing hundreds of hostile aliens?”
/>
He widened his stance.
“The aliens you’re talking about are my crew.”
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t hostile. Didn’t some of them nearly cut your head off back there?” I gestured toward my room. “Listen, let me come with you. After all, why dress me up?” I gestured at the weapon holsters strapped to my waist and thigh. “If I don’t even get to use these?”
“The weapons are for your protection,” he replied, somberly. “In case someone finds their way here.”
“Come on, I can be useful, Vrateus.” The thought of him going out there on his own filled me with dread. “You never know, you may even enjoy having someone watch your back.”
“I...” He raked his claws through the soft curl of fur over his head, pushing it back only for it to fall back down again as soon as he released it. “If you come with me, I’d be terrified for you. It’d distract me, risking possibly getting both of us killed.”
His expression was pleading, making me ease off with my demand.
“What are you planning to do out there?” I asked.
“Just a brief reconnaissance trip. I need to know how things are out there before coming up with a plan.”
“Promise not to start a war all by yourself.”
My words made him smile. “I’m not even planning to show my face to anyone, yet. Promise, no war.”
“Good.” I nodded, clasping my hands in front of me. “How are you getting out of here?”
Crouching by the bag, he opened the map again, pointing at the place a couple turns back.
“I’ll retrace our steps to this spot here. See this corner? Where the hulls of two ships smashed together? If I cut an opening here, this part would hide it from view of anyone in the corridor.”
I stared at the map, already silently praying for his safe return.
He picked up the tool again, heading to the tunnel.
“Vrateus...” I stopped him with my hand on his sleeve.
He looked over his shoulder.
Rising on my tiptoes, I placed a quick kiss on the ridge of his cheekbone. “Please be careful.”
His eyes glistened fiery orange in the blue light of the string.
Gravity (Dark Anomaly Book 1) Page 15