Страница 9 из 43
“You’re a very handsome guy, Kila. What do you want me to say? Of course I find you attractive. Of course I feel something. But if you’re determined to ignore me, then its best we don’t talk about it, don’t you think? Besides, we have to work together,” I say the words as evenly as possible, and I pull my wrist out of his hand. He stares at me as though I slapped him.
Just then, Pakka pops his head into the hallway and barks, “Kila! I must speak with you immediately.”
I slip further away from Kila and call over to Pakka. “Hey, do you have things under control for the rest of the day? I’ve got to speak to Jen before I head out.”
Pakka nods, eyeing Kila suspiciously. Oh, he knows. “See you tomorrow, Ella-vi,” he says.
“Bye,” I squeak out before turning to hustle down the halls. There is shouting coming from Jen’s office, so I wait outside by her secretary’s desk and get myself under control. Hassan, her over-worked twenty-year-old minion, just glances at me.
“You alright?” he asks. “You look like you sprinted here.”
“Fine, fine,” I pant. He watches me with narrowed eyes for a moment and then swivels away in his chair, apparently deciding he doesn’t have time to discover what the heck is wrong with me.
“The next time you come in this office, you better have a goddamn good reason why, Miikra!” Jen calls out as her door swings open. The Sciva that nearly squashed Kila and I moments ago in the hallway emerges looking extremely disgruntled. Well, they usually look disgruntled, so I can’t be sure.
Once he’s gone, his thumping steps receding, Jen notices me lurking outside the door. “Ella? What is it?”
“We gotta talk,” I say.
“Oh, great,” she mutters, and waves me into the office.
I follow her and shut the door.
“What is it?” she asks. “I thought things were going alright. Are they still not accepting the idea of having a Handler around? Just say the word and I’ll go in there and kick some gray Kar’Kali ass.”
“No, that’s not it. Something… Well, something weird is going on.”
“Something weird, huh? Tell me something I don’t know. Miikra is up my ass because his lab is across from a Verguli lab, and he’s claiming their natural scent smells like Sciva piss. But I can’t move either of them, because they’ve both spent weeks setting up equipment and arranging samples in their spaces. The Scivas can’t stand to be there, and the Verguli seem to think it’s hilarious, so they go stand in the lab while the Scivas are on lunch just to get a laugh.” She’s waving her arms around like a lunatic. “So go ahead, tell me what weird shit is going on with you.”
“Uh, how do I say this? One of the Kar’Kali guys… He has a little bit of a crush on me. And I think it’s freaking him out. Like seriously freaking him out.”
Jen blinks, dropping her arms. She stands like that for a beat, and then bursts out laughing. After she’s gone on like that for a moment, she coughs a bit and then says, “Wow, and I really thought when I took this job that I’d be focusing on important scientific discoveries. But okay, let’s talk about the repressed alien that has a boner for you.”
I summarize what happened for her, and she juts out her bottom lip thoughtfully.
“The thing is that Kar’Kali have these suppressors implanted in infancy. I’m not sure what could possibly cause his to stop working, and I know for a fact there’s no way any Earthly factors could disrupt them. The technology is insanely advanced. The controllers on Kar’Kal that monitor the population-wide hormone fluctuations can transmit data across many galaxies,” she explains.
“How do you know?” I ask, feeling like an idiot when compared to Jen’s encyclopedic knowledge.
“The Azza have taken Kar’Kali prisoners of war before, and ended up transporting them deep behind enemy lines. Apparently, they’ve conducted experiments before, trying to remove or tinker with the suppressors of their prisoners. But until the suppressors are destroyed or the prisoner is killed, the Kar’Kali back at base are still able to track the location and hormone levels of the soldiers. It allowed them to pin-point some enemy targets for a while, a couple hundred years back, but the Azza have learned their lesson and they don’t take many Kar’Kali prisoners anymore.”
I shiver, wondering what other horrible things the Azza have done.
“Moral of the story,” Jen continues, “Is that it might be a pretty bad sign that your little Kar’Kali boyfriend is able to get a boner for you.”
Goosebumps spread over my skin. “You mean something bad happened? Something happened to the Kar’Kali base that controls their suppressors? You’re sure there’s no way it’s just… acting up? You’re sure it’s not normal for them to have a little mishap every once in a while?”
“Ella, I’m going to have a plaque made for you. Because you are without a doubt the first being in thousands of years to cause a Kar’Kali erection. Deviants not included, mind you.” She fumbles around her desk drawers until she finds a glass bottle full of amber liquid. It’s a bottle of whiskey. “I know it’s not Friday yet, but I have a headache and I am trying not to panic.”
“Panic? Should we panic?” I run my hands through my hair shakily.
The office door rattles open, shaking from the force of Pakka’s fist. He practically vibrates on the threshold. “Do not panic, females, but something is very, very wrong.”
“Pakka,” Jen says firmly, “Sit the hell down and have a drink.”
Pakka looks incredulous, but the power of Jen’s intensity seems to work on him. He shuts his mouth, stalks over to the seat beside me, and sits down. Jen finds three glasses and starts pouring whiskey for all of us.
“Is this mind-altering?” Pakka asks before accepting the glass.
“Just drink it,” Jen demands, “And then tell me what you know about Kila’s suppressor issue.”
He stares at her as though she has mind-reading abilities, and then gulps down a sip of the whiskey. His scrunched-up face says everything about what he thinks of the bitter alcohol.
“Kila’s hormones are wild,” he says hoarsely. “I have finally been able to scan him with the new sca
“Authorities? Kila won’t get in trouble, will he? He didn’t do anything wrong,” I say quickly.
Pakka sighs. “Do not worry yourself, Ella. I know this.”
Jen shifts forward in her seat and takes a long swig of her whiskey. “Have you sca
He shakes his head. “I asked the others to escort Kila back to our living quarters, so that he ca
“He’s not a prisoner,” I argue. “You’re going to lock him up because he likes how I look? Don’t you think that’s a bit of an overreaction?”
“You do not understand,” he snaps. “His levels today are well out of range for a properly suppressed Kar’Kali male, but they are nowhere near historic mating call levels. He ca
“This is wrong,” I say, pushing away my untouched glass of whiskey. “He’s obviously already in pain over it. You’re going to make him feel even worse, cooping him up like that. And anyways, if it’s been thousands of years then how do you even know what the historic levels are?”
Pakka opens his mouth to angrily reply, but Jen cuts us both off. “CHILDREN!” She snaps her fingers in front of our faces. “Both of you need to get a grip.”