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She tried not to flush and failed hard. “You catch on fast, huh?” she mumbled. She faced them better then tapped at her chest. “Dani.”

Their hand went to the center of her chest, two of their claws digging into her suit.

“Dani,” they said. They then touched their own chest and said a word that sounded like “Krix hiss.”

“Krix hiss?” she said.

“Krix…issss.”

“Krixis.”

They grunted. They pointed behind her. She followed their hand and saw a sign that said Crysis Labs but there was a slash across the C and the first S, like someone or something had taken a knife to it. So, the words looked like Kryxis.

“Ah, I see.”

Kryxis stalked over to a Marityne poster with the words “Growing together” on the bottom and gestured to a woman engineer in the center. “Dani,” they said.

“Yes, woman. That’s what I am. And you…?” She pointed to the statue of the four-armed man.

“Xa.Xalvrisha.”

So, they were male. Good to have that clarified at least. Now she really felt bad about seeing them…seeinghimas just some kind of creature. She really should have paid more attention in class when they went over his kind.

A sudden crackle broke the silence. Dani checked her garometer and saw it detected a new energy level within the room. A very low-level energy.

“You’ve got something living in here,” she remarked. She hobbled across the room following the detection. Not a bug, toolow for even that. She slipped past shelving units and stacked crates until the crackling grew louder. She came upon the body of one of Marityne’s cybernetic metal skeletons. At its feet was a small cylinder glass container.

Dani picked it up and cried out in delight. “You’ve got plant-life!” Like a giddy child, she turned the container in her hands, realizing it was some kind of growth tank, with a little light at the top and droplets of water on the glass. The plant was dark green with red stripes down its leaves. She whirled around and found Kryxis right behind her. He took the tank from her to examine it himself.

“Itarak,” he said, tapping on the glass.

“Yes, plant. Where did you find it?”

He tapped on the plant again. “Plant. Cute?”

Dani couldn’t help smirking. “This one? Yes, it’s cute.”

“Dani like plant?”

“Dani like plant very much, yes,” she said. “Did you find it growing somewhere? Or was it in the growth tank when you found it?”

Instead of answering her, he offered a hand to her. “Cisa, xi mak xes.”

Dani glanced down at his hand. Should she trust him now or not?

He hadn’t done anything too suspicious yet. So far, he was playing nice, so maybe she was willing to give him a chance…

Still, she hesitated, unable to forget the time he had grabbed her inside the ship with that same hand, picking her up off her feet. He was acting so different now she really did wonder if security had iced a different vrisha after all and he was a twin.

But no, it had to be him.

Cautiously, she set her hand in his. “Nice,” she said, exhaling slowly.

“Niiccceee,” he hissed. His hand encircled her wrist. “Cisa, lillak.” Gripping her firmly, he led her away from the skeleton and toward another side of the room. There he slid away a large metal slab to reveal a hidden doorway.

Before she could ask where it went, he was picking her up again and carrying her down the dark passageway. She tensed in his grip, about to protest that she didn’t need to be carried and could walk fine—but remembered that wasn’t true, and he was practically flying down the passage. They passed by several doors until he stopped at one and opened it to reveal a staircase. He took her down until they slipped out another door and into a wide tunnelway. There were little lights along the floor to guide their way, which meant a generator must be running somewhere, which would also explain why Kryxis had power in the building above.

Nothing stirred here thankfully, no bugs or anything, probably because Kryxis scared them off just with his presence alone.