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I struggled to breathe and he held me gently, leaning over me with that kind expression on his face and too many moons behind him. And his tentacles wrapped around me with the sweetness of a thousand forehead kisses.

“Draw in air,” he said, kindly.

As if I’d ever stopped? The water’s movement against my splinted leg was agonising, and something brushed against my back. Alarm spurted through me. I jackknifed, and spots swam over my vision.

The sense of being submerged, of water rushing and his body moving beside mine, made the panic flutter. I clutched at him. Darkness, cool water, stinging bubbles. Above me the moons appeared distorted, but the light travelled through the water in a way that didn’t make sense, exposing endless purple depths and silhouetting underwater forests far away. My heart was hitting my ribs like my ex smashing thering for servicebell.

“We have a little distance to travel now,” he said. “Remain not panicking.”

I could hear him talking underwater. Somewhere, in the back of my brain, I realised how deeply fucked up that was. But the majority of my mind was taken up by the fact that we wereunderwaterand going deeper at a rate that I suspected wasn’t good for my poor, up-fucked body.

We turned a corner and the moon was suddenly gone, but a soft green glow came from somewhere that I couldn’t see. He was still swimming. He didn’t know I couldn’t breathe water. I was going to drown. Alien man was going to drown me.

I tried to kick my good leg and felt his attention on me. But if we could gofaster, maybe I’d live. Maybe. A bubble escaped my mouth and I watched it vanish into the dark water above me.

And then we ran into the faintest barrier, and the water was left behind.

I sucked in air, grabbing hold of the stone lip of the cave entrance. Green lights, steel, shelves full of wicker baskets that were neatly labelled in a curving, fluid-looking writing I couldn’t read. A big, messy net puddled to the side. Beakers and glass science-y stuff sat along one wall. Tanks of some sort of fish were stacked, the creatures staring at me in their individual glass houses. I didn’t know enough about caves to know if it was natural, but it wasbig.Not like, stage-a-concert big. As in, could fit a family of five and still have pets sort of big.

With his tentacles still wrapped gently around me, he climbed out of the water. “It is with much courage that you swam,” he said, smiling at me. “Allow me to provide you with A Medication That Is Similar To Opiates Not Yet Identified In Your Language.”

I couldn’t speak. I didn’t have the air, or the backbone, or something. He rolled me onto a steel platform and the green glow above me increased. A dark green metallic disc thing floated above me.

“There will be no pain from my medical treatment,” he said, and he put on glasses.

Glasses.

I lay back and let the darkness take me.

chaptertwo

irosabsuul

Her oxygen levels were good,and her injuries extensive but not medically significant. Satisfied it was the pain that had resulted in her loss of consciousness, I checked her weight, metabolism, and species information against the Blue Tipped Keldra serum to make sure I hadn’t miscalculated.

I wasqualifiedto do this, but notpracticed.If she’d been awake, it would have been much more comfortable. I could have provided her with the serum and she could’ve taken it, or not. And even knowing that her species didn’t use their oral opening for recreation and reproduction the way mine did, it still felt unethical to put my digits on her jaw and ease her lips apart.

Drawing in a deep breath, I took the dropper, administered the dose, and was glad when my mind didn’t sexualise her.

While the pain medication did its work, I assessed the damage again on the scanner. She’d been sent for a reason. Everyone was. She’d move on to the city. She’d do something that would help sustain the Centre. This was a small notation on the tertiary level of my job. Sometimes, a being would be in need who was not within my usual role. I wasn’t going to turn them away.

Her damaged limb was stiff, with brittle bones. Her feet showed harm done by improper foot positioning, and my quick study showed little pieces of cartilage growing where they shouldn’t be. What had she done to her poor feet before landing here? Furthermore, her hormones were out of balance, and there were nonlethal but troublesome cysts on her ovaries that would cause her significant discomfort monthly.

That needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. But she’d come to me because of her leg and sore chest, so I focused on those concerns. There wasn’t much I could do about her bruised ribs except marvel at the way her species had evolved such a flawed spine. But her leg I wrapped in bright, fresh Volett leaf, then tied and set beneath a light cast. It would take her a few weeks to heal, but that would hold it still, and the Volett would protect the muscles while she held the limb immobile and encourage blood flow. And if the Refugee Support Services arrived before then, they’d equip her with the higher tech version of what I’d just done.

I spent some time looking at her toes, each one like a little, only barely functional limb. I wondered what her home planet was like. To have existed without the universal translator, either she was incredibly wealthy…or unbelievably impoverished.

Her eyes fluttered open and I braced myself for her fear as her eyes ran over the contents of my lab. She probably hadn’t been able to think very clearly before.

“Good sunup,” she said, then scrubbed her hand over her face with those strangely firm fingers that I didn’t stare at. “My body is a large amount less painful. I am happy.”

She didn’t look happy, but I was familiar with the translator’s quirks, and knew many of our languages included reassuring phrases that didn’t necessarily translate well. “Your leg has been treated. It will heal over the coming weeks. For now, try to let it rest.”

She nodded, scooting over to the edge of the bed. “I must be rocked as intercourse,” she said. “Because my pain is greatly reduced. The fish look low temperature.”

Why she spoke of intercourse so often I was unsure, but I gathered it was another, albeit unusual, turn of phrase. I offered her my arm to lean on and brought her over to the bio-recovery area. She hobbled along beside me, her gaze everywhere, her words coming fast and making only limited sense. I stopped listening to the exact terms she used, but instead watched her round, pink face flushed with increase blood flow as she laboured to get around.

Her happy noises were pleasant.