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Calyx was across the room without knowing how he got there. He stood between Razili and Rahel, ready to defend her.

She stepped out from behind him and took a deep breath. Her lips trembled as she spoke, but her voice was sure and he couldn’t be more proud of her.

“Rahel, it’s imperative that I go. I will take every precaution, but I need to see what’s there. I need to test items to find what I’m looking for. It’s too important to leave to chance.”

The elder’s silver stripes flashed in the bright light despite being dulled with age. “Did you okay this plan of hers?”

Calyx looked between the Azar and Razili. “I’m not aware of any plan.”

Rahel crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Well, go ahead. Tell him.”

He saw her wince, but she smoothed her features before looking him in the eyes. “I need to go to Dunia Prime.”

A lightning bolt striking him would have felt better than the shock his nanites sent through his system. “No.”

Her brows slashed and a muscle in her jaw ticked.

“Look, I’m going, with or without your help.

” She turned back to Rahel. “There has to be some way to make it safer. We stay on the far side of the planet. Only scout a small area at a time. Set up perimeters.” She threw up her hands.

“I don’t know! Do whatever you military people do, but either way, I. Am. Going.”

She stormed away, leaving Calyx in shock. He’d never seen her so confrontational. He knew a lot was riding on her synthesis of the compound, but perhaps she was being pushed too hard. Rahel chuckled behind him.

“The ones who appear calm on the surface always have hidden depths.” He slapped his palm on Calyx’s shoulder. “The way she is treated will determine whether that fire is stoked, or doused.”

Calyx didn’t want to douse her fire. She’d been magnificent, standing up to two warriors twice her size. Her eyes flashed, her brown skin taking on a lovely pink hue. His cock filled, but he suppressed it. He’d take care of it later, as he’d done since he’d first seen Razili.

He jogged back to her lab. Empty. He turned and traced the familiar route to her rooms. Those were empty as well. On the verge of panic, he tore into the hangar bay.

Movement near his fighter caught his eye. Razili carried a small bag he assumed held her clothing and a large case he knew contained lab equipment. She struggled up the entrance ramp, her head darting in every direction.

After several, long minutes, she managed to get herself and her cases inside.

He wasn’t going to read anything into the fact that she’d chosen his fighter to steal.

He slipped in behind her, hiding himself behind a wall of storage.

She muttered to herself as she stared at the control panel.

He watched her wince and reach a finger as far from herself as possible to push a button.

Did she think the craft would explode if she chose wrong?

How in the stars did she think she would get the fighter off the deck? Much less into space?

Her entire body deflated in relief when the entrance ramp engaged and ascended, closing them in. She sat in the captain’s chair and he moved closer.

“Okay, step one finished. Now, how do I turn this thing on?” Her voice was low and she nibbled on her bottom lip as she scrutinized the control panel.

Her finger ran down the rows and columns of switches and lights in left to right, up to down, systematic fashion.

She reached the end and sank into the chair with a groan of frustration. “Why can’t there be a ‘start’ button?”

She started inspecting the control panel again, lingering on each longer this time, as if ‘start’ might appear beneath her finger.

Calyx put her out of her misery. “You won’t find a button labeled ‘start’.”

She whirled and skittered out of the chair, her hand held to her chest, eyes wide in panic. “Calyx, you scared the shit out of me!”

“I apologize.”

She groaned again, and his cock took notice.

“You’re not sorry. You’re here to stop me.” She turned her big, brown eyes to him. “I have to go. Don’t you understand?”

“I understand you’re under tremendous pressure, and you’ve been unsuccessful so far. I understand you believe you will find what you need for success on Dunia Prime.”

She nodded, which made the long braid she wore when she worked swing behind her.

“What I don’t understand,” he continued, “is why you feel you have to go. I’d be happy to gather what you need.” It would kill him, being away from her for that long, given rhun already wracked his body, but he would do it to keep her safe.

She stepped toward him and laid her hand on his forearm. The touch sent a shock through his system and short-circuited his brain. He fought to hear what she said.

“That’s just it. I don’t know what I’ll need. I have to go, because it’s the only way I’ll be sure I have the right samples.”

He moved away from her touch and into the co-pilot’s chair. His brain still came back online with difficulty. Scenarios, outcomes, and pitfalls ran through him in a cascade. She waited. After a few minutes, he nodded.

“We’ll go.”

She grinned, and he held out his hand.

“There are conditions.”

“Of course! Name them.”

“We’ll go alone—just the two of us. A small party is easier to hide, easier to maneuver, and easier to retreat if necessary.”

He waited for her nod of agreement.

“You will do as I say at all times.”

This nod was slower in coming.

“If I say we leave, it means right then. Not after you finish gathering a sample. Right. Then.”

She sighed. “Fine. But unless we’re in danger, I say when we leave. I don’t know how long I’ll need.”

He held his hand out to shake hers, a human custom that was quickly being adopted by Denchui space. “Agreed.”

She took it, another bolt of lightning searing through his nanites.

“Agreed.”

She moved behind the co-pilot’s chair, waiting for him to sit at the controls. He switched chairs, careful to avoid touching her again. Dunia Prime was four cycles away. He’d just willingly trapped himself inside a small ship with his rhun— who he couldn’t yet claim—for four cycles.

He let his head drop back and released a groan.

“What’s wrong?”

He snapped his head up and focused on getting them clearance and waking the craft to fly. He told her, “Nothing.”

Everything .

She couldn’t believe he’d agreed to take her. It wasn’t until they had left the surface of Corix 23, and he could no longer ditch her that she relaxed.

“You were worried I’d turn around?”

Why did he sound hurt? “It’s not like you volunteered.”

“No, but I told you in the hangar I would take you.”

She sighed and rubbed her temples. “Look, I know you don’t like me, and this isn’t your idea of a vacation, but it’s important that I go.”

He stared at her. She couldn’t work out what he was thinking.

His face was blank, but his eyes held a spark of something.

Amusement? Maybe he just had indigestion.

Who could tell with cyborgs? She wasn’t a nervous talker.

She was more the wallflower type. But something about the way he looked at her made her need to fill the silence. She determined to wait him out.

“I don’t dislike you, Razili.”

Oh. “That’s good.” She slumped in her seat. “I just thought since I’d been mean to you…”

He had that look again. Like he was computing the answer to the question of life.

“I have no record of you being unpleasant to me.”

She resisted rolling her eyes. Barely. She’d seen Trelxak have emotions, or at the very least, mimic them. So why did Calyx seem like he had no concept of the idea? No record of her…? Who talked like that? “When I told you to leave me alone? Repeatedly.”

He shook his head. “That was not mean, Razili. You were pointing out a flaw in my behavior.”

She rubbed her temples again. There was no point in trying to explain it. They’d be talking in circles the whole way to Dunia Prime.

“Are you ill?”

“What?” She knew she looked a little rundown after spending so many hours in the lab, but she didn’t think she looked sick.

“You keep rubbing your head. I’ve heard Willow talk of headaches and observed her making the same motions when she’s afflicted.”

She smiled. “No, I don’t have migraines like Willow. I’m just tired.” If there was one thing cyborgs were good at, it was observation. She’d need to remember that when they reached the planet. That talent would be useful.

“You should rest.”

He made his way to the back of the small craft. Without hesitation, he reached a hidden latch, pulled a lever, and a bed lowered from the wall. She gaped at it, and then at him. “How did you know that was there?”

A smile skated across his lips. “This is my fighter, Razili.”

She groaned. Of course, out of all the ships in the hangar, she’d choose his.

She should be grateful they wouldn’t need to figure out where everything was stored. She stared down at the bed, made up with blankets and pillows. He was undoing straps she assumed kept everything in place when it was stored inside the wall.

She wasn’t contemplating thread counts, though. “Is there another?”

His brows scrunched together. “Another what?”

“Bed.” She waved her hand at it.

“Is this one not acceptable?”

“No, it’s not that. It looks very comfortable. It’s just, where will you sleep?” It was a good-sized bed, spanning almost the entire width of the ship, but with how big he was, there’s no way they could share. Not without touching, anyway.

“On the outside edge, in case I am needed.”

“With me?” She didn’t realize her voice could hit that pitch.

“Yes, of course.” He paused to look around, but there were no other horizontal surfaces. “Where else?”

She couldn’t complain. She’d stolen his ship, and instead of getting mad, he’d agreed to take her.

Against the elder’s wishes, too. She pursed her lips and nodded.

“Okay.” She could do this. They were both adults.

She just needed to ignore her racing heart and the way her skin warmed thinking about him lying so close to her.

Effectively boxing her in. She’d be trapped against the bulkhead. Unless she wanted to climb over him.

“Are you sure you’re not ill?”

A bark of laughter erupted from her. “I’m sure.” Her skin had to be five shades of red.

He nodded. “You need rest.”

She really did. The stress and excitement of the day had exhausted her.

She pulled her small bag onto the bed and dug through it until she found her pajamas.

The worn flannel bottoms still showed the pattern of sheep.

Her sleep shirt was from her graduate school days.

The university logo stretched across her chest.

She looked around as if she expected a changing room to pop out of nowhere. “Um, Calyx?”

He turned from the captain’s chair. “Yes?”

“Is there a bathroom?” If she made it to the planet without spontaneously combusting from embarrassment, it would be a miracle.

Another press of his hand against the opposite bulkhead, and a tiny rectangular room revealed itself. It was large enough for the Trelxak, so there was plenty of room for her to change, brush her teeth, and pee. She chuckled softly to herself as she stepped out.

Calyx raised an eyebrow at her in question.

“I was just thinking how stupid I was. What would I have done if you weren’t with me?”

“You’re incredibly intelligent, Razili. You would have figured it out.”

She smiled at the compliment, but his attention was back on the forward viewing screen. She climbed into the bed, burrowed beneath the blankets, and scooted as close to the wall as possible.