Page 43 of Cozy Prisons (Human Pets of Talin: Origins #4)
The first day of the trip was taken up with getting settled, organizing sleeping quarters, figuring out the layout of the ship, letting Falkilm re-examine her feet, and finally taking a long time in the cleansing unit.
Half the second day was spent searching through all her bags to find her clothing and send it through the ship’s sanitizing unit.
After that was all done, restlessness set in.
“Nataly, that’s the third time you’ve pulled all the data crystals out and put them back,” Daxus said. “What’s wrong?”
He was sitting on the bed in their small cabin.
The place wasn’t big enough to have independent furniture; everything pulled out or folded into the wall.
The crew tried to set up nests in all the rooms with humans, but it wasn’t practical to leave them on the floor all day.
The fold-down bunks were only big enough for a single Talin, or two humans if they didn’t mind snuggling really close.
Nataly and Daxus ended up piling all the nest bedding on the bunk during the day and setting it up on the floor for sleeping.
Turning to face Daxus, she tried to smile, but it failed. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I’ve lived most of my life on a station, and I’ve traveled on ships, but being on this feels different.”
Daxus started purring. “It’s probably being surrounded by this crew. And that you have to wear a collar.”
Nataly rubbed the metal band around her neck. When Palathum explained to the ship’s captain that they’d taken most of the collars off the humans to add a locator unit, only to lose all the collars during the disaster, the captain had accepted the story, but then produced an entire box of collars!
She claimed to have bought them in the hope of coming across humans during the ship's travels, except there were enough collars in that box to accommodate three times the humans on the ship. Nataly found it slightly annoying that the captain’s hopefulness led to her having to wear a collar.
She didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but it felt heavy. Even after Palathum reset it so she could take it off herself.
“I keep telling myself it’s a necklace," she said, tapping it with a fingernail. “But it isn’t working.”
“Maybe distraction would be best,” Daxus suggested. “We haven’t walked the top sections of the ship.”
Falkilm declared her feet healed enough for moderate walking, and thankfully, he hadn’t seen all the moving she’d done the day before!
As much as exploring the ship sounded good, she was worried about the crew. After hugging that one crew member, she’d been asked repeatedly if she needed to “clutch” or “cling” by almost every member of the crew. Navigating Talin neediness was exhausting.
“We are approaching a way station. That means the crew will all be extremely busy for the next two work-shifts,” Daxus said, standing up and holding out a hand. “Even if we see someone, they’ll have duties to perform so they won’t be able to linger.”
She was still debating, making Daxus worry.
They were several corridors away before Daxus asked her a question. “Are you feeling some of the same feelings that you felt on the planet?”
She stifled a laugh. When they’d first gotten on the ship, several people asked her something similar, but she didn’t expect it from Daxus. “No, nothing like before. You don’t believe I’m a Conduite or anything, right?”
He started purring again. “Of course not, but I have great respect for your unconscious pattern recognition. I will always listen to your anxiety from now on.”
This time, she couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out of her. “I’ll keep that in mind. I guess I’m a bad news barometer! What floor are we going to?”
Daxus accepted her change in subject and explained the basic layout of the ship. She already knew the facts he was relaying, but wanted to talk about anything except her anxiety and intuition. He moved to the door, and she followed, hesitating in the hall outside.
When he turned and sounded a questioning rumble, she gave him a bright smile. “I’m warning you, if anyone insists that I clutch or cling to them, I’m going to pretend to faint.”
“Then you’ll end up in the med bay,” he cautioned her with an amused rumble.
“Fine, then I’ll cry instead,” she countered as they started down the corridor. “What’s our first stop?”
“The bay is full of items meant for a different colony,” he said. He told her about the colony as they walked. Soon, they were in the massive bay packed full of equipment. It reminded her of one of the stations she’d briefly worked at.
Because this was a cargo ship and not a civilian transport, there wasn’t any kind of observation or entertainment deck. But they did find a room full of the ship's monitoring systems. Nataly was fascinated by the way they set up their docking sensors.
“I wish I could see the way they organized the data paths for these,” she murmured, going up on her toes to look past a bundle of cables to the wall attachments.
“I can ask for you,” Daxus said. “I’m sure they’d share.”
She gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks! All you need to do is ask for the path schematics.”
He sounded a rumble of agreement as they left the room and almost ran into a crew member trying to get in.
The crew member sounded a startled rattle. “Oh, a human!”
Nataly pretended to be surprised. “Oh, a Talin!”
The crew member went silent for a moment before sounding a rumble of amusement. “I didn’t mean to be insulting, I just didn’t expect to get to meet any of you.”
Nataly made sure to stay pressed tightly against Daxus's side. “I guess you've got to meet one of us. I’m Nataly, this is Daxus.”
“I’m Second Tier System Technician Hulmun,” she answered, slapping a hand to her chest in greeting. Nataly hated that traditional greeting because it sounded so painful. Thankfully, most of the Talins on Arise stopped doing it.
“Can I simply call you Hulmun?” Nataly asked.
“Of course, Human Nataly!” Hulmun agreed. Then she sounded a questioning rumble. “Why ever were you two in here? Did you get lost?”
“Nataly wanted to walk around, so we were exploring,” Daxus explained.
Hulmun sounded an excited rattle. “There are many more interesting things to see. Will you allow me to be your guide?”
She wasn’t trying to get Nataly to “clutch” or “cling” to her, and Hulmun was also being polite and not talking over Nataly’s head to Daxus. So far, this was the only crew member Nataly met who didn’t do something inappropriate within the first few seconds of their meeting.
“Daxus has to come,” Nataly said.
“Of course, your owner must stay with you,” Hulmun said, turning to lead them out of the room and down a hall they hadn’t explored yet. “If I were your owner, I’d do the same.”
Nataly ignored the word owner and let herself take in the change of equipment lining the hall as they walked.
She wasn’t prepared for the room that Hulmun led them into. It was full of cages!
“These are all going to a collector on Simk Colony,” Hulmun explained. “The family spent a lot of time and wealth to have all these specimens bought and transported in such a way that they’d all arrive at the same time.”
Nataly let go of Daxus’s hand so she could rush over to a shelving unit full of cages. She expected to see furry creatures, but everything had scales instead of fur or feathers. One of them hissed at her and jumped at the glass separating them.
With a gasp, Nataly jumped back. “Oh, you’re an angry little guy!”
Hulmun quickly stepped between Nataly and the creature. “Don’t be afraid. None of them can break out of their terrariums.”
“I was only startled, not scared,” Nataly said, stepping to the side to look at the next terrarium.
Most of the inhabitants weren’t interested in her.
They basked next to a heat source or hunted down something skittering around in the dirt and leaves of their environment.
The one at the very end caught her eye. The lizard looked like it was covered in jewels!
She leaned in close, almost putting her nose to the glass. The light over the cage made the little creature glitter.
“That’s a jeweled lizard,” Hulmun said. “She was the most expensive because the buyer had to get special permission from Admirus Citizen Palathum for us to go on Kalor to capture her.”
“How do you know it’s a female?” Nataly asked, unable to take her eyes off the beautiful lizard.
“The males are much smaller and not as colorful,” Hulmun said and reached over Nataly to lift the top of the terrarium. “Would you like to hold her? Jeweled lizards are very docile and enjoy being near warmth.”
“Absolutely!”
Hulmun gently lifted the lizard out and deposited it into Nataly’s hands.
She was heavier than Nataly expected, but as Hulmun said, the little creature didn’t fight or try to get away.
If anything, she looked half asleep. Then she nuzzled her head between two of Nataly’s fingers and closed her eyes all the way.
Nataly got one of her feelings, but it wasn’t fear or anxiety; it was rightness.
She put her face close to the lizard. She looked up at Nataly with half-lidded eyes.
After they’d stared into each other’s eyes for several minutes, she looked up at Daxus. She didn’t need to say anything.
He sounded a rumble of agreement. “I’ll see what it’ll take to purchase her for you.”
Hulmun sounded a questioning rumble. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re from Kalor, and that’s where we’re going,” Nataly whispered to the creature as Daxus and Hulmun talked. “You need to come with me. We’re both going home.”