Page 253 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Pulling a silver package from one of the big pockets of my skirt, I fumbled to find the opening before taking a few tentative sips of the metallic-tasting water.

I was a little worried that it wasn’t the healthiest thing to be drinking, but it was better than not drinking, so I’d just have to suck it up.

I noticed how the screen I was floating in front of flickered from the corner of my eye.

With my feet, I wrenched myself back to face it, my hands fumbling as I let go of the package of water and reached out to lean toward the screen.

Some kind of icon I didn’t recognize was flashing in the center, and an alarm was blaring, warning me.

With my heart pounding in my throat, and hope making my mouth go dry, I pressed my finger to the icon, hoping it meant I was answering a call.

“Hello? Anyone there?” I asked, eyes wide, laser-focused on the screen.

It was green now, but there was nothing to see on it, no face, no indication there was a connection open, as far as I could tell.

“Who is this? Why did you call this device?” a male voice demanded—so harshly and so suddenly that I jerked back, twitching awkwardly in zero gravity.

The voice was deep and layered, like two low voices speaking in harmony.

I remembered a musician I used to hang out with, he’d do this cool trick with his voice, almost sounded like this, and he called it subharmonics. That’s what this voice reminded me of.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are,” I said, relieved that this voice—however alien it sounded—at least spoke English.

I was so eager to hear a voice; finally, something that broke the silence other than my own prattling and the beeping from this console.

“But I’m stranded on a ship; there’s no one here, and I don’t know how I got here.

Can you help me? Please?” I batted my eyelashes at the console, even though this stranger with the deep voice couldn’t see me.

It was silent long enough that I thought maybe I’d imagined it, that there wasn’t anyone calling me at all.

A delusion from my scared mind. I thought I heard some kind of low purring sound, followed by a deep sigh.

“I don’t know who you are, lady. I’m not going to drop everything just to pull your ass out of a fire,” the voice said.

I gasped, relieved it was real. “Oh, I understand that! I just… I don’t know where I am, there’s no one here, and I just woke up all alone.

If you could just, eh… point me in the right direction regarding who I should be calling?

I don’t understand any of this technology.

” I was pretty terrified this guy—uh, person?

—was going to hang up on me, and I’d be left alone, unable to reach anybody else.

The silence this time had me on pins and needles.

I was pretty sure he hadn’t hung up on me.

No, I couldn’t just assume it was a guy.

I was speaking to an alien; it could be anything, it could be genderless…

But the grumpy kind of groan that crackled through the speakers had this distinctly male ring to it, anyway.

“Fine, why don’t you go over to the nav-console and tell me your current coordinates?” he said, his voice rumbling, vibrating in the pit of my stomach. I looked around the dusty bridge uneasily, trying to figure out which console he was talking about. Was it one of those near the pilot chairs?

“I don’t think I can read what’s on them,” I admitted to the stranger on the other end of the line.

I clutched my fists against my belly, contemplating floating over there to try, but what good would it do?

I half-expected the grumpy voice to respond with a growl or a sigh, but there was a kind of chirruping noise instead.

It sounded cute and friendly, so I gaped at the blinking lights on the screen, wondering if that was someone else entirely.

“Fine, give me a minute. I’ll trace your call,” the deep voice responded.

Then, “Shush, Babbit. No—don’t stand on that.

I need that, you knucklehead.” I kept on staring, so my helper in need was indeed not alone.

It sounded like he was talking to a pet.

When, a moment later, some kind of purring noise rumbled over the line, I knew I was right.

Well, he couldn’t be a bad guy then, even if he was grumpy.

“Gotcha,” he murmured a minute later, and I whooped in joy.

“Really? Thank you! I’m Arianna, by the way.

What’s your name?” I asked, leaning over the screen as if I could peer through it and see who I was talking to.

Something about that voice was making me so curious.

I wanted to know what a real alien looked like.

Was he a small green one? Or a gray one with a huge head and black eyes?

Somehow, my brain was telling me he had to be hella sexy with a voice like that. No, bad hormones.

There was a huff, and I could almost hear his eyes rolling, even if I couldn’t see him.

“Fine, I guess we can do introductions. I am Da’vi, and the knucklehead you hear purring is Babbit.

” On cue, the animal lit up with loud purrs.

I sighed. Gosh, that sounded like such a cute animal.

I was imagining something like a tribble, but maybe crossed with a cat or something.

No, I was definitely not a sci-fi nerd. Not me.

“I’m so glad to meet you, Da’vi, and Babbit.

I just woke up from this glass coffin, and I have no idea how I got on a spaceship…

” I explained. In my head, I could hear my father point out that I was always much too trusting of strangers, and that I was naive.

But really, what else could I do? I was going to die if I didn’t get help from somewhere, so this Da’vi was going to have to be it.

“I will call you back. I need to run a search on who you can safely reach out to for help,” he responded with no hint of softness in his tone. Not even a hint of a smile or kindness, let alone concern for my well-being.

Opening my mouth to respond, I heard a click and then the dial tone beeping. He’d hung up on me.