Page 260 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

I hadn’t heard anything from Da’vi in over a day; I’d been too chickenshit to try giving him another call myself.

Instead, I’d worked hard to open the crates in the cargo bay.

If I could just find more food and water, maybe I could call him and let him know that I could hang on longer.

The first crate I’d finally managed to pry open with something that resembled a crowbar had contained packaged somethings, but I was pretty sure they were medical supplies, not anything edible.

Not about to give up, I worked on the others the next day after I’d finally gotten a decent amount of sleep, curled up in a nest of towels in the supply closet.

Now I was wearing a far-too-large jumpsuit that, at the very least, was keeping me warm—courtesy of one of the crates—and I’d gotten nothing but more disappointment from the rest. Empty or useless, they still held no food.

“I just need to search more of the ship, there has to be a kitchen somewhere,” I told the stale air.

Crowbar in hand, I started wandering the hallways, trying to pry open each door I came across.

Sometimes it worked and I got to check what was beyond; often, it didn’t.

I was getting really frustrated about it, so I chanted mantras under my breath, and when that didn’t work, I started singing the sunshine song. That usually helped.

“What are you singing?” was asked so suddenly that I screamed, turned around, and frantically swatted the crowbar into the empty air behind me.

There was no one in the hallway with me, though it curved at the end and the lamps were bad, so there were shadows everywhere.

That had sounded remarkably like the deep, dual-layered voice of Da’vi, but I had to be imagining things.

“Oh, right, you weren’t on the bridge when I called, so I patched the call into the ship’s intercom system.

My brothers have voted, and we’ve all agreed to pick you up.

” I gaped up at the ceiling, scanning it for hidden little speakers, something to point myself at if I wanted to speak back.

From the sound of things, Da’vi was still coming to rescue me.

He sounded calm, confident he’d be here in time. I sincerely hoped that was the case.

“Uh, what do you mean, ‘vote’? Are you saying you hadn’t actually decided yet, before then?” I asked him. I thought he’d told me he was coming to get me last time. Why was he saying they had voted? And brothers? How many brothers did he have? Were they running an entire ship together?

“I mean that I’m coming for you with my brothers on our ship.

If they’d voted no, I would have figured something else out for you.

” He sounded calm and assured—casual about it—but it made my entire body glow, hearing those words.

I had never had anyone say something like that, like he was squarely in my camp, ready to help me without expecting anything in return.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I found myself in a negative spiral I struggled to escape.

It was easy to let thoughts swallow me—like, ‘You’re not worth it!

’ or ‘Of course he’s expecting something in return.

’ I shoved those away, swallowing in an attempt to get my dry mouth to work again.

“Thank you, Da’vi, I really appreciate your help.

I don’t have any way to repay you…” There.

That had sounded calm. I should be upfront about it and get my expectations clear.

Though I wasn’t sure how I would handle it if he said he knew how I could pay him.

I’d heard that line more than once when I hitchhiked across the States.

I couldn’t hear the background noises from his side as well as I normally could, but I was pretty sure there was a chirruping sound from his pet, followed by some kind of low rumble.

I hoped it was some kind of machinery, but it sounded a little threatening.

“No need to repay me, just helping out a stranded human,” Da’vi said, his voice as gruff as always.

He didn’t want anything from me; he really was just being nice.

I didn’t care that my dad would have scolded me for being naive again, nothing was ever free with him, so it definitely wouldn’t be with a stranger.

I didn’t want to believe that. I wanted to believe with my whole heart that Da’vi was the kind of guy who was rough on the outside but all squishy on the inside.

I knew they existed—I had met them before—and alien or not, Da’vi was like that. I had to believe that.

“I was singing my sunshine song,” I told him.

“It cheers me up when things aren’t going the way I want.

” I gestured down the hallway. “None of these doors open. I hoped to find a kitchen, maybe more food.” It was just really hard to get around on this ship because it was such a broken mess, with many hallways ending in a bulkhead or debris.

Each door I tried to open held the potential of a dead body behind it, too.

It was hard to keep in good spirits knowing that.

“I can fix that. Hang on,” he murmured. Then, not even ten seconds later, all the doors along the hallway I was in swished open.

I stared, surprised that he’d just done that at the flick of a switch.

I really needed to learn more about this technology—but as long as I couldn’t read any of the panels and symbols…

On Earth, I’d worked in a car mechanic shop for a while.

I hadn’t been an actual mechanic yet, but I’d been learning.

I had kind of liked working with my hands; it wasn’t the same as sculpting or painting, but it had felt satisfying too.

Since I’d woken up on this broken ship, all my callouses had disappeared, and it felt a little like it had erased my past. It made me scared that I’d been asleep for a really long time.

“Thanks, Da’vi,” I said, grinning up at the ceiling and shoving the sad thoughts about the past away. I had open doors to explore and the prospect of rescue again. Things were far from dire. What more could a girl ask for?

“It’s fine,” he said. “I will run a diagnostic on this ship now that I have access. Make sure you have enough oxygen to last the month.” Oh, great, I didn’t even know that was a worry!

I looked around as if I could ascertain that with my eyes, then shrugged.

He was looking into it; I’d just have to have faith in his skills, so far, they’d been amazing.

“Okay, thank you,” I said, beaming up at the ceiling, unsure if he could see me.

Had he found me on this ship to talk to me, or was he just broadcasting ship-wide?

He’d said “rescue a human,” though… so he knew what I was.

“How did you know I am human?” I asked, a little unsettled to know that he was watching me without my knowledge.

Had he been watching me for a while before he spoke up?

I hadn’t done anything weird or disgusting, had I?

I tried to remember if I’d picked my nose.

“I turned on the camera feeds so I could locate you,” he said, which was a very reasonable explanation.

I suddenly did wonder if he could do that, had he done it when I’d granted him access to the ship?

“Oxygen looks good. I’ve got to go. If we want to get to you quickly, I need to finish a lot of repairs. ”

I nodded. “Thank you for that. I’m really glad you were the one who answered my call.

” There was no reply to my words, and I shrugged, assuming that meant he’d hung up on me.

He didn’t seem to like saying goodbye, or to enjoy hearing me say thank you, come to think of it.

I grinned. That was kind of cute. I should do that more, just to get him used to it.

Ducking into the first room Da’vi had opened for me, I started singing again, happy that, while this wasn’t a kitchen, I spotted an actual bed. I knew where I was sleeping tonight.