Page 2 of Seven Oars (Rix Universe #3)

One week turned into two.

The tension inside the cabin grew heavy, and even the chill Gro had gotten short-tempered.

“I wish we could go outside,”

Mara complained, and she spoke for everyone.

Being confined to this dilapidated building with barely any facilities, always conscious of having to remain invisible and stay quiet, made their waiting game so much harder.

Rosamma, used to being indoors more than the others, struggled with idleness.

But more than that, she struggled with the constant presence of people around her, day and night. Strangers who were neither family nor friends. Women like Alyesha, who looked right through her. Or women like Mara, who didn’t look at her at all, unsettled by her odd appearance.

She, who had so often decried her loneliness and wished to meet new friends, found this sojourn with fellow females disagreeable.

“I will take out the trash,”

Fawn volunteered.

Alyesha looked up from her mirror. She spent hours on her beauty routine, and not just out of nothing better to do. It was a full-time occupation.

“No need for you to go. Someone else can take a turn.”

Fawn almost bowed down to Alyesha’s authority, but rallied.

“Who wants to deal with trash? It’s no bother for me.”

“You take forever to get back. What takes you so long, anyway?”

“She smokes cigarettes,”

Gro informed the room from her bed without breaking her contemplation of the stained ceiling.

“And ogles the guards in the spaceship depot’s lookout tower.”

“I do not!”

Fawn’s face flushed.

Eze rose, alarmed.

“You can see the lookout tower from here?”

“Not from here,”

Fawn denied hotly.

“You have to walk a bit…”

She cut herself off abruptly, realizing what she’d given out, then fell into sulky silence.

“Stupid twat,”

Alyesha said with feeling.

Fawn’s chin lifted defiantly.

“Why are you always so rude?”

“You can’t stay outside!”

Mara piped up.

“What if someone sees you?”

“If you can see the lookout tower, the guards can see you,”

Anske stated the obvious.

“It’s wooded as heck. What can they see?”

Abruptly, Fawn had had enough. Her round face tightened with anger.

“Yo, bitches, how about y’all back off? You’re not my keepers.”

Sassa shook her head with vehemence.

“You put our trip in danger! Yes, we’re your keepers. We’re all each other’s keepers. If you don’t like it, then you’re out.”

Fawn sputtered, outraged. Angry shouts erupted. Someone tried to shush the argument. Daphne buried her face in her mother’s armpit and wailed.

Rosamma became lightheaded. It happened sometimes when she got agitated and her heart rate spiked, requiring an energy boost to stabilize her system. She always ran low on energy. Alas, her imperfect Tana-Tana part, the part she shared with Ren instead of owning it whole, refused to do what it was supposed to do.

Some space traveler she was.

She sank onto her mattress.

The door to their cabin opened without a sound.

The argument went on, and amidst its heated intensity, the other women hadn’t immediately noticed the change.

He stepped inside first, bending to clear the doorframe. Well over six feet tall, maybe even over six and a half, a strapping Rix alien. His otherworldly features were austere and uncompromising.

Rosamma couldn’t look away. She thought he might be handsome. He was too alien for her to decide in the few seconds that nevertheless stretched impossibly long.

Two more followed, equally tall, equally armed, dressed in the same dark-blue shimmering bodysuits. They flanked the door, silent as statues, taking in the cabin’s interior—and the argument threatening to descend into a catfight—with their large black eyes, unreadable and devoid of whites. Like built-in opaque lenses: information flowed in, but no emotion came out.

Gradually, the shouting died down. One by one, the women turned to stare.

“Who here is waiting for a flight to Priss?”

the First One, the leader, asked the room. His Universal was broken and thick with an accent, but his low voice was clear.

No one answered, shocked into complete silence.

Then Rosamma raised her hand.

“All of us. We’re all going to Priss.”

Cursing her weakness, she pushed herself off the mattress and stood.

Folding her hands in front of her, she bowed her head slightly.

“What you ask, may you receive. What you seek, may you find,”

she said to the Rix in Universal, using a formal greeting that signified friendship and goodwill. Her voice came out thin and strained. She had never hated showing her weakness more than now, before all of them, but especially him.

She moved her hands through the ritual gestures.

“Here, the light shines upon you, and peace awaits you. We’re with you, by your side, always.”

“Yo, what are you doing?”

Fawn whispered loudly.

Someone hissed at her to shut up.

The Rix were not impressed. Or maybe they were. Their stony faces revealed nothing.

The First One spoke rapidly to his men in his native tongue. Rosamma strained to follow but only picked up a word or two. She’d made an effort to learn some Rix when Lyle had lived with them, but it wasn’t much.

“Get your things,”

the First One said in choppy Universal.

“We leave now.”

There was a collective gasp. His order was simple enough to understand, even for someone like Fawn, who spoke very little Universal, an artificial language created to facilitate intergalactic relations.

Rosamma blinked at the First One.

“Leaving? Now?”

His finely traced eyebrows twitched. Yes, he was very handsome. He was also very annoyed.

“Do you understand when I speak, female?”

A realization slammed into her, and she thought she might faint.

Something had happened.

This was a major change of plans.

“Who are you?”

she half-wailed, half-whispered.

“Where’s Lyle? Where’s Ren?”

The Rix shifted, showing impatience.

“We came to your planet with Commander Aeshac because of Lyle, the former pirate,”

the First One said, clipped and cold.

“My new orders are to take the ship Lyle prepared and fly you to Priss. The Commander and the rest of the crew will meet us there. Let’s go.”

A stunned silence hung in the room.

Then Alyesha darted to her corner and started shoving her beloved cosmetics into a bulging case.

“I don’t know about y’all, but I’m going.”

Mara wrung her hands.

“We don’t know who they are!”

“I don’t care who they are. I’m going to Priss.”

Alyesha kept packing in determined, efficient motions.

Gro and Eze quickly followed her lead, throwing their things together.

Anske, face flushed, ran around the room.

“My things! How can I remember everything?”

Fawn huffed and puffed, pulling a massive suitcase from under her bed.

Daphne cried out, “Ugly, mama. They’re ugly!”

“Hush! Oh, be quiet, child.”

“Ugly, ugly,”

Daphne chanted.

The Rix males stood motionless, observing the circus that erupted with inscrutable expressions. With their uniformly black eyes, it was impossible to tell where they were looking at any given time.

Fawn twisted her head to look at Rosamma.

“How much time do we have? Ask them!”

Before Rosamma could reply, Alyesha, now recovered from the shock, took charge.

“How much time do we have to pack, gentlemen?”

she enunciated in a precise, if slow, Universal. Her sharp eyes scanned them, but her expression was blank, hiding her thoughts.

“You don’t have any time,”

came a cold reply.

Alyesha got the message. She zipped up her bag and spared no glance at the things still scattered on her bed.

“I’m ready.”

She stepped toward the door.

Moving as if in a daze, Rosamma pulled her small duffel from underneath her cot, wrapped her shawl around her shoulders, and picked up her unfinished book. That summed up her life accurately. Her lips twisted in irony.

“Snacks!”

Mara fretted.

“Will there be water? I can’t concentrate.”

“The ship’s been stocked. We went over all of that a dozen times with Lyle and Ren,”

Alyesha said irritably.

They lined up in front of the door.

Rosamma glanced back at the messy room. It was nothing, just a temporary shelter, an old ramshackle cabin with uncomfortable beds.

Yet it suddenly felt so safe and beckoning.

Tears prickled at her eyes. Oh, how she wished…

She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders.

Ren needs me.

And starting a new life was not bad just because it was scary. His words. She’d live by them.

The amount of luggage piled up by the door was surprisingly large.

Apparently, the Rix thought so too.

The leader raised a broad six-fingered hand and held up one finger.

“One bag each. Do you understand?”

Anske squeaked, then fell silent. The rest only nodded.

The leader tilted his head, and the other two Rix moved with astonishing speed. Rosamma felt their hands on her, patting her down, impersonal and efficient, then moving on to the others.

“What the fuck!”

Gro and Alyesha exclaimed in unison.

Four stun guns, three knives, and several pepper sprays were confiscated in seconds.

Eze muttered curses under her breath.

Alyesha kept a stoic silence.

Anske looked forlorn.

Rosamma was floored. Weapons? The idea had never even occurred to her. She’d never held one in her hands. Had no idea how to use any.

But the women had come to this venture armed. They knew to rely on themselves, and they had prepared.

And she’d brought a book with her.

Her gaze drifted to the Rix leader with his wide shoulders and an easy grip on a matte-black, sophisticated weapon.

What a crushing contrast. What must he think of her, the helpless dummy who stood out even among her own womenfolk?

Finally, they went.

The three Rix operated like a well-oiled machine, herding them like sheep. They had to cross a densely wooded area, a real forest, where tall grasses snagged their feet and fallen trees forced them to crawl over while hauling their bags.

Daphne kept crying and dropping her bag, causing Mara to stop and help her, slowing their procession. Alyesha and Gro shot angry looks at the mother-daughter pair, but no one said a word—stealth was key.

Anske dragged her suitcase along the ground, too heavy for her to lift. Finally, it got snagged on a gnarly root and refused to budge.

“Hey, young men! Some help… would be… appreciated!”

Anske panted as she yanked on the bag.

“Shut up,”

Alyesha hissed through clenched teeth.

“They can’t understand you, Anske,”

Mara whispered loudly.

Language barrier or not, one of the Rix was already striding toward Anske. He loomed over the older, smaller woman and glowered without changing his expression.

He reached out.

For one breathless moment, Rosamma was afraid he’d…

Blood drained from her head.

He merely unzipped Anske’s bag and dumped half its contents onto the forest floor before yanking it free from the roots and handing it back to her.

“Oh. Oh, no!”

“Shut. Up,”

Gro hissed.

The procession moved on at a faster clip.

Rosamma trudged at the end of the line, her bag getting heavier with each step. Physically unfit, she was sweating from exertion and pressing her lips together in fear that her labored breathing might draw attention.

She felt like a fish out of water. This situation, these alien men—all of it was dangerous, hard, unforgiving. It demanded strength of both the character and body she had never believed she possessed.

I’m always a burden.

Still, she chugged along, clutching her bag, terrified that if she fell, they would leave her behind.

She couldn’t fail Ren. It was his only chance to leave.

A section of the spaceship depot’s fence had been conveniently compromised, probably by Lyle or possibly by Ren. They slipped through two ragged edges and stepped inside the perimeter.

Spaceships of every imaginable shape and size filled the depot. The place smelled of fuel and static electricity, a hair-raising combination. Or maybe it was just Rosamma’s senses misfiring, shorting out from the realization that her time on Meeus was coming to a close.

The ship they approached sat among a cluster of space vehicles that looked long-abandoned. This whole corner of the spaceship depot radiated neglect, with rust everywhere and grass sprouting in the cracks in the concrete.

Without warning, the ship’s hatch lowered without a sound, revealing another tall, broad-shouldered Rix in the opening.

“Get in,”

the leader ordered.

Rosamma swallowed, but it didn’t help the loud ringing in her ears.

Almost there.

Ren and Paloma would be waiting inside. The thought boosted Rosamma’s flagging spirits, if not her strength.

Alyesha stepped aboard first, her stylish combat boots striking the metal ramp with a confident clomp.

It galvanized the rest. One by one, they climbed the high ledge and disappeared inside under the cold, watchful eyes of their Rix shepherds.

Rosamma hoisted her duffel to the hatch’s ledge, but her shawl unraveled and slipped, tangling at her feet. She fell like a rag doll. A rock bit into her hip.

Still, she didn’t make a sound, even if tears of humiliation and helplessness burned her eyelids. Her ears rang harder as her energy, her Tana-Tana’s imperfect heritage, stubbornly refused to kick in.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of boots approach. Large hands reached for her, flipping her and lifting her body with ease. Her weight meant nothing to the leader; he leapt on the ledge with Rosamma in his arms as if she were made of feathers.

She stiffened—not out of fear, but sheer amazement. He was so strong. She was surrounded by pure, unadulterated strength, and it packed a hot punch. So much male physical power next to her body created a different kind of buzz in her head. Like touching the sun.

But before Rosamma could savor the sensations, he set her down. Someone tossed her back in after them. The hatch closed.

The leader shouted for them to hold on, and the ship shuddered, pulling away from the cracked concrete.

The motion threw them around. The women grabbed any bolted-down part they could reach.

There were no seats and no belts to buckle.

There were no Ren or Paloma.

Rosamma’s face drained of all color.

“Where’s my brother?”

Her voice broke as panic rose.

“Wait! We can’t leave without Ren. Where is he?”

Her only answer was the din of the accelerating engines.

She staggered forward, toward the cockpit where the Rix gathered around the controls.

“Hello!”

She didn’t know their names. “Stop!”

The leader deigned to turn to her. His eyes were opaque. His handsome face was remote and a little cruel, like an ancient malevolent god.

“My brother Ren!”

Frantic now, Rosamma switched to her basic, broken Rix.

That elicited a reaction.

“You speak our language?”

“Yes. No. A few words.”

She switched back to Universal.

“My brother…”

“I heard you,”

he cut her off.

“He went with Commander Aeshac.”

Rosamma stumbled back against the wall as if he had punched her.

“He already left?”

“Yes.”

No.

Ren and she couldn’t be separated. They needed each other to complete their energy exchange. Ren wouldn’t go alone!

The floor was dropping under Rosamma’s feet. Or maybe it was the ship lurching.

“Why?”

she gasped.

“Because Commander Aeshac decided it,”

The Rix said with finality.

“Now, go back and sit on the floor, human woman. And hold on.”