Page 14 of Stealing the Star Stone

“Agreed.” He sank onto the bed and pulled the boots closer. Socks went on first, then while he did up one boot, she did the other.

“And to think I offered you a job.” She glared at the hulking bodyguard.

“Why?” Eli asked, then narrowed his eyes at her. “What happened?”

“Just a few fanatical fans.” She shrugged. “Mountain over there,” she hitched her thumb at Frederik, “saved my ass. Little did I know what he and his sick boss had planned. I think I prefer the fans to kidnapping and experimentation.”

The silence ticked on in which said mountain didn’t defend himself. When he did move, it was to step aside, sweeping out his arm as if to say, ‘after you.’

Eli pushed off the bed, stomped past the man, then paused in the passage. He had no clue where to go, probably to those labs he’d glimpsed.

When she tried to follow, Frederik dominated the doorway. “Just Ms. Blake.”

“What am I supposed to do?” She flung out her arms. “Twiddle my thumbs?”

The door shut on her panicked expression.

Eli grimaced. Seemed like they shared a hatred of boredom. Frederik nudged his chin to the passage on the left. Eli marched along it, not even bothering to check if the bodyguard followed.

“Y’know, black is so cliché,” Eli said. “I suppose Orien doesn’t want you to blend in.”

“It hides blood.”

Eli pinched his lips. What a mood killer. How would Nova react to that tidbit? “So does the color red. What you meant to say is wet anything. Black’s good for that.” Yup, that sounded like something she’d say. Sassy to the end. Fearless. He liked that about her.

The lab Frederik led Eli into was blinding white; probably to see all the bodily fluids, wet or dry. There wasn’t a stainless steel mortuary slab at the center. Counters formed the shape of an ‘S,’ with microscopes and other devices across the gleaming surfaces.

Not a medical lab, then.

Odd .

Various staff focused on strange machines on the counters before them. Their gazes whipped up when he entered. And judging by their expressions, they were as pleased to see him as he was to be there.

“We’re not used to taking samples from living specimens.” A white-clad man stepped forward, his nametag claiming him to be ‘K. Doukas.’ He shoved a tool into his lab pocket and shambled closer.

Eli frowned. Prepared staff would’ve been appreciated. Though he doubted his opinion as Nova Blake, aka lab rat, mattered. “What does Orien expect then? Carbon dating?”

Doukas had the decency to blush. “Skin and blood, maybe hair.”

“How much blood? A pinprick?” That was doable. Eli couldn’t see any of those here able to use a syringe.

“For now. If we find any anomalies, we’ll take larger samples.” And in the man’s knobby fingers was a pin.

Eli took a step back and bumped into Frederik. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

What followed was a little painful with Doukas pricking and bleeding each of Eli’s fingers until ten slides had been smeared. The scraping of his skin was along his forearms. Swabs were taken of his saliva, and chunks of hair snipped off, a few plucked for the follicles.

“Frederik will take you to the cargo hold to be X-rayed. You aren’t pregnant, are you?” Doukas paled. “We’ll need to know before we subject your body to ionizing radiation.”

Eli blinked at him. “No, I don’t think I’m pregnant.” Shit, he should’ve asked Nova. This was a serious question with lethal consequences.

“If this was the Haeldull culture, you could pee on a tilqea bark and know in seconds.” Doukas offered a kind smile. “If we had any tilqea bark on hand, it would be a sure way to test this legend.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Eli snapped, channeling his best depiction of Nova.

“You need a baseline. If I even consent to pissing on your bark, what does that prove? If I am pregnant and nothing happens to the bark, that only shows the legend’s wrong.

And if I’m not pregnant and nothing happens, then the legend is right, but you still won’t know whether I am or I’m not. ”

Doukas blinked at him like he was mad. “All right,” he sighed, “we’ll stop at the next station and pick up a pregnancy test kit.”

“Lord Orien won’t like that,” Frederik said. “Any delays will be frowned upon.”

“We have no choice.” Doukas grimaced. “I’m a xenologist, not a doctor. None of us signed up for this.”

“I won’t be held responsible for killing a baby,” a young woman called from the back of the lab. Nods followed.

“Well, we have some samples to work with.” Doukas’s tone was that of a man projecting control. “Let’s start with that.”

The lab’s door swished open to a beaming Orien. His timing was almost too spot on. “Status?”

“We’ve taken what we can.” Doukas wrung his hands.

“And did you test healing?” Orien peeled on latex gloves, then raised an ancient-looking bone to the light as if that would reveal its secrets.

“What?” Doukas squeaked.

Orien set the bone on the counter and nudged his chin at Frederik. Within a blink, Eli was pinned to a wall, his sleeve shoved up to his forearm, and a blade slashed across his skin.

He gasped, the burn almost overwhelming against the bright crimson droplets splattering to the floor. “You are a madman,” he spat.

Doukas rushed forward with a paper towel, pressing it to the wound. “Lord Orien, this is not the way to treat a human.”

“My dear Kyle, it is if we’re to progress as a species. Now remove your hand.” Orien snatched the paper towel away exposing a thin wound beaded with blood. “Mm, pity. We’ll try again in a few days. Maybe the star stone’s powers are delayed.”

“Powers?” Eli screamed. “The stupid stone shattered. That’s all that happened. No hidden mumbo jumbo or anything behind it. Maybe your mishandling weakened it. Did you think of that, you weirdo?”

At Orien’s mottled face, Eli almost patted himself on the back at his Nova performance. He smothered a smirk at how easy ‘she’ managed to rile the xenologist.

“We’re dealing with an alien artefact. I cannot afford to rule out anything, even if it’s in the realm of the supernatural,” Orien gritted out. “You have blue fingers. It’s possible the stone has hidden…talents. Get her infantile mind out of my sight.”

Out the door Frederik dragged Eli, then shoved him into the cabin minutes later.

“And?” Nova asked, her hands on her hips.

“They want to know if I’m pregnant,” Eli said, tossing a glare at Frederik. “X-rays soon, then?”

The mountain didn’t answer but gestured to Nova, who nodded at Eli in passing.

“See you soon, honey pot,” she said.

The silence after her departure was deafening. Eli stared at the blood-splattered silk sleeve, sighing at how they’d ruined a good blouse. He washed his hands and the wound, taking the time to pat it dry. At least it had stopped bleeding.

Powers? What had Orien hoped to discover? Smooth, unmarred skin? Were sparks supposed to come out of his ass? Or superhuman strength? Sure, the star stone had been pretty, but to grant a person magical abilities?

Eli snorted. “What a load of bullshit.”