Page 25 of Trusting Warik (Hissa Warrior #9)

Warik

“Warik?”

Nisha’s loud call brought him out of the bathing unit in a rush. Naked and dripping, he skidded to a halt when he found her standing in the center of their living space.

“You’re naked!” she cried out.

“You were yelling for me,” he said gruffly, making no move to cover himself. There wasn’t anyone else here, and Nisha always admired his naked body. Dripping all over the floor wasn’t ideal, but having Nisha caressing him with her eyes made up for it.

She tried to keep her eyes on his face. “You could’ve simply said ‘I’m in here’ or something. You didn’t need to leave mid-shower.”

He nodded his head to the cleansing unit. “Do you want to join me? I know how much you love a hot bathing unit.”

“That’s not the only hot thing in here,” she muttered, her eyes dipping lower. With a frustrated sound, she covered her eyes with both hands. “No! You’re not going to distract me. This is important!”

All thoughts of sex and teasing fell away at Nisha’s words. Stepping up to her, he grasped her wrists and pulled her hands away from her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Is it true that there’s a Decanted woman living on Bicoma?”

Of all the things she could’ve said, that wasn’t anywhere close to what he’d expected.

“Yes. Her name is Raleen,” he confirmed. “Her mate is Mavito. When we retrieve an ill or badly injured Decanted human we take them directly to her. She’s got an amazing capacity to heal almost anything.”

It can’t be, Shift said in the voice that told him she was speaking to both of them. Have we found her after all these years?

“What can’t be?” he asked. “Who are you talking about?”

“Raleen,” Nisha murmured. “That’s a pretty name. Does she have, um,” Nisha pulled one of her hands free and held up three fingers. “Are some of her fingernails black and pointed?”

Warik didn’t answer right away, he was too surprised by Nisha’s question.

Raleen’s birth was a mystery. As a baby, she’d been found floating in an escape pod by herself with no ships nearby. Despite combing through all the records Earth Government had sent to the Hissa, no one found any that matched Raleen.

The last three living Bicoma had sensed her existence, but because they couldn’t leave their home solar system, they couldn’t search her out. Their plan to get her back to Bicoma had been circuitous and not guaranteed, but she had returned. The result was an incredibly well defended Hissa-human colony on Bicoma.

Well? Shift pressed. Does she have the weird nails?

“They aren’t weird, Shift,” Nisha admonished. “They’re different.”

Weird or different, I don’t care, Shift responded. Warik, answer the question. Does she have the black pointed nails?

“She does,” Warik said. “How did you know?”

To his frustration, Nisha ignored his question. “I need to see her. How fast can you get me to Bicoma?”

Her demand surprised him. “But what about the Decanting facility?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve been telling you they don’t need me. Not really, that’s why I’ve been staying home and working on expanding Shift’s box. That means I’m free to leave. Can we go to Bicoma? Please!”

“Why do you want to meet Raleen so badly?” he asked as he tugged her to one of the chairs. After sitting down, he pulled her into his lap. He was mostly dry by now, so Nisha didn’t complain, only cuddled up against his slightly damp body.

The why isn’t important, Shift said.

“It is to me,” he argued. “I’m not arranging a long and potentially dangerous trip for you unless you tell me why.”

“It’s the second promise I made to Mom on her deathbed,” Nisha said. “And you can’t go back on a deathbed promise.”

On that, Warik had to agree. “Fine, I’ll see about getting us on a ship. Now that we have a colony there, ships are constantly coming and going. It’s about a year-round trip though, are you prepared for that?”

“That’s nothing compared to the years this promise had gone unfulfilled,” Nisha said.

Oh, we get to go on another adventure! Shift said.

“Do not piss off the Bicoma,” Warik warned her. “They control blackholes. I’m sure they’re powerful enough to make even an AI disappear.”

I’m shaking in my resistors, Shift quipped. A small cleaning droid shot out from a spot in the wall and started nudging Warik’s foot. Sometimes, he regretted inviting Shift to integrate with their domicile. Come on, there’s no time to waste!

Nisha sat up so she could put her lips near his. “Maybe there’s a little time to waste.”

Eww! Shift exclaimed, the droid scuttled off and his receiver went silent.

***

Nisha

Do you think she’ll want to meet me? Shift asked, his soft male voice sounding excited and worried. I know we don’t want too many people to know, but I’d really like to talk to her.

“Let me talk to her first,” Nisha said. “Then we can see about introducing you two.”

She, Warik, and Shift’s favorite droid were all gathered in the Ardent’s observation room staring out the windows into the darkness of space. She couldn’t see the satellites that marked the edge of Bicoma territory but had asked to come up to the observation deck anyway. She couldn’t believe she was so close to meeting Raleen.

“I still can’t accept you haven’t told me what she is to you,” Warik said. He stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her. To anyone else, his tone probably sounded casual, but Nisha could hear the hurt. “I thought you trusted me.”

This isn’t about trust, Shift said, his male voice shifting to a more neutral register. Shift decided to change gender and voice halfway through their journey to Bicoma. Nisha was proud that Warik didn’t seem to care and easily transitioned to calling Shift he instead of she.

“If it’s not about trust, then why?” Warik asked.

“This is about her, not you,” Nisha explained. “She has the right to know the information I have first, no one else.”

“Shift knows,” Warik grumbled.

“Shift is my sibling,” Nisha countered.

Shift jumped in with the same comment he said every time Nisha mentioned them being siblings . Or am I your child? You did create me!

Nisha ignored Shift and focused on Warik. “I promise that I’ll tell you the moment she gives me permission.”

Shift rolled the droid to a different window. When Nisha first modified the droid for Shift back on Hissa, many commented that she’d made herself a pet. No one questioned or even found it odd that the droid followed her everywhere. According to several conversations Shift had overheard, the consensus was that with her level of brilliance, some oddities were to be expected.

Nisha found the Hissa’s assumptions amusing and played into it by telling everyone the droid’s name was Shift. There were times individuals even addressed the droid as if it was another human or Hissa when Nisha was around. It made Shift feel seen even if they couldn’t risk revealing her to anyone but Warik.

And maybe Raleen.

“How much longer until we get there?” she asked Warik as Shift rolled from window to window, engaging different sensors on the droid to examine the space around the ship.

“Only another day,” Warik answered, hugging her tightly against him. “Did you review the vids I sent you on the Bicoma?”

We did. Can I say they’re weird looking? Shift answered for her.

Warik chuckled. “Considering how powerful they are, I wouldn’t say it to their faces.”

What’s with all the pupils? I’ve never seen a species with so many pupils per eye.

“Yopin said you get used to them,” Nisha said. “It must be hard to be the last three of your species.”

“According to the last report I read, they could easily rebuild their species within a few years,” Warik said. “But because they’re so long lived, the three haven’t decided if they want to or not.”

How long do they live? I read through all the information on the Bicoma and it’s not anywhere, Shift asked.

“Do you mean they could restart their species with Decanting technology?” Nisha asked at the same time. “Otherwise, they’re looking at some serious heterozygosity issues if there are only three of them.”

“We don’t know how long they live, Shift. The three alive right now have been around for at least a thousand years,” Warik said. “We also don’t know how they reproduce, but it’s not something simple like sexual or asexual reproduction. The one time Raleen asked, they refused to answer and disappeared out of the room. It might be a taboo subject among Bicoma.”

“What do you mean disappeared out of the room?” Nisha asked.

According to Mavito’s report, they have the ability to move through time and space within a certain distance from their personal blackhole, Shift explained.

“Forget their appearance,” Nisha said. “That’s way more weird!”

“I still think—”

Warik didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. Nisha felt a strange sensation of pressure against her skin and then the very people they were talking about appeared between her and the window.

Nisha was too shocked by their sudden appearance to do anything, but Warik wasn’t. With a warning growl, he picked her up and turned, so his body was between her and them.

“We’re not going to hurt anyone,” one of them said. “You will be reunited with your mate once you reach the planet.”

Another Bicoma appeared in front of her and grabbed her arm. There was a split second where she thought to pull free, then Warik and the ship were gone.

No, that wasn’t right, she was the one who’d left. Looking around, she found herself surrounded by smooth stone walls.

“I told you guys not to do that!” an angry human woman said as she rushed into the room. “You couldn’t wait one day? One day!”

“No, Raleen,” one of them said. “Why wait an extra day when we could shorten her journey and gain answers sooner?”

As that one spoke, all three of the Bicoma stepped away from the human woman as if she was far more frightening than them, which simply couldn’t be true. These Bicoma were some of the most intimidating sapient creatures Nisha had ever met.

They were tall without clothing or discernible sex organs. Their skin was a rust red except for their lower legs where the red darkened to black. They only had two legs but any number of arms growing out of their bodies without rhyme or reason. Even more odd was that all the arms had different numbers of fingers ranging from two to too many to count.

Some of the arms were long enough to touch the ground if they wanted while others were only stumps that looked like they were recently emerging.

So many arms! Shift said. Without access to the droid, Shift was reduced to seeing only through Nisha’s eyes. That meant Shift got to focus on arm after arm because Nisha couldn’t look away.

Do the Bicoma shed arms like other species shed scales? Shift asked. Do you think they leave them behind as they walk? Imagine walking into a room to find an arm just lying on the floor!

As Shift spoke, the Bicoma Nisha was staring at made a sound. She looked up to see that all their pupils were focused on Shift’s relay on Nisha’s belt.

“We’re not animals. We groom ourselves and dispose of arms discreetly,” one of the Bicoma said, sounding affronted.

Oh shit! They can hear me!

“Of course we can hear you,” another Bicoma commented. “You’re speaking rather loudly.”

Sorry! That one word was spoken with a combination of fear and awe. Please don’t send me into a blackhole!

“Advocate, why are you talking about disposing of arms?” Raleen asked, her temper sidetracked by the conversation she was only hearing one side of.

“Nisha has a friend we allowed to come with her,” Advocate said.

“We didn’t know the friend would be so talkative,” another Bicoma commented.

I can be quiet. So quiet. Not. Another. Word.

“Friend?” Raleen repeated, looking around the room. That finally pushed Nisha out of her daze.

“Hi, I’m Nisha,” she said. All kinds of emotions were flooding her at once, making it hard to focus on speaking. “And you’re Raleen.”

“Yes, I’m Raleen,” she said with a nod, then pointed at each Bicoma and named them. “This is Leader, Advocate, and Follower. Now that we’ve got that done, how about you tell me why it was so important for you to meet me?”

“Right, um, this isn’t how I saw this going,” Nisha admitted, trying to keep her eyes on Raleen instead of staring at one of the Bicoma.

“Let’s start with what I know about you,” Raleen said. “You’re the daughter of the woman who invented Decanting technology.” Her expression was cautious, and Nisha couldn’t blame her. “Now tell me what you know about me?”

Nisha opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She’d thought of this day so many times over the years. She’d rehearsed speech after speech. Thought of every word she’d use, but now that she was here, her brain wasn’t cooperating.

Raleen’s expression softened as a Hissa male with a scar on his face came into the room behind her.

“What’s going on here? Who’s this?”

The way the Hissa stepped up close to Raleen and took her hand meant this had to be Mavito.

“This is Nisha,” Raleen explained. “Advocate, Leader, and Follower decided they couldn’t wait a day longer so they popped her here.”

Mavito’s expression shut down. “Abrupt, but I can’t blame them. We’re all curious.” he pinned her with hard eyes. “What do you know?”

This is not how this is supposed to go, Shift grumbled. You’re supposed to be alone with her and have a heartfelt talk with tears and hugging. No one is supposed to be angry with us.

It seemed Nisha wasn’t the only one who had expectations of how this conversation was supposed to go. Nisha debated with herself for a few seconds before finally meeting Raleen’s eyes.

“I’m not some random human,” she began, but felt her throat dry up and had to stop speaking to swallow a few times.

“I know you’re not some random human, you’re Decanted,” Raleen countered, looking mildly annoyed. “I can see the mating marks from here.”

Rude much? Shift grumbled.

“Raleen is not rude,” Advocate said, all pupils focused on Shift’s relay. “She is experiencing impatience, as we all are as well.”

Follower spoke up. “Speak, Nisha. Explain yourself to us.”

“Who was Advocate talking to?” Mavito asked Raleen. She shrugged her shoulders, keeping her eyes on Nisha.

Right, no more delay. This wasn’t the moment she’d dreamed of, but it was better than no movement at all.

She pulled in a deep breath and pushed the words out. “You’re my sister.”