Page 11 of Uprooted
Aro
Fucking Bennet. He should have let me step in and walk them to their rooms.
I recognized her the moment she stepped out of the porter. Gone was the timid, nervous-looking female I saw at the reception months ago. This time she looked confident and happy. She looked like she was in her element.
If Bennet had just been cool about it, I would know what her name is and what room she was assigned to.
What I do know for sure, is that Tai didn’t follow my order about having a better attitude.
He looked more irritated than ever when he arrived with the two women.
I didn’t have a chance to follow through on my threat to pull rank.
A dozen porters had filed into the cargo bay all at once.
I barely managed to control the chaos, but we got everyone settled into their rooms without causing an interplanetary crisis.
I do a walk-through of the entire muradome after everyone is checked in.
Unfortunately, I don’t find her. Instead, I end up fetching towels and extra pillows for a few of the new residents. I retreat back to the Central Hub when Bennet walks in. He’s all smiles. He whistles while he straightens up his workstation. I do my best to ignore him.
“Aro, sir.”
I glare at him, hoping it’s enough to get him to shut up. “For tomorrow should I—” Bennet cuts himself off. “Uh, never mind,” he says and steps towards the exit .
“Did you have a question?” I ask. That came out more tense than I had intended.
“Not when you’re in this mood.” He leaves as quickly as he arrived, probably for the best.
He’s not wrong about my mood.
* * *
The next morning, I wake up ready to put a new plan into place. I head straight to Rialto’s office to get his sign-off.
“Sir. I’d like to do another inspection in the labs now that the humans are here. I think we should double-check they didn’t move anything around or whatever.” I do my best to sound like a concerned authority figure.
Rialto looks up and seems to see right through me. “No, I think it’s fine. I can’t imagine they have even been to their labs yet.”
Okay—that one didn’t work. I’ve got a back-up.
“I’d like to volunteer to do one final survey, to make sure everything is working. I found a broken cleaning bot in my quadrant before they arrived. I’d like to double check to make sure everything's in good order.”
“That’s a good idea. Put Lugo on it. I need you to brief the Council on the humans’ arrival. They want assurances that everything went smoothly.” Rialto goes back to his yuriOS.
“I’m happy to do the inspection myself.”
“As captain, you were overseeing the arrival, and I want you to brief the Council.” Rialto rubs his temples like he’s warding off a headache.
I suspect I might be the headache.
“Yes, sir.” I turn to leave before he thinks of another assignment.
“I want a full report from yesterday on my desk by 0900,” Rialto calls after me. I stop to acknowledge that I heard. I close my eyes, let out a silent sigh, and continue on my way.
Being cooped up in the security hub is going to make it a lot harder to happen to run into each other.
I’m still determined to find her.