Amber

"Now, hold still!" Ryrik scolded me with his hands on my scalp.

How we got like this, I couldn't remember. Nor how I let him be the one to choose the color, but somehow, Ryrik decided an old-fashioned dye job was the final touch of my disguise. He hated sending me in there, but there was just no other way.

"You're getting it in my eyes!" I screeched through lids shut tighter than a Uune's mouth.

"Well, if you would stop wriggling,"

"Well, if you would stop scratching me. It says massage, not claw."

"Do you want me to get dye all over that white shirt you had to have?"

It wasn't so dark behind my shut eyelids that I couldn"t see his point. "Okay, fine. But don't rub it into my ears."

As I bent over the sink, I couldn"t help but stop to relish the touch of his palms across my scalp. I was always a sucker for a head massage, who isn't? But the way he cupped my scalp with one hand while he rubbed the dye in with the other made me feel cradled in a way I'm sure I never was before.

I would've argued with him all day if it meant adding anything to those precious minutes. In all my years of running and the skills I'd had to cultivate to make it through, it felt so good to let myself go for once. To be natural and easy in the presence of another was something I'd only shared with Isa before.

For once, I didn't have an agenda, and there was nothing better that I could squeeze from the situation. So I relaxed there, letting the cold dye seep into my scalp while his warm hands gently massaged it into place. Just when I felt ready to drift off, he snapped a plastic cap onto my head with a loud pop.

"Hey!" I looked back to see that he had done it on purpose. The look on his face, the childish, impish look of joy told me everything I needed to know about this Vinduthi.

"No dozing off," he teased, his green tracery catching the light as his cheeks turned up in a smile. "We've got work to do."

That time, he shook his head, turning away from me, and I knew my good luck wouldn"t last. It was time to be ‘on.' We had a job to do, and I couldn't have him back down. What came next was something I had to do myself.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," he said, finally facing me from across the bathroom. I saw him in the mirror, the tension rising in his voice. It took so much work to get him to agree in the first place that I had to keep him in my corner.

"We're not going over this again," I said sternly. "It's the only way to get Isa back, and you know it."

His face turned dark, but he didn"t say anything, and I knew I had my way. Even if it was hard for him, he had no choice. I understood why it bothered him and how hard it must be to have to relinquish this thing out of his hands. But I gave him a look that I could only hope he'd understand.

"I can handle this," I said, tightening my fist for strength. Deep down, maybe I knew a moment like this was always coming. I'd felt almost numb since we settled on it, like it was something chosen for me by fates bigger than this universe can control. But nothing else mattered. Isa needed me.

Ryrik looked uncomfortable as he checked the time on his percomm. Five more minutes and I'd be a whole new me. A new, necessary layer of camouflage for the girl about to walk straight into Conii's layer. There had to be intel inside her compound about where Isa was being held, and I had to be the one to get it.

The cold marble slab of Ryrik's bathroom felt cool against my skin as I waited there with him. My naked flesh fidgeted underneath the robe he'd given me, anxious for his touch. I knew this wasn't the time nor place, yet part of me dearly wished he'd get it over with already.

When we fucked before, it was a means to an end. Just one in a number of failed escape plans. I'd had so many to cling to over the years that I didn't know what raw passion looked like. As I stood there waiting for the ring of the bell, I realized I'd never known sex for the fun of it, or the need of it, or even the hell of it.

A loud beep interrupted my thoughts. His eyes saw me first, and, without any more hesitation, he helped me rinse the dye out of my hair.

"What do you think?" I asked, flipping my wet locks against the towel. It was a risky plan, but it had to work.

"You were right, it's too bright." He frowned. He handed me a Desiccater 3000 and within seconds, my hair was dried and coiffed to perfection.

I couldn't help but smile, seeing how wrong we both were. "No, it's perfect."

I stood back and admired my newly transformed red-orange hair. Was it loud? Hell, yes. And that was the plan. I needed to blend in by standing out. I stepped behind a screen and changed into the outfit we picked out for me. A tight denim vest, knee-high boots, and the shortest shorts you'd ever seen in your life.

"Fuck, that looks good," he said, looking at me differently than before. "You're stunning."

"Then our plan will work and you can relax. When I walk into that compound, no one will see mousy Amber, the human they knew. They won't even recognize me. They think we all look alike, anyway."

He looked grim, as though it had just occurred to him that he sent me into the belly of the beast looking like a damn smoke show.

"I'm ready," I said, flipping the red waves in his face. "Let's do this."

"Hell no," he said, crossing his arms. "I can't send you in there completely alone. I have an idea. You're coming with me."

He grabbed me by the wrist in a needlessly protective way. I didn't understand him. My legs worked just fine, there was no need to drag me. As he led me through the back alleys of the station, I caught sight of his face. His jealous face.

"You're not?" I teased the words out, hoping he'd fill in the blank for me. The longer the silence grew, the more I realized I'd have to spell it out for him. "You're jealous."

"I'm taking you to security to get you a wire. That's all." He was brusk and quick, and lying through his teeth.

If I'd seen anything on my travels around this galaxy, it was jealous men. It didn"t matter what race they were or what planet they came from. Envy was envy, and this Vinduthi couldn"t stand the idea that other aliens would be checking me out.

"Sure thing," I said, pulling my arm out of his.

I felt him fuming with rage, but silent as he was, I knew he wasn't ready to reveal himself just yet. Whatever feeling he had bubbling under the green tracery in his skin would just have to boil a little longer.

When we reached the back door of the casino, Ryrik took me to the security office and led me inside. The inner room glittered with a thousand blinking lights from monitors and screens.

"Wow, look at this." I marveled, watching the light in Ryrik's unimpressed face.

"Sakkar," he growled. "I need a way to tail Amber when she's in Conii's compound."

Sakkar's eyebrows rose on his face. "You're sending her in like that? Are you nuts?"

"It's her plan," he miffed. "But it's not a bad one. She can easily talk her way into or out of anything. I just want to be able to track her in case things go south."

"I understand," he said, standing up. He walked to a box full of smallish devices, rummaging until he found a vial. "Here we go."

He sat back in his swivel chair and put his hand out for me to join him. "Sit. And I'll need your arm."

He pulled a small, needle-like device from the vial and placed it into a silver syringe. I found myself looking at Ryrik for comfort when the needle was placed against my skin. I felt his hand reach around my shoulders as the point pierced my skin. A cold metal feeling stung in my skin where he placed the device.

"It burns," I said.

"You don't have to wear it long," Sakkaer replied. "When they scan you, just make sure your left ring finger is away from the scanner."

I looked down at my hand and back at Ryrik, who seemed notably more relaxed.

"You Vinduthi sure know how to put a ring on it," I joked to their blank faces. "Nevermind. It's a human thing."

"There's a way to signal us if things go wrong. Simply tap three times, then two times, then three times. It will trigger a beacon, and we'll be able to find you anywhere on this station."

I looked down at the tracking device, my skin still red from the puncture of the needle.

Isa. I'm almost there.