Chapter 55

CHAPTER 55

THREXIN

T hrexin stood in the Upload observation space, hands clasping elbows across his chest as he watched. The Uploads had been going relatively smoothly. After the initial commotion subdued by Orion Halen, a total of nine hundred humans opted to take the offer to Upload before their time. Orion and his female had arranged some silly human system in which those who were already registered did not get a free pass, prioritizing those who otherwise had no means to Upload. Not a ship week later, a steady stream of additional volunteers kept trickling in.

It was not enough to meet Threxin's quota of depleting the human population by half, but a certain female was beginning to wear him down in her demands for him to find a solution to avoid disposing of the extras. Threxin glanced sideways, Alina Argoud standing beside him. On the other side of the one-way view, Kaia Halena loomed in what had become her customary corner.

Threxin had been observing some of the procedure along with some of his cohort for the sake of curiosity. Humans were placed into a large rig, an oversized helm with a multitude of electrodes and scanners atop their heads. More electrodes were placed alongside their body, concentrated at their abdomen to capture gut scans. Those were allegedly important to compile a holistic human personality matrix and neural function mapping.

The process was efficient, taking about five ship minutes once the rig was activated. What was not efficient is the ceremony prolonging the entire experience. The Uploaded human usually demanded time to mentally prepare their faculties. Worse, family members and friends in various states would gather around each human to say their goodbyes. Thus a five-minute affair could drag on for an entire hour or more.

That was precisely what was happening now, as they looked on at a younger male surrounded by a gaggle of kin. He had been holding up the rig for too many ticks. They did not have enough time to waste on such things.

As if on cue, Silarra's head popped into the rig room, making the humans gasp and flinch in unison.

"You have five minutes to handle your emotional issues," she snapped. "Get on it."

Threxin cringed slightly as his Alina shifted beside him. The scowl on her pretty face when he glanced down at her was not unexpected.

"Threxin, that's completely inappropriate," she huffed.

Threxin sighed. His female was sensitive—she was human, after all. He reached up to smooth her hair in a soothing motion he had recently learned she enjoyed. Although judging by the tension leeching from her mind, it was not working quite as intended yet.

"There are more than one thousand humans to get through in one ship week before we jump," Threxin explained patiently. "And more register each day. The nature of time does not permit us to accommodate stalling."

Threxin may not have a limiter anymore, but tempered by his link with his female it seemed his mind was still more rational than that of a human.

"Then can you at least tell her not to be such an asshole about it?" his Alina ground out through gritted teeth, jerking her head from his petting.

Threxin issued a short hiss through his fangs and yanked her back toward him by her waist. Ticks later, the flash of possessive frustration was tempered by a soft pang of trepidation on her end.

"Yes, my female," Threxin took a deep inhale, leaning into her fragile presence.

He lifted his wrist to his mouth. Alina had said he could now initiate transmission to his cohort's comms devices through his Neurosync, but it felt viscerally wrong to establish such a link with anyone but Alina.

"Silarra," he barked into his comms patch. "I told you to be more delicate with your reprimands yesterday. If I must tell you again, I will rip your other fang out."

He spoke in Universal for the benefit of his female finding some comfort in the words. Indeed, while his Alina was generally not one for violence, a warm flush radiated through their link as she leaned into his side.

"Thanks. Now stroke my hair again," she grumbled under her breath.

Threxin smirked and resumed his petting.