28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Nikolai

The datapad slips from my fingers, landing screen-first on the floor. “ Pizdec! (Fuck!)” I grumble to myself, reaching to pick it up. If this had happened back home on Earth, the screen would be cracked but, fortunately, these alien devices are made of stronger materials.

Rubbing my eyes, I stare at the screen. I think I’ve read this text two or three times already, but my brain simply refuses to retain anything. Perhaps Faelin is right. I really should get some rest but I can’t let go of this fear that if someone gets hurt, I won’t know how to treat them because I’ve been sleeping instead of studying.

Suppressing my yawn, I glance at the screen again. Quintran biology. That’s Omni, the blonde male with large wings. I haven’t talked to him much, but he seems friendly and easygoing. Most people on this ship are. They do their best to make me feel welcome.

The captain, Zarkan, has assured me repeatedly that I’ll always have a place here. That they aren’t going to kick me out for being useless. But how can I be sure they won’t change their minds? They’re all elite super soldiers and I’m…well, me.

I do have combat training but I detest violence. I studied medicine back on Earth but I might as well have not bothered, considering Earth is so far behind the rest of the universe in technology, medicine and even anatomy knowledge that I feel less knowledgeable than a freshman med student!

So far, I’ve come across dozens of different alien species and I’ve read manuals on technology that exceeds my wildest dreams. Every time I have to use one of the machines in the infirmary, even just to test it, I feel like a caveman trying to operate a nuclear power plant. Useless.

“Hey.” I jerk as D’Aakh enters the infirmary, nearly dropping the datapad again. “I need to check the wiring in here,” he says, pointing at the maintenance hatch on the wall. “Electricity and water circuits have been glitching all over the ship in the past few hours. I need to find the source before systems start failing.”

“Sure, check away.”

He goes on to do his tech magic while I make one last attempt to read the database entry about Quintrans. Once again, I’m interrupted by someone opening the door. “Hey, Nikolai, do you have a minute?”

“I have nothing but minutes,” I reply as I see a smiling Astra enter the room. I really like her and I’m glad she’s around. Not only was she the only other human on board the Supernova until Nala arrived, but she’s also a kind and cheerful soul.

“Could you check out this little chipmunk here? Faelin mentioned something about a tracker.”

Nala’s daughter joins her in the doorway, pouting. “I’m not little.” She takes in the room, visibly shrinking at the sight of me and D’Aakh, and inches closer to Astra.

I crouch down to her eye level. “Of course you’re not little. Aunt Astra has poor eyesight,” I tease. “I think she needs glasses.”

“What are glasses?” Ellen asks, intrigued.

Right, aliens don’t wear glasses. “Back on Earth, where your mom, Astra, and I are from, people wear glasses when they can’t see properly. Big, thick pieces of glass that make them look like fish.” My poor imitation of a fish draws out a giggle, her anxiety forgotten.

“But you’re not the same as Mama.” Ellen’s eyes narrow as she looks between Astra and me. “You look different.”

“Well, humans come in a variety of colors.”

“Red and green too?”

I nod with all seriousness I can muster up. “Absolutely. Red and green and blue and sparkly purple.”

Astra smacks the top of my head. “Stop messing with the kid, dummy.” She pats the bed and tells Ellen, “How about you hop up here and let Uncle Nikolai check you over?”

The girl climbs up on the bed but looks nervous again. After everything she’s been through, it’s a wonder she’s not running away screaming. “You’re a brave girl,” I praise, grabbing a small handheld scanner.

“Well, she’s named after Ellen Ripley, after all. The bravest woman in the universe,” Astra says.

“I am?”

“Your mom never told you? Well, I guess you’re too young to watch Alien just yet.”

Ellen pouts. “I watch aliens all the time. I’m watching you!”

God, I love kids. When I manage to stop laughing, I show Ellen the device in my hand. “I’ll just hold this over you,” I explain. “It won’t hurt. In fact, you won’t feel anything.” Since she still seems a little anxious, I suggest, “Would you like to try it on Aunt Astra first?”

“Ooh, can I?”

“Of course. Here.” I give her the scanner and wrap my fingers around hers to make sure she won’t drop it. Astra plays along, lying down and letting us wave the scanner all over her body. When it beeps, I briefly check the results, not expecting anything to be out of the ordinary. However, there is something. “Huh,” I mutter to myself as I study the screen.

Astra scowls. “What? What is it?”

She tries to look at the scanner herself, but I’ve had Cai switch all of the infirmary devices into Russian. She doesn’t speak the language and I very much doubt she can read Cyrillic. “It’s nothing,” I wave her off. It might be something, but I’m not about to discuss a potential pregnancy with a four-year-old in the room. Plus, it’s too early to tell for sure. I turn to Ellen instead. “Now, let’s scan you, okay?”

The scanner does indeed find a small subdermal implant in her shoulder. “Can you remove it?” Astra asks when I show her the scan. She’s still giving me the side eye and I know she’s dying to pump me for information but not while Ellen and D’Aakh are here.

“I can remove it, but perhaps it would be better if Nala was here for it? It’s a simple procedure, but Ellen will feel safer with her mother around and Nala won’t kill me for cutting into her child without her consent.”

Astra nods. “Yeah, you’re right. You’re a great doctor, Nikolai. That is, when you’re not hiding things from people!” she barks, smacking me for a second time before hopping off the bed and holding her arm out for Ellen. “Come on. Let’s go do something fun. Hey, D’Aakh, do you want to join us? Omni promised he’d take Ellen flying in the hangar bay.”

“Busy,” D’Aakh mutters from behind a tangle of wires. “Something’s going on with the wiring and plumbing. If I don’t fix it—”

“We won’t have hot showers?” Astra teases. “That would be a disaster.”

D’Aakh scowls before returning his attention to the wires. “No. If I don’t fix it, the engines will start overheating and we’ll get stuck in space.”

“Oh. Well, in that case, you better fix it. Can I do something to help?”

“Stop talking to me, please,” D’Aakh replies, not even bothering to raise his head anymore.

Astra rolls her eyes. “Yes, Mr. Grumpy.” She takes Ellen’s hand, then looks at me. “Do you want to come?”

“Actually, I think I’m going to get some rest,” I reply, rubbing at my burning eyes. I feel like I haven’t slept in forever.

“Yeah, that’s probably wise. Later!”

I consider heading to my room, but quickly change my mind when I realize it’s right next to Faelin’s. The last thing I need is to listen to him fucking Nala. I mean, I’m happy for him, but he’s a loud guy. Instead, I head to my secret place.

Storage room 18-C, the sign on the door reads. My Omnispeak is still pretty basic, but I’ve learned to interpret the symbols. The words are usually pretty self-explanatory.

Behind the door is a dark storage area. Cargo containers of various sizes create a maze of narrow corridors and small openings. According to the door logs, nobody had been here for months before I first arrived, so I guess there’s nothing important or valuable hiding in the containers. There’s no dust, though. The ship’s air filters take care of that.

I turn left then right, quickly finding the opening I’ve chosen as my private sanctuary. The improvised hammock I secured between the wall and one of the larger containers awaits me, as well as the small stash of comfort food I keep here.

I like being around people and most of the crew are super friendly but sometimes, I just need a place to be by myself. Back home, I used to hide in a garden shed, before my father found out about it and burned it down. Here on the Supernova, I have storage room 18-C.

I jump into the hammock, lazily swinging side to side as I scour through the food packets. I’m in the mood for some dried ovi, a sweet fruit that tastes like a combination of figs and oranges. It sounds weird, but it’s delicious. It’s my favorite and I distinctly remember bringing three packs in here just yesterday. Except, they aren’t here.

Thinking they might have fallen into the narrow space between the containers, I slide off the hammock and begin the search. Nothing. Come to think of it, some of the other food is missing too. And my water. Odd.

I activate the datapad, bringing up Cai’s interface. “Hey, Cai? Has anyone entered storage room 18-C since the last time I was here?” Maybe D’Aakh was here, checking on some wiring, and got hungry?

“Negative, Nikolai,” Cai responds. “The door remained closed until you opened it five minutes and thirty-six seconds ago.”

“Okay,” I reply slowly, looking around.

The hair on the nape of my neck stands up and a shudder runs down my spine. Someone’s watching me.

I clear my throat. “Hello? Is anyone here?”

The silence stretches, but then I hear it. The tiniest whimper, followed by footsteps. I rush between the cargo containers, trying to find the source of the noise, but I’m not fast enough. I barely glimpse someone entering the maintenance walkway hatch before it slams shut.

“Wait!” I call, but my voice echoes in the room without a response. I examine the hatch, finding fresh engine grease smears as if whoever touched it had dirty hands.

“Well, look at that,” I mumble to myself. “It looks like we have a stowaway.”