Chapter 3

3

“ S tep onto the platform,” came the male medic’s command. He stared at his tablet, his verbal commands dead, and no care about what he was asking.

Neither did he, really.

Still, Karuk’s team lined up, and the others stepped behind him so that he was in front, and the first one on their squad to go.

Wasn't very encouraging. Of course, they still weren't big fans of his anyway. The last few weeks had been challenging, but the team had come to a basic sort of agreement—Karuk would do what he was told, and so would they. That's as connected as they would be.

Fortunately, his ear clip kept most of their random angry thoughts about him from getting through. Only once in a while would he hear one.

And they were all the same thing—that he annoyed them.

Fine.

Karuk was annoying to them.

Probably because he attracted a lot of attention on the station. Everywhere he went, someone stared.

There weren’t a lot of Dalgurians out in the universe. They stayed in their own world, away from others.

For a myriad of reasons, mostly, though, because many other species didn’t trust them.

So Karuk felt it here as well as anywhere else—the lack of trust and the suspicion. He knew the score. Either he was untrusted, or used as a pawn in a bigger game.

Neither were Karuk’s choices.

He mostly just wanted to be left alone.

A clatter drew Karuk’s attention. A construction worker had dropped a tool, and it clattered on the hard floor, echoing in the large room.

The chamber didn’t look like any kind of medical bay. Initially, they'd been told it was a medical scan, and Karuk figured it was some kind of regular exam. It wasn't an uncommon practice in labor jobs for regular medical attention. Companies made sure their workers were in proper health for their jobs. Especially hazardous ones, like Karuk's, doing hull work and other labor-intensive tasks.

No one on his team, he could feel their emotions even with theearpiece on, seemed very enthusiastic about the procedure. He didn't know what they were about to do to him, but he didn't have a good feeling about it.

It didn't look like a room that anyone would have medical procedures done in.

Since he would have been getting scans, he had thought it would be a medical bay. Some place with medical equipment and medical sounds.

This wasn't it.

This was a modified landing bay. Exposed conduits and circuitry scattered the bay. A team installed panels over one section, the sounds of tools chiming in the reprocessed air, with workers coming in and out. Voices murmured as they worked, punctuated by noisy clatters from tools being tossed around.

A platform near the entrance hummed, and a medic gestured to it. Like he expected them to know what he was doing. Other construction teams hauled in items and setting up the bay into, well, something. What, he wasn't sure, but they worked hard on making it into some kind of place.

"Hey, I said, get up on the platform," the medic said, gesturing to the platform that was raised off the floor a bit, just enough that it was a high step to get on it.

The team pushed Karuk to the front, none of them wanting to go first.

He grunted as he took a couple of steps forward to right himself, his frustration with the team growing.

It was like every little thing needed to be aggressive. Pushing him toward something—a confrontation he knew would come, eventually.

Something he didn't want to happen.

He didn't come all the way out here to make trouble. He just wanted to do his work and go his own way. And stay off of anyone's detection. The last thing he wanted to do was attract attention to himself. Even when he dressed, he wore dark, bland clothing so that he didn’t stick out any more than necessary.

The medic was muttering something, and Karuk was certain he heard the male say something about a database. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

Databases meant registries. Registries were how others found someone.

This was not a good idea.

He paused before stepping upon the platform.

“What if I do not wish it?”

This made the medic look up. “Everyone is required to scan. The system needs a database starting point.”

“It is unnecessary to add me—” Karuk said.

From behind him, Bardon shoved him forward. “Shut up and get on the platform.”

"Why don't you go?" Karuk countered, stepping toward him.

"You're first," Bardon snapped back.

"Enough," Cher yelled, stepping between them. "Stop being idiots. We're all doing it. Get on the damn platform or--"

"Or what?" Karuk fired back.

"Your magnetic boots will fail," Cher replied.

Karuk cursed as he stepped onto the platform. “I’m here to work,” he muttered. “Not to be a part of a matchmaking machine.”

The medic sighed. “Your data is just being catalogued to make sure everything is connecting right to the central database. Connecting to these Earth people is harder than we initially expected. We need some base information for the system to process.”

"You don't need mine."

The medic nodded. "We're still collecting data. So yes, we need everyone's. Including yours."

He took his place on the panel, grimacing the whole time as the blue light came up from the bottom, ran over him, and back down into the panel again. Just as quick as it started, it was over, and he became part of their database.

No way for him to fake this one, he realized. His arrival details masked him as much as possible, but this time, though, he didn't prepare for the scan, and he couldn't hide his identity.

Stars and Damnation.

What was he going to do now?

“I don’t see any people from the planet here,” Karuk said just as the scan completed.

The medic gestured for him to move off the platform. “We are getting some soon to complete this side of the testing.”

“Makes them sound like test subjects,” Cher muttered as she stepped onto the platform.

“If this sets up and works right, we all will be,” the medic said. “And we’ll have a new pool to dip into for compatibility matches.”

“You are eager,” Bardon said.

“Updating the science is always progress.”

Great.

Not only was Karuk now in a database, but he was part of a much larger one where humanoids were looking for mates, all across the known galaxy.

“Who has access to this database?” Karuk asked.

“Anyone who works in the Intergalactic Dating Agency’s organization.”

Karuk sighed. Exactly where he didn’t want to be.

Karuk headed along the exterior wall, scanning windows as he walked. The station's major structure was done. However, there were places all across the body that needed minute adjustments.

That's what he and his team did. Make those adjustments as needed all day, every day.

Today, it was a series of window panels that needed exterior adjustments. Construction crews considered outer hull work the worst position to be in. Heavy labor and one of the more dangerous locations available to work.

That being said, Karuk had enjoyed it. When he could stay away from the others, anyway.

The silence gave him the best peace he'd had in a long time. At least, when the others were silent as well. That wasn't often. But when it was, he appreciated it. Just the sounds of his own breathing and the mechanics of his suit. If he had a moment, he could look into the stars. See the arm of the local galaxy, they called it the Milky Way, in the star field. It was pleasing to observe, he thought. Peaceful.

Something he was lacking in his previous post.

His daily meditations to keep himself in check and keep control of his telepathic abilities helped him find his center. It let him listen to his higher self, not his emotions and worry. He still kept a diligent watch on those around him, but that was a habit he may never truly get over.

Trained to be a warrior guard for most of his life, some habits never went away.

He glanced outside a nearby window at the crest of the planet below, bright and blue in the star field, wondering about the humanoids on the planet.

Who were they?

What was their reason for this merger? He hadn't seen additional crafts when they had come in. How much experience with space travel did they have? What was their world like?

He felt the pull of the planet, the desire to walk on solid, organic ground.

To feel the —

"Karuk!" Bardon snapped in his earpiece. "Why aren't you checking your block of windows?"

"I am almost done," Karuk said, slipping the communicator off and dropping it in his pocket. He heard enough of Bardon’s bellows while in his company. No need to hear it now.

Karuk pulled out his scanner, focusing back on the task at hand. Testing the window to confirm the repair they'd done had taken hold properly, Karuk didn’t look down at the blue planet again.

He missed an organic life, but that was to be expected. He had to make peace with the lives in space, away from the solidity of organic living. The longer he lived in space, the more he would feel the rising yearning. It had been several months since he was on organic land, and it was wearing on him.

The constant cacophony—station engine hum, voices, equipment moving, clattering of metal on metal—it all grated on him.

He tried to adapt to it, but it wasn’t the same as organic sound.

While some noises he heard in a rhythm enough that they had faded to the background, everything else drew his attention. Especially anything out of place for that area.

Like a harsh stomping.

Loud conversation from two who were in distress.

The cry of a female voice.

He turned toward the sounds and headed directly for the voice. Around a curve on the walkway, he could hear the argument.

A female, standing near a staircase to the lower level, cried out and fell backwards. The male with her stood over her and laughed.

Karuk didn't hesitate. He reached her before she fell to the floor below.

He caught her in his arm, righted her position and then spun round, slamming his arm into the male who laughed at her falling.

The male stumbled backwards and growled at him.

"This doesn't concern you."

"It will when you throw a female down open stairs," Karuk countered.

The attacker, an alien with an antenna on his head and thick arms, lunged forward, swinging at him.

Karuk dodged him easily, and with two quick hits, had him bent over. A kick to the back of his knee dropped the larger male to the ground.

The male groaned. "You're not part of this," he fired back, coughing as he tried to right himself.

The female glared at the alien, her markings around her brow glowing bright red in fury. "Shut up Jovank. You shoved me down the stairs you dung piece!"

"I would have caught you," Jovank replied as he stood up.

"With what?" she fired back. "You have nothing that'll reach what I have!"

Karuk positioned himself between the two of them and glanced at the female. "Are you injured?"

Her hands shook, and she made fists. "I'm well, thanks to you. Him? I'm so finished with his stupid--"

"Come on, Feoa!" Jovank replied. "This was just a--"

"You. Pushed. Me. Down. The. Stairs!" Feoa charged forward, like she was going to attack him.

What in the stars had he walked into? Karuk thought. Had he walked into a lover's quarrel?

"You need to stop," Karuk said, hand out to keep Jovank back, and another that kept Feoa from leaping at him.

Feoa growled. "Let me go," she snapped.

Jovank yelled back at Feoa, and they continued to fight, with Karuk in the middle, attempting to keep them both separated.

About that time, station security arrived, their orange and blue uniforms clashing against the gray and white metal all around.

"Freeze, all of you!" The guard surrounded the three of them.

Karuk kept his hands out, and the other two still snapping at each other, but at least slowing down.

One guard ran his gaze over Karuk. "Pretty boy, you start this?"

Karuk sighed.

So this was how it was going to go.

Perfect.