“He has a companion.Marta.”
“She’s been sent to be educated and dismissed from her duties to Orex.Good thing, too.Apparently, she was fading fast.”
“Oh.That’s not good.”She kept focus on the screen, but it was difficult.“You are shiny.”
Harwin smiled gently.“Yes, Zelda, I know.Okay, Orex knows where you are, and he’s coming to get you.”
“He has lots of teeth.”
“Yes, he does.He’s going to grapple your vessel and pull it into his.”
Zelda giggled softly.“That sounds dirty.”
“Can you take something for the infection?”
“No.Nothing here for me.Healing pod is wrong settings.Medication is wrong settings.Have been cleaning with alcohol and wrapping with bandages.Nasty bluey-green puss.”
“Oh, shit.Big fella, hair and scales?”
“Both.Did you know him?I am sorry.I shoved him out an airlock.All of them, actually.”She dissolved into giggles.
Harwin blinked.“Okay.You are fun at parties, I bet.”
“Yes.Or no.I don’t remember.Aretta’s birthdays were always fun.I wished that I could have taken her to meet her aunts, but I couldn’t get a passport.”
Harwin turned her head to the side and nodded.“Why not?”
“Because her dad was a dick, and he wouldn’t sign her passport.My mom was Canadian, and the twins were in the States.I couldn’t take her anywhere, and I had lost touch with Zoey and Zani by then.It wasn’t good.”
Harwin was tapping with her right hand.
“How is it that you were separated?”
“Oh, fun story.Our parents were a thruple.My mom didn’t want to have the babies, and their mom didn’t have good ovaries.The dad was the one with the aqua eyes.I met him and the birth mom once.Well, once the birth mom was pregnant, she became a bit of a bitch, so they disbanded, and each took a baby.It was all legal and recorded.So, I went to the great white north, and the others stayed in the States with their other parents.”
“That is interesting.You will have to tell me again later.For now, you are going to hear a thud, and they are going to come get you.They are pulling up on you now.”
“Oh, that is the typing.”She smiled as she heard the thud of magnetic attachments hit her hull.“I should have driven it like I stole it.”More giggles.“Oh, wait.I did.”
She looked out and could see alotof ship sitting on top of hers.“This is like a chihuahua and a great dane situation.”
Harwin laughed.“I imagine it is.Do you have a breather?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, in that case, they are going to come in fast.They know you are injured, so they are bringing a breathing unit.”
“You are just talking to me because you speak drunk Terran.”Zelda snorted.
She heard them coming through with cutting bots, and she sighed.“I should have lured in a better class of raider.”
Harwin laughed.
Boots thudded from the back of the ship, and she felt the air getting thin very quickly.Officers in Orex’s livery and breathing units came toward her and put a unit on her head.
She looked at Harwin.“The babysitter showed up.You can hang up, Mom.”
Harwin laughed and said, “Okay.See you tomorrow.”