“What, you don’t know?”
I pondered his inquiry for a few moments before responding. “When I heard you scream, my entire body felt cold and unwell. It was uncomfortable, and I wished for it to end quickly. Is that what fear is?”
He shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. “Well… yeah.”
“Then, yes. I felt fear in that moment. But never before.”
His face shield was tipped in my direction as he stood unmoving. I assumed he was staring at me.
“That’s, um… different,” he finally said.
That was not the first time I had been described that way. I did not mind, though, especially since it was coming from him.
“Enough about me. Are you all right?” I asked.
Assistant 23 let out a shaky breath. “Yeah. I’m fine. I was just bathing and washing up before my imagination got the best of me, and I freaked out over nothing.”
“You bathe with the covering on?”
Adorable frustration entered his voice once again. “No, obviously! I take the suit off.”
The tips of my feelers tingled with curiosity. The other three humans on Eukaria shared physical similarities but each had distinct differences. I could not imagine what Assistant 23 looked like beneath the suit, and I desperately wanted to know.
“Can I see?” I asked.
He yelped, springing back a step. “What? No!”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to show you!”
I accepted his answer. Even though I did not like it, he had sated my immediate curiosity. I was not about to pin him down and remove his exterior shell.
“All right,” I said.
“IsaidI’m not gonna strip, okay? So stop—” He paused mid-shout. “Oh. Sorry.”
He sounded embarrassed, though I did not know why. I did not mind when he raised his voice at me. I liked all facets of him; every rise and fall of his words, each annoyed grunt, flustered whimper, and shrieked word.
Desire stirred in my belly. I ignored it.
“I will escort you back to the village, so I know you are safe,” I told him.
He huffed, crossing his arms. The stick poked out of the crook of his elbow. “Since when are you my self-appointed babysitter?”
“You are not a baby, and I am not sitting on you.”
He groaned, then corrected, “Chaperone. Didn’t I encode that in the damned translation program?”
Before I could ask what he meant by that, a deep bellow vibrated through the clearing. My ears pricked. I recognized it as a Gulgin—a large, amphibious creature that asserted its territory with its booming cry. They were harmless, but I realized Assistant 23 did not know this by the way he leaped into the air with a sharp squeal. When he landed back on the ground, he shuffled closer to me, almost close enough to touch my chest.
“What wasthat?” he cried. “It sounds enormous!”
“Nothing to worry about,” I told him. Then, unable to contain my amusement, I added, “I thought you lived alone for eight fucking years.”
He sharply raised his head. “I did! I never heardthat!”
“That is difficult to believe. Gulgin live everywhere on Eukaria.”