Skylar's Guardians (7 page)

“No. I am not going to let you loose.”

“Then get me a wheelchair. You are going to draw too much attention, and people will start asking questions.”

Troy sighed and shook his head. “This outing is supposed to be simple. Maybe we should just come back after the store closes.”

“And help yourself to whatever you want? Tralec will rip you a new one.”

“I don’t understand. Rip me a new one?”

“It’s an expression meaning he will reprimand you until you want to turn blue. Uh, figuratively speaking.” Skylar could not resist the opportunity to grin.

“It would be best if I could trust you to gather the items for yourself.” Troy thought carefully, adjusting her on his hip. “I really want to be able to trust you.”

“I won’t try to run, I promise,” Skylar said softly. “You were right. I have nowhere else to go and no one to help me. You boys have shown me more care than… than anyone. Even my Granma was emotionally distant and never did anything for me that she wasn’t forced to.”

“Explain.”

“Can we go somewhere else? Somewhere quiet and warm? Hiding in the shade and talking behind a grocery store is not exactly comfortable.”

“Yes. Hold on and close your eyes.”

Skylar bit her lip and clung to Troy’s neck as he activated the shifter. He stroked her back gently, urging her to breathe through her nose and calm herself after they landed.

“I hate that thing,” she gagged.

“It takes some getting used to. We’ve been doing it all our lives, and Tralec still feels ill,” Troy said kindly. He set her down on the soft grass and looked around. “Is this a good place to talk?”

“Where are we?” Skylar asked, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

“I am not sure what you have named this specific geographical area. Is this more comfortable?”

“Yes. Papa? I’m scared,” Skylar said softly, crossing her legs underneath her and rubbing her aching ankle and eyeing the large gash on her foot. It was healing remarkably fast, probably due to Tralec’s horrid injection. “I look at you and can’t believe this is real. It still feels too much like a freaky dream. My perfect dream becoming a reality, and I don’t know what to do with it. I really need a friend right now, Papa… Troy.” She innocently gazed up at him.

Troy frowned, eyeing her carefully. “I need to tell you that I am concerned regarding your sudden compliance, Skylar. If you are trying to build my ability to trust you and I discover that you plan to betray that trust, it will not be wise.”

“How could you say such a thing? That is very hurtful,” Skylar demanded, forcing crocodile tears to her eyes.
Damn!
Once again, he was on to her.

“Because I suspect that human nature is not unlike that of any other sentient being. I do not want to have to punish you, but I will. And Tralec… he will be even harsher than I. He does not seem to be bothered by your leaking as I am.”

“I’m offended by your insinuations,” Skylar pouted, crossing her arms. “You are worse than Paul was, you heartless, selfish jerk!”

Troy wrinkled his brow, checked the definition of her terms, and sighed as he hauled his large body off the ground and walked away from her. Skylar watched him, a twinge of guilt twiddling inside of her chest. She was his captive! Why would she feel bad for hurting his feelings?

Several minutes passed and Troy sat on the ground, his back to her, and absently plucked pieces of grass. Skylar looked around. There was nowhere to go, no place to run—and honestly, she did not want to go anywhere. She felt a certain contentment being in this place with her massive companion. She slowly rose, easing her weight on her tender ankle and hobbled over to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck from behind, she kissed his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “Please forgive me. That was very cruel, and you did not deserve it.”

“I have no response to your words,” Troy said quietly, not turning his face in the direction of her lips.

Skylar sidled onto his huge lap and forced herself under his arm to make him hold her. “You respond by saying you forgive me and then we forget about how nasty I was.”

“I have so much to learn about your culture. I must ask Tralec about these things.”

“No! Please don’t.”

“Why should I not? Would he find your statement to be punishable?”

Skylar hesitated to answer. She knew that her best strategy would be to find a way to turn the two men against each other, yet, she felt conflicted. Plus, she could not deny the affect their pheromones had on her, making her dizzy with want for both their bodies and their attention. No human man had ever made her feel the way these aliens did. “I don’t know. It depends on how he interprets those books he thinks are user manuals. I guess that, yeah, he probably would. What I said was totally uncalled for.”

“I am realizing that you cannot learn to trust us if you see we do not trust you. I have decided to allow you the opportunity to prove I can trust you, Skylar. I will take you to that store and permit you to shop without my assistance. Just know this,” he looked into her eyes with a dark expression that caused her to tremble, “if you, how do you say—blow this? Then I don’t care how Tralec interprets those books. I will, if I may use a phrase I read, blister your bottom like there is no tomorrow.”

Skylar swallowed hard, feeling his hand reach to cradle her backside. She nodded silently and tucked her face against his chest. She had three days remaining to plan before they departed for Calipi. Today, though, would not be her day to escape.

“We should do nonperishables first,” Troy suggested after several minutes of silence. “Remember when I told you I retain information? Too many of your manuals indicate that the females of your species enjoy purchasing items. If we obtain perishable goods, then you know we must not dally when you look at clothing and such, correct?”

“Damn it, you are smart. Where will we put stuff we buy?”

“We can send it through the shifter with us.”

“How does that thing work?”

“All our devices are controlled mentally, like the ship. It has taken us years to master the communication between the systems and the ability to concentrate on the work we are performing. It can be dangerous losing focus. With a shifter, if you are distracted, you can end up materializing in the middle of a boulder.”

“Ow,” Skylar shuddered.

“That is a correct assumption. Let’s do this,” Troy said, his voice clearly revealing his trepidation as he removed her old sandals from a pocket in his tunic and slipped them onto her feet.

* * *

Skylar knew that Troy waited anxiously on a bench outside of the grocery store, trying to look inconspicuous as he curled his body as small as he could muster. She painfully hurried through the shopping as quickly as possible. She ignored the looks given her by the people as they saw her bruised face and the unusual garment, focusing simply on getting out as fast as she was able.

Troy looked relieved as she rolled the cart to him. “Have you finished?” he asked, sitting up straight.

“Yeah, but my head hurts terribly and my leg is tired. Can we go home? Please? I can’t shop anymore today. This was way too much for me,” Skylar said in a tiny voice, surprised to hear the word ‘home’ slip from her mouth.

“Yes, baby. You poor thing,” he said, ignoring the looks around him as he lifted her high into his arms and pushed the cart away to a small, wooded section behind the store. His affection touched her heart.

“You’ve been reading the books, haven’t you?” Skylar asked, relieved to be off of her feet.

“Yes. Could you tell? I want to call you names that make you feel nurtured.” Troy sounded pleased.

Skylar nodded, resting her face against his shoulder and inhaling his fragrance with delight. “You smell so good,” she giggled as a wave of giddiness swept over her.

“I don’t smell anything.” Troy wrinkled his nose.

“Mmmm, you and Tralec have this manly scent that makes my head spin. It is very seductive and sexy,” Skylar returned. “Your scents are one of the ways I can tell you two apart. Both of you are very appetizing. Your voice inflections are different too, and how you carry yourselves.”

“It must be how we are designed. Most people are able to differentiate between identical pod-mates without difficulty, but we have never investigated the reason. I think we are free of observers. Hold on.” Troy glanced around for witnesses, and convinced they were not being watched, activated the shifter.

“Oh God,” Skylar groaned, slumping on the ground after he put her down. “I’m gonna lose my lunch.”

“What’s lunch?”

“Food, midday meal. I’m talking about the chicken you gave me. I overdid it walking today, and I have another stupid headache. I never thought I would say this, but I need a nap. It’s the only thing that helps my dumb migraines.”

“We will have Tralec take a look at you first.”

“It’s just a migraine. I get them all the time.”

“I wish to make certain that it is not due to that head injury you had.”

“Tralec said the concussion and the internal stuff were healed. He said it takes the superficial things like bruising a while to recover. I’m fine.”

“Must you argue? You are pale.”

“You are calling me pale? You are the one who has the pallor of the undead. Do you guys burst into flames if you go into the sun?”

“No, we just color differently. Our pigment activates in moonlight.”

“We need to take a moonlight stroll then. You both would have season passes to a vampire’s nest if anyone saw how pasty you are.”

“What is a vampire?”

“I’ll tell you later. Put me to bed, please,” Skylar begged, rubbing her head.

“Tralec? Are you awake?” Troy called out as they entered the cruiser.

“Yes. Is all well?” Tralec looked up from his research.

“The baby has head pain, and her leg is sore. She needs fixing,” Troy advised, seeming pleased with himself for adopting phrases he had read.

“The baby? Very good! You have been studying. Come to Daddy, honey. What’s wrong?” Tralec asked, holding his arms out for her.

Skylar genuinely accepted the comfort he offered, so great was her growing misery. She curled in his arms, burying her face in his neck. “I have a migraine headache, and it feels like there is an icepick in my scalp. The shifter-thing made me sick to my stomach.”

“I understand. It does the same to me,” he said softly, caressing her face. “Anything else?”

“My leg and ankle feel weak. I think I walked too much,” Skylar whined, hoping to get more sympathy from the hard-faced man.

“You walked? Why were you walking? Her muscles are torn and bruised, Troy! What were you thinking?”

“Don’t get your gills up. I drew too much attention. Listen to me, Tralec. We need to trust her if we expect her to trust us. It had to start somewhere. She promised not to betray me and proved herself to be truthful.”

“That is pure foolishness,” Tralec said, rocking the tiny girl in his arms.

“Perhaps, but I am the one trained to anticipate action. My instincts tell me she is sincere in her promises,” Troy said firmly, holding his ground. “Have you ever known my instincts to fail us?”

“No, I have not. Allow me time to consider your words. I will take care of her while you program her items in the synthesizer.”

“I loathe that chore,” Troy grumbled.

“Just get it finished. Let’s go to the cubicle and get you comfortable, sweetheart,” Tralec said gently as he carried Skylar to his quarters. He placed her on the bunk, activated the air mattress, and stroked the hair from her face with a look of concern in his eyes. “You are in much pain, aren’t you?”

Skylar nodded, trying to hold back her tears. “Please, no more shots. Please…”

“The gas isn’t working to help you sleep and restore, honey. I don’t know what else I can do.”

“Get some human drugs,” Skylar moaned. “Turn off the lights. They hurt my eyes.”

Tralec flicked the lighting off and stroked Skylar’s thigh. “Let’s try to change the amount of gas pumped in and see if that helps. I’m going to see if Troy can obtain some human medical supplies.”

“You’re giving him permission to steal?” Skylar commented, squinting at him.

Tralec’s face hardened. “If that is what we need to do to care for you, then so be it. Close your eyes and try to rest.”

Skylar drew in a deep breath of the fragrant gas that was pumped into the unit. It sedated her slightly but failed to put her into a sleep state. Tralec returned, noticing her eyes were still open.

“I don’t understand why this won’t work on you,” he said, running his hand across her brow line.

“Maybe it’s because I am a recent drug user. It was stupid and I did some really dumb things to my body that may have messed me up,” Skylar confessed shamefully.

“What were you medicating yourself for?”

“It was not for medical purposes.” Skylar avoided his eyes. “I did it to have fun.”

“True foolishness, child. Well, it is done and cannot be changed. You might need to be detoxified. Don’t look so frightened. The process hurts much less than the injections.”

“W… what are you going to do?”

“We are designed with flaps under our arms that allow us to be evaluated and receive medications and treatments. You don’t have the same structure, but I discovered you are equipped with a similar route that runs most of the length of your body. It won’t affect your legs, but I am mainly concerned with your organs being exposed to the chemical and its absorption into your bloodstream.”

“Huh?”

“There is a term… Let me look… oh yes! It is similar to what the manuals describe as an enema.”

“No fucking way, dude!”

“I don’t understand your reaction. Mind your language…”

“Those things are nasty and… Ugh. No!” Skylar vehemently protested.

“Skylar,” Tralec said patiently. “I can offer you a choice. I can flush this detoxifying chemical through your body and clear you of the remnants of anything that is interfering with you being able to function fully. It will also speed your recovery. Your other option is injecting you with the sedative, wait until you fall asleep, and do the same thing.”