Argurma Monster (The Argurma Chronicles #2)

Chapter 10

Beverly didn’t know what time of the day it was when she awoke since there was no sun or clocks in the room to tell her, but when she did it was with the sense of being fully rested. Of course, the takeoff from Earth was completely different than what she had imagined it would be like, and not just because she spent it strapped to a big alien. She couldn’t believe that he’d thought to simply leave Talech in one of the rooms while he showed Beverly to her own room across the hall. If she’d had any idea that was what he was planning, she could have warned him that it wouldn’t work and saved themselves all the headache and Talech additional trauma. The male was infuriating at times with his tendency to hover, but she also understood that he needed her even if she’d barely been able to pee in peace without the alien hovering nearby. Talech had been... displeased... at being separated from her.

Beverly grimaced. Displeased was an understatement. Especially when it came on the heels of Zoreth suggestion to leave him. How could she explain that she was just as much of a monster as Talech, even if she didn’t show it on the outside? She was responsible for him. Even though the majority of what was done to him happened before her time or without her knowledge, she still felt the weight of that responsibility that only grew when the male patiently and tenderly cared for her when she was wounded and the sickness that followed as she fought off infection, and then when she cared for him in turn.

It was therefore within the confines of her room, with no outward facing windows, that Beverly experienced her first and only departure from Earth’s atmosphere. As a scientist she had heard through the grapevine of certain secret colonization projects. Despite the details on the data being classified, it didn’t stop her from dreaming of being chosen to go to one of those colonies.

It was those dreams that had made her jump on the chance of experiencing life among aliens. Other lifeforms certainly hadn’t been part of those rumors, but since being awakened from stasis, she was now eager to see and embrace it all. Finding out that Earth had been rapidly dying while she slept for so many years certainly didn’t make her want to stay, and the island didn’t offer much for anyone stranded there. Especially not once supplies ran out. The ocean still had its fish, but how long would it have lasted? Overfishing and rapid climate change had done considerable damage to the marine life on the planet. In any case, she couldn’t swim, and from observing Talech, she knew he had his limits as to how submerged he allowed himself to become. Perhaps it was due to his cybernetics. That seemed a plausible reason.

In any case, she was glad to leave Earth behind. From what Meg said, it was no paradise and on a fast track to death. She didn’t regret the lack of a view too much, especially when it turned out that being strapped to a chair with Talech ended up being a very comfortable place to sleep. Truthfully, it felt like her first really peaceful sleep since she arrived on the island.

Granted, waking up between two alien males had been a little weird. But it wasn’t the sort of weird that she objected to, strangely enough. That it might have contributed to her peaceful sleep was laughable, but she couldn’t immediately reject it either.

But now that she was awake... well, now her curiosity was roused. Brushing her hand over her clothes and trying not to grimace at how gritty they felt, she headed toward the door, eager to explore. Talech, ever observant, immediately stood and covered the distance between them in just a few steps, meeting her at the door. She smiled up at him and patted his chest.

“Are you coming with me, big guy?”

He clicked in agreement, his blue eyes glowing with interest.

“Where are you going?” Zoreth growled tiredly as he rose from the bed and straightened to his full height.

“Exploring,” she replied cheerfully only to be met with a rattling sigh.

“What is it that you plan to explore?” He didn’t sound irritated. His voice was flat as if he could not imagine what she could possibly want to explore in a fascinating spaceship.

“Your ship, of course,” she explained as she turned to the door and then frowned at the realization that she had no idea how to open it. She squinted at it and immediately began searching for some sort of opening mechanism. “How could I not want to explore? This is my first time in a spaceship. Ah, how do I get out?”

Zoreth’s heavy footsteps approached so she turned to wait for him as Talech growled quietly behind her. She refused to be amused by the menace. Instead, she nudged him with an elbow to silence him as Zoreth arrived at her side. The male shot Talech a narrowed look, his vibrissae rising in warning as he grabbed Beverly by the wrist. Predictably, Talech loomed, his arachnid limbs unfolding slightly as he hissed.

“Relax, Talech,” she murmured. “He isn’t going to hurt me. Especially not with you standing right there.”

A disgruntled look crossed Zoreth’s face. “Talech processes that I will not hurt you. He does not like me touching you,” he corrected. “But he also knows that it is not for him to decide and that his attempts to intimidate me will not work.” He huffed as Talech quieted, and Beverly glanced back at him with bemusement. “The locking panel is here,” Zoreth explained, drawing her attention back to him as he guided her hand over a barely visible panel beside the door.

He flattened her palm against it. The panel immediately began to glow blue in response, and she shivered as she felt something electric run down the length of her hand. It was the strangest feeling, but she didn’t get much time to analyze it before it disappeared entirely and the blue glow beneath her hand winked out. He released her wrist and took a step back.

“The ship has now recorded your biosignature as an authorized passenger. You will now have access to most parts of this ship.”

As if on cue, the door slid open in front of her, and she gave it a curious look. “Why didn’t you do that before?”

His mandibles clicked quietly. “It was not deemed necessary at that moment. My priority was to terminate my mission and vacate Earth the moment I learned that Kaylar had departed. You have necessary access now.”

She frowned and stepped through the door. That seemed like a quibbling detail when it clearly took all but two minutes to take care of, and he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the fact that he had affectively trapped them in a room for hours. She paused and glanced back as Talech followed her out.

“Wait, what about him?” she demanded, gesturing to Talech.

Zoreth’s vibrissae twisted in the air in a state of unease. “It is unadvisable to give a damaged male unrestricted access to the ship,” he said slowly. “Talech’s systems should have synched to the minimal open channels of the system once he arrived on the ship. To give him further access is to invite the possibility of him unconsciously taking control over the ship in a state of distress. It is inadvisable.”

She opened her mouth to protest—she didn’t like the idea of Talech being essentially trapped on the ship—but the big male reassured her with a quiet purr.

“He is correct, anastha. My moments of confusion are too great to risk what I might do to the ship.”

“I still don’t like it,” she grumbled but sighed heavily as she continued into the hall, the steady clip of the males following behind echoing softly in the silence. She peered around, wasn’t there something missing? “You travel completely alone? Don’t you have one of those companions—dorashnal, I think Talech called them. I don’t remember Kaylar having anything of the sort, but he didn’t seem like someone who follows any kind of conventions or seeks companionship of any kind, much less someone who would have a pet.”

Zoreth rumbled softly, his mandibles clicking. “She is not on ship. Since the house has parted with Argurumal, we have begun a breeding program to preserve our dorashnal. Lila was selected to whelp in this cycle and so I left her on the fleet’s mothership.”

“I see,” she murmured. “You must miss her.”

The male grunted in agreement. From the corner of her eye, she saw his head turn toward Talech to peer at him speculatively. “I did not see any evidence of dorashnal. Did we abandon one? I can reverse our trajectory—”

“Unnecessary,” Talech interrupted stonily, and Beverly’s heart broke a little for him as she silently cursed herself.

Damn her for bringing it up.

She glanced back at Zoreth and shook her head. “She was... changed. Talech had to destroy her to save us. If he hadn’t, Kaylar and Meg probably wouldn’t have made it off Earth alive. I probably would have died of my own wounds as well,” she admitted.

“Changed?” Zoreth hissed.

Beverly quickly described the appearance of E-302 and what Talech told her. “It was before my time, so I have no idea what they did to her.”

Zoreth hummed thoughtfully. “Dorashnal are special hybrids created by the Argurma. We domesticated the wild dorashas, which resemble what you described but considerably smaller, and spliced their genes with certain features of Argurma genes to create a species that was capable of bonding to us on a deeper level. Even domesticated dorashas tend to carry characteristics of their wild heritage. Removing her vibrissae and submitting her to aggressive gene therapy might have caused a spontaneous regression as the species is highly adaptive. Her size I cannot explain.”

“For military use, I imagine,” she replied with disgust. “That seemed to be their main interest in Talech from what I understand.”

The male clicked softly. “It was humans that damaged him. Veral was right to say not to underestimate your kind.”

She nodded grimly. “It was a long time ago. We were in stasis before Veral and Meg woke us up, but yeah, some humans can be downright shitheads.”

He made a startled sound, and Talech, who was far more accustomed to her potty mouth, chuffed gruffly from behind her.

She shook her head in amusement. “Okay, enough about Earth. That hellhole is far behind us now. Why not give us a real tour of this ship?”

Zoreth clicked as he took position beside her. “This is the main hall that connects the residential to the lift. It can take us to the navigation center on the flight deck or to the lower level, which contains the med unit and galley.”

“Galley?” Her stomach grumbled. “I suppose that means food. I’m starving! I haven’t eaten a thing since yesterday.”

Zoreth blinked at her quizzically, and Talech chuffed again. “Humans require much food and water,” he explained.

Beverly took exception to that remark but chose to ignore it. Why rock the boat when she was going to eat anyway? Just because Argurma didn’t necessarily eat except once every few days didn’t mean that they wouldn’t feed her. And it wasn’t like Talech, for all his amusement, wouldn’t join her. She licked her lips in anticipation. It was probably going to be some bizarre alien cuisine, but at this point she couldn’t care less.

And when Zoreth set several bowls of unidentifiable but deliciously spicy, aromatic foods in front of her, Beverly inhaled them at a speed that had Zoreth eyeing her in what could have been shock or simply awe. Was he admiring her ability to put food away, or disgusted? As long as he kept the food coming, he could get bug-eyed about it all he liked. He didn’t seem to get the memo, though, because he continued to stare at her uncertainly. She grinned and blew Talech a kiss, however, as he chuffed and pushed his bowl toward her. There was a male who understood her language.