Trapped with the Alien Transporter (Ragrim Explorations #1)

Chapter 9

Ophelia stared at him.

“I just did it.”

Walk me through your thought process. Why did you do that?

Unneeded and definitely unwanted, the thought of an old teacher came to Ophelia’s mind. Always asking how she had gotten from one topic to another. How she had jumped from one hyper-focused interest to another, leaving everything she’d been halfway through behind. Getting overly upset and out of sync when something interrupted her, and taking forever to get back into things.

Once upon a time, she’d seen being autistic as a negative, something to resent and try to change. Having teachers who were condescending enough that even she could pick up on it was a regular occurrence, and it wasn’t until she’d gotten one who actually understood and knew how to communicate properly that she’d been able to really thrive. Losing Ms. Piggott to the Ysenys colony had been a blow, though she would never admit that it was what had put the colony on her radar in the first place.

Hsinth shifted. “Everything went in the same boxes? I know I wasn’t the best at emptying one container completely before opening another.”

“Um,” she said, thinking of the toys. “There were a few things I wasn’t sure about. I didn’t throw the boxes out and if you want, I can sort them back out. I wasn’t sure about the cleaning models and the shedding toys; they looked similar enough, but now that I think about it, I guess Geshallan and Krengar stuff should probably be separate, especially the, um, Krengar ones. I forgot they had the double, um, thing.”

Her gaze dropped to his lap. The Geshallan toy hadn’t gone over the genitalia region like the Krengar one had, but accidentally brushing over Hsinth’s package had sent her mind into overdrive.

She was used to some aliens being rude or seeing humans as exotic and delicate. She’d thought Hsinth was overly solicitous before they’d crashed, and then they’d had to bunk up together to survive. Now? He had an erection .

One that was most definitely not similar to the ones she’d seen, from what little she’d felt through his clothes. Ophelia was no virgin, but she was one where aliens were concerned. She knew a little about alien anatomy—who wouldn’t be curious?—but Geshallans had been a mystery to her until now. They resembled Earth reptiles but were obviously sapient; who knew how their penises had evolved?

“Ah,” Hsinth said finally. “Well, I see where you’re looking, and I can assure you that I don’t have the double thing , as you so put it. So the one thing you got poked by is the only one you’ll be feeling.”

“I what?” she asked faintly. She had to have misheard him.

“Ahh– I didn’t mean like that,” he said. The skin around his eyes had darkened until it looked like he’d put eyeliner on. Was that his version of a blush?

“I mean in the future,” Hsinth continued. “By accident, of course. And I’m going to try to keep it from happening again.”

If he didn’t, maybe she could sneak a peek. For science, of course. She was well-versed in mushroom reproduction. Shouldn’t she know how some aliens engaged in it?

Her mushrooms!

Ophelia got out of the bed again, taking one of Hsinth’s sinfully soft sheets with her. With the long-sleeved shirt, she could only feel it on her hands, but it kept a little more of the heat in.

“Where are you going now?” Hsinth groused, staring up at her. She was not going to admire the way the plain sheets set off the gold tones in his skin.

“I gotta get my bag,” she said, wincing as she padded across the floor. Her socks were doing little to keep her feet warm. Going back into her room had her nearly breathless. Waking up in here would have been unpleasant, even with the heated box.

The bed was cold to the touch, but there was no frost anywhere. Good. As long as the spawn didn’t freeze, it would still be viable. The growth might slow down in the cold, but if she could keep ice crystals from forming, she wouldn’t lose everything.

Being in a different room and in the cold was letting her get her head back on straight. Being on top of Hsinth to survive was too much.

She had a very specific plan for how this transport was going to go, and nothing was going right . She was supposed to be arriving at the colony now and getting settled in, chasing numbers and export information, not survival!

Numbers were safe. Numbers were predictable. Being stuck on an ice planet where it was cold and getting colder wasn’t predictable at all .

Okay. Bag.

Ophelia pulled out the rest of the clothes she’d meant to keep to change into and carried everything back to Hsinth’s room.

He looked slightly panicked when she opened the door, and the key fact that he had an erection slammed back into the forefront of her mind. Had he been masturbating? Had she almost caught him?

Did she wish she had?

If it was privacy he needed, he could have it.

“Where’s your shower?” she asked, holding up her clothes. “You do whatever you need to do, I’m going to clean up and change.”

Hsinth’s eyes widened. “Inoperable.”

Ophelia felt her heart stutter. “What?”

“It’s too cold. The pipes won’t freeze, but the water in the tank is going to be just above ice slush and you’ll get sick. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get any more and we probably need to save it for drinking,” he said. His mouth was set in a very humanlike grimace.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said faintly. “How are you going to stay clean?”

“Sand,” he said promptly. “I have a bucket for emergencies, and wipes will get off anything that doesn’t come off when I shake.”

“I can’t use sand!” she exclaimed.

“Or the wipes,” he said helpfully. “You’ll probably get a chemical burn.”

“Oh gods,” she said. She put her bag on the bed where she’d been laying and sat down next to it. All she could think about was how filthy she felt. She knew at this point that even with deodorant she had to have body odor, and her vulva didn’t bear thinking about. She only had so many pants, and she was wearing half of them! How was she supposed to get any smells out?

“Breathe,” Hsinth said.

His hand was rubbing her back, and she was abruptly aware of how lightheaded she was. Hyperventilating? Ophelia? Never.

“It’s fine,” Hsinth said. “I’m not going to judge you for not taking a shower.”

“It’s not that,” Ophelia gasped. “I can’t– I have to get the smell off of me. I can’t do– can’t be this .”

“Be what?” Hsinth asked gently.

She gulped down air like she was drowning. “A smell. I can’t—” she sniffed at her armpit and gagged at the light odor.

Hsinth inhaled. “I don’t smell anything.”

“You will, you will,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean– I don’t do this. I’m a clean person.”

“I know you are,” he said, though she knew it was a lie. He didn’t know her at all.

“Fuck,” she gasped. If she kept her arms glued to her sides, she could keep the smell down. Legs together, arms down. At least she could still brush her teeth. She could work up enough saliva for that.

“Okay,” Hsinth said. “I can see this is clearly an issue for you.”

He got up out of the bed, bringing a blanket with him. “Stay here.”

Ophelia stayed, wondering if she could keep the smell in by putting on a new set of clothes over the old one each day until they ran out or she died of shame. Could someone die of shame? She was about to find out.

Hsinth came back after a few minutes, holding up a small spray bottle like it was a trophy. “I knew I had it!”

“Had what?” she asked. There was no way she could stay in a bed with him now. At least the cold would keep the smell down. She could deal with being cold.

“Enzymes,” he said like it was a magic word. Then he shook his head. “No, that’s not right. Bacteria.”

He handed her the bottle, but since it was written in another language, she couldn’t read it. “What is it?”

“How much do you know about Lethshin?” he asked.

Ophelia frowned at the non sequitur. “Not a lot. Those are the tall ones?”

“Yes,” he said. “Their world is very dry and water is a luxury. They evolved to keep a coat of bacteria on their skin and they don’t have to bathe much. This is based on that but adjusted for humans .”

He said the last word like it was some great secret.

Ophelia just stared at the container. “This is full of bacteria?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s going to do what?”

“Keep you clean!” he said. “It eats sweat, sebum, whatever humans give off as natural byproducts.”

“Poop?” Ophelia asked, fascinated.

Hsinth gave her a look.

“I had to ask,” she said. “Even without that, this is… interesting.”

“‘Interesting’?” he said. “It’s the key to your problems. You get to be clean, and it’ll probably even take care of what’s on your clothes.”

Ophelia’s fingers tightened on the bottle. “I don’t– this isn’t what I wanted.”

It wasn’t quite a whine, but it was close enough to be just as embarrassing. Hsinth had obviously had to dig to find this, and it was a temporary solution to her problem. It just wasn’t being clean-clean . It wasn’t soap clean, water clean, nothing organic sticking to her skin clean.

How was it possible to feel bad and right at the same time?

But he had at least tried , so she could only do the same.

“I guess I can try it,” she ground out. “You’re sure it’s safe for me to use?”

“Positive,” Hsinth said. There was an odd look on his face. “You just spray it everywhere, maybe a little extra in certain areas that you think might be more troublesome. Most people start with a clean slate fresh from bathing, but we don’t have that luxury here.”

“I’ll say,” she said, trying to loosen her grip on the container so she didn’t break it. “I’ll just go spray it on, then.”

She ducked back out of the room, wanting as much privacy as possible for this.

Every layer of clothes came off carefully, leaving Ophelia shivering in just her skin as she carefully sprayed the bacteria onto herself. It didn’t smell like anything, and she wasn’t willing to taste it, but at least it didn’t leave a film or anything behind. She didn’t feel sticky or oily, just damp. Working it into her hair took a good chunk of the rest of the bottle, but as she spritzed, she tried to think of the dry shampoos she’d had to use as a child when her family had run out of clean water.

Clean, clean, clean , she willed herself. The bacteria would work, it would eat whatever Hsinth said it would, and she would be less gross than she felt. She just had to stop thinking about how long it had been since her last shower.

Ophelia used the last of the bottle on the armpits and crotch areas of each pair of pants and shirt as she pulled them back on. For the first time, she wished she hadn’t just brought the one-size-fits-all wondergarments. They were great for layering, but with this many on, she was starting to feel like a vintage astronaut in a puffy spacesuit. Everything was catching and rubbing against everything else, and she was more aware of her body than she normally was.

Okay. At least if she couldn’t control that, she could control her schedule.

She stomped back into her boots, cold but feeling slightly more refreshed than she had been. If there wasn’t an actual schedule of tasks to do, she would make one. Wake up, eat, do whatever she could find that needed doing, eat, do more busy work, eat, sleep. Ignore the walls.

She eyed the hot box on the bed. There was one thing she could do.

It was heavy, but she managed to carry the entire thing out into the galley. “Hsinth,” she called.

Like her, he was draped in a blanket. “Ophelia?”

His eyes fell on the box on her arms. “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s locked, but it’s hot. I was hoping you could tell me, and I was really hoping we could use it.”

His hands brushed her belly as he lifted it away from her. Ophelia told herself that she was shuddering from the cold.

“Yes, yes, yes,” he exulted, reading the label. “I forgot about these entirely!”

“What are they?” she asked. Her arms were wrapped around herself and she wanted to be snuggled up to the box again.

He took the box back into his room, where she could see he’d pulled one of the boxes of fancy cloth-rolls from the galley. Was he planning on piling them all on the bed?

“Ralothian fire rocks,” he said. His grin was wide enough that it summoned an answering one from her. “An oddity of the planet. The rocks will stay warm forever, though they won’t heat up the entire ship.”

His finger brushed over the lock and the lid came open. Heat radiated out like a furnace, and Ophelia fancied that she could see the air above the box roiling in a lovely display of warmth.

“Now,” he said with a solemn grin. “Let’s get this entire room cold-proofed, shall we?”