Trapped with the Alien Transporter (Ragrim Explorations #1)

Chapter 18

Ophelia woke up the next day with her head aching. The tapestries on the walls didn’t seem like such a great idea as she stared at the one across from her bed before she stumbled to the bathroom to try and throw up.

Nope. Throwing up might have made her feel better, but it seemed that she was just going to have to deal with it. A couple of headache pills, some water, and she’d feel right as rain. Her comm alarm went off again, and she heard an answering moan from her living room.

The question of how she’d gotten home from Adina’s was currently laid out on the couch, stripped down to a sports bra and skintight shorts. It was more of Sekele than Ophelia had ever wanted to see, but at least it wasn’t one of Adina’s disturbingly handsome sons.

“Stars,” Sekele groaned, burrowing further into the couch. “Ugh. Do I smell as bad as I think I do?” She sniffed one armpit theatrically. “Ew. Okay, can I use your shower before we go over to the Center?”

Hot water sounded both incredible and like ‘hell no’ at the same time.

“Go nuts,” Ophelia said, making her way over to the coffee machine. “I’m going to try to get something going. Maybe it’ll fix my head.”

“Make me some, too,” Sekele begged. She gathered up her clothes. “Do you have a sanitizer around here?”

“Duh,” Ophelia said. “Corner of the bedroom, green enamel coating.”

“Oh thank fuck,” Sekele said. “Don’t come in for a minute, I’m shoving everything through.”

The bedroom door shut behind her, and Ophelia tried not to think about how the shower stall was going to have droplets on it when she went in there and how her stuff might be moved around from exactly where she’d left it.

“Don’t worry,” Sekele called through the door. “I’m not going to move anything, I’m not a dick!”

Maybe Sekele really was her friend.

Ophelia could hear the hum of the sanitizer through the door, and then the noise of the shower joined it. She turned back to fiddling with the coffee machine, finally getting it to work just in time for the shower to shut off and the bathroom door to open.

Man, Sekele was fast. Ophelia would give her a few more minutes to dry off and get dressed. She checked in on her mushroom tub and smiled at the sight of pins coming through the casing layer. It had taken a lot to find a coir substitute here, but she’d managed just in time. Soon they’d start growing and she could start harvesting! She was still on the lookout for a dehydrator, but she was sure one would turn up in time. If not, she could try to rig a solar tunnel dryer. Then again, this wasn’t a poor colony or one without technology. She could just order one.

The half-Lukrimian finally came out of Ophelia’s bedroom with her short dark hair sopping wet, but looking a lot happier than she had when she’d gone in. Her clothes weren’t even wrinkled from the sanitizer. “Shower’s all yours,” she said. “But let’s make it quick, I think we’re getting another student today.”

Ophelia’s stomach flipped unpleasantly and she tried not to think about throwing up. “Did someone else come in on a private transport?”

Sekele shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I don’t want to be late. Bad first impression, you know?”

Ophelia took the hint and hustled into the bathroom. Her coffee could cool on the countertop out there, and while she’d never gotten into shower beers, shower coffee was always good.

She turned the water on until she could mentally excuse the wet walls as being from the spray and hopped in, sped through her morning ablutions, and got out.

Ignore the water on the floor, ignore the used guest compostable toothbrush in the trashcan , she reminded herself as she furiously brushed out her hair and slipped a scrunchie onto her wrist. Wet hair dangling around her face sucked, but it wouldn’t suck as much as getting mildew in it. She never had before, but it was a concern that popped up every now and again when she was stressed.

She wiped down the sink with her towel and then threw it on the floor to get the water there before she threw it into the sanitizer on the heavy soil setting.

Time to get dressed. She was slowly moving away from the accordion-patterned clothing sets she’d brought with her, but only for the softest cloth she could find, and it meant she only had a few more outfits than she’d come with. Still, she’d wear something new if it wasn’t going to just be Sekele and Adina in there.

They got to the Center just in time to beat the clock, though Ophelia was panting heavily by the time they pushed in through the door. The tram ride hadn’t been long enough to let her recuperate from the mad dash to catch it, and then they’d had to run down the gravel path from the tram stop all the way to the Center where it was half-hidden in a tree grove. It was the only time that Ophelia had regretted that the campus had been built to emulate some of the old eco-landscaped colleges from Earth.

Sekele’s wristcomm chimed, drawing her attention. She was still gamely tugging Ophelia through the wood-paneled halls behind her like Ophelia’s lack of speed wasn’t half the reason they were barely on time.

“Okay, the new student isn’t on time, either,” she said. “Whew. Catch your breath out here, I’m going to go grab Adina and make sure we have all the migration paperwork ready.”

She left Ophelia leaning against a smooth-grained wall, again regretting the wine from last night. Why had she thought it would be a good move to bring a half-dozen bottles to thank her teacher with?

Because despite years of trying to pass, sometimes she got the urge to go overboard for her friends and people she liked, and she was so happy to be here that sometimes she forgot to tamp that urge down.

Ophelia sighed and fought the urge to press her fingers into her temples. She’d get back to that point soon, she promised herself.

For now, she just squeezed her eyes shut and flattened her back against the wall, trying to open her chest up.

Breathe in, breathe out , she thought.

Footsteps approached from the far end of the hallway, but she didn’t open her eyes. She just had to finish slowing her heart rate, and then she’d deal with it.

“Is this the right place for the migrant class?” a familiar voice asked.

It shot right back up as she looked at the newcomer.

“Hsinth!”

He stopped before reaching her, that familiar lopsided grin on his face. Instead of the zip-front shirt, he was wearing her familiar old garb of the one-size-fits-all shirt and pants. It looked ridiculous on him, even in the black tones that made his skin fairly glow against it. “Well, is it?”

“This? The migrants class? Yeah this is it, but what are you—” Her eyes widened. “This is the migrant class. Are you here because you’re…” she trailed off, unwilling to voice the silly assumption. Hsinth lived in space, on his ship. He didn’t have a home planet.

“Well, I recently had a passenger who was very vocal about how awesome this new colony planet was. She had a lot of good things to say about how it was growing, said she was moving there as fast as my ship could carry her, and I thought maybe I’d come to see what all the fuss was about.”

Ophelia laughed despite the hysterical sob building up in her chest. “Are you serious?”

“Serious as a ship crash,” he said. “I shouldn’t have let you walk away like that when you got here. Although, to be fair, it didn’t look like you had much choice in the matter.”

All she could do was fling her arms around him and burrow into his chest. “I’m sorry,” she said in a rush. “I’m so, so sorry for leaving like that. I wanted to talk to you about what we were, but I didn’t know how to bring it up, and I didn’t want you to tell me that it was just for survival, and after everything we’d gone through, I wasn’t sure what I’d do if you said it was, and—”

“Ophelia, it’s okay,” Hsinth said, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “I could have said something too, long before we landed here. I was just so busy with trying to get the Engsth fixed, and then you seemed really quiet and distracted, and I wanted to give you time.”

His face twisted before he buried it in her hair. “I should have just been honest with you,” he murmured. “The truth is, I haven’t stopped thinking about you since you got off my ship. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since you got on it, really.”

“Really?” she asked.

“I’m crazy about you,” he said, raining kisses down onto her head. “Here, Earth, it doesn’t matter. I’ll follow you anywhere. I just want to give what started on Porris a real chance.”

One of his hands reached out and tilted her head up. “What do you say?”

“I say I think I’m falling in love with you,” Ophelia said. She leaned up on her tiptoes to press a kiss against his lips.

Hsinth took the opening and her mouth in a hungry kiss, pressing her against the wall like he’d pressed her into the mattress back in the Engsth .

The sound of a throat clearing jolted Ophelia back to her senses, and she ripped herself away from Hsinth’s mouth to see Adina and Sekele staring at them from the open classroom door. The Lukrimian woman’s mouth was open, and Adina was smirking.

“Did you just pick up our new student?”

“I– what– no!” Ophelia spluttered. She could feel her face turning red. “I just– he– we—”

“We know each other,” Hsinth said smoothly, sliding one arm around her shoulders. “I’m assuming you’re the class teachers?”

“Adina,” Adina said, putting her hand out to shake before Sekele did the same. “As much as we love students intermingling and getting to know each other, I’m sure the two of you can finish this conversation after class.”

Hsinth looked amused even as his hand tightened around her shoulders. “That’s fine.”

Ophelia walked into class feeling like she was in some kind of haze. The only thing that kept snapping her out of it was Hsinth sitting down next to her, his thigh pressing hard into her own.

Watching Sekele and Adina do their best to ignore the way she and Hsinth kept looking at each other was so awkward it was almost painful, and she was grateful that the classes were down to morning ones only. If she had to endure a full day of this, she wasn’t sure what she would have done.

Her wristcomm buzzed during a water break and she looked at it. Hsinth had disappeared to find a bathroom, and Adina and Sekele were huddled in the corner talking about something in low voices.

There’s a cute girl next to me in class. Should I try to talk to her?

Ophelia rolled her eyes as she typed out a response. Depends, is she going to tutor you afterwards?

I sure hope so .

The idea made her blush again, but by the time Hsinth came back into the room, Adina was ready to start talking again, and Ophelia didn’t have a chance to try any stupid one-liners back at him.

Class wound down long before lunch, and it took everything Ophelia had not to drag Hsinth out at full speed.

“Come with me to my office,” she said. “We can talk more there.”

“You got the job?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I got the job.”

“I was worried they wouldn’t have held it for you after everything.”

“I’m too good for that,” she said. It was meant to be a joke, but Hsinth nodded like she’d spoken nothing but the absolute truth.

“I’m glad we’re going that way,” he said. “I’m looking for a job as an export transporter, but I wasn’t sure who to talk to about that. I’m sure someone in that office should be able to help me.”

“Probably,” Ophelia said dryly. As they walked down the path away from the Center, she slipped her hand into his. “You’re really moving here to stay?”

“Other than the occasional job moving stuff from here to other places?” he asked. “Yeah.”

“You’re sure?” she asked. “I got the feeling that you really liked being a trader and not being tied down anywhere.”

Hsinth’s big fingers squeezed her own. “I think I found something worth being tied down for. Besides, I’m pretty sure if I get the itch to go pick up a shipment of something really exotic, I can find someone here who’d be interested in buying it. Or if I want to go get something nice for a girl. I know enough English now to be able to say I’m a fun guy when it comes to her.”

“Hsinth!”

“Did I say it wrong?”

“No, I just– I can’t believe you’re really here.”

“You better start,” he said. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?” she asked.

“You’re stuck with me, Ophelia,” he said. “Just like we were on Porris.”

She shivered theatrically. “Less cold, though.”

“Just a little,” Hsinth admitted. “I will say that I’m in the market for a human space heater. Do you know anyone who might be interested in the job?”

Ophelia looked around the crowded walking path. “I’m sure there must be someone here who might be.”

“Wretch,” Hsinth said. “It might be an open position, but I already have my chosen candidate.”

“Tell me about her,” she said.

And he did.