“Miss Reganta,” Teena said.
“Teena. When did you—”
“An hour ago. We can depart for Betta’s Station when you are ready.” A loud series of snores filled the air and Teena’s small smile turned. “How can you sleep with that noise? He really is the worst.”
Betta laughed. “Yes, he is.” Sitting up, she faced her assistant, and, if she was honest with herself, her only real friend. “I don’t think I can leave him, not like this.”
“You fell for it, then? His charm.” Teena looked back to the bed and Betta wondered if she saw some longing there. Her heart was suddenly beating very quickly and she had to clench both her fists tightly not to tear Teena’s face from her skull. “He never does what you would expect.”
“What? What do you mean?” Betta asked, clenching and unclenching her fists.
“Given his reputation.” Teena found a chair nearby and sat so that they were now facing the snoring man. At some points while she spoke, she was nearly yelling to be heard above Jadis’s snoring. “The stories I have heard about him are not the man you meet in person. He is… better than the stories.”
Betta’s fists loosened and she inclined her head slowly, a mix of memories playing through her mind. “Before we go, I need to speak with Manager Tylen. I suspect he’ll know why.”
“I brought Friz. She insists it’s her duty to protect you.”
“How is she? I should thank her.” Betta recalled the young guard nudging her onto Jadis’s ship while turning back to the chaos of Antogin killing agents.
“A little singed, but ready to face more Antogin. I am actually worried she might hold a grudge. She has also given the agents assigned to our party nicknames. None of them are complimentary,” Teena’s nose crinkled at this and Betta read amusement in her features.
“Should I be worried? I don’t think we have a therapist on the station.”
“No, I believe she is dealing with the entire situation well.”
“And Tey?” Betta asked after the guard she left on the lift.
“No injuries and one very unhappy Antogin in custody. Drew—”
“Big Dee,” Betta said enthusiastically.
“Drew,” Teena corrected in her professional manner, though Betta could detect a hint of good-natured mockery, “was so impressed by Tey’s abilities that he’s offered her a position on his team.”
“Oh.” The memory of Pseudo-Jadis’s conversation with Olly popped into Betta’s mind. “She’ll have her hands full with that one.”
Teena shook her head. “You are better than that, Miss Reganta.”
“No. I’m not, Teena. Anyway, what am I supposed to do with him?” Betta shouted above Jadis’s suddenly loud snores.
“I was in love once, a few centuries ago, on the other side of known space,” Teena said almost too softly for Betta to hear. “I regret that I didn’t appreciate how easily we could be broken.”
“Andy?”
Teena blinked in surprise. “Jadis is a real ass.”
Betta shook her head. “I knew. Did you watch the trial?”
A tear forced its way out and Teena swiped it away. “He was very kind. I could tell his words were not for the court, but for me.”
“I don’t know what happened between you two, but I didn’t get the feeling you two were broken from his testimony.”
“Yet I am here, and he is… most likely dead.”
Betta looked back to Jadis’s loud slumber. “Most likely. But maybe not.”
“It would take near a century to go home. Even then, there isn’t a guarantee he would be waiting for me or that he even stayed on Granada Five. Not to mention the cost.” Teena made another swipe of her cheek and stood erect.
“Betta’s Station is about second chances remember. I’ll do what I can to help,” Betta promised.
“I believe you will.” Teena looked back to Jadis. “As for that ass in the bed, I would suggest you really get to know him. Granted, his secrets seem to be about caring and saving people. It is an odd contradiction to the reputation he puts about. I believe he doesn’t have much intellect beyond his cybernetic implants. Without those, I doubt he would remember his own name.”
“That’s a little harsh. Remember, that’s the man I care about.” Betta smiled despite herself. The snoring had come to an abrupt stop and Betta was certain that Teena was goading him.
“As always, Miss Reganta, if that is how you want to torture yourself, I am not one to stand in your way. Still, you should, perhaps, enroll him in a few courses on etiquette. Especially, when it comes to first impressions. I have updated your communicator with the location of our vessel. When you are ready, we will be waiting. I will let Friz know.”
“Please. Thank you, Teena.”
“Thank you, Miss Reganta.”
When Teena was out of the Med Bay, Jadis let out a long breath. “That woman hates me.”
Betta fought the urge to pounce on top of him and chuckled softly to herself. The sound of his voice sent such shivers down her spine. “Teena doesn’t hate you, Jadis. She doesn’t think very highly of you, but she doesn’t hate you.”
Jadis’s dark eyes held her own and she saw, for the first time, his forked tongue taste the air, and she knew he was tasting her. Another thrill and her body rebelled against her mind. She halted her hands by standing abruptly. “I’m going to take a walk. When I get back, you and I are going to discuss how this will work.”
“This?” Jadis asked.
“Us? You, me, and the crazy biological need I have to devour you.” Betta raised a hand to silence him. “I refuse to hear anything negative from you. I’m taking your advice. I’ll go home. Maybe you’re right. Maybe once we have some space between us, I’ll feel differently. But it’s stupid, you know? I mean, that’s how this stuff works. Instinctual attraction and infatuation are like icebreakers.”
Jadis smiled now. “I get it. I seem to have cycles’ worth of dramas from Alpha suddenly in my head. Go home, Betta. And if we’re supposed to be something, and if I can survive the Queen of Five, then we can have a date.”
“I’ve downloaded at least twenty dramas from Alpha that I haven’t see yet. You and I are going to have a marathon night of Alpha Drama.”
Jadis was no longer smiling. “Couldn’t we have a few drinks? Go for a swim?”
Betta leaned down to kiss him, careful to will her body from melding at the touch. “We can do it all, Jadis. You just have to let me in.”
Jadis held out his hand and Betta didn’t hesitate, letting herself become a part of him, wholly and completely, though it was only for a few seconds.
Everything was strange. Betta’s perception of the world was now blended. She was definitely Betta, though she had to lift her hands at times to remind herself. She knew all of the faces she passed in the corridors of the power station, but she didn’t know them. No, Jadis knew them. That part made her slightly uncomfortable. The really strange part was how much she longed to be near him. How every moment that Jadis wasn’t close, she felt something like physical pain, deep in her chest, right behind her ribs.
Betta could almost hear Jadis in her ear, telling her it was an illusion, that her body was producing chemicals to fool her brain into wanting to mate with him. In the end, what would become of Betta and Jadis if they were to integrate as they had on the Endeavor? Would she be herself? Would Jadis? What would become of their child? Would they be trapped in the cocoon state forever, or would they reemerge one being? How long could they survive? There were a million questions that needed answers, but no one to ask. She knew she should run, go back to her station, and figure out exactly what her father had been up to for the past thirty cycles. But there was a bigger question that overruled every other one in her mind and Jadis’s memories provided clues to its answer.