“Oh, I’ve heard of that disease,” Cassia chimed in. “Doesn’t it cause a rash that looks like suction marks? Highly contagious when mixed with cute guys and Crystalline?”
Renny nodded. “That’s the one. Nasty business, the Hoover flu. It can lead to a serious fever.”
Solara hid her annoyance behind a heaping bite of beans, but if the ribbing didn’t let up soon, she might consider staging a mutiny with her newly recovered stunner. A girl could only take so much.
The captain chuckled to himself and nodded at Doran. “Are you up to reporting to the bridge after supper? Or do you feel a fever coming on?”
If the jokes bothered Doran, he didn’t let it show. Solara glanced up and caught him watching her from above the rim of his cup, his lips curved in the same unsettling smile he’d worn since their night together on Cargill. There was something different in the way he looked at her now, as if he’d seen beneath her skin and knew all her secrets. It never failed to knock her sideways. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d opened her mouth to speak and had drawn a blank, or forgotten why she’d walked into the room. In fact, she couldn’t quite recall why she’d felt so annoyed a moment ago.…
“I have been running hot lately,” Doran said, never taking his eyes off her. “But who says I want the cure?”
The whole table erupted in laughter and wolf whistles.
Oh, yes. That was why she’d felt annoyed.
Solara drew a breath and geared up for a snarky comeback, but once again, he’d sent her world tumbling off its axis. Damn him.
“Report to the bridge anyway,” the captain said. “We need to narrow down your destination so I’m not flying all over hell’s half acre once we reach that nameless planet of yours.”
For the first time that night, Doran’s grin faltered. It seemed that the closer they traveled to the fringe, the less he wanted to talk about his father’s errand. Solara couldn’t blame him. His whole future depended on finding a substance he’d never seen on a planet he’d never visited…and maybe thwarting a government conspiracy to boot. She was secondhand nervous just thinking about it.
“I still don’t know what I’m looking for,” he admitted. “But since there’s no real settlement there, a quick scan for electronics should pinpoint—”
The galley lights flickered and died, followed by an abrupt silence that told Solara the auxiliary engines had shut down. Before she could blink, her plate clattered and she bounced one time in her seat. It felt as if the Banshee had hit a speed bump. The disturbance lasted only a second, but no lights returned other than the emergency strips glowing along the floor.
The captain scooped Acorn out of his pocket and handed her to Cassia. “Cage her,” he said. “But first wrap her in one of my shirts so she has my scent.”
Cassia recoiled, stretching out both arms like she was holding a live grenade. “Gross, she licked me. Now I’m covered in her germs.”
“Don’t talk about her like that,” the captain scolded.
“She doesn’t speak English.”
“But she can sense your feelings,” he hissed. “Whether you like it or not, that creature is bonded to us. We’re the only—”
“Family she’s got,” Cassia finished on a sigh. “I know, I know.”
After she strode away, the captain gathered his crutch and asked Solara to inspect the engine room while he returned to the bridge to check the equipment readings. Doran volunteered to go with her, and together they followed the dim arrows down the stairs. His fingers kept curling around her waist, and she shot him a questioning look in the darkness.
“In case we hit more turbulence,” he explained.
“You think you’ll catch me?”
“Maybe. Or at least break your fall.”
She removed his hand, holding on a few beats longer than necessary because her mind and body weren’t on speaking terms. The truth was she craved his touch—so much that she sought it in her sleep. And that scared her. Because one day soon, she would be alone on Vega while he warmed someone else’s bed.
“I don’t want you to break my fall,” she said, and continued ahead of him.
Just as she reached the auxiliary engine room door, the captain’s voice crackled over the com system in a broken command. “Don’t…inspection…geomagnetic storm…electrical systems…have to…planet-side until it passes.”
The message was clear enough. They returned upstairs to strap in for a bumpy landing, then reconvened in the galley after touchdown.
“Where are we?” Kane asked, wiping spilled beans off the table.
Cassia took the rag from him and resumed cleaning the mess, her prayer necklace bobbing with each movement. “Is it breathable outside? Or will we need the suits?”
“No suits,” Captain Rossi said. “We’re on New Haven.”
Solara felt her brows jump. “But that means we’re—”