Page 39 of Star-Born Anomaly
Her eyes drifted to the door. But that wasn’t exactly true now, was it? Calypsons were supposed to stay in Sector Ten to remain safe from invasion. The CORE had made it an unbreakable ultimatum.
But now one stood in her outpost.
What did that mean for Sector Ten? Why would they risk retaliation to send someone here tocollecther? Why did she matter?
Wynn stood and braced her hands against the counter. “Viewer on,” she rasped, and the glossy surface became more reflective, revealing her in high-definition color.
She winced. Red, puffy eyes stared back at her. Her skin was splotchy on her forehead, cheeks, and throat. Her black hair stuck out in all directions.
She leaned forward and examined her irises. There was nothing different about their brown color. She twisted her head one way, then the other. They didn’t glint or do anything unusual at all.
Straightening, she frowned at herself. Iax hadn’t changed her, but he’d donesomething.
With her shirt sleeve still rolled up, she turned her arm toward the mirror to reveal unblemished skin. She stroked up and down, stiff fingers over warm flesh.
For a second there, when he’d taken her hand, she’d thought something had passed between them, something special. There’d been this strange energy when he’d touched her skin, like nothing she’d experienced with someone before. Was it because he was Calypson? Or the healing process? Or was it something else entirely?
“Viewer off,” she whispered, and the detailed image disappeared, replaced by the slightly warped reflection of the black terminal.
Wynn turned around and grabbed the counter, allowing the edge to dig into the backs of her thighs and palms, centering her.
She wasn’t Calypson, no matter what the blood test said. She was born onLunar Six, a colony on the far side of the moon. Maybe that was why she’d jumped at the chance to work on Earth, despite its lethal conditions.
And I have work to do.
With a tip of her chin, she stared at the closed door, inhaled a deep breath, then unlocked it with a swipe of her hand.
One step into her quarters, and she paused. Iax was where she’d left him, not quite in her quarters, not quite out, the door ajar. He stood still and silent, his brow wrinkled. His fingers twitched at his sides as he scanned her from top to bottom.
Maybe he searched for something, because his gaze lingered on the sleeve of her shirt. She resisted the urge to cover that section of arm with her hand.
She stepped forward.
He didn’t move.
“May I leave?” Her words came out scratchy.
He straightened at her question. A beat later, he retreated a pace, allowing her escape. But he didn’t give her much space, and she felt his body heat as she passed.
Ignoring the lure of another’s warmth, she headed through the hallway and into her lab. The ferocity of the storm hit her again. Unbelievably, it hadn’t abated. How long could this go on?
She crossed to the main terminal, tension spreading across her shoulders as her eyes landed on the towel sitting on the analyzer plate. Before she could think twice, she snatched it up along with the dermal syringe, and crossed to the other side of the lab to the reclamation unit.
Tossing both inside, she hit the destroy and recycle control. She stood there as it hummed and whirred, then when silent. Her chest rose andfell like she’d just completed a strenuous activity, and she didn’t know why.
A sound rustled near the door. She turned to find Iax paused on the threshold.Those eyes.He stared at her in a way that made her entire body pay attention. She didn’t know how to handle it. Swallowing, she tore her gaze away, and returned to the main terminal.
She tapped on the glossy black surface, turning it on, then touched her PALM to activate her ocular implant. The terminal glowed, but didn’t update, still not connecting with the grid. The main computer system had collected weather stats from the central hub, and she downloaded those. Wind speed, moisture collection, acidic content—it all scrolled in front of her and connected with her ocular implant.
Lifting her hand, she rubbed her temple, annoyed by it immediately. No matter how many times she’d brought it up to tech support, they always said both were working perfectly. And drugs never worked to rid her of the mild pain.
A shift in the air behind her, and she knew Iax walked farther into the lab. He stopped at the window on her left, just in her periphery about two meters away.
Tap tap tapwent her fingers against the terminal. Her data was all a muddle, a couple of her sensors not reporting, probably because of the storm taking them out. The work helped to settle her mind.
The hub continued to send her data. Miraculously, the fields’ shielding was surviving the storm. The concentration of acid had diminished some, which was also good. Were her seeds surviving, or had the wind and rain washed them away? She wouldn’t know until she could get back out there and scan them by hand.
She processed data until there was nothing left to analyze. Throughout it all, Iax barely moved, just stared at the storm.
