Page 68 of Mazorium Buys a Human

“You entertained Nadia while I worked,” he said. “You can focus on this project while I play with her.”

I wasn't shocked that Maz recognized how much I wanted to explore this. After all, he was the best guy ever.

“Can I borrow one of the stones you collected?” I asked.

“I’m finished with them,” he said.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, and got to my feet. I rushed to the lab, picked one of the rocks that looked like it would work best, and returned.

Maz and Nadia played while I used the stone’s rough surface to sand down and shape the tip of the quills. After I was finished with that, it took me a long time and many failed attempts to cast the yarn onto a quill.

By the time I had a row of stitches, Nadia was fusing in a way that told me she was probably hungry. Feeling ready to put the project down for now, I held my arms out to Maz.

“I’ll take her.”

He handed her over then carefully picked up the quill with the yarn. “This looks complicated.”

“It is,” I said with a chuckle, undoing my outfit so I could give Nadia my breast. We’d do more solid food later. “It doesn’t help that I haven’t done this since I was a kid.”

“I’m impressed you were able to do so much so quickly,” he complimented, setting it back down.

“It doesn’t feel like it was quick,” I muttered. No, I shouldn’t think like that. I was half remembering and half reinventing. I needed to give myself some credit. “The more I do it, the more I remember. It’s going to be fun once I get the hang of it again.”

A chime sounded from his Ident. “That’s the sound from the ship’s interface,” he said with a questioning rumble. “That shouldn’t happen unless there’s an emergency or a message.”

He tapped on the Ident then let out a worried rumble.

I looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re going to have visitors.”

He sounded a negative rumble. “No, one of the investors wants to visit.”

I switched Nadia from one breast to the other. “Is that common?”

He looked up at me and sounded another negative rattle. “This would be the first time it’s ever happened.”

Now I was worried too.

Chapter 21

Mika

I peeked out of the long, oval window as a shuttle landed. Maz was outside, waiting to greet the visitors. We’d talked about the best way to deal with them and decided hiding Nadia in our bedroom would be best. I was going to stay on the ship and out of sight, retreating to the bedroom if the visitors insisted on seeing Maz’s lab.

We also had an emergency exit if anything went badly. After what happened on Helsin Station, Maz didn’t trust anyone.

Technically there were only two ways to get on and off the ship—the main entrance and a large hatch that could be opened in the science bay. Neither would work as an emergency exit.

After we poured over the ship’s schematics, we figured out a viable escape hatch. First we pulled up a floor plate in the bedroom and replaced it with a covering I could easily push away. From the crawl space under the floor, I could move into a storage space that was usually only accessible from the outside.

We’d done a trial run, and if I strapped Nadia to my chest, I could pull the cover off, drop into the crawl space, then pull the cover back over the opening.

It was tight, but I could make it through to the storage spot where I could stay hidden or escape to the outside.

He also made sure to tuck supplies for us in the storage space in case I needed to shelter in there for a while.

That last thing he did was hand me an information square linked to the ship. I could use this much like his Ident and control anything on the craft. In case “something happened to him,” I could theoretically fly the ship away.