Page 55 of Stone Cold Alien

I looked at him. “You can’t keep drinking my blood every time I go to work.”

“I agree.”

“We need another solution. Something more permanent. Cairn said your people used protective suits on hostile planets. There must be something the… what did you call it Pam?… can do.”

“I’ve already contacted the Intergalactic Authority,” Pam said. “They’re looking into it.”

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t know. I doubt it’s very high on their list of priorities.”

“I asked them to contact Spiris,” Cairn said slowly. “And I have not heard anything back. I don’t know if that is because the IA is taking too long, or because the gharrgoil leadership isn’t interested in assisting us. Or maybe-”

“The war,” Sten whispered.

“Yes. I don’t know how it ended. If Spiris is even still out there. If our people are still alive.”

“The IA will reply,” Pam said firmly. “I will nudge them again. I will get some answers for you, I promise.”

Neither gharrgoil seemed quite convinced.

Sten reached for the neck of the camouflage suit. “Remove this.”

“You need to practise wearing it,” Pam said.

“I said remove it.”

Cairn stepped forwards, but I was closer. I found the seal beneath Sten’s chin and pulled the hood back. His real face appeared as the projection failed. He dragged in a breath even though the suit hadn’t covered his mouth.

We helped him free his wings. The moment the fabric released them, he spread them across the room. One knocked against the back of a chair and sent it skidding over the floor.

“Better?” I asked.

“Yes.”

His tail tore free of the suit before we could unwrap it properly. Pam made an unhappy sound when the seam split.

“I warned you not to damage it.”

“It attacked me!”

Under other circumstances, I would have laughed. Instead, I kept thinking about the following morning. Sten alone in my flat. Me at the hospital, unable to leave. Unable to even check my phone except for break time. Neither of us knowing whether he had hours or days before his body started turning to stone again.

Georgie set a mug of tea on the table in front of me. “We’ll figure it out.”

“I know. But until we do, he can’t safely be away from me.”

“I am standing here,” Sten said.

I looked at him. “I know.”

“You speak of me as if I am one of your patients.”

“You nearly became one yesterday.”

“I am healed. I can fly again.”

“I know and I’m happy for you. But that doesn’t solve the bigger problem.”