On the second morning of their journey, Max looked across his room to Inrit’s empty bunk. They’d left Nina Station nearly thirty hours ago, and he hadn’t seen her since the launch. As an engineer, she had to be busy, but as the hours ticked by, he became more and more convinced that she was avoiding him.

He could take a hint, and it was probably for the best. Max didn’t know what he’d say to her. He’d been catapulted into the deep end of a relationship with a woman he barely knew—didn’t know at all, really. Of course, she probably had a lot of work she needed to be doing. Unlike him.

Morvellan hadn’t spoken to Max since showing him to his room. Whether that was by coincidence or design, Max wasn’t sure. He knew the captain didn’t like him, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t work together. After thirty hours of doing nothing, Max had exhausted his patience for free time.

On Nina Station, every moment was busy except for when he slept. Even then, he often spent half the night reading through reports and communicating with the other stations, who all operated on different schedules. He hadn’t had thirty hours of free time since… he didn’t know when.

If the captain wasn’t going to give him work, he’d find something to do. At the very least, he could scrounge up the plan for their first stop on the long journey to Honora Station. Security was his job, and it was time to keep everyone secure.

He washed himself quickly and dressed for the day. By the time he left the room, Inrit was still a ghost. A simple consultation of the ship’s system would tell him where she was, but he wasn’t going to check. He didn’t need to know. They were nothing to each other, bond be damned.

If he’d checked the system, he wouldn’t have stopped short the moment he stepped through the door to the canteen and found her laughing with the Detyen named Kayleb and a human crewmate, Symes.

The punch of the denya bond sunk a hook into him and pulled him forward before he made a conscious decision to move. It wasn’t the same overwhelming need to touch her, to taste her, as the moment they met, but his heartbeat kicked up and arousal pulsed languidly through his veins. He wished it were just the two of them back in their room so they could finish what they’d barely started.

She caught sight of him and her laughter cut off, replaced by a look caught between hope and fear. Though hope may have been optimistic on his part. Kayleb and Symes each turned back in their chairs to get a look at him. Kayleb scowled, Symes nodded. They’d met briefly when the ship was docked at Nina Station and then once more when Max agreed to come aboard as part of the crew.

Max nodded at them and punched the buttons on the food processor blindly. It didn’t matter what he ate, so long as he consumed enough calories to keep his systems functioning. After a moment, a tray slid out of the wall with a bowl of plain yogurt and a piece of chocolate cake. Sure, why not. He’d had worse breakfasts.

There were other tables in the canteen, but he made his way across the room and sat down on the bench against the wall next to Inrit and across from her two new friends. All eyes flicked to his meal, but no one made a comment. After a moment, they relaxed in his presence.

That was what happened when people met cyborgs. They froze, and then unclenched once they realized that he wasn’t going to slaughter anyone.

Tension thrummed in the air between him and Inrit, but it only took another moment for her to relax. When she glanced down at his plate, she burst out laughing and something loosened in Max’s chest. He hoped she laughed a lot. She looked so at ease.

Max wanted to reach out and wipe it away, but he kept the impulse in check.

He looked back down at his meal. Her gentle teasing stirred something in him, something Max hadn’t felt in years. It reminded him that he was no longer in charge, but in the best way possible. There was no need to erect a solid wall between himself and everyone else. He could just be Max here. Always a cyborg, but also a man.

And so, Max loosened his leash. He looked down at his meal and back up at Inrit. Kayleb and Symes might as well have not existed. “There are plenty of calories and more than enough protein.” He kept his voice flat, emotionless. “The substance doesn’t matter.”

Inrit stared at him for several seconds, processing his words. If he didn’t know better he would say that she had glitched. But then the smile came back. With exaggerated slowness, she reached over and sliced into his cake with her fork, taking a large bite for herself. “Hope I didn’t steal too many calories.” She ate the bite with relish, pulling the fork back out of her mouth through her lips as she licked every bite of chocolate away. “Mmmm.”

Max reached over and grabbed three grapes from her plate in payback. The fresh fruit on the ship would go fast and he wanted to savor it.

An outraged sound lodged in the back of Inrit’s throat and she lunged for his hand, but he popped the fruit in his mouth before she could grab it. “Fair’s fair.” He grinned.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Symes and Kayleb sitting in utter shock. Symes, a human, was delighted by the banter, but Kayleb looked ready to challenge Max to a fight. The Detyen man needed to get a handle on his temper.

Kayleb pushed back from the table and left without a farewell. Max leaned back, his leg casually resting against Inrit’s as he ate his meal. “Hmm,” Max sighed. “I’m not sure he’s as housetrained as Krayter said.”

“I guess he was done,” Inrit said. She sipped at her drink and stayed seated next to him, even though most of her food was long gone.

Symes grinned. “I didn’t know you two joined up together. It’s good to work with a… friend,” she said.

Max glanced at Inrit to find her studying him. “We actually just met,” she explained.

“But you’re right,” Max said. “It is nice to work with a friend.” He couldn’t look away from her until she gave him a small nod, acknowledging that little step. It felt too natural, too good to be sitting here with her. He was worried this would all disappear in a puff of smoke, a desperate delusion of a shattered and ailing mind.

Symes didn’t mind the interplay. “Just be discreet about it. Captain doesn’t like anything serious between crew.”

Too late for that.

After a few minutes of small talk, Symes left them to report to her position on the bridge. Max and Inrit weren’t the only people eating, but now they were alone at their table and the room suddenly seemed so much smaller. He ate his meal, all the while bracing for Inrit to pull away.

She didn’t.

“Did something happen between you and Kayleb?” she asked, popping one of the remaining grapes into her mouth.

“I think he has issues,” was Max’s explanation.

“I didn’t realize that you’d met them.” She glanced at him quickly and then across the room, her posture deceptively relaxed. “There aren’t many Detyens around. Even fewer…” she trailed off.

But Max could guess where she was going. “Even fewer Detyen women?”

Inrit nodded quickly, still not looking at him. “You know the history?” While it wasn’t a secret, the universe was a big place and not all stories got told.

“The planet was attacked about a hundred years ago, most people died. I can’t say I know the specifics.” It might have been buried in his memory banks, but those weren’t offering any information at the moment and he hoped it wasn’t a silent glitch.

“It wasn’t so skewed at the beginning,” she said. She traced a pattern with her finger on the blank surface of the table. “But things went from bad to worse in the first ten years. A space ship carrying over a thousand Detyen women crashed with no survivors. Many young women didn’t find mates in time. And for some reason, seventy percent of Detyen births nowadays are male.” She huffed out a hollow laugh. “I’m almost surprised no one has tried to round the girls up and force matches with unmated males.” She shrugged. “Maybe they’ve tried, but they sure as the hells haven’t succeeded.”

Max’s fist clenched as his mind served up the most efficient way to deal violence to a Detyen. He’d have to watch out for their claws, but they weren’t any stronger or faster than humans. “As long as I breathe, no one will harm you.” He didn’t know whether it was the bond pushing him or something else, and he didn’t care.

Her gaze snapped to his, red eyes bright, wide, and shining. Her mouth hung open just the slightest bit and she sucked in a harsh breath. “I can look out for myself, Max. I’ve done it for a long time.”

He reached out and brushed his fingers against her hand. “I don’t know what we’ll be, but you don’t have to do this alone anymore.”

She flipped her hand over so their palms met; they weren’t quite holding hands. “For someone who isn’t Detyen, you seem to be adjusting.” She kept her voice flat and quiet. No one else could hear them, and he could barely hear her.

Being in public made it easier to talk. They had to keep quiet, keep themselves contained, so that prying eyes didn’t gossip. He knew he could be honest right here, and the most she could do was leave. Even if she ran away, he’d find her again.

“I like you,” he said in that same quiet voice she was using. “Maybe it’s fate facilitated bullshit, but I don’t care. I’ve been yanked around by worse masters.”

Her hand contracted, but she didn’t pull back. “I think I like you too.”

The door slid open and Inrit pulled her hand away. Max glanced over and saw a crewmember he hadn’t met yet walk in. The human nodded at both of them and went to get his food. With that, the moment was broken.

“I need to get some shuteye,” said Inrit. She slid out of the other side of the table and stood. He thought she would walk away, but she smiled down at him. “I’ll be in the engineering room in a few hours, if you’re bored.”

Max nodded and watched her leave. In no time, he finished the rest of his breakfast and cleaned up after himself. Then he went in search of work. If he was going to find something to do, he wanted it done early enough so he could find Inrit when she was ready for company.

***

When Inrit checked the clock on the control panel for the third time in ten minutes, she acknowledged that she might be looking forward to a visit from Max. She’d put out the invitation and it was his move. If he wanted to develop… something, he’d need to come to her.

After all, she’d flirted with him. In front of people. And she’d meant it. In all of her twenty-seven years, she couldn’t recall ever doing that. She didn’t know how to describe the emotions roiling around inside of her. It was all too sudden, too there.

How did other people live like this?

She wished she could call Stoan and talk to him, ask him how he’d dealt with the sudden necessity of his denya. Two days ago, she hadn’t known what it was like to miss Max. And now he was filling up all the empty spaces and cracks that she’d long ago accepted were unfixable.

After one day.

The bond beat strong within her, its presence almost as physical as an extra limb. She felt like she had to move carefully lest she accidentally knock something over. If she focused on it, she could feel it weaving through the ship, ending wherever Max worked. She didn’t know his exact location, but she was sure that if she followed it, her instincts would take her to him.

But she wasn’t about to leave the control room in the first days of the ship’s launch. Once she got a feel for the place, she’d be more comfortable relying on the automations. For now, the room would be staffed all the time, the duty split between her, an apprentice, and a crewmember who had training in working with the engines.

Right now, both of them were off shift, leaving Inrit to make sure they didn’t explode. Luckily, that was an easy task on a well put together craft.

Inrit ran another scan and the system came back as operational. She imagined what the early spacefarers must have dealt with. If primitive ground technologies were anything to go by, it couldn’t have been pleasant to journey through the stars in vessels that could barely reach light speed.

Rather than think on the past or dwell on the near future, Inrit grabbed an entertainment tablet and pulled up a book she’d been meaning to read. Several minutes passed until she heard the faint sound of an emergency siren down the hall.

Inrit tossed the tablet aside and consulted her monitoring equipment again, looking for the danger. All engine scans came back clean and an initial hull scan showed there were no breaches or weak spots. That meant the siren had to do with conditions in the ship.

Rather than rush blindly into a dangerous situation, Inrit pulled up the security camera feed and scrolled through the live streams until she found what she was looking for. At first she didn’t know what she was seeing. It was too early in the flight for aggression to spill out into outright physical fights. But the way the cluster of people was huddled around a tight center and vibrating with tension made her think altercation.

She fingered the stun baton she’d stashed under her desk as she considered her options. Inrit hadn’t signed on as muscle, and so far, no one had looked to challenge her place on the ship. If she got into a fight, she’d be opening herself up for further altercations. The crew was too human for her liking. They got touchy about women winning fights and once it started, it never stopped. She’d be bruised day and night.

But there was something off about what she was seeing. She zoomed in the feed until she could focus on the eye of the writing hurricane of bodies. What she saw made her yank her stick from its holding place and run for the door, pausing only long enough to grab the med kit that hung on a hook along the way.

She locked the door behind her and decided not to prime the stick. It wouldn’t do any good to injure someone more than they already were. Besides, the bludgeon would work well enough for what she needed.

A dozen people were pressed up against one another, huddling together to see what was going on. Inrit shoved through, not bothering to apologize as she stepped on feet and cut off others’ openings. Her own claws shivered in anticipation, but she kept them sheathed. This was a medical emergency, not a fight.

Symes had found her way to this group. “Has anyone gone for the doc?” she asked the brown-haired woman.

She turned toward her and Inrit saw that a splash of dark red blood had marred her light gray jumpsuit. “Doc’s busy at the moment.”

“When we’ve got injured?” The flight had barely gone, what could the doctor possibly be doing?

Symes just shrugged as if there was nothing to be done about it. Inrit growled, the animal sound out of place on such an advanced vessel. It belonged on the plains of a planet so distant it only existed in memory. The human stepped back and Inrit found Krayter kneeling over his brother, his hands pressed against a nasty looking wound in the man’s side. No one else was helping; they were too busy gawking and talking about what was going on.

Suddenly the crowd behind her thinned and a gruff voice cut through the nonsense. “If you don’t need to be here, find somewhere else to stare,” said Max.

She said a prayer of thanks to the heavens and the old gods too. An angry cyborg was more than enough to put the fear of something into the congregated group, no matter if they were human or not.

She heard him mutter something to Symes, but too much of her attention was focused on Kayleb that she didn’t make out the words. A dark strip of metal stuck out from between Krayter’s fingers, blood pulsing around it. From the position, it didn’t look like it had hit any vital organs, but that didn’t mean he was safe. Blood pooled around him and he was dangerously pale.

“Keep the pressure on,” she told Krayter in a calm, commanding voice she’d learned from a medic long dead. “How long ago did this happen?” She opened the med kit and saw that she was out of regen gel, the nearly magical fix-all that could heal most wounds.

“Ju—just a few minutes,” Krayter stuttered. “We were messing around and he tripped.”

Right onto a sharp, exposed piece of metal. That was Detyen luck if Inrit had ever seen it. “You’re doing good, kid,” she said. She examined the contents of the box and pulled out a rudimentary scanner. “Now I need you to keep really still while I do this. We can’t move the metal until we’re sure that we won’t hurt him anymore. Got it?”

Krayter swallowed hard and nodded. He looked so young with the worry splashed across his face.

Kayleb was pulling in ragged gasps of air, the pain evident in every whisper of sound. Inrit reached back into her kit and grabbed a sedative patch and slapped it on his exposed chest. “You’re going to be alright, Kayleb. I promise.”

“Doctor?” he gasped, unable to form any other words.

“I’m trained,” she said. “And I know a Detyen better than any human doc could.” He stared at her, his eyes fading to almost completely black as the sedative took effect. But he gave the slightest hint of a nod, consenting to her care.

The air moved as Max settled in beside her, his job of dispersing the crowd complete. “I sent Symes for the doc,” he said.

“Symes said the doc was busy,” replied Inrit as she turned on the scanner. It beeped as the loading screen engaged. Every second was a lifetime as Kayleb bled out.

Something like a growl rumbled in the back of Max’s throat. “He’s got instructions to bring regen gel if he can’t find the doc.”

Inrit nodded. “Good. Now hold him still.” She didn’t look at her denya; all her focus was on the injured man in front of her. She trusted Max to let her do her job.

The scanner came up to full power and she confirmed the placement of the bar. It had missed almost everything vital, but if her hands weren’t steady, she could nick an artery and kill him. He needed a real doctor, or at least a sterile room. But if they moved him, they could just as soon kill him.

She couldn’t move fast and steady enough and seal his wounds in time. Krayter was beside himself and she wouldn’t put that duty in his hands. Max could do it.

If he wasn’t glitching.

She looked at him. His profile was half-shadow from the poor light in the hallway. His nose straight, hair thick and dark, jaw set with practiced determination. He was as steady as a mountain, but she’d already seen that look crumble once. “Do you know how far the infirmary is?” she asked.

Max nodded. “Not far.” He tightened his grip on Kayleb’s shoulders as the man jerked under him.

Indecision sat heavy on Inrit’s shoulders. Should they wait? Or would waiting cost Kayleb his life? To stall, she pulled gauze out of her kit and sopped up some of the blood that oozed out of the wound. Now that Kayleb was unconscious and no longer panicking, the bleeding had slowed, but not enough.

Footsteps pounded down the hallway and Inrit looked up, unable to mask the hope on her face. That hope disappeared in a flash when she saw that it was just Symes. “Doc says he’s busy. One of the passengers went into labor and it’s a bit of a sticky situation.”

Inrit was almost relieved. The doctor had a real excuse and the decision of whether or not to act had been made. “Did you get the gel?” she asked.

Symes held up a small canister that fit snugly in her palm. Regen gel was worth its weight in diamonds, or would be in a system where diamonds were rare. But Kayleb’s wound was deep, and even with the gel, he could need real medical attention.

“No medbot?” she asked. Some ships used them as backups or replacements for actual doctors.

“It broke down a few years ago and no one bothered to fix it,” Symes explained.

Max cursed under his breath, but didn’t say anything else.

“Take Max’s place,” she told Symes, who did as instructed without argument. Max stepped back with military efficiency. Inrit met her denya’s eyes and a whole wave of something that wasn’t quite a conversation passed between them. Even before she spoke, Max was moving to kneel beside Krayter. “We need to see what the other side of the bar looks like to figure out how to get it out.”

With great care, Max maneuvered himself down to the ground beside Kayleb and gently moved him by centimeters until he got a good look. When he sat back up, his silvery eyes were grim. “It’s still attached to the wall.”

“What does that mean? Can you still help him?” Krayter demanded. He was on the verge of tears, his face flushed and eyes twin rubies. His shoulders shook, but his hands stayed firm where they were clutched over his brother.

Inrit and Max shared another glance. Neither of them said it out loud, but they both knew the truth. The situation had just gotten a lot worse.