Nick waited for his answer.

Raina’s mouth opened and closed once. She wore a strange expression.

Was it possible that she didn’t know what year it was either? Surely her crew would have informed her.

Before she could answer, BFF20 dinged and slid off her wristband.

“Please follow me to the pod for a briefing,” the little drone said crisply.

He sailed out of the dining room without even waiting to see if they were coming. Raina got up and hurried after him and Nick brought up the rear as they traveled through the living room and the bedroom and into the closet. BFF20 led them straight to the pod and Nick closed the door behind them.

When he turned back, BFF20 was folding himself inward, slipping one end of himself into a tiny slot in the pod’s feed device, the other half of him unfolding outward like a plate.

There was a single chime and an image appeared in the air over the droid. Nick figured he must be projecting light from the feed to create the ghostly figure.

The projection looked familiar…

“Captain Reese,” he murmured.

Raina bent to watch.

“This is Captain Edith Reese,” the little figure said. “It’s January sixteenth, 2270. Yesterday at oh-five hundred hours, our ship heard a distress signal. We alerted the other two ships in our caravan. All three proceeded to change course immediately to the location of the signal, following protocol for responding to a distress signal in a non-military zone. But before we could locate the distressed vessel, we encountered an odd turbulence. We opted to slow our speed and proceed with c—”

The little figure was interrupted by something they couldn’t see. She ducked and looked around furtively for a moment, then straightened again.

“with caution,” she continued. “But as soon as we slowed, something seemed to take hold of the ship. It was as if we were being held in a force field. At least that was what we thought, although it wasn’t producing readings consistent with anything in our archives. We are a luxury cruiser, with no military applications, certified as non-combatant in all zones. We had no reason to expect a hostile encounter, until it invaded the ship.”

“We have lost contact with our companion vessels,” she said, sounding more defeated than Nick had ever heard her. “We think our comms are down because of some kind of magnetic field this thing has generated in its web.”

Again, she appeared to hear something. She ducked down and went silent for a moment. At last she straightened again.

“We’ve attempted to put all alien life forms into auto-stasis. And we’ve done what we could to protect our cargo. Power has been diverted from the ship’s other systems to ensure seamless power to fuel the pod. If you’re seeing this message—”

A third distraction had caused Captain Reese to turn away from the recording. The little figure screamed out loud, then one of her hands shot out toward Raina and the feed went dead.

“Gods,” Nick murmured.

“Yes, the quality was excellent for a two-hundred-year-old message,” BFF20 noted. “I cleaned it up a bit, but I really can’t take credit. That recording device was top notch for its day.”

As usual, the little robot had missed the point, but something he had said…

Nick staggered backward as he registered what the little droid had told him.

“A two-hundred-year-old message?” he echoed in disbelief.

“Not precisely two-hundred years, but I can define it down to the minute, if you wish,” BFF20 offered.

“No thank you,” Nick said.

“Nick,” Raina said softly.

“You knew,” he said, turning to her, furious. “You knew how long I was out, and you didn’t tell me.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, looking down at the floor.

He saw a flash of movement behind her and stomped past her to look at the pod.

Inside, the baby slept on in his amber liquid, one hand curled in a chubby fist, the other spread out, tiny fingers like a starfish. He must have imagined the movement.

But he couldn’t seem to look away.

He felt a pull so strong it was as if his heart were coming out of his body.

He placed his hand against the glass instinctively, feeling a bond grow between himself and the tiny creature.

Peace soothed his anger and he studied the small human, the curve of his round cheeks, the swirl of hair on his little head.

“I guess this little guy is the reason the gravity is in and out,” Raina said softly.

“Mistress Raina, I need to speak with you,” BFF20 said.

“What is it?” she asked.

“In private,” he told her.

“Um, okay. Nick, we’ll be right back,” Raina said.

He nodded, still studying the child.

Raina and the droid went into the bedroom and closed the door behind them.

Darkness settled over the little room and Nick reached through the bond he shared with the child to see if it was conscious in spite of its slumber.

The baby did not respond, but he did hear something. It was too soon for his bond with Raina to have developed so much, but somehow it was already strong enough to allow him to pick up the details of her conversation.

“We have to get out of here, now,” BFF20 said. “If that pod malfunctions, the ship could divert oxygen, heat, everything it has. It’s not safe for you here.”

“Then you need to figure out a back-up source for the pod so we can take the baby with us,” Raina told him.

“It has a back-up, but there is no reliable way to predict how long that fuel cell will last. It’s hundreds of years old,” BFF20 told her. “We’ll come back for him.”

“Like hell we will,” Raina said. “I’m not going anywhere without him.”

Nick’s chest swelled with pride at his mate and her ferocious desire to protect the child.

“If you try to take him with you it could kill him.” BFF20 told her.

“Leaving him here could kill him too,” Raina countered. “I won’t do it. He’s too precious.”

Precious.

Oh.

Rage threatened to consume him.

He wrenched his thoughts out of their bond so as not to hear anything more.

Nick had bonded to this woman, and to this innocent nestling. He was prepared to protect them with his life.

And all Raina cared about was that the baby was rare and valuable.

She’s human, he reminded himself. It is her nature to pillage and steal.

But the injustice of it burned in his chest and his skin prickled with the desire to shift into something terrifying to prevent her from having her way.