The next time Zander saw Pria, things felt awkward. Zander felt ashamed of himself for being a voyeur, but Pria just felt as if she had been rejected. Whether her arousal had aroused him or not wasn’t an issue. But when they could have kissed, he refused her. She was sure she wouldn’t meet up to his standards of a woman anyway. Beauty was always in the eye of the beholder.
He hooked up a few machines to her body and gave her a curt nod before leaving. He felt too embarrassed to face her. Pria watched him go, frowning, wondering if touching him so intimately had been wrong of her. She wished that they could talk about it, but there wasn’t really much left for her to say.
A few hours later, he returned, and she got her hopes up. She thought that maybe he really did want to talk to her and everything had just been a misunderstanding. But when he returned, his face was grim and serious.
“Follow me,” he said. He normally would have helped her up, but he didn’t dare to touch her. Not after the things he had been thinking about doing to her the day before.
“Where are we going?” she asked as he led her through the bay. She took in the vast sights and sounds of the spaceship. Many of the Driads stopped what they were doing to stare at her. She remembered Shef’s fear of humans and made a face at them. Several of them cowered, while others laughed. She was spunky, they had to hand her that. But she was going to save the universe. There wasn’t much to fear.
“We need other tests done. Vitals. Physical limitations, things like that.”
“Physical limitations?” she asked, stopping him in the corridor and staring him in the eye. He shifted uncomfortably and looked away.
“Nothing painful of course, or um…we’re just going to have you exercise for a while, okay? See what you’re capable of. It will help us in the future when we use your test results to create the hybrids.”
“I see,” she said softly, following him into an open room. It was much like the one they had been keeping her in, but it was full of strange equipment. Some things looked similar to the machines she would find in a gym on Earth, but others looked terrifying.
“We have to hook you up to these monitors here,” he said, turning to her. He gently brushed the shoulder of her gown down, revealing her clavicle and part of her round, white breast. He tried not to stare as he hooked her up and turned away quickly. “This one needs to go over your heart.”
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, before facing her again and pulling the gown down, revealing her breasts. She felt a little embarrassed, but surprised to find that he lacked the hostility she expected to find in him. She had believed that he didn’t like her. She never would have guessed that he was so shy. Maybe that was why he hadn’t kissed her.
She inhaled sharply as his hot fingers pressed the hook up to her chest. She wanted to feel more of his touch, but it was over too soon.
“Krill here will show you how to use the equipment and what to do.”
“Okay…”
Zander moved to a bench and started fiddling with his watch. A hologram popped up and she realized that although she could hear and speak different languages, she still couldn’t read them. How far in life would that get her learning French? It didn’t matter.
She endured two hours’ worth of physical tests as Zander took notes and observed her. She would glance over at him from time to time and realize that he was staring at her. She expected him to look annoyed or indifferent, and was shocked to realize that he looked sad. Maybe it was true then. Maybe Zander was just a shy man who was just as confused about his feelings as she was about her own.
If that was the case, then she would just have to do her best not to blame him for refusing her. Maybe alien customs of showing affection were different. Maybe they didn’t even kiss. She had no idea. All she knew was that she very desperately wanted to find out.
***
Zander paced his room, realizing unhappily that he had been doing this a lot lately. It was a way that he liked to relieve stress, but sometimes it backfired and just made him feel more anxious. It was a habit his mother had tried to break him of, saying it drove her to the brink seeing him pace like that. But he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t get Pria out of his mind. The tests were going to advance soon and then she would be returned to Earth. He just had a couple of days left with her. Would he be able to live with himself if he just let her go back without ever having the courage to act on his feelings?
Zander wasn’t sure what the protocol for this was. It would take a long time to develop the hybrids, and they might just need to keep an eye on her in case the Codans realized that she existed. People would be posted to keep her safe on Earth. Since he wasn’t very comfortable with his authority on the ship, maybe he could apply as one of her guards. He couldn’t imagine never seeing her again.
What a sentimental sap he was being! He should just forget about her and be happy that Captain Kane was willing to put so much trust in him. But somehow, Pria’s approval outranked even his captain’s.
Suddenly, he realized that he had forgotten to administer her vitamin after the last series of arousal tests had been completed. He needed to see if she would be able to handle the essential vitamins that his race needed to survive. If she wasn’t able to, then their hopes of using her for hybrids was dashed.
Zander sighed. He had been secretly hoping for an excuse to see her again. Everybody on the ship was sleeping; the artificial lights emulating the sun rose and set following their circadian rhythms. But there he was, still wide awake with nothing but Pria on his mind. He sighed and headed toward Pria’s room, hoping that she would be asleep when he entered.