Naomi
Sweating profusely, the captain wipes his face and gulps on a mouthful of saliva. He looks sickly. “Let me get this straight. You two are… you two had… you two...”
“We fucked,” I say, crossing my arms. “And it was the best sex I’ve ever had.”
We also talked and connected in a way I never thought would have been possible. It was possible, and now my entire worldview has shifted.
The captain is not going to fuck this up for me.
“I’m assuming an alien doesn’t use protection,” he says.
“Stop berating the woman,” Turin growls.
Turin starts for him, but I hold my arm out to block his steps. This is my annoying battle to fight.
“I will be honest, Captain, we don’t have a lot of time to discuss this before Zakar or Fassbender come looking for us,” I say.
“Fassbender,” Halloway whispers, shaking his head.
“What about him?” I ask.
“When he took hold of my crew, I ran. It was cowardly, but it was the only choice I had,” he says.
“Get on with it.”
“I went back to the starship to find out the truth. Roy fixed the network. All the documents are on display. It’s so much worse than we thought, Naomi. Earth has betrayed us,” he says.
I inhale and lick the edges of my lips. “We know,” I say. “Found out about Earth Federation yesterday.”
“Fucking defense contractors,” Halloway curses.
“There’s nothing we can do about that. We just have to get off this planet,” I say.
Turin growls. There’s only so much I can do to hold him back.
“Listen, Captain. Do you want to keep your life? Turn around and pretend you never found this place. Tell the others that Naomi is dead,” he says.
The captain looks at the entrance, breathing too fast for me to watch. “I can’t go back out there. He’ll find me again. It’ll be night in less than an hour,” he says.
Turin groans. “Not our problem. If you die, that’s more time for us to escape.”
“But—“
“You still got a gun?” Turin asks.
“Yes, but I only have three bullets left,” he says.
I glance back at my alien and sigh. Taking the captain’s side, I say, “Nothing will happen to you because you’re staying with us.”
Turin’s wide-eyed glare of dissatisfaction is to be expected. He can’t always have me to himself.
“What are you doing?” Turin whispers. “He will get us killed. What we have made, our child, will die.”
Our baby. I look at my stomach. I feel the weight of the universe coming at me, a million light years a minute.
I know he’s just trying to protect me. After all, if the captain stays, it complicates our safety. But I can’t let down one of my own like that. I’m not like Fassbender. I follow a code.
I try to ease Turin’s anxiety. “Look, I know he looks weak, but he’s more than meets the eye,” I say. “Up there, on the flight deck, he’s the best captain there is. I need you to trust me on this.”