The Runaway Alien (The Lost Planet 9)

Rekk.

“Ehh, right.” I stifle a groan. “Looking forward to it.”

Willow smirks. “We totally believe you.”

Shoes patter behind me and several mortlings rush into the classroom. Willow and Theron’s girls, Aponi and Elu, bounce by, chirping excitedly. With them is Quinn and Oz’s girl, Tayen. This trio is usually inseparable.

Not far behind them are Kosumi and Kele, Avrell and Zoe’s boys, Nodin, Calix and Emery’s youngest son, followed by his older brother, Hophalix, and Hadrian and Lyric’s son Nayati.

“Wanna wrestle?” Nayati asks as he attempts to tackle me.

Since he’s only ten revolutions old, his sneak attack doesn’t work. He looks so much like Hadrian and acts just like that mortarekker, sometimes I’m thrust back to the past. I ruffle his unruly hair on his nog.

“Come see me after supper tonight. We’ll have a match in the training room. I’ll teach you how to be a fighter like your dad.”

Nayati shakes his head. “No! I want to be like Draven!” He roars so loud my ears throb. That’s my cue to leave.

“Have fun with these delightful creatures,” I deadpan, earning a laugh from Willow and Quinn. “Want me to see if Oz can make some sort of device to…” I make a motion of covering my mouth with my hand.

“Get out of here, grumpy,” Willow says, shooing me away.

Smirking, I exit the classroom, nearly trampling over Lyric and little Nuka, who looks more like Hadrian than her. He’s still nursing, having been born just half a revolution ago.

“Least this one’s still quiet,” I say to her.

She shakes her nog. “Not last night. He kept me up. I think he’s growing.” She sighs heavily. “I’m going to have to supplement with rogcow milk.”

I nod in understanding. “Catori was that way. As soon as she had all her teeth, she switched to meat.”

Lyric hugs Nuka to her chest. “He’s growing too fast.”

She has that look of longing in her eyes that these females get when they’re ready for another one. I’m not sure Mortuus is ready for Hadrian to have a third mortling. My eardrums certainly aren’t ready.

“You leaving him here or taking him to the command center today?”

“I’m going to let Willow take him for part of the day. I have too much work to do. Me, Jareth, and Oz are knee-deep in the radio tower project. Besides, if he’s going to transition to rogcow supplement milk, what better day than today.”

She ducks into the classroom and I make my way over to the sounds of arguing in the medical bay. Inside, I discover Avrell and Zoe in a heated discussion. Just when I think she might punch him, he strokes her pregnant belly and then kisses her so hard her knees wobble. I escape without being seen.

“Yo, Commander,” Theron calls out from behind me. “I’m leaving in the morning on the Mayvina to scout out some supplies. If you want to ride with me, I could use the help. Thought I’d give Kev another lesson.”

Kev, short for Kevin, is our other human male. Avrell claimed the boy during the Earth II War and forbade anyone from using “Kevin” in a derogatory way. Every now and again Hadrian will slip up, which always earns him a smack to the nog from Lyric or Zoe or both at once.

“Kev ran into a mountain last time,” I remind him. “He’s a terrible pilot.”

Though Kev is no longer a mortling, he sure as rekk pilots like one.

“The Mayvina is made to take a beating,” Theron boasts. “Besides, it was a good experience for him. Jareth and Oz taught him how to bind zutametal and seal holes. It’s all good.”

As much as I’d love an excuse to get out of the mortling takeover in my Command Center tomorrow, I’m not about to trade it for pilot lessons with Kev in the captain’s chair.

“Perhaps next time,” I say with a grunt. “Report back tomorrow. If you live.”

Theron barks out a laugh. I wasn’t joking.

I pass by another lab, this one much quieter than the medical bay. Papers are strewn all over the desks that Grace and Calix have mashed together. They’re both deep in thought as they pore over their notes. How they concentrate with all the chaos in our Faction is beyond me. Sareth Gracyn, Grace’s oldest daughter with her mates, Jareth and Sayer, sits perched beside her mother, intently looking over her shoulder. Like my Catori, Sareth Gracyn, favors her fathers and is larger than her mother.

Sareth Gracyn glances up at me, her dark eyes boring into me. She’s so quiet and closed off. Sokko stares at her far more than he realizes. It makes me wonder if, one solar, they’ll become mates. Sareth Gracyn looks past me and her shoulders slouch slightly. Maybe the feelings are mutual, because I’m feeling a sense of disappointment from her. Most mornings, when I’m not awoken by my little sunshine and can sleep in a bit, Sokko does the rounds with me. It’s evident Sareth Gracyn was hoping to see him.