Ghost Ship Numenon: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Romance Among the Stars) by Leslie Chase

Author:Leslie Chase [Chase, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

9

MADDIE

Iwasn’t sure I’d get any sleep that night. When I did, I regretted it, my sleep plagued by nightmares. After the third time I woke from one, I lay awake beside Kahdrex on the bunk, his heart beats strangely comforting. My thoughts kept circling the problem we faced, looking for a solution, but none appeared. With our only way off the Numenon compromised, taking the Avir back to civilization was a deadly gamble.

Perhaps we should take the risk, I thought as my exhaustion dragged me back down to sleep. It’s been two hundred years, computers are different now, Anima Numenon might not be up to hacking anything modern. A pleasant idea, but even half-asleep, I knew it wouldn’t survive the harsh light of day. She’d taken control of Kahdrex’s hardsuit, and she wouldn’t have to spread far to cause havoc. Maybe modern cybersecurity would lock her down fast, but how many people would she kill before that happened?

Every death would be on our heads, and I couldn’t face the guilt. With that unhappy realization hanging in my mind, I sank back into a dream-wracked sleep.

Hours later, I woke in a cold sweat, the details of the nightmare already slipping from my memory. Some things were clear—wandering dark corridors in an endless living death, my subconscious not being subtle. But I also remembered a feeling of betrayal, abandonment, loneliness, which wasn’t as obvious.

It took a moment after waking to notice that I was alone. I still felt his warmth, his scent filled the air, but the room was empty and silent. I sat up and looked around, cursing under my breath at my carelessness.

Kahdrex might have a few redeeming qualities—the memory of them made me blush—but that didn’t make him trustworthy. The weaselly fucker chose his own life over everyone at home and ditched me rather than even try to explain. With the mattress beside me still warm, he hadn’t been gone long. His betrayal was still fresh.

It might still be possible to stop.

I leaped from the bed, grabbing my suit and pulling it on as tried to make a plan. I knew where he’d docked his ship, so the question was, could I get there ahead of him? Hopefully, he didn’t think he had any reason to hurry. Stamping my feet into my boots, I opened the door and set out after him into the darkness-shrouded corridors.

The resemblance to my nightmare was overwhelming, and I scrambled to find any distraction as I hurried through the gloom. Stealth wasn’t an option, not if I wanted any chance to outdistance Kahdrex. All I could do was hope that Anima would keep her word and protect me, at least until Kahdrex had freed her. Did he even want her to? He’d betrayed and abandoned me.

My skin prickled with rage, my heart torn between that and another emotion I didn’t dare name. Call it lust, call it desire, call it anything but love.

“A plan,” I said aloud. “I need a plan, or I’m just flailing in the dark.

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