Rixen: Holidate With an Alien by Ella Blake

Author:Ella Blake [Blake, Ella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Table Rock Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Rixen

This was not good. The smell of cralium was pungent in the air. Whatever had destroyed the sandspitter had ripped its way into the power bank itself, which was no easy task. The cralium nodes—the power source—were well protected and deep inside the vehicle. The fact that I could smell the acetic odor of cralium meant it was shocking there hadn’t been an explosion. It was a very unstable substance when outside of its protective nodes.

I hated the bite of fear in Rubi’s voice and the tension in her eyes. I had not brought her out here so she could be afraid. My body released stress-relieving pheromones that relaxed her almost instantly. I kissed the top of her forehead, wanting to do more. Scooping her up and carrying her to the nearest bed was an idea.

A bad one, though. We had real problems. Potentially deadly problems.

“So much for a fun sightseeing trip,” I muttered.

“It’s not that bad,” she said. “As long as whatever did that…” She pointed to the sandspitter. “Isn’t inside there.” She swung her finger towards the gaping-open cargo hold.

I cursed myself for leaving it open. But there were no known creatures living in the Sanrous Plains. There were no beings with that kind of destructive power on Stryxia at all. “Whatever did this was from off-planet. I will check the logs again to see where the operator stopped on his way from Earth to Stryxia. He picked something up along the way.” And while I wasn’t knowledgeable on every single species native to my planet, I had never seen the little dark red creature in the maintenance corridor before.

We hurried back inside. I engaged the controls to close the massive hull door, shutting us inside, hopefully not with whatever had destroyed the sandspitter. I gave a critical eye to the storage compartments and containers there. Nothing had been moved. Everything was locked in its place—no scratches, no claw marks, no strange smells, droppings, or anything to indicate something other than Rubi and I were in here. There were no signs of attempted destruction.

We returned to the control room. I locked the door behind us and went right to a terminal.

“Trakia Central, this is Rixen Alnas of cargo ship 39-A. Please respond.”

There was nothing. Not even static or the sound of a relay transmitting. Nothing. I repeated my message, blood pressure rising in my two hearts.

“Don’t tell me,” Rubi said. “The communication link is down.”

I rubbed my hand over my face. “It would appear so.”

“One of those wires that creature chewed through?”

“No. Different area. There must be more damage farther back in the maintenance corridor that we were unable to see.”

She sank into the seat next to mine and let out a sigh. I watched the emotions move over her beautiful features—worry, sadness, anxiety.

“I am sorry, Rubi,” I said miserably. “This is going to take longer than planned.”

She nodded, some of the color draining from her face. “I just don’t want Andromeda to worry. Not right now when she’s so close to having her baby.

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