Lights blinked and sensors beeped on the biomonitor, indicating the boy was still alive and sleeping. From the darkened doorway of the medbay, Alek watched Tink's chest rise and fall. She was supposed to be monitoring the boy but clearly had fallen asleep curled up in the seat snugged into the corner. Her mouth hung open and a soft, wuffling snore occasionally escaped, disturbing the stray curl that dangled over her face. With the position she'd ended up in, her head back and to the side, she'd have a crick in her neck when she woke up, if she were at all like him.
I should wake her, he thought. It's my turn to be on watch. But he made no move towards her as her eyes flutter under the lids, her freckled cheeks relaxed. However uncomfortable the position, they were all sorely lacking in sleep. And it was only going to get worse soon. He glanced at his wrist patch again, then flicked it, dismissing the coded message.
"Hey buddy," he whispered as Grim twined between his legs. The cat sauntered into the medbay, propelling Alek forward. Stepping fully into the small room, he placed the mug he'd brought for Tink down on the ledge by the door then turned his attention to the boy. Swallowed up by a bed built for adults, he looked younger now than he had in the cargo bay. The shadows under his eyes remained, and the bruise on his cheek was mottled an angry purple and green now that he was out of stasis. It was definitely a bruise, as Ish had suggested, and not a shadow as they'd all hoped.
Alek ran a thumb over the cheek, skirting the bruise. "Who did this to you?" he whispered. Of course, there was no response except the beeps of the sensors. Looking down at the frail form, he realized how easy it would be for someone to end it all — this contract, his mission, the danger to the Lyra. When he glanced at Tink, he saw she still slept with her head falling back against the wall. He stepped closer to the bed, leaning over the boy to adjust the pillow under his head. From this perspective, there was something almost familiar about him. But Alek had little experience with kids.
"What are you doing?" a voice froggy with too little sleep said.
Alek spun on his heels to face Tink. "Nothing." He blinked and watched her push out her hands and feet in a full body stretch before bringing her fists in to rub her eyes. "Well, just wondering," he continued as he turned back to examine the boy. "He's a puzzle."
She came to stand beside him. "He's a threat."
Alek lifted his head to look at her, his eyebrows pulling together. Her lips were tight and her jaw tense. She glanced at him as silence hung between them.
"Oh, come on," she said, wrestling her hair into a clip at the nape of her neck. A stubborn curl sprung back out, glinting red from the lights. She blew it out of her eyes. "You're thinking what I am: they're clearly after the kid."
He didn't respond to that speculation, instead nodding at the ledge by the door. "I brought you some coffee."
She stepped over to it and, clutching the mug in both hands, took a sip. Steam from the fresh brew dewed her face. "Thank you."
He shrugged. "It seems warmer in here."
She nodded over her mug. "I got the power to level up."
"You fixed it?" He smiled at her.
"Sure." She tugged the stray curl and stared into her coffee as she took another drink. Her eyes met his over the rim of her mug. "Any update on what's going on outside the asteroid?"
"Bots say the other ship is searching further afield. Ish thinks if we time our exit right, we can make it to that slip point he saw."
She nodded, turning the mug in her hands. "I'll be glad when the Lyra is out of this mess. But I still need to finish the fix on the infernal slip drive." She came to stand on the far side of the bed, blowing at the uncooperative curl again as she gazed at the child.
Fiery sparks shot through her hair where the lights of the medbay hit it. He pressed his lips together and nodded slowly, not wanting to comment on what a longshot it all still was. Instead, he turned to small talk. "How do you know the Lyra so well? I mean, yeah, you're an engineer. But you're just one person."
She shrugged, her eyes narrowing as she peered at him. "I basically —" She stopped at a gasp between them.
The boy was wide awake, blue eyes flicking between them. Alek put his hand on the boy's wrist and felt the flutter of fear in the pulse.
"It's okay," he said. "It's okay."
Tink put her mug down on the bedside table and crossed the few steps to the dispenser set into the wall. From the drawer beneath it, she pulled out a glass and pressed it against the lever to fill it with water. Coming back, she reached to offer it to the kid. In a whirl of movement, over in a blink, he skittered away. Her mug of coffee went flying, and Tink ended up with water all down her front.
"Aiy." Tink held her arms out and grimaced at her damp jumpsuit.
Grim jumped up onto the bed to escape the mayhem, scowling at Tink before turning his disapproving gaze on Alek.
"Still no sudden movements, I guess." Alek arched an eyebrow, a suppressed laugh playing at the corners of his lips. He turned to the boy, slowly reaching out to take the not-quite-empty glass from Tink. Arms clutching his legs to his chest, the kid's eyes followed his hand. "Water." The boy glanced at him, and Alek drank the last mouthful in the glass. "Water."
Going to the dispenser, he filled another cup. He held it an arm's length from the boy and waited. After a minute, the scar tissue in his shoulder started to protest, but he still kept the glass between them. Meanwhile, Grim sniffed at the kid's toes before rubbing his jaw against one of the arms wrapped around his legs. And slowly, the boy began to move. One hand went to Grim's head while the other reached for the cup.
Being careful not to let his fingers touch mine, Alek thought. What's he afraid of?
Grim lifted his nose to sniff the cup, and the kid followed the cat's lead. Seemingly recognizing the non-scent of sterilized water, he tipped it back and stuck his tongue in.
"It's okay," Tink said. "It's just water. Recycled a thousand times. But just H2O."
Staring at her, the boy took a small sip, held it in his mouth for a few seconds then swallowed. Apparently deciding it was acceptable, he gulped down the rest of the glass until a paw reached up to pull it away. The boy giggled and pet Grim's head.
Not exactly a normal boy, Alek thought, but not something worth killing for.
"More." The boy held out the glass.
"He speaks." Tink popped up from where she'd been cleaning up the detritus of her mug and spilt coffee with a rag.
"More."
"One word." She grimaced.
"Would you like more?" Alek held a hand out to the boy. "Come on then."
"What are you doing?" Tink asked, dumping the dirty rag and pieces of broken mug in the cycler. Alek looked at her but didn't answer.
Turning his wide eyes from Tink's face to Alek's hand, the boy's lips moved back and forth, like Alek's grandfather did when he was chewing over a problem. When Grim jumped off the bed, the boy's hand followed after him. A flicker of angst passed over the boy's face and his fingers clutched at the sheet on the bed, creeping outwards. After a long minute, their fingers touched, and he allowed his hand to be wrapped in Alek's. Not wanting to startle him, Alek gently closed his fingers, guiding the boy off the bed, away from any remaining shards. Glass in hand, the boy took the few steps towards the dispenser. His herky-jerky limbs seemed unused to movement.
After finishing another glass of water, he turned back to the bed. His stomach burbled loudly.
"Are you hungry?" Alek asked.
Tink's eyes flashed towards him. "He should lie down. At least until Kandi has a chance to examine him."
"He's been lying down for Zeus knows how long. Kandi can come get him in the common room when she's ready to take a look at him." He turned back to the boy, and the sense of something familiar washed over him again. Like a face from his childhood. Maybe the boy was the offspring of one of his very extended family. But, as far as he knew, there weren't any hairless, wan pre-teen boys in silver-blue pyjamas on the family tree.