Chapter Twenty

Axel sauntered out into the corridor, paused, and then stuck his head back around the doorway to the bridge to call out to Theo. “Come on, legs, I’ll hook you up with the goods.”

Reluctant to be left alone on the bridge with the multitudinous tempting buttons and his own dubious self-control, Theo followed after. “Do you know, I’ve dedicated my life to the study of language, and yet, when you speak, I am often cast to sea.”

Axel leaned back against the interior of the lift, leaving plenty of room for Theo to join him. “I can’t understand half the shit you say, man, but I gotta admit, you say it with style.”

That sounded somewhat complimentary, so Theo decided to accept it as such. He had learned long ago to take praise wherever he could get it. They arrived on the second deck, and Axel took off in the opposite direction from Theo’s bunk, winding around the dimly lit curving hallway until he came upon a haphazardly decorated door.

Printed images in various states of distress plastered the dented metal. Some were faded and scratched, while others appeared shiny and new. There was no rhyme or reason to the arrangement, just brightly colored images of everything from a scantily clad feminine torso to what appeared to be a ham sandwich overlapping one another from top to bottom.

Axel didn’t comment on the decor as he opened the door to a room filled with much the same, with the addition of multicolored lights glowing along the edge of the ceiling.

He bent to dig through a mountain of discarded clothing, then emerged triumphant with a bit of black cloth clenched in his fist. “Here, try these on. They’re too small for me, so they might fit your scrawny ass. They’re even clean, so you’re welcome.”

He smacked Theo in the face with the cloth, which turned out to be a pair of exceptionally tiny black trousers. They were made of some kind of strange, stretchy material that had a metallic sheen to it.

Axel threw himself back on the bed, dug through the rumpled sheet to recover a pad, and then pulled up a vid of some thumping musical performance with brightly flashing dancers in accompaniment. He focused on the screen, not even glancing Theo’s way. “Go on and get changed. I’m dying to see Park’s face when you walk out in those. Promise I won’t peek, Dr. Campbell. On my honor.”

There was something there, in the way he dropped his voice to say that last bit, that made it clear he was poking fun at Jun. Theo couldn’t find it within himself to laugh.

The door remained open, but Theo had gotten undressed in riskier situations, so he complied with a mental shrug.

His linen small clothes were unfortunately too voluminous to fit beneath the trousers, so they had to go. He had also ceased wearing his stockings since he had gifted one of his garters to Jun.

Consequently, there was nothing between the tight fabric of the trousers and Theo in his entirety.

They fit more akin to stockings than proper trousers, faithfully hugging the lines of Theo’s body from just below the crest of his hip all the way to his ankles. He had never possessed something so snugly tailored in his life. A small smile graced his face as he thought of Ari’s no doubt scandalized reaction to such a garment.

Followed immediately by a pang in his chest. He was really beginning to miss his quiet, straightlaced twin. Being scandalous wasn’t half as much fun without Ari around to scandalize.

Theo turned to examine his backside with a critical eye in the smudged mirror stuck to the wall. He had to bunch up his shirt over his navel to see properly. “These trousers certainly leave very little to the imagination.”

Axel’s pad landed on the bed with a thump, and he pushed to stand and study the fit, himself. “Yeah, I bought them a size too small, hoping to attract the ladies with the siren call of my bulge.”

This was accompanied by a rather unfortunate gesture toward the front of his own closely fitted trousers.

Theo winced. “Oh?” He made an attempt to be supportive and nonjudgmental, aiming for a light and inquisitive tone rather than openly cringing. (Ari would likely have fainted on the spot from sheer disgust.) “Did that prove an effective courting strategy, for you?”

Axel made a face that wasn’t particularly confidence-inspiring, and then turned to hunt through the pile. He found a dull-gray sweater, which he thrust out at Theo insistently. “I got myself shot with a stun ray, so, no. But I did get the contacts for one super snarly dude first, so I thought they might work better for you. It’s not my thing, but snarly dude seems to be your type. Take off that blouse and put this on instead.”

Theo started to work free his cravat, only remembering the marks Jun had left on his neck when it was too late. Axel’s bright-green brows shot up, but he thankfully refrained from making comment.

“I can’t deny that there is something compelling about a man with a scowl on his face.” Theo’s shirt slightly muffled his words as he struggled to get it over his head without entangling his arms. “Makes me want to see what it takes to get him to smile.” He popped the sweater on, relieved to find that it had no odor, despite his fears. “I must inform you, however, that there is nothing of significance between your captain and me.”

“Significance” being the key word, there.

Nothing of any significance whatsoever. Just Theo’s nonsensical heart falling deeply and irrevocably in love with a man who wanted nothing to do with him outside of the occasional tryst.

Par for the course with Theo, really.

And entirely insignificant.

The rude sound Axel made was anything but an agreement. “Are we still going with that? I don’t get why he’s hiding it; it’s not as if any of us care who he’s nailing to the wall in his free time.”

Theo tugged at the collar of his new soft, slouchy top. He was suddenly a trifle warm at the unexpectedly welcome notion of Jun nailing him to the wall.

A thought that required further study.

Preferably while he was alone, in his bunk.

Theo frowned at his reflection and fussed with the hem of the sweater. The garment was too short. It barely flirted with the waistband of his trousers, flashing skin whenever he moved in any direction. “I think it’s more that he doesn’t want me to get inflated ideas of my own importance. Doesn’t wish for me to labor under the misapprehension that I matter to him beyond my work.”

He couldn’t decide if it was encouraging or disheartening that Axel’s face fell at that revelation. “Shit. That sucks, man.”

Theo gave up on the hem of the sweater and, instead, pushed at the overlong sleeves that hung low over his knuckles. “It’s quite alright. I know my place; he doesn’t need to worry. I’m aware of the importance of my work here, as well as the unimportance of myself as a person.”

If there was something Theo excelled at, besides languages and making an unholy mess every time he entered a kitchen, it was accepting his undesirability as a long-term romantic partner.

It was a proven, tested pattern, after all. Ari would applaud his use of the scientific method to reach that conclusion.

Actually, Ari would wrap Theo up in their softest blanket and acquire his favorite Turkish delight and sit with him while he cried. A steady, sympathetic presence Theo could depend on even at his worst.

Which was also a proven pattern.

Stars, he missed his twin.

Axel tossed a pair of clunky black boots at him, narrowly missing Theo’s ankles. “Throw these on, and you’re ready to walk the Wastes with the rest of the Crew, Doc.”

Theo gathered them up, surprised to find that he and Axel were of a size. He offered a soft, sincere smile of thanks. “I think these will suit rather nicely. Thank you for your assistance; you’ve been ever so kind to me.”

Axel clicked through the attachments on his arm with a furrowed brow, avoiding Theo’s gaze. “That’s me, kindness and light itself. I basically shit rainbows.”

Which was an exceptionally colorful idiom Theo had never come across before. He mentally added it to his inventory, to be used whenever it would horrify Ari the most.

Axel seemed to be done with him now that he had garbed Theo in Outlier clothing; his body language screamed dismissal. Theo bundled up his things under his arm and stepped through the doorway.

Axel stopped him with a soft sound, faintly audible above the constant low grind of the engines around them. Theo turned back, but the pilot was still avoiding his eyes. His hand was clenched around the wrist of his attachment, knuckles bone-white. “Hey, listen. I know I joke around a lot, but this shit is serious. This mission Park is on, it’s nothing to take lightly. People are gonna get hurt whichever way it goes. People already have. Just make sure you’re not one of them.”

Theo opened his mouth to respond, but Axel had already hit the panel to slide the door shut between them.

Thus, Theo found himself gaping at a cartoonish illustration of an ice cream cone with inexplicable cat ears.

*

By the time Theo made it back to the bridge, Jun was standing at his console, barking orders while multiple screens flashed information so quickly it made Theo dizzy just to watch.

“I want engines running at half power even after we dock. We’re getting off this rock the second bay doors are shut behind us. And, Marco, I need you to— What are you wearing?”

Jun turned to face Theo and froze, brows thundering down ominously even as his mouth hung open with surprise.

Marco’s voice rang out through the coms in the sudden quiet of the bridge. “I don’t—like, shorts? And a shirt? Why, Captain?”

Rubbing a hand over his face, Jun erased his shocked expression and replied, “No, not you, Marco. Go check our fuel supply, and see if you need to make a crystal run while we’re planetside.” His eyes narrowed at Theo as he made a sharp gesture to his body. “You. What is that?”

Theo glanced down at his new Outlier apparel, and then struck a pose to best display the outlandishly close-fitted trousers. Jun’s attention fell immediately to the exposed strip of skin just above the low-slung waistband. “I’m dressed to accompany you. Incognito. I appear just as any other Outlier, wouldn’t you agree?”

Boom remained focused on snapping metal cuffs onto her forearms that connected to the metal lines embedded in her hands. The click-buzz-click of each connection was hypnotically rhythmic. “Yeah, maybe. Until the second you open your mouth and a bouquet of roses falls out.”

It was impossible to tell if the statement had been meant as an insult or a compliment, so Theo chose to hear it as a compliment.

Life was better that way.

Jun continued to scowl in his direction, scanning over Theo’s entire outfit but repeatedly returning to the exposed sliver of hip on display. “Where did you get all that?”

Axel’s tapping at his console doubled in speed as he studied his screen as if his life depended on it. Jun’s scowl proved ineffective when it was aimed his way, so Jun turned it back to Theo. Theo tried not to think about what Axel had said about his new trousers attracting snarly gentlemen.

“You’re staying aboard,” Jun ordered. “I can’t have you walk around like that.”

It had been fun, at first, to make Jun frown and grouch about his outfit, but now, Theo was done. He wanted to taste fresh, uncirculated air. He planted his hands on his hips, ignoring the way Jun sucked in air through his teeth as his sweater rode up. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why not?”

Jun made a broad, sweeping gesture, indicating Theo from top to toe. He sounded a little strangled, voice strained. “You’re too pretty.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet, Captain!” Marco piped up from the coms.

Axel snickered and Boom rolled her eyes in response, the pair of them continuing to work at rapid speed at their consoles. Boom’s augmented fingers moved so quickly they blurred when Theo attempted to follow the motion.

Jun’s ears turned scarlet, to Theo’s delight, as he scrambled to save face in front of his sniggering crew, his tough facade crumbling away. “No, I mean. Yes, you are, but— It’s not safe. You’re not safe, like this. I need to focus on the job, and I can’t be distracted watching you.”

The new trousers made Theo hyperaware of the sway of his hips as he cocked them coquettishly and twirled a lock of hair around his finger. “You think I’m distracting, dressed like this, Jun? Apologies. Captain Park?”

Boom jostled Theo out of his pose as she squeezed between them to get to the other side of the console. She grumbled low, “I’ll take your apologies for, once again, subjecting me to the painful experience of witnessing Park attempt to flirt. It’s like watching him try to land a ship. Just pitiful and jarring.”

Jun snatched one of the small metal devices she held out in her hand, ears still glowing. “I’m not— Shut up, Valdez. I can land a ship just fine.”

Axel leaned heavily on a button that caused a harsh buzzing sound to fill the bridge for several seconds. “False.”

Marco shouted over the coms, “Most of a ship, yeah,” while something whirred in the background. “You leave the rest in pieces on the runway for me to pick up and tack back on later.”

Theo watched as Jun unfolded the device and held it tight against his skull behind his ear until there was a muted click. Then he let go, but the device remained attached to his head, softly glowing around the edges. “All of you. Shut up. Focus on the drop. There’s a reason they brought us out to the Wastes, and it wasn’t to shake our hands and buy us a beer.”

Grabbing his shoulder to turn him to the side, Theo peered up at the device behind his ear. “What’s that? Can I have one? It would be exceptionally diverting to use Restricted tech, I should imagine.”

Jun shrugged him off, but he leaned down to remove the device and hold it out on his palm. “Auto-coms. Keeps us connected to the ship, so we can, unfortunately, hear Axel while we’re planetside.”

Theo snatched it off his hand and held it behind his own ear, waiting for the click.

Nothing happened.

Jun took it back with surprising gentleness, running the back of his fingers down the curve of Theo’s ear as he moved away. “You can’t use them without a base. Ours are embedded behind the ears, see?”

He clicked it back in place and tilted his head for Theo to watch as he removed it again. Theo immediately shoved his fingers behind Jun’s ears to feel for the base, but only encountered skin. Except, there. There was a small raised circle of some hard material just beneath the surface, bumped up against the cartilage.

“We’ve just received a message from our contact, Captain.” Axel was all business as he cut in, harsh around the edges without his signature humor. “They’re demanding that we go in dark. Disconnected. No live augments. No pads. And…there might be a problem with communication.”

Jun went laser focused on his pilot, auto-com clenched in his fist while Boom gave a put-upon sigh at his side and started to remove her cuffs. The glow in her fingers faded once the cuffs had disconnected. “Explain,” Jun demanded.

Ruffling his hair, his face screwed up with confusion, Axel sent the message to the main screen. “See, there? Halfway through, the message switches to something I can’t read. It isn’t Standard or Patch. It’s not even Grunt. I’m a little rusty on that one, but I can usually make it out. I don’t know what the hell this is supposed to be. Code, maybe?”

The assembled crew all read over the message in tense, ringing silence, finally broken when Jun muttered darkly in Patch.

Boom gestured angrily at the screen. “Seriously, what in the rusted stars is that? Did you run it through a translator?”

Theo had never witnessed a person angrily chew a stick of gummy candy, but Axel managed it.

“No, Boom,” Axel drawled. “I just decided to show it to the captain without attempting to figure it out.” He gave her an insulted glance. “I sent it through three translators. Nothing. That’s why I’m thinking it’s a code.”

Theo read over the message thrice more just to be sure before he tossed his hat into the ring. “It is. Well, it is, and it isn’t. It’s a mix of six languages, five of which are no longer used in any capacity, including heirlooms. Most written records of them haven’t been digitized. One must consult physical copies of samples in the literature simply to be aware of them.”

The startled, assessing once-over Boom bestowed upon Theo after that revelation gave the impression she was completely rearranging her perception of him in real time. “You can read that shit, Dr. Campbell?”

Everyone at the bridge turned to Theo with varying degrees of surprise.

Jun appeared the least surprised. If anything, he seemed resolved. “Can you please translate for us?”

Theo suppressed a happy little wriggle at being deemed useful and continued in the professional, polished tone he usually reserved for lectures. “Certainly, Captain. The messenger seeks to convey that they will absolutely not be communicating in anything but these six languages for the remainder of your interactions and demand that you do the same. They believe that doing so will aid in keeping the exchange clandestine and undetected.”

Theo jumped a little when Marco’s voice sounded over the coms: “Sounds like they’re trying to keep it undetected by us, as well. Pretty hard to negotiate when they refuse to speak to you. Also, Captain, turns out I am gonna need to replenish crystal stores while we’re docked. I estimate about half an hour to get it done.”

Jun leaned on the console, his head hanging low between his shoulders while he took a deep breath. “Thank you, Marco.”

Boom reached over and grabbed the auto-com from Jun’s hand, blithely ignoring his irritated grunt. “Dark and disconnected means you can’t use your regular assortment of toys, Park. We’re gonna have to get creative.”

Jun flicked one of the metal lines embedded in her hands with a frown. “It also means you can’t go with me. I’m the only one on the ship without live augments. Sounds like I’m going in alone and unarmed. Fantastic.”

Theo grazed Jun’s boot with his own to gain his attention, striking a confident pose. “Not alone, Captain. I possess no augments whatsoever, and I believe you are in desperate need of a translator.”

Jun’s bark of denial was overshadowed by Boom pulling out a six-inch blade from a hidden holster inside her top.

“How good are you with knives, Dr. Campbell?”