Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

He liked it.

It was short and sweet.

Like her…

Phek.

He had to put a rein around that thought and pull it back. He had no right to be allowing his mind to go down that road.

Farther into the ship, he could hear the rhythmic sound of the engines firing and he tried to focus on that instead.

Herza was probably heading to Port Six and it would take a few days to get there.

They had to get off this vessel long before then.

Port Six was where some of the worst scum of the universe harbored.

Laws didn’t exist there which made it a place where anything was possible.

Ka’Cit’s gaze moved back to the human.

It was warm enough in the nook now that he was happy he’d removed his mask but he could see the effect of the warmth on her.

Little balls of perspiration had gathered at the strangest spot, in the middle of her nose, and he felt the urge to reach forward and touch the tiny spots of moisture.

Unlike him, it seemed she was sensitive to temperature changes.

If he could understand what she said, he’d have asked her more about it.

He wasn’t great with conversation but he reckoned he wasn’t that bad at it. Surely.

That thought made him almost slap a hand against his forehead.

He was an idiot.

Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a small square device.

It was an archaic language recorder and translator. He only used it when he had to go to the outer reaches where his translator implant might not pick up the language of whatever poor soul he had to…question.

The device took a few hours to work though, and he’d need her to speak.

He turned the thing on, noting from the corner of his eye that Nee-ya was watching him, then slipped the device back into his pocket.

It was recording now.

Long ago, he’d “altered” the device to serve his own purpose.

Every word she said, the device would compile into a language file.

It would parse the interstream for information, both the public and private streams, and find whatever language she spoke.

If Riv and Sohut had the language file for her, no doubt the main file was hiding somewhere on the interstream. He was sure of it.

After his device worked, then he could update his implant with the information.

She fanned herself again and that reminded him that she was burning up.

It wasn’t dry heat either.