To my surprise, Hal hops up and hugs Elf. He wraps his arms around the man and starts jumping up and down.
“I knew you could do it!” He says. “I knew you could do it!”
Elf gingerly peels Hal away, the same way he would a little child.
“There’s a complication,” Elf says, looking from me and back to Hal. Hal nods.
“What is it? I can tell she’s a bit…worn…but that shouldn’t pose much of a problem on its own. She’s not the worst we’ve seen.”
I’m not sure if this is an insult or a compliment.
“The others have already been frozen,” Tank says, and Elf nods. He looks at me with sympathy.
“She’ll have to stay awake during the trip. There’s no more neila left to freeze her.” Elf sounds truly remorseful and I wonder exactly what’s going to happen to me on a ship full of super sexy men.
“How can there not be any left? Didn’t you know we might find another girl?” Hal’s voice rises a little, and his face starts to look a little red.
“We didn’t think we’d be able to.”
“And?” Hal seems like he’s waiting for something, and Elf sighs.
“And Dar asked if we’d use the rest to freeze him. You know how he gets bored on these trips.” Elf and Tank both look sympathetically at me once more, as if I’m going to somehow get bored on a spaceship.
As if.
“Is there a room for her?” Hal doesn’t seem fazed by this turn of events, but I am. I’ll be awake on this ship for four years. For four years, the other girls will be asleep, but I won’t.
I’ll be awake.
What the hell am I going to do on a spaceship?
Still, I suppose I can’t complain. They brought me here and saved me from certain death, so I need to be grateful. I’ll smile and nod and do whatever they say because if I do, I get to stay alive, and that’s the real goal, right?
“We have a room and rations,” Elf confirms. He lowers his voice and adds, “Keilla’s.”
“I’m sorry for you
r loss,” Hal says, but Elf just grunts. I wonder who Keilla was or who she was to Elf. My heart hurts a little as I wonder what pain he might be feeling. I still haven’t let my father’s death sink in and I’m basically running on autopilot at this point. At the implication of death, my heart threatens to crack a little bit more, but I suck down the pain.
When I’m alone, I can cry.
When I’m alone, I can mourn my father.
Elf turns back to me and places a large, heavy hand on my shoulder.
“Girl, you’ll be fine,” he says. “Listen to Hal. Do what he says. You’ll be fine.”
“Thank you,” I nod. I know he must have risked his neck for me in there with the captain, and I appreciate it. Spontaneously, I wrap my arms around him in a hug, and he tenses for a moment. Then he relaxes his body and hugs me back.
“Take care of yourself,” he says quietly, then he leaves.
“No hug for me, thanks,” Tank says with a smile. He nods at me, then follows Elf out of the room. When they’re gone, I turn back to Hal.
“What happens now?” I ask.
“Now?” He says. “Now I make you Taneyemm material.”
He grins, and I get the feeling that I’m not going to like how Hal prepares me for my new life.