Page 35 of Truthful Deceptions

The others sounded rumbles of amusement. “We know,” Narmuna said.

“Otherwise we wouldn’t find you sleeping in the hallway so often,” Lexarit said.

“I don’t fall asleep that often,” I objected, feeling both annoyed by their amusement but also relieved. I hadn’t lost them.

“If she’s interested, you should start teaching her your job,” Narmuna said after the amused rumbles faded.

“What?” I said. “Why?”

“Because she’ll want to be useful,” Narmuna said. “It’s obvious she’s used to working. We’ll make sure she never overworks herself, but she won’t be content if we don’t let her be a real part of the crew.”

“You’re right,” I said. “I’ll start doing that.”

“She’s such a fast learner,” Mieshorum said. “I thought she might want to learn about the inter-shell instead. She’s so tiny it would be easier to ask her to take a look at an issue instead of trying to get a bot to do it.”

They all let out frustrated rumbles. The ship was mostly perfect, but the one recurring issue they had was in the inner-shell section, and trying to fix it with bots was always laborious and took longer than if one of them could fit in there.

“You’re brilliant,” I said.

“I know,” Mieshorum said.

“Before I begin the process, I want to verify that we’re all in agreement,” Narmuna said. “We’re going to redistribute the ownership of our ship with Opal. Each of us will now control twenty percent.”

No one hesitated. We all sounded rumbles of agreement.

“I’ll try to have all the documentation done and recorded by the time we get to the next station,” he said. “We don’t tell her until it's all done.”

Another round of rumbles of agreement came from all of us.

“After she accepts our offer, we should include her in the discussion we have on which contracts to take next,” I said.

“Of course,” Lexarit said. “She’ll want to be part of all the business decisions.”

Tension I hadn't realized I’d been holding relaxed. I pulled in a deep breath of air and regarded my friends. “The ancestors have blessed me in so many ways.”

“All of us,” Narmuna said.

“Me more than the rest of you,” I said. “I can’t thank the three of you enough for letting me be this happy.”

Narmuna sounded a rumble of agreement. “I don’t know how, but I’m sure Opal is going to bring us much more good fortune.”

Chapter 12

Tolreum

Despite my best efforts, I slipped into a light sleep while sitting in the hall outside Opal’s cabin. I woke up with a start to find Opal crouching in front of me, a concerned expression on her face.

“Tolly, are you okay?”

Purring, I sat up. “I’m sorry. What do you need, Opal?”

She tilted her head, then took one of my hands in both of hers. “If I give you your cabin back, will you sleep in a bunk? I’m much smaller than you. I can take the spare cabin. It won’t be a problem.”

I sounded a loud negative rattle. “It would be a problem. Your nest wouldn’t fit in the other cabin. At least not without reducing it. That’s unacceptable.”

She bit her lip, then tugged at my hand. “I’m not happy with you sleeping in the hall.”

I got to my feet. “I’m sorry. I’ll do better. I won’t drift off again.”