Page 83 of Truthful Deceptions

I stumbled, then had to fight back tears. “I think that’s a great name.”

Cleo gave me a knowing look. “I miss him every day. ”

“Same,” I whispered.

We traveled in silence until Cleo spoke again.

“Lexarit and Narmuna were very concerned about me,” she said.

“We're all concerned about you,” I said. “Growing an entire human isn’t a small thing.”

“But we're related,” she pointed out. “They saw me and started talking about protecting me.”

“I told you Talins are crazy about humans,” I reminded her. “A pregnant human is probably even more important. Be prepared for a lot of insisting you eat and sleep. And they like to carry us around. They’re going to be very focused on you.”

“I’ll try not to distract everyone too much,” she said with a laugh.

“You think that's funny, but if we run into a random moon or comet, it'll be your fault,” I said.

We talked and teased each other until we got back to our quarters. I helped her out of the chair bot and into her favorite chair. I put the stool close and helped her put her feet up. Then I draped her in a blanket.

“Go!” she said when I worried about fixing her a snack before I left. “JJ and I will be fine by ourselves. Go take the stupid tests so the guys don't have to spend the night in a cell.”

“Love you,” I said, then rushed out the door.

The wellness manager knew why I was there before I even said anything. She led me to the small testing room, went through the instructions, then left me to answer questions for the next several hours.

Although I'd told Tolly this wasn't a big deal, I hated these tests. They asked the same questions over and over again but worded slightly differently each time. There were questions I had to read several times before answering because they were so complicated, with too many double negatives.

Was there such a thing as a triple or quadruple negative?

By the time I was done my neck was stiff, my eyes burned from not blinking enough, I had a mild headache, and my throat was sore from talking so much. Sitting back with a sigh, I slapped my hand down on the display to end the test with my biosignature.

It chewed on all my answers for a few minutes, then spat out the result.

Past trauma is not salient to the current situation. No new trauma detected.

Yes! That was the answer I'd always gotten. Relief made me slump.

The door opened and the wellness manager stood there. “It's good to know you haven't been mentally injured by your recent experience. I'll forward your results to Soul Eegruf. Once the fine is paid, they'll be released.”

I thanked her and left her office. I set off at a fast walk back home. As much as I wanted to go straight to the brig, I needed to get access to my accounts. Massoc had strict protocols about wealth transfer. You had to have the correct type of expensive information square or Ident to do a transfer. Mine was tucked safely in a hidden spot in the kitchen area at home.

Home? No, that wasn't right. It wasn't home any longer. Ever Secure was home. Now that Cleo was coming with us, I felt like I could finally be eager for the future instead of scared.

“I'm going to need to clean out our account to pay the fine for the crew,” I said as I walked into the cabin. “Don’t worry about it because—”

I came up short and stopped talking as the door shut behind me.

Narmuna and Lexarit were kneeling on either side of Cleo. Then Tolly rushed over to me and picked me up in his arms, purring loudly.

“How did you get here?” I asked, relaxing in his hold.

“We paid the fine and they released us,” he said. “I can only assume you passed whatever test they assigned you.”

Carrying me to the only other chair in the room, Tolly purred and rubbed his scent glands into my hair.

“I missed you,” he whispered, sitting down and settling me in his lap.