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Glitch
Crashland Colony Romance Series
Famous last words....
I made a promise to myself never to forget what the alien Prytheen stole from me. When one of them tells me that we're fated mates, it doesn’t change anything. Nothing could make me change my mind! Not the fact he gets along with Glitch, my holographic cat. Not the fact that he has a killer body and a smoldering gaze that leaves me short of breath. I won’t let my guard down.
Karnac is an alien pirate. Unfortunately, he is also the second part of the technical staff at the Crashland Colony broadcast station. I patch the human stuff, he takes care of the Prytheen tech. My promise to keep everything professional between us goes south when Glitch spots disaster heading straight for the colony.
It is amazing how a life or death situation can change your perspective. Maybe having a crude, arrogant, domineering Prytheen pirate of my own wouldn’t be such a bad idea?
1 Molly
The silence of the maintenance bay made it a fine retreat from the other inhabitants of Vid Station One — a grand title for Crashland’s only vidstation, but then the boss had a flair for the dramatic. I had one of the camera drones open, parts arranged around it as I swapped out a motor.
These moments were what I lived for, being able to lose myself in my work and forget where I was. Forget about the crash that stranded us here, the alien pirates who’d forced us down. Pirates who somehow were our allies now. I let all that fade into the background and got on with making the world a little bit better, one repaired gadget at a time.
There. The new motor fixed in place, I started reassembling the rest of the drone. With the hard part over, my focus relaxed, and I paid more attention to the world around me. As soon as I did, I realized I wasn’t alone. Putting down my tools with exaggerated care, I turned to see my boss hovering over me.
“How’s the camera, Molly?” Allison asked by way of saying hello. How very like her, all smiles when in front of the cameras but not willing to waste her interpersonal skills when she wasn’t. “We’ll need it first thing, Harmon is doing another dramatic reading of his poetry.”
Well, of fucking course. Allison’s ‘secret’ boyfriend got whatever he needed as soon as he wanted, and we all had to pretend not to know about the relationship. Or the last one, or the one before that…
“Should be up and ready for the morning recordings, Allison,” I told her. The actual figure was half an hour at most, but I’d learned you never go wrong giving the boss a too-long estimate.
Especially when that boss is Allison Greene. She was one of my least favorite humans on the planet, and there she stood, grinning at me with a smile that didn’t reach her bright blue eyes. Long blonde hair which she somehow kept neat and tidy no matter the circumstances, way too much pink, and a perky smile that distracted every man she pointed it at. Today she wore a matching pale pink jacket and skirt, pink pumps, and pink lipstick and nail polish. On her shoulder rode Tulla, her pink tarantula companion.
Allison’s cold eyes made her look like some wicked witch out of a fairy tale. I could believe that, but she was also the only person here who knew anything about vid broadcasting. Her old position in front of the camera wasn’t ideal, but at least she’d seen how a station operated. That was enough to put her in charge of Vidstation One. Someone had to decide on the programing schedule, decide who’d take which show, and Allison got the job.
Never mind that her experience was presenting a weather show back on Earth. Not the best place to learn the ins and outs of management, but she had more experience than anyone else at the Joint Colony.
Which meant I ought to talk to her about the other problem.
“While you’re here, boss, I’ve got something new to report. The ghost’s visited again.”
She didn’t laugh, which was a small mercy. I saw the tug at her lips, the sparkle in her eyes, the careful moderation of her breath. When she spoke, though, no sign of her doubts came across in her words. “The ghost, eh? What’s it taken this time?”
“Not much, I think. The worst is a spool of number five cabling. That’s the shared signal and power cable we use for the transceivers.”
Allison didn’t swear. Somehow her silence made it clear that she didn’t swear. It was worse than having her shout obscenities at the top of her voice.
“How much do we have left?” she asked, smile back in place. “I take it we can use the system as it is?”
“Should be able to; all the transceiver connections look fine. The proof’ll be when you try to call the Wandering Star. But that’s the last of the cable — until we get more, if any of it fails, I won’t be able to fix it.”
Which would be a serious issue. The Wandering Star was the colony ship that brought us here, crashed in the hills below. Now it served as the seat of government for the Joint Colony, and the idea of being isolated from it made my skin crawl.
“I’ll add another couple of reels to the resupply list first thing tomorrow,” Allison said. Her companion AI rubbed its forelegs together, making a note.
“Couldn’t you put it on tomorrow’s shuttle? I’d feel more comfortable if we had it sooner, just in case,” I said, not wanting to argue but finding it hard to let this go. “If any of the cabling fails, it will cut us off from the colony.”
Allison looked at me, raising an eyebrow. “But the big antenna will still work, right? We’ll be able to call for help over that. I don’t want to disturb someone’s sleep to get that cable put onboard before dawn tomorrow — it’s just not that urgent. Now, is there anything else missing? I’ll add it all tomorrow.”
There wasn’t much point in arguing — it was her decision. At least we’d only be out of it for a month. Taking a breath, I tapped my wrist communicator to call up my companion AI, Glitch. He popped into existence, a small black cat with eyes made of static. A paw reached out for me, then flickered back to repeat the motion three times.
This time Allison didn’t hide her laugh. “You know you can get that replaced any time you like, right? Just contact the colony and ask, they’ve got plenty. I’ll stick it in the order for you if you like?”
I did know that, and she knew I did too. Hardly a day passed without someone taking the time to remind me — I could throw my holoprojector into the recycler, pick up a new one from stores, and boot up a new companion, one without Glitch’s, well, glitches.
“I think he’s charming,” I said, scratching Glitch behind the ear. Allison shrugged.
“It’s your companion,” she replied, a slightly more honest smile crossing her face. Was it better that she showed her honest opinion when she mocked me? I sighed. Some questions didn’t have answers.