Free Broken Episode One by Odette C. Bell Page B

suddenly
explained as he shifted beside her and angled his head down to
watch the show.
    She was no longer holding onto his arm, even though
she still rather wanted to.
    “The pumps on either side of the drill head have
sophisticated matter filters, and can separate the different
elements coming in. They then fuse them together into easily
transportable blocks and spit them out.”
    “How do you know so much about salvaging?”
    Josh stiffened. He didn’t answer.
    Realizing she’d crossed a line, she didn’t push.
Instead she turned back to the show.
    She watched as the various drills burst out of the
sand, attacking the downed ship in a coordinated fashion. It was
mesmerizing, and she was almost sorry when the show stopped.
    No,
scratch that – she was sorry
when the show stopped, because now she had to squeeze inside a tiny
drill vessel with Josh and a massive alien.
    Soon enough the alien parked his drill back on top
of the dune and pushed open the hatch at the front. “All done,
humans. Get in.”
    Mimi made a face. Josh hissed at her not to be rude,
then waved her forward.
    Somehow Josh managed to leap up the distance between
the top of the sand dune and the hatch, pulling himself into the
small vehicle and arranging himself until he somehow looked
comfortable.
    Mimi really didn’t want to get in there.
    “Hurry up,” Josh snapped at her.
    “But what about Klutzo, I don’t think he can fit
in?”
    “Program him to fly behind us. Now hurry up!”
    With a squeak, she moved. In an uncoordinated
manner, she somehow managed to pull her body into the tiny, cramped
cockpit, practically rolling over the alien until she reached one
of the walls. She was lodged there, sandwiched between the metal,
the alien's back, and Josh’s side.
    She could only just breathe; her face was so
smooshed into the wall, her nose was crumpled.
    “Comfortable?” The alien asked.
    “Ah, what am I sitting on?” Mimi tried to shift, but
there was nowhere to move to.
    “My arm,” Josh announced as he tried to push her
off. Eventually he managed to slide his arm out from underneath
her, and stuck it behind the back of her neck instead. There was
literally nowhere else to put it apart from back under her
butt.
    She took a breath and tried to pretend this wasn’t
as uncomfortable as it very much was. She also tried to ignore the
reassuring feel of Josh so close.
    Without another word, the alien turned his salvage
vessel back on, and a series of terrible tremors passed through the
cockpit. With her face squeezed up against the wall, she felt each
shake rattle through her jaw.
    Then the drill shifted direction and slammed back
into the sand.
    Mimi would have been thrown forward, but there was
literally nowhere to go.
    “So, what brings you two out to this neck of the
woods? Honeymoon?” The alien asked conversationally.
    “Who would honeymoon on Omacka?” Josh questioned
with a chuckle.
    “Ah, we are not married,” Mimi jumped in.
    She swore Josh shifted his head around to look at
her.
    She couldn’t look up to check, but she could feel
his arm move behind her.
    “What, really? So when’s the happy date?” The alien
continued. “Because, you know, we have some real cheap celebrants
in town. There’s even an ex cargo captain who’ll marry you for a
bottle of space whiskey.”
    “We are not getting married,” Mimi squeaked.
    “Oh. Fair enough. It’s not for everyone. De facto
relationships are just as rewarding,” the alien chuckled.
    “What?
No, we aren’t —” Mimi
began.
    “What my girlfriend here is trying to say is that
we’re very anti marriage. We view it as nothing more than property
exchange,” Josh cut in.
    “I hear you, I hear you,” the salvager agreed.
    Mimi found the space to turn and stare at Josh.
“What are you doing?” She mouthed.
    Despite the cramped quarters, he somehow still
managed to look aloof. “Trust me,” he mouthed back.
    She did not want to trust him, but when she opened
her mouth