Free The Betwixt Book One by Odette C. Bell Page A

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reflected and distorted by my sorrow. He had said word-for-word
what Od had told the Hantari. That was the thing about Crags – they
didn't always speak in staccato, caveman English. They could form
grammatically accurate sentences when they wanted to. Why they
chose to speak the way they did, I didn't know. But it was obvious
Crag'tal was trying to make a point.
    ‘ Crag'tal only knows of one creature – Twixts.’
    I shivered.
    ‘ Crag'tal doesn't want to know why you bought the guns. Your
business. But Crag'tal wishes you happy hunting.’
    With that, he turned away and walked off through the crowd,
his lumbering mass clearly visible towering over the heads of most
of the other people and aliens.
    Happy hunting . . . 
    I turned to Od who was nodding at the retreating form of
Crag'tal, face obviously appreciative. ‘There are few we can trust,
Mini—’
    But Crag'tal seemed to be one of them, I finished off his
sentence in my head.
    ‘ We must now go back to your quarters to plan,’ Od turned and
disappeared into the crowd, like only a two-foot creature
could.
    I just stood there for a moment, not bothering to wipe the
tears from my eyes as they trickled down my cheeks.
    When I looked up, the crowd had thinned a little and a
familiar looking face was staring at me from across the room.
Commander Jason Cole. He appeared to be talking to a security
detachment, but was ignoring the person he spoke to, and glancing
over their shoulder towards me. His brow was sunk with confusion,
mouth pressed into a commiserating smile. And it wasn't just one
side of his mouth, it was both.
    I smiled, beside myself. One of those sad smiles where your
chin dimples in and only the tiniest corners of your lips
rise.
    My life was changing – distorting before my eyes into the
strangest, most incomprehensible of shapes. I was changing too –
fighting Twixts, making friends with Crags, and buying expensive
guns. But at least I could still remember how to
smile . . . .
     
     

Chapter 5
    This was the worst, most anxious shift of my life. I couldn't
believe that I had actually bothered to show up for work. But I
had. Od had insisted on it.
    ‘ We can't go after the Twixt on the GAM cruiser yet,’ he'd said
over breakfast, which had been another sustenance bar. ‘Not until
your guns arrive. But you must not be idle. Your position at
Marty's Space Diner, it is the perfect work for you this morning.
You can listen carefully to the conversations around you – glean
information on our foe from the GAMs and station crew.’
    I could do that walking the decks too – there was nothing
special about the diner. Well . . . Marty always
said that food made people talk. And in a way, he was right. The
diner would concentrate all sorts together, and soon enough they
would always start chatting about the latest gossip while throwing
down their Space Blasters and Eluvian Ales.
    So I kept my ears out as I mindlessly entered
orders.
    ‘ Closed down a deck? Are you serious? Why did they go and do
that?’ A station engineer asked a cargo crewman as he twisted his
drink in his hand. ‘If it's core trouble, then they've got to get
in there and stabilize her before she's lost.’
    ‘ They can't get in there,’ the cargo crewman leaned forward,
eyes darting from side to side in classic conspiratorial style.
‘Something is in there – it has already killed.’
    ‘ Can't get in?’ the engineer was apparently incredulous, but I
could see his eyes widen with interest. ‘Don't they know where the
doors are?’
    ‘ They think it's some kind of infestation, maybe Clouds – don't
know where they would have picked them up though.’
    Clouds, despite the friendly name, where a hive creature made
up of billions of tiny, floating cells. They were infamous for
infesting engine cores and feeding off the energy. If there were
enough of them, they could destroy a ship. And the cargo crewman
was right, it could just be Clouds. But no GAM ship would