Free Collateral Damage by K.S. Augustin Page B

just below his wide shoulders, before curving out and disappearing, to mark the limit of his body.
    She switched her attention to a corded neck, saw the Adam’s apple bob once, then smiled as an attractive face formed.
    He was so unlike what she had been expecting that she still couldn’t believe Waryd Gosin was a solitary-minded exo-geologist like herself. Maybe one of his dark brown eyes was a little larger than the other, and his nose was crooked but, those slight defects to one side, he wouldn’t have looked out of place as one of the new “Widow Companions” that was the talk of every gossip vid between Earth and Kepler-34d.
    His expression was blank until the rendering was complete, then he looked around. Catching sight of her in the lounger, he smiled crookedly.
    “Hi there.”
    “Hi yourself,” she said.
    “As I said, I didn’t mean to—”
    She waved away his objection. “It was my fault too. I always get a little…pedantic when stressed.”
    His eyebrows rose. “Stressed?” His faintly tinted face looked concerned. “What by? Is it anything you can share?”
    She wrinkled her nose. “It’s the build-up of a whole lot of things,” she said, after a short pause. “Will HQ like my reports? Am I getting the proper bonuses for all the analyses I’ve done? How is the family back on Earth?”
    The eighteen-month anniversary of Shad, the man I thought I’d be spending my life with, ending our relationship.
    I wonder, Meyal thought, if I wave a bunch of credits in Shad’s face when I get back to Earth, would he come running back?
    “I wouldn’t think you’d have to worry about the last point too much,” Waryd replied, breaking into her musings. “With you out here, a long crease ride away from home, the least XeGeTech can do is cover your family’s medical and basic living expenses.”
    “I know, but it still doesn’t stop me worrying. I mean, don’t you worry about
your
family?” She paused for a second and frowned. “Do you
have
any family on Earth?”
    He laughed. “Where else would they be? I’m not rich enough to buy us a ride to one of the new worlds. Why else do you think I took this job?”
    “Those bonuses we were promised during orientation had better pay off,” she muttered.
    “I have a sister,” Waryd said abruptly.
    “A sister?” Meyal’s eyes widened. His face showed traces of embarrassment, as if he hadn’t meant to blurt out the existence of a sibling.
    “You never mentioned a sister before,” she said slowly, wondering why he would try to hide something as innocuous as a family member.
    “If you recall, we’re usually too busy doing, other things.” His voice was dry.
    If Meyal’s skin was any lighter, she was sure Waryd would have seen her blush.
    “What does this sister of yours do?” she asked, clearing her throat as she tried to bring the conversation back on track. “And does she have a name?”
    “Her name’s…Callin. And she has got me into more trouble than a dozen shard-dealers rolled together.”
    Meyal laughed. “Let me guess. She’s your
younger
sister.”
    Waryd smiled and shook his head. The echoes of the movement sent faint blue ripples radiating from his body. “You have no idea.”
    Despite his words, however, Meyal picked up a firm note of pride in Waryd’s voice. “What does she do?”
    He snorted. “Whatever the hell she wants! At the moment…” he paused. “Nah, you don’t want to hear about boring family problems.” He straightened and looked her full in the face. “So, tell me more about this stress of yours. Things always appear more manageable if you talk about them.”
    Meyal didn’t want to talk about her problems, she wanted to talk about the mysterious Callin Gosin. There was something in Waryd’s voice, a wariness she hadn’t heard before. Did it have something to do with his sister? To her way of thinking, that seemed to be the least of his worries. They were both stuck orbiting Falcin V, a planet so far away