Free Pact by Viola Grace Page A

sciences.”
    Mila flicked back and forth. “It doesn’t describe the nature of what the Lrrko do or are.”
    “They are compatible with you. That is the larger picture.”
    She laughed. “That leaves a whole lot open for the imagination. Silicone casts are compatible with my physiology.”
    Norz looked uncomfortable. “That is true, but the Lrrko men are not so different from the human body structure.”
    “Oh. Good. What about the women?”
    “There aren’t any.”
    Mila blinked. “Aren’t any.” She said it just to confirm it. “Aren’t any women?”
    “Well, there are the five located here on Earth. This is why you are so important. They know you are here now. They will come for you.”
    “If they have agreed to all my terms, there isn’t any need to threaten. I am going.”
    Norz’s shoulders slumped in relief. Mila grabbed her keys. “I will just lock up.”
    They left the rest stop together. She locked up, wrapped the keys in her apron and stuck them inside the hollow brick kept for such moments.
    She would have someone call Antonia in the morning. She had a feeling that the world would be behind her by then.
    Her heart pounded as they drove down the highway. Her pulse was rapid and her palms were sweaty.
    Norz turned to her. “You seem nervous.”
    “I am petrified.”
    “Why? They won’t hurt you.”
    “You are kidding, right? This is bizarre even for me. I swear if I had any pets or family, I would have laughed in your face.”
    “So, there is nothing to keep you here?”
    “If there was, I would have excused myself and gone out the escape hatch.”
    Norz paused before chuckling. “Escape hatch?”
    “Oh, sure. Antonia has been held up before. She tells folks she is going to the safe and she jumps into the floor. All of the night staff knows how to get away if they need to.”
    Norz blinked his huge black eyes in surprise. “You are adapting to my appearance with surprising ease.”
    She shrugged. “I have seen stranger.”
    Norz laughed, showing shark-like teeth. “Hold onto that thought.”
     
    She didn’t get her first medical exam until she was on a small base on the moon. Mila kept looking out the window at the expanse of Earth rotating below.
    “Miss, please look into the device so we can check your ocular acuity.” The scaly doctor hissed slightly as it spoke, but otherwise, it was completely comprehensible.
    She obliged and asked, “Is there a chance for me to get some common languages before I go into that tank?”
    “I don’t see why not. Let me get the flash.”
    The doctor returned with a small, flat tablet. “Hold it out in front of you, and press the icon in the centre.”
    Mila followed the directions and stared into the light that burned and cascaded into her consciousness.
    The doctor pulled on the tablet, but she kept staring and it kept flashing at her.
    Images, data, languages and tactics flooded her mind. She was drawn to the details of the faces of the alien races. Mila absorbed the micro expressions that gave away the telltale signs of the other species’ expressions.
    She fought to hang onto the tablet, but two techs and the doctor pried it from her grasp.
    Light danced in front of her eyes, but her mind was full of new information. Studies were her life. She loved to read and absorb knowledge, but she had never had the money for school. First, there was paying her parents’ debts and medical expenses, and then, there was her own attempt to keep her head above water. By the time she was able to look around, she was over thirty and had nothing to show for it. There didn’t seem to be any sense in pursuing a career after that. She settled into the simple life and used her ability to read folks to serve the guys at the truck stop during the quiet nights. She stopped fights, gave advice and generally mothered the hell out of them.
    She covered her eyes with her hand and enjoyed the new data.
    “You have had a lot of surgery, Miss.”
    She lifted her hand