Someone touched her lips. “Open, babe.” Ford.
She tried, but they felt like they’d been glued together. And shoving her tongue out between her jaws to loosen them hurt like hell.
He chuckled, but her agony wouldn’t let her smack him.
A wet, cool finger touched her lips. Finally, she could get them pried apart with her tongue, which felt like it was coated with rancid polar bear fur.
Not that she knew what rancid polar bear fur tasted like, but she imagined it was something along these lines.
A straw appeared and when she managed to suck some water through it, it felt like heaven. She took a few swallows and moaned in protest when the straw disappeared.
“Hold on.” Something else touched her lips. Then the taste of mint and medicine filled her mouth. “Swallow.”
She did, barely. The straw immediately reappeared and she drank.
When the straw disappeared again, a moment later she felt the sting of a hypo in her upper arm.
Blissfully, the thumping of her pulse in her ears disappeared. And her head started to feel better. Not perfect, but good enough she could roll onto her back and force one eye open.
Ford stood next to the bed, a wry smile on his face. Behind him on the desk, she saw the bar fight kit lying open, with items on the table.
“Good morning, babe.”
She closed her eye again.
He laughed, but since she was already starting to feel more normal, she didn’t begrudge it.
“What the hell did you drink anyway?”
She carefully licked her lips. “Martian Muumuus,” she croaked.
“Oooh. Those things’ll fuck you up royally. They go down easy but last a long time, with a helluva delayed kick. How many did you have?”
She couldn’t remember exactly. She held up two fingers, added a third. Then after thinking about it, added a fourth. Most of the previous day was a blur. She remembered some achingly hot sex, and then…
Her blood ran cold at the memory of meeting the F’ahrkay in Dobros’ office. Okay, shove that thought into the background or it’ll make me puke.
He laughed. “Yeah. That’ll do it. Aar and Caph are out getting breakfast. They’re going to bring us back something. You ready for another dose?”
“Of what?”
“My own special concoction. Mint, sugar, lemon, garlic, ginger, and a few other things thrown in. Helps settle the stomach enough that the other stuff I shot you up with won’t make you puke.”
“And what was that?”
“Enough diproxin sodium to take care of a Caph-sized hangover. Although the big guy’s usually smart enough not to have four M-squareds at one time.” He helped her sit up and let her sip another shot of his minty concoction from a small oral syringe, followed by another few swallows of water.
Already, her stomach felt settled and solid, and the headache began melting away.
“You need to drink a lot of water today, babe. And no more booze. You need to flush that shit out of your system before you pile anything on top of it. Seriously, you would have been better off drinking a gallon of bourbon straight from a bottle than those M-squareds.”
“I’m getting the picture.” She took the cup of ice water from him and held it so she could sip some more.
“No, you’re not. You might be a doctor, but I’m an experienced drinker. Those things will boomerang on you in a few hours if you don’t keep up the fluids. They make those things with Castian rum. That shit will fuck you up ten ways to Sunday. This is just a temporary fix to mask the symptoms so you can function and not want to vaporize your own brain in your skull to get rid of the hangover.” He frowned. “I’m surprised Caph let you drink that much.”
“He wasn’t there for most of it.”
“Oh. Wow. You did get started early.”
She put her feet on the floor. Ford steadied her while she walked into the bathroom, then gave her a few minutes of privacy until he heard the toilet flush. He started the shower and helped her in, stepping in with her to take care of her before lathering himself.
“We’re back,” Aaron called from the room.
“Thanks,” Ford called back.
Emi winced from where she had her forehead pressed against the cool tile wall. “Shhh,” she said.
“Ah, see? It’s already trying to rebound on you. Let’s get you out of here and get some more fluids and stuff into you.”
An hour later, she’d managed to eat and hold down pancakes and scrambled eggs, and did feel better. Her three men sat there watching her eat.
She felt their concern and it both warmed her heart and annoyed the piss out of her. “You don’t have to sit there staring at me.”
“We’re not staring,” Aaron assured her. “We’re waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you to fess up,” Caph said.
She stared at the remnants of her breakfast. “Okay, I can’t help what my empath senses say. I’m not happy about him being assigned to our boat. I won’t be happy about anything but him leaving for the duration of his stay. Yes, it’s childish and unprofessional, but there you have it. I will find a way to suck it up and deal with it. Happy?”
Aaron leaned in and kissed her. “All I’m asking is you do your best. And that’s the last time we’ll mention it while we’re here. Okay?”
She let out a relieved breath. “Okay. And thank you.” She looked up at Ford. “Especially thank you.”
“Why?”
“For keeping my internal organs from galloping off without me this morning.”
He smiled. “Babe, we have so much to teach you about proper drinking techniques.”
Chapter Seven
Their third morning at the resort, Emi awoke before her men and wished she could petition for another three days of R&R. They’d have to check out in a little over eight hours and return to the Bight to begin their mission.
But she knew trying to forestall the inevitable would be a futile effort and only make life harder on Aaron and the twins. They felt guilty enough about her discomfort, and that made her feel guilty.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was just a fluke, and when I meet him again, I’ll feel fine.
She didn’t believe it for a second, but it was something she held tightly in her mind to soothe her nerves.
She also realized she was obligated to give the F’ahrkay an exam, as per DSMC orders, because he was a new crew member. And set his chip to their frequency.
The thought of having to be on board the same vessel with him, much less touch him, turned her stomach.
She’d beg Ford to help her. Hell, he’s a medic, he can do the exam for me while I sit at my desk and pretended to supervise. How unhealthy could the guy be if he just got off another ship?
She carefully climbed out of bed without waking her men, pulled on a robe, and went to the terminal at the desk. There she accessed DSMC records and looked up F’ahrkay physiology.
The humanoid species was different than Terran humans, but not drastically so. They could eat a lot of the same foods and breathe the same air as humans. They had iron-based blood that acted nearly identically the same way human blood did to deliver oxygen throughout the body.
Their reproductive systems were the largest physiological difference. While some F’ahrkays were born female, most were born male. It didn’t matter, however, because for reproduction, they were basically asexual. It was a type of parthenogenesis, only with a male instead of a female. The males fertilized their own eggs, which were then deposited into a partner, male or female, for incubation. However, before the eggs could detach and be deposited, DNA from the partner was merged with the eggs, making them viable and allowing them to detach.