Olivia squared her shoulders. “Well, I’ve watched him sleeping, too.”
Cara rolled her eyes. “That’s different. He’s in stasis. Anytime you go near his pod he looks like he’s out cold.” She glanced back to the camera. “If you don’t come right out and tell the girl that you have a thing for her, she’ll never catch on. She’s socially stunted in the male department, if you know what I mean.”
Olivia burst into a fit of giggles. “Right. Yeah. One of the greatest minds mankind has ever known has a thing for me. Okay. Sure. Why not? Can we stop with the teasing now and focus on the wakening? We still on schedule? Cameron is first in line, and then Oliver since he’s head of security. Then . . .”
Cara put her hand up. “We’re all set. And why wouldn’t Doctor Cameron have a thing for you? You’re brilliant too, Livia.”
“Would you please stop?” Olivia asked. “He’s friends with my brother, and older than Oli. He’s who fixed my arm when I fell off that racer when I was nine.”
“And he’s been locked at his same age for eleven years now, while you’ve grown into a young woman,” Cara reminded. “So stop using the age difference as an excuse. There is a gap, but not a huge one. He’s also part-Vanesier, so he ages at a slower rate than a human. Meaning, he may be thirty-five but he doesn’t look a day older than twenty-five.” Cara smirked. “Of course, there is the drawback of his sight. Without the ship’s interface or his special custom glasses he’s practically blind. I remember meeting him when we boarded, and he was standing there, next to your brother. His glasses gave him feedback problems that day and he had to take them off. His eyes – they’re silver. Freaky.”
Olivia’s temper flared. “His eyes are not freaky. How dare you say that? And because he has a neuro-
mechanical implant he can interface with nearly any technology, so seeing isn’t really an issue for him.
And he’s not blind. No, he doesn’t see like we do, but who is to say our way is better? Plus, he’s very capable of functioning without any technology to aid him. Oli told me once when I was younger that Cam would often shut off his implant and function without its help absolutely brilliantly.”
Cara smacked her lips. “You talked to your brother about the doctor when you were younger?”
“They’re best friends.”
“And Oli just offered this info up to you?” Cara gave a questioning look. “You didn’t ask him?”
Olivia blushed more. “I might have been worried about Cam once. His opti-spectrum glasses were damaged, and his backup pair hadn’t been calibrated yet, so they hurt him more than they helped. I could sense how much pain he was in with them on. I suggested he take them off, and he cocked his head and stared at me for the longest time. He took them off and then kept looking in my direction no matter where I moved, or how quietly I did so.”
“Hon, he was waiting for you to freak out about his eyes. It’s what most people do when they see them.”
Olivia tipped her head. “Freak out? Why? They’re gorgeous.”
Cara laughed.
Olivia groaned. “You know what I mean. They’re not freaky. I like them. And without his opti-spectrum glasses on he sees the way the Vanesier race does. He sees with his mind – he gets impressions, and his senses compensate, going into overdrive, helping him get a clear idea of what is happening around him.
Honestly, he probably sees more than we ever will.”
Cara crossed her arms under her chest. “You’re very defensive of your husband.”
“He’s not my . . .” Olivia groaned. “I’m done having this conversation with you.”
She looked up at the camera, wondering how much Cameron had overheard. He didn’t say anything, and she tilted her head to the side. “Cam?”
Still he didn’t answer. Something was wrong.
Cara glanced at her. “The wakening? Already?”
Two
Olivia rushed out of the bridge, down the corridor and then into the lift to the pod levels. She knew the way to his pod by heart. She punched the button for Level 4 and waited for what felt like forever for the lift to get there. When it finally did, she pounded on the sliding doors, wanting them to open faster.
Horrific thoughts of Cameron’s pod malfunctioning during his wakening flooded her mind and hit her hard. The tears came fast, and she did nothing to stop them. She ran full force towards his pod. She came to a grinding halt when she spotted Cameron’s pod hatch unopened and completely intact.
She eased up alongside it, letting her fingers skim over the hard, yet clear, shelled lid. The body inside lay perfectly motionless. Olivia pressed her palm to the lid, lining up with the side of Cameron’s scruffy jawline. He was incredibly handsome. There was no denying it. “Cam?”
The nearest mounted camera zoomed in on her. “I’m here,” Cameron said through the pod sector’s sound system. “Sounded like you and Cara could use some privacy.”
She stiffened. “How much did you hear?”
He was quiet for a fraction of a second. “Enough to know my eyes don’t bother you.”
Exhaling slowly, she nodded as the hollow pit in her stomach eased somewhat. “True. They don’t.”
“Livia,” he said. “My body is slowly starting the wakening process.”
She’d seen others undergo it. The process wasn’t always pretty to see. “I’ll give you privacy and activate one of the medical droids to oversee it.”
“No. Stay with me for a bit. Please.”
She reached under the pod and pulled out the sliding bench seat. All pods had one. They were used as bedside tables or seats for the use of the medical droids who oversaw the crew-members in stasis. She sat and kept her hand on the pod lid. Cameron looked so peaceful. Locked in a state of slumber, so close yet so very far away from her. She bowed her head, putting her forehead to the polycarbonate-blended lid.
She wanted to touch him. For too long she’d known only the feeling of cold unforgiving surfaces instead of the touch of the man she longed for.
“Do you know what I want to do the second I wake?” Cameron asked.
She kept her head against the lid. “Shower. Oli told me once that’s what most crew-members want after coming out of a long stasis sleep. Some throw up. A few of Quincy’s men did that.”
Cameron grunted. “When I get my hands on Quincy I’m going to rip him apart. His men, too.”
She looked to the camera. “You’ve done a fine enough job locking them in the brig for all these years. I can’t believe you overrode the codes so we couldn’t let anyone out.”
“Quincy and his faction of followers wanted all the females dead,” Cameron said, his voice hard. “Had things gone his way that is exactly what you and the other girls would be – dead. He and his men sabotaged your pods.”
“I know. This isn’t news to me.” She sighed. “After what happened on Ten, I can’t exactly fault his logic. The Omethus virus strain nearly wiped out all the women and children. And it opened the door to a war that cost us how many more lives?”
The overhead lighting flashed. A sure sign Cameron was upset. “Bloody stars, Livia. I don’t care what his reasoning was. He tried and nearly succeeded in ending the lives of all the females under the age of sixteen aboard this vessel.”
“Cam,” she said. “That was ten years ago. We’re not children anymore. We all managed to survive despite Quincy’s best efforts. I know you hate him. We’re not exactly fond of him either, but we don’t hold the same rage you do.”
“Livia.”
She took a long, deep breath. “Tell me what you want to do first thing upon waking. Let me guess: wring Quincy’s neck.”