Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5.14

Did Kira just betray me?

The ribbon net wrapped itself around me like a snake. Kira stood in the silver hall next to Layla with her helmet off. She faced the ground.

Layla, however, didn't even reward her with as much as a glance in her direction. She advanced towards me.

In my current posture, with my arms glued to my torso and my hands stuck near my belt, I had no way of pushing myself into a standing position. I could, however, maybe get to my Gauss gun and fight back. I felt its grip in my palm.

Layla stood barely a foot away from me. Before I could pull out my gun, she ripped it out of my holster for me and threw it away.

"No offense, but you suck with a gun," she said.

How did she know about my embarrassing target practice in the VR? Or was it that obvious how much I sucked?

"Perhaps I should take that skull off so that you stop soiling your nappy," she said and removed her helmet.

After having gotten used to her scary purple armor, I finally got to see the human beneath the suit. Layla was a black young woman of the same height as Kira and me. She had a long face and high cheekbones with her hair tied into a bob. Overall, she looked far more groomed than Kira with no puffy eyes whatsoever. Like with Kira though, her enhanced irises glowed in unnatural covers. She let them twinkle in gold.

She reached out a hand. "Let's try it again, shall we? I even invited you to my ship. Maybe I won't almost kill you this time."

I struggled to get my hand out of one of the net's holes. Layla's resulting handshake threatened to break my wrist.

"Sorry if I'm rough," she said, "have to get used to dealing with people without our stones."

Once she let go of my hand, I balled it into a fist. I did so consciously and intentionally so that Layla could see.

Oblivious to my gesture, she called her cute robot over. It offered me another flower. This time, I couldn't identify the taxon. It was mauve, had a cup-like shape, and grass-like leaves.

"It's a crocus, you see?" she asked. "Type of flower that only grows in Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. I think I replicated it quite well. You should know, my singularity stone contains no data on Earth stuff, and printing a flower takes loooots of information. Since I couldn't get my hands on an actual crocus, I had to start with other flowers and then, with the help of a crewmate, describe the shape and color of a crocus blossom in a language it could understand. Can you imagine how much work this was?"

I shook my head in an exaggerated and stilted manner.

"Of course you can't. You didn't do it yourself. Well, when you drift through space through months and months, you need to occupy yourself, don't you?"

"I can imagine."

Kira followed our conversation intently.

Layla didn't seem like a bad person. She even saved us from Mothership when it almost killed us before we entered Eden. Though in this case, I can't tell if she did so because she wanted to or because of orders.

I considered asking why she needed Helix, but it was better to start smaller.

"What backstory do you have with Kira?" I asked.

"I don't know what got you in space," she began, "but I'll only say that much: Had she left the doctor alone, I'd still be on Earth. There was so much I still wanted to do and so many friends I had. I had parents I promised to get out of poverty, just like you."