Star Side

Chapter 50

Stellar date (Earth Time): 08-23-2914

Preview: nobody died.

I scrambled around like a paraplegic on the floor between my futon and Gilrack trying to somehow press his head off in order to stop the bleeding from his neck until Naomi came, looking harried and flustered with her first-aid kit.

I asked if she had seen Levi, which she had, but since a bite on the back and a bruised ego was a mite less life-threatening than a gash in the neck, she was seeing to Gilrack first.

I told her about what happened, using an 'instinct seizure' as the stand to excuse. I wasn't quite ready to introduce her to the eggs or the fact that I hadn't been in the right state of mind when Gilrack had asked. It only took her a minute to announce that Gilrack wasn't as close to death as I thought. The plasma gun Levi had used cauterized the wound as it shot. The reason the cauterization didn't work on Gilrack's neck was because the blood pressure was especially high there, not to mention there was a lot of said blood, so the cauterizing affect was overwhelmed. Gilrack had passed out from the sudden blood loss from his brain. Once she sealed off the wound, maybe even before that, he should come to. Not that he would be happy. Plasma gun shots were a whole different world of pain, and he had a straight through hole in his shoulder.

"He needs to leave," said Naomi. "For his own sake. Now what the hell happened to you?"

I flinched. "Pardon?"

Thankfully, enough of Gilrack's blood dyed my pajamas to cover up the blood that was leaking between my legs.

"When I came in you were sliding around like a seal," she said flatly.

"O-oh, that doesn't sound flattering."

"Jolene."

I would much rather go back to my 'nest' and curl around my eggs. I was already worrying that they weren't warm enough, and I didn't want Naomi to be around when I stripped off my pajamas and crawled into bed naked because I couldn't make the trip to my quarters where my change of clothes were.

So of course Levi had to come back in then, looking paler.

"Why are you helping him?" he growled. "I could be dying right now from his venom."

"The venom from his mouth won't kill you," I said.

Both Naomi and Levi looked at me.

"It's like a saying he taught me," I said. "'Take from the mouth, death from the tail,' something like that."

"I already figured that," said Naomi dryly.

"How could you figure that?" Levi almost squeaked.

"Jo's been bit before."

"What?! And neither of you thought—what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Well of course we're not going to tell you," I snapped. "You'd go ham on him like you just did."

"HE BIT YOU!!"

"And he meant no harm by it, it's just a form of communication among them. He is an alien, it's going to be different from us." said Naomi.

I just stopped myself from giving her a thumbs up. Nice save.

"He sure as hell wasn't communicating when he chomped into my back," he snarled.

"His hands were busy," I said, glancing at all the spilled food on the floor.

"And his tail would have killed you, as we've just mentioned," said Naomi.