The Human Pet: A Sci-Fi Romance

Part 41

It's when I am floating on my back with her that her brow furrows and it sounds like her heart stutters, skipping beats.

"Tarak?"

"Yes, Kayla?"

"Tarak! I need you."

I am staring straight at her, but it is as if she does not see me. Her eyes are wild, darting in every direction.

I kiss the top of her head, and I hug her tighter. "I'm with you, Kayla, I'm holding you."

Eventually, her eyes close, and she falls asleep in my arms.

A few hours later, when we are in bed, she reawakens, and we restart the entire process. Her heart races. She seems confused and disoriented and calls to me as if I'm not even in the room with her. I clench her hand, and after lots of reassurance, she gets quiet and falls asleep again.

Every few hours the entire process repeats. She reawakens, acting lost and confused. I do what I can to soothe her. I hold her. Call her name. Even though I know what to expect, why does my heart break each time it happens?

***

After two solar days, she opens her eyes in the pool, but this time she stays silent.

I tilt her so that she can see my face. "Kayla?"

She smiles at me. Finally, my star shines. I carry her from the pool and feed her a few berries. She doesn't eat much, but the fact that she gazes trustingly at me the entire time calms me.

My Kayla is returning. When she refuses any more berries, even though it is midday, I wrap her up in a blanket and hold her in my lap.

"Sorry... I'm so sorry, Tarak," she says, her voice raspy and strained.

"Do not be sorry, Kayla," I say, and kiss the top of her head, forehead, and cheek.

We are so close I see her pretty freckles. She surges forward and presses her lips into mine, boldly pushing her tongue inside my mouth. I can taste the lingering sweetness from the berries and the back of my throat tingles. She's all right and with time, we both will be.

When we break apart, she blurts, "No, I need you to know. I did something. Me getting hurt is all my fault."

I hug her tight. "You did nothing wrong. Rigel was neglectful and forgot to watch you, I was not smart enough to understand the alert from the wall unit and failed to find you, but thanks to the glowy butterflies–"

"No, I want you to know. It's my fault," she says, clapping and activating my wall unit.

I kiss her nose. "Mimicking. It's so cute how you do that."

"What?! I'm not mimicking. Watch," she says, grabbing my chin and turning my head to face the wall unit. "Computer, show the program trackers."

So many symbols fly across my wall unit. I do not understand any of them, but she tells me that these are programs to track the movement of bandages and sutures on Hydra.

"I even had the program send you alerts," she says, gazing at me. "Do you understand now?"

I look between her and the wall unit. "You found the glitch? This wall unit misbehaves sometimes."

"Glitch?"

"The wall unit does things by itself. Like it ordered berries by itself and now it sends me alerts, although we are lucky the wall unit did that. We might not have found you without the last one... I'm proud of you for figuring all of this out, Kayla."

She huffs. "Tarak, I made programs to track medical supplies, not the computer. That's why I wanted that operation so that there would be a way to track me."