The Space Spoon novel Chapter 57

Tejeda opened his eyes to gaze upon Shayla’s back. Her black hair sprawled all over the place. And soon, he found the reason he awoke. A grunting came from her direction at a steady interval. He prodded her in the ribs to stop her snoring.

He grinned as he realized his efforts had had no effect. In an instant, his hand found its way to her lovely hair, and he began caressing it mindlessly. He had been feeling a little groggy since the last body shift. Too much alcohol combined with the Zondarian DNA.

“Why are you doing that? Does she have something stuck in her hair?”

C1313’s voice startled him, and he jumped on his feet, forgetting about the cave’s low ceiling and his mighty horns. A loud thud followed his robust head ornaments protruding the hardened sand above him.

His shoulders dropped, and his back hunched. His reaction could have been to stop messing with their shelter or because of the awkward situation. Who knows? He flicked his head to dust the fine golden sand from his mane.

Phosphorescent teal eyes awaited. C1313 was still waiting for a response to her question.

Hanga poked up a sleepy head as he leaned on his elbows, a grin stretching from ear to ear. “What’s with all this noise?”

“What’s with that simper?” Tejeda asked, trying to divert the unwanted attention from him.

C1313 tilted her head. “Hanga, I think I saw something moving on your back.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I had one of my droids massaging my dorsal muscles. It feels so good.”

“That’s a totally unethical use of the repair droids.” C1313 seemed extremely upset as she raised her tone. She pointed toward Tejeda. “I can see him doing something like this.” Her gaze returned to Hanga. “Not you.”

Tejeda’s mouth formed a pensive frown. “I feel like I should be offended.” He scratched his brow and then shook his head. “But I’m not.”

"They can serve multiple functions." Hanga shook his head. "I mean, look at you. You used to be a chauffeur, and now you're a cook."

Contempt lit up C1313’s glare. She turned around and went outside without adding anything.

Tejeda rubbed his eyes. “Oh, man, I had completely forgotten how bad you are with women.” He shrugged. “Well, I guess what’s a crew without disagreements.”

After a big yawn, Hanga got up and placed the droid in the backpack. “I don’t understand what I did wrong.”

"You were a dickhead." Shayla stood up and began packing. Then she handed out their ration packs and zipped up the food supply bag. "You labeled her as an engineer who classified a robot: according to its capabilities." She slung a knapsack over her head. "It's nearly nighttime; let's go."

Tejeda smiled. With all this commotion, no one was the wiser as to why he was caressing Shayla’s hair as she slept. His smile faded away. As he thought about it more carefully, the answer also eluded him. Not wanting to ponder over trivial matters, he started packing as well.

“Watch where you’re going, boy!” Shayla shrilled.

“Yes, mam.” He remained on the ground, his eyes sparkling.

“Shouldn’t you be whining? You took quite the blow.” This time a hint of pity sprinkled her tone.

“You’re a lucky lad.” Tejeda chuckled. “I would take the pain from a blow like that any day.”

Shayla crossed her arms over her chest and shot Tejeda with her green eyes.

“Me too. It’s worth it just to be in the presence of such a goddess.” The boy looked up and saw Tejeda. His gaze changed from love-struck to fear. “I-I’m sorry. I-I’ll be leaving now.”

“Hey,” Tejeda said. The boy froze. “Do you know where I can find a chieftain around here?”

The boy pointed toward the leftmost stall, whined, and vanished into the morass of people hurrying towards their shelters before daybreak.