Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
She touches my arm. “Cap see-tee?”
I sigh and rub my brows. Kef. She probably does think that’s my name now. Nothing to be done about it until I figure out what language she’s speaking and set my aural implants to the correct frequency. I gesture at my mouth. “Talk.”
“Spisak?” She gives me a curious look.
All right, maybe I need to try a different tactic. “Cap City,” I say again, and tap my chest, then I gesture at her. “You?”
Her smile broadens, and she’s so stunningly gorgeous that it takes my breath away and makes my blood quicken. There’s nothing coy about her smile; she just beams at me like she’s the happiest person in the world, and I love it. She begins to chatter, gesturing at her chest and letting out a stream of words that are so quick that I can’t follow them. If her name’s in there, I’ve lost it.
The language program starts to run, scanning through all the sounds she’s spitting out, and when I gesture for her to keep talking, she does. After a moment, the computer comes back with an answer.
88% match - Old Sakh.
Holy kef. Old Sakh? From the Old Sakh Empire? No one’s spoken that language in a thousand years. The Sakh Empire broke up and formed several coalitions of different planets, and my home world is one of them. Niri’s, too. Well, that explains why I can’t make heads or tails of what she’s saying. I tap a few commands into the computer, sending the language file to my aural implants, and wait for it to start up. It chimes a moment later, letting me know the sync is complete, and I gesture for her to talk again.
She hesitates. “I am not sure what you wish me to speak about. I have already told you about my people and my home, but it is useless. You do not hear my words.”
I can’t help but grin. “I hear them now.”
Her eyes go wide.
FARLI
He finally speaks words I know! I smother my gasp and reach for his grinning face, wanting to caress his mouth. “Say it again.”
“I know your language now. Kind of an obscure one, but I have it.” He reaches past me to peck at the strange table. “I’ll send it to Niri’s oh-rahl eem-plants, too, so she can talk with you.”
“Niri. Is that the female?”
He nods at me. “That’s her name. What’s yours?”
Oh, he wants to know my name. I squirm in my seat, filled with joy and a touch of arousal. He’s looking at me, so pleased, and it makes me feel all flushed inside…though that could be the temperature in their cave. It is uncomfortably hot in here. “I am called Farli.”
“Farli,” he repeats, and he says it strangely, clipping the sounds with his tongue. I do not even care; it sounds beautiful to my ears. “I like it. Pretty.”
I brim with happiness. “I like your name, too, Cap see-tee.”
He chuckles, and I feel as if he’s touching my teats just with that delicious laugh. “Cap City isn’t my name. That’s where I come from. I’m sorry if it was confusing to you.” He puts his hand on my knee, and I feel scorched from that small touch. “My full name is Bron Mardok Vendasi, but you can call me Mardok.”
Such a strange name. So long and fluid. I am fascinated by this. Fascinated by him. “How did you learn my language so fast? Did your cave tell you?” I look around. “I do not see a red beam to shoot into your eye.”
“Huh?”
“That is how we learned the human language. The Elders’ Cave spoke, and we told it to teach us to communicate with them, and it gave us words.” I tap my eye. “A red beam of light went right here and gave me language.”
He rubs his ear. “Translation must be off, because none of that made any sense to me.”
I am crushed. “I apologize.”
“Nothing to apologize for, Farli.” His thumb brushes over my knee, and I feel the liquid warmth sliding between my thighs. I am resonating so very hard right now, and it’s distracting me. “You can call me Cap City if you want.”
“I will call you by your name. Mardok.” I do not say it exactly as he does, but he smiles anyhow, and I feel better.
“What are you doing here, Farli? Near the ship?”
Ship? “Is that what your cave is? A ship?” I look around in wonder. So it is not a cave, after all. Ship. I mentally store the word to share with my chief and the others when I return to the tribe. “And I am hunting with Chahm-pee.” I bite my lip and look back at him, my tail flicking in agitation. “Will he be all right? I do not understand what happened.”