Colonization Read Online Free PDF Page B

apart around me as I realized how much he’d been a part of it. Now I’d lost him. He was gone.
    Nova’s words came back to me then in a thousand knives slicing open my heart. Expects her grandpapa to just waste a high position on her. She was right. My grandpapa would help me somehow manipulate the system to make it all right again. I hated asking him for a favor, but this was the one exception where I’d do anything.
    Smearing my hand across my sniffling nose, I straightened up with new determination. Nova didn’t deserve Sirius. I didn’t care if they all thought I was spoiled; all I cared about was getting Sirius back. If it meant using my connections, then so be it. I stumbled over to the next hailing booth and punched in my grandpapa’s frequency, waiting for him to answer.
    Long moments passed and I wondered if he was busy with the operations of the ship to protect the lives of the entire crew, which was more important to everyone than my lifemate dilemma. A wave of guilt rose, but I pushed it back down as I stood waiting for his answer. His ghostly face stared at me, wires shooting from his flaky skin.
    “Are we there yet?” I crinkled up my nose at my question. Why did I always say stupid things when I got nervous?
    My grandpapa smiled faintly, humoring me. “Almost, Andromeda. I can see it on the horizon.”
    At least he wasn’t confusing me with Great-grandma Tiff. He looked much more awake since our time in the emergency room. His calm composure gave me courage. “Do you have a moment to talk?”
    “Of course. I always have time for you.”
    Relief poured through me. Maybe all I had to do was explain the situation to him and he’d set things right. “Good, because I have a favor to ask.”
    My grandpapa smiled bigger, his wrinkles creasing up in folds in his upper cheeks. “Anything you want, my dear. Come to the control deck and we’ll work something out.”
     

 
    Chapter Five
    Plea
     
    Bolting from the hailing station, I ran right into the one person on the entire ship I wanted to avoid.
    “Corvus.”
    He stared at me with concern shining in his blue eyes. He wore his uniform tightly around his chest and the muscles protruded underneath. Other girls would giggle and blush, but he reminded me of an over-stuffed hero toy. “Andromeda, are you okay?”
    “No. I mean, yes.” I couldn’t look at him. My eyes roamed everywhere else: a dent in the chrome wall, the metal grating underneath our feet. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder, the same place Sirius had just a few days ago at the funeral. The gesture angered me. That was Sirius’s spot.
    I glared at him, and he blinked and removed his hand, scratching his short blond hair. Sirius’s hair fell in beautiful waves across his forehead, tempting me to run my fingers through it, whereas Corvus chose the military buzz-cut. Simplicity appealed to him, and it irked me because so many shady areas lurked in my thoughts.
    “You just look so…worried. Why are you running down the hall?”
    I fumbled, trying to think what to tell him. The truth would be cruel. In all honesty, I ran from my pairing with him. “I have to talk to my grandpapa.”
    “Oh. Sorry to hold you up.” He bowed his head down and stepped aside, leaving the hallway open for my passage through.
    I didn’t move. We paused, two statues frozen in awkward positions, and I studied him. Did he know about the assignments? If so, he gave no inkling. I wanted to snatch him up and lock him in a utility room until I sorted the assignments out.
    But he was much bigger than me. I bet I could trick him into staying away from a screen. For all of his brute strength, he wasn’t much of a thinker. That would take extra time, though, and I really wanted to get the assignments sorted out before he got his hopes up.
    He looked so earnestly sorry about holding me up I decided to give him a few extra words. “That’s all right.”
    I moved past him, but his voice held me still.