The Lereni Trade Read Online Free

shifted.
"What did I do?" It didn't work the way he had made it
work.
    He fixed it without comment, but she
dared not touch it again. Rather, she studied the stars and the
blue dot. "Where are we going?"
    Torik opened his mouth but closed it
upon looking up through the hologram, a grim expression on his
face.
    Krissa blinked and realized that two
of the others stood over the table, cold gazes on their
faces.
    "You can't tell her," the computer
translated from the steel voice of one.
    Torik faced them with unflappable
calm. "And if I don't, how will she trust us?"
    "It has only one purpose and doesn't
need to think!" The one who spoke slammed his hands on the
table.
    Krissa jumped into Torik and the armor
that reminded her he wasn't like her.
    "She does think, and she
feels…frightened." He peered down at her with a soft smile. "She
deserves to understand."
    "You would put us all in danger!"
Although the computer didn't inflect the words with anger, she
heard it in the alien's voice and cringed.
    She wasn't dangerous. What could she possibly do to
hurt them ? They were the ones who had taken her from
Earth.
    Krissa looked from the pair to Torik
and saw him as one of them and slid away. "What do you want with
me?"
    "Torik!"
    The voice barked from the direction of
the command deck.
    She cringed and tucked her knees to
her chin in defense. With nowhere to run, she could only hope to
protect herself. While she wanted to believe she had an ally, when
she saw them together, Torik was another threat.
    His cheek twitched and eyes closed,
and the real threat stomped across the floor to stand with the
other two.
    A furred hand slapped on the edge of
the table and the images hovering above disappeared.
    Krissa shrank from green eyes glaring
at her. She buried her face, afraid of the threat in Karik's body.
Her insides trembled and her eyes burned.
    No escape. She sniffed, wishing she
was home. At least she was mostly ignored there. Here, she had
three aliens ready to hurt her, and she was sure they
would.
    Not even when the attention shifted to
Torik did she relax.
    When Karik growled several words, no
translation came from the computer.
    Torik's answer was equally mysterious,
until his finger tapped a key on the table.
    "She must learn the
customs."
    Karik curled his lip back, exposing
sharp teeth. Narrowed eyes shifted from Torik to her. Krissa slid
away, afraid of what he might do but mostly sure that Torik would
protect her. She had no way to escape in that trap in
space.
    After a couple seconds, Karik slammed
his hands on the table, startling her. "You know the stakes!" He
stormed off in a huff.
    Though her eyes were blurred with
tears of fear, she swore the hair on his head stood on
end.
    The other two drifted away, leaving
only Torik.
    She choked on a sob and sniffed,
confused, alone, and scared more than ever.
    At a touch on her shoulder, she jerked
away. "Don't! Don't pretend to be my friend. I didn't ask to be
here. You forced me and won't even explain why."
    The tear-blurred shape backed away.
She inched to the farthest edge of the cushion and curled up on her
side to cry.
    "Why are you doing this? I wa…want to go home." And pretend
that this was all a bad, really bad, dream.
    The scrape of fabric and soft movement
opened her eyes again in curiosity to see the mostly dark shape on
the floor near her feet.
    "I'm sorry," the computer translated
the soft-spoken words that came from that dark shape. "I cannot
make this easier and you cannot return to Etras Three."
    "Earth. It's called…Earth!" She
snapped the words amid the choke of her tears and rolled over to
turn her back to him and all the rest of the ship and its
occupants. Torik might be nice, but he was still one of them. Maybe
she could at least pretend this wasn't happening, that she was back
in her dorm room ignoring her roommates being obnoxious.
    Or that she'd excused herself from a
party, preferring time alone to too many reminders that she didn't
fit in.
    That's