Even now, she was requesting approval to touch him. He couldn’t get his eyes to focus, and he reached out with a forelimb. When she made contact, some of the knives left his brain, leaving him awash in tremors.

He felt too unsteady to walk on his own, so she supported him down a narrow corridor into the main part of the shuttle. She didn’t ask awkward questions at least, for he had no answers. Disjointed information was still swirling in his mind like water in a flood-swollen river, and he needed time to parse what he’d seen. Dazed, he took in the shuttle interior and realized it was similar to the one where he’d served as Zylar’s on-board AI.

A strange Barathi emerged from the cockpit, his colors vivid blue and green, swirled in attractive patterns. Zylar would have envied his physical appeal.

This one must be our pilot.

The Barathi offered a traditional greeting, but Helix lacked the energy to respond in kind, although he knew well how to be polite. He hated the fact that Qalu performed the greeting instead, then added the embellishment of Tiralan courtesy by inclining her body and fluttering her head tendrils. He recalled too well how good they felt sliding against his own.

“I am Qalu,” she said. “This is Helix. Thank you for extracting us.”

“This is what we do. I’m Praxys. Let’s skip the rest of the pleasantries until I get us off the ground. It wasn’t easy evading ship and satellite detection.”

“You must be an incredibly skilled pilot,” Qalu observed.

Her admiring tone recalled the sharp, awful feeling at the museum. Helix’s insides were full of fire, and he wanted to unleash violence on their rescuer, and that made no logical sense at all. In all honesty, he had no idea what these impulses required.

“Thanks. What’s wrong with Helix?”

“We didn’t have enough supplies. I think he’s weak from carrying our packs without sufficient energy and nutrition.”

“Understood. We’ll talk more once we’re out of Tiralan space.”

As Praxys went back the way he’d come, Qalu peered into Helix’s face, seeming worried. “Do you still feel dizzy? I think I have half a nutrition cube. Let me—”

“That’s not it,” he cut in.

Truthfully, hunger had him feeling hollow, but not to the point that he would stagger and require physical assistance.

“What then?”

“I remembered something.”

“Helix, that’s wonderful.”

He wasn’t so sure. What he’d seen answered no questions and only offered a whole host of new problems. “Qalu… I think I hacked Gravas Station.”

Her pleased expression faded into concern. “That…would explain why you have a bounty hunter on your trail. Do you have any idea why you did that?”