His breath went right into her mouth, all over the surface of her tongue and back down her throat. It tasted like cheap liquor and cavities full of rotten meat. She gasped, which just drew the burn deep into her lungs. Molly visualized puking all over his coveralls but couldn’t quite manage it.

She shoved on his chest, instead. “Get off!” she squeaked, bending back over the galley counter as he pushed forward. He easily weighed twice as much as she did. “Seriously—” Molly coughed. “Get off me!”

Scottie took a step back and chuckled to his friend by the workbench. “I just wanted a hug. Hell, last time I saw you, I could bounce you in my lap!”

“Look,” Molly said. She held her hands out in front of her and scanned the three males. “I don’t know where my dad is, so I can’t help you guys. I’m gonna have to ask you to leave, okay? I was getting ready to go into town, and I won’t be on-planet long, so I need to lock up and—”

“Lock up?” The Callite by the workbench waved a power shunt through the air. “But then we can’t leave!”

“Good point, Ryn.” Scottie studied Molly, grinning. “Be odd of you to lock us up inside here, wouldn’t it?”

“Inside? I—no, you guys need to get out! My father isn’t—”

“Here? Yeah, you said. Tell you what, we’ll just wait for him to get back.” Scottie walked aft through the cargo bay. “You go on to town and we’ll keep an eye on things here.” He poked his head into the engine room, then turned and smiled at the silent oaf in Edison’s chair. “Check it out, Urg.”

Molly moved to intervene as the large Callite rose and stomped across the cargo bay. It was as futile as trying to wave down a StarCarrier.

“Listen—” she said. But nobody was.

The large Callite disappeared into the engine room while Scottie moved aft, peering inside each crew quarter.

“Hey, you guys really can’t—”

Scottie slapped his hand by Molly’s door. “I call this one!” he told his friends. He looked at Molly. “Smells nice,” he added, bouncing his eyebrows suggestively.

Molly wanted a gun. Plasma, laser, mechanical, she didn’t care. She wasn’t sure if anything would stop the two big fellows, but she really wanted to try. She turned and looked at the security cam in the corner of the bay and saw it twitching to follow the action.

Molly frowned at the camera. She backed slowly toward the cockpit as the two Callites jostled with each other, both trying to squeeze into Cole’s room at once.

ѻѻѻѻ

The cockpit door shut itself as soon as she stepped inside. Molly locked it, pulled up the cargo cam, and the Wadi jumped from the back of the captain’s seat to her shoulders. She flicked on the radio.