Sleeping With the Enemy by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page A

chilled.”
        “We are on the dark side… now. The temperature is still difficult to regulate when we must compensate for the excessive heat of this world.”
        Sybil threw him a look of surprise even though she’d intended to hide her reactions to him by keeping her face averted. “The days here are almost a year long… Earth time.”
        “The facility is designed to move. We stay close to the dawn horizon and allow for brief periods of full exposure for the sake of morale, but when it begins to heat up we move into the darkness again.”
        Sybil digested that in silence. The suggestion that they found it depressing to always be in darkness was a clue about them. She wasn’t certain if he’d intentionally revealed it or not, but she found it oddly comforting to learn that they had something in common with the aliens after all. “It is depressing to be in the dark all the time. You begin to really miss the sunlight. I’ve been stationed at the moon base for a couple of months now.”
        He flicked an assessing glance at her. “The base receives hours of sunlight every day.”
        It was a leading question if she’d ever heard one, but it also made it clear that they knew exactly where the base was located-no huge surprise. “True, but it isn’t the same.”
        “As Earth?”
        “Or even Mars.”
        He grimaced. “Nothing is the same as home.”
        Was he suggesting he missed his home? Or asking if she did? As intriguing as it was to consider that, they arrived at their destination at that moment and she missed the opportunity to pursue it. She halted just inside the door, looking around the dimly lit room.
        “Shukala!”
        She glanced at him sharply when he spoke, but the room flooded with a harsh white light that explained what he’d said before she could ask. She could see at a glance that her suit wasn’t there, but she moved around the room anyway, partly to put some distance between herself and him and partly from agitation about the missing suit. “What would they’ve done with it?”
        His lips tightened. “Very likely they would’ve disposed of it in the disposal chute. I was afraid of that.”
        Sybil stared at him in disbelief, wondering if he’d deliberately misled her to get her alone for some reason. “But… you said they were droids! They wouldn’t have done anything without being told to! I don’t understand why they took my suit to start with!”
        His expression hardened at the accusing note in her voice. “They are autonomous. They would be useless if they weren’t.
        “They removed the suit to examine you. The transporters were not designed for humans but for us. We recalibrated it using our knowledge of humans, but you were unconscious. I thought it would be best for them to examine you.”
        Sybil stared at him as that sank in. “It was you… In the ship.”
        “Yes.”
        She didn’t know how she felt about that. “We aren’t that different,” she said a little doubtfully.
        He cocked one eyebrow at her. She had the feeling that he was surprised at the comment. “No. We are not, but we are not the same either.” He hesitated. “Its standard procedure to dispose of possible contaminates. Very likely that is what has become of the missing suit.”
        That was inarguable since it was standard practice for them, as well-except she’d been decontaminated before she’d gone aboard, damn it! If they knew so much, they should’ve known that, too! “You’re saying it’s been destroyed?”
        “Recycled-though not necessarily-not yet.” He seemed to debate with himself. “If it is that important to you, wait here, and I will go to the disposal unit and look for it.”
        Sybil followed him when he turned to leave. “Why can’t I go with you?”
        He halted and glanced at her. She could tell just from his hesitancy that he didn’t want to tell her or that, maybe, he was debating