Chapter 10

10

- Arelion -

Maeve looks at the projection of the sky around us. "There was only one option. They said the contact on Pranst Station was hyper reliable and I should hang around until they found me. As a last resort, if for some reason that didn't work, I should try to do reconnaissance and complete the mission on my own. But they gave me no particular location to go to, and I got the feeling they didn't believe in that option."

I nod, relieved that she might stay with me for longer. "So going to Gigori with us is as good a plan as any other?"

She shrugs her thin shoulders. "I think so. I can't go back to Pranst, and I need to think about what to do next."

I look at the furry robot. "And you? Any pressing electronic business on the other end of the galaxy?"

"Lots and lots," the robots yips. "But most of it can wait. I'll stick with Maeve for a while. She's fun. Things happen around her."

"I can't deny that," I mutter. "All right, Maeve. Want to explore this ship?"

She holds up an orange pack of some kind. " After we patch you up. You're dripping."

She's right. There's a small puddle of blood on the floor.

"It's the fashion right now. There's been a lot of dripping recently." I raise one eyebrow.

I think I see her face going a little flushed, so she probably gets the innuendo.

She clears her throat. "You want to sit down for this?"

I lean on a low console while she tends to my wounds, using her alien equipment. Her touch is light, but efficient.

I turn to help her reach the first injury. "You're fast with that stick."

"I practiced a lot before I went into space," she says, concentrating on her work. "They didn't want me to carry an actual gun, so they gave me that fake one that doubles as a stick. You said it's pretty fancy, and I believe you. Tell me if this hurts."

It does, but I'm determined to not whine from pain in front of Maeve. "I must do some research into Earth and its inhabitants. Perhaps you are right, and the reputation for being devious is unfair."

She places a sticky piece of thin material on one wound and moves on to the next. "We can be as devious as anyone if we have to," she says, "but it's not what defines us. I suppose the Bululg want us to look bad, so that nobody will come to our aid. I wonder, why is your blood red? You're very blue on the outside."

I look into her eyes, seeing a fine network of bright red. "What color is yours? Red, yes?"

"Sure." She puts a medical device deep into the fleshy hole left by a bullet.

I do my best to not wince. "Oxygen-breathing sentients usually have red blood, if I remember correctly. Not many Eoans are blue. Most are some shade of red. How is that on Earth? Do Earthlings come in different colors?"

"We do," Maeve says. "But blue is rare with us, too."

We talk about our planets until she leans away and checks her work. "That should do it. I don't know how deep those wounds are. There may be bullets stuck at the bottom of each hole."

I stand up and stretch. The spots she treated feel tight, but there's no unusual pain. "Perhaps. I'll get it checked out at some time. Thanks for knocking out that last one. I think he would have killed me."

Maeve looks down. "Oh, that was?—"

I put one finger under her chin and raise her face to me, then place a soft kiss on her lips. I enjoy her surprised intake of breath and how she immediately accepts and responds.

I slowly lean back.

"And thank you for treating these wounds." I lean in again.

This time she's ready, her soft lips receiving me. I move my hand to the back of her head to keep her close as I explore her with my tongue. Her scent fills my nose and makes me think of the jungle experiment.

I disengage before I can't control myself. "Now we should check if there are aliens still hiding in the ship. Bring your stick."

I lead her out of the control room, pretty sure the whole crew is now aboard our old trash hauler, furiously trying to get it to work.

"Such a strange layout," Maeve comments as we make our way along the hallway, looking into various rooms that branch out to the sides, as well as those in the ceiling and the floor. "I have no idea where in this ship we are."

I'm a little disoriented myself. "It's extremely alien. But you and I have had worse than this. I will never forget the gravity room."

"It was scary," Maeve agrees. "If you hadn't been able to fly, I don't think we would have survived."

Some of the rooms have obvious functions, while others are mysterious to me. Some reek of Fresk alien, some are plainly meant to hold captives, while most are as sterile and cold as the Bululg themselves.

We reach the end of the hallway. I've made a mental map of it, and it's actually a pretty effective way to have a single corridor lead through the whole ship without crossing its own path even once. Though why anyone would want that is beyond me. "No aliens left. But I spotted an interesting room back there."

We walk back to it. It's one of the few rooms in the ship that isn't bathed in a cold, blue light. Instead it's warm sunlight that appears channeled in through the floor. Red, carefully-tended plants are hanging from pedestals of various heights. They're all twisted and gnarly, looking like miniatures of big, upside-down trees. Boulders and rocks of all sizes are spread through the room, making it seem like we're outdoors. The air is thick with exotic perfumes, but very different from the jungle experiment. This is cleaner and more wholesome. Low benches are arranged under the pedestals, where the view of the plants is likely the best.

"This is nice," Maeve says, touching a branch. "I didn't expect it."

I walk slowly further into the room. It's been made to look bigger than it is. "Nor did I. I would not expect those nasty Bululg to have this kind of beauty in them."

"They didn't until recently," says a voice behind us. Bari, the little furry robot, has followed us inside. "When their homeworld was ruined for them, they tried to recreate famous spots inside their ships. It's a way to feel at home, I suppose. They still long for a planet that no longer exists. This is as close to a holy site as the Bululg will ever have."

Maeve runs her hands up along a twisted branch. "It's beautiful. It almost makes me feel bad for them."

"Don't," I scoff. "They're just feeling sorry for themselves, while at the same time they want every other species enslaved or dead. From what I'm slowly learning about them, the galaxy would be a better place without the Bululg."

She sends me a quick glance. "Do you miss your home?"

"Sometimes. Not so long from now, I will return there. Robot Bari, can any of these things be eaten? The plants?"

She glances up at the hanging branches. "Thank you for reminding me I'm a robot. You must think I keep forgetting. Yes, I'm sure all these things can be eaten. Whether or not you should eat them is a different question."

I sigh. Robots get on my nerves. "Should we?"

She tilts her pink little head. "I'm not sure why you're asking me these xenobotany questions."

I clench my jaw, holding back a scathing reply. Instead I let my eyes rest on Maeve's back, enjoying the grace of her moves. "Probably not worth the risk. I saw us passing several nutrifabricators. Bari, run to the control room and ask Cerak to bring us something nice. Drinks, too."

The robot stops wagging its tail. "It feels like there was something missing from that casual command."

I sigh. " Please go and ask Cerak, if it suits your schedule and if it's not beneath you, to bring us some food and drinks. Please. If you have no pressing xenobotanical business to attend to."

"There's no need to overdo it," the robot huffs and trots out of the room.

I close the door. "That will take them a while, I hope. Cerak is going to resent having that robot tell him to do something. Also, I assume Bululg nutrifabricators need reprogramming to make food that won't kill you and me."

Maeve comes towards me. "It would be annoying to be killed by food poisoning, after we've survived so many other dangers." She stops in front of me. "I was serious back there. Thank you for everything you've done for me. You said you'd only help me once, but now I've lost count of how many times you've saved my life."

I reach out and stroke a wisp of her exotic hair out of her face. "It's the kind of thing that shouldn't be counted at all. It's not a debt to be repaid. I'm just as happy as you are that we've been able to help each other. And I have a feeling we're not done."

She reaches up, takes my hand, and places it flat on her own cheek. "You're the strangest person I've ever met. Sometimes you're all gruff and dark, sometimes you only have eyes for yourself, and sometimes you're like this. And I find that I really like it."

"Interesting," I ponder, enjoying the feel of her smooth, warm cheek. "I find that I like you, too. You were ready to take the ultimate step back there. I've seen that look in the eyes of soldiers before. Did you think I was going to let them have you?"

She looks away. "I wasn't sure if you'd have much of a choice."

"And you weren't sure if I would sell you or not."

She flicks me a quick, tense glance. "I… I didn't actually know you that well, Arelion. And it would probably have been the smartest thing for you to do."

I gently grab her chin so she has to look up. "Next time, you can save yourself some worry and just assume that I won't let you down. Maybe we can even coordinate our efforts."

" Okay." Her face scrunches up in the most heartbreaking way, and I pull her to my chest. Her little shoulders shake for a while, and I just keep her close, hoping she won't mind the very active bulge in my pants that results from having her this close.

"Sorry," she sniffles. "It's just that I wasn't ready for someone to help me. I thought I was all on my own out here."

"I know what that can feel like," I tell her. "But sometimes we find friends in the strangest places. That's how I met Cerak, for instance. I tried to put a piece of trash into him, and he protested against it in strong terms. We discussed it for a while, and then we realized we were going the same way. He's been a helpful companion."

"That's nice."

"He's not really nice . But he's all right. My search for the archmagus became much more effective when Cerak joined. Oh, look!" I reach up to pick a seed pod off a nearby plant and hold it up. "Did you know the Bululg grow from these?"

Maeve wipes her red-rimmed eyes. "Really? I thought they were born in hives or something."

"That went out of fashion," I make up. "Now, all the Bululg choose this way to be hatched." I break the pod open. "Look, there are seeds. Each seed is one Bululg alien. If we plant them, soon small Bululg will sprout from the ground."

Maeve sniffles. "But we don't want more of them. They're mean."

"But if they're ours," I go on, "we can tell them to be nice."

"Perhaps we can send them out to the other Bululg," she suggests, "and then they can persuade all of them to be nice."

"Brilliant!" I beam, happy she's running with my absurd joke. "Let's start now." I pick a small seed out of the pod and hold it up between two fingers. "Hello in there, little Bululg! This is Arelion speaking. When you sprout from this seed, you'll be nice, all right? Don't go around selling people at auctions. And try to dress better, for void's sake. Those rags you want to wear are badly out of style. Your turn." I drop the little seed into Maeve's palm.

She gives me a little smile and gives it a stern look. "Be very nice and don't invade other planets. Also tell your buddies to give up the planets they've already invaded. And when you build spaceships, make them really comfortable for Earth girls. Put in some seats that are nice to use. Some couches. Some closets. It's the least you can do."

"Exactly! Well said, Maeve. And now…" I carelessly toss the whole pod over my shoulder, not looking where it lands. "There. Perfectly planted."

Maeve flicks the seed off her palm with one finger. It bounces off a rock and disappears into the distance. "It's important to be careful where you plant them."

"Oh, it's vital," I agree knowledgeably. "We do want our Bululg to grow up right. If not, they'd be no better than… Bululg, I suppose."

Maeve chuckles and puts a hand on my forearm. "Thanks for cheering me up."

I shrug. "I needed cheering up, myself."

She looks up at me thoughtfully. "Things didn't work out well with your mission, right? And you lost your really great spaceship."

"The mission is still going on," I tell her. "And I suppose it could be argued that this ship is more valuable than my old one."

Maeve slides her hand over to my stomach, slowly letting it drop further. "I never showed you the Earth custom I talked about."

My crotch swells immediately, and the breath catches in my throat. "You never did."

Her eyes have a mischievous look in them. "I think this is the time. Except it's not a custom at all. It's just something I really want to do." Her hand slides down to my pants and trace the edge.

"The customs that are not customs are the best ones," I breathe as heat of anticipation spreads through me. Should I do something?"

"Not right now." She cups my hardness outside the pants. "This does all we need. Actually, if you could…" She struggles with my pants.

I reach down and unsnap them, then let her pull them down. My manhood is released from its fabric prison and strains skywards, blue and feathered.

Maeve gasps, although she's seen it before. "It's so beautiful!"