2. Chapter 2

Grihul

Time with family flew by; time on the spaceship on my own can fly by too.

The dashboard beeps as I get closer and closer to the destination. I open my eyes, rubbing my temple. There's a mild headache buzzing. I'm not waking up at the right time of the sleep cycle. Anyway, I tap the button on the armrest to lift the chair so I'm at the right height for driving again.

I stretch my arms and my legs. Sitting too long is bad for my health, but I'm sleeping in a chair, so maybe that's fine.

The spaceship is getting close to the destination planet. The misty atmosphere of that planet is ahead. It is white, so thickly laid over the planet that I can't see through it. Hopefully, it's not a boring planet.

I check the system, making sure everything on the spaceship is fine.

There's another beep. "System check-up completed. Ready for landing?"

I hate the boring machine sound. Maybe the company should install a system that will allow custom voice selection, then I can have something else instead of a cold, robotic voice.

I tap the button for the spaceship to speed up, which will make cutting through the atmosphere easier. I take a sip of my water as the spaceship does its own thing. Unless something happens, it runs on its own.

Sometimes, I wonder why the company doesn't use robots to deliver everything, but then I... wouldn't have a job. We should stick to this.

I scroll on my phone, only to see photos of Father and Mother with even more food. From the clock, it looks to be dinner time over there.

Out in space, other than checking a clock, there's no indication of the passage of time. It is always dark with stars.

Misty white wraps around the spaceship as if the clouds swallowed me. I sit back and check the seatbelts again. It is boring...

I sniff in the air, but there's no scent of food to be missed. Maybe I should eat before starting the landing process, but it is too late to change a thing.

The clouds slowly clear out as the spaceship descends. The tall buildings show up in clusters. Just another city.

Worse, the city is buried in a snowstorm... It's not bad enough that I can't be flying, but it is a storm for sure.

One would think I'd escaped from stupid snow after flying the distance from my home planet, but this...

Fine... I won't be here for long.

I toggle on the screen to double-check the destination. It is another warehouse with numbers and letters that I won't remember past a minute of delivery.

"Hello, I'm the incoming cargo." I read out the number of my cargo and leave a voice message for the warehouse so they will be ready to take care of my spaceship.

Now, there is plenty of time to wriggle my fingers and do nothing.

I press the button to stop at a guiding light, waiting to be merged into traffic. On this planet, they use glass tubes to indicate roads, seemingly making me an animal in a cage.

My spaceship slides into the tube, following other ships. I hold the controller, finally needing to focus to get the job done. My spaceship has cargo and is bigger than most of the ships that are meant for use on a planet. If I'm not careful, I may bump into others. One hit will cancel out everything I will earn from this trip and more.

A spaceship zooms past the lane to my side. That's fucking stupid. Are they in a hurry to die?

Inside the city, traffic is bad. I'm a bit too used to my weeks in the space where I can drive as quickly as I want and go in whatever direction I want. There isn't another spaceship around me, which gives me a lot more personal space than...

There are sirens. I tap a button for the backend camera. There's a spaceship with a blinking red light behind me. I suppose I should move my spaceship to give room, but I'm stuck here with spaceships all around me. I can't move without bumping into others. The side where the potential criminal sped through should be fine, but the police ship isn't heading there.

There are a few smaller spaceships breaking out of the big police ship. Two head to chase the spaceship that zoomed past my side, and one... heads to me...

A blinking green light goes off on my dashboard. I sigh and press the button to allow for communication.

The system beeps. There are a few crackling noises from the speakers before—

"What the fuck did you do?" That's a female, and she sounds pissed.

I clear my throat and take a sip of water to get myself to talk. But before I can open my mouth, her voice comes again.

"How dare you pretend to be dead? Stop your spaceship and open the door."

I have the worst luck ever.

"Fine." I tap the button for the door to open. This is such a crazy female...

It doesn't take long before there are stomping noises coming down the corridor towards me. I turn around to face the corridor, waiting for the crazy police to show up.

"If I were you, I'd be honest. Your hands on your head." She grunts as she gets closer and closer.

It sounds like she is alone... I guess she isn't that smart. But she is lucky. I'm not a bad being. I just want to be done with this so I can collect my money and take a break before flying back.

The door to the corridor slides open, and there comes a laser gun pointing at me. "I said your hands... Well... You have quite a few hands there, huh?"

I sneer at that. "I'm a kot'oll, so Ihave four hands. What's the problem?"

"No, nothing." She is a human with blonde hair. I wonder what gives her that much courage to be shouting at me when I'm more than a size bigger than her. This one looks to be more athletic than Winnie, but compared to me... Even the dumbest kot'oll can win over a decently trained human. Not to mention... Does she think that her laser gun is that strong? I have two guns too, and I can fire them all at the same time.

She eyes me up and down. "You're arrested now."

I lift my brows. "What did I do?"

"You should give way to the police ship."

"That's impossible without running into other ships. There's a path to the side you could have used."

She scuffs as if I'm dumb or something. "Your ass is in the way of the shortcut, so we can't catch that bank robber."

Oh... I thought all three lanes headed in the same direction.

She gets even closer. "Stand up. Keep your hands on your head. All the hands."

I roll my eyes. I'm not here to fight her or anything, but she sure is annoying. I take a step to the side. "Like this?"

She takes a step back when it is clear that I'm taller and stronger, so much so that she's not going to intimidate me anymore, if even a bit, by getting closer. "Stop acting as if you don't know the path. You blocked our path and if we don't catch the robber, it's all your fault."

"Not fair. I don't know the roads."

"Ha, as if you come from another planet, huh?"

"I do."

She lifts her brows at me. "So, do you have your papers? What are you here for?"

"I drive a cargo ship, which you're on."

She smirks. "Cargo ship, huh? Now, you're held for customs examination."

What the fuck did she say? "That's out of bounds."

She lifts a finger, swaying it from side to side. I don't understand that. Maybe it is a human gesture. But coming from her, I know that can't be a friendly gesture. "Except it is within my responsibility to check whether you're with the robbers."

"How am I with the robbers all of a sudden?" One minute, she accused me of blocking the path, now she's imagining something else...

She taps the button on her earbuds. "I need reinforcement. This is a foreign cargo ship that awaits inspection."

Fuck my life... Fuck this stupid fucking human female...