7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A new city to explore.

I raced out of the palace. I understood his need for me to pass on or whatever—it was his job after all. Despite that, it annoyed me that the reason he brought me to meet Seth was for information, not because he was nice or some shit.

But it didn’t matter.

He couldn’t make me leave. I had to make sure Seth was alright, maybe hang out with Wyn more, and explore Tamkolvanloknol. It was a pretty planet, and it was new. How was I supposed to leave when there were things I hadn’t seen yet?

Pushing Zoltilvoxfyn out of my mind, I wandered the grounds, all the while searching for Wyn’s bright pink hair. He was around here somewhere. If anyone else was going to figure out I was hanging around, it would be him. Then I wouldn’t have to talk to Zoltilvoxfyn. The problem—I didn’t see him as I headed toward the sprawling city in the distance.

Whatever. I had all the time in the world.

The city was a mass of glass and metal spires that looked luxurious and ethereal. Plants were everywhere from flowers and trees, to bushes lining the copious amounts of balconies, terraces, and numerous parks. Not all of the parks were on the ground either; I spotted ones on terraces connecting buildings. Drakcol flew through the air in a multitude of colors, scales winking in the bright sunlight. They could be any color, unlike humans, from Wyn’s lavender to Monty’s forest green. All of the drakcol were tall with muscular frames (hello gym rats).

I wove through the mostly empty, but surprisingly clean stone streets, making a map in my head. I did catch sight of a few other aliens, some I recognized, like the tree-esque sidlis with bark-like skin and green hair full of glass beads walking beside a drakcol woman. Others I didn’t, like the squat alien that was purple in color and covered in spines.

Aliens came in all shapes and sizes from towering over me to reaching my knee. Some were humanoid in their appearance; others resembled reptilians or jellyfish. All were fascinating with their own cultures and languages and with the different things that made them tick.

Every so often, I saw drakcol on the ground. When I was on the station orbiting Tamkolvanloknol and on the Admiral Ven, no drakcol flew—a restriction probably due to the cramped spaces—but here, everyone flew, landing on balconies and slipping into open arched doorways.

A hulking green form with bristle black hair appeared in my vision. They carried several bags, displaying their muscular tattooed arms; a wide grin pulled on their thick lips, exposing the two tusks that curled over their top lip.

“Urgg,” I called, even though they couldn’t hear me. I came to their side, having to jog every couple of steps to keep up. Urgg was a barbarus that was mated to Captain Talvax who’d led the expedition to Earth. They were also friends as well as a mentor to Seth. “How are you?”

They didn’t respond. If I’d been alive, I would’ve felt a stab in my gut, maybe a quickening of my pulse or something, but I didn’t. Oh, I still had emotions, like right now it hurt that Urgg couldn’t hear me, but there was no physical correspondence. No body, and all that. My emotions were fully functioning, though muted. It sucked ass.

I fell silent and followed Urgg through the city, examining the stone streets and the tall buildings covered in open windows with balconies. The street view was rather boring with a few plants and wide tree trunks (though one tree trunk was blood-red with black veins; if I hadn’t been with Urgg, I would’ve studied it).

There were doors for people who didn’t fly to enter what I assumed were shops and apartment complexes, but they were plain and unadorned. The windows held nothing interesting, but I saw glimpses of the shops displaying items for sale higher up, clearly catering to the drakcol populace.

What I didn’t see anywhere were billboards, like displays or advertising. No shop had outward signage besides small screens near the entryways displaying their names (I thought. I couldn’t read Drakconese). There were nooks with flowering vines and ferns that had blank screens in them. When a drakcol alighted on the landing, they activated and scrolled through what appeared to be a list. It was difficult to ascertain exactly what was happening from where I was on the ground, but I was pretty sure it was a directory terminal.

So no advertising, but plenty of directories or maps were placed around. Though I didn’t spy any on the street level, which sucked for the grounded populace.

With Seth mated to Kalvoxrencol, I wondered if that would change? Would the shops try to appeal to the wingless patrons? It would probably depend on how much shopping Seth did, which was probably going to be minimal. I couldn’t picture him spending much time wandering around the city.

Urgg’s destination was a building with arches and planters overflowing with bright orange flowers resembling lilacs, but they grew straight out of the ground like asparagus. Unlike many other buildings, this one had elaborate double doors framed by white pillars with thorny blue vines coiling around them.

Urgg stepped inside, then immediately moved to the side because a busk, who was exiting, grunted at them. The alien was over seven feet, maybe even eight feet tall. They had dark brown fur covering their corded muscles, and pink spines ran down the length of the spine to the tip of their tail. The busk’s arms were so long that their hands dragged on the ground.

After the busk left, Urgg stepped inside. A staircase and a tunnel went straight up into the ceiling for the drakcol to fly up to other levels. A sidlis came down the stairs, acknowledging Urgg with an arrogant nod, wispy clothes floating around their lean body. Urgg said something, and the sidlis replied in their flowy, lyrical language. I wasn’t fluent in Leyasian by a long shot, but the sidlis was giving Urgg a traditional greeting.

Metal doors with glowing blue labels on the upper right corner lined the hallway. More aliens exited and entered the doors, most non-drakcol. When another alien exited, I peeked inside and paused at the living room setup.

It was an apartment building. Talvax and Urgg must live here. Captain Talvax had to be on shore leave, waiting for the Admiral Ven’s repairs and updates. That meant she and Urgg would be in the capital for a while. Seth probably liked that.

I followed Urgg until they reached a door on the seventh floor. Man, I was glad I didn’t feel my legs anymore or they would be burning. The drakcol needed to invest in elevators or escalators. Yes, they flew so it was unnecessary for most of them, though they had elevators on the spaceship and station (probably because drakcol couldn’t fly on board), but it would be nice for everyone else. Besides, there had to be drakcol who couldn’t fly due to age or injury.

I slid in through the door when Urgg went inside. The apartment was spacious with a massive terrace spreading all along the back wall, which was actually one long window. Talvax was sprawled on a backless couch, wings spread. Her bright orange hair was mussed and standing up straight. She lay on her stomach, reading something on her glass tablet.

Urgg planted a sloppy kiss on her head, and Talvax’s brown scaled tail swiped at their backside. Urgg said something, and I listened intently. I hadn’t learned whatever language they spoke, because there had been only a handful of barbarus on the Admiral Ven.

Talvax dropped her screen and placed a kiss on Urgg’s wide palm. “Thank you, Mate.”

They said something else before scooping Talvax into their arms. She wrapped her arms and legs around Urgg before capturing their lips with hers.

“Whelp,” I said, wheeling around. “That’s my cue to get the fuck out of here. You kids have fun.” I bolted out of the apartment, trying to ignore the groans that were coming from behind me. I headed down the stairs, though I could throw myself down the shaft in the center. The fall wouldn’t injure me. It’s not like I could die again.

A drakcol flew up the square shaft, their deep green wings spread wide. They grabbed the railing covered in flowering vines on the floor above me and swung over, vanishing from sight. The drakcol were so graceful, and I was supremely jealous.

Many of the apartments had potted trees and flowers in front of them. The ceiling was coated in creeping green plants with bright pink flowers. The drakcol had to not get allergies, because from the amount of plants everywhere, the pollen must be killer.

A door suddenly opened, and a harried woman, with steel gray scales that had pink and gold accents, rushed out. Her long green hair was pulled back into a messy braid, showing off her tapered ears lined with gold studs.

She ran down the stairs. “I’m late.”

With nothing else to do, I followed her. Where was she going, and why was she giving me white rabbit vibes? I had no idea, but I chased her, intrigued, as I thought over and over again, I’m late. I’m late .

The woman was over six feet, sporting a broad frame and thick muscles. Her green eyes stayed focused ahead of her as she dashed down the street. She wore plain black pants and a tunic that had a patch on her shoulder. I couldn’t read Drakconese, despite my best efforts, though I assumed it was maybe her name or a company logo.

It was oddly human, seeing a patch denoting what business I assumed she worked for. I’d seen other species that did something similar because why would humans alone have something like that? Still, the patch, for whatever reason, felt so human, like Tamkolvanloknol wasn’t so different from Earth.

A shadow crossed over the street, and I instinctively ducked. A drakcol flew over us, leaving a sinister shadow on the ground. Okay, so maybe it was somewhat different here.

My shoulders hunched as I chased her. Whenever a drakcol flew above me, I flinched, unable to shed that prey feeling. One of them could swoop out of the sky and pick me up like they were a hawk and I was a squirrel. Not that any drakcol had a reason to, or that they could, you know, see or touch me.

The drakcol woman I was stalking darted between buildings and broke through the tight alley to a wide port in the middle of a ring of buildings, surrounded by huge trees with blue-black trunks and vibrant red leaves.

Shuttles lifted and lowered at regular intervals while people dashed on and off. She boarded a shuttle that might as well have been a gray box, and I followed her. I hesitated at the ramp as the drakcol woman continued inside. What if she went too far away, and I couldn’t get back to Zoltilvoxfyn? What if he was lost to me?

I forged forward. It would be fine. I’d wandered the universe. I didn’t need him. So what if he saw me? It didn’t truly matter unless I had the urge to talk to Seth again or I got bored of no one talking back to me, so I should be good for another twenty-three years, right?