In the middle of the plot is a shack made of something that looks a lot like wood, painted dark green. There doesn't seem to be anyone inside. We hang around outside for a moment, looking in all directions.
"Hello?" I say tentatively into thin air.
Jalton calls out some weird shit which may or may not be the language of this planet.
"Are you talking Skoogmel-ish?" I ask, slightly impressed, even though I don't want to admit that.
He says a bunch of other stuff in what sounds like more than one language, then he swaps back to English for my benefit. "No. I don't know which language, or languages, they speak here. Until someone arrives, I'm just trying out a few possibilities."
"You're pretty clever, for a super privileged jerk," I say.
He laughs. "You're pretty charming, for a tangle-haired criminal."
“Yeah yeah.” I can't help smiling, even though I try to look fierce. This dude’s personality is starting to grow on me. So he’s not just a pretty face. Maybe royals don’t have as much of a stick up their ass as I thought they did.
Just as I'm starting to think we won't get any kind of service around here, we hear shuffling noise. It seems to be coming from behind the shack.
A creature emerges, and I've never seen anything like it. I yelp by accident, then concentrate on staying still and quiet. The creature addresses us, and Jalton talks back to it in whatever the hell language it is.
I just watch quietly, because I'm apparently I'm just a clueless human around here. Not that I mind. The guy - I'm calling it a guy, but who knows? - well, he has a kind of orange octopus-shaped head. Little wavy tentacle things move constantly around his face. His nose looks like a shorter version of a baby elephant's trunk. He's big and round, with four orange-bronze arms coming out from the front of his shirt, and he shuffles on big flat feet. I'm torn between staring at him, and hiding my eyes.
The conversation with Jalton seems to be going well. He takes him into the shack, and beckons for me to follow. Jalton catches my eye and nods. Hesitantly, I step inside, and immediately wish I hadn't. The smell of rotting vegetables is thick in the air. I clap my hand over my mouth and stagger out.
Octopus Head barks something at me, and Jalton says something which seems to smooth it over. There's no way I could survive another second in that stench. How can Jalton stand it? Imperial Order men really are superhuman.
They must have agreed terms, because after a few minutes, they both come out of the shack again and bow to one another. Octopus Head claps, and some smaller versions of him run out. I step back instinctively, but Jalton comes over and puts his arm around me.
"He's selling us some fuel?" I say, trying not to breathe through my nose.
"He sure is. Even though he says it's really hard to get a full tank on this planet, for any price. Lucky I managed to change his mind.”
"Wow. Aren't you the smooth talker?"
"Apparently so."
Jalton’s arm feels good around me. Without stopping to think about it, I match his gesture by putting my arm around his waist. He looks down at me, with a smile.
"Good idea. The arm. Yes. I told him you were my new bride, so it's probably best we do this kind of stuff.”
"You said what?" I stare at him. "Why would you say that?"
“You heard me. He said there was no fuel. He said he wouldn't even take gold bars in return for the supplies he had. So I told him we were newlyweds and had broken down here, and needed fuel to get to my family home so I could present you to my father. Then he suddenly remembered he had a stash of fuel for emergencies.”
"Whoa. I have to give you points for creativity. And also for excellent lying. That’s kind of disconcerting.”
Octopus Head is shouting at his mini-me troops. Two are filling the fuel tank and the rest seem to be doing random polishing of the ship's exterior.
I nudge Jalton in the ribs. “So you didn't tell him you're Imperial Order royalty?"
He hushes me with an urgent "Sshhh. If they find that out, they'll cut off a body part and send it to my father as a ransom note. The Imperial Order isn’t popular on the outer planets.“
“Or anywhere,” I muttered. There was a lot to think about when you were royal. "All right then. You're just Joe Anybody. I get it."
"That's right. And you're the beautiful Mrs. Anybody. Let's stick to that until we get out of here."
"Beautiful, huh?" I punch him playfully, until I see he's gazing thoughtfully at my face, and not smiling. Then I just blush furiously and turn away, kicking pebbles with my boot until my face stops burning.
It takes something like fifteen minutes for the fuel tank to be filled. We stroll around the edge of the desert with our arms around each other, playing the happy couple. It's strange, but it doesn't actually feel that wrong. Jalton's waist fits nicely in the curve of my arm, and his hand feels just kind of right on my shoulder.
It's been too long since I was with a guy, and that's why I’m enjoying it so much. That's all this is. I keep telling myself that.
Jalton pays Octopus Head with some gemstones from his pocket. I didn't know he carried gems. Is that a royal thing, or an Imperial Order thing? Is that what they use as money? Who knows.
"So are we leaving now, or did you want to do a little sightseeing?" I ask.
We exchange bows with Octopus Head, and the tentacled one sings us what I guess is a song of congratulation. I smile and bow again, and hope that's the right thing to do.
"Well, I was hoping to sample the local cuisine," Jalton says, "but it doesn't look like they'll have the kind of restaurant I'd want to take you to. So maybe we should hop to the next planet and see if we have more choice there. Maybe there’s a cocktail bar.”
“You want to take me out for cocktails?”
He smiles to himself and turns away, like he doesn't want to tell me what he's thinking.
“I’m starting to think you can stand my company,” I tease.
“Listen, why don't we continue this conversation in the air? There's a cluster of planets around 60 grangs from here. If we hurry, we can make it there for dinner."
I'm not even going to attempt to ask what grangs are, so I hold my hands up like "Whatever you say", and follow him. He steps aside for me to take the stairway first.
Before I reach the top, Jalton shouts “Run” at me. I almost fall off the stairway.
"What is it?" I hiss.
But he can't answer. Suddenly, we're surrounded by a bunch of creatures, who are stamping and making whooping noises. It's the mini Octopus Heads who just refueled the ship. Big Octopus Head is nowhere to be seen.
"Can you get inside the ship?" Jalton hollers. He doesn't turn to look at me. He's keeping his eyes on the mini Octopus Heads.
“The door’s closed,” I say in a small voice.
Whatever these creatures want from us, it isn't good. Their faces are all screwed up and wrinkly. They look mad. Jalton isn't armed, so this standoff is alarming to say the least.
I still have my crappy gun in its holster, so that's going to have to do the job.
Jalton says something to them in their language, and one of them replies.
"What did he say?" I ask.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Yes I do.” Anxiety pings through my veins.
“He told me ‘Your uncle is very displeased with you’.” Jalton’s mouth is set in a firm line. Anger radiates from him.
"Oh fuck."
"That's my thought too."
“Your uncle is sending hit squads after us?”
“Looks that way.”
I gasp. “Oh my God. The Kreapers…?”
“Yeah. It was pretty weird that they appeared out of nowhere in that stretch of empty space. I’m starting to think perhaps my uncle has friends in some dark places.”
"What are we going to do?" I move my hand very slowly toward my gun. If I don't make any sudden moves, maybe I'll be able to reach it before the mini Octopus Heads notice.
<
br /> "Give me a moment," Jalton says. Then he speaks to them again in their language.
I keep slowly reaching for my gun.
The main mini Octopus Head answers Jalton. His fists clench.
“No," he snarls.
Before he can lunge at the hostile aliens, I jump from the middle of the stairway to the bottom. I overreach and accidentally crash into Jalton, and he staggers but recovers quickly.
Fortunately, the sudden move confuses the mini Octopus Heads, and I take that split second opportunity to push my gun into Jalton’s hand. I'd shoot them myself, but he's taller and there are too many of them for me to shoot them from this angle. He'll get a better reach than I would. And I kind of owe him for letting me shoot last time.
Let’s hope he really can handle it. If he turns out just to be a pampered rich boy who can’t shoot straight, I’m wrestling that gun back and shooting them all myself.
He doesn't say a word, but takes the gun. I use the element of surprise and punch the main mini Octopus Head in the face. He falls over backward, burbling furiously.
More aliens charge us, and I kick a couple of them out of the way. They're not all armed, but the ones who are seem to have a nice shiny ray gun each. Way nicer than mine, by a factor of about ten billion. Oh boy. Let's hope they don't know how to use them.
By now, Jalton has full control of my beat-up-but-still-functional gun. His height and strength work in his favor, as he manages to take out the first row of five or six creatures in seconds.
I pick a small one up and try to use it as a shield. It's floppy now, though, so it slithers out of my grasp.
“Just keep shooting,” I shout, as I elbow a mini Octopus Head in the face.
He does exactly that. Right up until the moment when my piece of shit gun jams, and stops firing.
The mini Octopus Heads sing songs of triumph in close harmonies, and form a circle around us.
“Fuck,” we yell in unison.
10 Jalton
"Now what?" Corby says to me.
"I was about to ask the same question of you."
Stuffing the now useless lump of steel into my belt, I make a mental note to carry a gun wherever I go from now on. A working gun. As it turns out, these things are useful. That's something you don't notice when you have servants doing everything for you, from morning to night.
Then again, it’s only today that one of my family members decided to kill me and my travel companion. That doesn’t happen to a guy every day.
Uncle Mirodag is not going to get away with this.
And he’s not going to kill Corby Frayne either. Nobody is. My lion will rip everyone in the galaxy apart before it allows that to happen.
Corby edges an effective jab into the eye of one of the Skoogmelians, while I kick the legs out from under another and boot him across the dusty ground.
"We need to get back to the ship," I say. "Look, I'll distract them. You run for the stairway, get on board, and I'll see you there just as soon as I can get away."
"Not a chance. I'm not leaving a soft-skinned prince alone with these fuck-knuckles. You'll be torn limb from limb. And then the limbs will be mailed to your daddy, for money. You said yourself that’s what would happen. Right? They know who you are. And it’s even worse now we know your uncle’s involved.”
I don't answer, as I’m busy shoving one row of Skoogmelians into another. It causes a brief domino effect as a crowd of them topples all together to the ground.
"Here's what we'll do, then,” she says, chopping one of them in the throat with the edge of her open palm. "You run for the ship and I'll distract them."
"Not in a million years. I am not leaving you alone with these aliens either." I punch one square in the nose.
"Oh, come on." She breaks off to spin around and kick her leg out to waist height, throwing another Skoogmelian off balance. There are still more heading our way all the time. Where the hell are they all coming from? "You know how to fly that super fancy ship. I know how to create a distraction. Let's play to our strengths, huh?"
I sigh irritably. “This is not at all proper. I cannot leave you alone with these monsters.”
“Bullshit. It’s only for a moment.”
Weighing up the possibilities takes seconds. Corby does make a good point. She's probably better at doing something wild to command their attention, and I'm probably better at flying the ship. Only because I've had some practice with advanced vehicles, and she's used to flying some medieval tin can. Otherwise, I'm sure she'd whip my ass at flying too. But I cannot risk her life by waiting for her to make her own escape. I must modify the plan accordingly.
I won't wait for her on the ship. I'll fly back over here and drop down a rescue capsule for her.
"Take the gun," I say, pressing it into her hand. "I want you to know I think this is insane. I'm only going along with your idea because you're a career criminal who probably knows how to get out of a sticky situation. And I need to keep you safe. And if this is the way, then so be it.”
"Career criminal? Fuck you, rich boy."
One of the Skoogmelians grabs Corby around the shoulders, and she knocks him off with the butt of the gun. That's probably all it's good for, now it won’t fire any more.
"Okay. Fine. Do your thing, Corby Frayne."
I shift to my lion form. Sprinting to the ship gets me there almost immediately, but it still feels too long. I jump on board and fire up the ship's computer.
"Emergency capsule," I yell. "Prepare to unload, and reload with living cargo.”
"Preparation under way,” the computer-generated voice assures me.
I can't catch a glimpse of Corby on the viewing monitor because the angle of the external cameras is wrong. She's on the ground, and the cameras are designed to pick up information in space. The best thing I can do is just to fly back as fast as I can to the scene.
If I had to guess how long it took until we were hovering over the place where I had recently stood, I'd say hours. In reality, it must have been just a few moments. I ordered the ship's control system to drop down the capsule, and switched on the PA system, so I could talk to Corby outside.
"Get in," I shout. "Do it now."
At last, I can see Corby on the monitor. She has opened the capsule, and she's climbing inside. One of the Skoogmelians seems to put one of his tentacles inside just as she's closing the door. Mercilessly, she slams it shut and he squeals. He removes his crushed tentacle from the door and scuttles away.
"You inside the capsule?" I ask her.
"Mostly. Yeah."
"Mostly?"
"Just hoist me up, Your frickin' Highness. Get me back on that ship. What are you waiting for?"
I make it happen. In lion form, I am even stronger than I am on two legs. It takes seconds to retrieve the capsule.
When the capsule is fully inside the ship, I set the doors to close automatically and then jump down to help Corby out.
“Hey, furry guy. You know, I didn't exactly get away in one piece," Corby says, as she steps out of the capsule and pats my mane. Her voice sounds strange. My stomach lurches. I shift back immediately.
"What happened to you? Are you okay?" I hold her shoulders so I can study her at arm's length, and then turn her around, inspecting all over. I'm looking for lost body parts, wounds, or injuries of any kind. Somehow, I miss what the real issue is.
"So it's true. Guys really don't notice when a girl gets her hair done.”
"What?"
She lifts her hair up in both hands, and I realize half of it is missing. The right side is as long and tangled as it was before. The left is now the length of her earlobe. I twist her around again so I can see where these two lengths meet in the back. There's a big slice taken out of her hair from the back, with the lengths now graduating from earlobe to below her shoulder in a sharp diagonal slash.
"What do you think?" She poses like a fashion model, pushing one hip out and making a goofy pouting expression. I know she's joking, but it stir
s my blood.
“Did they cut your flesh?”
“Amazingly, no. I ducked as they slashed. Otherwise I think they might be holding my severed head, instead of just a bunch of hair.” She shrugs. “I was lucky this time.”
My heart bangs at double speed. Rage and protectiveness surge through me. “It is lucky for them that you are not hurt. I would shred them to molecules if they had hurt you.”
She waves the thought away. “Nah, you’re good. I’m pretty happy with my new look actually. Always meant to try out the asymmetric look. Now's my chance." She looks me up and down. “Back in your birthday suit, huh? Do me a favor, dude. Don’t bother finding your clothes. I could use some eye candy right now.”
Her flirtation is all the provocation I need. The thought of having nearly lost her is too much. I cannot hold back the urgent call of my lion.
Holding her hands, I push her backward, until she backs right up against the wall of the ship. I lean down, so our foreheads touch. Her hands are still in mine, and I pull them around my waist and leave them there.
"What are you doing?" she says, her eyes not leaving my mouth.
“This,” I say. And then I kiss her, hard and unrelenting.
My hands slide across her back, one heading upward to hold the back of her butchered hair, and the other steadying her in the small of her back. She moves a little, sliding hand behind my head while the other grips onto my arm. Her fingernails dig into my bicep.
She's holding on to me for dear life.
My knee slides between hers. A tiny moan escapes her.
Our kiss become deeper and more passionate. Our tongues touch for a second, and I lift her right off her feet, turning us both around so I can move her onto the flight deck. I set her down next to the navigator screen, my hands lingering over the luscious curve of her ass.
"Jalton," she pants, as I kiss down her neck to her collarbone, pulling her shirt down so one smooth shoulder is exposed. "I don't know if we should—”
“We should. We must.”
A Shift in the Sky_In the Stars Romance Page 7
