hypnoSnatch (Xeno Relations Book 2)

by Trisha McNary

  Well, I guess that’s about me, thought Antaska.

  Up on M. Hoyvil’s shoulder, Potat dreamed. Hybrid human dogs were chasing her pet Antaska! Potat tried to race to the rescue, but her feet moved like turtle feet. She pushed as hard as she could to move faster, but she fell farther and farther behind. She tried to yell the cat war cry, but it came out as a tiny mew.

  Antaska heard the mew and remembered Potat’s warning. Potat told me this would be bad, but she didn’t tell me I’d find out that all these people hate me!

  She found herself fighting back tears. Suddenly, the eyes of the tattooed Earth man across from her opened wide as if surprised. He reached into a ship suit pocket and pulled out a small communication device. He looked at the screen with eyes still wide, and then started smiling a smirky smile.

  Antaska heard his thought: What a great idea!

  Behind his thoughts, Antaska could still hear the confusing mish-mash of the thoughts of the other humans, the telepathic conversations of the Verdantes, and the muted mental conversations of other aliens around them. Her head began to pound painfully.

  The human man looked up at Antaska and then stuck out his tongue at her.

  How weird, thought Antaska.

  Then he rubbed his own neck in the same place where Antaska had her scar. She couldn’t help frowning. He saw the frown and laughed out loud.

  Now he licked his tongue all around his top and then bottom lip.

  She heard his thought: How do you like that, bitch?

  Antaska stiffened in surprise. It reminded her of the strange Eeeepps she’d met on the Verdante planet. It wasn’t a pleasant reminder.

  Embarrassed and disturbed, Antaska sat back in her chair.

  Things just keep getting stranger, she thought.

  Still trying to pretend like nothing was bothering her, Antaska gave the man a small half-smile and then looked away while he went back to typing on his communicator. She glanced around the table at the other humans and saw the other four taking communicators out of their pockets.

  Whoa, this is beyond strange! she thought.

  Then the two humans on the opposite sides of the first man looked at her and began licking their lips and rubbing their necks.

  How’d you like a bite of this? Antaska heard someone’s thought.

  Now, Antaska couldn’t keep a look of shock off her face. The three humans laughed in between the lip licking.

  Loser! she heard someone’s thought.

  Looking up again, Antaska saw that the humans’ strange behavior had stopped, but it started up again as soon as she looked at them. And they were holding their communication devices up pointed toward her as if videotaping her!

  Antaska sighed. In all my dreams of travelling in space, I never expected this. Is this what the next hundred years will be like? she wondered gloomily.

  Thick hair fell in front of her eyes, and she didn’t bother to brush it back. After a while, she peeked out through her hair. None of the other humans were looking at her or grimacing. With raised eyebrows and tight mouths, they were all typing into their communicators.

  Antaska felt overwhelmed and depressed. She looked up again and noticed small colorful images on the screens of the humans’ communication devices. She leaned forward for a closer look. Her genetically enhanced vision showed her that the images were faces—familiar faces. She saw the face of Iiooonaa Eeeepp with smaller Eeeepp faces behind her, and then she saw the face of Eegor the fitness instructor!

  M. Hoyvil sipped from his drink tube while participating in several loud and spirited telepathic conversations all at once. A clinking sound came from Antaska’s direction. She was stabbing her food with her fork. Stabbing again and again. She didn’t look up at M. Hoyvil.

  Something must be wrong, thought M. Hoyvil. This isn’t her normal behavior.

  He looked around the table and saw the other humans making their strange faces.

  “Do you see what your humans are doing?” M. Hoyvil asked the other Verdantes.

  Now the Verdantes turned to look back at their Earthling companions. They were making creepy faces and holding their communication devices pointed at Antaska. She was still looking down at the table.

  “I see—so what?” M. Tootadoo mind-talked.

  The mental voice of M. Beeenaw said, “I think it’s kind of funny.”

  Two others laughed telepathically.

  “I don’t think it’s funny,” said M. Hoyvil. “It’s some kind of gross weird thing, and she doesn’t seem to like it.”

  “You know we can’t interfere with their social behavior,” said M. Gruutin.

  “We can’t interfere. It’s against the rules,” said M. Beeenaw.

  “We can interfere if they’re hurting her. We have to. That’s in the rules too,” said M. Hoyvil.

  Several mental voices answered him at once. “How are they hurting her?” “No one is even touching her.” “They’re not hurting her--they’re just doing what comes natural to them.” “Maybe she’s too sensitive.” “Maybe she has personality flaws that the gene doctors didn’t catch when they tested her.” “Maybe a personality disorder.”

  “She does not have a personality disorder!” M. Hoyvil almost shouted mentally.

  The hum of mental conversations at nearby tables suddenly stopped but then started back up.

  “It’s just adolescent Verdantes,” someone’s mind talk came from another table and then the distant sound of mental laughing.

  “OK, OK, relax,” said M. Gruutin. “You know the Earthlings are vastly far behind us on the evolutionary path. They’re primitive, and we can’t even begin to understand what they have to go through. But we all know we can’t interfere with this. It will delay their evolution as a species. That’s one of the most unbreakable rules of the Galactic Council.”

  “I think someone, or something, is already interfering with their evolution,” said M. Hoyvil, waiving all of his twelve fingers toward the humans’ communication devices.

  Many mental voices of the others spoke again: “You don’t know if anything is affecting their evolution.” “That’s not something we can judge.”

  “Well something seems to be harming them,” said M. Hoyvil, “because their natural effect of warming our coldness isn’t working as well. It’s getting colder and colder around this table. Haven’t you noticed it?”

  He folded his long, lanky arms across his chest.

  More mental talking all at once: “Oh no!” “You’re right!” “This is your pet’s fault!” “She can’t be allowed to go into space with us!”

  Oh no! thought Antaska, who had been eavesdropping. I’d better to act like nothing’s wrong again, or they might stop me from going on the trip.

  She forced her most light and friendly smile onto her face and looked up at the other Earthlings, looking from one to the next. They smirked and laughed and continued to make rude gestures at her.

  Haha! she heard the mental laugh of more than one of the humans. And she heard M. Gruutin’s companion’s thought: She’s pretending this doesn’t bother her, but I know it does.

  How does he know that? Antaska wondered.

  Then Antaska heard M. Hoyvil interject into the ongoing Verdante mental conversation. “She’s not a pet, she’s my companion. And why do you say it’s her fault? She hasn’t done anything. Your humans are the ones acting weird.”

  “It must be her fault,” said one Verdante. “Because she is one, and they are many.”

  “So what? That doesn’t prove anything,” said M. Hoyvil.

  More simultaneous talking from the others: “Whatever.” “If she wasn’t here, this wouldn’t be happening.” “We’ll tell the adults, and they won’t let her go on this trip.”

  Oh no! thought Antaska again as she smiled her fake smile at the other humans, but once again, M. Hoyvil defended her.

  “Ha!” M. Hoyvil laughed mentally. “Your humans are the ones who won’t be allowed to go. Your shields are leaking coldness, but mine ar
e still warm. Your humans are malfunctioning, but Antaska isn’t. Check it, you’ll see.”

  “He’s right!” “But it must be that cat, not her! We’ve seen you out alone with just the cat.” “We’ll tell the adults it’s the cat, not her!” threatened one.

  Antaska couldn’t help looking up at M. Hoyvil. He looked calm, but his large green eyebrows were lifted higher than she had ever seen them, and his eyes were knife-sharp slits.

  “Go ahead and tell them that and see what happens,” M. Hoyvil answered the others in mind speech. “The adults can’t even remember that this cat exists from one minute to the next. She’s so small that she’s beneath their notice. They don’t even believe that she’s sentient. They’ll just laugh at you and then take your humans back to the Verdante planet to study them.”

  “He could be right!” “What should we do?” The others spoke mind talk again all at once, all turning to M. Hoyvil for the solution.

  This is terrible! I have to do something, or none of us will be going to space. We’ll all be dissected in the lab! thought Antaska.

  She looked around at the other humans again, willing them to believe in her pretense. I’m so happy. Everything is cool. What you’re doing doesn’t bother me at all.

  She heard more mental laughter from the other humans and then several of their thoughts all at once: This is so funny! She really thinks she can fool us with that act! We know how much this really bothers you! Who’s the hottest one here now?

  The mental arguing of the Verdantes grew more and more heated. It mixed in Antaska’s head with the jeering voices of the humans and the loud steady hum of telepathic conversations of other aliens in the room. Antaska’s head started pounding. She sat back in her chair no longer trying to keep up the appearances. Her face and head felt hot and steamy. She pressed her head with both hands trying to contain the painful pounding.

  The mental voices of the humans grew louder and more and more hostile. They mixed together in a nauseating swirl in Antaska’s mind with the more and more agitated voices of the Verdante adolescents.

  She could no longer tell the speakers apart, as frightening and disturbing words and phrases pounded against her head like a hammer: “slut,” “personality disorder,” “suffer bitch!” “loser,” “reject,” “dissect her in the lab,” “I’ll hurt you,” and so on.

  Stop! Stop! This has to stop! thought Antaska.

  But it didn’t stop, it just got louder and more painful.

  She looks awful! she heard a human’s mental thoughts. Maybe she’ll pass out again. Haha.

  I will not pass out again! Antaska thought.

  She felt mad, really mad. Steam seemed to be rising from her head up through her scalp. She struggled for control, but she felt the undeniable anger growing stronger and stronger and demanding to be released.

  “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Antaska finally shouted.

  But once again, she didn’t shout out loud. It was a telepathic shout.

  Oh no! thought Antaska, realizing what she had done.

  She looked around the table. All the mental speech of the Verdantes had stopped. As expected, they all had shocked looks on their faces—big eyes open wide and smaller mouths open in an “O” shape. But unexpectedly, all of the mental thoughts of the humans had also stopped, and they all had shocked looks on their faces too.

  Oh no! thought Antaska again.

  “Reyow!” yelled Potat from up on M. Hoyvil’s shoulder.

  Antaska looked up to see Potat up on all four feet with her back arched and fur standing out all over. Then she lowered down, turned, and looked at Antaska.

  “Can I never get the sleep a normal cat needs without you two getting in some kind of trouble?” she asked Antaska telepathically.

  “Huh?” said M. Hoyvil, looking down at Potat and Antaska.

  Otherwise, there was complete silence around the table. Beyond their table, the hum of telepathic conversation continued, but Antaska felt the weight of many eyes turned her way.

  “M. Hoyvil,” said Potat mentally. “You need to get these people out of here before the adult Verdantes notice anything.”

  M. Hoyvil appeared to understand and sent a quick sign language message to the others, wiggling his six-fingered hands low on the table.

  “Good plan!” said the rest all at once, and they began to leave with their humans, two-by-two, taking their time, slow and casual.

  Chapter 8

  A short time later, an instant message conversation took place on the computers of the six young Verdantes, who were all back in their rooms with their humans.

  @M.Gruuten: So what do we do now?

  @M.Tootadoo: We just need to hide this from the adults--that our humans might be telepathic--till the spaceship leaves. We could keep them in their rooms and bring them food.

  @M.Hoyvil: No. We’ve got bigger problems than just hiding this from the adults. Those Woogahs in the cafeteria might have noticed something. They might come after our three female humans.

  @M.Aleealeep: But they never take Earth humans.

  @M.Dwzzzz: That’s because humans weren’t telepathic, but if they are now, the Woogahs will want them.

  @M.Aleealeep: What makes you think they even noticed M. Hoyvil’s human yelling like that? The adult Verdantes didn’t, and the other aliens in the cafeteria didn’t seem to notice either.

  @M.Hoyvil: Stupid!

  @M.Gruuten: Hey! That’s not nice.

  @M.Tootadoo: Rude.

  @M.Hoyvil: It wasn’t me. It was Potat. She walked across my keyboard.

  @M.Dwzzzz: Someone walked on your keyboard?

  @M.Beeenaw: Who’s Potat?

  @M.Hoyvil: Potat, the little cat who was sleeping on my shoulder.

  @M.Aleealeep: A cat can type?

  @M.Beeenaw: OK. Whatever.

  @M.Hoyvil: Anyway, this is me now. The adults noticed, but their attitude about humans being non-sentient and inferior won’t let them believe it. They’ll tell themselves something like it was one of us yelling in a funny voice. The other aliens probably noticed too, but they either don’t care or won’t interfere in other species’ business.

  @M.Beeenaw: But those Woogahs are just merchants. They aren’t the hunters. You can tell by how they were dressed. The hunters are unnaturally good looking, and they always wear those flowy eye-distorting capes.

  @M.Gruuten: Right. But they’re disguise artists. You never know who they really are. Maybe they want people to think their hunters look like that, but they really look like these merchants. We don’t know enough about them to assume our humans are safe from them.

  @M.Hoyvil: We need to get the humans back on the spaceship. They’ll be safe there. It’s like a fortress.

  @M. Dwzzzz: Yeah! Those Woogahs will be disintegrated if they try to break onto the ship.

  @M.Tootadoo: If they’re not safe here, we need to get them on there ASAP.

  @M.Aleealeep: But it’s 20:00 station time. The docks are locked up, no one’s there, and we can’t even get out to the rim. We can’t take the humans out there till morning unless we tell someone it’s an emergency.

  @M.Beeenaw: We could tell the adults?

  @M.Tootadoo: No!

  @M.Gruuten: No way! If we tell the adults, they’ll send all of us straight back to the Verdante planet.

  @M.Dwzzzz: And then they’ll give our humans to the scientists to study. They’ll probably say, “Here’s some other replacement humans you can take along to space.” Because they’ll be cutting ours open to see what makes them tick.

  @M.Beeenaw: Dissection! Would they really do that?

  @M.Hoyvil: You know they would. They might say “Oh, we won’t do that,” but when the scientists get hold of our humans, they can do whatever they want to. Then the adults will say, “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know this would happen.” How many times has that happened in the last 650 years?

  @M.Gruuten: He’s right. We have to handle this without them. What’s the plan?

  @M.Aleealeep: We�
��ll have to watch the females every minute till we can get them on the ship.

  @M.Beeenaw: I think we should watch the males too just in case. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.

  @M.Dwzzzz: How’re we going to do that?

  @M.Tootadoo: I know how we can do it. All of our rooms are across from our human’s rooms right? We’ll team up in the rooms of the three of us who have females. Two Verdantes and one human male. We’ll sleep in shifts so one person is awake at all times and leave our doors open so we can watch the females’ doors.

  Potat read the Verdante words on M. Hoyvil’s computer screen and saw the arrangements that were made. She twisted her head around and spoke telepathically to Antaska: “M. Gruutin and Lestofer are on their way over here.”

  Wow! Potat read M. Hoyvil’s thought, I think I’m starting to understand her!

  “It’s time to get going,” said Antaska out loud to M. Hoyvil as she hopped down from the raised human stool next to him and headed for the door. “See you tomorrow.”

  “OK, goodnight,” said M. Hoyvil. He looked out and watched her cross the hallway and close her door.

  Potat was still sitting on the table next to M. Hoyvil’s keyboard. She thought of something else to type and leaned forward, but he blocked it with a huge six-fingered hand. She looked up at him with the scrunched up nose of a cat who smelled something bad.

  “What’s wrong with you?” he asked her telepathically.

  “You didn’t take care of my pet, and look what happened!” Potat said back. Then she hissed at him.

  “You’re right,” said M. Hoyvil, slouching back in his chair and sighing. “But you were there too—sleeping,” he reminded her.

  Potat jolted up like a cat who had stuck a claw in a power socket and then collapsed in a tiny ball on the table.

  “Maybe it was my fault,” she mumbled telepathically.

  “We can worry about whose fault it is later,” said M. Hoyvil. “Now’s the time for action. M. Gruutin is on the way over. Oh, and Lestofer. You should go over to Antaska’s room now. You’ve had a lot of sleep, so you can stay up and watch her from inside the room.”