“Aarrgh!” said Pweet, and she stomped out the door.
“I really must get her hypnotized, or the next three months will be difficult,” Marroo said to himself telepathically. The habit of speaking his thoughts out mentally was hard to break, and Pweet couldn’t understand him anyway.
He sat down in the chair Pweet had just vacated and worked on locking the files she shouldn’t see with a password: “Antaska.”
That nagging feeling deep inside him was still there whenever he thought of Antaska, but in just the short time he’d spent with Pweet, Antaska seemed more and more desirable.
“No! No! Antaska is only a slave,” he said telepathically to the empty room. “And anyway, that problem will be solved as soon as I’m able to put Pweet in my trance of love. Antaska will be forgotten. I’m sure of it.”
The task of locking hundreds of files became too tedious, and Marroo stopped. He tilted back in the chair and crossed his arms behind his head. His restless mind kept circling back to Antaska.
“Perhaps I’ll see her again when I return to the home planet. I’ll probably sell Pweet to the same work plant owner that I sold Antaska to. Nestgorm—he’s always a good customer even though he grumps and haggles.”
Marroo kept his solitary monologue going for some time. It was one of his ways of passing the time on the long, lonely voyages through space. He wasn’t thinking about Pweet when an hour or more later, she appeared in the doorway.
“I’m really hungry!” she said. “Is dinner ready yet?”
Chapter 12
Back on Earth…
M. Mort sat with his feet dangling on an adult-sized couch in the Verdante administrative office. The adults had spared no effort in programming their subatomic particle drafting machines to furnish the room. Dark polished plasti-stone tables floated above plush but tasteful carpet. More large blue couches and deep-cushioned chairs were positioned near the tables. Cream-colored marble walls merged up to a dome-shaped ceiling.
Other than M. Mort, the large room was empty. He stared at the two closed doors that broke the smooth surface of the room’s curved walls.
I guess I’m not in a rush, M. Mort decided.
He leaned back on the large cushiony couch and pressed a panel on the wall behind it. The panel slid open, and M. Mort retrieved a tube of the chlorophyll water that the Verdantes always kept in supply. Their bodies required less solid food than Earth humans but much more liquid.
M. Mort wasn’t really thirsty as much as bored.
You can never be too hydrated, he told himself, sipping from the tube.
His boredom was interrupted not by a door opening but by the sound of many fast-pounding space boots approaching out in the hallway. Heavy adult space boots. Then M. Mort heard bits of sharp telepathic conversation, getting louder and coming toward him.
He sat up straight on the couch as six adult Verdantes came in through the room’s wide entrance. Two of them looked like the adults he was used to seeing, dressed in the bright red ship suits they always wore. The red color was meant to attract attention away from younger Verdantes and Earthlings in case of invaders in space.
Like that would ever happen. Like anyone wouldn’t notice these giants in any case, thought M. Mort.
The other four adults who entered looked like no one M. Mort had ever seen before. Except in videos. Their sleek space suits had a more tailored look. And instead of garish bright red, they wore slate gray form-fitting suits with a ship’s emblem on each chest. All were ten feet tall, but all were thinner than the adults M. Mort was used to.
The crew of the Jalapeno! thought M. Mort.
Earlier, M. Mort had been too absorbed by his own problems to be interested in the Jalapeno speeding toward Earth. But now that they stood right in front of him, he became very interested. His own blue space suit blended in with the blue couch he sat on, and nobody seemed to notice him.
Before the adults came more than a few steps into the room, one of its interior doors slid open. A large Verdante man came out into the room. M. Mort felt the coldness of the man’s mental shields going up. That’s when M. Mort noticed that not all of the six who had just entered had their shields up. The two red-suited Verdantes were maintaining theirs, but the Jalapeno crew members weren’t.
That’s really strange, thought M. Mort.
He didn’t have time to think more about that because the big Verdante man was addressing the newcomers in a loud telepathic voice.
“What is the meaning of your inappropriate entrance to this planet? You flew in like barbarians, frightening the Earth humans! Please explain yourselves!”
“Greetings. I’m Captain Kamphone of the Jalapeno, and these are my crew,” said the oldest gray-haired man who wore captain’s wings on his shoulders. His calm mental voice was a sharp contrast to the other Verdante man’s shouting.
“I’m Master Benster, the administrator of this Verdante Earth human settlement,” said the man. “And again, I ask you to please explain yourselves. And why, if I may ask, don’t you have your shields up? That’s standard protocol for our species!”
Unflinching, the captain answered him in a stern, hard voice. His crew stood behind him unflinching as well. Two young women and a young man.
“As for our mental shields, we rarely use them. We use mind control techniques instead. And I regret that our fast entrance from warp space might have frightened someone, but the Earth humans are in danger of much greater harm than that. It was our duty to warn you as soon as possible!” said the captain.
M. Mort’s eyes widened. There was no argument the Earth administrator could make against that. When the Verdantes had adopted Earth as its caretakers, they were bound by galactic law to protect it and its inhabitants.
“Very well then,” Master Benster stopped arguing. “Your shields are your business, I guess. But what danger are the Earthlings in that you must tell us about?”
The weird feeling that was a pull inside M. Mort’s gut started twisting and pulling harder. All of a sudden, he got worried. This can’t be anything dangerous to Pweet, can it?
Another Jalapeno crew member spoke up.
“Greetings, Master Benster. I’m Lieutenant XoXo,” said the dark green-haired female. “We have direct knowledge that a Woogah slave hunter was headed to Earth with the intention of capturing one or more Earth females.”
M. Mort felt his sap-like blood turn to ice in his veins.
“What!” said Master Benster. “That’s impossible! Everyone knows the Woogahs can only capture telepathic females. Their hypnotic powers won’t work on non-telepathic Earth women.”
“But the Earthlings are becoming telepathic now,” said the lieutenant. “I know that’s hard for some Verdantes to accept, but it’s the truth. You must have heard of our recent rescue of an Earth woman the Woogahs had captured?”
“Yes, I heard about that, but I assumed it was just a story for the vids,” said Master Benster. “I really find it hard to believe.”
“Whether you believe it or not, the humans on this planet are at risk,” Lieutenant XoXo insisted. “For all we know, this hunter has been here already. Will you please check that all the humans are accounted for and warn them of the danger?”
“Yes, I suppose that’s the prudent thing to do,” said Master Benster. “Although I don’t want to alarm them.”
“They’ll be more alarmed if some of them start to go missing,” said the younger male lieutenant.
“Yes, yes. I agree,” said Master Benster.
“Then please lead us to them right away, and we’ll explain things,” Captain Kamphone insisted.
“Oh, no, no. We can’t do that,” said Master Benster, waiving his large broad hands in dismissal. “We’ll have to send an adolescent to talk to them about this. We adults don’t appear to them in person, you know. The Verdante sociologists who first studied the Earth humans determined that the sight of us would be too frightening. Unbearable. So our adolescents deal with them and pretend they’r
e adults. The Earthlings are still quite intimidated by them but not paralyzed or spurred to acts of extreme violence.”
Master Benster’s large head turned to look around the room, and he noticed M. Mort for the first time.
“You there!” Master Benster addressed M. Mort. “What’s your name, young man?”
The big adult walked over and looked down at him. M. Mort threw up his shields.
“I’m M. Mort.”
“You’re needed for an assignment in the Earth human sector, M. Mort,” said Master Benster.
“Yes?” said M. Mort.
He realized that Master Benster must think he was one of the adolescents who regularly communicated with the Earthling administrators. M. Mort thought about explaining that he wasn’t and then decided against it. All through the adults’ conversation, worry and anxiety had swirled from his head down to his chest and back up again.
I need to find out what’s going on, he thought. What if Pweet’s in danger?
M. Mort stood up from the couch. He looked up into the face of the big adult, over ten feet tall and almost twice his weight.
“What do you need me to do?” he asked.
A short time later, M. Mort sat once again across from Lisand4 in her small office.
“Good morning, M. Mort,” said Lisand4. “What can I do for you today? Did you want to talk about Pweet again?” she asked with a scowl.
“I need to talk to you about all the Earth humans,” M. Mort answered. “I don’t mean to alarm you, but it’s possible that a dangerous alien is coming here. Or has been here already. A kidnapper.”
Lisand4 gasped and clutched at her throat. “A kidnapper! But you’ll protect us, won’t you?”
“Yes, we’ll do our best,” said M. Mort, “but we need your help. We need you to check that all the humans living in the North Pole settlement are accounted for. And we need you to warn them. Especially the females.”
Lisand4 gasped again and clutched at her heart.
“The humans must stay either inside buildings or in the underground transit tunnels until we determine the danger has passed. Can you arrange these things for us?” M. Mort asked.
“Of course! Of course!” said Lisand4.
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her communicator. Then she pressed keys on it and gave directions to whoever answered.
“This is an emergency!” she said. “Get an accounting of all the Earth humans right away. And send out a warning. All humans must stay inside until further notice—in buildings or underground.”
“What?...What?...Why?” M. Mort heard the indistinct sound of a male voice through the communicator’s speaker.
“Why? An alien kidnapper is coming here! We’re all in danger! Now hurry!” Lisand4 yelled into the communicator. “And get back to me right away,” she finished speaking in a more controlled voice and then pressed a button to end the call.
Lisand4 looked back at M. Mort with round wide eyes.
They’re so innocent and vulnerable and ignorant in so many ways, he thought. I should have known that when I took this woman’s advice yesterday. If anything happens to Pweet, it will be all my fault!
M. Mort blinked. He realized that Lisand4 had been speaking to him, but he hadn’t been paying attention.
“Sorry. What was that?” he asked.
“I said that if you’d like to wait here, it shouldn’t be long before they get back to me about all the humans being accounted for,” said Lisand4. “Thanks to the technology you Verdantes have provided us, our security forces should be able to check on everyone quickly.”
“Yes, I’ll wait,” M. Mort answered.
He sat back in the hard chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Again, he felt that weird tugging pull deep inside his stomach, and it was pulling upward.
Not good! thought M. Mort. But this is probably all my imagination.
Several minutes passed. Lisand4 stared up at M. Mort. M. Mort stared out the window behind her at Earth’s small trees and empty fields. He remembered his last sight of Pweet as she turned away and walked out into those same fields. Outside. Out where humans were in danger.
Both M. Mort and Lisand4 jolted at the sound of her communicator beeping on the table between them. Lisand4 picked it up and answered.
“Yes? Yes? What! One missing? Who? Pweet!” she shouted.
M. Mort’s anxiety crashed down to stunned despair.
Still holding the communicator to her ear, Lisand4 looked at M. Mort. A look of shared guilt passed between them.
“Pweet is missing,” said Lisand4. “She didn’t return to the dorms after she left here yesterday. But in all the excitement of selection day, no one noticed. They’re scanning the North Pole area now for her lifeless body.”
M. Mort nodded his head. But he didn’t think Pweet’s body would be found on Earth. In fact, he was sure it wouldn’t be found. Right now, he was sure, she was facing something that could be even worse.
Head down and hands thrust in pockets, M. Mort headed back to the adult section at a fast pace. His mind felt blank and dark, and he didn’t bother to put up his mental shields. The Verdante adolescents he passed in the corridors gave him a wide berth.
When he got to Master Benster’s office, the Jalapeno’s crew were still standing in the outside room. Master Benster wasn’t there, and his door was closed again.
“One is missing!” M. Mort shouted telepathically when he entered the room.
Master Benster’s door slid up, and the large Verdante man shot out of it.
“What’s this?” he said. “Report!”
“One human female is missing, sir,” M. Mort answered, in a flat voice. “They searched for her body, but they didn’t find it on Earth. Her name is Pweet. And it’s all my fault!” he said, losing control of his voice at that point.
M. Mort dropped his face into his hands and made a moaning sound.
“Your fault? What! What are you talking about, young man? And why aren’t your shields up? Are you learning bad habits from these people already?” Master Benster’s green face grew red as he spoke.
“Let me talk to him,” said Lieutenant XoXo.
She walked over to M. Mort. He looked up at her, and she gestured with a long, slim six-fingered hand toward one of the big couches. The male Verdantes moved away to the other side of the room. M. Mort could hear them speaking to each other in low, deep telepathic whispers, but he ignored them.
M. Mort hopped up on the large couch and turned toward the tall Verdante woman seated on the opposite side.
“Why do you say this is your fault, M. Mort?” she asked in a gentle voice.
M. Mort met the big eyes of the dark green-haired woman and then answered.
“Because I was going to select Pweet yesterday, but I didn’t. I made the hand signals offering to take her to space. That’s like a promise! And she signaled back her agreement, but then the human administrator came and talked me out of it. And then Pweet went outside the building and disappeared! And it’s all my fault! Because I made a promise, and I broke it.”
Did Lieutenant XoXo’s enormous light green eyes glisten when she answered him?
“What did the administrator tell you?” the lieutenant asked.
“She told me that Pweet had mental problems. Problems with authority, disobedient, a liar, emotional problems, stuff like that,” M. Mort answered, waiving a hand dismissively. “I wasn’t really worried about it, but I thought I had to agree with her or she’d realize I wasn’t an adult. But it was my choice, and I made the wrong choice. I shouldn’t have listened to her. Now look what’s happened!”
He flopped back against the couch and looked up at the high ceiling. He felt that tugging in his stomach again, and he placed his hands over it.
“First of all, this isn’t your fault, M. Mort,” said Lieutenant XoXo. “A Woogah slaver has come to Earth. You didn’t make that happen. It’s never happened before in the history of Earth, so how could that be your fault?”
“My fault, my fault,” said M. Mort, shaking his head back and forth.
“And second,” XoXo continued. “All hope isn’t lost. We’ll go after her. It’s most likely that slaver is taking her to the Woogah planet. We know where he lives. We’ve been there before, and we rescued another Earth female and two other alien females from the Woogahs.”
“That’s right! I heard about that,” said M. Mort, perking up.
He sat up and looked at Lieutenant XoXo with wide upward-slanting eyes.
“I saw the story in a video. So it’s true?” he asked.
The lieutenant laughed mentally.
“Well, I haven’t seen the video, but it’s true that we rescued three females from the Woogahs. With the help of a Verdante adolescent, a tiny cat, and the Earth female the Woogahs had captured. We couldn’t have done it without them,” said XoXo.
That last part worried M. Mort. It sounded like she was saying they might not be able to rescue Pweet. Then a wild idea entered his head.
“I need to go with you now this time!” M. Mort nearly shouted mentally.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other adults looking over.
“You need extra help, and I can help you,” he insisted.
“Hmm. Why do you think you can help, M. Mort?” Lieutenant XoXo asked him. “Did you bond with her?”
Chapter 13
Meanwhile, on the Woogah planet…
Eegor sat in his new extra-comfortable chair in Nestgorm’s office. The former slaves who were experts in subatomic particle drafting had retrofitted the office to his orders. But he was still miserable. All day long, Eegor watched a hundred beautiful alien females going about their daily activities, but that wasn’t satisfying. To look but never touch, all day everyday. It was incredibly frustrating.
His view screens let him zoom in as close as he wanted to see the women at poolside, in the spa, in the gym, and anywhere else he wanted to look. View screens that projected his image back to the alien females were also installed in the rooms he looked in. The women often smiled and waved at him. But he was still all alone and lonely.
Bonded in Space Page 6
