Page 50 of Alien Viking's Plunder

“Names that end with ‘a’ are usually for females,” Bragr sighed, “and he’s clearly male. But it sounds perfectly alien. Ninja it is. Although I doubt you’ll see much more of him.”

“That’s fine,” Josie said. “He’s a wild animal. I don’t expect him to come when I call.”

“He should be wilder thanthis,” Bragr said. “He acts like he’s tame. Perhaps he can feel your alien-ness or your healing gift.” The Viking chief turned his back and went to the other side of the hut, out of sight.

“Ninja!” Josie called, just to check. The fenr didn’t react, just kept eating from the heap of offal, his muzzle and face dripping with dark blood.

“Fine,” she muttered. “Just try not to kill us when you grow up, all right? I’ll be miffed if you do.” She looked around the forest. There was nothing in particular she had to do here, and her muscles were still sore.

“I’m going inside!” she called into the sky.

“Best place for you,” the bassy rumble came from the other side of the hut. “Can’t attract all kinds of predators from in there.”

“Except foryou,” Josie muttered as she crawled through the short tunnel. But the thought of what they might get up to inside that sauna made excited tingles shoot down her body and up her spine. She hadn’t really explored his Viking’s body that well yet. And now that he was healing…hmm.

She drank water and helped herself to fried meat. She would have loved some coffee and maybe a roll or two, but she couldn’t expect an alien planet to have the same selection asUnity. Which had never been that good, anyway. At least not for her. The way the arrangement worked, she had to pay for her neural lace with labor. It meant that she wasn’t paid that well. So while miners and refiners from space could splurge on eggs and bacon and fine dishes sent up from Earth at great cost, that was totally out of reach for people like her.

She was grateful for having the lace, and she knew she would never have been able to pay for it in some other way. Still, she sometimes thought that she was a slave toUnity, unable to leave except for short, yearly vacations. Unable to advance much in her career, unable to enjoy herself much outside of the VR games, and unable to form any relationship becauseUnitywas a place that people would only stay for a short time before they moved on. Except for her and others in her situation.

On impulse she put her headset on. “Hey, Aretha?”

There was only static, which was expected. Aretha would have to be somewhere close, somewhere in this forest, if they were to get in touch on radio.

Maybe that was why she wasn’t panicking over this abduction? Because she had been feeling trapped onUnity,and this was an escape?

“Or because that Viking is the best man I’ve met,” she muttered.

“Alien words from the old hunting hut,” came a muffled rumble from the door. “I must check it out… ah, it’s you.” Bragr came in from the tunnel, stood up, and blinked against the darkness. “Talking to yourself?”

“I guess I have to, if I want good answers,” Josie sniffed.

He sat down by the fire and drank water from the ladle. “A good start if you want answers is to ask questions. Perhaps try that?”

“Perhaps. I know you’re not sure why you plundered me from the station. But why do you go on raids at all?”

He shrugged. “It’s tradition. We’ve always gone on raids. It’s an important part of who we are. It’s how we gain glory and wealth. It’s how we test our courage in battle. I don’t need more reasons. Do you?”

“How about those you plunder and steal from? Do you not think about them?”

15

- Bragr -

Bragr scratched his beard, thinking about it. “Sometimes. Mostly not. They’re not my responsibility. We stopped killing them, anyway. And we leave them enough to live. It’s a dangerous galaxy, Josie. We are not the worst things in it. Not by far.” He sent a glance to the east, towards the dark mountains on the edge of his earldom. “Usually, those we raid learn to defend themselves better. Against us and others.”

Josie leant forwards, her face eager. “So there are many planets with people on them?”

“There are many planets with some kind of aliens on them. I wouldn’t call them ‘people’. Not most of them, anyway. But they all have things we need. Things we can sell to other realms on Gardr.”

“How did you get those ships that can travel in space?”

“We’ve always had them. The shipwrights repair and renew them as they get old. Now it’s my turn to ask questions.”

Josie sat back. “If you want.”

“Are you married?”

“No.”

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