Page 11 of Alien Viking's Plunder

“Oh yeah. You have a fancypants camera and everything. I should maybe watch my language, then? I don’t want to be known all through posterity as ‘that girl that swore a lot’.”

“We’ll both be known for that, I’m sure. Shit, I’m glad to hear your voice.”

“So what do we do? I don’t think I can get out of this room. And I think we’re moving.”

Josie had also felt the slight tremble of the floor, but for her own peace of mind she had ignored it. “That’s how it feels. We’re actually being abducted by aliens, Ari. Whatever happens, let’s try to find each other and stay together.”

“Sure. Hey, I always wanted to explore the stars. This is not what I had in mind, but we’ll make the most of it. Also, I was just thinking… maybe keep our um…special enhancements…secret from them as long as possible?”

“Our neural lace enhancements? Definitely—” Josie began, but then she heard heavy footsteps outside. “Wait, someone’s coming. I’ll be back.”

She turned off the comms, not wanting her captors to get any clue that she was in contact with someone else.

Holding two pieces of firewood, she stood sideways at the end of the room, ready to fling them at anyone entering.

The door opened, and a big man came in. It was the horned alien from before.

Josie hid both the pieces of wood behind her back, ready to surprise him.

He stepped inside, having to bow his head to get through the door. “Dooerer forsat.”His voice filled the room as the door closed behind him and he took in the mess. “Odoar raset sovromeh mit.”

Some of the words had a familiar ring to them, but Josie didn’t need to know the language to guess what he was saying:you wrecked my room.

“I’ll wreckyounext,” she said sincerely, tensing her muscles and feeling the extra strength in them, more strength than her own body could make on its own. Her enhancement was working as it should.

The man came to the middle of the room and put one hand on his chest. “Brrragrrr.” He raised his dark eyebrows.

It was an obvious gesture: ‘what’s your name?’

“Josie,” she replied. “The girl who’ll beat you up. Again.” Among the tattoos on his stomach, she saw the bruise where she’d rammed the baton.

“Yosi,”the man repeated slowly. “Markli men ikeu muli.”

Josie threw the first piece of wood while he was still talking. It happened so fast he barely had time to throw his hands up before it hit his forehead with a hollow thud.

Bragr staggered backwards, exclaiming something that had to be a vicious curse.

Josie lunged at him, raising the other piece of wood to give him a good whack across the mouth.

This time he was quick enough to fend off the attack. He grasped both her hands, turned her around, and pushed her back, sending her flying at the heap of furs in the corner.

She curled up to gather energy for the next pounce, then threw herself at his legs as he approached.

Catching one massive calf, she tried to yank at it, but it was like embracing the trunk of an oak.

On a primal impulse, she bit into it instead.

The alien grunted in pain and shook her off him, grabbed her around the waist, and tossed her back into the pile of furs. Then he stood over her, eyes shooting blue lightning.

Yeah, he was stronger than her, despite her hidden power. But she couldn’t keep relying on it — her body could only take so much at a time. Already she felt the distant burn that was the sign of having over-used the enhancement.

For a couple of heartbeats the alien was clearly trying to control himself from grabbing her and snapping her spine over his knee. Then he just growled and looked down on his calf. “Dubyte mah.”

She let her limbs relax. This chance had passed, but there would be other times when she could escape. “I guess you win this round.”

Bragr bent over to swipe his fingers over the bite in his leg. They came away without any blood on them.

“Doyeer ikeop,”he rumbled. “Litkree gerar doidah.”

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