Page 10 of Alien Peacock

“It has no impact on this situation. Putting a stowaway out into space and certain death is what the law requires. It’s meant todiscourage that kind of thing. And so it would be neither murder nor meaningless.”

“And you always follow the law?” I ask, starting to feel hope dwindle.

He gives me a long, searching look. “You’re wearing a lot of clothing. That, at least, is wise on a station like Pranst if you want to be unaccosted. Why don’t you reveal to me what you wanted to hide from the lowlifes there?”

“Take off your clothes, Maeve,” Bari helpfully translates.

“I got that, thank you,” I mutter, thinking fast. How badly do I want to live? If that guy expects me to be his sex toy in exchange for not killing me, then that’s a deal I’m not going to take. Not wanting to live like a slave is the whole reason I’m in space in the first place.

But I guess I can see how far it goes. He probably won’t like my body type anyway.

I unwind the gray robes and the long strips of fabric, bundling them up. Underneath I’ve got on a pine green military-style jumpsuit with many pockets and straps. It’s figure-hugging, but not particularly sexy. Not on me, anyway.

Arelion takes his time running his penetrating gaze up and down me, pausing at my middle and my chest. “Very female indeed,” he growls. “Yes, hiding that from the inhabitants of Pranst Station was a good idea. I’m only surprised you escaped at all.”

I glance at the airlock. “It seems I ‘escaped’ to a more dangerous place. Arelion, I’m sure nobody knows we’re aboard here. Nobody saw us, and so nobody knows that you have stowaways. I request that we be set off at your nearest convenience.”

“Your Interspeech is suspiciously good,” Arelion says, ignoring my request. “Your clothing, your advanced fighting stick, the fact that you were alone on the station... It all points to you being a particularly sneaky Earthling, so sneaky that they have sent you to space for some particular purpose.”

“I don’t think that getting into an argument with those creepy aliens counts as being sneaky.” I glance around the ship. This is some kind of living room, with a couch and a table and shelves and such. It has a spartan, clean look and is not what I would expect on a luxury yacht. It could be a specialized ship of some kind, like a tug or a cargo ship or something.

I’m surprised that the whole room isn’t filled with mirrors and silky cushions and velvet furniture, the way I’d think an alien peacock would love. There’s a door that I think leads to the cockpit, another door that I hope is some kind of restroom, and that’s about it. Inside, the ship is nowhere near as big as it looked from the outside.

“Captain Arelion,” Bari says from the floor. “What my friend means is that we’re terribly sorry to have put you in this situation and to have encroached on your privacy. Now, what if we were to pay for our passage? That way, we’re no longer stowaways, but legitimate passengers.”

Arelion raises one perfect eyebrow so suggestively I almost blush. “How would you pay, Earthling?”

“With credits,” I tell him quickly, furiously searching through my pockets and wishing I’d thought about this myself. “I have about a hundred.”

“A hundred credits for passage to where I’m going would seem remarkably cheap,” Arelion says.

“Then set us off in the nearest place,” I suggest, locating two credit crystals. “We will find passage from there.” I try to sound confident, but I honestly don’t know what I’ll do from here. I really should have met that contact on the station, but things were getting so wild that I saw no other option than escaping in any way possible.

Arelion points to the airlock. “We’re already in hyperspace. I can’t change course.”

“You’d rather kill us than take the hundred?”

Arelion stretches, touching the ceiling with his fingertips. “There are cameras in here. I can see everything you do. At the first sign of treachery, I will take the ship out of hyperspace and airlock you on the spot. I know about you Earthlings and your devious ways.” He turns and saunters off.

Only the astonishing sight of his rear in his silver pants stops me from running after him and trying to knock him out with the stick. The terms ‘pert’, ‘round’ and ‘are youkiddingme’ were clearly invented only to describe him as seen from behind.

A door hisses open and lets him through, then closes with a thunk and an electronic beep that’s so forbidding it must have been specifically designed to make everyone know that it’s locked.

“I can’t believe this guy,” I mutter. “Won’t even answer my question. And why does he think I’m devious?”

Bari sits down and licks one of her legs. “It is a rumor that the Bululg have set out to keep other species from trusting and helping Earthlings. Earth has a Resistance movement that has been very effective, and the Bululg want to stop it.”

I walk over to the couch and plop down. “Is it working?”

“Stopping the Resistance doesn’t look like it has worked, if my news sources are right. The rumor about deviousness… well, what do you think?”

I get back to my feet, having too much stress hormones in my bloodstream to sit for long. “If Arelion thinks I’m devious, it must have worked.”

Bari looks up at the stick that’s still stuck to the wall. “I’m sorry I picked this ship. I just knew that I could easily open the hatch.”

I sigh. “It’s all right. You couldn’t know it was his. How do we get out of this?”

Bari jumps up on the couch. “There’s no escape pods, no emergency exit of any kind. We tried hiding in the cargo hold, and he found us right away. Getting out may be a challenge.”

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