Page 12 of Alien Peacock

“Yeah, you told him that opening the outer hatch while in hyperspace would not be wise. Will that approach work if the ship is no longer in hyperspace?”

She licks her paw. “I don’t know. I’ll find a way. Oh, feel that? I think we’re there.”

The ship trembles for a moment, and the sound from the engines changes note.

“We’re not in hyperspace anymore?” I ask, coldness settling in the pit of my stomach. I may have only minutes left to live.

Bari lazily gets to her paws. “It wasn’t a long jump. We didn’t travel all that far. It has to be another small space station. None of the big ones are this close.”

The door from the cockpit hisses open, and Arelion strides in. “We’re out of hyperspace. The outer hatch can now be opened with no danger.”

I shrink away from the towering alien. He’s a beautiful thing, reminding me of an avenging angel. An angel of death.

“Arelion,” I rasp quickly,” there’s an Earth custom that might surprise you.”

4

- Arelion-

I look down on Maeve. I can smell her fear. It speaks to my ancient instincts, the way prey behavior always does. Her eyes are wide, her fingers tremble, her breath is quick and shallow.

It’s satisfying to arouse such terror in a female like this. My crotch swells in my pants.

I look around the lounge, already knowing nothing is out of place because I’ve kept an eye on the screen. “Something sneaky, no doubt.”

“Earthlings are not sneaky,” Maeve says. “That’s just something the Bululg want you to think.”

“Stowing away on a spaceship and trying to hijack it with a toy gun seems to qualify for being untrustworthy,” I point out. “What is this custom you spoke of?”

“I can’t show you inside a ship. It has to be on a station or a planet.” She speaks so fast her tongue almost trips over the words.

She’s very scared. Despite myself, I take pity on her. “Not much surprises me, little female. Except maybe my own leniency. I’ve decided to not flush you out into space after all.”

Still she looks up at me, not convinced. “Then what will you do?”

I reach into the gravity discontinuity with one arm and grab her stick. “I will take your money and then set you two off at the station we’re approaching.”

“That is wonderful,” Maeve says with less enthusiasm than I would have expected. “We will not get in your way anymore. May I have my stick back?”

I examine the little stick, making it telescope out to a more useful length. “This is quite a valuable thing. And it’s interesting. But not much of a weapon. You can have it back when we’ve left the ship.”

Maeve unwinds her thick bundle of fabrics. “If you have a better one to lend me or sell to me, I’m sure I would be grateful.”

“I rarely have much need of weapons inside my ship,” I tell her. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.” I’m puzzled. She’s not showing much signs of relief that she’s not going to die after all. Did she know all along that I wouldn’t go through with it? Perhaps. I have other things to concern myself with.

Cerak comes trundling into the lounge. “We’re docked at Maranar Labs. Oh, are they still here? You didn’t flush them like you said?”

“We will let them go on this station, on the condition that they don’t interfere with us again.”

“What’s that?” Maeve asks, staring at Cerak.

“That’s Cerak, another rogue robot,” I tell her as I hit the hatch release. “If you have trash to get rid of, just drop it into him. I’m sure he would have made great friends with your little furball. All right, out you get.”

I hit the button, and the inner door of the airlock hisses open.

Maeve hesitates. “We’re not in space?”

“We’re docked,” I tell her. “If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t be this sneaky about it. I know that must be a hard thing for an Earthling to understand.”

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