Page 27 of Alien Peacock

“Greetings, Arelion,” the alien creaks in accented Interspeech. “You’ve been looking for me.”

Arelion pulls me behind him in a protective move I can’t help liking.

“I have, Archmagus Yomeran. You’ve led me around the galaxy for a good while.”

The alien leans to the side to look me up and down. “What attractive company you keep. We Fire Mages are out of the wedding business, if that’s the reason for your pursuit.”

“It’s not,” Arelion says. “This is Maeve. Maeve, I would like to introduce Archmagus Yomeran, a highly esteemed Fire Mage and Master of the Interspatial Arcana.”

I straighten up and give the alien a little wave, only slightly embarrassed about my reaction. “Hi.”

He returns my wave with a big, four-fingered hand with two thumbs. “Hi yourself, Maeve. I see you’re from Earth. This is notthe place to be for females like you. But then, I would struggle to come up with any better place.”

“You knew I was looking for you, Archmagus?” Arelion asks, his voice neutral. “And yet you did nothing to make my search any easier.”

“I can guess why you wanted to see me,” the alien says, still leaning up against the wall, “and I wanted to see how much you want it.”

“Are you satisfied that I want it enough?”

The alien stifles a yawn with one hand. “Perhaps. Keep in mind that you have not always wanted it at all.”

Arelion gently pulls me behind him again, as if he expects trouble. “Things have changed.”

The archmagus gives a single nod. “I seem to have led you practically to your death. Outside in that hallway, the owners of the station are waiting for you two. They have set up some quite heavy weapons out there. Your ship is of course lost forever. You have no chance of getting away. They will kill you and take the female to sell. And I can’t help but feel that perhaps I am partly responsible for this.”

“Partly?” Arelion asks, some anger seeping into his voice. “I would never have come to this damnedvoidof a station if I didn’t think you’d be here!”

“Precisely my point.”

Arelion’s fists tighten, and it looks like he wants to explode, but he reins himself in. “If we somehow get out, do you agree to help me with the business back at Eo?”

Yomeran gives me an amused look, as if he and I are in on some kind of joke. “I promise nothing. I haven’t looked that closely into it. But if I happen to be in that general area of space, and I have time, and I’m feeling so inclined, I might come by and makesomethinghappen.”

I don’t understand much of the conversation. The archmagus seems bored and uninterested, and I don’t think I like him much. There’s something about him that makes him seem unstable.

“That’s a lot ofifs,” Arelion calmly points out. “And none of it mattersifwe don’t get away from here.”

The alien stretches and starts walking towards the door. “Uncertainty is a fundamental property of the universe,” he drawls. “Theifis a main part of everything you see. And so, we shouldn’t be surprised when we see it crop up everywhere.” He pushes a button, and the door slides open. “For now, I will reduce theifabout your continued survival. That will have to be paid for with additional uncertainty elsewhere. I will try to make it entertaining.”

“Thank you,” Arelion growls as he takes my hand. We walk over to the door.

“Entertaining forme, I mean.” The archmagus steps out into the hallway. “Remain behind me until I vanish. Then your next course of action should be obvious.”

We stay behind him. Looking past his tall, spindly form, I spot a group of black-clad aliens at the other end of the hallway. They’ve set up two big tripods with mean-looking weapons on top of them.

Arelion freezes. “This looks like a trap.”

“It is,” the alien says as he walks, not turning his head. “The whole station is on a war footing now. They won’t give up until they kill you. Every part is guarded. Movement is restricted inside the station, except in the experiment area you just came from.”

We follow the alien as he walks along the hallway, straight towards the weapons.

“Is that why you dragged me here?” Arelion asks. “To make me go through those experiments?”

“I thought it would be entertaining,” the archmagus says lightly. “And I was right. The gravity room made me laugh. But honestly I never thought you'd survive that last room, with the intensity of the pheromones in there. Many reckless explorers, both in pairs and in groups, have stayed there and done nothing but mate until they've starved to death or died from exhaustion. Once they start their… hm…amorous activities, they tend to enter a trance they normally can’t break out of. According to the records, you're the first couple to escape on your own. It must have taken great self-control, and that's why I'm still here. Perhaps youareworthy of that position you seek. It would be a rare thing.”

“Rare indeed,” Arelion agrees and gives me a tight smile, as if I know what the hell they're talking about.

I would ask, but we're not out of this. I expect the aliens to start shooting at any moment, but they just stand there, chatting with each other. It’s as if they can’t see us.

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