Page 43 of Bred by the Alien Prince

“Who is that?”

“Nothing.” He said dismissively. “Some character from an old movie in my home world.”

“Ah, I’ve had a glimpse of those.”

“Yeah, well, the only time I wish to return to Earth is to pick shit up. I have no attachments to that place.”

“I see.” He was like me. I loved my home planet, but nothing was there for me; it made me wonder why I wanted to rule it.

“But you should be careful,” he said over the static of the comms. "Caspian spoke about an invasion. We humans tend to adapt to harsh times, but we also lose ourselves in the process. It won’t be as easy as you think. Hell, just coming up here had people trying to blow everything up.”

“Maybe they sensed the danger.”

“Maybe, but with all the aliens out here, you guys probably would have found us, anyway. At least if we’re already up here, there’s a chance.”

I laughed. “I thought you said you didn’t care.”

“How am I supposed to make money if humans are crippled or destroyed? Hell, a war would be the most lucrative time of my career.”

“Well, aren’t you the savvy one?”

We were coming up to orbit the orange-swirling planet.

“Wow, it looks like an orange crème icicle.” The human chuckled amusedly.

“Human. Click on the planet in the nav system and read off the location coordinates given by your mistress.”

He groaned. “12. 15. 90. And I don’t work for her.”

“Good job,” I said, ignoring him; the fact that he didn’t try to kill me the entire time we were up here was making me begin to believe him… a little. But I knew men like him, they were opportunistic more than anything, likely to sell you out for a few extra credits than to betray for nefarious means. Perhaps that is what made me trust him more, it meant he wasn't anybody's man but his own.

“The temps are wild here! Just as hot as Venus!” The human exclaimed as I lowered us into the atmosphere and guided us close enough to the massive airship structure hovering in the skies. I magnified the location and spotted large security drones hovering over the ship in a pattern, most likely to protect it from invaders. I left the seat and headed to the main room, where the human stood on the podium. "Maybe I spoke too soon…" The human said once we exited the searing heat of the upper atmosphere to the more temperate climate below.

I grabbed my gun and checked my spare cartridges. Instinctively, I checked the locker nearby and found a few unused cartridges and a sidearm. I don’t know what someone used this ship for, but the previous owners left some nice gear behind. I shielded my face behind my helm.

“Good luck.” The human waved goodbye.

CHAPTER 17

Ididn’twanttotrust him with my ship, but I had no choice. I placed the sidearm in his hand. “The top trigger is for charging the weapon; the second is for firing; each charge will give you four rounds on a small gun such as this; altogether, you have about fifty rounds. Here’s an extra.” I placed the extra cartridge in his hand.

“Wait, why give this to me?”

“That lever is to throttle, pull back, and it decelerates. The red switch at the top dumps fuel; don’t touch it in your frenzy, or you will crash and die.”

“Hey!”

“You can pull an image of the nav table from the pilot’s chair if you need some direction.”

“Hold on here, what’s going on?”

“Focus on the fact that I’m letting the ship get closer to that massive one there, and soon—” The ship shook and rocked us both about; I held on to the handle above the airlock. "Begin flying the ship. Get us away from those drones.” I entered the airlock as he beat his feet to the pilot’s chair.

I was just where I wanted to be, and I opened the door and allowed the heavy winds to blow my body until I smacked and rolled on top of the body of the enormous machine. My body ached from the fall, and I hope I broke nothing, though my arm is fractured. I was going to have to fight through it.

I looked up. All twelve drones chased the ship as it swerved in dips and dives. If he sucked and crashed and died on the surface, then I hoped this ship carried a shuttle inside to escape; if not, then I hoped Caspian was alive because being alone surrounded by corpses would be a horribly dull way to spend my very long life.

The winds were strong, but nothing I couldn’t face.

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