Page 65 of Savage Union

I tried again.

“Surely I won’t be much use at the negotiations. I don’t even know anything about the Salashions or their customs and practices. I don’t even know what theylooklike!”

“They’re humanoid with purple skin and the males are completely hairless,” he said briskly. “The females have hair down to their ankles. Oh, and they all have four arms apiece and extremely long noses.”

“You still haven’t told me why I’m going with you,” I pointed out. I was still upset with him for being cold to me after I putoff his advances. It wasn’t my fault that I couldn’t give him free access to my body. Goddess, how I wanted to! But I justcouldn’t.

“You’re coming so I can keep an eye on you,” he growled, frowning. “Goddess knows, this would be the perfect time for Jerx or Gurflug to try and take their revenge. And even if they didn’t, Gallion Five is home to some pretty scary animals. You can’t go wandering around a strange planet by yourself and expect to be safe.”

“Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Then I’ll stay right here in the ship and just read.”

I wasn’t going to do that, of course—I wanted to explore! But it might get him off my back until he left the ship.

But Turk shook his head again.

“Don’t think so, little one. What if Jerx or Gurflug come back early and catch you alone? No, you’re coming with me.”

It seemed there was no way I could talk him out of it—though if I had known what was to follow, I would have tried a lot harder. Sighing, I straightened my uniform and followed him out into the busy spaceport.

At the time, I thought there was nothing else I could do.

39

JESSINA

Turk hadn’t been lying when he said that Gallion Five was home to some scary looking animals. The minute we disembarked from The Illyrian, we came face to face with a creature that would have given even the bravest soul nightmares.

It was about twice the size of a tiger from Old Earth and it was covered in short, bristling spikes that looked sharp enough to impale yourself on. The spikes were gray, as were the creature’s eyes when it looked at me.

“Here now, here now!” a man standing beside the menacing beast called to us. “I’ve a rare chance for you, Captain—come get a picture with the spiker! You and your lady will treasure it forever as a keepsake.”

“This is my navigator,notmy lady,” Turk growled. “And we don’t want to get close to a creature that could take your head off in one fucking bite.”

“Ah, but you have no need to worry! All my spikers are kept sedated. See?” The man waved two of his four arms at a collar fixed around the massive beast’s neck. “See? A sedation collar. Why, he’s half asleep—too content to be bothered with biting anyone’s head off.”

His skin was deep purple and he was completely bald, I noticed. Apparently he was a Salashion—he looked just like Turk had described them, right down to his extra long, rather blobby nose.

“Still not interested,” Turk said, turning away.

“Well maybe you’d be interested in a can of spiker repellent, then?” the man asked in a wheedling tone. “It doesn’t do to get caught out in the city without it. There are plenty of wild spikers that aren’t wearing sedation collars, you know! You get too near and they’re like this!”

He pounded suddenly on the spiker’s shoulder with a close fist, which seemed to bring the creature to life. It stretched its neck and growled—a deep, frightening sound I could feel in my bones. At the same time, it rattled its spikes in a way that almost sounded like a thousand rattlesnakes from Old Earth. The spikes went reddish-orange and the beast’s eyes were suddenly like flames.

The display stopped me cold. Were there really more of these beasts wandering loose around the city? Should we be concerned?

But Turk shook his head again and patted his hip, where his blaster was clipped.

“Thanks, but I’m armed.”

The man seemed to be trying to sell us something else, but Turk took me by the elbow and steered me pointedly away. He kept his hand on me, guiding me through the spaceport and I let him. There were plenty of strange faces and vendors selling their wares packed into the small space—I didn’t want to get lost from him.

At last we made it through the noisy, crowded spaceport and out onto the street. Turk hailed a hovercab at once—at least their vehicles seemed to work the same as ours—and we got inside.

“That was pretty scary—the spiker, I mean,” I ventured, as he dug through his pockets for some of the odd, square coins the Salashions used as currency and inserted them into the slot right behind the windshield.

“Nah—as long as you take transport wherever you’re going, you’re fine,” he said casually. “You just don’t want to be caught out wandering the side streets and alleys. The Salashions have crews that go catch most of the spikers, but they always miss a few and that’s where they tend to hide.”

“Oh,” I said faintly. “All right.”

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