Page 6 of Pirate By Parrot

She had been prepared to go all light and airy, but now, she was going to be a thudding monster. She could deal with that.

Marko flew around and shrieked curses until she settled on the wall to watch Mel working out.

* * * *

ALYLA LOOKED AT THEmonitor showing Mel’s activities, and she was growing by leaps and bounds. Her body was under her control, and she wasn’t suffering from the altitude. It was glorious. She had gotten genes from one of the last Skevarik queens. There were other females, but they weren’t what Alyla was looking at. Mel was a warrior in every move, and her body wanted to continue its progress.

Chapter Two

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MEL LOOKED AT HER FRIENDfrom the confines of the tank. “You are sure about this?”

“Yup. Your canister is set for you. You are ready to head off to the supply station, and from there, you will be picked up by the Skevarik. You are going to be asleep the whole time, and Marko is watching over you. She has a bunch of alerts that she can trigger if you go off course or something goes wrong.”

“Okay. It is a cuckoo and canary on Earth to alert and warn of disaster, but I will take a giant parrot in a spaceship.”

“The ship we are sending you in is a heavily armed and armoured drone. It is programmed to get you to that station safely, and from there, you can come out, and you need to call me immediately. I worry.”

“Yes, miss. Send flowers to your mother tomorrow. It’s Mother’s Day, and it’s important that she feel appreciated.”

Alyla stood with the medical team. “Got it. Ready to travel?”

“How long will I be under?”

“Four months. This pod is heavily defended and fully supplied for years. It won’t take years. If we don’t hear from you in five months, we are going to have every seer and tracker that we have in search of you. You will need to remain on heavy-grav worlds, or you will have side effects. The density programming starts the moment you leave here.”

Mel put one hand up, and Alyla clasped it, blinking as they smiled. “Right. Operation mail-order giant commences as soon as I am out, with the expansion pack of a cussing cyber parrot standing by.”

Alyla put her hand down and tucked Mel’s hand back into the capsule. The team went to work, and everything went black.

* * * *

MARKO WATCHED THE STARSgo past. It was wonderful. So many places to fly, and her favourite person to be her companion. It had been kind of Gaia to provide a companion for the strangeness of space, but Melora was a good companion. She was strong, she was funny, and she encouraged vocalizations of any kind.

Marko chuckled and looked through the tiny viewing window in the long tube that held Mel. Mel was changing colour. She was going from her plucked skin colour to a beautiful and vibrant blue with red hands. She was finally looking like she was supposed to be. Her hair was vibrant green in keeping with the contract that Gaia had arranged.

Marko’s feathers had turned glossy silver, but Mel now wore the colours. It was right that they didn’t die. She was going to look splendid. Marko looked to the front of the empty vessel. She wondered what colour Mel’s mate would be.

* * * *

MEL FELT THE CAPSULEblow open and breathed in air that did not smell like Lunar Base. It wasn’t bad, just different.

“Get up, bitch!”Marko was at the edge of the opening and moving from side to side rapidly.

Mel struggled up, and she looked at her limbs in comparison to the opening. She was six inches taller at least, and she felt weighed down.

“Call me!”

She looked around. The shuttle was gone, and the pod was all that was left.

The ceilings of the station she was on were a comfortable twenty feet, and a light was cascading further into the hallways, letting Marko lead the way. The silvery wings were definitely developed, and Mel staggered after her, bracing herself on the wall as she followed her buddy.

The lights in the station kept directing her, and she moved slowly until a com unit was found under the grip of Marko’s claws. Marko was squawking, and Mel staggered to the terminal and put in the code for the lunar station.

She braced herself against the wall, and to her amusement, a chair whirred in. Surprisingly, it was scaled for her.

“Thank you.”

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