“Your hull has been breached.”
And I had developed a severe left yaw. Before I could look for a landing site, a glittering blue light engulfed me. It felt like my molecules were being taken apart.
Chapter Ten
My molecules abruptly stopped whizzing about. The light faded, and I was sitting on an ice-cold platform. I quickly checked to see if I had all my parts. Two hands, ten fingers, two arms, and two legs. The best yet, no foreign objects protruded from my forehead, and I hadn’t transformed into a human fly.
I could feel KeeKee mucking about in my goopy hair and let out a big sigh of relief. We had made it, and maybe I should cut back on watching old horror movies.“You okay, KeeKee?”
“Me ’kay. He scary.”
I looked up. Sariel, the Askole High Commander was studying me intently. He bared his rather awesome fangs in a ferocious smile.“Your piloting skills are unusual.”
“I’m alive. The wannabes and eight hundred Tai-Kok aren’t.”I got to my feet.
“An interesting claim.”
“Fact. Ask Voss if you need verification on the Tai-Kok kills.”
“Female warriors are rare.”
“Not on Earth.”
“Your species is unique.”Sariel’s tentacles knotted and unknotted. The High Commander didn’t seem happy to have me on his ship.
“Why did you save me? I thought I wasn’t proper mate material. You know, being child-size and weak.”
His eyes narrowed.“You are my son’s chosen.”
“Don’t you need another blood test to prove that?”
“The mental connection has already been completed.”
It had? Yikes! That did explain my growing attraction to tentacles. They were soft and silky and doubled as sex toys.
KeeKee dropped down on my shoulder.“Me hungry.”
Sariel pointed a scanner at me.“No food until you have been decontaminated and your injuries healed.”He pushed a lever. The transporter light grabbed us and presto! We were standing in the Askole version of a sick bay.
“I could have walked.”I knew my tone was surly, but my give-a-damn button was busted. I didn’t like my molecules being spread hither and yon. If there had been a transporter malfunction, my cells would be lost in space. Forever.
Sariel’s voice was equally surly.“I cannot allow you to contaminate my ship.”
Or taint the Askole race?“Take me back to Earth, and you’ll be rid of me.”
“It is too late for that option. You have started the change and will soon be Askole.”
Fuck. Tentacles, scales, and fangs. A horrible thought hit me.“My hair!”
“Serves no purpose.”
“I like my hair, and I don’t want tentacles.”
“What you want is irrelevant. Do as Yann commands.”Sariel broke our link.
My jaw dropped as a pygmy Askole walked up to me, a bio scanner in one hand. At five foot two, I was a couple of inches taller than him.
“I am Yann the medic.”