Page 15 of Riding His Spaceship

Jeez. The galaxy sounded as shitty a place as Earth. “And you think that by working this take-it-it’s-your-funeral kind of case by yourself with a clueless human as your slave, exotic pet, armpiece, or whatever, you’ll what? Solve the galaxy’s abduction problem? Ple-ase!”

At that point Dargus stopped pacing and moved her way. Confidently, with determination written all over his face. She hadn’t seen that side of him yet, and it was… impressive.

Emilia just stood there, staring at the approaching alien like a deer in headlights.

He stopped a step away from her, his gaze intense. “If everyone simply gives up, things will never get better, Lia. I owe it to the thousands of victims and their families to at least try to put a stop to this. Plus, I have a solid plan.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. “Which involves me playing a role? Pretending to be something I’m not?”

He nodded, seemingly content she finally understood.

She understood, all right.

“You’re going to get us both killed.”

He passed a hand over his face. “I won’t. I’ve thought this through to the last detail.”

“Like you thought my abduction through?”

He groaned. “It was not supposed to be an abduction! I was going to show you my ship so that you would accept I’m an alien right away. And hear my offer out without questioning my sanity. Who on Terra wouldn’t take the opportunity to see the stars, to fly across the galaxy?”

Emilia couldn’t believe this. “So, it's my fault I was abducted? Because I didn’t want to ‘ride your ship’?”

He sighed. “I didn’t say it was your fault. If anything, it was the fault of the info I read on Terran flir-ting customs. I said what I had learned word by word, but by the time it became clear to me that what I was saying had some double meaning, it was already too late.”

She sighed too. Flirting was a science she found difficult to master; she could imagine what it was like for an extraterrestrial. “Do you know what you were implying with that ship ride offer? You basically asked me to come ride your dick.”

His tail froze, and his black pupils nearly took over the unique yellow shade of his irises. “I was offering claiming?”

Emilia cleared her throat.

“I apologize, I had no idea!”

“Next, you said your dick was big.”

He placed his tail over his eyes in reaction, which she interpreted as embarrassment. “I was simply referring to my ship. TheDickionis, as you can see for yourself, big.”

Her eyebrows flew up yet again. “Dickion?”

“Yes, why are you looking at me like that? Ah, the translator chip must be failing here. The word is in my mother’s tribe’s dialect, which has not been recorded in any database. ‘Dickion’ means ‘standing big and proud’. You know, like…” something changed in his eyes before he finished, “a person who never gives up. Do you give up so easily, Lia?”

Not that reverse psychology trick again!“I don’t give up easily, but I’m also not suicidal. You’ve picked the wrong Terran for the job, Dargus.”

A small smile spread across his face, which, Emilia had to admit, no longer looked so alien to her. “On the contrary, I think my auxiliary brain’s sixth sense did not mislead me when it told me to pick you.” Before she could ask how many brains he actually had, he continued with, “You’ll do perfectly.”

She snorted and shook her head. “You’re delusional. The woman you need for this job should be a good actress, someone comfortable in her own skin, someone… cunning, even.”

His smile grew. “You’re a cunning female.”

Is he mocking me? Or is he simply that bad at reading ‘females’?“Cunning female, my ass. Do you even know what that is?”

Dargus had the audacity to point at her with his tail and a yellow-claw-tipped finger.

Something in her snapped. This had started badly, had become amusing for a bit, but now? Now it was a ridiculousness fest, one her parents, friends, and bright future would be paying the price for.

Ifshe had a future ahead of her. Because Emilia’s only brain and third eye and sixth sense were all telling her the same thing right now: if she stayed on this ship –namedDickion, for pity’s sake– she was as good as dead.

She raised her chin at Dargus. “You truly believe I’m the woman for this job? Good enough an actress when my life depends on it?”

---