Susix, p.10
Susix, page 10
Movement from my bad side had me turning. Hissy was standing at the back of the med bay staring at us from behind a cabinet. I had forgotten about her in all the stress and high emotion. It looked like Huzzar’s passionate speech had frightened her. He did tend to get loud when he got worked up.
Hissy ducked behind the cabinet when she noticed my stare. “There goes all of the goodwill I’ve built,” I sighed.
Vesex pat my arm, “Huzzar is the one who was yelling. You’re the nice doctor who feeds her. If anyone should be worried about their goodwill dying up, it should be Huzzar. She’ll be your pet before we get home.” He gave me a wink to let me know that he was needling Huzzar.
Huzzar gasped when he realized we were talking about Hissy. “She will not! She is my pet. Hissy? Come here, girl!”
“Huzzar, leave the thing be,” Vesex cut in. “I have an assignment for you.” At that, Huzzar stopped calling for Hissy and turned to our Prime.
“Yes?” Huzzar hissed with interest.
“We can still catch them unaware,” Vesex stated.
Huzzar nodded shrewdly, “There’s no way in frozen Thesius that Mathie was spotted. They don’t realize that we’re on to them.”
Vesex hissed in agreement. “I’m moving the Crown. I would hate for our safe to be sitting empty. Would you please think of something to put in it?”
Huzzar’s smile turned devious, “You know I love surprises.”
“You’re very good at them,” Vesex complimented. He stood, “I’m excited to see what you think of.”
Vesex and I left Huzzar while he tried to coax Hissy over to him. I walked Vesex to the door. Luckily, Huzzar was making too much noise to hear us as we whispered.
“How are we planning on deflecting an ambush?” The idea seemed impossible. There was so much we didn’t know. They could be hiding anywhere between here and Susurex. That was a lot of space.
Vesex wrapped his tail around mine, trying to ease my worry. “Hix is planning a new path that should keep us away from the usual trade routes. We’re hoping that Serex hasn’t pinpointed where we are and is waiting to catch us at a port. If that is not the case, then it is a good thing that I just gave Seethur free access to our accounts. He will restock our weapons and buy anything else at the market on Katotic 5 that catches his eye.”
I hissed, whipping my head up to look Vesex in the eye. “You two aren’t planning on taking us through the Graveyard again, are you?”
The Graveyard was an expanse of three planets that were about to collide. They were still a few million rotations from impacting. Their differing gravitational pulls made the area challenging for most ships to traverse. The real problem was that the planets themselves were volatile. There were rings of debris and surface storms so violent that they affected anything around them. One of the planets had a pair of moons that had crashed into each other. The only way to get past them was to go through the broken satellites.
We had traveled through it once, and it had nearly killed Hix. To pilot, Hix needed to be directly connected to the ship’s computer via his neuro-comm. Being plugged into the navigational system put an immense strain on his body. We had been in better shape when we had made the trip before. Now our ship had traveled through lots of space. Our bodies had gone through so much. It would be more difficult now.
The Graveyard was a risky bet people made when they were desperate. Were we that desperate? I looked at Huzzar with his damaged eyes. My body drooped. Yeah, we were that desperate. We had more to lose now that we had the Crown.
I made a quiet purring sound, “So we will be armed to the scales. That is reassuring.” I looked up at him, “What is my job?”
He smiled at me sweetly, “Be prepared to take care of us, no matter what happens. Feel free to drain our coffers until you feel comfortable achieving that goal. I will give you the same lecture I gave Seethur. Our money will mean nothing if the Serex Nest becomes the next Sovereign. So, if you want to buy new equipment, do it. If you think we need an upgrade for our neuro-comms, get it. That is your job.”
I nodded with a sigh. He squeezed my tail before disengaging, “We have come this far.”
“We can make it the rest of the way,” I assured him.
Chapter Six
Cece
Life was not boring living with giant snake men. It was a drastic change from the life I had been living for the last few months. The throne room had been quiet. The aliens had ignored me as much as they possibly could. This place was much more active. People came and went all day long. They talked all day. At one point, the doctor, Meyer, and the big boss snake man had gotten into a heated argument that ended up being pretty loud.
Back in my cage, I had been desperate for stimulation. For someone to talk to. At one point, I would have done horrible things for ambient noise. The sound of people working, a busy street, anything. The ship was too much, too fast. I went from being in solitary confinement for weeks to being surrounded by loud, touchy-feely snake aliens. I was feeling overwhelmed.
It did not help that Meyer was suddenly very clingy. Something had upset him yesterday, and he had been my shadow ever since. For the first time in my life, I sympathized with cats. Owners who wanted to pet you all the time were the worst.
He would rub his hands together and then hold them out to me. It took me a few times to figure out what he was doing. I finally caught on that it was the snake man version of saying, “Here, kitty, kitty!”
“Hsse,” he breathed. My shoulders slumped. “Hssssee,” he whined again. I hunched over. “Hsse.” That was the name the aliens had given me. I did not know what it meant. I did know that if I ignored it, Meyer would only get louder. “Hsse!”
I stomped over to where he was lying on the cot. Meyer’s tongue flicked out as I got closer. His arm moved, trying to sense where I was. I bent my head. His claws began running through my hair. He started to talk. Whatever he was, it sounded happy.
I just let him pet me. It seemed to keep him busy. If he wasn’t annoying me, he was annoying the doctor, which usually ended in loud hissing. So, I threw the doctor a bone and stood by Meyer for a bit.
I sensed the doctor walk toward us. I liked the doctor. He was kind. He stopped next to me and began petting my head in tandem with Meyer. I tried not to sigh.
After a few pets, the doctor stood back and started talking to Meyer. Whatever he said had Meyer untangling himself from my hair and sitting up. The doctor stepped forward to grab him. The smaller male batted the doctor’s hands away. He shimmied to the edge of the bed and held out his hand.
He is not about to-
“Hsse.” He said like a command. When I didn’t come, he shook his hand, “Hsse.”
The lemon tree-looking jerk wanted me to be his seeing-eye human. He wasn’t even being nice about it. He was expecting me to just do it. My head dropped back, “Why me?”
The doctor laughed at my groan. I shot him a nasty look. His tongue bounced up and down in amusement. With a sigh, I stepped up to Meyer and let him wrap an arm around my shoulder. I practically fell over when he used his entire body weight to stand up.
Meyer made some baby noises at me. His lips pursed like he was making the snake version of a kissy face. He pet my head. He gestured for the doctor to lead the way.
My heart rate picked up when I realized we were leaving the hospital area. Meyer and I had been in the little clinic since arriving on the ship. He hadn’t seemed to mind being stuck there. Most of the time, he slept, which probably helped the time pass.
I, on the other hand, was getting antsy. Suddenly, I had a lot more freedom than I’d had in a long time. I wanted to explore my surroundings.
The doctor touched the panel beside the main entrance and the door opened with a swish. The doctor and Meyer talked while we walked into a narrow tunnel-shaped hall. It was brighter out here. The soft white light brought out the gleaming silver of the paneled walls. I noticed some of the panels had bright yellow markings on them.
My socks snagged on something. I looked down as we kept moving. The floors were matte black with a textured finish. It almost felt like walking across sandpaper. No matter where I stepped, my socks kept getting caught on them.
The hallway felt almost chilly compared to the balmy clinic. It was still warm, but it wasn’t a moist heat like before. It felt like I had just walked out of a rainforest exhibit on a dry summer day. After sweating for the last two days straight, the hallways felt like heaven. There was even a slight breeze.
The doctor stopped in front of another door. He reached for the keypad next to it. My eyes were glued to his black claws as he punched in a code—top left-bottom left-center-bottom center. The door slid open.
I started chanting the sequence in my head over and over again. If I memorized it, I could open this door. And who knows, maybe the code was universal and worked on the other doors? See, you’re getting smarter, I thought with a chuckle.
A woosh of hot air hit me in the face. The smell was so pungent that I coughed. The two aliens startled at the sound. I didn’t bother reassuring them that I wasn’t about to attack. I couldn’t breathe. I let go of Meyer and covered my mouth and nose with both arms. The smell of my skin and musty clothes cut through the stench.
It did not get rid of it. I kept trying to bury my nose further into my mildewy jacket. Anything was better than being assaulted by a smell I have only encountered at state fairs in the hot tents filled with exotic animals. It was potent enough to knock me back.
Meyer said something to the doctor. Whatever the doctor said back had Meyer puffing up like an offended bird. He made a sharp noise and stomped into the room. The doctor used his arm to gently force me to follow Meyer. I almost sprinted in the other direction. Whatever was in this room stank. I did not want to see what it was. I did not have a choice as the doctor pushed me in.
It turned out to be a room. A very messy room.
Meyer kept stomping until he reached a bed with crumpled sheets. I was surprised that he was able to make it to the bed without tripping. Especially considering he was blind right now. There were piles of fabric all over the floor. I had to watch where I stepped to keep from getting tangled. As I glanced around the room, I realized it was probably because this was his room. I had only known Meyer for a few days, but this room had him written all over it.
There were no overhead lights. A strip of yellow lighting ran along the ceiling, barely keeping the shadows away. The walls were grey-green. It made the space feel smaller. The scattered mounds of clothing and shoes added to the feeling.
The room had strange dimensions. It was long but not very deep. I could touch the front door and back wall if I stretched my arms as far as they would go. There was enough space at the foot of the bed for a strange curved chair. The other side of the room had a doorway. I didn’t see any drawers or cabinets.
The doctor spoke with Meyer while I looked around. He fiddled with something by the front door. I felt the air start to circulate. Immediately, the smell of dirty reptiles lessened. I couldn’t help sagging in relief. Meyer huffed from the bed.
“Hsse,” the doctor called. When I looked at him, he said something and made a sharp hand gesture. I had no idea what he was telling me. He did the whole thing over again. I couldn’t watch him pantomime whatever he was trying to communicate one more time. So, I copied his hand motion hoping he would stop.
With my palm facing the floor, I rotated my wrist gently. The doctor bobbed his head from side to side excitedly. He repeated the same word as he made the motion. It was obvious that he was trying to get me to do something. Or maybe he was telling me something. Too bad I had no idea what a twisty wrist meant.
He seemed satisfied with my copying skills because he turned back toward Meyer. After a quick conversation between the two, the doctor left. Meyer covered his whole body with the blanket. It looked like he was going back to sleep.
I stood there for a minute, waiting for something to happen. The doctor didn’t come back. Meyer didn’t move. Nothing happened.
I had no idea where the doctor went but based on the sounds coming from the bed, Meyer had fallen asleep. Whatever was going on with his skin was making him tired. He had slept during most of our time on the ship. I would have thought that was just a trait of his species. However, the other snake people didn’t need nearly as much rest—poor guy.
Once I was doubly sure that Meyer was asleep, I tip-toed to the main door. If I could get to the digital screen, I knew I could type in the code the doctor had used to open it. All of the piles did not make it easy. I had to jump from clean spot to clean spot. Once I got to the door, I waited. Meyer kept making hissing little exhales.
Standing on my toes and keeping one eye on the snake in the bed, I typed in the sequence I saw the doctor put in. The screen flashed red. Unperturbed, I typed it in again. Red flash. I tried a different sequence just in case I had remembered it wrong. Red flash. I tried a different pattern. Red flash. At some point, I gave up trying to remember the sequences of symbols. I just started punching in random symbols hoping the damn door would open. By the time I threw in the towel, I was frustrated and had to pee.
With a huff, I stomped to the only other door in the room. That had to be the bathroom, right? When I touched the pad that opened the interior doors, nothing happened. That was the last straw. I slapped my hand on the panel over and over again. The door didn’t budge.
Heaving in a frustrated breath, I dropped my head. I was going to have to wake up Meyer. Then I would have to play charades to let him know that I needed to use the bathroom. I was terrible at charades, and he was currently blind. This wasn’t going to end well.
It might be less embarrassing to find a corner to pee in. I mean, I was their pet. Pets had accidents. They wouldn’t be embarrassed. I thought about it for longer than I probably should have. Ultimately, I could do it if I needed to. I wanted to try and get Meyer to open the bathroom door first.
Meyer had curled himself into a lumpy mass at the center of the bed. I couldn’t tell where his head was. His blanket was too fluffy. Everything looked about head size.
I’d woken up enough roommates to know that ripping the blanket off would not work out in my favor. Instead, I picked the safest looking mass and gave him a shake.
The blanket exploded in action. Meyer shot up, screaming. I scrambled back, falling on my ass. A green hand shot out, hitting something on the wall.
The bed dropped into the floor. It was so quick. I barely had time to open my mouth before it disappeared into a black hole. I shrieked when the floor closed, trapping Meyer inside.
Scrambling over clothes, I clawed my way to where the bed used to be. Frantically, I ran my fingers over the metal floor. I couldn’t feel a seam in the pieces. They fit together perfectly. I couldn’t even tell if this was the right place anymore. Maybe it was two inches to the left? I started pounding on the floor.
“Meyer! Are you there? Can you hear me?” I put my ear to the floor, hoping I would hear something.
Nothing.
“I’m here, Meyer! I’m right here. I’m going to break that stupid digital panel thing. Hopefully, that will set off an alarm.”
Seethur
I opened the last drawer despite knowing what I would find. I took my job very seriously, and that meant being thorough. Even when it literately stunk.
I activated my neuro-comm. Vesex answered immediately. “What happened?”
I didn’t bother asking how he knew it was bad news. Why else would I be contacting him? “One of the freeze cabinets malfunctioned. All of the fesik’s meal in it has rotted.”
“Lovely,” Vesex said with false excitement. “How are the air filters handling the smell?”
Fesiks were small, furry creatures that we bred for food. They reproduced quickly and in large numbers. They were easy to care for.
The food they ate was vile. We kept it frozen to limit the smell. Having an entire freeze cabinet full of rotten fesik food was almost unbearable.
“They’re not.” The bastard laughed. The smell was strong enough to clog up the top of my mouth, making it impossible to scent anything else. I had the most sensitive sense of smell out of our whole nest. This was a frozen nightmare. I would need to clear my scent passages if I wanted to smell anything again. I might need to flush my heat pits at this point. The stench was sticking to everything.
Vesex finally stopped laughing. “Do you know why it malfunctioned?”
I pulled out one of the drawers, careful not to spill the gelatinous mass of rotten meal. At the back of the cabinet was a panel of metallic connectors. I didn’t see any scorch marks. It didn’t look wet. That was as far as my electric diagnostics skills went. “I can’t tell.”
Vesex sighed. “I’ll get Hix down there to help. We need to know what part we have to replace before we reach Katotic 5. He’ll be thrilled.”
My tail flickered slowly in amusement. Hix was not happy about being assigned to the cockpit during our inventory. He had brought it up every chance he could. He would be excited to hear that he was being let out of his hole. His rattle would be insufferable for the first little bit.
The safety pod alarm blared overhead. I tensed at the sudden noise.
“Roll call,” Vesex barked through our comms.
“Seethur, here.”
“Seph, here.”
“Hix, here.”
Everyone waited for Huzzar to sound off. When he didn’t, Vesex swore.
“I knew that frozen pet was a bad idea,” he muttered.
I began jogging to Huzzar’s room.
“I pulled up the video feed in his room,” Hix said. “I can’t see Huzzar. Hissy is trying to tear apart the floor above the emergency pod’s escape hatch. I’m guessing that means Huzzar is in the pod.” His voice rose slightly at the end, revealing his uncertainty.
