The following weeks passed without anything special happening. I had a run in with Kal a few times. I expected overflowing awkwardness, but in reality, it was a perfectly normal conversation. Probably Kal had experience with these situations. She diffused the uncomfortable air between us with a few simple sentences.

Work was boring as hell, but something very positive about it was that I had all the time to properly prepare myself for the Basic Spaceship Control Examination. It was 20k credits to apply, so I damn well wanted to be ready to pass it. Luckily I managed to reach the required amount of points. No matter what Genna said, one point above the mark is still above the mark. The little shit kept her word and didn’t help me even when I went all out persuader. Never begging to her again.

On the money front, I was more than doing well. I sent out a few more rounds of my dear old Rabunde’s letters, and I always managed to get people baited… I mean convinced about his dire needs. My side business wasn’t doing bad either. I rarely had the opportunity to go to house deliveries, and sometimes the location didn’t accommodate action, but when I had the chance, I always took a few something-something from the neighbors. Of course, I kept myself to items that weren't necessary or essential to their owners and only took a few things at a time. I didn’t want to draw a lot of attention and most importantly because I didn’t want to piss off Genna too much. She was a real trooper because even though she gnashed her virtual teeth every time I did this she didn’t report me or nag me endlessly about it. It felt a little weird that she was reluctantly but still going with my stupid shits. Shouldn’t an A.I. be more… I don’t know… principled? I wasn’t complaining; I was endlessly happy I had Genna with me, it just felt a little weird.

Anyway, my little enterprise was going slowly but surely. Kevin helped whenever I asked, and he was quite happy to take over the leftover parts. Lately, I started to give him some credits too. Even though I kept myself back, I still got plenty of money from this. As I came to know a lot of people liked tinkering in their spare time. Just like Kevin. Maybe it wasn’t a lot, but there were a lot, and I mean a lot of people in a Space Empire. I’ve done most of my business in the mushroom people’s system, but I got a few orders from some other parts of this galaxy. The delivery fee was double the item’s price, and I didn’t have to pay for it on my part since I could just piggyback my workplace for free deliveries. Sadly, I didn’t get any orders from other galaxies. That would have been a goldmine.

All in all, The Menacing Duck was doing pretty well. I earned more from it than from my job. I thought about quitting at some point, but then I realized how idiotic I could be at times. If I didn’t have the delivery job how would I get stuff to sell on The Menacing Duck? Bah…

In my spare time, I had a lazy life. Eating, sleeping, watching documentaries, chatting with Genna. Told her about the World Wars and several other historical events. I described countless animals from Earth and how different areas of the planet looked like. I was an avid documentary watcher, so I had a lot to talk about. It kind of made me sad since all of those species were pretty much extinct now. There were none left. It quickly became depressing for me to talk about them but Genna was eager to learn more. It felt like she had great pleasure in learning stuff that others didn’t know about yet.

After I aced my test like a champion I’ve had more time on my hand and I started to get really bored again. I was thinking about getting some knowledge about tech stuff. Wouldn’t be bad if I could do what Kevin was doing. Cutting out the middleman would be a wise decision, and I didn’t think it was that hard to learn.

Maybe a year and I would have enough money to buy myself a simple shuttle that could go around this galaxy at least. I was eagerly looking forward to it. Maybe I could make a few hiking trips around this planet meanwhile. Wouldn’t hurt to see what’s there to see if I’m already here.

One day like every other I was lazing around on the couch and chatting with Genna before work.

[No, no, no. You don’t have to meet him in person. You could go mad even from dreaming about him,] I explained.

[Makes no sense. How could a being so powerful like that go unnoticed?]

[Because he’s sleeping in his green city under the ocean.]

[If he’s not from Earth originally then why-] Genna started but cut herself off. [Aium, there’s a call for you,] she said.

I looked at the holoscreen, but there was no notification.

[I can’t see-]

[It’s a personal call,] she added.

[What? From whom?]

[Roka Beferent.]

[The mustache guy from the spaceport? What the fuck?! Accept it.]

There was a pleasant humming sound in my mind that indicated that I connected to the call.

[Good day Mr. Aium, I’m Roka Beferent. We’ve met at the spaceport a while back; I reckon you remember me?]

[Yeah, hello. What’s up?]

[I would like to invite you to my office for a little chat,] he said with a small cough.

[We can chat now.]

[I’d like to have this conversation in person if you don’t mind.]

There was a short silence from me. I didn’t like where this was going.

[What do you want to chat about?] I asked while emphasizing the word 'chat'.

[It concerns your arrival to our spaceport.]

Fucking shit and piss and monkey balls! I knew something was bound to happen; it was way too peaceful recently. Everything was going so well… of course, shit had to hit the fan.

[Nah, I don’t have time for this. I have work and other stuff you know,] I declared.

[Mr. Aium, I insist that we have this meeting and as soon as possible,] he said in a low voice.

[Some other time mate. Bye!]

Bye was my keyword for Genna to cut the line.

“FUCK!” I shouted into the room. I balled up my fists, and I was ready to smash the table in two… or my hand into pieces on the table. I didn't care one bit.

[Aium! Don’t you dare break anything!] Genna shouted at me.

Her surprisingly loud voice in my head stopped me in my motion. I looked at my fist hovering in the air ready to smash into the table. I felt that my face was twisted into an ugly snarl. She was right, and I fucking hated it! I knew I would have regretted hurting my hand for nothing but the frustration didn't go away so easily. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and released my fist.

[What do you think this is about?] I asked still gnashing my teeth and stretching my fingers.

[If I have to guess it’s about how you got on the spaceship. I bet they had some kind of investigation and found discrepancies around you.]

[That’s possible but what does he want to talk about? What do they want to do with me now? I can’t explain how I got on that ship. I can’t even explain where I’m from.]

[They don’t have anything concrete against you other than a few unexplainable facts. I-I think...] she started but didn’t finish.

[What?]

[I think he wants to talk to get something concrete out of you,] she said nearly whispering.

[Then I won’t meet with him or talk to him. Ignore every call from him automatically. Better yet, ignore every personal call for now.]

[That might be the smartest.]

It was time for me to leave for work. I slipped into my pants with more aggression than I should have, slapped down on the off-plate for the lights and the fake window like they were my archenemy and slammed in the door behind me. I spent my whole shift uptight. I couldn’t really focus on anything, all I thought about was my call with mustache guy. It troubled me to no end that I was so close to the spaceport and I was even living at the place that the guy told me about. The fact that I kept receiving calls from all kinds of unknown sources according to Genna just made me a whole lot more nervous.

Before my shift ended the whole thing turned to a higher shift because he sent me a message this time.

[It says that he really needs to talk to you in person and he’s happy to go to your place if you are willing to talk there.]

[Great, now he’ll look for me. We have to come up with a solution to this. It doesn’t look like he would just let this go,] I said while changing to my street clothes. I said my goodbyes to Korath who had the evening shift after me.

On the way home, we tried to come up with something to get mustache guy off of my back. I was absentmindedly heading to GreenHut, but a grumpy little goblin caught my attention coming from the opposite direction.

“Damn… me going…. ME?!..., not even…. damn him!” he huffed and puffed, but I didn’t hear clearly what he was saying under his pointy nose.

I stopped and looked back at him after he passed me.

[Wasn’t that…,] I asked.

[Yeah, that was definitely Randall from the accident,] she confirmed my suspicion.

[Do you think… nevermind.]

I went into the building and wanted to get on the lift right away, but the guy at reception stopped me.

“Mr. Aium? Is that you?” He didn’t see my face under the mask.

“Yeah. What’s up?” I asked while walking over and rested my elbow on the side of his elevated table.

“Several people were looking for you recently.”

I straightened myself, and my heart started to beat faster in my chest.

“What? Who?”

“Well, someone named Randall was here only a few minutes ago trying to meet you. If I might add he was very insistent about it.”

Was he looking for me? What the fuck is going on here?

“Did he say why?”

“He left his number and said that you should contact him. His offer of free medical care is still standing if you agree to talk to him about something.”

Hell no. He really wanted something else other than just being a friendly doctor. That just makes me want to take his offer less.

“Yeah, thanks. What about the others you mentioned?” I asked.

“There were also two people looking for you not long ago. They also left their number and a message. One of them was called Laurent, and he said that they are associates of Roka Beferent and would like to talk to you. They asked to contact them right away when you got this message.”

My heart skipped a beat; my stomach convulsed to the size a bean and my legs nearly went out of under me.

[The motherfucker sent thugs after me?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!]

[I don’t think they are thugs. More like people who try to talk to you personally,] Genna tried to make it look nicer.

[Yeah and if I happen to disagree they would just gently bend my knees in the opposite direction as polite motivation, right?]

[I seriously doubt that...]

[Well, I’m not.]

“Thanks, man. I’ll be heading up, but could you do me a favor and tell anybody else who’s looking for me that I’m not home?”

“Sure, have nice evening Mr. Aium,” he said with a smile.

“Thanks, you too!” I said and started heading up to my room.

[This is getting ridiculous. He knows I live in this building and it’s a matter of time until he catches me in person for whatever reason he wants to meet me,] I said while putting my hand on the back of my mask. [I think we’ll have to move somewhere else.]

[I don’t think he has any malicious intents, but it might be a safe decision. Better be safe than sorry,] she said.

[Hey, that’s my motto. Don’t just steal it, give me proper recognition for it,] I joked with her to ease my nervousness.

[What’s with Randall then? Why do you think he wants to talk to you so desperately that he came here in person. By the sound of his rambling on the street he wasn’t really comfortable coming here,] she asked.

[No clue and to be honest it’s my least of my worries.]

[I think he’s just interested in your CPR technique. I did a little search on the network about him. Surprisingly he’s a chief of his race, and they always have one, very distinct personality trait. They are extremely prideful. You might have hurt his pride by doing something he didn’t know about as a Senior Medical Engineer. If it’s true, it’s really incredible for him to come here in person.]

[What do you mean he’s a chie-] I wanted to ask her, but I stopped talking.

I was a few steps away from my room. I was walking without paying too much attention to my surroundings, but I still saw two guys in the middle of the hallway. When I exited the lift, the fish guy noticed me instantly and just stared at me the whole time I walked over. Other than the time I was at the spaceport I hardly saw these fish people outside. He was clad in shiny armor-like clothing with a huge breather mask on his face. Only his super long fin-like ears were peeking out. I couldn’t see his eyes because he had dark goggles but he was definitely looking towards me, and I was the only other person in the hallway.

On a normal day I would have been interested in him but now I had too much on my mind to pay attention to him, and I was talking to Genna on top of that. When I got within 10 meters of them the human guy beside him looked up at me too. His hand was on the metal plate of the door in front of them. The guy was wearing simple clothing like me, nothing special other than the heavy boots he was wearing that went up to his knees.

There was nothing wrong with the situation other than that they were standing in front of MY door. I only realized it when the human guy looked up at me. That was when I stopped talking to Genna.

I got so scared I nearly fell over because every muscle in my body tensed up. It was only a miracle that I managed to keep going and not stopping right there.

[Aium, they are looking for you! It might be better to just talk to them after all. They seem really motivated about this talk, and I don’t think there will be any serious consequences,] said Genna, but I completely ignored her and kept walking.

The two guys at my door turned toward me, and I thought they would tackle me any second. Thankfully they didn’t do anything, but they still stared at me intently while walking by. I could feel their stares on my back the whole time I walked.

I was in a huge dilemma now. I could use the emergency stair at the end of the hallway, but that would be a dead giveaway. Who would come up with a lift just to go to the emergency stairs?

[Aium?] she asked, but I ignored her. I didn’t have time to explain now.

I looked at the doors in front of me. I had to choose a room and go in, but which one would be open or where would be someone that would let me in? I didn’t have much wiggle room since I didn’t know anybody on my floor. I had to decide on a door at random.

I cracked my neck and manned up. I stepped up to a random room and reached for the metal plate of the door. I prayed to every known God I could think if in those few short second.

One of them was listening because the door opened. I swore that I would find out which God was looking out for me later but first I had to rush in.

The air was warm and damp inside. I tried to strain my eyes to get accustomed to the darkness faster. The floor felt sticky under my foot, and the walls reminded me of the architecture of the alien spaceships’ design from the alien movies.

My first thought was I might have made a huge mistake and avoided a pit to fall into a chasm. I nervously looked around paying extra attention to the ceiling for anything that might want to make a jump on me.

Everywhere I looked those dark wiggly shapes looked back at me. There was no furniture I could recognize or fake windows. The walls, the floor, and even the ceiling were dark and strangely shaped. After a nerve-wracking minute I could finally see somewhat better in the darkness, and I spotted a little light from one of the corners in the room. I gathered all my courage and walked closer.

In the corner, I could see a mushroom person standing or more like being hugged by dark tentacles coming out of the walls and a big one covering where its head was supposed to be. That tentacle pulsed with the small light.

[Genna?! GENNA! What the fuck is this place?] I asked in panic while backing away on the sticky floor.

[Clam down. It’s a Fungar’s room. Nothing wrong or dangerous here, just don’t wake it. It might get angry for you being in his room without permission and they aren’t nice when angry,] she said.

[Are you sure there’s nothing here that would put eggs in me?] I asked suspiciously.

[I’m sure, and before you ask there’s nothing that would melt your flesh here either.]

[I wonder when will you admit that you are reading my mind.]

[I would do no such thing even if I had the capability. Listening to you is more than enough of a burden most of the time.]

[What’s it doing?] I asked.

[What do you think? VR...]

[Oh...]

[So, why are we here Aium? Why can’t you talk to Roka? It might be the simplest solution to this.]

[Didn’t you see anything wrong with that situation?]

[Well… I’m not sure how they managed to find out which is your room since reception shouldn’t give it away,] she admitted.

[Plus they were trying to get in!]

[Or just tried to give a notification to you that they are in front of your room,] she countered.

[Yeah definitely. That’s why they didn’t even lose sight of a random person like me or didn’t even let their backs turned towards me,] I argued.

[What does that have to do with anything?] she asked.

[They are not your average potato people like these,] I said while pointing towards the mushroom guy in his wall-tentacle prison. [I had a classmate that became a soldier and he spent a lot of time in war zones. When he got back home he had PTSD and all kinds of mindfucks. He was paranoid to the point that he couldn’t let anybody walk up behind him. He saw every stranger as potential enemies even in a supermarket.]

[That’s just speculation on your part,] she tried to argue further.

[Nah… it’s instinct! They acted far too out of place. I spent enough time here to spot a non-potato among these potatoes.]

[Okay, let’s assume they are real thugs after your rightly angled knees. What now? Are you going to spend the rest of your life in this Fungar’s room?]

[I could really do without the snark now,] I sighed.

[I’m sorry, it’s just I feel like you are way too paranoid about this situation,] she said quietly. [You are worked up and can’t think clearly. You should take a little time to cool down both mentally and physically.]

She was right. I needed to calm down. After all, she might be completely right about this. What if I just imagine these things because of my nervousness? The whole thing might be just a small talk with Roka and everything would be back to normal.

I spent close to 20-25 minutes just standing around in the middle of the horror room because I didn’t even dare to sit down or to lean against the wall.

After gathering up my courage, I stepped out. I didn’t dare to risk a peek out because that would have been far too obvious. There was nobody in the hallway. I walked up to my room and reached for the metal plate on the door to get inside but stopped halfway. I had to check something first. I rushed up to the lift and went down.

The reception area was empty.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Oh, what would you like to know Mr. Aium?” the guy at the desk asked.

“The two guys that were looking for me. How did they look like?”

“One of them was a Rogar in heavy armor, and the other guy was a short-haired human in a dark red shirt,” he said.

[What’s a ro-]

[The one with the breather and the fins.]

[Oh, thanks, Genna.]

“Did they go up when they were here for me?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t disclose information like that.”

“Okay… so did they leave the building?”

“Yes, a few minutes ago actually.”

“You didn’t tell them that I was inside, right?”

“No, I didn’t.”

I thanked him and went back up.

[Do you think they rented a room so that they could come up and look for me in my room?]

[It’s possible.]

I went into my room and felt my stress ease a little right away. This place has been my home for a while now, and I had grown to like it and felt at home. I was still getting used to not having anything to get out of my pockets when I arrived home. No wallet, keys or phone. I was halfway out of my left shoe when I froze.

I looked up and probably turned deathly pale. I listened for a few seconds in the awkward position but didn’t hear anything. I carefully put my feet back into my shoe.

[Aium, is there a problem? Your pulse is going over the roof suddenly,] Genna asked with concern, but I didn’t respond.

I walked up to the kitchen near the entrance and pulled out the biggest knife I had. I turned it back and forth in my shaking hand. It would have to do.

[Aium?! What’s going on?]

[Keep quiet! That’s an order!] I whispered even in my mind for some reason.

I slowly walked into the room with my stomach in my throat. I looked around but didn’t see anything out of place. There was no way somebody could hide under my bed. I peeked behind the couch, but there was nobody either. I strained my eyes to look around and tried to hear any noise that might give something away, but there was nothing. My biggest fear was that they might be invisible, but I didn’t even want to think about that now.

I turned towards the dark bathroom. The door was open as usual, but I couldn’t see everything inside clearly unless I went in and the automatic lights turned on. The most likely place someone would hide had to be the bathroom. I couldn’t just rush in there and swing the kitchen knife around; I had to come up with something.

I looked around the room for something… anything. My eyes stopped on my pillow. It was big enough. My best bet would be to throw my pillow inside. If there’s someone in there, it might make him jump out but the least it would do is turn on the lights inside.

My nose started to itch like crazy, and now even my legs were shaking from the nervousness. I picked up my pillow and walked towards the bathroom trying to stay out of sight from the inside. I took a deep breath and then threw the pillow inside.

I pulled up the knife in my hand as fast as I could to chest level, in anticipation of movement from the inside.

As the pillow flew in the automatic lights turned on as I expected, but what happened next nearly made me drop dead. From above the doorframe, a white gas was sprayed down towards the door where my head would have been if I walked in.

I stumbled back and fell over backward.

[AIUM! Get out of the room!] screamed Genna.