CH6

“So, what am I supposed to do with you?” I looked at the two creatures in the room.

One of them was almost identical as the midget we found on the freighter. Small body in a strange blue suit; his head completely bald and… weird. Not unsymmetrical but still strange. More than a little bit oblate, as if his father banged a parrot.

On the other hand, whole his body was covered not by skin, but rather tiny lizard-like scales. Oh, and he had claws. Yes. That thing had CLAWS!

“That gives us not so many possible options.” Draco stood on my left, holding the midget at gunpoint. ”This are most likely not surgees, right? Or am I missing something?”

“Probably not.”

Dammit. When we had found the first one I thought it was some kind of joke. An android, maybe? But then my brother smashed his skull and we could all see the brain inside. Or what was left of it after I had caressed him with couple thousands volts. So that would mean it was – somehow - a living creatures.

And that would mean… I had no idea what. Theoretically you could make yourself look like that. Plastic surgeries and so on. It was a real deal back in 2060s. Some fantasy geeks would even take it on a whole new level but I have never heard of something so extreme. Granted, when I was a younger I may have spent a night or two with a very… flexible elf, however, even she said that it were her skills rather than surgery.

So, what could all of that mean? We were in space. On a spaceship. Then we found strange creatures. On something that looked like an even bigger spaceship. IN SPACE. Dear Lord… I did not like the conclusion.

“What are we going to do with them?”

“Burn them?” Blaze was first to answer.

“Tempting… But we may need them alive.”

“Burn one of them?”

Stubborn as always.

“Sigh, you’re such a romantic, Sis. How would you even do that? Not that they seem flammable.”

“…I can be resourceful.”

She was not joking. I knew that too well.

In the meantime I could see the other creature was trying to get up from the floor. This one was very different from the bird-heads. First of all – it was taller than them. Not as tall as an average human, but somewhere around 1,6 m. Give or take 3-4 cm. Oh, and it was blue. Or rather its skin had a bluish tint.

B-L-U-E. Because why not, right?

At least its face was more human. Short ginger hairs and oval face. It looked somehow exotic, and yet not ugly. Unfamiliar would be a better word. But then I saw its eyes and my whole body trembled.

“What the-“ I could not find proper words to describe them.

Its eyes were red, but not like human’s eyes could be. More like that of a horse; with no trace of white. It was just… creepy.

I finally got up, but with my brain in turmoil I could not believe what I saw. Earthens. Living Earthens on our ship.

Teo, you idiot!

I looked at the Sa’der standing by the main consol. He stood still as if his body had frozen. Ha, where has your arrogance gone to?

Ok, ok. We needed to sort this out. I needed to sort this out.

Ow, my belly… It hurt!

“I-I know… you are scared, but you must listen to me…” I tried to calm them down. “Y-you are-“

BANG

“AAHHHH…!” I screamed and cowered, as a piece of metal flew over my head. The bullet missed me by arm’s length and it bounced off of the console.

What-what was that?! Did that animal just try to shot me?!

“Draco…!” I heard one of them speaking. “Could you please don’t do that again, for fucks sake?! Thank you!”

“It spoke,” the other one said, his voice unnaturally calm. “It spoke Union English.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. And that may be the reason we should NOT try to kill it, right?” he turned to me. “Or should we?”

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I stared at the one that was supposedly their leader with terror. I could have died. I could have died. I could have… I still could die.

“Please… It wasn’t me… I wasn’t … not me… please…” I stammered.

“Now, now. Let’s just relax, shall we? We are all a little itchy right now, as you can see” the one in the middle, who had called himself Ares, continued. “I would hate if something bad happened to any of you. Really. And believe me when I say that your heads are far more valuable for me when intact. But… I, as well as my friends here, would be very extremely grateful if somebody could tell us what the FUCK. IS. GOING.ON?!”

“…Pretty please” the Earthen female added.

That was… What should I do? If I told them-

“Stay quiet,” Teo spoke, not moving from his spot. ”I already sent an alarm message through the ship. My kin is on their way here. Stall them.”

“What did he said?” One of the Earthens asked. This time it was the one holding a weapon. Monster.

Of course. These Earthens had no translations modules; there was no way they could understand Sa’der’s squeaky speech.

“I… We… We d-don’t want to hurt you. We came here to-“ I tried to explain, but the one in the middle raised his hand.

“Stop. Just answer my brother’s question,” he gestured at Teo. "Translate it."

Should I tell them? If there was a chance… And why was the AI not reacting ? We were in danger! Her crew was in danger! There is no way this could happen. But if Teo messed up something with the logs he could-- Fool!

“I won’t ask again.” I took a step forward.

It would be a shame to lose the only person here that seemed at least able to communicate. But who said we had to kill it. There are always other ways. Sometimes people just need proper motivation, and I had a feeling that this creature is no different.

“No-No… Wait…!” the creature said as I took another step. “He-he sent a message. The rest of the crew is coming here. Please, I…”

See? Motivation.

Unfortunately, the squamous midget did not appreciate the blue one’s sincerity. He yelled something I could not understand and throw himself at Blue.

Not so fast Nasty.

I run forward and catch the bird-head just as he was about to grab Blue. We both rolled on the floor.

“Draco, Blaze!” I shouted. “Secure the door!”

I could take care of the midget by myself. I was more worried about his friends coming.

Dammit! This thing was pretty strong. I tried to restrain his hands and used my weight to immobilize him but it was not so easy. His scale-cowered hands were slippery and I forgot about the claws. He took advantage of his size by thrusting them into my chest.

I had no idea what they were made of, but thank God for the vest. He ripped it as if it was paper. Just as I tried to stand up he rolled farther away. I did not think he would try charging me again with bare hands. Well, maybe bare was not a good word in this case.

Instead the creature stood there for a second, and then moved. But not toward me or Blue. He went for the console in the middle of the room. I hesitated for a moment and that was my mistake.

I had no idea that someone’s hands could move so fast. Thankfully, Draco did not hesitate at all. He pulled the trigger and the creatures body trembled as the bullet pierced his torso. Nice shot.

But the midget was not done. His hand touched the console for the last time and he squeaked.

The light around us shimmered and the door, through which we came, opened.

I turned toward Blue.

“What was that?” I asked. “What did he say?”

Blue looked at me stupefied.

“He said… he said… “Die, monkeys””