My captor flicked his beak at me, indicating I should rise from my chair. When I did, he produced a knife and flipped it open, before using the blade to free my hands. The zip tie manacles fell away, and I nodded at him. He held the door open for me.

Walking back out into the early afternoon sun felt good, but that faded quickly when I saw the gathered people. Each of them was glaring at me.

I sighed and started walking toward them, heading specifically to the BlueCleave tribe. The bird person mercenary captain squawked a loud order and the rest of them jumped into motion. Zip ties were cut away and the BlueCleave tribe was allowed their weapons and armor back. I noticed they grabbed their weapons but didn’t make any aggressive moves with them.

Phyllis was let up, as they disconnected the generator. Molls was also freed, though the bird man assigned to that task was very skittish, and actually fluttered into the air at one point when retrieving the netting.

The corvid dinosaur alien mercenaries were no longer pointing weapons at anyone and were being far less aggressive than when I had arrived. They had even brought the vehicles inside the compound and lined them up neatly along the side of the road.

As my people began getting themselves up and back in their little groups, a regular pod arrived and indicated a wide area. When the rainbow beam sparkled into existence, the bird mercenaries started walking into it. They covered each other and went in groups, backing into the beam to make sure none of us attacked. Within a few seconds though, they were all gone, and we were alone again.

I was still trying to think of what to say when Mr. Sada spoke up from his chair. His legs were still crossed, and he was wearing his terrycloth robe and slippers. “Well, that was interesting!” he shouted. “Care to tell us what the hell happened?”

Another voice shouted ‘yeah’ and then they were all murmuring and casting me dark looks. I raised my eyebrows and nodded. “Yup, be my pleasure Mr. Sada.” After placing my hands on my hips and making sure I had them all staring at me, I laid it out for them. “That was a misunderstanding.”

Voices erupted and at least one person started laughing.

I sighed and tried again. “Yeah, dead serious. You remember the campground ravens, Mr. Sada?” He narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Well, they got BuyMort too. Turns out, they have strong feelings about your MortBlock restricting them from scavenging the park. I talked ‘em down.”

Mr. Sada stood up and blinked at me. He walked closer, his slippers shuffling in the gravel. “Tyson, I don’t know who all these people are, but we share an ordeal now. We all sat here for an hour in the sun together while you went and talked to a bird about our fate? Am I understanding the situation correctly?”

I raised my eyebrows and cocked my head but nodded. “Yeah. That’s pretty much what happened. Thankfully, it worked. We’re fine, they won’t attack us anymore.” I pointed to the Joshua tree grove. “Oh, but this area is theirs now. They live here. So nobody hurt them or anything. They’re like . . . rich, I think. They’re cool for now and seem really psyched to be neighbors now that we worked out the land issue, just please encourage good relations. I guess.”

The group of random people I had gathered at the hippy commune were mostly conversing with each other, and the conversation seemed to focus on one man. A tall man with red hair and a muscular physique. He stared at me while they spoke, and I mentally prepared myself for dealing with him while I turned to deal with Mr. Sada.

“You gave away part of my campground?” Mr. Sada scowled at me.

“No, I saved your life. Again. They were talking about killing us to reclaim their home, but all they really want is this Joshua tree grove here, and access to our trash.” When he narrowed his eyes, I continued. “You saw how they took out Phyllis? And Molls? I assume they got BlueCleave when they were vulnerable as well. This attack was very well scouted out, and now those scouts are ours. They’ll help warn us of incoming trouble and find stuff we need. Plus, we get a little cut of their salvage operation.”

Mr. Sada frowned and nodded as I spoke, then shrugged at the end. “Whatever Tyson, you say they won’t attack us again, that’s good enough for me.” He waved a hand at me and started shuffling away toward the gate. “C’mon hobb! C’mon Roofus!” The man with red hair approached him and after they spoke for a brief moment and Mr. Sada pointed at me, he approached me instead.

“Hi.” I started, offering him my hand to shake. “Tyson.”

He shook it once, with a hard squeeze. “Chris. Look Tyson, I gotta bring up some concerns.”

I nodded and laughed. “Ha! I bet. What was it? The armed capture the instant you all arrived? Or the fact that it was caused by our campground ravens being pissy?”

Chris nodded, more vigorously the longer I spoke. “Yeah, definitely both. All of that. But also, the giant snake woman is a little concerning to a few folk. What is this place?”

I sighed and put my hands on my hips, looking around. “I honestly don’t know, brother. Working on turning it into someplace safe, but . . .” With that I shrugged. “Just wait till you meet the slimes.”

He hesitated, but then looked over his shoulder at the people gathered behind him. “No offense then, but I think we’re going to head out and find someplace else.”

I nodded and offered him my hand again. “Completely understand. You’re welcome back anytime if you change your mind. I mean that.”

We shook hands and started walking back to the crowd of new people. Phyllis watched from the background, standing guard over a still sleeping Molls.

“Everyone!” I addressed the whole crowd of them. “This is an at-will situation folks. Anyone who wants to stay can stay. Anybody who wants to go is welcome back at any time. So long as you’re not a threat to the place, you’re welcome here.”

That started some of them murmuring and talking among one another again, and I raised my hands to get their attention again. “What happened with the ravens was a misunderstanding. They’re on our side and will be helping us in the future. What we’re trying to build here is important to me, and I’m not going to lie to you about your safety. Here seems better to me, but it’s also my home. All of you make your own choices about it.”

I went to walk away but remembered my last thing and turned back with a finger raised.

“Anyone who stays will be expected to contribute in some way is all. We’ll figure out the details later, as needs arise. Right now, I need to go check on my friend.” With that, I left the group and moved over to Molls. I gave a signal to Rayna, who was watching me closely, with her BlueCleave hobbs gathered nearby.

Phyliss waved her still active fusion cannon at me. “Hello dearie. What was that all about?”

I sighed and launched into another full explanation. Phyllis laughed at several points and shrugged from inside her suit when I finished. “What? That’s all you have to say, Phil?”

She shrugged again. “Honestly Dearie, I’m not convinced any of this is real, so the campground ravens becoming a military threat makes perfect sense. They’re our scouts now though you say?” The mech leaned in and Phyllis eyed me seriously.

“Yeah Phil, they’re our scouts now. They just want to live here in peace, like the rest of us.” I shrugged back at her and focused on Molls. “What’d they do to her?”

Phyllis grunted as the mech sat down heavily. “A dart of some kind. They had that red eyed one come check on her, but they seem terrified of her. None got too close aside from him.”

I nodded with a small smile. “Yeah, birds are usually careful around snakes. I wonder if their species have history.”

Phyllis shook her head and produced a joint from inside the mech. “Don’t know, don’t care, dearie.” She raised the still smoldering fusion cannon to her face and the end of the joint burst into flame before it got very close. Phyllis took a drag and pointed at Molls with the joint. “What are you gonna do with her?”

Molls eyes were closed, and her body was totally relaxed. She breathed rhythmically and didn’t rouse even when I shook her lightly. I glanced back at Phyllis. “I don’t know Phil. Maybe if you help me, I could get her back in the Lincoln.”

Phyllis groaned but nodded. “Let me finish my smoke, at least.”

I nodded, absently ignoring her. I was watching the group of new people. The pickup truck and one of the sedans left, but the majority of the people were milling around looking lost and confused.

I stood up and walked over to them, raising my hands to get their attention again. Three groups of people stood in front of the remaining vehicles. “Hey guys, what can I help you all out with?” It was surprising to me how easily I fell back into the customer service routine.

A tall man with dark skin and hair raised his hand. “I guess we don’t really know where to go. But we plan to stay here, at least tonight.”

I waved over Rayna, who nudged Tollya, who was wearing her new helmet. The two started toward me, and I pointed at her. “Rayna and Tollya there are going to help you guys get settled. They’re part of the BlueCleave tribe, and they run security for us.” As I finished, I saw one of the new people eyeing the hobbs. “They got ambushed by an overwhelming force with detailed insider knowledge. These guys are good, but nobody is perfect.”

Rayna stopped in front of me and nodded, and Tollya gave me a small push on the shoulder on her way by. “What you need boss?”

“Thanks Rayna, I’d love it if you could get some hobbs to help these folk get settled. I’ll need to talk to you about a bunch of stuff soon, but right now let’s get these folk a place to stay. Some tents and air mattresses if they want them too, please.” I finished and turned back to the young man before me. “There is water at Mr. Sada’s place, one of the hobbs can help you find it if you want to fill up some containers. I have no idea how he’s getting water or power, but you can probably charge stuff if you need to as well. Just stay in the garage and yard or he’ll probably yell at you. Might anyway, just let me know if I need to go talk to him about it.”

He nodded slowly with wide eyes and followed Tollya as she huffed at him and pointed. She began walking slowly toward an open area of the campground. I turned back to Rayna as the people around us moved to get in their vehicles.

“Rayna, wait.” She turned back and stopped, eyes fixed on me. “Please, keep ‘em away from the spider trees.”

Rayna frowned. “Between that and the slimes, it’ll be a lot of ground to cover, boss. I’ll set patrols.” She nodded. “We got it.” With that, she left to go speak with the rest of the gathered BlueCleave hobbs.

I sighed and turned back to Molls and Phyllis. My friend already had the Nah’gh woman in her arms, but Molls’ tail drooped onto the ground in coils. Phyllis stared at me as I approached and started laughing when I went to pick up Molls’ coiled tail. “Good luck, dearie.”

“I love hearing you laugh, Phyllis, that’s all. Don’t mind me.” I heaved and struggled but managed to get the snake priest’s tail mostly managed. It was wrapped around my waist and slung over an arm, but I managed to walk without dragging any of her body on the ground. “Do this stuff on purpose, just to keep you giggling, old lady,” I muttered. She might have heard me or not, her chuckle didn’t change.

Phyllis set an easy pace, but I struggled to keep up anyway. I would never say this to her in person, but Molls was heavy. My frame of reference was a bit skewed, but I knew for sure that she was much larger than most other Nah’gh I had seen.

The doctor had also called her something different, an ‘albino conda,’ whatever that meant.

Molls was special, even among her own people. I thought about that as I helped drag her limp body back to her site and the Lincoln.

Honestly, Phyllis and her mech did most of the work. It was surprisingly gentle, and I mostly just had to keep up. When we arrived at the Lincoln, I set down Molls’ tail as gently as I could on the sand and moved to open the back door. The Lincoln had been changed, significantly. Not only had Molls installed a system that produced blinds for each window from a compact tube near the top of the window, but she had also decorated since last I saw the car.

A thick, burgundy blanket covered most of the seat and floor, and Molls had hung a string of small, colored lights across the back of the spacious cabin. Across one side of the back of the front seat hung several pictures of human men.

Human men with no shirts on, I realized.

She also had a small pile of paperback novels on the floor behind the passenger seat. Each of them featured a Nah’gh woman and a human man, in various states of undress and or eroticism. They were porny romance novels, and I learned something important from their existence.

Then I shook it off and focused on helping her. I gave some thought to calling the doctor again, but I held off. It would wear off, I just needed to get her someplace comfortable. Her muscles rippled beneath her scales as she shivered involuntarily, and I gestured to Phyllis to bring her over. The inside of the Lincoln was roasting, I had always hated that about it. It made a perfect bedroom for Molls though, so we struggled to load her in.

Phyllis stationed her mech on one side of the car, while I went around to the other side. Then she leaned down and handed Molls to me. The angle was bad, and it was awkward trying to get to her, so I ended up carefully clambering into the car to get to her. I slid my arms beneath her armpits and slid her into the car. As I took her from Phyllis, her lower body slid free and dropped her weight into my arms unexpectedly. I guided our fall to the padded seat, avoiding injury to her and me, but she flopped against my chest in the action.

She stirred sleepily and flickered out her tongue for an instant. Then she sighed deeply and leaned against me harder, rubbing the back of her hood against my neck and cheek. “Mmm . . . Tyson . . .” she murmured.

Her hand raised and brushed my own before I let go and carefully extracted myself, eyes wide. She giggled in her sleep as my hand passed through her armpit, and I flinched, holding still until she seemed to be deeper asleep again. I grit my teeth and carefully positioned her so that she was lying down against the corner of the seat and door, before moving around to the other side.

Phyllis was smiling at me as I approached, and I glared at her. She giggled and turned away, flipping on her television in the mech. I focused on getting Moll’s tail into the vehicle. Her humanoid parts were all leaning in a comfortable position, but the majority of her body was still outside in the sand.

As I went to gather the first portion of her tail, I glanced at her in the car and inadvertently saw up her skirt. After learning that Molls was wearing bubblegum pink panties, I kept my eyes fiercely averted.

Can’t unlearn stuff like that.

I gathered portions of her tail and looped them in the car as best I could. She didn’t respond or wake as I worked, so I assumed I was doing a good job.

Still, it felt strange to be piling loop after loop of her tail on top of itself, and she was bent nearly double below the waist to fit inside. As I finished, I carefully closed the door and turned back to Phyllis in time to see her mech’s arm change from a metal hand into the fusion cannon. Then I looked past her and saw why.