Ican barely understand him, second-guessing his words immediately. “What? Can you say that again?”
He stiffens. “I do not understand what it issss you ask.”
His voice is heavily accented, unusual, and not in a gruff sense. I’ve dealt with different dialects and accents across the ships I’ve worked on, some nearly unintelligible at first. His is different from all of them, hiss’selongated, his vowels thick. His tone is also deeper, and hushed like he doesn’t speak much.
Why would he? I’ve seen what the city looks like. There’s nothing alive here.
Except he’s here. He’s living…
For the first time I let myself notice the large pile of hides and tattered blankets partially between us. Oval in shape, it is clearly a place someone or something rests upon. A bed. Now I know why it’s so big.
His tail flexes into a coil, bringing my attention back to him and his bodybuilder torso. His abs are ripped, his nipples a darker bluish-gray than his skin. Scales curve along his tail in various sizes, smallest along his joints and transitions. Though the dim green light makes it hard to tell, he’s actually lightly patterned—unlike the naga on the ship—with patches of dark gray spots along his arms and shoulders. In parts along the spine of his tail a dark brown blends with the blue-gray shadows around his larger scales.
His eyes are a bright blue, unlike the duller, paler blue of his body, made even more uncanny by ears tipped like the fae characters in children’s books and his short, clawed nails. Expression stern, the heaviness of his brows is emphasized by the darker dotted patterning around his body. I hold my gaze on him, battling down the incredible intimidation I feel by sheer force of will.
I’ve always been a fighter. One had to be in the life I was born to.
Without family, without rations… I was bottom-dwelling scum fleeing the authorities before the age of six. Even then, I knew I didn’t want to become a breeder or join the military—which is what they would’ve forced me to do if they’d caught me. I wasn’t book smart and I’m still not, but I’ve always been street smart. Street smart enough to not make assumptions.
Fisting my hands, I let the crinkle of my gloves calm me.
“You understand me,” I finally say, glancing between him and the three exits I can see, debating how far I’d make it if I tried running anyway. I put the idea into the back of my mind, hoping it won't be necessary. “We understand each other.”
Slowly he nods. “You are a human.”
“I…” My eyes narrow. “I am. Why? What are you?”
“Titanoboa.” He says it almost… sadly. “The lasssst and only one of my clan.”
I point upward. “They don’t call you Titanoboa where I come from. They call you naga.”
Following the direction of my finger his eyes flick up then back down. “The sssskycraftssss.”
“The spaceships? You’ve seen them, heard them lately I guess?”
Am I really doing this? Having a conversation with an alien?
“Yessss.”
“Well, I come from one of them and I’d like to leave and go back to it now if that’s okay.” I spread my feet a little wider, eyes darting to the exit closest to me and the stairs that lead upward, calculating the distance I’d have to cross.
His gaze follows mine, and I curse under my breath.
“I have seen and heard the… spaceshipssss,” he slurs, tilting his head again, eyeing me once over, briefly lingering on my hair, “female. I have seenyoursssspacesssship.”
“Great.” I take a step forward. “I’d like to leave now?—”
He holds up a hand and spreads out his clawed fingers. I pause where I stand, and huff out a breath.
“I cannot let you leave,” he says.
“I don’t plan on staying,” I respond, carefully bringing my hands up to rest on the butts of my knives, only to find them gone. “You’ll have to make me,” I warn him, though feeling around my pants, I discover I have nothing on me to defend myself with, that I must have dropped the knives where I’d been attacked.
His gaze drops to my seeking hands. “So be it. I hope I do not kill you in the process. This is my only warning?—”
I dodge to the side and grab a mid-sized rock, throwing it at his head. Without watching to see if it hits him, I sprint for the tunnel, pumping my legs as hard as I can.
His tail swings in front of me, making me jerk and fall back a step. I pull my foot back and kick him hard, hoping to slash him with the blades in my sole, but his tail presses forward, sweeping me off my feet.
