The prospect of braiding my own hair into rows if this escaping business took longer than I planned was a grimace inducing thought. My shoulders already ached just thinking about it. I was determined that it wouldn’t come to that. I’d get out of here one way or another.
I willed my armor away to quickly wipe myself down with a damp cloth just to try and deal with the mental feeling of being itchy and then called it back to the surface. The armor self-cleaned when the nanos retreated, so things like dirt or blood were absorbed by it and filtered in an instant just before it disappeared under the skin. It was that fact that made me feel dirty. I knew, conceptually, that I was clean and that the armor cleaned any germs before it retreated, but knowing and seeingare two different things. What I saw was dirty armor going back into my skin. Especially when it came to the boots that formed on my feet when the armor was called up. I just couldn't rationalize it. I don’t think I was ever going to get used to it.
So the first thing I put on my To Do List was to get new clothes. I don't care what I had to do to get them. I just couldn’t spend however long it took to escape living and sleeping in armor. The flimsy barely there clothing that Rathal kept leaving me was unacceptable. Maybe if I broke both his arms he’d give me real things to wear. It was worth a shot.
A soft chime was all the warning I got before the door to my room folded and the twins stepped inside.
“Unhappy lighting, Callisto Ramirez,” the twin I thought might be Hassa said, her pointed ears twitching in my direction.
“Just Callie is fine. No one calls me Callisto except my mother. And what's wrong with the lighting?” I asked, looking up at the softly glowing orbs in the ceiling.
Baritone hyena laughter followed my question. It made me shiver.
“Not the lights. It's the lighting, yes? The station is awake.”
Wha—? Oh. It was morning—err– the lights on the station were on. They’d been saying good morning. Kind of.
“Unhappy?”
They nodded sagely. “Yes. Lights make me squint. Hurts the eyes. Nasty things, lights,” maybe-Rixa said, her fangs making an appearance as she grimaced.
Ah. Unhappy lighting, indeed.
“Got it. Unhappy lighting to you both as well.”
The twins wove around me, herding me out the door. “Come, come. Our Lord requests your presence for the lighting meal and then we are to stroll the gardens.”
I set my teeth and followed. Maybe I could make it through this meal without trying to kill him, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
The halls were busy in the daytime, aliens bustled past us going in both directions, some in pairs and others solo.Their clothing was all different textures and colors from extravagant to slapped together space pirate attire. It was a touch overwhelming and that was saying something because I’d been living on the Solus for the last few months and it was packed with aliens. There was something to be said about matching uniforms though. They made the unique banal.
Every single alien that passed us, from the very large to the smallest avoided looking at me. Heads were turned and eyes downcast. The twins marched one in front and one behind me, though neither of them seemed to be paying anyone else any mind so I didn't think it was them that was causing the avoidance. I narrowed my eyes. Rathal had something to do with this, the fucking creep. If I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me, it was going to be harder to get off this station. Though, looking at most of these aliens, I wasn’t seeing too many that looked like they’d be able to help me even if they wanted to. Some I wasn’t sure had the intelligence required to turn on a light bulb.
There were short squat little things that scurried on many legs holding linen or cleaning supplies that moved under the crowd. They reminded me of Jabba the Hutt if he had centipede legs. I fought the urge not to punt one of them across the room when it got too close to me. Huh, would you look at that… I could still be creeped out by aliens. And here I thought I’d gotten used to everything.
I picked up random snippets of conversation as we passed people. Lots of talk about what cargo needed to be unloaded and where. There were raiding parties leaving at lights out, and theyneeded empty cargo containers loaded into the ship bays. I filed these interesting little tidbits away for later use.
My father liked to lecture me about always having a plan, and I was nothing if not obedient.
We flowed past the throne room, and down several more ornately decorated hallways until we came to a tall dark green door with vines etched into the metal. The twin in front, Hassa maybe, pushed the door open with her head and led us out onto a terrace with a lovely view of an artificial sky that was a pale green. The air was fresh and the sunlight was warm on my skin. I blinked up at the softly pink clouds floating by and remembered to close my mouth before I walked over to where Rathal was standing next to a round table.
He was wearing something halfway normal today. A black silk shirt that clung to his muscled body, with wide ruffled cuffs and ruffles around the plunging collar. There were glittering white jewels placed on his sternum drawing the eye to his well defined chest. His pants were black and shiny, almost like leather, but these were nearly painted on, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. The leather was poured over his dick like oil over a canvas. I averted my eyes quickly, but it was too late. Cock and balls were now burned into my retinas. No male creature should have a dick that large while soft. It wasn’t right.
In my desperate attempt to avoid looking at his one-eyed trouser snake, I looked down at his feet. His claws were painted neon pink and he had diamonds on his toe rings. Who in the actual fuck—?
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
I jerked my head up to look at his face, my own face burning. “What?”
Rathal grinned at me for a beat, his eyes laughing, before he gestured to the sky. “The holographic sky of course. What did you think I was talking about?”
My cheeks grew hotter. I stayed silent. I wasn’t touching that comment with a ten foot pole.
He sucked his teeth and continued, “We have weather at the station too, though it is mostly clear skies. The fur covered denizens of Erral won the majority vote for more dry days so I’m afraid you won’t see rain for another eighteen rotations,” he explained, running a hand down the front of his shirt, his fur covered chest shiny under the artificial sunlight. The claws on his hands were painted the same color as his toenails.
A huge spider-like alien ducked under the doorframe and straightened once out on the terrace, a large serving platter in each hand. It was similar to Dr. Ghix, but where Ghix was brown, this alien was a deep maroon with a dark pink pattern on the top of its abdomen. It was twice Ghix’s size as well, each leg ending in a spear sharp claw that clacked dully on the stone of the terrace floor. The upper body was female, her skin the same color as her dark pink markings, with heavy breasts that sported red jeweled bars through both nipples. Her lavender colored hair was swept back in an elaborate braid that hung over one shoulder.
She set the trays down onto the table, her large hands gesturing as she bowed to Rathal. “Your meal, my Lord. Human.” Her voice was smooth and lilting, a soft smile tilting her full mouth up more on one side as she gazed at Rathal with hearts in her eyes. When she turned to look at me, her smile dropped and her look cooled. She judged me and found me lacking.
