Great.First I crash landed on a foreign planet and fucked up my very first mission, and now my whole crew was about to get executed for plant crimes.
Could this day get any worse?
I tried to keep calm as Zat’tor’s tentacle rested on my shoulders, like a noose hovering above my neck. Not that he gripped me particularly roughly, but I knew this couldn’t end well.Nothinginvolving tentacles ever ended well.
Zat’tor wasn’t really a “he,” either. The concept of gender seemed—well, alien to him. But since he was tall and muscular, I couldn’t help but think of him as male.
As the huge teal alien led us towards his village, I stole nervous glances up at him. He was so... alien-looking. I’d never seen anything like him before. His long mouth was shaped like one of a lizard, or a dragon. He had horns jutting out the back of his head, and a strange mane like a lion—except instead of hair, it was made up of hundreds of long, seaweed-like tendrils that pulsated with subtly changing colors.
During my pilot training, we’d learned all about the different documented alien species, but Maeleons were new to me. We didn’t know about Eukaria or the beings that lived on it, yet somehow our ITMs’ translation feature still functioned. I’d wonder why, but I was busy with other pertinent problems.
God, what a clusterfuck this was. I was about to be hanged by theonespecies I knew nothing about. He’d probably do it with his creepy tentacles, too.
But I had to admit, the tentacles were softer than I imagined. They were smooth and dry, not slimy like squid or octopus back on Earth, almost like a snake without scales. Unlike a snake, Zat’tor’s tentacles were strangely warm. It would’ve been comforting if he wasn’t leading me to my death.
I was such an idiot. How could I have fucked up this badly? I was supposed to guide my crew to peace and prosperity. I was supposed to keep them safe. Instead, I got fatally distracted by a stupid red blinking light, and now we were about to get turned into plant food.
Think, Levi. There has to be a way out of this mess.
My captain’s training activated. Only by keeping calm and thinking it through could we escape. My mind leapt to the worst-case scenario—being sacrificed to the plant overlords—and worked backwards. What was slightly better than execution? Slavery?
I peeked at Zat’tor and gulped. He wasn’t ugly by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, his nonhuman features captivated me. If a giant chameleon, an orchid, and the sexiest man alive were thrown into a blender, Zat’tor would be the result. He was huge, effortlessly muscular, and tall. Intelligence shone in his sunset-orange eyes. He was nothing like the aliens I’d learned about in pilot training, or the ugly gray ones in Old Earth works of fiction. The longer I looked at him, the more he enchanted me.
Maybe I could pay my dues in sexual favors or something. That wouldn’t be so bad...
I yanked my gaze away. What was I thinking? My alien captor was minutes away from pulverizing me into nutrient soup, and here I was thirsting over him.
Still, I couldn’t stop risking peeks at Zat’tor. Call it pilot’s curiosity. I always wanted to know more about the world around me—or in this case, the tentacles around me.
Zat’tor caught my gaze.
Shit. Busted.
He had a snout covered in scaly ridges, almost like in Old Earth depictions of dragons, but Zat’tor was no fantastical beast. He was real flesh and blood. Strangely, despite the snout, he was able to form human-like expressions.
As Zat’tor held eye contact with me, he seemed to smile. He didn’t have lips the same way I did, but he parted his jaws, flashing sharp white teeth in what was definitely a grin.
A shiver rolled down my spine. I couldn’t tell if I was scared or horny. Probably both. If I had a private moment with Jaeyoung, he’d probably explain how those two sensations were connected. Not that I wanted to discuss my sex life with my fellow captive crewmate.
Levi, can you please get your mind out of the gutter? Your life is in danger,my brain reminded me.
Right. Escaping the hostile alien planet.
A thought suddenly hit me. Since arriving on Eukaria, we hadn’t seen a single other non-plant life form. The only two kinds seemed to be us humans, and the Maeleons. So then, why did Zat’tor have sharp teeth? Surely herbivores didn’t need fangs?
Unless... this was all a big trick, and he was leading my crew to his den to devour us all.
Out of nowhere, Zat’tor stopped walking. He angled his head curiously down at me. “What is wrong, Levi?”
“Huh?”
“You feel cold and tense. Do you need warmth?”
Iwascold and tense. I’d been shivering for the past five minutes. Since, you know, thinking about getting eaten by a giant predator did that to a human’s base instincts.
“How do you know that?” I asked, shocked at his perception.
Zat’tor’s tentacle squirmed on my shoulders. I jolted. The warm weight of it was so comfortable, I’d forgotten it was there.
