Max sighed. Either the translator had large gaps when it came to modern warfare or Rick was still stuck on the idea of Max killing. Or both. Both was pretty damn likely. “Rick, query. What should we do with this enemy? Is he safe to release?”
Rick shuffled closer. “Clarify. Safe for whom? Release is most safe for...” The translator lost the last wailing noise, but Max got the idea.
“Conditional,” Max said. “I allow enemy to leave. He returns and harms you, me or the offspring. Query. Conditional true or false?”
“False,” the enemy alien said, and his small tentacles twitched. None of these aliens had a poker face, or rather poker tentacles.
“Rick, query, is he telling the truth?” Max needed more information about the enemy, but so far, Rick wasn’t cooperating.
“I am unsure.” Rick sounded miserable about that admission.
Max took a step back and raised the weapon.
“I no threat. I leave. My ship leave. We leave. No threat,” the enemy rushed to say.
Max hesitated. With three people left on the ship, their chances of staging another incursion were low, but Max didn’t know whether their ship could take Rick’s down.
“Rick, is their ship dangerous?”
“I. Translation matrix failure.”
Max gritted his teeth. “James, is the enemy ship dangerous?”
James was so small that he couldn’t reach the controls, but he headed for the computer panel. That knocked a little common sense into his father. Rick touched the screen. “Query. Define parameters of dangerous.”
“Clarification. Able to damage our ship. Query. Conditional. Enemy ship leaves, it uses weapons on our ship.”
“No!” the invader said, his voice high and even more chittery than normal. “No fire. We leave. No danger.”
Rick finally found his voice and the ability to speak in coherent sentences. “The enemy ship is too small for significant battle-fighting. Enemy ship is small for attacks without being seen.”
“They’re raiders who ambush ships,” Max said. That suggested they would flee if permitted. At least if they were humans, that’s what they would do, but cold fear filled Max’s chest because he could be misreading this situation. If he let the leader leave, he might go and find a whole battalion of space ships to attack them.
“Query,” Max asked, “will enemy return? Will enemy bring back larger ships?”
“No!” the invader shouted, his tone so high that it hit that nails-on-a-chalkboard note that sent shivers up Max’s spine. Either that or shock was setting in and his body temperature was dropping. That was possible. With second degree burn blisters all over his arms and bruises on his bruises, his body wanted to shut down in the worst possible way. Stubbornness was the only force keeping him on his feet.
Max raised his weapon a fraction of an inch. “I can’t let you threaten the children.”
The invader’s smaller tentacles slowly relaxed. Max wondered if it was an intentional gesture, like a human showing his empty hands to appear less threatening. “Query. Children?”
“Offspring,” Max clarified. “Humans will not allow their offspring to come to harm. Humans will kill for offspring.”
The invader made a show out of looking at James before he again studied Max. “Offspring not human.”
Max felt his cold pragmatism give way to hot fury. “I am their father! I am their surrogate father. They grew in me. I’ve taught them. I’ve cared for them. They are mine. And I will kill for them.” A half-hysterical laugh slipped free, and now Max knew he was going into shock. “Fuck, I would have let you steal whatever information you wanted and stayed with the children, but when you threatened to kill them, I took a hook and disemboweled your people. I would die for the offspring, and I would certainly kill for them.”
The invader’s tentacles curled back up, and he half turned away so Max could only see one eye.
“If you don’t get off this ship right now, I will cut three of your legs off and force you to drag your body through this ship with your one remaining limb. Do not touch a human’s offspring!” Max stepped to one side to clear the way for the invader to leave. The alien twitched without leaving. “Go!” Max screamed.
For an awkward, pyramid-shaped alien with a leg under what passed for his face, it could move. He dashed for the door.
When Max’s hand trembled, he lowered the weapon and took his finger off the trigger. “Rick, tell me right now if he’s dangerous and I need to go kill him.”
“No,” Rick said. A few of his tentacles uncurled. “No. Can secure door from here. Can watch from here.”
“Query. Watch? Show me.” Max would feel a lot better if he could see that asshole get off the ship. When he walked over to the display, James “sat” on the floor and reached up with his leg tentacle. Max pulled him up and let him latch onto his neck.
