Chapter Six
Max was packing theequipment he wanted to take to the buyer meet-and-greet when Rick burst into their room all flailing tentacles and belches. “I dislike with vehemence,” the computer translated. The computer voice was weirdly calm even though Rick was loud and a bit screechy.
Max sighed. “I understand that.” The second he got the message that the trader wanted Max to come without Rick, he knew it was going to cause drama. Maybe Rick had never joined the military, but he understood what it meant to have someone’s six.
“Dislike with very much vehemence,” Rick added. His outer tentacles were all curled up.
“I know that. But the trader is right. If I have an adult Hidden One with me, people will figure out that I’m lying.”
“No. You are not lying about creation of new weapon, so I can go with without fear of perception of lying.”
Max sighed. Rick was, in his own way, being sweet and protective and supportive, but this time he was also wrong. The trader understood intergalactic politics and psychology. At least, Max assumed he did because it matched what Max knew of greedy, selfish, soul-sucking human beings. “They will assume you did the work even though James and I worked together.”
“They are non-assuming with Xander, so they can non-assume with me.”
Max went back to packing the samples he planned to take with him. If nothing else, maybe they could get resources to replace the ones he and James had spent on making the prototypes. “Xander is a child.” And boy wasn’t that making Max feel guilty, but he needed help. Since Xander spoke English even without the translator, they could even use English like a secret decoder ring if Max turned off his computer translation program.
“My attendance is equality to Xander’s attendance. The people of the Hidden People do not have cognitively immature youth.”
“But the rest of the universe do,” Max said. “They will dismiss Xander as unimportant.”
“He is much very important!” Rick nearly bellowed.
Max whirled around to find a very curled up, angry ball of octopus near the foot of their bed. “Of course he is,” Max assured Rick. Abandoning his packing, he sat near Rick and held his hand out. But Rick was having none of it. He kept all his appendages tightly curled. “He is exceptionally important, but the other peoples will think of Xander as a child. And even if they know the Hidden People are born cognitively developed, they will assume he has lived too short a time to do such complex work.”
“They be pursuing tasks of greater complexity than I when similarly full of youth,” Rick said. Some of the appendages twitched and seemed to straighten involuntarily. Yep. Rick was a proud papa, so proud he couldn’t stay mad even when he wanted to.
“They are wonderful offspring,” Max agreed. “We did good with them.”
“We did.” Rick’s tentacles uncurled a little more. “All three offspring are important. However, Xander is small. However, Xander’s smallness is significant in the lack of appropriate for assisting you in example of violence.”
“You think I need better backup,” Max summarized.
“Yes.” Rick trumpeted the word loudly enough that it made Max’s head ache.
Max stretched his hand out, and this time Rick wound his tentacle around it. “You lack eyes in logical rear position,” Rick added. Max was tempted to make a joke about parents and eyes in the back of their heads in logical rear positions, but it was unkind to tease Rick when he was upset.
Rick lifted himself up and leaned into Max. “I dislike possible future where you do not return.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Max assured him. “I will always return to you.”
“The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat are both always likely. Promise is only word.” Rick’s voice was softer now.
He had a point. Max had made the same promise to his mother, and he hadn’t gone home to her even when he’d had the chance to. “I will always try to return. I fought through the Hunters to return to you and I will not let stupid people stop me from coming home.”
Rick didn’t answer, but he slid his tentacle under Max’s shirt. The warm touch made Max smile. “Are you trying to seduce me?”
“Yes.” Rick curled a tentacle around Max’s leg and lifted it into the air, pushing Max onto his back.
Max laughed. “You are pushy.”
“Yes,” Rick agreed. Using his multiple appendages, he tugged at Max’s pants and lifted him farther up the bed and teased a nipple all at once. Max captured the nearest tentacle and pulled it toward his mouth. He used his lips and tongue to explore all the small fingers on the underside of the tentacle. When he sucked it, Rick shivered with his whole body. As soon as he got control of his tentacles again, he flipped Max over onto his stomach and tugged his pants off in one motion.
“Bully,” Max complained softly.
