But any attempt to push Rick about his father, or more accurately, his parent, had ended with Rick deciding the shipneeded his immediate attention. The more Max pushed, the more Rick polished the undersides of floor panels.
“We will visit Hidden Planet,” Rick said loudly, but the computer’s artificial voice had a tremor, and his smallest tentacles were now curled into tight balls dangling beneath his oversized head with its ridiculous floppy tool hat.
“Dee has not seen her husband for a year,” Max mumbled. If landing made his husband miserable, he was firmly anti-landing. “We could return after dropping her off.”
“Agreed,” Kohei bugled.
Unfortunately, Dee chose that moment to be selfless. “I appreciate the ride, so if you want to stop at home first, that’s fine. A few days won’t make a difference to me.”
Rick seemed to shrink in on himself, and now Xander’s tentacles curled in distress. He’d noticed something was up with his father. Rick rotated, his largest eye pointing right at Xander before he stiffened his tentacles, stretching them so hard the skin got shiny. “We visit Hidden World. We discuss changing policy of polonium-headed poop faces that think they run the galaxy,” he said.
“Unnecessary,” Kohei protested.
“Offspring must choose their own direction,” Rick bugled back, his determination clear through his volume, even without the fancy-dancy business translator.
For the first time, James noticed something was wrong. He rotated, his largest cluster of eyes focusing on Kohei then Rick then Kohei before he leaned toward Max. “Max Father makes everyone worry. I am not ready to abandon emotionally fragile Max Father who wants to watch over offspring. I will not swim away without looking back.” Then, as though that had solved every issue, James glided out of the control room, probably to go back to his workshop. He was turning into a mad scientist with his inventions. He was also a tentacle reading idiot who couldn’tdistinguish the slightly curled tentacle of hunger from the deep curly-fry of distress from the tightly knotted tentacle of fear.
Rick was afraid, and the other two kids were reacting. Kohei’s tentacles quivered, and Xander’s balled up. Rick must have noticed because he stretched his tentacles until they were stiff as tiny little boards.
Dee took a step closer, her gaze on Max. Her expression telepathically demanded answers, but the problem was Max didn’t have any.
Did he know something was wrong between Rick and his family? Sure. Did he know what?
Nope. Nada. Zip. Zitch. Because Rick was a close-mouthed bastard when he wanted to be.
“I am good father. I will allow offspring to swim in the direction of their choice,” Rick bellowed, and even the translator sounded angry. “Home is the zone with the helpful hardware man,” he finished, mangling another of the commercial jingles he was so fond of. Before Max could ask him to explain, Rick almost knocked him over rushing from the room.
“Fabricator in level C-9 require repair,” Rick shouted. Then Rick was gone.
The C deck only had levels one through eight.
Yep, nothing strange here. The last time they’d had this much awkwardness, Max had mistranslatednannyand had taken a job as Rick’s surrogate baby not-momma.
Given how awkward that had been, even approaching that level of weirdness was impressive.
Not good, but impressive.
“I should...” Max couldn’t failed to find good lie, so he made like a tree and leafed.
Chapter Two
The kids left him alone, but Dee tracked him down in the small workshop Max had claimed for himself. It wasn’t as elaborate as Rick’s control room or as crowded with various bits and bobs of mysterious technology as James’s lab, but it was his. Max was working on a new design for interior security locks when the door slid open for Dee.
Without preamble, she asked, “Can you explain what’s going on with James and Rick?”
“Nope,” Max said. He could have added more, but he lacked the energy.
He immediately regretted it because Dee seemed offended. “I suppose it’s a family secret,” she said with a touch of bitterness.
“If it is, no one has let me in on the secret,” Max explained. “Rick won’t tell me anything about his family.”
The aggravation on Dee’s face vanished, replaced by confusion. “What? Rick tells you everything. Over the dinner table, Rick complements your asymmetrical intestines. I didn’t think Rick had any personal boundaries.”
Max snorted. “You’d be amazed at how many times my asymmetrical intestines get brought up. He is also fond of the placement of my heart and irregular human eyes.” As much as Max appreciated having an expressive husband who was comfortable giving compliments, what Rick chose to complement was... odd.
“Eyes are irregular?”
Max shrugged. “Apparently the color is unevenly streaked. Rick likes to flatter me, but humans are too symmetrical for traditional compliments about the size, shape and placement of my many eyes. And I lack the handsome red tips of the best tentacles.” He wiggled his fingers, which Rick still had a habit of calling boned tentacles.
