Dee snorted. “Your parents were freaks of nature.”
Max smiled at his sweet husband whose tentacles were still curled in alarm. “I plan to be another freak of nature then. Rick’s secrets are his own. Do I want to know? Yes. There are a lot of things in this world that I would like to know, and I don’t have festering emotions about any of them.” Max thought a change of subject was in order. “Where are our children? I think James is planning to create an arms race, and I would like to make sure he’s on his best behavior.”
“That one doesn’t have good behavior,” Dee said before spearing another piece of fruit with the single pronged stabby instrument of eating.
Rick trumpeted his amusement.
“He and Kohei decided to go out, and before you ask me where they went, I don’t know. Your kids have entered their adolescent years sooner than I expected. Your nice child was watching television in the pool room when I went for my morning swim.”
“Kohei is as nice as Xander.” Max felt the need to defend his eldest child, but he also had to admit that James wasn’t nice.Despite Rick's sweet genes, James had become obsessed with being a big-time arms dealer. It was a little disturbing.
“If you think Kohei is nice, you have not listened to him lately.” Dee poked her stabby instrument in Max’s direction. “He has described in vivid detail exactly what he plans to do to the Hidden one that broke yourboned tentacle.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “Saying it that way makes it sound dirty.”
Max did not comment on that since technically what he did with Rick and his tentacles was dirty. “Kohei is upset about the accident.”
Rick trumpeted. “Accident is offspring exceeding available resources due to lack of foresight and budgeting. Hidden one who broke your boned tentacle was stupid. Stupidity is not equivalent to accident.”
Max caught a tentacle and pulled Rick closer. “Have I mentioned lately that you can be judgmental?”
“Often,” Rick said with a bellow, and he did not sound even the least bit apologetic about it.
“We should probably check the logs and see if they registered their destination.” Max had impressed on everyone the importance of leaving a clear trail any time they left the ship, but he could only hope that his children had followed the rule. Them knowing the rules did not ensure they followed them. Given how many times Max had snuck out after curfew or ditched class, he felt like he owed his parents the biggest apology because it was annoying when he couldn’t find his kids.
Children were annoying, even ones that matured at the rate of Hidden ones. Maybe human children would be less annoying because at least then he would have gotten a longer cute phase out of them before they turned into obstreperous little teenagers.
Max headed to the nearest computer display and ran his fingers along the controls. Hidden one computers were difficultto use because Max didn't have enough digits to touch all of the buttons that needed to be touched at once. He could do it, but it required effort. But Rick had reprogrammed these computers for human hands. Max had decided that love was having a partner that reprogrammed computer interfaces to work better for human fingers even when it made it less efficient for Hidden one tentacles. That was way better than flowers.
Max found the entry easily enough. Luckily, Kohei and James had listed the same destination. James was less likely to get himself in trouble if he had his brother there to keep him from being stupid.
“What is at these coordinates?” Max asked, reading off a long string of numbers. Had he not been looking at Rick at the exact moment, he would not have believed anyone's description of the moment. Rick’s tentacles snapped like a slinky that has been stretched straight and released. These tentacles weren't even curly fries. They were coiled tightly enough to be hard little balls tucked close to Rick's head.
And Rick had shrunk down to half his normal height as his walking tentacle tried to do the same. The whole movement was so fast, so aggressive, that Max was startled out of speaking for several seconds. Dee looked from Max to Rick and back. She sucked at reading Hidden one body language, but even she should notice something was horrifically wrong.
“Rick?” Max took two steps forward, but then he froze, not sure what was wrong, which made him equally uncertain as to how to help. Rick made a miserable honking noise.
“What is it? What's at those coordinates?” Max imagined octopus-eating monsters or quicksand or some enemy army that was massing troops on the border, not that Hidden ones had armies. They typically couldn't cooperate with each other long enough to form them, and even their cities were typically planned and overseen by one particularly strong-willedindividual. Cooperation was not their forte. However, something terrible awaited their children, of that he was sure.
“Repeat coordinates,” Rick said, the translator stripping his voice of all emotion. That was not good because it meant he had used a tone that Max had not yet programmed the computer to recognize. Max had heard Rick terrified, angry, frustrated, distracted, happy, horny, borderline homicidal, exasperated, and dozens of other emotions. But his current mood was so unfamiliar that the computer couldn’t assign any appropriate tone.
Max moved back to the computer display and read off the coordinates James and Kohei had left. “They said they were invited to show weapons designs to a Hidden one of note.” Max had no idea what that meant, but none of Rick's tentacles loosened even a millimeter.
Rick darted toward the exit with such an odd gait that it sent shivers of revulsion up Max's spine, kind of like the feeling he would get when he saw those people who trained themselves to walk upside down on all fours so that their bodies had a strange, supernatural jerking motion. Rick leaned so far forward that his three or four largest tentacles touched the ground in front of him, and his walking tentacle trailed behind. It was wrong and terrifying and nauseating. Rick rushed out of the room in a blindingly fast motion like an inchworm on cocaine.
Dee shot to her feet and stared at the door.
After a moment of shocked inactivity, Max dashed after his husband, chasing him down beautifully painted hallways designed to resemble light filtering through water. He was terrified that Rick would reach some part of the ship that he had absolute control over and lock Max out. He followed the sounds of hatches sliding shut and once he reached the elevator, he took an educated guess before directing it to their private level.
Max found Rick in their quarters, his tentacles wriggling like they were trying to curl even tighter. Max hovered in the door, afraid to push into the room. He had the feeling Rick was seconds away from exploding, and he knew how strong Hidden ones were. “Rick?”
The translator continued in its monotone. “Coordinates are familiar.”
“I had assumed.” Max eased another inch into the room.
“I despise those coordinates.” Now the translator applied a tone: loathing.
“Are the children in danger? Do we need to go get them right now?” That was the only question that mattered to Max, at least right now. Once his children were safe, then he would want more details.
“We cannot retrieve children.” Rick retreated to the bed, crawling onto the mattress on fisted tentacles.
