It’s time to reclaim what’s mine.
37
MICAH
So… deathponds are apparently a universal Lacertus thing.
When all hell broke loose at the pier, I’d worried I was about to be dragged underwater, never to be heard from again. My shields probably would’ve kept me from drowning, but now I realized I needed to conjure myself a scuba-style breathing apparatus, stat.
For future alien freak-outs.
Luckily, I hadn’t met a watery grave at the hands—claws—of giant lizards. The worst that had happened was being carried off like that damsel inKing Kongbefore ending up in this waterfront cave.
Zion would be way into this.
The space we were in wasmassive—close in scale to Nuclei City—and while the set up in here was way more primitive than what the Eki had going on, it had a deluxe grotto feel that was homey. Some of the inhabitants lounged on rocks near the mouth of the cave, soaking up the sun, while others milled about, socializing and performing other oddly domestic duties with water at their doorstep.
Extremely deep water.
I’d already turned down several offers to take a dip—not because I had any issue with swimming, but because it didn’t seem like the smartest move to enter a bottomless deathpond with a bunch of unfamiliar, giant reptiles.
I do havesomesense of self-preservation.
Although Ziggy would probably disagree…
The only reason I wasn’t freaking out about my Stellarian’s wellbeing was that I could sense he was okay.Physicallyokay, I should specify, because hisemotionswere borderline psychotic.
So… the usual, just enhanced for the current shitshow.
I’d momentarily panicked when the oneLacertuscrushed hisOpertumskinsuit, but then I recalled Zig mentioning Stellarians could quickly exit a compromised vessel—like a fighter pilot ejecting from their aircraft.
It was safe to assume he’d already returned to the Lodger to grab no less than 3000 weapons and come save me, but I was hoping to handle this situation before he tracked me down and showed up.
Hence why my shields are still firmly in place.
On the one hand, the idea of my man busting in with guns blazing—literally—made meswoon,but I also knew there was a long history between these two species. I honestly didn’t know what would happen if a Stellarian showed up at the grotto, and the last thing I wanted was for my pseudo-kidnapping to start a war.
But if anything happens to Zig, I will go full Stellarian on these lizards.
Even though I knew my stellar collision was freaking out, I’d done my best to pump ‘sign of life’ vibes through our bond, determined to stand on business on my own.
Commander Babygirl has the situation under control.
I hope…
Yes, I could have star hopped—particle leaped, whatever—out of here if I’d wanted to, but my ‘captors’ and I had already resolved our differences. With the immediate danger segment out of the way, I could now focus on gathering useful intel for our mission.
Hopefully, before all hell breaks loose all over again.
“You should have better explained what you meant by Uulvin sending you here, little Eki,” my big, purple kidnapper—Krunk, apparently—called out from where they bobbed in the nearby pool. “But you must understand why we cannot risk freeing the Hydrassian in our custody.”
The issue was, I didn’t fully understandwhyUuktar ended up here in the first place, even if I had already figured out the Hydrassians were bad news. The larger issue was that I still needed those planetary coordinates to get Pedro home—to Karn—which meant I had to show my hand at least a little bit.
Maybe an intel trade would do the trick?
“I have no intention of freeing Uuktar,” I reassured my scaly host. “Unfortunately, the seer has information I need. Information about theTrolsthey mentioned…”
So much for self-preservation.
