Page 24 of There’s an Alien Down My Chimney

Stella

I wasn’t sure about Ru’s idea when he told me we should get a new translator for me. Last time had definitely not been a success. Walking along the crowded docking arm was enough to convince me in seconds. Not only did my translator not translate any other language except Ru’s, but it was also pretty damn bad at doing it with this much ambient noise around.

The medical practice Ru took me to was inside the main part of the station, on one of the upper levels where everything looked clean and new. The doctor was of a species I had no name for, and Ru didn’t explain, but it had two arms and two eyes, even if those eyes were completely black, with no eye whites. While I found the male clad in white extremely disconcerting, he smiled a friendly smile, and his long fingers were quick and adept as they removed the old translator.

I didn’t even feel a thing when he made incisions to install tiny little implants inside my ears. All in all, when it was done, I couldn’t tell if any surgery had even happened. Except for the beginnings of a headache stirring at my temples. “Can you understand me, Miss Stella?” the doctor asked in a soft, melodic voice.

Wide-eyed, I nodded in return, it was to me like he spoke in English, without even a trace of an accent. There was no delay either, and while my eyes told me his lips didn’t move right for the words… My brain was definitely processing what he said as English. Turning to look at Ru, I saw how he grinned, “That didn’t hurt a bit, did it?”

I shook my head, awed at hearing him speak without a delay, how nice it made his deep, dual-toned voice sound. Then I remembered how awful it had felt when I thought he had collapsed and wouldn’t wake, not until I’d pulled that plug from the strange port at the back of his head.

“Please doctor, can you take a look at Ru too? He became unresponsive when he was navigating…” I said. Reaching out to grab Ru’s hand and pull him closer while I pointed at the back of his head. Ru was still wearing the Santa hat, which I could no longer think of as my grandfather’s, a hole singed through the tapered tip where a bullet had nearly struck him.

The doctor’s freaky eyes swung from me to the spot I indicated, “Port I assume?” A hand-held device was picked up and run over Ru’s head before my guy could make a protest, which he did by grumbling that he was fine, even if he did hold still for the scan.

“Hmm, a little bruising around the port, that will heal just fine. I see signs of scarring on your brain, old and healed. I’d recommend never using the port again but I know what you nav’s are like…” He tsked in discontent when he said the last but I was relieved to hear it, Ru didn’t want to use his port so if we could avoid situations where he needed to, we’d be fine.

Ru was grinning too, his dark red eyes on mine, reassuring me that we were on the same page when it came to this. I still had to get the story out of him on what had happened, but I had no doubt that he’d tell me.

When we left the medical area we were in high spirits, and I was awed by how I could now understand every single alien we passed. Suddenly everyone just sounded like they spoke my own language. I held on tightly to Ru’s hand the entire time, scared that I’d lose him in the huge crowds. Some aliens here were even bigger than Ru, though his antler-shaped horns did make him stand out. Once on the lower decks, it became a warren of small streets, lined with food stalls, and neon flashing signs that clearly indicated brothels or sleeping places. It was a small, seedy city.

“There you are, you bastard!” a voice growled, and Ru was suddenly yanked into an even smaller, darker alley. My eyes struggled to adjust to the gloom after the bright neon that had lit the main thoroughfare we’d been on. I didn’t recognize the voice, but I had a sinking suspicion I knew who it was, Ru had explained that situation to me. So I geared up for a fight, squaring my shoulders, and adrenaline roaring.

Ru had ripped his arm free from the big male in front of him, a guy with greenish skin, streaked with red. He looked a bit like an ugly orc, but green. With tusks protruding from a mouth that was missing a good portion of the bottom lip. Piercings gleamed gold from his eyebrows and nose, his dark brown eyes small and pig-like in his huge, crude face.

“Yatzel,” Ru said, his voice pitched as if he was about to explain something to a child. “How many times do I have to explain how things work? That haul is mine, you can bluster all you want, but it’s not going to change.” Ru shrugged his shoulders casually, but I saw his tail flick in agitation behind his back, the silver blade on the tip catching pink and green bits of light coming from the main thoroughfare.

It was as if I didn’t even exist to the big orcish guy, which was probably a good thing. I was hoping I could use it to my advantage, it had worked back on earth with that Dragnell… So maybe it would work with this guy too.

Then Yatzel pulled out a laser-pistol and pointed it at Ru with a smirk, “I watched you. You don’t have that nifty personal shield on your belt today. You’re not so tough without it.” He spoke with a bit of a lisp, spittle flying from his damaged mouth, and he looked so smug that it was clear he thought he had the upper hand for once.

I didn’t even see Ru move, one moment he’d just been standing still, casually appraising the weapon pointed at his chest. The next moment, Ru’s hand shot out, and the gun was clattering away along the metal floor of the small alley. His tail lashed out so the tip was pressed against the male’s jugular just beneath his fleshy chin. “Huh, I could have sworn different,” Ru drawled with a smirk, he even turned his head just enough to wink at me.

Keeping my eyes on the two guys, I crouched down and picked up Yatzel’s lost gun. Smiling as I inspected the weapon. It didn’t look too different from the one I’d shot with back on Earth, so I hoped I didn’t have to use it, I didn’t want to cause a massive hole somewhere when we were on a space station, surrounded by the vacuum of space.

Yatzel was growling, but he had frozen in place with the sharp tip of Ru’s tail pressed against his throat. “I hate you!” he spat out. His big, bulky body tensed as if he was about to fight. So I swung the gun up and pointed the barrel at his face, making a warning noise in the back of my throat so he knew what I’d done. It was satisfying to see him freeze again, hatred in his small little eyes.

“Yeah, ain’t she a beauty?” Ru said with a smile, “That’s my lady and you better remember that, harm a hair on her pretty head, and I will end you.” The threat wasn’t uttered with a smile, it was a deep, sub-harmonic growl that echoed in the small alley. It even made people freeze in place out on the main thoroughfare, worried eyes searching the dark of our alley.

“Come on Stella, we’re out of here,” he added after a second, his tail curling back as if he was letting Yatzel up. I could see the intent in the orcish alien’s eyes, but before I could even utter a warning, Ru’s tail coiled and struck the male on the side of the head. He collapsed like a sack of sand, just crumpled on his thick legs.

“That was sexy,” Ru said, his eyes gleaming as he looked me over. “But I’d rather you give me the gun until I can give you a rundown on how it really works.” He smirked as he said that, so I knew he was partially teasing, and I was only too happy to hand him the weapon.

“Let’s go, I want to ravage my female,” he added, and then we were jogging through the space station again. I didn’t have eyes for much else but Ru’s form as we rushed back to the Scintilla, I could spend time playing tourist later. Ru had a good point, we needed to celebrate our successful escape from Earth, and consummate our partnership.

Still, once we reached the station arm where our ship was docked, my eyes did snag on an alien walking into the ship neighboring ours. The male looked like a dragon on two legs, with spikes all down his back and tail, and horns like a bull spanning a good three feet. His green scales gleamed in the light, delicate emerald patterns curling over his chest. Even among the many aliens I’d seen today, he stood out, simply because he was so huge and so dangerous-looking.

I didn’t notice the human girl tucked under his arm until they turned and stepped into their airlock. He had a human with him, was she with him willingly? I hadn’t seen a single human on the space station so far. Was she alright?

Ru froze just as I did, I thought at first it was because he’d seen the human woman too, but his eyes were focused on the hatch of his ship. A snarl was curling his mouth with aggression, his tail sweeping so wildly behind him that a dockworker had to leap out of the way. “There’s someone on the Scintilla.”

That had me snap my attention to the hatch as well, how did he know? I couldn’t see anything but it was giving me a bad feeling, knowing that someone had entered Ru’s ship without permission. Had Yatzel just provided a distraction while someone had gone in to steal the artifact?

We approached carefully, Ru with his hand on the gun holstered on his thigh. That was his own weapon, and he’d never even reached for it when Yatzel confronted him. Inside the airlock, I couldn’t see anything, and the hatch was keyed to Ru’s signature only.

Then the airlock opened and we looked into the narrow passage that bisected the front of the ship, it lead to the bridge and had two bunk rooms, the galley, and a bathroom leading off it. The rest of Ru’s ship was engines and a storage hold for what he scavenged. It wasn’t a big ship at all, so it would be hard to hide on it.

There was a shadow on the bridge, we could just see it. Ru lead with his gun, holding me behind him with his tail curled around my middle. “Who the fuck are you? And why are you on my ship?” he demanded. I leaned out just enough around his shoulder to get a look at the intruder and froze in place, glad that I was partially hidden behind Ru’s broad back.