2-4
The smoke this time tasted of cheese cake and a swirl of strawberries. I was sitting on top of a giant green giant thing. It was the latest of things that had entered the arena after me. It had taken one swing at me that I dodged, then I stepped off its arm and kicked it across the jaw, flinging teeth from its mouth.
The people that had come to the fighting pit had quieted down after the third person I had booted into the walls. They still cheered when the aliens or monsters stepped into the center to face me. It had turned from a celebration of the fight to a bunch of people wanting to see how far I could go. If they kept sending out opponents like this guy I don’t think anything on this planet could stop me.
The door I had entered cracked open and Owl waved at me from inside. I slid off the shoulder of the alien and walked towards her. What looked like sand beneath my feet turned out to be teeth and bone. It had ground down over time into a sandish quality but if I looked down I knew I would see teeth in the mix.
I slapped my kiseru clear of ash as i got close to Owl and hung it on my belt as I stepped near Owl. The door closed behind me to the shouting of the crowds and the groaning of my last opponent. “So how did it go?”
Owl turned and led me away from the fighting pit, “Very well. I have enough credits on my account for our purposes. The owners of the arena forfeited one of their ships to us to avoid me owning the arena. It should be helpful for our purposes.”
We walked through the facility, any alien we passed looked at me with a quiet awe. I must have destroyed one of their champions. “Did anything else happen while I was distracted?”
Owl let out a hum before replying, “they were very alarmed after the first few fights. They tried to offer me quite a few ways out but I kept betting on your win. They even offered to buy you from me a few times, that was before the twentieth fight when the number they owed me kept climbing.”
“Oh.. Well thanks for not selling me I guess.”
Owl chuckled, “I told them that selling you would be a bad idea for everyone involved. I learned something interesting though between waits in your fight.”
The walls of the place were sterile. The ceilings were about fifteen feet high with walls and ceiling made of metal. Owls steps clanked as she walked. An alien with purple skin and a fin on its head was waiting ahead of us. They stopped Owl and chatted for a bit. Owl gave ascent and the alien turned and started walking, Owl following. “What did you learn?”
“The area of space we live in is pretty much an unknown region. People that venture there go missing quite a bit.” Owl answered.
That didn't sound good. “Is that going to be a problem for us?”
She shook her head, “No. it might be comic parasites or being of the void people run into. I imagine our planet is quite shielded from things like that. Getting home will be easy for us.”
I looked at the alien then back to Owl, “Do you think they have broken down our language yet?”
Owl shrugged, “Does it really matter?”
Not really. The alien led us to an underground hangar. The alien stopped at the entrance and waved ahead of us talking to Owl. I stopped next to her and stared, “Is that it?”
Owl replied after listening to whatever the alien was telling her, “Yeah. That's it.”
It was big, orange and shaped like a gentle curve. It had three legs that dropped below it holding the body of it off the ground. Bright yellow lines slid across its nose and down the things body. “Thats a luxury yacht.” Owl nodded without saying anything. “Why do you have a luxury yacht?”
“It had the best specs.” She replied.
I waved at the facility around us, “Are these people even going to let us leave?”
Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Owl took a step forward towards the ship. The little alien did something that looked like a nod and turned, heading back into the place. I sighed and followed Owl. as we approached the space ship a part of it moved and lowered to the ground. I looked at the ship and couldnt see the seam from where it dropped from. There was nothing connecting the piece that had separated from the ship, it hovered a few inches off the ground and Owl stepped onto it.
The floor of it was a shiny silver shaped into octagons. I stepped on after Owl and it slowly raised us up into the ship. Inside were bench seats along the walls and couches or chairs with fuzzy or leather covering. The lights were melded into the ceiling and across the flooring. There were very few corners, everything was rounded or had a curve to it. The insides of the ship matched the outsides.
There was a musky lingering smell in the air. I glanced at Owl and saw she was frowning. She must have been very displeased. I leaned forward to take a step into the ship wanting to explore when Owls arm snapped out and stopped me.
Owls head scanned back and forth across the ship in front of us. I heard her suit hum a little and watched her cape slowly shorten until it mid calves on Owl.She shifted in her cloak then brought out a black brick of material she held in both hands. A little swing of her hands and she lobbed it ahead of it. The block hit the floor with a clang and didn't bounce. It stayed like that for a few seconds before breaking apart into what looked like ash.
The ash swam out in a circle across the floor. Owl nodded to the ash, “Nanites. They will sanitize the place and clear out any kind of air purifiers on the ship. Give them ten minutes.”
They crawled up the walls and farther into the ship, vanishing from view as we watched. “So.. Have you seen any good movies lately?”
Owl glanced at me and opened her mouth to reply when there was a few odd yelps further in the ship. We turned and watched as three female aliens wearing skimpy clothing came running out of different places on the ship. They saw each other and chattered at each other in some language. “Did you know if they came with the ship or if they were on the ship to begin with?”
Owls mask closed over her mouth and she marched up to them and began talking with them. That seemed to calm them down. Slowly the air in the ship cleared up and I stepped off the lift to go explore.
There were a few rooms that looked like bunks with beds slotted into the walls. Watching the nanites crawl over the walls made me happy I could go without sleep. I wonder if Owl could say the same. The beds were not one of a kind either, they had different sizes and widths. One of the rooms was connected to what had to be a master bedroom. There was a bath the size of a car with shower heads attached to the walls. You could have fit five humans in there and still had room for the other seven.
The next room I saw had to be a kitchen or dining room of some kind. There was a wall with spouts hanging off it with plates and utensils next to it attached to the wall. Bench seats along the walls hugged tables. The flooring changed from a smooth silver to a deep grey made to look like tiles. Owl was there with the three alien girls, sitting at a table chatting while they shared a meal.
I walked over and took a seat next to Owl, the three aliens across from us, “So what’s up with them?” I asked nodding to the girls.
They gave me curious looks while eating some kind of meat covered in a slime coating. It looked very unappetizing. Owl paused between bites and waved a five prong fork at the girl with blue skin and crests, “She is along for the long haul. Her people live for millennium. Her coming with us to our home planet is a small adventure to her. I will have to set something up to teach her our language. Her jaw and muscle structure are correct so she just has to learn it.”
The blue one waved at me with a friendly smile as Owl pointed to the next one. This one had a deep reddish pink skiing with three tentacles hanging from the back of her head, “We need to stop at her home planet and drop her off. There's something weird going on on her planet, they sell themselves into debt and whatnot to get off it. I think it's a disease or something.”
“Is it a disease or something else? Like that thing in Angle City?”
Owl shook her head and took another bite of her food before answering, “I think what we had on our planet was a rare thing. It's going to be a quick stop if it's not.”
I sighed, “If it's common that would be very screwed up.”
Owl gave a slow nod then waved at the last lady. She was pretty much a human with green skin and little ridges then pushed out in places. I think they might have been following her tendons or something. Her hair was shaved close and a blueish green. “Her planet is going to be a fun visit. Do you know boxing or something like it?”
I gave Owl a dirty look. Do I know boxing? She snorted, “You need to teach her hand to hand combat or something of the like. You have about three days to get the basics down.”
“I would need more than that. You don't learn things like that quickly.”
Owl waved me off, “I will whip something up, help her brain learn the movements. She won't need the muscle to put them into motion.”
“So I teach her boxing, why does she need to learn it?”
“Kaijus.” Owl took a bite then continued, “her planet is infested with them. She says it's from some war that happened on it. Her whole species sends out their young to make money and buy weapons to bring back and combat the kaijus.”
I nodded at that. I didn't mind stopping and helping a few places along the way. It's not like I was needed for something urgent back at the dojo. “So the ship is good to take us home?”
Owl gave a hum, “Yes and no. I am going to need to modify the drive a bit. From what I learned we crossed quite the distance when that thing warped space around us.”
“But you do know which direction to go right?” I asked, not wanting to get lost.
“Oh yeah.” She waved me off, "that's the easy part. Comparing where stars are makes navigating home easy. We won't get lost.”
“Do you have a timeline then?”
She shrugged, “More than a week and less than a month.”
I reached out and gently touched the table. When I felt it wasn't sticky i rested my chin on it, "that's a whole lot faster than I thought it was going to take us.”
The three aliens' heads were bouncing between us as we talked. Owl finished her meal and stood up, taking her plate and utensils to a little indent on the wall and dropping them in. “Not much faith in my navigation skills?”
“I’m just as surprised as you to be out in space. That must have shocked you when it happened.”
Owl paused and turned to me, “It wouldn't let me open my hand when it started glowing. Being out here is not good but everything is going according to plan I43C.”