Page 29 of Stripped By the Alien

Guilt arrives a moment later. He did save me, and he absolutely didn’t have to. "All right. Tell him I'm sorry. And thank him."

Lucius turns toward the alien and delivers a short reply. The answer comes instantly.

Lucius hesitates.

That hesitation worries me. "What?"

"He doesn't appear interested in your apology."

I look from the drone to the giant alien. The alien is still staring at me, still holding me against his chest, and still very obviously angry. Well, there’s not much I can do right now, except maybe explain.

I point toward the wall behind us. "Tell him his ship tried to kill me."

Lucius translates. The locust answers immediately, his antennae twitching with obvious irritation.

"He says the ship removed an intruder from a restricted area. He means you. You’re the intruder."

I glare at the drone, who arguably forced me to run when he made those distractions. "Yes, I got that part. But I didn’t intrude. I just wanted to see the ship."

Lucius translates again. The locust responds with a growl and several sharp gestures. The lobster begins clicking its claws together as if amused before Lucius relays the answer.

"He says the ship will defend itself if it must. You did intrude into those rooms. He forbids you from doing it again."

"Well, I… didn’t mean to." I don’t know what else to say. I’d prefer the locust to think that I’m just dangerously curious, not trying to escape.

That seems to end the conversation anyway. The locust takes his arm off me and checks if I can stand by myself. My lungs and ears still ache. Every breath reminds me of the vacuum. Every so often the memory returns without warning, and my stomach tightens. The image of endless stars and open space keeps forcing its way back into my thoughts.

Then another realization pushes everything else aside. I slowly straighten and look at Lucius. "I want to ask him something. First, what is his name? And tell him mine."

Lucius makes many sounds in the locust language, and the locus replies with his deep voice.

“He’s Krix’vorr,” Lucius says. “There’s a title too, but I can’t translate it yet. I’m still learning the words here. Did you have more questions?”

I don’t have to think long about it. “Am I the first of my kind he’s found? Or that others have found?”

Lucius translates and gets his answer.

“Not to his knowledge. As far as I can understand, he says that he hopes not. I can’t be sure about that part, though.”

Several Earth scouts have been missing, and it’s just possible that some of them were rescued like me. Including Sophia. “Can he find out?”

The process takes some time. Krix’vorr asks Lucius several sharp-sounding questions before he gives a reply.

In the meantime, a servant creature comes in and hands two flowers to Krix’vorr, then bows deeply and scurries away.

“He might be able to,” the drone translates. “But if others of your kind are missing in the minefield, it’s likely because they’re dead. You’re lucky Krix’vorr was there. Anything else?”

“What will he do with us? We want to be returned to our planet.”

“I sincerely warn you against that line of inquiry, Captain,” Lucius says quickly. “We want him to know as little as possible about Earth. But I will ask what his intentions are.”

Krix’vorr replies, with a bit of amusement.

“Ah. He says he will return you to your people. So he wants to know where it is. Exactly where it is, he says. Again I strongly suggest not entertaining any ideas in that direction. He plainly knows that Earth lies beyond the minefield, but that won’t help him that much. It’s a big space beyond it.”

I suppose that was inevitable. When Krix’vorr saw me try to escape, promising to take me home was the obvious next move.

“Should I pretend not to understand when he asks me?”