Page 4 of The Hornet’s Hucow Pet

They flick a feathery arm at me. “Don’t judge.”

I take another deep pull from the joint. “Actually, that might be better than this. No offense.”

“None taken. Your moping is depressing.”

I scoff, shooting them an incredulous glare. “I do not mope!”

Percy’s voice quiets. “I know. That makes it sadder.”

I take a deep breath and sigh. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“I heard they’re doing this new thing. One of my cousins worked with Sylvus⁠—”

“The Sylvus?”

“Yeah.” Percy’s dark feathers puff up with pride. “Like I was saying, he runs the black market for pet hucows.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” I mutter. “He runs the black market for everything.”

The Arachnoid is known for his ironclad contracts—and the gruesome fates that befall those who break them. Arachnoids generally are a key part of trade and commerce across the ICSS—the contracts are effectively magical, able to detect intent and capable of enforcing their terms supernaturally.

The whole thing creeps me out.

“He used to be extremely selective about candidates,” Percy explains. “Only naturally submissive humans were accepted, and it was all figured out on the blacknet ahead of time. But I heard they just opened things up. You could go talk to them.”

“I could go… talk to them? About becoming a mindless milk-producing machine?”

“Milk-producing pet.” Percy sighs wistfully.

Silence stretches between us. “Percy, why are you being so nice to me?”

Their dark feathers splay, then settle. They sigh. “There’s a big neon target on your back. You keep the books a little too well. People can’t get away with shit. I’ve already gotten three offers to take you out of the picture. Shitty offers, but still. The price keeps going up.”

“Ah.” I pull out my little notebook full of cyphers and flip to a page. Red pen circles today’s date. “Right on schedule.”

Percy tilts their head at me. “You knew this was going to happen?”

“It was statistically likely. Thanks for not killing me yet.” I stretch my leg, grunting at the sharp pain in my knee. “I guess.”

Percy chuckles, and the sound tips toward a caw. “We had a good run. That’s worth something. What is it you humans say? You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

I laugh and take one last pull from the joint. “Yeah. So this is my goodbye present?”

Percy takes the filter from me and finishes it off, grinding the butt into the dirt with their scaly foot. “Half of it. The other half is that I can get you on a shuttle. Anywhere you want to go. Personally, I recommend Zairion Prime.”

Ah. So Percy did some research for me out of guilt.

I find a wry grin and shake my head, laughing. “You know what? Sure. Why the fuck not? I’ve tried every other drug in this god-forsaken universe. Zairion Prime it is.”

CHAPTER 2

NOVA

Sherexis is the biggest starport city on Zairion Prime, and it looks like a psychedelic elven city built in the trees of a giant rainforest—if all the elves were half bug.

The colors here are bright and… wrong. The leaves are a thousand shades of crimson and teal, and the massive, winding tree trunks are grey. Most structures are draped with banners and flags, some sporting garish color combinations and others oddly muddy.

I’m fairly certain these are actually dyed in colors my eyes can’t perceive. I vaguely remember learning that bees can see ultraviolet and mantis shrimp can see some ungodly number of colors. It seems these sapients share that trait with the arthropods they resemble.