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I tore my eyes away from his bulging muscles and focused on his face. Fortunately, it was a very handsome face. “You have to stoop over, flinch sometimes, like you’re in pain.”
“Why?” he said. “I’m getting stronger.”
“Because we want your crew to think you’re weak. If they think you’re weak, they’ll Challenge you. When you fight, you can beat them and remain as captain.”
Nighteko snorted and smiled in surprise. “Good idea.”
What? Did he think I was stupid or something?
I cleared my throat. “What were those black things they put into your food? It looked like it was some kind of creature.”
“It is a creature. It’s called a—” He spoke but the translation strip took a moment to translate the word into English. “Black Pudding.”
I chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” he said.
“The translator,” I said. “It translated the name of the creature to something we already have a word for in English. It… doesn’t quite sound right. What’s its original name?”
He spoke to the device. “Translator. Allow original pronunciation and replace it in your system files. It’s called an Absor.”
“Absor,” I said, trying the word out. “That’s much better.”
“Your pronunciation is very good,” Nighteko said. “Are you a cunning linguist?”
Cunning linguist. Why could I not stop thinking he’d just said cunnilingus?
“Uh, I’m not sure,” I said, scratching my head. “You’d have to ask, uh, someone else.”
He frowned in confusion. Thankfully, he shrugged and continued with his description of the Absor.
“They enter your digestive system before breaking down,” he said. “They infiltrate your blood via osmosis to gain access to your entire body. They attack your brain, forcing you to have nightmares about things you’d rather forget.”
His expression shifted as if he was reliving such a nightmare right now. I could imagine what it entailed…
Mom… Mom… Please… Don’t leave me…
A terrible event had happened to him in the past involving his mother. But what? It didn’t feel like the right time to ask, so I dropped it.
He picked up his bedshirt and put it back on. I wished he wouldn’t. I enjoyed looking at his body.
“Why do you transport slaves?” I said. “There must be lots of other things you could do.”
“Not if I want real freedom,” he said.
“So you get your freedom by taking it away from others,” I said.
“Why not?” he said. “It was taken from me and I earned it back.”
I blinked at that. He picked up on my surprise and regretted telling me that about himself.
“I was trained to fight in the pits at Tordal, my homeworld,” he said. “I turned out to be very good at it. Good enough to please the crowds and win the prize money. I used it to buy my freedom.”
I waved a finger at him. “So, you admit it! Freedom was always your goal—after it’d been taken from you.”
His eyes moved to the side in thought. Then he looked me over. “Your species is not nearly as stupid as we’re told.”
I laughed out loud.
