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True to the surveillance information, there is a ship parked near the remains of the Ground Bar. It is a big purple shining thing with blinking pale lights around the edge. There is something very performative about it, something crass and glitzy. I have the feeling this is somehow related to Suli. I don’t know how or why, but I can detect her handiwork.
I left her safely at home, cursing me from her cage. She will be safe there. For the first time, I am not worried about not having eyes directly on her. Caging the human was probably the best idea I’ve had in years.
The ship is sitting with all the entries closed, no indication that anybody has gone in or out. I don’t see footsteps. I don’t smell anything foreign. I do smell a rather warm, rubbery scent, but that is all.
“This is suspicious,” Avel says.
“Yes,” I agree. “It is. Where are the occupants?”
“Inside, perhaps,” he says.
“Why would they land and simply sit around?”
“They might be waiting for something.”
“This feels like a trap,” he says. “We should attack.”
“I think we should just have a look,” I say. “Attacking a ship for no reason whatsoever seems imprudent. It could be related to Suli.”
Avel sighs under his breath. I know he does not approve of my relationship with Suli. He does not understand the attraction to a human. He is a traditionalist, still seeking a suitable saurian female mate, for all the trouble that is worth. But he is also a good soldier, and he falls in line as I head toward it.
The ship seems to shimmer and almost sway as we approach. It may have some kind of cloaking technology. It certainly does not seem to be behaving as I would expect something of its size, weight, and capacity to behave.
GRRROOOWWWWWARRR!
I will never entirely understand how leviathan primals are able to sneak up on one from time to time. Perhaps it is part of their hunting style, to step slowly, to put their weight ever so gently on one foot and then the other so that the thundering of their feet does not warn unsuspecting prey of their approach.
The dense jungle that hid this beast’s approach bursts open in a flurry of branches and uprooted trees as the very same primal that recently chewed my bike into a semblance of itself thunders into the clearing. Massive creature that it is, its legs are larger and longer and taller than the ship it seems to have taken exception to. It rushes for the craft, jaws extended, mouth open in a maw large enough to consume a thousand saurians in a single bite.
POP!
The ship disappears in a loud sound that takes both Avel and me, and the primal completely unawares. It is hard to imagine anything in this world, or off it, frightening a beast like the one before us, but the legendary primal turns tail and flees, leaving a very large, entirely deflated, massive sheet of rubber squashed into the remnants of its tracks.
Avel looks at me with an expression I know mirrors the one on my face.
“What the hell is happening?”
I cannot speak to the specifics, but I know there are two words to answer that question.
“Human trickery.”
10WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…
Suli
“She’s here.”
“Is she?”
“This way. It makes sense they’d keep her in the most secure room in the house. No windows.”
I can hear voices. Familiar voices. The last set of voices I ever expected to hear. I feel a flash of excitement, followed by confusion. What are they doing here? What is going on? I strain my senses to pick up more information, hearing soft footsteps moving outside the door, and a brief flurry of whispers before the door swings open quietly, and three women enter the room.
At their head is a woman with raven dark hair flecked with purple streaks. She is slightly older than I am, taller, and she wears a nearly perpetual sneer on her face. It deepens when she sees me sitting cross-legged in my little cage, then turns into a half-grin of amusement. I’m naked, and I guess that means she thinks I’ve been humiliated. I have, but I’m not embarrassed to be seen by the likes of her in this state. Not since I’ve been seen in truly much more compromised positions than this.
This is Raine. She was my first mate. Then she became my first mutineer. This is quite the unexpected reunion.
Behind her are a stunning redhead, Zara, and a very quiet young woman we call Mouse. Mouse has brown hair that falls to her shoulders in a sleek yet modest fall. Mouse is a master tactician, while Zara is just the sort of person you want on your side in a pinch. She’s a jack of all trades, good at lock-picking, pretty serviceable with a weapon, and not stupid in a crisis. These women were all my friends, right up until they weren’t anymore.
