Denied - 51. Chapter 51

Mackinack was going to be dangerous. Deke wasn’t happy Captain didn’t take more people with him, but their argument seemed like something they said before and were saying again just to say it. I watched them but tried to make it subtle, so they wouldn’t know I was watching them.

“At least you’re going,” Deke grumbled. “He won’t let me go after last time.”

“What happened last time?” I asked. I took the new knife Deke handed over.

“This one doesn’t have a paralytic, by the way. It wasn’t a big deal. I just broke a few appendages off this Faa Loo. They’re practically stick people anyway. Fragile.”

“Uh huh. That cost me twice what I would’ve had to pay for the fuel pods we needed so he could afford to regen. Maybe three times.” Captain grunted as he slid into a tight harness, buckling it around his chest. “Set Kohen up with a light rig.”

“Light rig?”

“Mackinack is underground. Depending on who you negotiate with, where you go, you’ll need different types of illumination to be able to see. Freska and her team developed these light rigs. They have settings, here, here, and here.” Deke pointed to different spots. “Everett or someone else can show you how to turn on what you need.”

“I’ll show him,” Captain said. “Ready?”

The harness pinched, and I rolled my shoulders and took a deep breath to settle it. “Fine. Yeah.”

The trip down was long. It was rough. There was something to be said for having an underground city, apparently, when the winds were as strong as the ones raging across the flat soil that made up the majority of Mackinack’s crust. The city above was nearly deserted, and those beings moving about were protected naturally or with artificial fields. A few hardy things lived up there, but we started to encounter more life signs on the way through the hidden, twisting tunnels that riddled the firmament.

“How does Central not know this exists?”

“Masking, scanner jammers, a lot of misdirection and disinterest.”

“Not even scientists when they categorized the planet?” I’d learned one thing when I started all the different species on the ship with us; the databases held research on all the beings, creatures, plants, resources, anything and everything Central might be able to use—when they found a new planet. Unless there was a species already advanced enough to prevent it living there.

“The Faa Loo didn’t allow it. They already claimed this planet. And they’re mercenary enough to enforce it.”

Mercenary? “But, Deke…?” He’d damaged one.

“As a species, not individuals.” Captain glanced over. “What someone looks like and physically are capable are isn’t all they are. I know that.”

I frowned. What did that mean?

We stopped the shuttle at what looked like an empty cave, but as soon as we stepped out, Captain hit a button on his rig and gestured toward mine. I tapped it.

A green beam lit up the room, and the darkness was gone. In its place were clear walls with small sparkles reflecting the lights. “Oh!” The other side of the cave was the open city area, and it was teeming with beings.

Unlike the other port, there was little sense of public community. These people were here for business. They walked quickly. They stayed in groups.

My muscles tensed, and I stayed right on Captain’s heels. The rest of Deke’s guys fanned out on either side and behind us. “You know where to go already?” I asked.

“Yes. We’ll sell the ship, get credit in advance, make what purchases we need, and I bet Freska will be parked alongside and transferring crew before we get back.” Captain’s head was up, his strides long, his arms swinging freely at his sides.

I was out of my element as we trekked through the caverns. We dropped through two grav chutes, hunkered over and scooted through a small tube, and then entered a room that was shaped like a large octagon with a glowing crystal roof. Captain shut off his light, and I copied him.

My translation device didn’t seem to work, or I was hopelessly muddled because I couldn’t begin to follow whatever it was that he did with the beings who oozed down from the center of that ceiling to hang from long slimy strands that vibrated every time it spoke.

Okay, so maybe I just didn’t want to look at it. I’d seen some weird alien species: some were beautiful, some ugly, some bizarre. This one looked like… mucous.

Captain touched it, and I gagged, expecting his hand to come away glistening with nastiness. There was no sign of anything on his hand but, still, he’d be cleaning it before we touched.

Eventually, I drifted, following Captain’s body, watching his back, but leaving the rest up to him. We were in a tiny antechamber, our rigs glowing purple to light up the room, when he turned. The others waited outside, as they had at the last three places we’d stopped.

“Here,” Captain said. He cradled something.

“What?” I held out my hands instinctively and then nearly dropped the thing he put in them.

It was alive.

“What is it?” I peered at the tiny creature in my cupped hands, pulled protectively close to my chest.

“That is a synthgar. They’re not real, well, real but not wild. Bred, so you don’t have to fear a premature sting. They are something of a natural wonder on my homeworld.” Captain cleared his throat. “It is a bond gift. For you. If you accept him.”

“Bond gift? Accept him?”

We were alone in the antechamber now. “Accept me,” Captain said. “We have a bond already, but this will mingle my body and your body. Then he will stay on one of us at all times, as long as we live.”

A pet, and a gift, and a… poison? Blood bond? DNA tie? What to call it…?