The Neko's Tail - 1. A Strange Tiger

The world was bright beyond the neko’s eyelids. He felt strange, in a good way, as if Danuva had just healed him. Elias was cold, naked, but otherwise healthy.

Someone spoke nearby, but he couldn’t understand the strange garbling sounds. A moment after they ended, another voice spoke, this time in a tongue Elias could understand.

“Welcome back to the world of the living. I am pleased to see I got you to the chamber in time.”

Elias opened his eyes and hurriedly closed them again, nearly blinded by the strange torch that hung from the ceiling. His mind raced, trying to piece together the final moments before his blackout.

“Where is Quarian?” he finally croaked out, his throat sore and dry.

His… rescuer? Captor? Spoke again, and the monotone voice translated the garbled words once more.

“I do not know this Quarian of which you speak. You are safe here. If you can sit up, I will do my best to explain what has happened.”

The neko did as he was told, hearing a strange buzzing, like that of a wasp, as his back rose from its rest. He opened his eyes again, squinting in the bright light, somehow almost as bright as daylight.

He saw a man- no, a neko of some sort, standing near a doorway, the only egress he could see from the strange cell he found himself in. Elias remembered him from the fight with the wolf. Now that he wasn’t falling unconscious, the neko studied the man. He had honey coloured stripes running lengthwise over his arms and his face was slightly elongated. He was dressed in a dark leather suit, a white bracelet on his left wrist.

The man approached slowly, a cup in his hand. He spoke quietly, handing the cup to Elias as the translator went to work.

“Drink. You have been in… for a week.”

In what? Elias hesitantly took the cup and sipped at the liquid. It was water, but it had a strange, almost bitter flavour. He realized the voice was coming from the bracelet on the man’s wrist, and he stared at the jewellery suspiciously.

“My name is Artemis. I know you will have a lot of questions and I will try to answer them as best as I can. I noticed you do not speak often. I hope you will see fit to change that with me. I will never ridicule you for anything you say.”

Elias shivered slightly and Artemis frowned, or at least it looked like he did.

“You are cold. I will get you clothes,” he said. “Stay here. I will be back shortly.”

The tiger dug through a dresser, irritated. He had to be almost a foot taller than the neko. There was nothing here that would fit appropriately.

This whole operation was foolish and Artemis had known it before he even started. He should have left the system when he found the inhabited planet. It was standard operating procedures and he had been about to jump out when his sensors had picked up the neko’s voice.

There was something about the man that called to the tiger, something beyond the poor lot the neko had been dealt in life. He had left countless planets where that had been the case and even on this planet there were those worse off than this creature.

He couldn’t leave the neko behind. But he also was prohibited from contacting the neko unless the man was about to die. And so he had waited almost a month, hoping the neko would get in trouble, though the very thought terrified him. There was so much that could go wrong with a rescue.

There was still so much that could go wrong, even now. He would only be allowed to keep the neko on his ship for another two weeks before he needed to ask if the man wanted to return to his world. It was a protection against slavery, and though he was sure many pilots ignored the requirement, he would follow the law. He didn’t want to keep the neko against his will.

Sighing quietly, the tiger took out a purple shirt. It should cover the neko well enough. Closing the dresser, Artemis hurried back through his ship, heading for the medical bay.

Elias let the shirt drape over his body, covering himself.

“Forgive me for disrobing you. The… does not work if the patient is wearing clothes.”

There was that strange pause again, almost as if the strange voice didn’t have the word for what it was saying.

Artemis took a deep breath, his ears betraying how nervous he was.

“If you desire it, I will return you to your home. But I would ask you to wait for a week’s time before asking me to return you. I wish to show you the joy of my life, and the freedom of… a ship.”

“I will do as you command Master.”

Artemis grimaced.

“I am not, and never will be, your master. I would much rather be a friend.”

He held out his hand to Elias, and the neko took it hesitantly.

“Come, let me show you around.”

Elias allowed himself to be led from the room, jumping as a hiss sounded behind him. Turning his head he saw a strange metal door blocking the path they had come through.

“Sorry. I should have warned you the doors here open and close by themselves,” Artemis apologised.

The neko shook off his surprise and continued following the tiger through a narrow hall. Another door hissed open, and Elias fought his shock down.

“Everything on this ship, everything that you will see, is a lot more advanced than what you know from before,” Artemis said. “This is the cabin.”

Elias looked through the doorway, finding a small room with a bed somehow tucked inside the far wall. A desk sat to the right, a strange, small, flat object laying on top of it.

“Feel free to come here whenever you want. I know a lot of this might be a little much for you,” Artemis said. “We will be sharing this cabin for a while. If you decide to stay with me, I will try to get another cabin set up as soon as possible.”

Tugging lightly on Elias’ hand, the tiger walked further down the hall. Another door opened, on the left side of the hall and Elias saw a white tub inside, a large chamberpot of intricate design beside it.

“There is a… next to the door on the inside to keep the door closed while you are inside,” Artemis explained before they continued the tour.

He should have let the neko’s hand go already. But it felt so good to hold it. Intertwining his fingers through the man’s, Artemis brought the neko to the cockpit of his starship. The walls were blocked, preventing the neko from seeing his planet below the ship. A sensor beeped quietly on a panel on a wall, reminding Artemis that he needed to restock his water supply. The liquid in the ship was getting rather rancid; there was only so many times you could purify the same water.

He had been right; the neko was dwarfed in his shirt. But he was covered, and that was the important thing. It would be hard to work with the neko distracting Artemis with his body. Already he had to stop himself from running his hands through the man’s curly black hair, or petting the calico tail that protruded from his backside.

“You never told me your name,” the tiger said as he stood before the ship radar.

“Elias,” the neko said quietly.

They were orbiting around the planet, the ship on an auto-path that was safe with the lack of satellites. There was no real reason for Artemis to study the radar; he was in uncharted space, and there would be no ships within twenty light years that would contest him. He continued staring at the screen merely to avoid focusing too much on Elias.

“Are you hungry Elias?” he asked, barely catching the neko’s silent nod.

Releasing Elias’ hand, he turned from the radar and crossed the cockpit, passing into another room. He heard the neko’s feet quietly shuffling after him.

“I do not have food that you will be familiar with, but I hope you will find the dish enjoyable all the same,” he said, sticking his hand on a pad in the wall of the kitchen.

A minute passed and a plate of meat and vegetables appeared on the counter, eliciting a yelp from Elias.

“Don’t worry, it’s safe,” Artemis assured him. “Eat up. We need to take on fresh water. There’s going to be some minor tremors in the ship, but it is nothing to be afraid of. We are perfectly safe.”

He made sure the neko was sitting in a chair, the plate in front of him. Exiting the room, he made sure the door was closed behind him. Sitting in a chair in the cockpit, the tiger pulled up a map of the planet below them and picked a spot beside the ocean. Slowing his ship, the tiger grinned as he felt gravity pull the vessel downward. Planetary landings were always fun, if also a little stressful at times.

An alarm alerted him to their reentry into the atmosphere and Artemis flipped a switch beside a small chip in the curved wall in front of him.

The wall vanished from sight, revealing the planet rushing up to meet them. Placing his hands around the control stick between his legs, Artemis pulled the ship out of its freefall, scanning his sensors for the direction of his landing point.

Turning the ship, Artemis tensed against the gravity exerted on his body from the maneuver. His mind flashed briefly back to Elias, concerned for the neko’s safety in the kitchen. He should be fine, but then again he was new to the world of flight. His body probably wouldn’t be able to take any fancy spins.

Pointing the nose of the vessel down five degrees, Artemis watched a canyon approach at a rapid pace. He levelled the ship and watched the ground speed past. The water he sought appeared on the horizon and Artemis reduced his speed slightly, angling to the left to line up with his destination.

The sounds of the engines, absent in the vacuum of space, covered the sound of a door opening. But it did little to mask the sound of a scream.

Artemis jerked in his seat, the ship snapping to the left as his hand slipped on the controls.

“Fuck!”