"I'm here captain," she announced as she strolled happily into the room. She then took Cinnamon by the shoulders and said, "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." Then she gave her a big kiss on the cheek.
"Me, too," Cinny mumbled, completely bewildered by the redhead's behavior.
"Your orders, captain?" Strawberry asked as she slid into the Navigator's seat.
"Set a course for this Luyten's star system," I commanded. "Let's get the ship ready to move. Alert the crew and get these seats filled. Teddy, Aeren, Vanilla, whoever is ready."
I spent the next half hour going through needless checklists and greeting the crew members that walked in. Strawberry worked diligently to plot our nav-points so as to cause the least amount of interaction with the control stations. She sent it to my screen for approval. I barely gave it a glance before loading it into the autopilot system. I already had speed increments prepared to my liking, but I could easily adjust those as I go. A minute later I had the ship moving.
Cinnamon listened for traffic chatter and directions while Strawberry studied the space around us. There weren't many ships in our area. That was why we chose this place to hide. There was no sign of any planetary police force either.
"Just merchant ships," Strawberry declared. "Looks like there is one that is adjusting course to come our way."
"Why would they do that if it is a merchant ship?" I asked.
"There is no good reason that I can think of," Strawberry replied.
"Captain," Cinnamon got my attention. "We are being hailed by the approaching ship."
"Why?" I asked. I had already learned that hailing was a request to open a channel for voice communication.
"I won't know until I answer them," she replied. "Should I put them on speaker?"
"I don't know about this," I answered. "Do we have to respond to them?"
Cinnamon didn't reply right away. She was busy listening to someone through her earpiece. Finally, she said, "They are asking to speak specifically to you, Kash. They are using your name."
"Me?" What the hell could this be about? It had to have something to do with either the trouble we caused on the planet or the sedated package we left behind on the station. Since it was a fellow merchant and not a government ship, I decided to give them a listen. "Put them on speaker."
"This is the captain of the Terran Capsule," the strong male voice said. "I would like to talk directly to the man named Kash."
Terran Capsule? Didn't that mean a capsule from Earth? Why would this ship have that name?
"What is the nature of your request?" Cinnamon asked.
"Your ship has been reported as stolen by someone at Clark's Station," the man said. So Sage was going for revenge after all, risking being convicted of double homicide. She had to be banking on a lack of evidence. "I'm just letting you know so you can avoid the authorities that are currently searching for you. I'm betting that their focus is primarily on Dimo-First since that was where your contract ended."
"Thank you," I said loudly. I wasn't sure how well they could hear anyone that wasn't at the communications station. "Why did you ask for me specifically?"
"Because I heard that you and I have something in common," the man said happily. "We are both from Earth."
"What? No way," the murmur went up from the crew.
"I seriously doubt that we've met," I told the man, unsure of what his game was. It wasn't likely that he was from Earth according to reports that the planet had not been inhabited for some time. And even if he was, I lived there nearly two centuries ago.
"I doubt it, too," the guy replied. "After all, when we lived there, billions of people did also."
I was speechless. What was this?
"I don't know where you were from," the man continued, "but I lived in Richmond Virginia."
"How is this possible?" I asked in a state of extreme confusion. "Did you come through the same portal?"
"Nope," he answered, sounding like he was having a good time. "I slept in a cryogenic pod for nearly two hundred years. But I believe we came from roughly the same time period. Since that makes us nearly brothers now, I thought I'd help you get out of this mess."
"Thank you," I muttered, still unsure that I believed him. But why and how would he come up with this story? "What is your name, my friend?"
"My name is Joah Maroon," he answered. "I've been living in the future for a few years now, but I got a rough start just like you. Once we get you out of this system we should talk, share some stories. I'm betting my are crazier than yours."
"I'm betting they are not," Strawberry couldn't help but reply. The other girls murmured their agreement.
"Wait," Honeysuckle said then. "Isn't Joah Maroon the guy that was rescued from those aliens that made them play games to survive? It was all over the media a few years back."
"Yep, that is me," Joah replied proudly. "Me and my Island Girls."
Thank you for reading Alien Girls. More books are planned for the Dirty Girls series. If you have not yet read the Island Girls Trilogy, please do so to fully understand the ending of this novel. Though the Island Girls series ended with just 3 books, the story will be continued with the Joah Maroon series.
If you enjoyed the writing style and story, please check out other works of mine listed below.
Writing a novel can often be challenging, requiring perseverance and intense focus. Along every step of the way I think of my readers and what they enjoy. Please take a moment to rate and review this novel on Amazon and Goodreads. Not only will it help me make adjustments, but your words could also assist other readers like you take a chance on this series.
I appreciate it.
Rodzil LaBraun
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