Vivian watched as Kol scrolled through different styles of clothing — jeans and shirts, bras and panties, even shoes, and watched while he paused in confusion as he tried to decide what sizes to purchase. Finally, he clicked an option that gave the Earth description of the items. She reached over and pointed to a size on the screen.
Kol looked at her waist, her legs, then at the screen, then at her hips again. Vivian leaned over and tapped the screen on the size she’d chosen and scowled at him.
Kol snickered, “She wants these. And she’s pretty insistent.” He clicked purchase and started looking for more.
Each time he’d stop on an item that she would like to wear, she pointed to the size option, and he’d click the one she indicated. After a few moments of this, it sunk in. Vivian realized they were purchasing clothing for her — for no reason. No one ever did anything for no reason. She’d heard them discussing purchasing her clothing while they were eating, but she’d not thought about the fact that she’d owe them for the purchases. She was going to owe them for the clothing, and she didn’t want to owe them anything. She didn’t want to owe anyone anything. Vivian decided maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. She stood looking around herself, her eyes falling on the books in the next room. She really wished she could read them. She used to love to read. She used to love to do a lot of things. She realized how badly she missed who she used to be. She wanted to go home. She didn’t want to be here anymore. She was overwhelmed, so many unrelated, yet related thoughts bombarding her at once. She was starting to have a meltdown — everything taking its toll finally. She had to leave — couldn't stay here any longer. She walked away from them and out of the library without any indication she was leaving.
“Vivi!” Quin called, rushing to catch up with her. He tried to speak to her, but she kept walking. She was tired, wanted to go home. Quin walked beside her, telling her in his language that he would have Kol order her some clothing and whatever else she may need. She didn’t want Kol to order her clothing. She didn’t want to be here to need Kol to order her clothing. And she certainly didn't want to be indebted to anyone. She just wanted to go home.
Vivian wandered up and down the corridors, finally finding the lift and getting on it. Quin got on right behind her. “Where do you want to go, Vivi?” he asked, with a translation following his words.
She felt sad. She felt lost. She felt like she was all alone in the world. Universe. Multiverse or wherever the hell she was. Vivian’s eyes locked sadly on Quin as she slid down the wall to sit on the floor and leaned into the corner of the lift, closing her eyes against the tears that had started.
Quin didn’t know what had happened. They’d been okay, trying to find her clothing, then suddenly she’d just walked away. Now she sat on the floor of the lift with tears falling down her face. He was panicked. Match him against any enemy of your choice, holding any weapon of their choice, and he was calm, cool, collected and in charge. Face him with his Ehlealah in tears, and he was completely helpless, a nervous wreck.
He knelt beside her, “Vivi,” he whispered, reaching out to wipe a tear from her cheek. She didn’t even lash out at him with her chain or with her dagger. She just made a half-hearted effort to wave his hand away.
Quin pursed his lips together, reached for her before she had time to fight him, and gathered her in his arms against his chest. She didn’t fight — she was tired of fighting. She only wanted to go home.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, “I will make everything right,” he promised as he instructed the computer to take them to their residence floor. Quin exited the lift and went straight to their quarters, slapping his hand on the panel outside their door. The door opened, and he strode through, not quite sure what to do next. He could feel her tears as they soaked through his shirt; she was still silently crying. He chose the chair in the living room and sat down with Vivian still in his arms. He stroked her back, smoothed her hair, and snarled to her softly.
Vivian allowed Quin to hold her, to soothe her. It’d been a long time since she was able to depend on anyone. She deserved to be soothed for a little while. She took a deep breath, curled closer into him, and closed her eyes.
Quin sat there until her tears stopped, her breathing evened out, and she fell asleep. Then he rose carefully from the chair and carried her into their bedroom. He laid her in bed, unwinding her chain from her wrist and taking her dagger from her hand. He removed her socks, and her sash, draping them over the chair across the room. Her weapons, he decided, she’d want near her when she woke, so he laid them on his pillow, so she’d see them when she opened her eyes. He kissed her temple while she slept and quietly left their quarters.
As soon as he was out of their home and in the corridor, he spoke to the computer, “Where is Xallen?”
“He is with your advisors, Commander. In the conference room,” the computer answered.
Quin wasted no time getting there. He entered the room and said, “Xallen, get me Ambassador Bartholomew, now.”
Xallen was confused, “Of course, Sire. But I thought we were planning to avoid that as long as possible.”
Quin met his eyes, “I need to know how to help my Vivi. He asked to be allowed to help the females, yes? Is he not a counselor?”
“That is my understanding,” Xallen answered. “I am sure that he is definitely of Earth. I’ve been able to determine at least that much.”
Quin’s eyebrows rose, and he nodded, “Bring him. If he can help me help my Vivi, he is welcome here.”
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Vivian slowly opened her eyes. The first things she saw were her chain and dagger on the pillow next to her. She sat up and looked around. Quin had apparently tucked her into bed then gone back to his work. He was Commander of the ship, so she knew that he was in demand. She saw her socks across the room and put them on right away. Her feet were always cold on the floors of this ship. They were all highly polished metal, steel she supposed - at least they looked like steel.
Vivian wandered into the kitchen and started poking around, looking for her bread. “Missy, where are my bread thingys?”
“I do not know, Vivian. What are bread thingys?”
“The food that I took with me to the library. Do you know where it is?” Vivian pressed.
“No, I do not. I am not tasked with tracking food other than from food storage to the commissary. Perhaps your food is still in the library.”
“Can you help me get there?”
“Certainly.”
Vivian secured herself with her dagger and her chain. She approached the door and peeked around the threshold when it slid open. Hmm, no guard. Then she remembered, Quin had given them the afternoon off, telling them he had her. He’d apparently forgotten to put them back on duty. She did a little happy dance. She rather preferred not to be followed around at all times.
Twenty minutes later Vivian was strolling down the corridor on the recreation deck with her tray of bread rounds in hand. She was not much happier than she’d been earlier that afternoon, but at least now she had her ‘cornbread,’ she’d had a good cry, and she was once again prepared to deal as best she could with the fuckery fate had played with her life. She’d passed several people in the corridor, and they were laughing and talking as friends did. Then she saw the green guy in the corridor up ahead, coming in her direction. He was apparently headed to the library himself. He tried not to meet her eyes, but she planted herself in front him. He stopped about three feet from her and watched her curiously. Vivian smiled at him. “Hi.”
He didn’t answer. Though he knew English well, he said nothing.
“I’m sorry the serving guy was ignoring you because I was there. I hope you enjoyed your lunch.”
Still, he gave no indication that he understood.
“Don’t let those fuckers from the cafeteria upset you by not including you. You’re much nicer than they are anyway. People suck sometimes — it’s their problem, not yours.”
He was surpris
ed. This little human was trying to make him feel better because the other crew members had avoided his presence. No one had ever made an attempt to be friends with him. His own kind preferred to be solitary for the most part, and he himself didn’t know any other way to be. Even his siblings and he kept their distance. He wasn’t aware that any other species did anything any differently until he’d joined the Cruestaci crew of Command Warship 1. He’d been curious about why they were so keen to be near one another. But now, with this one female attempting to be kind to him, he thought maybe he understood. It was pleasant. It made him feel warm for another to be concerned with his welfare.
He inclined his head in greeting and left her to decide if he actually understood her words or not.
“Well, anyway, I’ll see you later.”
Again, he inclined his head.
Vivian smiled at him and made her way around him. She got on the lift, feeling good that she’d been nice to the male. And while she planned to go back to Quin’s apartment, she suddenly remembered the blanket she’d found and left behind in the surplus facility when she’d evaded her own guard. “I want my blanket. The least fate can do is allow me to have a damn blanket of my choice.”
“Are you speaking to me, Vivian?” the computer asked.
“Not exactly. But as long as you asked, Missy, can you direct me back to the storage deck?”
“I can,” and with that the doors closed on the lift, and she felt it begin its descent to the lower decks.
“Missy, who’s the green, tentacled male?”
“I believe you speak of Vilshhelkrj, he is the ship’s Communication Master.”
“Umm, okay. I’ll never pronounce that, but okay.”
“He is from Venal 1. The Venasian people have a very difficult language to master.”
“Venal 1, huh? Okay, I’ll call him Vennie. Either that or Green Dude.”
“I shall log an alternate name for him as Vennie. When you speak of him, my data banks will identify him as such.”
Moments later the lift came to a stop, and the doors opened. Vivian stepped forward and looked up and down the corridor. She didn’t see anyone at all. She stepped off, her hand tightening on the chain wrapped around her palm and forearm. She went directly to the large surplus warehouse, then straight to the back of the storage facility where she’d overturned the shelves as a distraction. She still felt kind of bad for getting Vor and the other guys in trouble, but not so much so that it kept her from smiling when she thought of it. Someone had obviously been here and cleaned up the mess she made, which really did make her feel bad. She’d have to find out who cleaned it all up and apologize to them. Once she decided to let them know she understood them, that is.
Vivian looked all around the edges of the room and couldn’t find her blanket. Apparently, they’d picked it up, too. She went to the area where she’d originally found it, and after a few moments located it. It was the only one that was purple. She loved purple. Smiling, she took the blanket from the shelf and tucked it under the arm she held the platter of bread rounds with. Her dagger in the other. Her chain was draped around her shoulders. She walked out of the storage facility and started down the corridor. As she walked, she lost her grip on the platter and almost dropped it. She was struggling to balance everything she had and didn’t notice she’d passed the lift and was further down the corridor than she thought. The weight of the chain gradually pulled it from her shoulders to drag along the steel floor behind her. As she rounded the curve of the corridor, trying to adjust her platter, her blanket, and still hold on to her dagger, she heard a strange sound. She stopped, listening keenly. She thought she heard… No, it couldn’t be. She shook her head and started walking. But there it was again. She was sure she heard a meow! Vivian stood frozen, her ears focused, listening for any trace of it. Surely she was imagining things, there was no way a cat could stow away on an alien battle ship.
No, she must have imagined it. She didn't hear anything more, so she started walking again, the chain still dragging behind her. She heard another meow. That had to be it. Whatever it was was responding to the sound of the chain scraping on the steel floor. She rattled the chain. Nothing. She tucked her dagger in her sash and took the chain in hand, intentionally scraping it across the floor, and the meow sounded again. Only it wasn’t quite a meow now. It was more of a yowl. A meow mixed with a howl, mixed with a growl. Maybe it was a big cat, she thought. “Kitty, kitty. Where are you, kitty?” she called. The yowl that answered her was long and plaintive. She looked around, called again, “Here, kitty.”
A pitiful yowl answered her. She followed it toward the alcove she’d found her chain in. She poked around, looked here and there, and found no evidence of a cat. Then the cat yowled again, as though calling her to it. She was standing right at the alcove when he yowled this time, and now she knew for sure. He was down wherever that ladder led to. Vivian placed her platter of bread on the floor near the wall, then placed her blanket beside it. The cat yowled pitifully again. “Yeah, I hear you. I’m coming,” she answered.
Vivian ducked under the two remaining chains; then, she placed her dagger between her teeth, secured her chain in her hand to be ready to strike with it if she needed to, and draped the loose end around her shoulders. She grasped the rungs of the ladder and started her climb down. The lower she got, the darker it got. She was very relieved when she reached the bottom of the ladder and could take her dagger from her teeth to speak to Missy, “Missy, please turn on the lights down here.”
Immediately the place she found herself in was lit very brightly. She looked around herself. This dark, cold space was surely for maintenance of the ship. There were tubing and wires and control panels of all types crisscrossing the area. There were tunnels running off from the main room in several directions, but she didn’t see a cat or any sign of one. “Here kitty, kitty,” she called.
A yowl answered her from the back of the room. She couldn’t see that far because of the rows of panels and tubing, but she knew that was where she needed to go. “I’m coming,” she answered.
Vivian walked carefully toward the sporadic yowling, until finally she could see where it came from. “Aw, you poor baby. Why would anyone lock you down here all alone?”
The creature facing her, that had been calling to her, now stood on its hind legs, its front paws pressed against the gated enclosure it was locked in. It was watching her, waiting for her to come closer. It reached its paw through an opening in the chain link fencing and stretched it toward her.
“Poor baby,” she said. She hurried to get closer to it. It was one of the prettiest creatures she’d ever seen, but now that she got closer, she could tell that it certainly was not a cat. It was the size of a medium-sized dog, weighing about forty pounds if she had to guess. It had a coat reminiscent of a snow leopard. It was cream and tan with spots scattered here and there across its fur. It had huge ears with tufts of fur sticking out of them and huge luminescent golden eyes. In fact its ears and eyes were so big she got the impression that it was a baby with a lot of growing left to do. But what made her sure that it was a creature she’d not ever seen before were the razor sharp teeth in its mouth, framed by tusks jutting from its lower jaw and the eight claws on each very, very large paw. “Wow, I bet you could really do some damage with those teeth if you wanted to, couldn’t you?”
The creature yowled in response, reaching for her through the opening in its fence again. Vivian noticed then that the animal had no blanket to sleep on, only the cold hard floor. And it had no food, and its water had spilled all over the place, leaving just an inch or two in the bottom of the bowl. Clearly someone had been tending it, but not very well. “You know what? I have some food up there,” she pointed to the ceiling. “I can go get some for you. I don’t have any water though - hmm, I’ll have to find some. But I can bring you food right now. Give me just a minute — I’ll be right back.”
Vivian turned and jogged back to the ladder with a loud, protesting yowl
following her every step. “I’ll be right back!” she called as she started to climb the ladder.
She got to the top of the ladder and slipped under the chains, going straight for the platter of bread she’d left against the wall. She took four big bread rounds and stuffed them in the pockets of her very over-sized pants. She picked up the blanket, intending to leave it for the space-cat to sleep on, but thought better of it. Whoever had been feeding it would know that someone had been here, and she didn’t want anyone to move it until she could figure out who had been feeding it and why it was locked up. As long as she could find it, she could feed it. She put the blanket back down and hurried to get back to the ladder. She climbed down the ladder and smiled when she heard the now happier tone in the yowl that greeted her. “Told you I’d be back,” she said as she walked back to the cage. The creature stood on his hind legs again, trying to reach through the fence toward her. “You’re a pretty boy, aren’t you?” she cooed to the creature, who was obviously male. She took the bread rounds from her pocket and held one out for the cat to take from her. She was a little nervous to allow him to get close enough to touch her.
The creature used the claws of his extended paw to spear the food she offered and bring it to himself. He sat down, and in a very feline way started to devour what she’d offered him.
Vivian watched him eating, taking in the rest of the cage. The cage hadn’t been cleaned in a while, and the poor creature was forced to live in his own waste. No fresh food visible, his only water spilled across the metal floor. Nowhere warm to curl up to sleep. Held captive. It was too familiar to her, and she was not happy about it at all.
When he finished his food, he stood up and reached for another. She handed it to him. Very gently he took it from her and devoured it as well. When she handed him the next one, he managed to get a paw on her hand. Instead of scratching her, he used the pads of his paw to “hold” onto her for a second before releasing her hand and then taking the food from her. The last piece she held for him while he took a bite. Then she gave it to him. After he’d finished eating, he sat by the edge of the cage and purred for her while she petted him with two fingers, sticking them through the cage to reach him. He closed his eyes and rested while Vivian stroked his fur. That was when she noticed the double barb on the end of his tail — it was reminiscent of a scorpion, and it was flicking around just like a housecat would flick his tail.
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