Alien Pets (Xeno Relations Book 1)

by Trisha McNary

  “Ah yes, a very good question,” answered Master Meeepp in the tone of voice the Verdante adults often used when they wanted to sound all-knowing and mysterious. “The only answer to that question is that when the bond is formed, you’ll know.”

  M. Hoyvil gave a silent sigh, and Master Meeepp laughed indulgently. “I’m sure you’ll do a wonderful job caring for her. I have the utmost confidence in you, my son,” he concluded.

  “Thank you for your most helpful advice, Master Meeepp,” said M. Hoyvil with appropriate deference.

  Antaska had felt miserable the entire time that the two aliens stared at each other. She assumed they were having a long telepathic conversation. As they continued, the cold pain in her head grew more and more uncomfortable. She felt as if harder and harder blows were being struck against the inside of her head. Antaska fought the urge to hold her hands against her head and cry out in pain.

  An almost unbearable hard thump crashed inside her head, and then the painful blows stopped. Antaska still felt a deep coldness, but the pressure was gone. Strangely, she could now hear the voices of two men whispering. One had a deep bass voice, and the other had a higher-toned tenor voice.

  Relieved of pain, Antaska tried to understand what she was hearing. But despite her hardest efforts, she could only make out a few words: “pet” and “care.”

  Antaska looked up to see the giant alien bowing over her. The large mass looming above her head was frightening, but she was sure this was some form of politeness. The giant bowed next to M. Hoyvil, who nodded his head but didn’t rise. Then the giant turned and walked away to the far side of the room.

  He sat down at a table in a group of similar gigantic green-skinned aliens sitting with more Earth humans.

  Why do these aliens have two different sizes who sit apart from each other? Antaska wondered. Do they have two separate species? Do the big ones have more power than the smaller ones like M. Hoyvil?

  Then Antaska thought about the bits and pieces of words that had just been in her mind. Could those strange words really have been part of a telepathic conversation between the two aliens?

  No. I must be deluding myself by imaging that I can understand mental telepathy, she thought.

  She looked back across the room at the group of gigantic aliens. Most of these larger aliens sat in pairs of two across from two or more Earth humans. But a few large aliens sat alone across from a human or two. The humans sat on chairs that were like the one Antaska sat on but raised much higher to the height of the larger tables.

  The huge aliens were similar in appearance to the one who had just visited M. Hoyvil. Antaska’s eyes were drawn by the red ship suits they wore. They created a bright area of rippling color distinct from everything else in the dining hall. She realized that she must have been too distracted to notice them till now. The skin of the gigantic aliens, in shades from lime green to dark green, contrasted sharply with their red clothing.

  Antaska stared and grew embarrassed when some of them looked her way. But she couldn’t stop looking. The big male who had just left them sat at a table next to a gigantic female alien and across from two Earth humans—a man and a woman, both elderly. Antaska had to look hard to see the two humans. Their faces and hair were blots of gray and brown floating above their camouflaging ship suits.

  At the next table over from those people, another gigantic Verdante male and female sat across from two much more noticeable humans. This male and female pair sat facing toward Antaska. They were unusually tall and unusually attractive. Even at this distance, the toned muscles of both pale-skinned blondes showed under their tight-fitting ship suits.

  As Antaska’s gaze passed over the face of the male, she froze in surprise and embarrassment. He was staring back boldly and fixedly at her from across the large room. As if caught by a hypnotic force, Antaska found herself unable to look away.

  Wow! He is the most attractive man I have ever seen! she thought in awe and wonder.

  Antaska shook her head to clear it. She remembered that she was with her new employer. He needed to be impressed, especially on their first day together. She turned and looked up at him. Fortunately, M. Hoyvil didn’t seem to notice that Antaska had been staring at the beautiful Earth man.

  She couldn’t resist looking back across the room. Antaska’s eyes caught in the gaze of the man still staring at her! She pulled her eyes away only to meet the angry glare of the beautiful human female sitting next to him.

  Appalled, Antaska looked away and down at the plate in front of her. She tried to hide the riot of conflicting thoughts and emotions that swirled through her. Antaska looked up at M. Hoyvil again. She hoped he wouldn’t see her skin turning a redder shade of tan. Seeming not to notice, M. Hoyvil continued to eat his food. While eating and drinking, he also looked around at the other nearby Verdante diners and waved his six-fingered hands at them.

  They must be communicating, Antaska thought.

  She picked at her strange food. Her thoughts focused on the attractive male.

  What just happened? she asked herself. It’s so flattering to get the attention of such an unbelievably gorgeous man, but it’s obvious he’s involved with another woman. And she looked so mad that he was looking at me. But that doesn’t matter, right? On Earth, we were encouraged not to get attached. Because everyone would be leaving to outer space with the Verdantes, so it’s bad to get stuck in a relationship. So I would be doing her a favor to break them up, right?

  In her mind, a small voice broke into her thoughts.

  “Wrong! Wrong! You’re not on Earth anymore!” said the voice.

  What the heck is that? Antaska asked herself. Am I really going crazy today?

  Then an image of her small cat Potat appeared in her mind.

  No! Antaska told herself. My cat isn’t talking to me, and I’m not telepathic. I’m just imaging things because of all the stress and drama today.

  Her thoughts rattled on and on.

  Maybe that man wasn’t really even looking at me. I’m just imagining all kinds of things. Obviously, I’m so ordinary and average looking that he wouldn’t be interested in me,” she told herself.

  Now Antaska felt embarrassed by her assumption.

  Anyway, I’m not likely to meet those people up close. They belong to another group that seems to be segregated from this one, she thought.

  M. Hoyvil ate his dinner and thought about his new pet. Antaska had spent most of her life in the Earth human space training school. She had passed all the tests the Verdantes gave to her trainers to screen for those humans fit to live among them. Antaska had scored well for the potential to act as a contact with new species. Most sentient humanoids in the galaxy were similar in size to Earthlings, so they were useful as first communicators. The Verdantes were much larger than other humanoids, both telepathic and non-telepathic. And smaller humanoids were often frightened by their sudden appearance on their planets.

  An even more compelling reason to believe that Antaska would make a good companion was the fact that she had a small pet of her own. When Earth humans kept their own pets like cats and dogs, that showed skill in communicating and bonding with other species.

  At just over fifty Earth years old, Antaska was a young adult and would live for at least another one hundred and fifty years. Or even much longer now that she was in the care of the Verdantes. Her diet, determined by a full body scan before each meal, would be the perfect nutritional balance for her health needs at that moment. It would include powerful life-extending nutritional supplements.

  Antaska would have advanced medical care superior to what Earth could provide. M. Hoyvil would also make sure she had regular, healthy exercise, a necessary key to longevity. Even with the superior diet provided by the Verdantes, a sedentary lifestyle could shorten her life by many years.

  M. Hoyvil remembered that Master Meeepp had noticed Antaska picking at her food.

  “Eat all of your food, or you’ll lose weight,” he told her. “It’s the perfe
ct dietary balance for your needs.”

  Antaska wanted the approval of her new employer, so she tried some orange and crunchy round slices. They were slightly spicy and actually tasted good. Then she bravely ate some more of the mushy green food. It had a light, clean vegetable taste that went well with the orange chips. She took a sip of the green-colored liquid and concentrated on finishing her food. A blue, sweet pudding-like food seemed to be dessert, so she ate that last.

  Making an effort to put the handsome human male out of her mind, Antaska finished her meal. She noticed that she was in a better mood and feeling more energetic than when she had first started eating.

  “How are you feeling?” asked M. Hoyvil.

  “Very well now, thank you,” she answered.

  “A good meal of healthy food is what you need to feel well both physically and mentally,” he said.

  A suspicion entered Antaska’s mind that there could have been some mood-altering chemical in the food, but she was now in too good a mood to worry about it.

  What possible reason could there be for that? she asked herself.

  She happily followed M. Hoyvil back to the area with the food service counter. They set their trays on another set of counters that was off to one side. Two panels slid up in the walls behind their empty trays, and the trays were transported through them. Then the panels slid back down.

  Together, Antaska and M. Hoyvil made their way to the exit from the dining hall. Just before the doorway, Antaska couldn’t resist turning back for one last look at the muscular blonde human man. A pleasing jolt of some undefined emotion went through her—he was still staring straight at her with an intense gaze in an otherwise expressionless face.

  I think he is interested after all! she thought.

  Once out in the hallway, Antaska walked along next to M. Hoyvil in a zombie-like daze. She didn’t noticed the humming noise or the whispering sounds that came when any of the Verdantes came near and then went away when they were gone. All her thoughts returned to the attractive man from the dining hall.

  Should I be disturbed by his bold and maybe weird behavior, or should I be flattered? she kept asking herself.

  Chapter 5

  Potat was waiting for Antaska and M. Hoyvil when they came in the door to their shared quarters. She lay stretched out on her back on the soft floor covering in the center of the main room. Her tiny golden eyes stared up at them.

  It took them long enough, Potat thought.

  “Hi kitty,” Antaska greeted Potat.”

  “Where have you been?” Potat asked her telepathically, although she knew the answer.

  Both Antaska and M. Hoyvil shook their heads a bit, but neither answered her. Potat gave Antaska’s mind a quick scan.

  Antaska was thinking, Why do I keep imagining my cat is talking to me? and I wonder if I’ll see that guy again?

  And then Potat saw an image of the hunky guy in Antaska’s mind. His shirt was unbuttoned, and his muscular chest was bursting through.

  Hey! He wasn’t dressed like that when I saw him in Antaska’s mind in the dining hall! Potat thought.

  She was annoyed. The little cat grumbled to herself. Antaska ignores my advice again! I think Antaska needs to learn a lesson about that and about leaving me here all alone.

  Potat flipped off her back and up onto her feet. Then, like a furry gray and white streak, she dashed through the door to Antaska’s room and dived under the bed. From there, she crouched and peeked out behind the edge of a blanket.

  I’m ignoring you, Potat thought at her.

  But Antaska didn’t seem to get the message. The corners of her mouth turned up, and she had that look of someone trying not to laugh. Potat flopped down under the bed and grumbled some more.

  “Is she OK?” M. Hoyvil asked Antaska out loud.

  At least someone cares, thought Potat. I did a good job when I picked that one.

  She thought about reading M. Hoyvil’s mind too. He was her new pet after all.

  No. I don’t know him well enough yet. That can wait for later, she decided.

  “Potat’s fine,” said Antaska, answering M. Hoyvil’s question. “Probably just nervous in a new place.”

  Potat sighed a big telepathic cat sigh.

  M. Hoyvil looked around in confusion. He thought he had just heard someone sighing telepathically. A small female sigh.

  Could that have been Antaska? he wondered.

  He looked down at her, but the corners of her mouth were turned up. M. Hoyvil interpreted her expression correctly as a smile.

  Maybe I imagined that, or maybe I heard someone walking by in the hallway, he thought.

  M. Hoyvil knew that he needed to make up for his neglect earlier in the day, so he decided to talk to Antaska as Master Meeepp had suggested. His vocal cords and the muscles of his mouth were already tired from the unaccustomed use of talking to her at dinner. But he was willing to sacrifice his personal comfort for her well being.

  “Do you need anything, or do you have any other questions for me?” he asked.

  “I think I have everything I need right now,” Antaska answered. “But I was wondering about the larger-sized man who came to our table at dinner and the other group of bigger people. I never saw any Verdantes that big when I was in space school on Earth. Are they the same species as the Verdantes, or are they a different species?”

  The answer to this question was not restricted information. But it sometimes came as a shock to Earth humans. Most new pets did not ask it on their first day. M. Hoyvil decided to answer anyway, at least part of the truth.

  “The larger humanoids are Verdantes too, but they’re much older than me—that’s why they’re so much bigger. Ours is a long-living and tall-growing race. We live to the age of 5,000 or more and grow to over ten feet tall by about 900 years old. I’m 650, and I’ll grow to about that size in around 250 more years,” he told her.

  M. Hoyvil hoped this explanation would be enough. His voice was getting scratchy and hoarse, and he didn’t think it could stand much more use. He pressed his palm against a round, slightly raised glowing green circle on the side of the wall. A sliding panel opened, and a compartment appeared. Inside were several tubes of chlorophyll water. M. Hoyvil pulled out a tube, and the compartment closed again.

  Antaska looked at him with her held slightly tilted to one side while he drank thirstily. Soon, his throat felt better.

  He looked down to see the little cat Potat creeping out into the main room.

  Her curiosity must have overcame her shyness, thought M. Hoyvil.

  The corners of his big green eyes lifted in amusement.

  Potat sat behind the edge of the couch, as if hiding, and watched him and Antaska.

  Antaska covered a yawn with one hand.

  “Excuse me,” she said. “I guess I’m really tired from all the excitement of my first day away from Earth. Thank you for explaining about the bigger Verdantes. I don’t have any more questions right now.”

  “OK. That’s great,” said M. Hoyvil. “You should rest and get settled in your room tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll take you and Potat to the space ship’s doctor for checkups to make sure that you’re both in perfect health for space travel.”

  “Is the doctor able to treat cats as well as humans?” Antaska asked with wide eyes.

  “Oh, sure,” M. Hoyvil told her. “Dr. Daji is a great veterinarian.”

  “Goodnight, then,” Antaska said.

  She walked toward her room, and little Potat streaked in through the door ahead of her.

  M. Hoyvil stood unmoving and still looking in when Antaska pressed the button to close the door. He watched the lowering door slide all the way down.

  OK! I think I’ve got this, he told himself before walking away to his own room.

  Inside her room now, Antaska thought about M. Hoyvil. She was more confused than enlightened by his explanation of the larger aliens. Antaska knew that the Verdantes who came to Earth to hire humans were much older than the oldest-l
iving Earthlings. So to learn that M. Hoyvil was 650—a very old man—didn’t surprise her. But the oldest of his race lived to be thousands of years old after growing to the height of small trees. That idea was hard to absorb.

  Antaska was worn out from her first day in a strange environment. She decided she could think about all this later. She walked to the bed and flopped down on her back. Potat was alert and sitting up on the bed. Antaska rolled to the side and pulled her into a gentle hug.

  “How are you? Are you okay in our new home?” she asked the small cat.

  Potat made no answer except for a contented purr. Antaska stirred herself to visit the small bathroom and brush her teeth. She changed into the tan sleeping clothes she found in drawers built into the walls of her room. Returning to the circular bed, she felt more awake again and sat up next to Potat.

  Antaska took a closer look at the consoles built into small tables on either side of the bed. She reached out a hand and wavered it over the many possible choices of buttons to press.

  Potat was watching Antaska. She jumped smoothly away to the soft, spongy floor material in a clear demonstration of disapproval. Potat sat as far from the bed as possible in the small room, cleaning between her toenails.

  Antaska ignored Potat’s behavior.

  I’m sure M. Hoyvil would have warned me if something harmful could happen from pushing these buttons, she thought.

  There were so many rows of different-colored buttons! Which to push? Antaska randomly pressed a deep blue one. The room darkened. A holographic image appeared, filling the entire room with a slow-moving view of outer space accompanied by sound.

  Mesmerized, Antaska watched thousands of star revolve gracefully on all sides of her while listening to the sound of space. A humming similar to what she had been hearing all over the space ship plus soft whooshing noises. The combined sounds were harmonious and soothing.