Strange…the black lines that were the creatures’ pupils began to spin too. Then a beam of yellow light shot out from the eyes of the small semi-humanoids. The beam caught him, and he couldn’t look away. It burnt through the clouds covering his eyes and drove deep into his mind. Nestgorm struggled but in vain. He felt himself losing control of his mind and body. It was as if his consciousness grew smaller and was now watching from a far away place.
No! No! he wanted to shout, but he had no voice, telepathic or otherwise.
Chapter 30
A short time later, Antaska lay resting in a small comfortable bed in the Jalapeno’s sick bay. Little Potat, now all black with a white stripe from nose to tail, slept next to her in an even smaller bed, one limb bound up in bone-setting material. Large green M. Hoyvil sat in a chair on her other side. Antaska took a deep breath of the ship’s antiseptic air, listened to the familiar hum of the sentient trees, and rubbed a hand over the soft tan-colored sheets that covered her. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew she was right where she belonged.
Two gigantic Verdantes floated from the no-gravity hallway into the room. They wore red space uniforms and were thinner than other adult Verdantes Antaska had seen. The two green-skinned giants adjusted to the sick bay’s gravity and landed in standing position, then walked over to Antaska.
“I’m Captain Kamphone, and this is Lieutenant Sosha,” said the older man with graying green hair. “Welcome to the Jalapeno.”
“Thank you,” said Antaska. “I’m happy to be here. Thank you for rescuing me and the others.”
“You’re welcome, but you really have this young man to thank and this brave cat,” said the captain, waiving a long arm toward M. Hoyvil and then Potat.
“And we have you to thank as well,” said Lieutenant Sosha. “You not only got two captured females away from that slaver, but you’ve also enabled us to gather some useful information that will help other potential victims.”
“Really?” Antaska asked. She was very tired—so tired from the complete spending of all her physical and mental energy--but she was very interested.
“Yes,” Kamphone spoke again. “In fact, you’re the first captives who have ever escaped from the Woogahs with their mental facilities intact. We’re heading for Central Planet. We’d like you to testify against the Woogahs in court. Maybe we can finally get some laws that will prevent this from happening again. Can you do that?”
“Of course,” Antaska agreed. “But what about Potat? Is she OK? Will she be OK?”
She turned and looked, still worried about the sleeping cat. Potat let out a tiny snore.
“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine,” said Lieutenant Sosha. “With cellular treatment, her broken bone will mend in a few weeks. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything to reverse the skunk gene coloration we applied. Lieutenant XoXo only has ship medic training and doesn’t know enough about complex genetic manipulation to remove genes once added. But maybe a doctor on Central Planet can do that. They’re known for exotic manipulation.”
“I think she looks kind of cute like that,” said M. Hoyvil.
The little skunk cat made a sound halfway between a snort and a sigh in her sleep.
Once relieved about Potat, Antaska’s tiredness took over. She struggled to keep her eyes open.
“Anyway, I can see you’re exhausted, and we won’t stay much longer,” said the captain. “But I wanted to let you know that this trip has allowed us to gather some other important information about the plans of the slave hunter Marroo.”
“Marroo?” said Antaska in a fuzzy voice.
At the mention of his name, she had felt an odd pulling sensation deep inside her.
What’s that? she wondered groggily.
It almost seemed to be pulling her in a certain direction, pointing somewhere out into empty time-warped space. But she was too tired to move a muscle.
“Marroo—right,” said Sosha, “the Woogah who captured you. We found out he’s heading to Earth with plans to capture more human females. We were able to warn the Verdantes on Earth, but we’ll be heading there too after we drop you off on Central Planet. We’ve got the imprint of his space ship, and we should be able to find him and get him.”
“Marroo…find him…get him…” said Antaska just before her eyes closed, and she fell into a long, deep sleep.
M. Hoyvil looked up at the two older Verdantes.
“Looks like mission accomplished,” said Captain Kamphone.
“I owe you my thanks too,” said M. Hoyvil. “You had your doubts about me, and I know I deserved them, but you helped us anyway. Now that Antaska is back, I can continue on the exploratory journey into space as soon as she’s done testifying at court. With her, I’ll be able to travel through space again with other Verdantes. I’ll be able to keep my mental shields up without that terrible coldness.”
M. Hoyvil had been so relieved to have Antaska back. The heavy pain and guilt he had been carrying for so long was finally gone. But now, hearing his own words, he felt another sudden and terrible guilt.
“Ahm, about that…” said Sosha.
“No! I didn’t just want her back so I can travel into space,” said M. Hoyvil. “I care about her and Potat. They’re my friends and companions. That’s the most important thing. Do you believe me?”
“I do believe you,” Sosha answered, looking into his large slanted green eyes with her even larger pale green ones. “What I was about to say was haven’t you noticed that since the day we first met you, and ever since then, you’ve been traveling with Verdantes without seeming to have any problems? That’s why I believe you.”
“You’re right!” M. Hoyvil shouted telepathically, causing little Potat to stir and mumble in her sleep.
He lowered his voice. “How did that happen? I think I was so upset when Antaska was kidnapped that I forgot all about that. Getting her back was the only thing in my mind—and my guilt about losing her. I didn’t bother putting my shields up. I didn’t care if you knew what I was thinking, and I didn’t care what you were thinking. And wait a minute! You people travel around together, and you don’t have any Earth humans with you. How do you do that?”
“We do it the same way you’ve been doing it,” the captain answered. “Psychological training for our recruits teaches them to not be bothered by the opinions of others as well as basic thought control.”
“It’s not really that hard,” said Sosha, “not nearly as hard as flying the ship and chasing Woogahs all around the universe.”
“If it’s that easy to travel without humans, why do the Verdantes say that we have to travel with them? Haven’t you told them about this?” M. Hoyvil asked.
“Well,” said Kamphone, “we tried to tell them, but they won’t listen.”
“I know how that is,” said M. Hoyvil.
“So we just go our own way,” said Sosha. “All of us are people who didn’t like the rules and wanted something else. We left the Verdante planet and chose this life instead.”
“That’s right,” said Kamphone, “and now that you know the truth, you’re free to make a choice too. At first I wasn’t sure about you, but you’ve proved your worth on this mission. So now I’d like to offer you a place on this ship. If you’d like to accept, when we drop off your human companion on Central Planet, you can come with us. You don’t need to travel with a human anymore. And let me tell you, it will be quite boring on Central Planet waiting for the courts to go through their endless administrative processes. If you come with us, you can help us rid the universe of the Woogah plague. What do you say Private Hoyvil?”
M. Hoyvil considered the exciting offer. He looked at Lieutenant Sosha, who was without a doubt the most fascinating and desirable female he had ever known. He pictured himself in uniform, gallantly pursuing Woogah slavers from one planet to the next. Bravely rescuing innocent slaves from their corrupt hands with the beautiful Sosha by his side. Would he ever get such an opportunity again?
The littl
e skunk-patterned cat twitched a paw and grumbled and growled in her sleep. M. Hoyvil’s eyes crinkled up in the Verdante expression of amusement. There was no doubt in his mind about the answer to this question.
“I’m honored by your offer,” M. Hoyvil addressed the captain, “but I must decline for now. I’m staying with Antaska and Potat. I know I don’t have to travel with a human, but I like to travel with a human—and a cat. They’re great companions. Wherever they go, I go, and vice versa. Even if it’s to the most boring place in the entire universe, I won’t abandon them ever. Especially if it’s the most boring place, dangerous, or whatever. I don’t care. But if you want to come back and take all of us when they’re done, I’ll go with you if they’re willing.”
There was a silence in the room. For a few moments, the only sounds were the telepathic hum of the trees and the audible whoosh of the air ventilation system.
Then Captain Kamphone spoke. “Hmm, well said. I appreciate your honesty and loyalty, young man. I think we’d all like to have you on our crew and the other two as well. They’ve proved their usefulness in fighting the Woogahs. But the universe is a big place, and we never know where fate will take us next. And when we hear the call of the sentient trees, we have to follow. So I can’t promise we’ll be able to head right back to Central Planet after we finish up on Earth or even that we can go there anytime. All I can say is if we ever meet up again, and if you and your friends are willing, then you’ll have a place on the Jalapeno.”
“That’s great!” M. Hoyvil shouted telepathically, disturbing the sleep of both Antaska and Potat this time.
“What? What?” they both said at once.
“Sorry, it’s nothing,” said M. Hoyvil. “I’ll leave now and let you sleep.”
Then the two Earth natives closed their eyes and went back to sleep, and the three Verdantes left the room.
End of hypnoSnatch
A note from Trisha
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Alien Pets and chapter 1 of hypnoSnatch. If you enjoyed this book, I would greatly appreciate your writing a review. It can be extremely difficult for self-published authors to get reviews, but they’re critical to a book’s success.
Please email me at [email protected] if you would like to be on my mailing list.
May your world one day know peace,
Trisha
Alien Pets
(chapter 1)
Xeno Relations
by Trisha McNary
Copyright © 2018 Trisha McNary
Published by Trisha McNary
All Rights Reserved
Cover art by Heather Hamilton-Senter
Chapter 1
A few short weeks after she graduated from space school, Antaska stood in front of a clear barrier, waiting and hoping to be selected. She held her small gray and white cat Potat in her arms. Energized with excitement and high-strung nerves, Antaska watched the gigantic green alien Verdantes. Crowds of them walked in the curved corridor outside her “viewing room.”
The aliens, Antaska’s prospective employers, looked in at her and the other humans in similar “viewing rooms” built by the Verdantes to suit their purposes. The walls on the sides of her viewing room blocked Antaska from seeing the other humans and which aliens were taking an interest in them.
Now one of the aliens looked at Antaska and paused. The eight-foot-tall giant approached and stopped right in front of her. Antaska looked up to see enormous slanting green eyes staring down at her. Above the eyes, green curly hair covered an enormous cranium. The alien lifted a large six-fingered hand and waved at her. Antaska waved back and smiled.
Maybe I’ll be selected already! she thought.
“Grrrr!!” she heard and looked down.
Potat stiffened in her arms. She hissed and spat at the Verdante in front of them.
The big eyes of the alien got bigger.
“Stop that!” Antaska said to Potat. “Shush!”
But the tiny cat wouldn’t stop.
“Rrrowwwwwwwww!” Potat let out an endless angry meow.
The alien shrugged big shoulders and shook his head. He lifted up his hands as if to say, “What can I do?” and walked away.
Potat stopped meowing and settled back down in Antaska’s arms.
“What is wrong with you?” Antaska asked the little cat.
She didn’t expect an answer, of course, and she didn’t get one.
“Are you crazy? You might have just blown our only chance to go to space! My life’s dream! Don’t you dare do that again.”
Antaska talked out loud to the cat. It was a habit she’d got into. Sometimes, it almost seemed like Potat understood what she was saying.
This had better be one of those times, thought Antaska.
She felt a slight movement and looked down to see the Potat cleaning a snow-white paw.
Antaska looked up. Another alien, this one female, was standing in front of the clear barrier. She wore the same bright blue space suit as the males. But she had a smaller, more delicate feminine body and features. Shiny bright-green hair brushed her shoulders. Large pale green eyes crinkled up as she looked down at Antaska and Potat.
Maybe Potat will like this one better, Antaska thought.
Antaska smiled up at the alien and waved. The female alien waved back and then made signals with her hands. She pointed at herself, then at Antaska and little Potat, and then up toward space.
Antaska nodded and gave her a thumbs up.
Yes! she thought.
“Grrrrr!” Potat started growling.
“Oh no! You bad cat! Not again!” Antaska admonished her.
But the cat paid no attention.
“Reyowwwrrrrrooowwwww!” Potat let out her endless howl.
The Verdante female’s smallish mouth formed an “O” shape. She shook her big head from side to side.
“No! No! Stop! Stop!” Antaska pleaded with her cat.
But of course, Potat didn’t listen.
The alien lowered her chin and closed her eyes for a moment. Antaska read that as disappointment. Then the large green female turned and walked away.
Antaska’s hopes took a dive. She turned, walked a few feet back, and plopped down on the couch built into the back wall of the small viewing room.
“Are you trying to stop me from going into space?” Antaska asked Potat as she set her down on the couch.
Potat, now calm and settled, looked up at her with innocent gold eyes.
Maybe cats just aren’t adaptable to new things, thought Antaska. Maybe they’re just not that intelligent.
A tiny paw reached out and slapped her leg kind of hard.
“That wasn’t nice!” Antaska told her.
“Am I going to be stuck on Earth with a crazy cat?” she said out loud to no one in particular.
Potat ignored her and began to take a bath.
Antaska sighed and leaned against the back of the couch. With dimming hope, she watched the large aliens walking past outside her viewing room.
A few minutes later, the nutty cat jumped off the couch and walked to the front of the viewing room. Potat sat down there and watched the Verdantes passing by as if she were the one they might pick. Then she looked back and stared hard at Antaska.
I think she wants me to go over there now, Antaska thought. Or maybe this cat has finally drove me crazy.
Grumbling about the problems with cats, Antaska got off the couch and walked over to Potat. She picked up the tiny cat and whispered in her ear.
“OK. You’ve got your way once again. As usual. I hope you’re happy, whatever you’re up too.”
Potat purred back in her ear.
Among the other Verdantes, lanky, thin M. Hoyvil took long strides around the circle of rooms containing Earth humans. It was his second or third time circling around. So many of them! How was he supposed to choose? The humans stood near the front of their viewing containers, watching the passing Verdantes with wide, round eyes. Except at a
few of the containers.
Some have been taken already! Hoyvil thought. I’d better pick one before they’re all gone.
He walked past an empty spot to the next one where a male human was performing martial arts moves. The red-haired male was stockier than the usual design for space travel, with cool genetically designed tattoos along his arms and chest.
M. Hoyvil stopped in front of the Earth man and watched him. The man smiled and kicked high in the air.
Hmm. It might be fun to have someone to practice fighting with, thought M. Hoyvil. Of course, it would all have to be pretend. They’re so much smaller and weaker and slower. I could easily kill him by accident if I wasn’t careful. That wouldn’t be good.
M. Hoyvil stood there watching, trying to decide whether taking this one would be a good idea or not. Out of nowhere, he heard the sound of a small female telepathic voice.
“Here! Over here!” said the voice repeatedly and insistently.
Who’s that? he wondered.
He looked around, but there were no female Verdantes close by. And those walking by weren’t paying any attention to him at all. They might have been interested in the human male, but they wouldn’t approach the container when another Verdante was already there. That rule stopped people from fighting over the same pet.
No. The strange, tiny voice wasn’t a Verdante, and it seemed to be coming from the direction of the cube next to him. M. Hoyvil looked over. Now a human female stood there. She held a teeny, tiny gray and white cat in her arms.
Could that Earth female be telepathic? M. Hoyvil wondered. No. That’s not possible.
M. Hoyvil lost interest in the martial arts man. He walked over to stare at the young woman with the cat. The tiny voice stopped.
Did I really hear that? he wondered.
He shook his big green head. The pink-haired Earth female smiled up at him.
This is the one! M. Hoyvil suddenly knew it for sure without knowing why.
hypnoSnatch (Xeno Relations Book 2) Page 18