Seth was the one to apprise Avion and Lilith about the threatening alien craft.

“Aramus is waving the proverbial white flag.”

“Aramus surrendering?” Avion couldn’t help his disbelief.

“Not quite. He’s got some half-baked idea that, once we’re on board, we can infiltrate and take over that vessel.”

“That must be one hell of a ship if he’s thinking of trading in the SSBiteMe.”

“Dude, this thing is a monster. Remember Star Wars and the huge Vader ship that sucked in the Millennium Falcon?  That kind of big.”

“Damn.” How Avion wished he could see it. A great, big, new ship and he was too blind to admire.

“The technology alone is a total boner. Right now, we’re getting drawn in by an actual tractor beam. We couldn’t pull free if we tried. Given our speed, we should be on board their ship in less than five minutes.”

“Five minutes isn’t a long time to plan.”

“Plan what? Keep to the basics. If shit goes to hell, take as many as you can with you.” Seth couldn’t help a certain glee when he said it.

“Violence will not be necessary,” Lilith replied. “The ship is one of the Zvali’dus. They are space merchants, the same who corralled me and the other humans many years ago. They will not kill us. We are much too valuable as merchandise.”

“So you’re not worried?” Avion asked. He wasn’t really either, but he couldn’t help a touch of annoyance. Three days from their destination, the clock ticking on his deterioration, and now this delay?

Would he ever catch a break?

“Actually, I am pleased by our capture. Once they recognize I am one of the chosen, they will have us at our destination within a few hours.”

“Hours?” Finally some good news. In a few hours, maybe I’ll be mobile again and able to see. Maybe he’d be a real man instead of an invalid incapable of even hugging the fascinating woman by his side.

He still mentally reeled from all he’d learned before. This whole chosen to be a carrier by what amounted to a bionic parasite was a lot to swallow. It turned out their entire conversation was recorded and shared by Lilith with the others because as she stated, It isn’t efficient to have to repeat myself.

There wasn’t much time to prepare for their meeting with the Zvali’dus. In short order, they were dragged aboard the much larger vessel, which Aramus, who supported him on one side confided as being, “The most glorious fucking machine ever built. I want it.”

“Boys and their toys,” grumbled Riley good-naturedly. What the petite woman saw in Aramus, no one could figure out.

The entire crew assembled in the cargo bay as ordered by the smooth, now English-only-speaking voice of the other ship’s AI unit. No denying they had some advanced technology on board.

“Dude, I wish you could see it,” Seth said. “They went from invisible to looming millions of tons of unidentified metal and menace. This thing is just oozing with surprises and technology.”

Avion wished he could see it too. Just like he wished he could have seen, along with the others, their very first aliens.

You are not missing much, Lilith whispered in his head. The gray extraterrestrials that are so popular on your world had a basis. The Zvali’dus are slender and gray-skinned bipedal beings with overly large olfactory orbs, bulbous, bald heads, four fingers with the tips padded and imbued with sensory receptors.

You sound so matter-of-fact about this.

I am One. The only one left of our group who returned to teach our world about the universe and the T’xa.

What happened to the others? Avion asked.

The military killed them.

Talk about a conversation killer.

Aramus hissed, “They’re coming. Stand down unless threatened. We need to infiltrate their ship and see what’s going on before we make our move.”

“They won’t harm you.”

Not harm maybe, but take prisoner, definitely.

It turned out Aramus didn’t need them on their best behavior because no sooner was the outer airlock opened than a gas permeated the chamber.

Despite their usual resistance to drugs, it knocked them all out cold.