Chapter Four: Out of Place
It was nearly impossible to distinguish time out in space. Unless you were close enough to a planet that you could tell from the light and the suns and moons whether it was day or night, for the most part it was just floating along in darkness.
Alaran found that comforting. It took the rush out of things and made it easier to think. It was quiet and everything had a sort of...equality about it out in space.
He understood why their kind enjoyed travel more than being planetside.
He sat on the observation deck, sitting with his legs dangling over the edge, staring off into the star dotted blackness ahead of them. It had been only a few earth hours since they'd left the planet itself, and his mind was restless.
The three of them had known each other for a long time. Before any group set out on a journey through the cosmos, they had to make sure they were compatible and that they would be able to work together well.
Alaran would have said that he knew Temos and Az as well as he knew himself, but today had proven that Temos was still full of surprises.
There was a human woman on board now. A human woman who they had taken with them, for reasons unknown.
Oh sure, they knew why she wanted to come along, and Alaran couldn't blame her for that. Earth, from all he had read about the planet, wasn't a happy place. They were just as war hungry as any of the more bloodthirsty races out there. And just being on the planet for a few Earth hours was enough to prove that they were destroying their atmosphere and killing the planet and therefore themselves.
Compared to that, being out here in the vastness of space and seeing what there was to see was an easy choice to make.
But it didn't benefit them at all. At least not that Alaran could see. Unless there was something Temos had seen that he and Az hadn't, he didn't understand it. Although Az had been just as excited to have her come aboard, but that was Az. He was excitable. Apparently he was the only one who didn’t see the purpose of this.
Which meant he was going to have to ask.
As if he'd sensed the direction of Alaran’s thoughts, Temos came walking up the stairs to the deck. He stepped around Alaran, hands folded behind his back, and stood, looking out of the window.
"You're thinking very loudly up here," he said.
"A lot has happened in the last little while."
Temos inclined his head. "Very true. It's exciting, don't you think?"
Alaran tipped his head to the side. "Exciting?"
"Yes. We rode through a solar storm. We landed on Earth. We've got a human."
He sounded like he was barely containing his excitement, and Alaran didn't think he'd ever seen him like this before. Which was saying something because Temos was always leaping at the chance to try something new and dangerous.
"About the human," Alaran said. "What are we going to do with her?"
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. Is she meant to stay with us the whole time we are out here? Are we dropping her off on some other planet? She could die out here."
"She could die on Earth. You felt their air."
He did have a point there. "I want to know why you agreed to let her come."
Temos did his version of an elegant shrug. "It seemed like a good adventure."
"Temos."
For a moment he was quiet, and then he shrugged again. "I mean that. It seemed like a good adventure, and...I saw something in her."
"Something like what?"
"I'm not sure exactly," Temos said. "Something that resonated with me. It felt...warm and familiar. It felt good to speak with her and be near her. Did you not feel it?"
"I cannot say that I did."
"Spend some time with her," Temos suggested. "See if it's there."
It was a curious directive, but Temos seemed so sure of himself, so sure in what he'd felt, and Alaran didn't doubt him. Sometimes Temos had these feelings that they should go some way or the other or do something over something else. Sometimes it ended in them being lost on the wrong side of a solar system, but then there were other times where it ended up leading them to something much better than they had been expecting to find.
Perhaps this was one of those times.
"Where is she?" Alaran wanted to know.
"Az is trying to explain the starnav to her. He probably wants to teach her to fly. Shall I send her up here?"
"Please."
Temos smiled and headed back down to the command console. If he leaned over the edge of the deck, Alaran could see the top of Az's head and hear the low tones of his voice as he spoke. The quiet questions in the voice that was still strange to him came from the human woman, and Alaran could just about see Temos making his way over to them.
A few moments later, tentative footsteps heralded the approach of the human woman.
Natasha, her name was. If they were going to be traveling together, then they should know each other's names.
"Hi," Natasha said as she stepped up onto the deck. "I heard—oh wow."
Whatever she had been about to say was lost as she took in the view. Alaran knew that expression on her face. It was how he'd felt the first time he'd left home and stepped up onto this very deck to stare out at space before him. Knowing that he would be exploring all of that had taken his breath away, and it was clear that Natasha felt much the same.
He gave her a minute and then spoke. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
She blinked, looking startled, and Alaran had to wonder if she'd forgotten he was there. "Yes," she said. "Humans are always trying to touch the stars, and here I am up here with them. Going further than any human has ever gone before."
"Is that important to you?" Alaran wanted to know. "Being the first of your kind to do this?"
Natasha shook her head. "No, it's not about the rest of them. It's about me. I want to do this because I want to know what else is out there in the wide wide world."
He tipped his head to the side, looking at her as if that would help him understand. "You are an odd human."
She laughed at that, and the sound echoed around them slightly. "Well, you're not the first to tell me that," she said. "But what makes you say so?"
"I was under the impression that humans were more like pack animals than anything else. That they wanted to be together. But here you are out alone. You will most likely not see another human in all of our travels."
He waited for her to look afraid or to realize the mistake she'd made. It wasn't too late to take her back to Earth, after all, and it was better that she realize now that she was going to be alone out here than later when they were too far away to do anything about it.
"I'm alright with that," she said, and Alaran was stunned for a moment.
She was either very brave or very foolish, and, if Temos was any indication, sometimes those two things were the same thing, really.
"You say that now."
"No, really," Natasha insisted. "Look, I know humans, okay? I am one, after all. I've lived with them for my whole life. Everyone I know, aside from you three now, is a human. I get how they work and how petty and mean and small we can be. I've seen how great we can be, too, but I've seen it, is the point. What I want is to see things and people and places that I've never seen before. And if that means that I don't see my planet or my own kind for a while, then that's more than okay with me. It's worth it."
Alaran could not wrap his mind around it, honestly. He heard her words and saw the conviction on her face, but it made no sense.
He could see why Temos liked her, though. That part was starting to become much clearer.
"Well," Alaran said. "I hope this is everything you think it will be. Because the further we go out, the less likely it will be that we can take you home."
"That's fine," Natasha said, still smiling. "I'm not going to be ready to go home any time soon. That place..." She shook her head, smile drooping at the corners. "It's so small there. Where I'm from. The people are small minded, and there isn't anything to do. There's nowhere to grow there. Even if I did go home after this, there's no way I could be happy there. Not after seeing this." She gestured at the star strewn blackness of space.
That, at least, Alaran could understand. He nodded thoughtfully. "It is a sight to see. There is a reason that our kind return to our home planet so rarely. It is hard to be still after seeing all of this."
Natasha turned her smile on him. "That's exactly it. So you don't need to worry about me, okay? It'll take some time for me to get my sea legs, or I guess space legs in this case, but I'll be fine. I'll learn how to be useful so this isn't a waste of time for you guys, and it'll all work out. You'll see."
She seemed so sure of herself, so sure of her decision, and it was hard for Alaran to believe that she had thought this through.
But it was her choice to make if she wanted to be out here with them, so he just nodded and excused himself, leaving her standing on the deck, staring out the windows.
Alaran walked the length of the ship, making sure that they had actually repaired all the breaches to the hull. He knew they had, he'd supervised Temos in the patches back on Earth, but he needed something to keep himself occupied so his thoughts wouldn't keep turning to the human woman.
Natasha. She had a name. Natasha.
Natasha who had excited Temos in the same way riding through solar storms had.
It made no sense.
He walked into the mess hall, figuring he'd turn his mind to making food as a distraction.
Az was already there, drinking something out of a cup.
"Alaran, you have that wrinkle between your eyebrows," he said, mimicking the expression and then smiling. "Temos says you're having a harder time adjusting than Nat is."
"Temos says a lot of things," Alaran muttered.
"He does. But you do look like you're not as excited about this as the rest of us. I suppose we sort of just made the decision without really listening to your points. I am sorry for that." He bent at the waist in a bow that meant genuine remorse to their kind, because dragons rarely bowed, and Alaran felt shamed for a moment. Temos and Az were more than just his friends or his traveling companions. They were the same as family, and he did not want to ruin this for them.
"It is not a problem, Az," he said. "It's just new. I am sure I will get used to her."
“She’s actually pretty amazing, from what I’ve seen so far,” Az continued. “I was showing her the starnav, and she has a very good grasp of it.”
“Mm.”
“You should talk with her.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What did you think?”
Alaran sighed. He didn’t want to think of her at all right now. “I think that she is going to regret her rash choice to abandon all she knows and come out here with us.”
Az shook his head. “I don’t think she will.”
“Well, you asked me what I think. I think anyone would. And I think we are going to end up having to take her back to Earth sooner rather than later, and I am not looking forward to it.”
“Have a little faith, Alaran. It could all be fine.”
Temos definitely thought it was all going to be fine. This was something new and interesting, and he couldn’t wait to see how it all unfolded. There was already a different atmosphere on the ship now that Natasha was on board, and it was almost as good as a solar storm. Almost.
“We’ll need to refuel soon,” he murmured, checking the levels on the ship’s monitoring system.
“How does that work?” Natasha asked as she walked over to stand near where he was sitting.
He gave her a smile. “We will need to land on a maintenance planet. It will also be a good time to get more supplies, since we have an extra person on board now.”
“So it’s like a space gas station. Fuel and snacks.”
“I don’t know, what is a gas station?”
Natasha laughed. “It’s not that exciting. It’s just a place where you can go put fuel in your vehicle and then you go inside the building and there’s snacks and cigarettes and beer and stuff. Lottery tickets. Phone chargers.”
Every other word seemed foreign to him, but it didn’t dampen his excitement. “And you go there often on Earth?”
“Often enough. My car got good gas mileage, even for being so old. But the best thing is when you’re going on a long trip and you stop to refuel and get out and stretch your legs and get snacks and stuff.”
Temos nodded. “Then this is exactly like that. They aren’t really planets, moons at best. But they have stations for refueling and places to buy supplies and usually contraband since they exist outside of the jurisdiction of most planetary governments.”
“Oooh, contraband. Like what? Drugs and dirty magazines?”
“Drugs sometimes, yes. The more heavily regulated spirits. Banned holovids. Slaves, sometimes.”
Natasha’s face fell at that. “There’s slavery out here?”
“On some planets, yes. Most of them outlawed it cycles ago, but there are a few, on the fringes, where you can still get a slave or two.”
“Well, that’s awful. Do your people keep slaves?”
He shook his head. “We never have. The Dammen Ka don’t believe in shackles or owning people. We keep what is ours, but we do not force people to be so.”
She nodded, seemingly satisfied, and Temos felt pleased with the exchange. They were of a similar mind about owning slaves, at least, which boded well. “There won’t be any slaves where we are going next,” he told her. “We have been there before, but it will be new to you.”
“Everything out here is new to me,” Natasha replied, and it seemed like her excitement hadn’t been dampened much. Good.
“We will be there soon enough,” Temos told her, and punched in the coordinates for the jump.
Catsella was one of the smaller moons off of Catsellanta, a small planet known for its arts and culture. It was a place for tourists to go and see shows and art, and everything cost more than it was worth, in Temos’ opinion.
In contrast to its planet, Catsella was more rough around the edges. The government of Catsellanta had no interest in their smaller moons, and so it was run by the people who had chosen to live there.
It was mostly used for refueling ships that were coming to and from the planet, but there were plenty of other things to see on it, too.
Pleasure dens and spirit houses lined the streets, offering good times to those with the credits to pay for them. Gambling halls and contraband shops had sprung up as well, tempting more lawless types to settle there.
It wasn’t what Temos would call safe, exactly, but it would be interesting, and while Natasha would definitely stick out, the three of them were more than a match for anything they might find there.
“Catsella,” he said, gesturing to the sight of it once they had come out of the jump. “Catsellanta’s fourth moon.”
“Oh wow,” Natasha breathed as she leaned forward to see.
It wasn’t much from orbit, really. Just a silvery colored rock out in space, but as they got closer to it, the lights and colors of the buildings started to make themselves known.
By the time they had landed at one of the refueling stations, Natasha was pressed against the window, wide eyed. “Can we go out?” she asked. “Can we see stuff?” She turned to look at Temos. “Will I be able to breathe out there?”
“What do humans breathe?” he asked.
“Uh. Oxygen.”
“You’ll be fine.”
She didn’t look convinced, but Temos moved past that. Az and Alaran appeared from wherever they had been, and the three of them shared a look before each grabbing a blaster from the weapons cache. It was never smart to be too careful on a moon.
Natasha didn’t seem to notice, which was probably for the best, all things considered.
“I’ll manage the refueling,” Alaran offered. “Az, will you get supplies.”
“Of course. Temos, keep an eye out for trouble.” Az looked to Natasha. “Temos has an eye for trouble. Usually because he’s the one causing it.”
Temos rolled his eyes. “I get in one fight in a spirit house, and you never let me forget it.”
“Temos, if you’ve only been in one fight in a spirit house, then I’m a Snarkovlian Farboiler.”
Natasha snickered and then shrugged when they all looked at her. “What? It sounded funny. Let’s gooooooooo.”
Her excitement was infectious, and Temos took the lead, opening the hatch and leading them off the ship. One of the attendants, a Rixanthro by the look of him, came up to meet them. Alaran took over, explaining what kind of fuel they needed.
The attendant was listening right up until the point where Natasha stepped around Az to get a better look. And then his jaw dropped.
Natasha’s eyes widened at the sight, and Temos tried to remember how he’d felt the first time he saw a Rixanthro.
They were tall and thin, covered in spines, and had six arms. No one wanted to get too close to a Rixanthro, on account of the spines, and the fact that no one knew if they were venomous or not. The last person to try to find out had wound up dead, though they claimed it was unrelated. No one was willing to take the risk.
So the two of them were just staring at each other. Alaran sighed with feeling. In the language of the Rix, he explained that they had a human traveling with them, and then switched to English, which Temos noticed they had been using since they’d left Earth.
The Rixanthro nodded and peered closer at Natasha, though he kept his distance. “I am called Kinta,” he said.
Natasha smiled. “I’m Nat.”
Kinta nodded and smiled back. “I have never seen a human before.”
“I’ve never seen a...I’m sorry, I don’t actually know what you are.”
“A Rixanthro. From the planet Rix.”
“Rixanthro,” Natasha repeated. “Well, it’s nice to meet you.”
“You, as well.” Kinta bowed and then went to work.
“Your first encounter with someone not from your own planet,” Az said, grinning at her. “What do you think?”
“Second, technically. If I’m counting you three. He was nice.”
“Not everyone is,” Temos warned her, just to be safe. “Especially here. Stay close to us.”
She nodded her understanding, and the three of them left Alaran with Kinta and headed in the direction of the supply market.
It was a very large warehouse for the most part, packed full of anything someone might need for a long voyage through space.
Being so close to Catsellanta meant that they had access to supplies from all over the system, so there were all sorts of foods and drinks, supplies for cleaning and maintaining ships, little pieces of tech meant to entertain children or allow for watching holovids and other broadcasts, and the list went on.
The shelves stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and drones were stationed at the head of every aisle, ready to get something down for a customer.
This particular supply market was run by a Nantotri named Gama.
She was a thick woman with bulbous eyes and green skin, and she sat behind a desk near the front door, watching everyone who entered.
Temos had met her before, here on Catsella and elsewhere. He liked to think she had a fondness for him, since she at least had never thrown him out before.
"The Dammen Ka," she said in their language, large yellow eyes raking over Temos and Az when they walked in.
"Gama," Temos said, giving her a charming smile. "You look lovelier every time I see you."
"Do not be flattering Gama," she said, voice low and raspy. "Gama has not the time for it."
"Of course, Gama," Az said. "Straight to business, then?"
"This is what Gama likes." She frowned and lifted her head, scenting the air. "What is new? Something not dragon."
"Ah," Az said. "You haven't met our companion yet." He drew Natasha forward. "What do you make of her?"
Gama leaned over the desk and sniffed again. "Earthling," she said after a few seconds, and then she switched to Earth English with little trouble. "Have you stolen her?"
"Gama, we are wounded," Temos said, putting a hand over his heart in dramatic fashion. "She's our companion. She wanted to travel with us."
"Does he tell Gama truth?" Gama asked, eyes boring into Natasha.
"Y-yes," Nat said. "I actually asked them to let me come along with them. I'm not being kidnapped or stolen, I promise."
Gama looked over all of them like she didn’t believe them for a second, and then she nodded and waved them in.
Temos was amused. “Gama is a defender of the weak and the taken advantage of,” he whispered to Natasha as they walked through the shelves. “She has saved slaves who have come through here, and she always seems to know when someone is being abused by their partner or mate.”
“Oh wow,” Nat said. “That’s so cool.”
“She is very impressive. And once you get on her bad side, the whole of this moon is barred from you. It doesn’t have government, not really, but she is as close as this place comes to having a leader.”
Az had something of a list, it seemed, so Temos let him handle the gathering of supplies, and instead he showed Natasha around. Her enthusiasm for everything she saw was infectious, and Temos let himself get wrapped up in it. She had endless questions about what things were and how they worked and who would use them, and she listened intently to Temos’ explanations.
He was not usually the one who explained things. That was Az’s territory or Alaran’s depending on the subject, but the way Natasha looked at him as he told her things that she didn’t know made him feel...powerful, in a way.
Not in the same way winning a fight did, but it was a gentler sort of power, one that came with being trusted to impart knowledge.
And there was something else, too.
Something low and deep and slow that curled in him when her eyes met his. Natasha was a human, but she was lovely by any standards, and having her attention was nearly intoxicating.
Temos had always had the desire to see all he could see, that was ingrained in every member of the Dammen Ka, for the most part, but now he wanted to see it and show it to Natasha and have her be excited and get wrapped up in that feeling.
It was...odd.
To say the least.
Odd, but pleasant, and by the time they were paying Gama for their supplies, Temos was in a very good mood.
So, of course, there had to be something that wanted to come along and try to spoil it.
The three of them walked out of the warehouse and came face to face with four members of the Sahaya tribe. They were basically a race of mercenaries who caused trouble for fun, even when they weren't getting paid to do so. Hearing about a human on Catsella of all places would definitely have peaked their interest.
And that was one of the issues with these moons. They were lawless for the most part, and even people like Gama, who tried to keep an eye on things, couldn't be everywhere at once.
Still, these four were bold to try and start something this close to Gama’s domain.
They were even bolder to try something like this with members of the Dammen Ka.
“You have brought a human here,” one of them said, stepping forward out of the line and looking menacingly at Natasha.
Temos stepped forward, shielding her from view with his much larger form. “And so what if we did?” he replied, keeping his tone light. “There are no rules about that here. You know Gama does not stand for discrimination.”
“Gama is not the law here,” he replied, but it was obvious he was trying not to say it too loud.
Az snorted, amused. “Oh right, because you are not afraid of her, are you?” He had moved in, too, and he and Temos stood shoulder to shoulder just about, keeping Natasha behind them.
The four of them glanced, as one, to the warehouse. “That is not the point,” the one who was clearly the leader said. “Humans are not welcome.”
“Why not?” Az asked, keeping his tone friendly. Of the three of them, he was the easiest going. He did this thing where he would seem like he was in a pleasant mood, just asking questions, but really he was trying to rile up whoever he was talking to until they were angry enough to attack. And then they would see that he was more than just a good talker.
Even without Alaran with them, the two of them were more than a match for four Sahyaya tribesmen.
“What do you mean why not?” the leader asked, scowling. It did nothing to improve his appearance.
The Sahaya were all built the same way. They were short, at least by Dammen Ka standards, and they were lean. They always wore all black, and they kept their faces mostly concealed with masks that just left the top parts of their faces visible. Around their eyes were thick, scaly patches, which were nothing like the shimmery scales that the Dammen Ka had. These were almost tumor like, making it hard to see their eyes.
“I mean, what do you have against humans?” Az wanted to know. “Have you even ever met a human before? Been to Earth?”
It was clear that they had not, and that for some reason they had just set themselves up against Nat because she was different and they had decided to take an issue with that.
Temos sighed and let his hand slide down to his weapon. “We do not want any trouble,” he said, ignoring Az’s snort of disbelief. “But you will find that we are quite good at it when we want to be.”
The leader of the Sahaya scoffed and drew a blade from his hip. “And yet you have found it. We will kill you and take your human and sell her into slavery. Maybe some lord on high will want a pet.”
Temos grinned. He did so love excitement.
It wasn’t the same as having his sword in his hand, but blasters were much more efficient when it came to things like this. And less messy, all things considered. A neat, already cauterized hole through the head of an enemy meant less blood than lopping their head off with a sword.
He explained that as the leader rushed him.
“You would not do it,” the leader growled.
So Temos did it.
For a moment, the leader just stood there, seemingly in shock even though there was no way he was still alive with a smoking, smoldering hole in his head.
When he finally fell, the other three all looked at each other and then fled, clearly willing to let it go now that they had seen what Temos was capable of.
“Neatly done,” Az murmured, stepping around him and looking down at the body. “We should leave before Gama comes out and starts yelling.”
They both turned to look at Natasha who was standing still, eyes wide.
“Are you alright?” Az asked her.
“You just...you killed him. He’s dead.” She was pale and looked like she might fall over.
Temos and Az traded a look. They had explained that they were warriors, but perhaps they hadn’t mentioned that sometimes that involved killing people. It had seemed pretty self-explanatory.
“He would have killed us if we had not,” Temos replied, holstering his blaster.
“What?”
“Did you not hear the threats?”
“It’s not like you were speaking English!” she snapped. “I had no idea what was happening.”
“They were threatening to kill us and take you into slavery,” Az said, and his voice was still pleasant. “Just because they decided to take an issue with you being different. Those were Sahaya tribesmen. All they do is kill and cause problems. Sometimes they even get paid for it.”
That seemed to get through to Nat, and she shuddered. “Okay,” she said softly. “Well. That’s. Thank you, I guess. For not letting them do that.”
Az grinned at her. “Our pleasure. Shall we get back to the ship?”
Alaran was already waiting on board when they showed up, and he took one look at Nat’s still pale face and sighed. “What happened?”
“Ask them,” Natasha said. “I’m going to lie down.”
She disappeared into her room, and they all watched while the door slid closed behind her. And then Alaran turned to the two of them. “Is she already causing trouble?”
“No, Sahaya tribesmen were causing trouble.”
Alaran winced. “Here?”
“Yes. They wanted her for a slave.”
“You do realize it is going to be like this wherever we go, don’t you? She’s too different. She will stand out and people will make an issue of it.”
“And then we will protect her,” Temos said firmly.
“What, we are just going to kill anyone who looks at her the wrong way?”
“If need be.”
“Temos.”
Az stepped between them, as he usually did. “There isn’t a need to get worked up about this now,” he said. “It was one moon, and one problem. We all knew Catsella was a risk. It is always a risk, even without a human in tow. Let us not start inventing problems before they happen.”
Alaran sighed and nodded, and the three of them went to put their supplies away.