Page 7 of Alien Abduction for Experts
I ordered four of the devices to be delivered to the Jade as soon as possible. I could have got something fancier for the guys and me, but I didn't want to risk them being incompatible with Trish's old-fashioned device.
Now, we just had to wait and hope that they would work, and we could talk to our mate again.
Xil
The Gemi'i star system finally appeared on the viewscreen. Five planets circling one sun, three of them inhabited by the Gemi'i race, the others too close and too far from the sun. My research had narrowed down our targets' location to G-3. It was the most likely location, anyway. We had no guarantee they'd be there. And even so, we had an entire planet to search.
At least we'd be able to log into their interplanetary network once we got a little closer. I was hopeful that I'd be able to find the two males mentioned somewhere. Their names were somewhat unique and the good thing about Gemi'i were that they always appeared in pairs. What were the chances of finding another duo called Hix and Hex?
Trish stared at the screen. I realised this was going to be her first alien planet. She'd been to a space station but hadn't set foot on a different planet yet. I wished I could make it more special for her. We were supposed to go on honeymoon, not hunt down and abduct two alien males for our crazy professor.
"It's beautiful," she sighed. Her voice sounded strange through the new translators, but at least we could understand her now. I couldn't wait to have new brain slugs, though. Her accent was jarring, and she'd said that we didn't sound very nice to her either. I wondered if she would have fallen in love with us if we'd only had these antique translators. She didn't sound sexy at all, but then, her body was the epitome of sexy. She was our beautiful mate and I'd love her forever, strange voice or not.
"That one to the right is G-3," Havel explained. "It's the smallest of the three planets, but also the one we're going to approach first."
Trish was right, the Gemi'i system really was beautiful. A dark green haze surrounded G-3, making it seem mysterious and somewhat magical. Their sun was larger than that Trish was used to, but a little smaller than the one Kardar circled.
"We should get access to their network in a few seconds...got it," Matar announced. "I'll log your comms into the network, that way we can all research at the same time. The connection will get faster once we get closer to G-3."
"This is nothing like the Earth internet," Trish muttered while staring at her holographic comms screen. "I have no idea how to even enter a search term."
Matar reached over and started entering some code into her device. "I'll give it a different skin, making it appear like the system you're used to. It won't be quite the same, but easier for you to navigate."
I left them to it and started diving into the Gemi'i network. I began with searching their news for any mention of Hix and Hex. The second search result gave me the first lead. They'd been given an award for educational services to the people of G-2. It had been three IG years ago, but it might help narrow down their location further. I added other parameters to the search, concentrating on anything to do with education. More and more interesting results popped up, but I stopped when I came across a biography on a local university's network presence.
"Guys, look at this," I said and pushed the information to the main screen for them to see. "This is from last year. They started a job at the Pontrin University on G-2. That must have been after they left the IGU. There's no note that they left, so let's hope they still work there."
I instantly changed the Jade's course from G-3 to G-2. Pontrin was a small town near the planet's south pole and should be easy to find.
"There's a space port we can land at," Matar announced, also looking at the navigational data. "Unless you want to do the tractor beam method this time?"
I shook my head. "No, if they're at a university, they'll be surrounded by people. We don't want their abduction to be public. We'll do some reconnaissance first. Find out where they live, how they commute between their home and the university. Find a spot where we can abduct them without anyone else seeing us."
"Won't we stand out?" Trish asked. "I was the only human on the space station and that one was full of aliens from all over the galaxy. I doubt there are any more humans and even Kardarians on G-2."
I smiled at her, proud at her sharp intelligence. "You are right, mate. We will put on costumes to hide our identity."
She didn't look convinced. "Costumes? Like for Halloween? Are you going to dress as a giant yellow banana?"
I didn't know what a banana was, but if she wanted me to dress as one, I would.
"Is that some kind of Peritan warrior?" I asked curiously.
She broke into laughter. "Not quite. But seriously, unless you have some kind of invisibility suits, I doubt we'll be able to avoid attention."
She was right. I searched through the documents on my comms device until I found the Alien Abduction for Beginners folder. There had to be some information in the course that would help us disguise ourselves. I didn't like having to draw on resources created by the female who'd forced us to do this abduction, but it was our best chance to be successful.
"You were traders before you abducted me, right?" Trish asked and I nodded.
"Yes, but we'd always wanted to be full-time abductors. Trading was just something to carry us over until we'd succeeded at our first proper abduction. But now that we have you, we won't be abducting anyone else, so I suppose we need to return to trading once we've dealt with Professor Katila."
"Could you pretend to deliver an order to the university? I'm sure they get sciency things from all across the galaxy. I can stay here and coordinate the abduction from afar."
"They do have a department of intergalactic genetics," Havel said. "That could work. We can pretend to have samples from Kardar for them."
I thought about Trish's plan. It was good and had a high chance of success. I didn't like the idea of leaving her all alone on the Jade, however. Not after we'd almost lost her.
"I will stay with you," I decided. "Havel knows most about genetics, so he'll be the expert, while Matar can be the one negotiating prices. Not that you'll actually sell anything. Your task is to find Hix and Hex, and shadow them until you see an opportunity for the abduction to begin. Trish and I will then fly the ship to your location and either pull them up with the tractor beam or wait for you to sedate them and bring them to us. Agreed?"
