Page 9 of Alien Abduction for Experts
"I'll transmit the video feed to your comms as well," he announced, and I pressed a button to accept it.
Our targets sat in their office, reading an old-fashioned paper book. Did they have the same reading speed or did one always have to wait for the other to finish a page? I decided that once we'd abducted them, I'd do some more research on Gemi'i. They were fascinating.
We stood there for ages, before I had the idea to go into a restaurant we'd seen on the way from the spaceport. We could monitor the drone from that distance. The menu was a selection of supposedly Gemi'i delicacies. I'd never heard of any of them, even though the menu was in IG standard, so I randomly pointed on one dish. The waiters looked at me with a smirk but didn't comment. Matar on the other hand ordered a portion of crackers. That seemed a little too safe to me, although it didn't say what kind of crackers they were.
Our drinks arrived first, bubbling and steaming blue concoctions. I'd thought I'd ordered tea, but this was nothing like what I imagined when I thought of tea. That implied hot liquid being poured over some sort of plants, but this drink was cold and seemed to have a life of its own. I gave it a sniff. Sweet, not too bad. It tingled on my tongue when I took a hesitant sip and felt sticky in my throat. The taste wasn't awful, but I didn't like the feel of it.
"Delicious," Matar sighed. "I don't know what it is, but I want more of it."
I pushed my glass over to him. "Take mine."
Checking my comms, I was reassured that Hix and Hex were still reading their book. What a nice job that enabled them to read while being paid for it.
The dish I'd ordered turned out to be a heap of what looked like bright pink worms. Maybe it was pasta, like the spa-ghetto Trish liked. I poked at it with the strange instrument they'd given me. The worms wriggled and moved. They were klatting alive.
Matar laughed and handed me a cracker. They were blue and green, not exactly appetising, but tasted good enough. Bland yet with a hint of spice. As if the cook had been extremely hesitant with adding flavour. Oh well, we weren't here for the Gemi'i cuisine. That made me think, though.
"Do we need to stock up on food for our abductee?" I asked in hushed tones so that the nearby waiters wouldn't hear us. "Will they be able to eat what we have on board?"
"You're the medic. That's your job to figure out."
I growled at Matar. Some help he was. Our fabricator should be able to create the nutrients our Gemi'i abductees would need, but there was a big difference between adequate nutrients and food that you actually wanted to eat. Yes, we were going to take them against their will, but that didn't mean we had to treat them like prisoners. We were only doing this to keep our mate safe from Professor Katila.
I waved over the waiters. "Can you wrap this and prepare a selection of your favourite dishes to take away? We'd like to give our crew a taste of Gemi'i cuisine."
Delighted, the waiters hurried away.
"Did you see the prices in this place?" Matar hissed. "This will be crazy expensive."
"I don't want them to be unhappy. They won't be once they reach Professor Katila, but let's make their abduction experience as positive as it can possibly be."
Matar stared at me, then sighed. "You're right. Maybe we should sedate them before using the tractor beam. That will lessen any stress and anxiety."
"First, we need to find out where they live and where best to abduct them."
I checked my screen again. They'd put away their book and were now getting dressed in a long, black coat.
Matar got up. "You wait here for the food and have it sent to the Jade. I'll follow them."
Klat. That plan had backfired. Now I was going to sit here doing nothing while Matar had all the fun.
Trish
Iwanted popcorn. Watching the Gemi'i torso-brothers was boring. All they did was read in their office. They had a comfy sofa that I wanted to abduct and bring here onto the bridge. The chair I sat on was getting uncomfortable. I could have moved onto Xil's lap, but then that would have ended in sex and we needed to stay focused.
"What do you think they're reading?" I asked Xil. "A textbook? Fantasy? An alien abduction novel?"
He snorted. "I really want it to be the latter, but I assume it's something to do with the course they teach. From my research, they're diligent and hard-working, so I doubt they'd read fiction while on the job."
Boring.
I continued dreaming of buttery popcorn until they finally got up and left their office. The drone whizzed around the building and hovered near the main entrance. Hopefully, they'd use that to exit the university and not some other doors.
"What now?" I asked Xil.
"Now we continue to follow them until Matar and Havel tell us it's time to abduct. I've requested permission to take off at will and the spaceport has confirmed that. We won't have to wait and mess with bureaucracy once it's time to begin the abduction."
To my relief, Hix and Hex appeared on the screen again, walking away from the university building and towards a shuttle station. I kind of wished I was out there with them. The shuttles were sleek, semi-translucent pods that reminded me of gelatine pills. They flew at breakneck speeds, bringing people from A to B much faster than even planes back on Earth would have managed. I wanted to fly in one of them and see what it would feel like.
