Page 52 of Alien's Challenge
“I trust you, and you released me from prison. I am a good judge of character,” Faris said.
“You trusted Rand, and that resulted in us both being left for dead and bleeding out in the snow,” he countered. “Why this female? You have never lost your head over a female.”
Faris glanced back at Alice’s sleeping form. They had liberated other females and sent them off to handlers who could place them in a safe situation. “At first, it was to spite Rand. She was expensive and he would be upset at her loss. Then…she saw me.”
“Her vision is adequate, for a human.”
Faris leaned forward, willing his friend to understand. “No. She seesme.Not Owenfaris of the Eternal House. Not a fourth child. Not a curse or a burden or a sacrifice. Not a placeholder for the emperor. Not a thief. Not a murderer. Me. She sees me.”
Perrigaul said nothing. The drone of the ship’s engine filled the silence.
Then, “You rotzaking bastard. I could be halfway across the planet now. I could buy a small island in the tropics and fish all day. Instead of living a life of idle pleasure, I return for you and your human and you don’t even let me have the luxury of being angry with you. How dare you.”
Faris wrapped his hand around the back of Perrigaul’s neck and rested his forehead against the male. “I love you, too.”
Chapter 15
Alice
Alice wasn’t sure what she expected from the Hub. The primary city on the planet was a sprawling mess. Some parts were highly organized with a grid street system and ornate buildings. Other neighborhoods were little more than shantytowns. Half the architecture was built for the ages, and the other half was cobbled together from whatever materials were available.
The entire place had a colonial feel, with the people in charge building palaces for themselves and the other half barely getting by.
Traffic was a snarled mess. They landed on the outskirts of the city. Faris sold the transport to a dealer who didn’t ask too many questions and bought an all-terrain vehicle. All-terrain sounded useful, but it sat in traffic like any other vehicle.
“What happened to the original inhabitants of the planet?” she asked.
“Reazus Prime was uninhabited,” Faris said.
“If you believe that fable,” Perrigaul said. “The prison administrators blighted the crops, and the indigenous people either starved or traded their land for food.”
“If you believe that fable,” Faris mocked. “The Overlords would not negotiate with beings already here. They would have slaughtered them and seized the planet.”
Perrigaul nodded. “That is accurate.”
That summed up the feel of the Hub in Alice’s mind. Designed by people who would rather commit genocide than negotiate, the city had a brutal edge that demanded you adapt or perish.
They spent a handful of days in the city to repair Faris’ battered motorcycle. She upgraded her translation chip to allow her to read as well as speak.
Visiting the warehouse that auctioned off Alice proved less satisfying than she expected. She wanted closure, some sense that this episode was over, or some reason behind her abduction beyond common greed.
The family running the auction could give her none of that. They just sold what the salvagers delivered. They had no record of Miriam or another pod brought in with hers. Nor did they have any record of where Alice’s pod had been discovered or in what area the salvage crew had operated. They had a list of items the salvage crew brought in, and no, they would not share that with her.
Alice even tried to sweeten their disposition by purchasing a clunky reading tablet that no one wanted. It came loaded with out-of-date reference books, textbooks, and classic literature.
No joy. The auctioneers would not give up their sources.
That was fine. While Alice was haggling, Perrigaul hacked into their network and stole all their data.
Outside, Perrigaul scrolled through the data he pulled. “There is no listing for a data recorder of the destroyed ship. We can assume those items are still debris, floating out there.”
Alice hugged the tablet to her chest. “This is amazing. We can determine the location of the ship wreckage and find the data recorder or navigation logs. Even if they don’t have specific coordinates for Earth, we can calculate its location based on fuel consumption. All we need to do is research. I live and breathe research.”
“It may not be as simple as that,” Faris cautioned.
“We need our ship to be able to leave the ground before we can go picking through garbage in space,” Perrigaul added.
It would work. She knew it in her soul. Even if it didn’t, she had some measure of control. Searching for Miriam and Earth could take years, or a lifetime, but she was doing something and not just reacting to whatever hand fate dealt her.
