Alien Incognito by Cara Bristol

Author:Cara Bristol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cara Bristol
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Giselle

Resembling a giant floating cockroach, the space station housing the Vermillion Market looked as ugly as the business occurring there. We docked at the tip of a “feeler.”

The airlock doors closed with an audible insectile hiss.

“For your own safety, you must go along with whatever I do,” Joule said in a low voice, the first words he’d uttered in about fifteen minutes. After his revelation, we’d continued on to the Vermillion in tense silence. “Don’t speak unless spoken to. If someone addresses you, wait for my permission to speak and then say as little as possible. Don’t volunteer any information, don’t answer questions not asked, and don’t ask any questions.”

“Act like a victim,” I paraphrased. “Shouldn’t be too hard. Be myself, right?”

“You may hate me,” he said, “but I’m your sole link to your sister. You’d never forgive yourself if you jeopardized her rescue.”

He lowered the hatch, and I followed him off the craft. I would never endanger Nicole. But I still had doubts about whether Joule intended to help her. I didn’t know what to believe. Could he really be an LOP scout? Actions spoke louder than words. He claimed to be with the LOP, but I’d witnessed nefarious behavior—had been on the receiving end. The likelihood of him being with the LOP seemed impossible. But was it any more preposterous that a slave trader would try to locate a missing woman out of the goodness of his heart?

Maybe he did work for the League of Planets.

And maybe I was a gullible pyot. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

An alien with an oversized, bulbous head pushed past me, and I scooted closer to Joule. He closed his hand around my wrist, as if keeping me from straying and signaling to everyone else I belonged to him.

The spaceship port bustled with life-forms that had my jaw dropping. I’d seen some aliens aboard the slave ship, but this was a genetic free-for-all. I couldn’t help but gawk at the crawling, slithering, hopping, flying beings. Some were stunningly beautiful, while others were hideously ugly—at least by Terran standards. Bodies were covered with fur, feathers, scales, quills, boils, and slime. Many sported horns, claws, tentacles, and stingers. I saw feline people and reptilian ones, bipeds, quadrupeds, and rotarians on wheels. A few wore breathing helmets, while others appeared to be using respirator devices. One man—woman?—glowed like a lightning bug. A few emitted such noxious body odors, my stomach roiled. I recognized a few antlike Ceruleans and a couple of Copans but spotted not a single human.

The one characteristic they shared was that they were less amazed by me than I was of them.

Exiting the spacecraft dock, we entered an otherworldly bazaar of the bizarre. Despite my awareness of the market’s shadowy side, I couldn’t help but be enthralled by the merchandise hawked in the open stalls. Gorgeous fabrics and garments to fit all shapes and body sizes. Potions, powders, and chemicals in vials large and small. Many booths of electronics and gadgetry, the functions of which I couldn’t begin to fathom.

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