He rumbles out something I assume is a thank you in his language. It could also mean “fuck off” but I’m optimistic. Now that my impromptu passenger is settled, I pull out from the side of the road and continue driving home. I’m eager to talk to my friends about Omni but there’s no way I can call them with him in the car and, while I might be suicidal enough to invite a complete stranger to crash on my couch, I’m not suicidal enough to text while driving, so informing Caleb and Imani that I’ve done something monumentally stupid will have to wait.
The silence in the car stretches out uncomfortably and the radio isn’t doing an adequate job of filling the void, so I start talking. Blabbering, really. “So, were you at the con this weekend? I didn’t notice you there. I mean, there were thousands of people there, but I think I would have noticed someone with such an amazing costume. Did you make the wings yourself? They have to be custom made, right? I’ve never heard of any store selling anything like them. Not that I’d look good with wings. Maybe if I went as one of those chubby cherub angel babies from the old paintings.” Pausing to snort at the image of me as a pudgy cherub, I go back to blabbering, “Yeah, I’d rock that. Though they’re usually naked so, on second thought, I’ll stick with murlocs. No one wants to watch me run around naked. Least of all me.”
Omni makes a disgruntled noise, as if disagreeing with me. Or maybe it’s just another phantom pain from his broken “wing”. This guy really is something.
“You should have seen Caleb’s Legolas costume. He actually started doing archery even though you can’t actually shoot a bow inside a convention center. But that’s Caleb. He gets overly invested in stuff, only to drop it a few weeks later when he comes across something new. His cake-making phase was phenomenal. The hair-dying one less so, and neither Imani nor I had any desire to join him when he got pierced in his…you know.Private areas. That must hurt like hell. Although, some of the novels I’ve read say it completely changes the experience. Still. Ouch.”
I chatter for a while longer before realizing that Omni is either pointedly ignoring me or asleep. Judging by his exhaustion just from trying to squeeze himself inside of the car earlier, I’d say the latter, though it’s true that my endless talking can get annoying. Sadly, keeping my mouth shut is a skill I’ve never mastered.
A glance in the rearview mirror doesn’t reveal anything. The way Omni is curled up on the back seat, facing away from me, with his wings covering him like a blanket, there’s no way for me to see his face. Hopefully, he really is asleep. God knows how long he’s been wandering the desert, because there’s no way he actually fell from the sky. I don’t know what I saw but, surely, not that. People don’t just fall from the sky. Well, sometimes they do, but they don’t survive, at least, not without more damage than just a few scrapes and a broken strut in their fake wing. I must have seen a bird or a drone or something like that. I was just lucky that it brought me to Omni when he clearly needed help.
I’m still not sure if I’m the right person to be helping him, though. I mean, he clearly needs a therapist at the very least. Perhaps the best thing I could do for him would be to drop himoff at a hospital, whether he wants me to or not, but I already know I won’t do it. He trusts me and I might be the crazy one here, but I won’t betray that trust. I can only hope that he won’t betray mine, or trash my apartment when he runs out of drug money.
God, I really am stupid, aren’t I?
Chapter 6
Omni
Fin’ssweetvoiceandthe low rumble of the ground vehicle lulls me into an uneasy sleep. I shouldn’t be sleeping. I should be alert, listening to my little human, both to learn as many words of her language as I can and to learn more about her. She’s truly a fascinating creature. Despite the translator nodes, I only understand about half of what she’s saying, but the way she speaks about her friends and hobbies is endearing. I’ve never met anyone like her before and I very much like her gentle personality. My usual hook-ups are confident men and women who know what they want and aren’t afraid to take it. That’s thekind of people one meets in space station bars in between the missions. Fin is completely different.
The only thing I don’t like is how she talks about herself. She isn’t so much putting herself down, but it’s clear that she lacks self-confidence.
I’m the opposite, I would say. My crew mates always say that it’s a wonder my ego fits into our ship. Fin is clearly not the type to have one-night stands, which is pretty much the only type of interaction I partake in. Many of my crew mates have recently entered into serious monogamous relationships, but I’ve never been inclined to do the same. I’m as free as an avian. Well, as an avian with a broken wing, stuck on a pre-space flight planet. I should be focusing on how to get out of here, not on how sweetly Fin’s lips curl when she smiles or how much I would enjoy exploring her soft curves.
Even if Fin was willing to have a no-strings-attached relationship while I’m on Earth, I still wouldn’t go through with it. It would be unfair to her because she doesn’t know I’m not human and I lack the words to explain it to her. I might enjoy sex, but I’d never stoop to deception to get it, especially not with someone as sweet as Fin, who’s offered to help me despite not knowing anything about me.
That’s another thing that worries me about her. I’m sure that even on Earth, inviting a complete stranger into your domicile is considered dangerous. Why did she do that? She seems to think I’m mentally damaged and yet, she’s invited me to stay in her home? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad she has, but I can’t help but worry about her getting into trouble this way. It’s not my place to judge her, I know, but still, she really should be more careful. I could have been a dangerous killer! I mean, Iama killer, but I’ve only killed during UGC-sanctioned missions or while protecting the innocent from slavers. I only kill bad guys and I’d never hurt Fin, but she doesn’t know that.
I want to be angry with her for being so reckless but, since she’s saving my ass, I’ll keep my stupid comments to myself. Not that she’d understand them anyway. Cursed winds. This inability to communicate is truly annoying. I have a good auditory memory so I’ve been able to remember and repeat some of the words Fin has said, but it’s going to take a while before we can have an actual conversation. Not that I know what I should tell her. I’m fairly certain that a “Hi, I’m an alien” would not be received well.
Learning the language, both spoken and written, has to be my priority. In order to find Garresh’s ship, I’ll have to track down the specific type of radiation that the ship engines emit. I have no idea how I’m going to do that. D’Aakh would probably be able to turn Earth’s primitive technology into some sort of detector but again, I’m not that tech savvy. Hopefully, humans already have something I can repurpose. They’re not completely primitive, after all. In fact, out of all of the planets protected by the Non-Interference Directive, Earth is definitely the most advanced. In a few decades, the UGC will probably start considering Earth’s integration, but that’s still too far off in the future to solve my problem. My clusterfuck of problems.
It’s not just stopping Garresh from kidnapping humans that I have to worry about. It’s also getting off this damn planet without getting captured myself. Just my mere presence here is a serious crime, even if I ended up here by accident. Combined with the outstanding warrant from when my crew had a “dispute” with our UGC commanding officer that essentially rendered us fugitives from justice, my ass is going to jail for a very long time if I get caught. Not that I wouldn’t sacrifice myself in order to save dozens of people from slavery if it was necessary, but I’m still hoping to avoid that particular scenario.
The healing accelerant I took earlier courses through my veins, draining any reserve energy I might have otherwise had. Taking it was risky because without medical supervision, the energydrain might kill me, but it was the only part of my survival kit I hadn’t lost during the fall. Winds, I still can’t believe I actually survived that fall! That’s a tale worthy of telling around the hearth back home, if I was still welcome there. Oh well, my crew mates will enjoy the story too, if I ever get back to them.
Sudden silence has me jolting awake and cursing as the movement jostles my broken wing. The accelerant has begun mending the bone, but it will take days before it stops hurting and maybe even weeks before I can fly again. Also, I will need a lot of food to replenish my body’s reserves, which is unfortunate because I don’t possess local currency or anything valuable to barter with. Right now, I’m completely at Fin’s mercy, and that’s not a feeling I enjoy.
I should have probably been watching our route in case Fin changed her mind and decided to deliver me to the local authorities, but it’s too late for that now. I also trusted her not to betray me. It makes no sense, since I only just met her, but the trust is undeniably there.
The planet’s star is nearing the western horizon, painting the sky in reds and oranges, a sight that has my chest constricting with a surprising bout of homesickness. It’s odd. I haven’t thought about my home planet in years and never felt any desire to return there. Only now, when stranded on a primitive planet with a million other things to worry about, I’m suddenly turning sentimental for a home I’m no longer welcome in? Perhaps I hit my head harder than I thought.
“Omni?” Fin’s soft voice breaks the silence. “Are you awake?”
“Yes, awake,” I repeat, just to add another word to my pathetic vocabulary. At this rate, it’ll take weeks before I’ll be able to talk to someone.
“Alright. We’re here, so you’ll have to climb out of the car. It really would be easier if you’d take your wings off.”
Yeah, a lot of things would be easier if I could take my wings off but, aside from amputating them, it’s not an option. Groaning and cursing, I crawl out of Fin’s tiny vehicle, nearly passing out when my left wing gets stuck in a belt hanging from the inner side of the car. Clearly, these vehicles weren’t designed with winged people in mind. Given Earth’s status, it’s quite understandable, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be pissed about it. What’s worse, most of the other vehicles parked around Fin’s car are considerably larger than the one I was just subjected to. Then again, Fin is tiny, so she likely doesn’t need a massive vehicle to move around.
Looking around, I see several buildings, each one being three or four stories high. There are several windows spaced symmetrically along the vertical walls, some of which are lit from the inside. “So, this is my apartment building,” Fin says, sounding a little self-conscious, as if living in this place is something to be ashamed of. It is a little rundown, but I’ve stayed in worse. Nodding in understanding, I just hope she hasn’t changed her mind about inviting me to stay. I truly have no idea what I’d do if she ditched me now. With no clue where I am or where to go, no currency or even a way to communicate, I’d be picked up by the authorities in a heartbeat, and I’d rather not be experimented on.
Taking a deep breath, Fin nods. “Okay. I guess I’m doing this. Come on. I’m on the third floor and the elevator is busted. Not that you’d fit in it, anyway. It’s good cardio.”
I follow her inside the building, then up several flights of stairs. Normally, I wouldn’t even be winded but with the healing accelerant stealing all of my strength and the overwhelming just-fell-off-a-spaceship weariness, I’m beyond relieved when we finally stop in front of one of the doors lining the hallway. Fin unlocks it, cringing as she flicks on the light and looks inside. “It’s a bit of a mess. I wasn’t exactly expecting company.”
I wouldn’t call Fin’s place messy. It’s full of things, most of which I couldn’t even begin to identify, but they’re all neatly arranged on one of the numerous shelves lining every available section of wallspace. There’s some clothing scattered around what I assume is a living area which Fin quickly collects and tosses into a large basket just inside the door of another room. I glimpse a large bed inside the room as she swiftly shuts the door, so it must be her bedroom.
