Noah and I sat down on opposite ends of a table in the lounge. His legs hung off the chair, and his feet didn’t touch the tiled floor. The tablet was in between both of us, and Noah made careful eye contact.
“Hello?” I asked. “Can you understand me, Noah?”
The tablet played back my voice in whatever language Noah spoke. Artificial Intelligence translated my words live, and Noah could hear it as his own language. There was a bit of delay, but it’s a very effective translator.
“He.. hello?” Noah replied, tentatively. “Is this thing a translator?”
“Yeah, it is. Is it working properly?”
Noah stared quizzically at the tablet, like he was trying to decipher an ancient artifact. “I think so.” He looked up to face me. “Thank you for saving me. It all happened so fast. One minute I was doing my nighttime run, and the next minute I was surrounded by aliens!”
I couldn’t imagine what it was like to get ripped out of your home, and being forced into a cage by aliens you’ve never seen before. “No problem at all. It was a part of the job.” I silently wondered how long the Anri poachers had imprisoned Noah. It must’ve been a terrible experience.
Noah tilted his head slightly. “Oh, are you a police officer or something?”
“Nah, I’m a mercenary.” A shit-eating grin split my face in half.
“Oh.” Noah furrowed his eyebrows in worry. “What are you going to do with me?”
I tapped my chin with my knuckles, one of my old habits. “Well, I’m not going to sell you. That’s a lot of risk for me and you probably won’t enjoy it. Turning you over to the authorities will probably land you an execution. The Galactic Union doesn’t like to return uncontacted sapients to their home worlds. It’s much easier to dispose of them.”
Noah went pale as a sheet.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do that.” I reassured Noah. “You’re probably going to have to stay with me until I figure out a way to get you back home.” I can’t take Noah back to his planet until I learned the coordinates for it, and both the poachers and the government had it hidden away.
Confusion spread across Noah’s face. “You’re going to help me? Why? I’m just a random guy you saved! I can’t even speak your alien language!”
I shrugged. “I dunno, just a whim, I guess. You’re the first human I’ve met, and you were pretty good on that turret.”
Noah sighed, and cast his eyes downward. “I owe you a lot.” His head snapped back up. “Wait, did you say human? How do you know what I am?”
I guess I had to explain Noah’s shitty predicament to him. “Uhh, some poachers like to kidnap humans and traffick them. It happens quite often, so humans are well known across the galaxy. It’s illegal for a human to be out here, so usually they’re hidden away by wealthy people, collectors, or scientists.”
Noah’s eyes widened in surprise. “So the crazy people talking about aliens were right? Damn. But why do poachers traffick humans so much? Are we special or something?”
I averted my eyes from Noah’s curious gaze. “... It’s because most races find humans attractive.”
Silence hung in the air as the gears in Noah’s head turned.
“What? Why?” Noah asked. “... Even you?”
I nodded. I wasn’t going to hide it.
“Huh.” Noah crossed his arms. “I’m probably average back on Earth.”
I decided to take a little vacation on Earth after I dropped Noah off. “Anyways, I’m planning on hiring you as a partner for jobs. Is that alright with you? I’ll handle the expenses and you’ll have your own cut from jobs, too.”
“That’s very generous. Thank you, Saka.” Noah said. “I’ll be in your care.” He probably realized he didn’t have other options.
Noah raised his hand and held it vertically, with his opposable thumb up. I cocked my head in confusion until he spoke up.
“Oh, this is a handshake. Humans do it as a greeting, denoting respect, or closing a deal.”
I took my fingers and wrapped it around his, then he shook our hands up and down.
“You can let go now.” Noah said, smiling.
I must’ve been holding on for too long. I wish I could’ve held on longer, his hands were really warm and soft.
“Oh, I forgot to ask you, Noah, but are you male or female?”
Noah exhaled air from his nose, like a fast sigh. “I’m male. Can’t you tell?”
“I thought so, but I wasn’t sure. Humans are mammals, right? And you don’t have any breasts.”
“Humans are mammals, yeah. What about you?”
“Oh, I’m a Togumo, and we’re mammals, too.”
Noah’s eyes darted towards my chest and back to my eyes. “And you’re a woman, right?”
“Right.”
It was getting a little awkward, so I changed the subject. “Anyways, we’re going to find a way to hide your identity. There’s plenty of races that look similar to humans in terms of shape, so I was thinking of getting you a full-body suit.”
“You’re getting me a spacesuit?” Noah asked.
“Yeah, one that’s similar to the one I’m wearing here.” I tapped my breastplate. “It’s good for protection and keeping your face covered. In the meantime, you’re going to have to learn Standard. We can’t have you carrying that tablet around everywhere, and getting a translator implant would be risky. It would be better for you to just learn it.”
Noah groaned. “Great, I learned two different languages in college for fun, and now both of them are useless.”
How many languages did humans have? That was going to be a question for another time. I stood up, placing a hand on Noah’s shoulder.
“Follow me. I want to show you around my ship before we reach the space station. And don’t forget to bring the tablet with you.”
Noah’s eyes lit up, and he hastily grabbed the tablet off the table and brought himself onto his feet.
I spread all four of my arms, palms out. “As you can see, this is the lounge. I don’t really use it because I’m always by myself, but we’re probably going to use it a lot.”
The lounge had a couch that could fit three or four people, facing a large screen built into the wall. Behind the couch was a small kitchen counter next to a tiny stove. There was no preservation unit in the kitchen, but there was a walk-in preservation room next to the lounge instead. I called it the stasie room. It was currently stocked with emergency rations. In the corner of the lounge room was the high table with two tall chairs, where Noah and I were currently next to. The lounge room was also scattered with decorations like rugs, lamps, and fake plants, giving off a cozy vibe. I should use this room more often.
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Noah walked across the lounge, patted the couch, inspected the screen on the wall, and ran his fingers over the kitchen counter. Then, Noah looked up at me sheepishly. “Uhh, Saka. Do you have anything to eat? I’m pretty hungry.”
I slapped my forehead mentally. I should’ve offered him some food earlier. “Yeah, of course, sorry about that!” I walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a few protein bars, and grabbed a small plastic cup and filled it with water.
“Here you go. This is the only food I’ve got for now, if that’s okay.”
“Thank you.” Noah took from protein bars and the cup from my hands, and started digging into them, ravenously. Humans are omnivores, right? He should be able to eat that protein bar just fine. I grabbed another protein bar for myself, and ate it alongside Noah as I watched him chew. Once we were done, I led Noah back into the hallway and into the next room.
“This is the cargo room. It’s not very big, but I use it often for courier jobs or seizing contraband from pirates. It’s also one of the ways on and off the ship.”
The cargo room was currently empty, other than weapons I had stashed in a locker in the corner of the room. Everything else I had sold after my last job.
“Back there is the weapons locker.” I pointed. “I’ll show you how to use them later, Noah, you’re gonna need something to protect yourself with. Humans are pretty weak, after all.”
“Hey! Humans aren’t weak!” Noah protested, crossing his arms. “I may be a little skinny, but that doesn’t go for all humans!.”
“Sure, Noah. But you still need a weapon.” I patted his shoulder. He swatted my hand away playfully.
I retraced my steps back to the hallway connecting all of the rooms together. Next up was my personal room.
“This is my room. I don’t really have anything else to say. Don’t touch anything.”
My room was pretty simple. I had a bed that could fit two people, a simple metal nightstand with a little lamp on it, a large closet in the corner, and a digital screen positioned so I could see it from my bed. I also had an orange aero chair that I liked to lounge on. I was planning to decorate my room a little bit more but I didn’t get around to it. Oh well.
Noah swept the room with his eyes. “Nice room. Woah! What’s that?” He pointed at the aerochair.
“That’s an aerochair. It’s a soft chair that’s like sitting on air. It’s probably the best thing that I own.” I took a look at Noah. He was brimming with curiosity.
“Noah, if you’d like, you can try sitting on it.”
“Thanks!”
Noah beelined for the aerochair and plopped down on it, bouncing a few times. “It’s like I’m melting.” Once he had his fill, he rose from the chair (with great effort) and stood in front of me.
“What’s next?”
“Next up is the bathroom.” I stepped outside my room, into the hallway, and pointed at the bathroom door. “If you can’t figure out how to use it, just ask. It’s also the only bathroom on this ship, so don’t hog it.”
Noah nodded.
I pointed down the narrow hall, which led to the cockpit.
“And that’s the cockpit, obviously. I’m going to teach you how everything works, so don’t touch anything until I teach you. Even though you saved our asses earlier.”
“You’re going to teach me?” Noah asked, eyes wide. He leaned past me and peered towards the cockpit.
“Yeah, I can’t have a crew member who doesn’t know how to manage the ship.”
“Makes sense.”
Finally, I pointed to the door across the hallway from my room.
“Noah, that’s your room.” I opened the door and let Noah inside. “As you can see, it’s empty for now other than that bed and a nightstand. I never had a use for this room ever since I got this ship, so you’re going to be the first to live in it.”
“You’re even giving me my own room?” Noah looked up to me, gratefully. “You’re doing so much for me. Thank you.”
“Think of it as an investment, Noah. I really needed a partner and you were skilled on that turret. I should be thanking you for taking out those poacher ships.”
Noah shook his head. “I owe you a lot. I’ll do anything I can to pay you back.”
“Alright, I’m sure you will. You must be tired though, go ahead and enjoy your new room. I’m going to check how long we have left until we arrive at the space station.”
I waved to Noah and left him to explore his room. I checked the ETA reading in my cockpit, leaning over my seat. We still had an hour left until we arrived, so I retired to my room and changed out of my armor, making sure to properly store my armor this time.
Maybe harboring an illegal sapient was going to be more work than I thought. But I was willing to take care of Noah, and even get him back to his home planet. He doesn’t deserve to be someone’s pet, or killed because someone forcibly took him from his home. Anyways, the highest priority things on my to-do list are getting Noah a suit, teaching him how to speak Standard, and teaching him how to fight. The first two would allow Noah to blend into society, and the last one would protect him from it. Not to mention I was going to bring him along for mercenary jobs. His accuracy was going to be useful.
Getting Noah a suit would be simple enough. I should contact my trusted armorsmith friend, and ask them to help me. They were trustworthy enough to keep Noah a secret, too. The only difficult part was getting Noah to their shop, at the Maralu Space Station, the one we were currently heading to.
Teaching Noah how to speak Standard might take a while. I had no idea how fast he’ll learn, but the translation software should help immensely. I’ll also help him practice, so hopefully he’ll be able to have a conversation in Standard sometime soon. It’ll take time but it's doable, Noah is pretty smart.
The last priority was going to be a challenge. From the looks of it, humans aren’t a particularly aggressive species, and they had no natural defenses of their own. How the hell did humans even evolve this way? Even sapient herbivore species have natural defenses! Humans are squishy and soft! I wondered if they were even at the top of the food chain for their own planet. I was definitely going to teach Noah how to use long range weapons. It’s generally safer, and I doubted he had the strength or speed to even engage in close quarters combat.
I sent my armorsmith friend a quick message with my work tablet, letting them know I was going to be visiting them soon. The earlier the armor was made, the less risk Noah had of being discovered. I put the tablet down on my bed and gathered some fresh clothes, and left my room to take a shower. I walked into the pristine white bathroom, locked the door, turned on the shower, and stripped down while I waited for the water to heat. Once the water was emitting piping hot steam, I stepped into the shower and scrubbed myself down.
Once I was finished, I waited for the shower to dry me thoroughly before slipping into my underwear, gray baggy cargo pants and a white tank top. I threw my black jacket over my shoulders, and opened the bathroom door. I stepped out of the bathroom and strolled towards Noah’s room, tail swaying. I knocked on the door. I heard some scrambling, Noah whispering something, and a few moments passed.
“Come in!” Noah said, in heavily accented Standard.
“Alright, I’m coming in!” I replied, making sure to enunciate my words properly.
I was glad he was making an active effort to learn. I opened the door, and walked towards Noah, who was sitting up on his bed. I got closer to make sure the tablet he was holding would pick up my voice.
“If you want, you can use the shower. You were probably in that Anri cage for a while, and I doubt they let you wash off.”
“Thank you, Saka.” Noah used the translator this time. “I haven’t been able to shower for a few days.”
Noah rushed past me and into the bathroom, eager to get himself clean. I heard the door shut, and his fingers scramble against the door. After a little bit, I heard the lock mechanism click into place. He’d figured out how the lock worked. I started walking back to my room when I heard the pitter patter of the shower water hitting the floor, and Noah yelping loudly.
I knocked on the bathroom door. “Are you alright in there?”
Noah probably couldn’t understand me, since my voice didn’t reach the tablet. But after a few moments, I got a reply. “I’m okay. Water hot!”
His accent was back, and his sentence was choppy, but he was learning Standard quite quickly. He was probably just finding the words on the tablet, but it was still impressive.
“Okay, come ask me if you need any help!”
“Okay!” Noah shouted back.
I walked back into my cozy room once more. I had forgotten to report the poacher job as complete, so I strolled over to my tablet. I sent my client a report detailing the location of the disabled poacher ship, and the status of the other poacher ships. I left out any information having to do with Noah. It would be a disaster if the animal conservation group found out about his existence. Anyways, once they received my report, I’d get a nice paycheck that I’ll put towards Noah’s gear. I slapped my tablet back on the grav-net on the wall, laid down on my bed, and slapped my head on a pillow to take a quick nap. I quickly dozed off.
I was soon woken up by the sounds of Noah leaving the bathroom. I wasn’t yet used to having someone else on my ship, and I was a light sleeper. I opened my eyes groggily and checked my tablet. It had been about 30 minutes since I started my nap. I groggily rubbed my eyes, swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. I left my room and walked over to the cockpit and sat down in my seat. We were fast approaching the space station, so I got ready to take over from the autopilot once we were out of the tunnel.
I heard a door slide open, and the sound of quiet footsteps bounced towards me. I turned to face Noah as he took a seat next to me. Noah pointed at the nothingness that painted our window.
“Saka, why can’t we see any stars?”
“That’s because we’re in a tunnel. Tunnels are a nickname for wormholes, and we used them to get around faster. They’re pretty much holes in space, and they let us travel from point A to point B much much faster than just flying through space. That’s why we can’t see any stars.”
Noah’s eyes filled with wonder. “Wow, wormholes? How are they made?”
“I’m not an expert, but wormholes are made by tunneling ships. They use a space bore to rip a hole in space, pass through it, and tear open another hole on the other side. You can imagine it as a hollow needle threading through the folded fabric of space. It’s a pretty dangerous job, and tunnels are four dimensional, so there’s strict qualifications and regulations on it.”
“Why use wormholes instead of light speed or warping or something?”
“Oh, we use FTL. Usually when we enter a new system, we use FTL to get closer to our destinations. It’d suck to have to fly for weeks or months just to visit a neighboring station or planet. It’s only good for intrasystem travel though, it takes years to fly from star to star. Warping is a thing we do, but it’s pretty expensive so I don’t have a warp drive on this ship. Yet.”
How did Noah know all of these terms? Humans must be more advanced than I thought. I was about to turn to ask Noah, but my ship's console beeped, letting me know that the ship was about to leave the tunnel. The Leviathan emerged from the wormhole, shimmering stars reappearing in the endless void. In the distance was the gyroscopic space station, the Maralu. It was a beautiful sight. An artificial behemoth surrounded and filled with bustling activity. Even farther was the massive gas giant that the Maralu orbited. It was a dark green with a tiny ring of icy asteroids encircling it. The Maralu Station was originally made to utilize resources from a once-rich icy ring. Noah’s jaw hung open.
“Beautiful, isn’t it.” I told him. “Looks incredible every time.”
“I think my brain finally caught up to what’s happening. It just doesn’t feel real.” Noah’s eyes were plastered to the window.
I let Noah enjoy the view, and coaxed the Leviathan towards the Maralu Space Station.
“Control, this is the AS-Leviathan, requesting a docking station.”
“Leviathan, we hear you. Proceed to Docking Station 11.”
“Affirmative.”
I guided my ship through the mailbox slit entrance, passing the semi-permeable force field, and hovered above the docking pad. I lowered my landing gear, and carefully set the Leviathan on the ground. Once the landing was confirmed, my landing gear was secured to the pad. A textbook landing. I requested a refuel and got up from my seat.
“Noah, we’re going to get off the ship and meet my friend. They’re gonna hook you up with some armor, and we’ve got other errands to do, too.”
“We’re getting off the ship? Wouldn’t it be dangerous? Aren’t there going to be other people around?”
“Don’t worry.” I reassured Noah. “I have a cloak you can use to hide your identity, and I need you to come with me so my friend can take your measurements. Once we get the armor, there’s no risk of your identity getting revealed.”
“Alright, if you say so.”
I went back to my room, dug into my closet, and pulled out an old black cloak that I used to use for planets with harsh weather conditions. It was pretty much a big raincoat with no sleeves. I found Noah waiting in the hallway, and tossed it to him.
Noah caught the cloak with both hands and fiddled around with it for a bit, and put it over his head.
“Here, let me help.” I straightened the folded parts of the cloak, and secured the clasps in front. Noah looked like a folded umbrella. The cloak was too big for him, so the bottom of it ended up nearly touching the floor, but that was perfect. You couldn’t see any part of his body from any angle, and it was difficult to see his face if he put the hood up. It should work, for now.
Noah and I made our way to the cargo hold, and I slammed a fist on a big red button. A small ramp appeared, and created a way down to the docking bay below. It was time for us to explore a space station.