“Xini,” Azxaron growled, “stop always wanting to be right... I'm here to help you... I...”

The Xerinean opened his eyes and looked around warily. He was no longer asleep... but had he said those words in his dream? He hoped.

He was sitting on a rather uncomfortable chair because it was devoid of gel. He felt that his waist, ankles and wrists were tied to the furniture. Rather annoying: depending on the material, he would not have the strength necessary to free himself.

If touch was his first sense to regain its rights, his sight quickly recovered.

His heart leapt, when the first image he saw clearly was Xini's smiling head. Recognizing from his shudder that he had just seen her, his friend's smile widened even more and she gave him a little wave, while her ears were pounding wildly again.

He only managed to block out the unrest of his own ears by taking in the scene around him. Xini was free to move, but the Hom stood nearby with his massive pistol and a jammer that apparently covered the entire room…

While technically threatening, this also meant that Xini could easily neutralize the jailer: their people’s reflexes and analytical abilities were infinitely superior to a weapon manually manipulated by a Hom… Well, provided Xini would be able to use her head normally… The goofy look on her face indicated that she was completely lost in her own thoughts, directed at him.

He turned his head to try to free himself from the newfound fascination that Xini’s eyes were exerting on his.

The Ham was there. She was armed too, but seemed less threatening than her male counterpart… to him anyway.

“You’re awake,” the Hom announced.

His people were very fond of stating the obvious.

“Are you okay, Azx?” Xini asked.

Azx? She sometimes used that abbreviation of his name when she was in a good mood. Originally, she did it to annoy him when they were kids, but that had changed over time.

“More or less... I think I'm bound.”

“Ah... yes...”

Usually, this would be the moment when she justifies herself, or else elaborates a plan that she thinks is infallible. However, she remained there, waving her ears, especially their tips... Of course, he too was doing exactly the same thing instead of finding a way out of it. It was extremely frustrating, but at the same time he felt strangely good.

The diagnosis of the illness that affected them was obviously love. If most creatures of all species behaved stupidly when they were in love, or convinced themselves that they were, the phenomenon was much more violent in their species.

Their natural ability to control their emotions and thoughts allowed them to repress their feelings until they decided to accept them. These, suddenly released, then swept away the great intellectual capacities of which their species was so proud. This state could last several months, even a year. Of course, they were still extremely intelligent, but their attention span was completely wiped out…

In the present case, he was making a big effort on himself to maintain some lucidity. He couldn’t let himself go like that in an enemy zone! Xini, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be making any effort and was in heaven, which didn’t make his own concentration any easier.

If she hadn’t reacted so strongly to the word “marry”, revealing her feelings that she probably didn’t know about before, he would have already imprisoned the terrorists and would have… well, he would have probably imprisoned Xini as well and sent her back to their capital… But, the abrupt revelation of their mutual feelings had slightly upset his attention… This Xini, even for that, she always ended up causing problems! She was so… she was so…

She was beautiful… of course, he had always thought so… well, for a few years now… but, he had hidden it from himself then… But, now, she sparkled… No: he had to resist, find a way to free himself, eliminate the terrorists and take Xini, maybe fake her death to free her from prosecution, then marry her… uh… that wasn’t… at the same time, the plan suited him.

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Libre Lhom noticed that the prisoner had not listened to his question. He sighed as he turned to Sava.

“I have the impression that our Xerineans are completely out of order.”

She gave him a dark look, undeserved, then answered curtly:

“Maybe they react badly to the drugs you injected them with?”

“Hey! I didn't inject them with anything at all! I have no information on their anatomy: injecting anything would be extremely dangerous...”

“Yes, while it is very amusing and normal to drug a woman of your own species: at least you have data on the doses necessary to make her obedient.”

Le Hom looked away and drummed furiously on the barrel of his weapon. He needed to destroy something.

Sava saw, with a dark and hidden joy, that Lhom had not found a reply to her barb. Serves him right!

If there was someone she wanted to throw out the airlock, it was that bastard. In fact, even Xini no longer annoyed her as much.

Indeed, she had made them lose a century of existence. She would not forgive her. But, at least, she honestly had no bad intentions… she was just perfectly selfish. He, he had deliberately manipulated her to force her to serve him…

It is true that someone with a more twisted mind would have… Okay, he was not as rotten as that kind of guy, but what he had done was still inexcusable!

She tried to distract herself from her thoughts by observing the two Xerineans who were stupidly beating the air with their ears while looking at each other languidly. They were so embarrassed and, at the same time, happy, that it was amusing.

Lhom decided to cut the show short by abruptly turning the prisoner's chair in the other direction, starting to question him.

Xini raised her ears, surprised by the visual loss of her source of ecstasy. She seemed to regain some semblance of lucidity, but her face remained excessively expressive, far from her usual attitude. She tried to get up, but seemed to immediately decide to stay seated, while she... she seemed really confused, totally undecided about what to do. Sava could almost pity her... or envy her for her happiness...

“Okay,” Libre growled, glaring at the prisoner, “enough of these games. As you’ve seen, you’re a prisoner. If you act smart, I’ll throw your girlfriend out the airlock, is that clear?”

A flash of anger crossed Azxaron’s face, chasing away his confusion… or apparently chasing it away: he didn’t seem to have fully regained his self-control.

As a test, the Hom turned the chair the other way. Immediately, the ears started to beat again. The chair was turned again, towards the less pleasant sight of a Hom in a bad mood nervously fiddling with his weapon. The prisoner’s face darkened but remained confused. Perfect.

“I’ve disabled and removed all the advanced systems from your suit,” the Hom continued, “so don’t bother looking for a solution.”

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know… maybe be exonerated, win a medal, and a promotion too… but, for now, I ask for your cooperation.”

“My cooperation? For what exactly?”

“I want you to serve as my hostage to Xini, just as she serves as my hostage to you. No dirty tricks, or I kill the other. Is that clear?”

“If you kill one of us, there will be no point in the universe that will be safe for you…”

“Are you really planning to threaten me?”

He raised his weapon towards Xini. She barely reacted, unable to guess what he intended to do. Perhaps she suspected that he wouldn’t shoot. But Azxaron paled, his skin turning gray.

“Wait…”

You could hear his heart beating wildly, without needing ears as big as theirs. The Hom obligingly lowered his weapon.

“You win,” Azxaron growled, “if you promise to let us go, without harming us, I will cooperate with you.”

“With what guarantees?”

The administrative inspector sighed; his ears lowered. He didn’t like what he was going to do. But now, preserving Xini’s safety came before orders. It was stupid, against his usual character, but still, the rest seemed unimportant to him now. All he wanted was for them to be able to leave safely… Afterwards, they would perhaps hide in extragalactic space, to stupidly rejoice in each other’s presence by looking at each other for hours, or slowly rubbing their foreheads against each other, or their ears too…

He didn’t really know what it felt like to be in love, this phenomenon rarely happening more than once in the lives of his people, sometimes less. However, from what he had observed in others, this was what was likely to happen…

“I swear to you,” he said, “that if you promise to let us go, without harming us, I will cooperate with you.”

The Hom must have had some knowledge of the rumors about his people, because he nodded his head with an air of knowledge.

“Ah yes,” he said, “I heard that your people kept their word. That they were only allowed to lie once in their lives… Who says that this is not your only lie, there?”

“It is not a prohibition: it is a code of honor. Unlike your kind of deceiver, we consider that we do not need to lie! I… if I had to use my only lie, it would be to protect Xini. Not to stop a nasty terrorist like you!”

The Hom smirked, then stood up theatrically, wrapping his cloak around himself.

“Good. I think we have an agreement then. I will now ask Xini if she is willing to swear the same oath and I can release you… Oh, one thing: although I am innocent, I would prefer you to call me a pirate rather than a terrorist.”

Azxaron grimaced; the Homs were truly insane. Every species outside his own were either profoundly stupid or completely irrational. Why didn’t their people just stay secluded and need to trade with the weirdos who populated the universe?

Then, as his bonds fell and Xini jumped happily around his neck, he forgot his thoughts.