Scarlett and I got off the monorail at the parking lot and made our way to where the spaceship was. By the time we reached Gruma, there was another spaceship parked in the spot that we parked in earlier. Gruma looked at us and said, “After getting some supplies for our journey, I returned to place them in the spaceship. It was then that I found out that our ship was gone along with a certain lizard.”

“I should’ve known better. He was a thief. I thought that he was only a thief because of circumstance, but it seems that he was a willing one,” I said before I heard alarms blaring.

“Attention vendors and customers! This Sorlok is responsible for the theft of several spaceship components!” a robotic voice shouted before screens popped up displaying pictures of Zalex. There was a message on the screen in multiple alien languages. “While he has escaped, be aware that he could be anywhere in space! If you find him, contact the nearest law enforcement office or bounty hunter!”

“There goes our mechanic,” I murmured as we now had no one to fix our ship. If we were to crash, we’d have to find someone to help us or haphazardly fix it with duct tape. And that’s if we could afford a new spaceship. “First order of business, get a new spaceship. How much do midrange spaceships go for?” I said as I started pacing. I scratched the stubble that was growing on my chin as I pondered how we could procure a good spaceship.

“Actually, I’m getting myself some new clothes. I feel too exposed,” Scarlett said as she pointed to her exposed stomach.

“I’ll transfer some credits over to you once you create your account. You can then buy something you like,” I said as I opened up my SAD and navigated to my Qasan Galactic Bank account. As soon as Scarlett created her account, I transferred two hundred credits over. She nodded before walking off, leaving me and Gruma alone.

“I’m going to look at some midrange spaceships. You can come along if you’ll like,” I said as I started walking towards the monorail.

“Maybe we should wait until your friend returns. Until then, I was thinking about the weapon market,” Gruma said with an innocent smile. I don’t know how anyone could have an innocent smile when talking about weapons, but she had it. She brought up a good point. All the fights I’ve been in required extreme luck to win. My luck will start to wear thin. When that time comes, it would be great to have a futuristic weapon to match our enemies, whoever they may be.

“I like the way you think. We’ll go there first,” I said as continued walking to the monorail station. I could hear Gruma running to catch up to me, or perhaps skipping was the correct term. It was cute yet terrifying how obsessed with weaponry this woman was. I just hope Scarlett isn’t the same way. I don’t want to be stuck on a ship with two ladies obsessed with violence.

We got off the monorail at the weapons market. When I saw all that was on display, I understood what Gruma felt. It was beautiful, in a dark way. As far as the eye could see, stalls and stores lined the streets. Vendors advertised their products with megaphones as holographic screens showcased theirs. I knew I could attempt to haggle with the vendors to get a better price, but I felt more confident with the fixed prices in a store. I didn’t want to waste more time today. It has been eight hours since I arrived, and I wanted to make sure I had a new spaceship and a bed to sleep in tonight. Tonight? There technically isn’t any night in space. Or day. Or years. I guess I needed to keep track of those myself. As I thought to myself, Gruma must’ve wandered off as she wasn’t in sight when I entered the gun store.

“Welcome, primitive. What brings you off that decrepit backwater?” a hairy, blue-skinned alien asked. The alien had four arms and three black eyes. He, I presumed the alien was male, looked at me with interest.

“The typical. Kidnapped against my will and placed in a gladiator fight,” I said with fake nonchalance as I looked at the different kinds of sci-fi guns. I knew that sci-fi was obsessed with laser blasters, but I also knew that the feasibility of such weapons has always been questioned. Of course, the feasibility of FTL travel has always been questioned, yet it’s not only possible, but can even transport someone fast enough that they’ll still be asleep when dropped off.

“I see that you’re interested in purchasing one of our laser rifles,” the alien said as he walked up to me. He picked one of them up and showed it to me. The laser rifle was black with white details. “This one is designed for mammalian bipeds such as us. You hold it against your shoulder and—”

“I know how a rifle works,” I interrupted as I rolled my eyes and inspected the rifle. One difference between laser rifles and Earth ones was the lack of any reload mechanism. The reason was obvious. But it did beg a question. “How do I charge up the rifle to ‘reload’ it?” I asked.

“The rifle has an internal battery. By placing it on a charger, you can recharge the rifle. Granted, you have to purchase the charger separately. But if you purchase another gun from the same company, you can use the same charger on multiple guns simultaneously,” the alien said as he pointed to a rack behind us that contained several laser pistols.

“Thank you. I’ll consider that,” I said before grabbing the laser rifle that he held. I checked the labelling and memorized the logo. It consisted of two crossed swords impaling an alien skull. I grabbed the matching charger and three laser pistols from the same company. I got the sling for the rifle and holsters for the pistols before placing them on the counter. The items rung up as five hundred credits, which I gladly paid.

I exited the store to find Gruma walking up to me. When she got close, I noticed that she had a giant pole attached to her back. “What did you get?” I asked as she stopped in front of me.

“I got a vicious looking magical axe,” she said as she pulled the pole out from its strap and held it in front of us. She pressed a button on it, causing an axe-head to appear. Unlike any axe-head I’ve ever seen, this one was a laser projection that presumably cut better than steel. She pressed the button again, causing the axe-head to disappear. “How is it?”

“It’s great,” I replied. I pulled a pistol out of my bag and showed it to her. “I bought you a pistol so you can fight your enemies from a range.” Gruma held her palm vertically and shook her head.

“I can’t accept. Ranged weapons are a coward’s tool! Weakling species like Humans can use them, but it is unthinkable for a Taraxian to use one!” she shouted back as she put up her poleaxe.

“Suit yourself,” I said as I turned to walk towards the monorail. As we walked, I noticed that several different groups walked by with their own matching outfits. Several had guns brandished yet went unremarked. I supposed no one mentioned anything since shooting guns in a gun store was practically suicide.

When the monorail arrived, we boarded it and sat down. As the doors closed, I heard footsteps approaching us. I looked around until I saw Scarlett. She sat down on our row and looked at me. “How do you like my new outfit?” she asked. I looked at the outfit and had to suppress a laugh. It wasn’t that it was bad, but rather that she looked like a cowgirl. She wore dark blue jeans, a dark green shirt, and white tennis shoes. That’s where the normal clothes ended. She wore a tan duster that was unbuttoned and a brown cowboy hat. She also had some modifications to her clothes to allow her ears to poke out from the hat and her tail to poke free of her pants without exposing anything else.

“It looks nice, but a little over the top,” I said, earning a smile from the strange woman.

“I know, but it reminds me of home. By the way, did you get me a weapon?” Scarlett asked as she straightened her hat.

“How did you know we were weapon shopping?”

“A friend told me,” she replied as she glanced at Gruma. I shook my head. I shouldn’t be upset.

“I got you a pistol. Or perhaps two. Since Gruma doesn’t want a pistol, that frees one up for you to dual wield,” I said as I pulled out two pistols in their holsters. Almost immediately, Scarlett snatched them and attached them to her belt.

“Thank you. Back when I was nine, my father told me I was a natural with guns,” she said as she moved her coat over the guns to conceal them.

After a short ride, we got off on what was hopefully the last stop of our journey. As we exited the station, I was blown away by what I saw. Did I die and go to heaven? After what could be perceived as purgatory, it was a distinct possibility. In front of us was rows of spaceships in their own hangers. The section we saw was filled with small spaceships. These spaceships could comfortably contain two people. The ship would only have a bunkbed, a cockpit, and a kitchen. It was satisfactory for a short journey, but its lack of amenities meant it wouldn’t be an enjoyable one. I walked past the small spaceships, watching how the deals went down. By eavesdropping, I could deduce that you had to haggle the price of the ship. These smaller ships went for five thousand credits, though it was hard to tell if the prices were honest or a rip-off.

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As we walked forward, I asked, “What should we do if we can’t afford a decent spaceship? I have one more gem to haggle with, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough.” Scarlett walked up and looked at the gem with a mischievous face.

“I got this,” she said before walking in front of me. She looked back and said, “Sit back and let me do the talking.”

After a good ten minutes, we arrived at a new section. The ships here were much bigger and it was clear that it was classier. Where the last section was mostly filled with hobbyist explorers and poor travelers, this section had wealthier clientele. Not that it was easy to tell since half of them were from a species that didn’t need clothes. The spaceships here were often large enough to comfortably hold fifty humans. I assumed things like battleships were either in the last section or illegal to sell, my money on the latter. I decided to do a quick run to find a spaceship that interested me.

After two minutes of running, I stopped in front of a large ship that was longer than it was wide. There was a long hallway between what looked like the main center and the cockpit. Two large, folded wings flanked the sides of the spaceship with rocket engines on each. There were also two jet engines on the underside of the ship. From what I saw, I could see that it was two stories tall in the back but only one story by the point it reached the long hallway. It looked amazing. However, the price would be a challenge. My ponderings were interrupted by a squawk. I turned around to find a small parrot-like creature flying towards me.

“Squawk! Interested in that ship, sir?” the green one-eyed parrot alien asked. I turned to face the strange creature and frowned.

“I don’t know what it’s like. Can I have a preview?” I asked as I pointed to the spaceship. The parrot alien squawked in response before pressing on a remote with their beak. The hatch opened and the ramp rolled out. I walked in, followed by the parrot and my two acquaintances. Once inside, I could see how much better it was than the first spaceship I rode in. In just the entrance airlock, the room was spacious, filled with clean tiles and walls. There were windows on the walls that showed the outside and main hallway.

“As you can see, this is a sterile airlock. Unlike the low-end rubbish, this makes sure that no idiot will accidentally suffocate everyone. Now let’s go into the ship proper,” the parrot-like alien said as they pressed a button against the opposite wall of the hatch. The hatch slowly closed. Once closed, oxygen filled the room, mixed with enough nitrogen to prevent oxygen poisoning. Once it finished its currently pointless task, the door to the main hallway opened to reveal a living room that wouldn’t look out of place in an affluent household.

The living room had several couches, each made of different materials. In front of each couch was a television screen against a wall. The parrot-like alien flew over to one of the couches and said, “As you can see, this is the living room. See each couch and its corresponding television? Notice that there are four such groupings along with a central cluster of couches surrounding a television suspended from the ceiling? Each grouping is installed with retractable walls. Why? What if you like soap operas but everyone else hates them? We installed each instance of retractable walls to make sure you can watch your show without driving everyone else insane. The central cluster of couches is for crew movie nights and other such occurrences.”

“Do you have any videogames?” I asked as I looked at the central television. “And what channels do you have?”

“I’ll answer your second question first. Our televisions can receive radio waves and subatomic transmission waves. Using miniscule spatial distortion, we can receive signals even from your backwater Earth. But do you really want to watch garbage like that when you can view superior Sorlok soaps?” the parrot-like alien squawked. I had to suppress a chuckle. I heard suppressed snickers from Scarlett and wanted to join her but knew better. The parrot-alien made an angry squawk before continuing, “You uncultured barbarians would be happy to know that we installed all your videogame consoles along with better ones into each television. All you must do is ask for the console you want to use, and you’ll be able to play it. Enough with this. Let’s go to the kitchen.”

We walked straight to the other side of the living room and opened the door to enter a large kitchen and dining room. The dining room table had enough seats for twenty people of human size. Counters lined the back wall. In between the counters was a stove, refrigerator, and freezer. A microwave and blender sat on the counters. There were two dishwashers and sinks to wash dishes. The parrot-like alien explained, “Here’s the kitchen. We have millions of pre-installed recipes for all species, including Humans and Taraxians.” They looked at Scarlett and said, “Maybe not you. But you look like an Earthling, so I suspect his diet will match yours.” The parrot pointed at me before flying back into the living room.

We followed the parrot as they a right turn and entered a massive hall with six doors on each opposing side along with a double door straight across. The parrot alien explained, “Each of these twelve opposing doors contains a bedroom. Each is outfitted with a,” the parrot alien’s speech paused for a bit. After a few seconds, the alien quickly said, “A king-sized bed, a dresser, a computer, a charging station, a mirror, and a bathroom in each one.” I guess the translators had issues translating culturally specific measurements such as terms for bed sizes. “The cockpit is straight ahead. You can view that yourself,” the parrot alien said before flying back into the living room.

We walked back into the living room before walking into the room directly across from us. Once inside, we noticed an elevator to the left and a spiral staircase to the right. The alien parrot explained, “Those take you down to recreation room. There are three sections to the recreation room. The aquatic section contains a large pool, a hot tub, and a sauna, especially for you furless monkeys.” Gruma and I scowled at the comment. Scarlett just sighed and looked down. The parrot alien continued, “The lounge section has a pool table, an air hockey table, several arcade games, a bar, a karaoke machine, and several popular board games. The training section has sparring rooms where you can safely spar with any weapons. There is also a simulation room where you can simulate several combat scenarios.”

“Straight ahead is the medical bay. It’s staffed with several RNUs and an automated surgical machine. It should be able to treat any injury or illness other than terminal ones,” the parrot alien said before leading us back outside of the ship.

Once we were all outside, the parrot alien announced, “This ship could be yours for the low price of fifty thousand credits! Squawk!” I flinched at that price and immediately checked my balance. I had about ten thousand credits, which was only a fifth of the price. I was about to ask something, but Scarlet walked in front of me.

“I must object. Frankly, I’m quite disappointed in this ship. Firstly, there are numerous safety violations on this ship,” Scarlet said as she crossed her arms and scowled at him. “The items in this ship only have an average durability of two years instead of the standard twenty. The doors are not well secured. Sure, they are vacuum-sealed, but they won’t stand bombardment typical of pirates. And I sniffed out the ship. The pool water lacks chloring, meaning several species of dangerous and alien algae can grow. Your recklessness makes this a twenty thousand credit purchase.”

“But I—” the parrot alien tried to deflect before they were interrupted.

“Excuses! It’s highway robbery to expect fifty thousand credits on this ship when it’s also obviously used! Sell it to us for twenty thousand!” she interrupted as she held out her palm vertically.

“Fine! But I know you can’t afford it! How can three primitives expect to purchase a spaceship worthy of better beings?” the parrot alien arrogantly mocked.

“I have ten thousand credits,” I said as I showed the alien merchant my bank account balance. The merchant opened a communicator of their own and had the credits transferred onto his mobile register app.

“So that’s ten thousand credits accounted for, but where’s the rest?”

“You want this Bassun gem that we risked life and limb to get?” Scarlett offered as she held out the gem. I knew she was lying about being there, but she knew the story. Perhaps lying was better since it left out Gruma and I being in the same ship as a wanted fugitive.

“I guess it’s valid to pay for the remainder,” the parrot alien said as they added it to the payment, completing the transactions. They tossed the remote to Scarlet and said, “The three of you now have joint ownership of this ship. Just register yourselves into the ship’s database and get out of my face.” The parrot alien angrily flew out before closing the hanger, leaving us in darkness.

“Let’s go. We’re going to Daraxes,” I said as I took the remote from Scarlett and opened the hatch. As we walked in the ship, I appreciated the smell of it. It had a smell comparable to new car, which I liked for some reason I couldn’t explain. But perhaps it was because it signaled the start of something new.

As we entered the living room, I saw Gruma walk over to a couch and crash out on it. Scarlett walked into the kitchen while yawning. For my part, I had a mission to do. I walked to the cockpit of the ship and my mind was blown away. The galactic map was on full display, this time with Earth on it, or at least the sector containing Earth. Unfortunately, we were on the opposite end of the galaxy. There were four seats in the room: one for the pilot, one for the copilot, and two in the back. The interior was pristine and professional.

As I sat down in the pilot’s seat, I heard a feminine robotic voice ask, “Who are you and who’s with you?”

“I am Quentin Alexander Smith. My two crewmates are Gruma and Scarlett Rose Campbell,” I answered as I leaned back in the chair and rested my feet on the “dashboard.”

“Registering…” the ship stated before deploying a drone from the ceiling. The drone flew in front of my face and scanned me. Once the scan was done, it flew into the hallway. After a minute, the drone flew back into its spot. “Users registered. Where would you like to go?” the ship asked.

“Daraxes. I have some business to do,” I said as I glared into space. I had to settle something with a certain lizard. Sure, we got a better spaceship and could get where we wanted to go. On the other hand, he lied to us to steal our old ship. There was also the risk that my crew would now be wanted by the Bassun for selling stolen goods.

“Time to Daraxes: two weeks. Next stop: Daraxes. Strap in. Gravity change expected,” the ship said as it quickly charted the course. I strapped myself in. Before I could start worrying, I saw Gruma and Scarlett run into the cockpit and strap themselves in the back two seats. Right as Gruma finished, the ship shot off, flinging everyone against their chairs. After a few seconds, the ship became weightless, making Gruma confused. However, gravity showed its cruel power as it yanked us back onto our seats as it reactivated.

After that episode, the seats unbuckled, allowing us to walk around. As Gruma and Scarlet went back to what they were doing, I went to the first bedroom to the right of the cockpit and claimed it. I plopped on the bed and crashed. A long dreamless sleep greeted me.