Chapter 24: Confectionaries and Conspiracies

Paulie exited the bathroom and turned to see Jakiikii standing in the kitchen doorway. He waved his wrist at her and asked, “If it wasn’t tuned or whatever you called it, how come it worked with Mack the night before? I couldn't see him or hear him but I still understood his speech.”

Jakiikii shrugged once more. “I don’t know the specifics of how the translator symbiotes function..”

“Parasites.” Paulie muttered, cutting her off and causing her to stutter slightly before continuing.

“..the, er.. they seem to operate on some manner of sub-conscious psychic plane that I have heard referred to as a psi-field. Or sometimes psi-waves.” She pointed to his communicator. “Your commie has a psi-field emitter built into it for that express reason.”

He nodded, beginning to understand. “That pink crystal?”

“Yes. So Mack was still close enough for your symbiotes to communicate with each other still.” She responded flatly, her eyes shifting about slightly.

Paulie moved to the table and sat on the stool next to it. “Alright, well, now that I know a little better what I am dealing with here. Do you want to show me what you brought?”

She seemed to hop from hooved foot to foot again as she shook her head. “Oh my, I really do keep getting sidetracked. I apologise, I am not usually this scatterbrained.” She rushed to the closet and he watched as she deftly located another stool and then carried it over to sit next to him.

She reached out and started with a few of the cartons that he recognised. “Now, first things first. You gotta have some frubble juice.” She handed him one of the cartons while sparing a glance at his simulated ocean view with three of her other eyes. He looked at the carton, it was indeed the same box art as the one in his fridge right now.

He hefted it, “Yeah, there was some of this in the fridge already. I thought it was quite good, if a little sweet.”

The termaxxi paused. “Oh, I might have left that in there on accident.”

He cocked his head as he glanced at her. Her normally brown and white mottled skin taking on a distinct pale hue. “What do you mean? You stayed here too?”

She nodded. “I don’t actually have a home. I.. I usually sleep at the complex. But Mack helps me from time to time. Sometimes I don't want to spend the night surrounded by armed Censec officers..” She turned her head away from him at the comment but at least one of her eyes rotated around entirely to keep him in sight.

He reached out a hand. “Oh, I am so sorry. I never meant to take your place..”

She shook her head. “No, it is fine. I wasn’t staying here at the moment anyways. Mack was completely in his right to put you here. He has an agreement with the owner of the building. He often uses this room to house people he is investigating. Think of it as his own personal safe room.” Her explanation didn't ease his discomfort at all, if anything he felt a little worse.

“Jakiikii. Hey, look at me.” He prompted as she continued to look away. “What are you, a prisoner or something? I haven’t seen you so much as let off the leash the entire time I have been here.” She seemed to look around frantically and then surprised him by leaping towards him and covering his mouth with a hand. She shook her head at him as she stared intently into his eyes.

Paulie went still, the initial shock wearing off fast as he saw the desperate plea in her eyes for him to remain silent. After another moment she hissed so quietly he could barely hear her, “This is neither the time nor the place for us to discuss my situation, Paulie. These walls have ears..” She seemed to look all around the room. All six of her eyes looked in a different direction all at once before they all flicked back to him simultaneously. The effect of it was quite startling actually.

Paulie nodded, his mouth still covered by one of her upper arm’s hands. She released him slowly and nodded towards the kitchen. “I brought you some other perishables. Perhaps we should put them away, I can always show you a few common recipes and the best ways to peel a moof.” She jerked her head towards the kitchen sharply and he nodded slowly as he got the message.

His mind was racing, what the hell was happening. One minute she seemed almost carefree, and the next she was acting as though she were the target of a conspiracy that only she could see. He decided to give the strange alien woman the benefit of the doubt, she had been nothing but trusting of him so far from all he could tell. He saw no reason why she would have started lying to him now out of the blue.

He followed her into the kitchen, the rest of the bag’s contents held in his other hand as she opened the fridge and began placing them inside. After another moment of silence he opened his mouth to speak and she shook her head. Grabbing the opened carton of frubble juice, the termaxxi opened the freezer and upper wall mounted cabinets simultaneously. In a dexterous whirlwind of arms, she deftly manipulated all six of them at once and he finally saw what must have been the reasoning for her people’s extremely odd eye placement.

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Each of her eyes seemed tied to the movements of its reciprocated arm, the eye-petals tracking their movements as she performed a variety of complex tasks. Setting up some glasses, opening and removing a series of small appliances from cabinets on the other side of the small kitchen and grabbing a tray of ice from the freezer.

She turned one eye his way and asked in what sounded like a neutral conversational tone, “I was thinking of making some slushice, would you like one?”

He didn’t know what slushice was, but he saw no reason to turn it down. “Uh, yeah. Sure, hit me with one.” he nodded, gesturing towards her moving arms.

She didn’t say another word, instead threw some of the ice into one of the appliances. She added a generous slice of one of the strange alien fruits she had brought and then filled the rest of the space with the frubble juice. Pressing a series of buttons on its face, the kitchen was subjected to a low hum and a second later the device seemed to shudder as the mixture inside first emulsified and then solidified into a homogeneous mixture that seemed to have the consistency of ice cream.

She practiced the same motion with the other cup and then poured a measure of the juice into another cup and added ice. With a nod at him she packed away the extras and left the kitchen. He followed to find her sitting at the table once again, he was still confused.

Before he asked her what she was doing he saw her open her mouth and that long bubblegum pink proboscis loll from her mouth and dip itself into her drink. He felt himself watching a little too curiously as it seemed to flex and pulse. The level of the juice decreased rapidly as she drank it all down in a single continuous slurp that only ended as the glass ran dry. The tapered tip of the organ poking around at the bottom of the glass as if in search of more sustenance.

He noticed her looking at him and he straightened. “So, uh. You made some, what was it you called it again?”

Once more she spoke while her mouth was occupied. The sound issuing from the gill-like slits under her lowest pair of arms. “Slushice. Here, this one is yours. I grabbed you a spoon as I figured your tongue was too small to be an effective utensil.” She seemed to smile as she said it, her own much longer and dexterous organ coiling out of the empty cup and dipping into her own slushice mixture for a delicate sip.

He nodded. But as he sat she stood and seemed to exclaim, “Wait a minute, what are we doing in here? We should go and eat it outside. That is always the best way to do it, come on.”

He grabbed his sweet confection from her outstretched hand and followed her to the doorway. She paused and then looked at him. “Where is your lasercard?”

He slapped his forehead. “Oh, I left it in the.. Uh. That thing there, one second.” He motioned towards the confusing device he had been wrestling with at the edge of the room. He handed her his slushice again and moved off in the direction he had indicated.

As he reached it and ejected the green crystal plaque he saw her once more giving him a strange look. It passed from her face as she noticed him observing her and she nodded to the card. “Okay, hold onto that. If you lose it then you will have to explain to the front desk what you did. And I don’t think you want to do that, trust me. Alger seems like a scared little oniuh on the surface, but he can be quite the fierce one when he wants to be.”

Paulie nodded, not fully paying attention as he opened the door and then stopped in the open doorway. He looked over his shoulder at Jakiikii and said slowly, “I don’t know. Mack said not to leave the room for any reason. Unless I was in danger.” He grunted in mild surprise as she prodded him in the lower back.

“And you are. In danger of your slushice melting before you get to try it. Move it, mammal-boy.” She poked him again and he stepped out into the drap carpeted hallway for the first time since he had first arrived into the building.

He took a breath and then started walking carefully down the hall, afraid that at any time he may be spotted by some random alien denizen. She seemed to notice his worry and chuckled. He gave the termaxxi a glance as she sidled up to walk beside him. Her graceful loping steps making little noise on the carpeted flooring despite her hooved feet. He noticed that each of her feet had two additional finger-like digits that protruded from behind the heel ending in dull dewclaws. They seemed to splay for added stability and he could well imagine them searching for additional purchase on steep or slippery surfaces.

If she noticed him looking she didn’t mention it. Instead she gestured to him and asked, “What are you so worried about, Paulie?”

He hunched a little more and asked, “What if somebody sees me? Won’t it cause trouble?”

She giggled, the husky sound coming from deep in her chest. “No, Mack has this entire level quarantined off. Spends a pretty penny on it too. There was a murder here a few years ago, brutal stuff. Anyways, he had the rooms set as off limits and pays the building owner a healthy sum to keep it that way.” She nodded to one of the nearby rooms and banged on the door.

He winced, half expecting some annoyed looking alien to barge out into the hall and demand what the meaning of the noise was. But even after another few moments nothing happened. He straightened and looked back at Jakiikii. “Wait, so what was with all the charade when he first brought me here? He was acting as if I was going to give some poor old lady a heart attack.”

He swore under his breath and the shorter female nodded again. “Well, he can’t have you running about thinking you own the place now can he? Now, come on, I want to go to the roof. She bounded off ahead of him, her powerful strides almost matching his own in their speed and agility. Once more he felt that tickle of suspicion in the back of his mind, but he didn’t have the time to fully dwell on it as he had to move to keep up with her.

She laughed as he bounded down the hall after her, his powerful strides pushing him all over the place as he veritably ping-ponged off the walls and ceiling. He grunted as he rebounded off a corner post and sprawled out onto the ground in a tangle, skidding to a halt on the carpet.

“Ow..” He grunted as he heard the sound of footsteps. A hand appeared in his vision, the skin of it mottled brown and white.

As he grasped it he heard her grunt slightly in effort before he was pulled to his feet with surprising strength. “Whew, you are much heavier than you look.” She seemed to tease.

He smirked and nodded to her. “Didn’t seem to bother you very much.”

She hopped from foot to foot as her skin flashed pale slightly again. “Yeah? I guess I am stronger than I look.” She flicked her eyes and let out a loud breath as he dusted himself off and turned to look closer at her.

She was indeed more heavily muscled than he had at first taken notice of. He could see the muscles of her thighs flexing slightly as she shifted and the bunches of more wiry muscle that corded her arms. Where they connected to her torso he could see the obvious bulges of her powerful pectoral muscles. She didn’t seem to have breasts, and he shrugged mentally at that. Her kind must not nurse their young, seeing as how she drank sugary liquids there must be no real need for it. He found himself wondering if her species laid eggs or something.

She seemed to chuckle. “Getting an eyeful?” She asked him and he found himself blushing in mild embarrassment as he realised he had been staring.

“I.. er.. uh..” He stuttered dumbly. She threw a friendly punch at his shoulder with one of her upper arms and smiled again.

“I’m messing with you, dummy. Come on, I wanted to drink these before they melted completely. I must insist.” And with that she brushed past him, her shoulder just barely making contact with his own as she went past. He whirled and just caught three of her eyes peeking at him before they flicked back forwards.

Paulie smiled and muttered. “Yea. I’m on my way.” Before he started off after her. It seemed that he had no other choice really, she had insisted after all.