Chapter 29: Distress Call

Alien cooking wasn’t exactly as hard as he might have first thought. Paulie rummaged around for the ingredients that he had available. Some various meats and alien vegetables from what he could tell, he had learned quickly that some of them didn’t exactly agree with his constitution and he had memorised their every detail and set them to the far corner of the refrigerator. That way he could ask their names and not buy them in the future.

He had always been a little hesitant to try new things, but being in a place like this under circumstances like he was. Well it was throwing his food caution into complete disarray.

He grumbled as he chopped a few vegetables with the knife he had pulled from one of the cabinets. It was nice to see that despite the advancements made in technology and society that things were still done the old fashioned way sometimes. He whistled as he worked, the simple task soothing his frayed nerves like a cooling balm. It had been an interesting day by all means, and he would be perfectly fine just taking some time to relax and watch some more of the alien opera he had discovered.

As he was thinking about it he popped the finely chopped vegetables into the stewpot he had set upon the stovetop and turned it up to a medium heat. The last few days had seen him experimenting with both his cookware and his cooking, stretching his skills to their limits. But he would not have had it any other way. The relative challenge of unknown food combinations and unfamiliar ingredients were testing him like his first year in culinary all over again. He had to admit it, he was enjoying himself.

The soup came up to a boil as he watched and he tended to it slowly. Throwing in a few of the spices and dashes he had decided he liked best. He tasted it a couple times and when he was satisfied with the result, he pulled it off the heat and poured himself a large helping and walked into the main room with the steaming bowl.

Paulie spoke up, “TV, resume program.”

With a slight fizzing sound the device warmed back up and he was once more immersed in the sounds of some beatific alien orchestra. Sounds from instruments he didn’t have names for pierced his heart and mind as the symphony rang out pure and true. He ate his soup slowly, immersed in the sound of the music until another sound broke him out of his blissful trance.

The door knocked.

“Program, stop. Standby mode.” The screen flickered as the sound died off abruptly. Mack had just been by and he had not been scheduled a meeting with Flurn. So it was either Jakiikii or an uninvited guest.

He crept towards the door, once more standing to the side. He had seen too many movies where people got shot through a door to fall for such a tragedy.

As he took up a safe position he called out, “Hello? Who’s there?”

Almost immediately he had an answer. “It’s me, open up. I brought you something.”

He smiled as he recognised Jakiikii’s voice. Throwing open the door, Paulie greeted the termaxxi warmly. “Oh, come on in.” He gestured inside and she hesitated slightly, almost so little that he might not have noticed it had he not been paying attention. But he had.

She stepped inside, once more carrying a bag of something in two of her left hands. He watched her as she stepped past, at least two of her six petal-like eye flaps turning to glance in his direction.

He followed the six-armed woman into the main room and watched as she slowed, seeming to look about with her head. He noticed the small fleshy bumps just under her chin wiggle slightly and she turned to him. “What’s that smell?”

Paulie nodded to the table and the half eaten bowl of soup that sat upon it. “I was actually in the middle of lunch when you came by. I made some stew.”

He watched again as she seemed to follow the scent to the kitchen. He walked in after her as she looked almost longingly at the pot as she seemed to scent the air again. “You mixed moff and synthetic sparrack sap? May I.. have some?” She asked him, hopping from hooved foot to foot in the manner she did when excited.

Paulie smiled, she was simply too cute in that pose with her two middle arms under her chin and her smallest pair clasped together over her chest in a pleading manner. He nodded, “Of course. It should be..” He paused. “Hold on, you can’t eat solid foods.”

She nodded sadly. “Yeah. But could I try some of the broth at least? It smells so good, and all I ever drink is sugary things. I tried some stalp broth once with Mack, but it didn’t smell nearly as good as this.” She leaned closer to the pot, the tapered tip of her long hollow tongue protruding from her petite mouth almost like an excited puppy.

He chuckled again and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet before he stopped. “Hang on..” He looked around the countertop for the acoustic emulsifier and plugged it in.

She cocked her head, her eyes flattening closer to her elongated snout as she asked curiously, “What are you doing?”

He shrugged. “I see no reason why I can’t use this thing to blend. That way you can try the broth and the soup. Right?”

She clapped her larger hands together as she nodded, a flash of white crossing her light-bending skin as she hopped a little more. “Oh! Yes, how fun.” She stepped closer to him as he poured a small measure of the remaining soup into a cup and placed it in the machine.

Paulie had learned from previous explorations that the device was capable of more than simply making emulsions. No, it could blend, puree and in some cases it could even whip. He pressed the settings and then jabbed his thumb into the main initiation switch. The blue button depressed with a click and the machine immediately went ballistic, the soup inside pulverised by sharp acoustic energies till it more resembled baby food than the stew it had originally been.

Stolen story; please report.

Pouring this and a measure of the broth for her he awaited her reaction with only slightly bated breath. He wasn’t sure exactly why her opinion was so valuable to him, she was a friend sure. But they had really only known each other for a few days at best.

He watched as her long bubblegum pink proboscis slipped from her mouth and into the broth. With a slightly rhythmic pulsing, her long hollow tongue flexed and in doing so forced the concoction up and into her throat. He wondered if the interior lining of the organ had taste buds along the entire length or if they were just situated near to the tip. He was about to ask her when his communicator beeped insistently, he ignored it for the moment.

He gave her a little smile and she nodded. “This is very good!” She spoke with her mouth and tongue still in use, the thin gill-like openings at her lower sides fluttering as she spoke from low in her chest cavity.

Paulie nodded. “Yeah. I just kind of threw…”

His communicator beeped at him insistently again before he could finish his statement and he frowned. Who could that be? It had to be Mack, the alien detective was the only other person that had his communicator address. What could the detective need him for now?

Pressing the button to answer it, Paulie was immediately inundated with noise as the sound of crashing could be heard through the small speaker. He tensed, immediately on edge as the miriam’s face appeared on the screen, he looked even more disheveled than he had before. Bright blue blood leaked from the corner of his small mouth and his sharp teeth flashed as he grimiced in apparent pain.

Paulie and Jakiikii stood, alarmed as the man barked, “Paulie! They zalcing attacked me. I managed to push them back, but I need help.. what? What is Jakiikii doing there? Nevermind.. I am on the third floor, hurry. I think they are preparing for another..” He was cut off by a loud roaring noise and the screen went black.

Paulie looked around the room frantically as he thought he felt the floor shudder slightly underfoot. Jakiikii seemed even more distraught, the termaxxi woman rushing to his side as he ran into the kitchen.

“Oh! Oh no! Mack, what are we going to do!? Paulie?” She seemed at once angry and frantic, he whirled and grabbed her shoulders. Jolting her slightly as he felt three of her arms wrap around his.

“We are going to go down there and save him, that's what we are going to do. Come on, we need to move!” He shouted before grabbing the knife he had been using earlier off the counter. It wouldn't be much use against guns if Mack’s attackers were armed. But it was far and away better than nothing.

He wasn’t thinking, he wasn't in the state of mind to deal with something like this. But nevertheless he reacted. Jakiikii followed him as he burst from the room and into the hall, he looked left and then right. Unsure as to the best course of action. He turned to Jakiikii, “Where is he, how do we get to him!?”

She hesitated and then pushed Paulie to the right. The pair of them took off at a dead sprint, Paulie taking a moment to tuck the large knife into his belt as they bounded down the hall in great leaping strides.

As they rushed down the hall, Paulie went over the possibilities in his head. Mack could be dead already, the link had cut out with a loud sound and the building had trembled. That could have been an explosion of some sort. But if so, surely the officers that were assigned on duty to watch over him had heard it as well?

As if to answer his question a pair of adjudicator peace officers came screeching around the corner, handgun’s held in tendrils and claws. One of them was immediately familiar to him and he yelled out to them as they approached at speed.

“Mack’s in trouble! No time to explain!” He yelled to officer Sasfren as she and the other stared down towards them wide eyed. The other officer was an inexplicably young looking alien, their body a confusing mix of parts that made Paulie think of a large armoured rat, it had a thick forest of spines or quills along its shoulders and back like a hedgehog.

The unfamiliar alien raised the gun in its hand and shouted, Their strangely youthful features twisting in surprise and maybe a little fear. “Halt, stop!” They squeeked.

Paulie looked at officer Sasfren for help and gestured down the hall the way they had come as he and Jakiikii skidded to a stop. “We need to move, I meant what I said! Arrest me if you need to, but do it after we make sure Mack is alright!”

Jakiikii hopped a little from side to side as the rat-like alien hesitated. Sasfren gave an annoyed hiss, “Ok, come on then! But I am slapping you both with a code 10H-06 if this is a false alarm.”

Paulie didn't know what a code 10H-06 was, but judging from the expression on the snake-like woman’s feline face he wasn’t really sure he wanted to find out. The four of them thundered down the hall, well, at least they ran as fast as the two officers could go. In comparison to Paulie’s top achievable speed they were moving at a seemingly glacial pace, or at least that is what it felt like to him as they finally reached the door to the stairwell and pushed through it.

He saw officer Sasfren talking into her communicator, the maggastium female speaking quickly and in clipped hisses. “Officer in need of assistance at 7346 Olle’gh street.” As they descended the stairs another sound started to become more and more apparent. A kind of distant fizzing crack that sparked a familiar memory in Paulie’s mind.

The two officers paused on the landing to the fifth floor, each of them taking up breaching positions on either side of the doorway. From their new closer position Paulie could definitely hear the sounds of fighting. Yells and the sound of weapons fire shattered the stillness of the floor, and he could hear what sounded like panicked shrieks.

They nodded and then looked at Paulie and Jakiikii. “You two, stay behind us. Let’s move!”

Paulie watched them push through the doorway and waited only a single second before following them. He could feel Jakiikii pressing close behind, two of her arms pressed into the middle of his back as he heard her grumbling low in her chest.

He nodded to the side, catching her in the limits of his peripheral vision. “We are going to save him, he will be fine, Jakiikii.” He thought he saw her nod, but it was hard to tell for sure as he looked forward once more. His hand went to his belt and felt the knife he had concealed there, he heard more of those loud snaps. He certainly hoped that he didn’t have to use it.

The two peace officers ran to the nearby corner and glanced around it. They must not have immediately seen anything as the rat-like alien was the first around the corner, but that was a mistake.

A flurry of things flew down the hall to strike the uniformed alien in the thigh and shoulder. The young looking man screeched in pain and went down to the floor hard amid the smell of burning blood. Their wounds had cuterised almost instantly, yet in spite of that there was still a significant amount of it that had splattered hot and wet across the floor and wells near them. It was a deep yellow in coloration and made Paulie a little uncomfortable to look at.

“Shots fired, officer down! Send backup to my position immediately!” Officer Sasfren yelled before grabbing the injured adjudicator and trying to pull them back around the corner. Paulie could see she was struggling and likely would get herself shot in the process and so he rushed around the corner to help.

As he did so he looked down the hall towards where the fire had been directed from. There was a single thug hunched alone near to an overturned chair or bench, their weapon was poking up over the top of it and as he watched they fired off another trio of shots their way. The near blindingly bright purple bolts flashed towards them and he was forced to dive for the cover of the corner all while dragging the injured man behind him by the back of their uniform.

Officer Sasfren looked a little frantic as she fumbled with her pouches and in fact dropped her aid kit in her apparent shock. Paulie spoke as calmingly as he could through the adrenaline that was only now coursing through his own blood. “Hey! Hey, calm down. They don’t look like mortal wounds. They should be fine, Jakiikii, can you help her?”

He felt like there was fire and ice raging inside his veins. One wanted to freeze him solid with fear while the other seemed to tap into the rage that was always trapped deep below the surface. Which would win? What would happen to him if one did?

He looked towards Jakiikii who had rushed over and asked him, “What about Mack?”

Paulie reached out to the corner and picked up the wounded officer’s pistol from where they had dropped in on the floor. He lifted it and then stood, “I will get Mack. I don’t think we have time to wait for backup.”

He took a step towards the corner but was stopped as something gripped the leg of his pants and he noticed that Jakiikii was holding onto him with one of her longest arms. She nodded and then spoke, “I.. you..” She stopped and shook her head, petaled eyes roaming in every direction but his own as she stated, “Just be careful. Please? I don’t know what I would do if we lost him.” She paused and then whispered something too quiet for him to hear over the noise and chaos.

He grimaced, Mack was very important to her. Maybe like a sort of father figure or role model, and he would be damned if he let anything happen to the man. He took a deep breath and then nodded to the pair. The rat alien had gone silent as they lost consciousness.

He swallowed loudly, the beating of his own heart as loud as gunshots in his hyperstimulated mind. He took two deep shuddering breaths as he tried to calm himself, and then he raised the gun and stepped around the corner.