I was staring at the Tixian lawyer and could barely contain my shock. They were literally five foot tall spider monkeys, centaur style with the monkey up front. But with four arms and in a brilliant shade of blue. The alien next to the Tixian was just a boring X-Files/Roswell alien in comparison with the big black eyes. I ignored him and kept focusing on the spider monkey female. Her face reminded me of a golden langur monkey I saw on an online post a long time ago.
“Outside of this my daughter is your biggest fan you know,” the lawyer whispered so only I could hear.
“Mr. Monos please rest assured that you have every right to refuse any request by the Kwitle during this stage of the Challenge. You also have every right to sue the Kwitle for this…unceremonious sudden displacement, if you wish to do so,” the Gray alien said breaking me out of my trance.
"Do you understand the amount of laws you've broken?" the Gray asked Commander Finik.
I looked back over to the gray alien and was going to ask something that Finik yelled out instead:
“How does he have a livestream?! We have not authorized the filming of this invasion. That was made very clear in the Triumvirate Session for this planet, any breach of contract should have been brought to us immediately.”
I was now sitting in a much larger and more comfortable room and was no longer bound and gagged. My “father” unfortunately went to an unknown room and I wasn’t sure how much longer he had left. The aliens cruelty seemed to be highlighted even more by their indifference to it all.
“How did you know I was here even if I was being recorded,” I dared to ask immediately shielding my mouth with Moto in case Finik tried anything. Finik glared at me but also seemed to be interested in the response and remained quiet.
“Your AI started to freak out in the livestream about it,” the Tixian gushed vividly. “You should have SEEN Cindybot’s chaotic screams of betrayal at the Kwitle's actions as her new personality wrangled with her mental well being.”
“New personality?” Commander Finik asked with expanding interest.
This confirmed that she yet didn't know I consumed Tom. Wait the ship’s system hid things from them? Or maybe the Yuini inside Rijohe was hiding it from Finik on purpose? My mind raced. Too many unknowns. I needed to say something quickly so I gave a nervous chuckle and backed up a half step before I made things worse for myself.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“You know my AI has always acted like my ex-girlfriend. It was something Rijohe did I think to mess with me. Crazy guy. Um, anyway she’s bettering herself. Girl power,” I raised a fist in solidarity.
That earned me a glare of disbelief but she let it go as the Gray lawyer stepped in with a distraction.
“To answer your earlier question Commander we know it was a Tixian reporter under the Ixtra Clan who was able to sneak down several hundred bug drones to the planet. We don’t know how. No one said anything directly to the Kwitle's ships because technically this is no longer an "invasion" as agreed upon in the Triumvirate Session. It is now a Challenge and if you can recall OURS was partly recorded all those centuries ago,” the Gray male said with what I assumed was a smirk.
Commander Finik’s eyes went wide when she realized the implications of the gray’s words. She quickly excused herself and ran out of the large room to meet with a staff member.
“New plan. Don’t say shit kid,” the Gray alien said to me once she left the room. His demeanor completely changed and he grabbed me by the shoulders. His odd large hands felt strange on me and I gave out an involuntary shudder. Moto flared out in something that even I understood as discomfort.
“I bought you some time but by the time they see that footage you’re screwed," the gray continued.
“Wait but can I sue for them to not have access to my footage?” I asked in desperation.
“I’m already starting on the paperwork,” the Tixian lawyer said while working on a translucent tablet her partner had given her.
****
“WARP!” Julio yelled and threw a hand in the air dramatically. A roach in his small, cramped closet room scampered away while that weird fly buzzed around happily. His captor laughed deeply from the other side of the door.
“Laughing is so fun. Not many races do it you know? Humans are great,” Eduardo said to him.
Eduardo was one of the other aliens Julio believed. Not like the bird ones but the worm ones. Shit was getting confusing and he really just wanted a beer and his bike. Instead, Jon really needed Julio's help and his own Main Character Training was badly failing him. He couldn’t even warp yet, it was embarrassing. Julio had been stuck in this room for almost a week now due to a slight misunderstanding. They had his bike. He was taking it back.
“Hey Gusanito bro we’re under a lot of stress right now do you think I can maybe head out? I’ll leave you guys my bike for now it’s real serious,” Julio admitted through gritted teeth.
Eduardo was only there in case Jon told Julio anything and now it was like Jon had disappeared. He could barely even talk to the other mean girls or his best friend Markus. Everything had felt fuzzy now, and he was sure it was up to him to fix it.
“I’m not your worm bro human. I’m a Yuini prince if you would know. It’s horrific to think that I’m being relegated to this. Just tell me if your master tells you anything,” Eduardo said and started ignoring him. It was always the same shit with these worm bros Julio thought.
Julio was about to start his Warp training again when that little anime looking girl that hung out around Jon popped up out of nowhere.
“CB! Jon needs me. I’m trying to escape,” he told the AI.
The purple glowing girl shook her head rapidly as Julio was detailing his training plan.
“No Julio please. Let’s talk to them. Jon’s missing and I have no idea when or if he’ll even be back. Jon’s memories from Tom said to go to them if we had no other options. This is it,” CB said with what seemed to be tears in her small eyes.
I feel like we’re about to step into some deep shit bestie he thought to Markus. No response still. The damn system was malfunctioning so badly and they needed Jon back now.
"Let's go fix everything together CB. Main character arc time," Julio said while trying and failing to kick his door down.