“You can't fire me!” Hector exclaimed. “We have a contract!”
“Yes, that you broke.” I said. “You can't reliably fly a ship in your current condition and you've been like this for three days.”
“There... there's nothing wrong with me!”
“Geez, kid. Stop making a scene.” Rhubin said. “We can all see that you're trembling. You can't handle flying a shuttle right now, let alone a cargo ship this big.”
“I can!” Hector said and Luxea came into the room with two chips in her hand. “Luxea!” He said loudly and rushed to her and hugged her. “Don't let them take me away from you! I love you!”
“Oh, for god's sake.” Rhubin said and grabbed Hector by the collar and pulled him back from a startled Luxea.
“No! Let me go!” Hector flailed his arms to try and escape from Rhubin's grip. “Luxea! Tell them! Tell them what we mean to each other!”
Luxea's eyes dripped tears and she thought about saying something, then she kept her mouth shut instead. There wasn't really anything she could say that would make this turn out any better.
I reached out to her and she gave me the two chips and I held one up. “This is half of the contract's pay as severance, because you did do some work the last couple of weeks.” I said and held the other up. “This is a passenger transport fee back to the Dizahl system.” I took both chips and tucked them into his coat pocket.
“I don't need your stinking credits!” Hector said and grabbed the chips out of his pocket and threw them across the room at the bulkhead.
I caught the two chips with Presence before they hit the wall and made them invisible, so that he would believe that he really destroyed all that money.
“I want to stay here with the woman I love and you can't stop me!”
“Wow, Luxea. He's completely besotted with you.” Simone said as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “What did you do to the poor kid?”
“Everything!” Hector exclaimed. “I've never had a woman do anything like that to me before! She's a goddess! She may even be... mhuh!”
I covered his mouth with Presence and made it solid. “Stop your tantrum.” I said. “Not only are you embarrassing yourself, you're embarrassing Luxea.” I motioned to her and Hector saw her tears.
She's crying because you're kicking me off the ship! Hector thought very loudly.
I sighed and looked at Luxea. Her face went red as she wiped her eyes and turned her head so that she wouldn't meet my eyes. I stepped close to Hector and touched his forehead to put him to sleep.
“What do we do with him now?” Rhubin asked as he held the younger man upright.
“He definitely can't stay.” Simone said and looked at Luxea. “He'll be a danger to himself and to us.”
“Obsession is a dangerous thing.” I said and seriously considered giving Hector a compulsion to stay away from Luxea, to try and counter his desperate need to be near her. I was morally against that tactic, though. I wasn't going to do something to someone else against their will that I personally hated having done to me against my will.
“I can't believe he threw away all those credits.” Simone said and looked forlornly at the wall where the chips would have fallen. “Such a waste destroying those chips.”
I lifted my hand and held up both chips. “Rhubin, give this to the transport ship.” I said and gave him the smaller denomination chip. “They'll take him home.”
“What about his pay?” Rhubin asked.
“We can't trust Hector to not break the chip, then those credits will be lost. If I hadn't caught them just before they hit the wall...” I shook my head and put the chip away. “We'll wait until we're back home to transfer the payment to his account directly.”
“I guess we'll have to do it that way.” Rhubin said sadly. “The early termination is going to be a mark on his job record for the rest of his life.”
Luxea let out a low sob and wiped at her eyes.
“Hector might realize what happened by the time he arrives back in the Dizahl system.” I said. “No one in their right mind throws away money like that.”
Rhubin nodded and dragged the sleeping young man from the room.
“Where's Rhubin taking him?” Simone asked.
“To the shuttle hatch at the back of the ship.” I said. “The transport will be here soon to pick him up.”
We waited for the transport to show up and no one spoke. There was nothing for anyone to say, actually. We all knew the implications of what had just happened. The ship showed up and Hector was quickly transferred over to it, credits changed hands, and the transport was away without much fuss. Hector would be asleep for the next twelve hours, so the ship would be well on their way through hyperspace before he woke up. Since it was a normal transport, his journey home would be a lot longer than it had been coming to the system with us on Udelis.
No one was in the mood to work, so I declared that a few days of rest and relaxation were in order. I received a glare from Simone and her thoughts were on me making things worse.
“Hey, do you want to...”
“No.” Simone said and cut me off. “You know I won't be able to resist you if I go with you.”
I raised my eyebrows at her as the Presence wavered and she couldn't help herself and laughed.
“All right. I don't want to go have that much fun with you and not have it lead to something.”
“Ah, I understand.” I said and looked at Rhubin. “I'm taking the shuttle unless the military has a ban on us moving around on our own.”
“Not that I've heard.” Rhubin said. “Want me to give them a call?”
I had to think about that for a minute. “Is Grace's patrol ship still active?”
“It's the one currently keeping station with us, so yes.” Rhubin said with a chuckle.
“How did they get that duty?” I asked, a little surprised.
“They aren't actually on duty.” Rhubin said. “Every twelve hours, a new patrol ship comes over and takes the place of the last one.”
“Ha. They're spending their down cycles guarding us.” I said as I caught on to what they were doing.
“I bet you can catch a ride with them in about an hour.” Rhubin said.
“Shift change?” I asked and he nodded. “Then I better give them a call.”
*
Luxea didn't say anything as Hunter walked by her and went to the cockpit.
“Are you really going to let things sit like this?” Rhubin asked when he thought Hunter was far enough away and couldn't hear anything.
“What am I supposed to do?” Luxea asked, and she sounded a little lost.
“I actually warned Hunter about messing things up with you and he actually tried to make up for what he did to you.” Rhubin said. “You don't know how surprised I was that it was you that messed things up instead. Why did you do that?”
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“I don't know!” Luxea exclaimed. “I was angry and I needed to relax.” She said, her voice dropping a few octaves. “Since I couldn't do that with Hunter, I...”
“...grabbed the newest available male around.” Simone said. “I don't need to ask how many times you used Hector for stress relief, do I?”
Luxea's face flushed red, mainly because she wasn't sure how many times it had been. It was a lot.
“No wonder Hector was nervous around Hunter.” Rhubin said and then sighed. “He was sleeping with who he thought was Hunter's woman right under the man's nose and thought he had stolen you.”
Luxea couldn't refute that, not after Hector's blow-up.
“What's funny is that you didn't even do it on purpose.” Simone said. “You just reverted to your old ways and bing, bang, boom. Chaos.”
Rhubin looked at Luxea and thought about her pattern of behavior and how it had changed over the last while. He gave Simone a glance and had to agree with her. Luxea reverted right back to how she used to act, once she came across something that she wasn't sure how to handle. He was glad that Luxea hadn't approached him to do that, because he would have refused her offer and told Hunter about it... and then he realized that was probably why she hadn't. She knew he would say no and then tell Hunter.
*
“Grace said she's going off duty for a few days and her ship would be happy to give me a ride to Chofaris.” I said as I entered the room. “She also said we have to be escorted if we go anywhere, unofficially of course.”
No one said anything and I didn't tell them that I heard everything they said.
“Rhubin, do you want to come with me?” I asked.
“Are you doing another public display?”
“Maybe.” I smiled and he put up his hands in surrender.
“No, thanks. I'll pass.” Rhubin said.
“Luxea.” I said and she jumped a little.
“No!” Luxea exclaimed before she could stop herself.
I held in my sigh. “Well, I'm leaving for a couple days. Maybe you'll calm down by then and be able to talk to me without flinching.”
I went over to the Udelis to pack for a few days. Grace's ship docked to the shuttle hatch and I used levitation to transfer to the other ship and used Presence to operate both hatches. When I floated into the patrol ship, Grace was there with three other people.
“You weren't kidding!” A cute young woman that looked to be about twenty years old said as I floated down to the deck. “He doesn't need null gravity to do that!”
I looked at Grace and her face was slightly red.
“We saw it on the security footage and had to see it for ourselves.” A man said. “It's so weird!”
“It's a neat trick.” The other man said. “I'd be showing off with it if I could do that, too.”
“You caught me right away.” I chuckled and the man smiled.
“How long are you staying on Chofaris?” Grace asked.
“I've got a few days free, mainly because of internal strife with the personnel of my company.”
“Luxea's still angry?”
“More like she overreacted and did something she deeply regrets and she can barely stand to be in the same room with me right now.” I said. “Rather than stay around and be a burden on her...”
Grace nodded and led me back to the same passenger compartment I had been in before and the ship got underway. I stowed my bag under my seat and the cute young woman sat down next to me. The two men went back to their duties and Grace gave the young woman a bit of a glare, then left as well.
“I assume you're off duty?” I asked and the young woman nodded. “What do you want to talk about?”
“The hair specialist said she's never seen hair like yours.” The young woman said. “How did you grow it out like that?”
“That's not what you really want to know.” I said with a smile as I picked up her thoughts.
“I... well, I...” The young woman tried to ask and was too flustered to get the words out.
“Because you're so cute, I'll answer it.” I said and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “There's enough that you can use it like a blanket and can cover yourself from head to toe with some left over.”
“Oooo.” The young woman almost moaned and closed her eyes. “W-where are you s-staying?”
“I have no idea.” I said and her eyes shot open. “I'll find out when I get there.”
“You didn't call ahead?” She asked, surprised. “You can't just... I'll be right back!”
“You don't have to...” I started to say and she stopped and squinted her eyes at me. “I'm going to the capital.” I said instead and she left the compartment to try and make arrangements for me. She came back ten minutes later and held out a datapad. I took mine out and she sent me the data.
“You've got a reservation at a nice hotel, moderately priced, about a mile from the city center.” The young woman said.
“How far away is it from the bar I went to?” I asked.
“A ten minute drive or a thirty to forty minute walk.” She said right away, knowing I was going to ask.
“Thank you for this.” I said and put my datapad away.
“You weren't even going to use your status to get the best room, were you?” She asked and I shook my head. “Are you going to the bar tonight?”
“I was thinking about it.” I said and her thoughts swirled around as she debated something. “You've convinced me that if I do, I should call ahead first.”
The young woman nodded. “It will let them prepare things instead of trying to adapt like the last time.”
“I don't suppose you know the bar's contact info?” I asked.
“I can't abuse the communications station for more than one personal call per shift.” She said and sat down beside me again. “We have to wait to land before we can call on the local network.”
“We?” I asked with a smile.
“If you think I'm letting all that hair out of my sight before seeing it unfolded, you're crazy.” She said. “My name is Kris, by the way.”
“I see you're not flustered anymore.”
“You said I was cute, right to my face, then answered my question before I could ask it.” Kris said, her voice full of confidence. “Because of that, I know you don't mind personal questions and I shouldn't mind asking them.”
I nodded. “So, what else do you want to know?”
“Do you take random women to your bed?”
“I honestly can't say that I've never done that.” I said. “It only happened once, though.”
“Not at the bar the last time?” Kris asked and I shook my head. “Would you be willing to do it again?”
“I could be tempted to if I met the right woman.”
“Which means you've only met the wrong women so far.” Kris said and looked into my eyes. “How can I qualify as a right woman?”
“That question definitely put you in contention.”
Kris gave me a warm smile. “Even if nothing happens between us over the next few days and we only become friends, I still want to wear your hair like a robe.”
That made me laugh and reminded me about my one night stand, Diana, and how she had enjoyed my hair like that, too. “I can't promise anything.”
“I know. I'm just telling you my true goal.”
“You do realize that I should be discouraging you, don't you?” I asked and she nodded. “I'm in a relationship right now, and it's kind of in a shambles. It started out being my fault, then...”
Kris sat there and listened to my problems for the rest of the flight to the planet's surface. Since they weren't in a rush like when they delivered me to Olugaell's dinner party, it took nearly twice as long to land at the facility where they did the monthly checkup on the ship. The entire crew left the ship in what looked like a random scurrying pattern, almost like rats fleeing a sinking boat.
Grace saw me watching everyone leave and chuckled. “No one wants to stay around after a month on the ship.”
Surprisingly, both Kris and Grace stayed with me as we walked through the facility. Our bags were given a precursory check by security and we were allowed to leave the building with no fuss. I thought about asking if it was because of me that we got through so quickly, then decided I didn't need to ask such a stupid question.
Grace hit a button on a small stand by the exit and a hover car showed up barely sixty seconds later. We stowed our bags and climbed in, then the driver poured on the speed. We were pretty far out from the city and there was little to no traffic, so I wasn't worried. We dropped off Grace first and she said she would meet me at the bar later that night. Kris was dropped off next and her apartment was only down the street from my hotel.
Coincidence? I thought as she stepped out of the car.
“I'll call the bar and let them know you're coming.” Kris said. “Make sure you pick me up promptly at eight.”
I thought about responding that it wasn't an exclusive date and that we were all going together, then nodded. She smiled at me and shut the door. The hover car drove around the block and dropped me off at the hotel. I paid the fare, retrieved my bag, and went inside the building. I was barely inside the door when there was a squeal of delight from across the lobby.
“It's true!” A woman's voice exclaimed and several people looked at her and then their eyes found me.
“I think I better handle this.” A man said as he gently turned the woman around behind the counter and gave her a little push towards the staff room. “Take your break.”
“I just came back from...”
“Take another.” The man said and he had to push her all the way over to the room and shut the door. “My apologies, sir.” He said to me as I approached the front desk. “Reservation for Hunter, I believe.”
I nodded and the man quickly entered me into the system as he confirmed my reservation. I asked him to change my room, so that I wouldn't be staying in the room everyone thought I would be staying in, then I prepaid for the three days I intended to stay and he gave me the room's card key.
The man told me what floor the room was on and in what direction. “I'm tempted to walk you up so I can fend off some of the other staff.” The man said and I chuckled. “You're prepared for that, are you?”
I reached up and pretended to push something on my collar as I activated my Stealth technique and completely disappeared. The man let out a startled gasp, then he laughed.
“You could make a fortune if you sold whatever that is.” The man said. “Please enjoy your stay, sir.”
“Thank you.” I said and stayed invisible as I walked over to the lift. I took it up to the right floor and I wasn't surprised to see a few women and two men were waiting near my old room's door. I smiled and walked down the hallway and entered the new room. I deactivated the technique and locked the door, then I took a quick shower and changed into a set of normal clothes. I rummaged through one of my bags of holding and took out a small wooden plaque that had a bunch of engravings on it. I hung it over my neck and put some Presence into it to power the spell, then the Illusion spell activated and changed my appearance to that of a normal man.
My long hair went from a golden color to black and closely cropped to my head. My facial features softened and rounded a little and my eyes changed to a dull brown color. My slightly tanned skin faded into a more milky white color, as if I was someone that spent a lot of their time indoors and not centuries outside. Even my muscle definition softened a little and my pointed ears rounded down to a normal shape. The spell couldn't do anything about my height, though.
I walked over to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I didn't recognize the face that looked back at me and I smiled. “Time to do a little shopping.” I said and left the room without having to worry about random strangers assaulting me.