Cosmic Captain: Chapter 15

Rizal Qua Station slapped me in the face with noise the moment we stepped off the elevator from the docking bay and into the thick of it. There was no security check or anything—Lovath did say there were no Federation authorities here—and loud music blared like it was a club.

Vendors were shoved into every nook and cranny of the station, with a few actual storefronts here and there. The air tasted bad, somehow stale, and left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Many aliens ogled me as I kept tightly to Lovath’s side; exactly as he’d said, though, none reached out to touch me.

“You guys selling turns with that thing?” One nasty alien jeered, but Lovath bared his teeth at her and she skittered away. I had a death grip on his arm at that point, and I thought my nails might be breaking the skin, but Lovath didn’t make any move to pry my fingers away.

“I’ll take you back if you’re scared.” Lovath murmured as the crew split up. Only Kryn remained by our side, walking with us towards one of the vendors selling…well, I wasn’t sure what. I couldn’t read the signs. But I did know I was grateful for his presence. He may be a medic, but he could break you as soon as help you.

The culprit of the loud music had come into view; it was, in fact, some sort of club. Even if I couldn’t read what it was called, the crude pornographic images flickering on a holo display made it quite clear. There were even whores, I realized, standing outside peddling their wares.

“Not scared.” I told the truth. I was overwhelmed, sure, but the more time went by the more I realized people stared and nothing else. This station was seedy, no doubt about it. Lovath would protect me though, so I started to relax.

He haggled with the vendor—for fuel, I overheard—until he got what seemed like a good price, and Kryn whispered to me that they were going to get the credits back later along with extra fuel. I didn’t ask how they planned on doing that.

The tension in my shoulders was nearly gone by the time I’d followed Lovath and Kryn everywhere they needed to go, and I didn’t even mind when they agreed to meet the others at the loud strip club we’d passed earlier.

As we neared the entrance, I realized a handful of the prostitutes were human. The leash Lovath had was barely necessary since his hands hadn’t left me the entire time I we’d been on the station, and he pulled me close enough to drape an arm fully over my shoulders as we passed through the doors.

One of the human prostitutes got up in Lovath’s face, sidling right up to his chest. “Got a thing for human men? I can make it better with two.” His southern, accented voice was sultry, and my stomach burned with sudden jealousy.

“No thanks, one is plenty.” Though Lovath’s tone was placid, I could see he in his face he was unamused. The tension in my body released like a cut string, and I took a deep breath. Why had I even been worried he’d say yes?

“You sure, handsome? Only 200 credits for an hour.”

“First of all, highway robbery. No ass is that good.” Lovath sounded so offended that I almost snickered. Almost. This guy was what I could’ve been, and he was probably just trying to survive with the horrible hand he’d been dealt. “Second, I said no. Drek off.”

I glanced back at the guy as Lovath pushed him aside and led us into the club. Even though I’d initially been jealous, when I watched him try and put it on the next customer, I just felt bad for him. “Lovath, can’t we—”

“Just how things are sometimes, ksiva.” My captain was uncharacteristically somber. “If we help every human we see, we’ll be out of a job.” It was a little cutthroat, but I was surprised to find I understood. Lots of people needed help, not even just humans. The Event Horizon only had a crew of five, and they were doing their best to make it in a hard world like everyone was.

Was deciding that caring for ourselves came first really so bad? Lovath wasn’t a good person, but he wasn’t an asshole either. He lied, stole, and smuggled, but he didn’t trade in exotics and he had a heart. That didn’t mean I should expect him to help any human we came across either.

“Lo!” Qwexil’s familiar voice called out over the blare of music. Some lithe creature with purple skin and stubby horns was baring her tits as she danced on a stage next to a bunch of other strippers. Lovath led us to where the others were seated at a booth in the back.

Some things stayed the same no matter where you were.

“Ordered drinks already.” Talisaar grunted. “Human-safe one for Gray.”

I was reminded I couldn’t just go eating and drinking anything out here. Very few humans existed beyond the Sol System’s boundaries and not much in space catered to my species. Though I felt that a future in this society wasn’t so far off for humans.

A bug-like waitress with eight arms and a tray on each dropped off our drinks not a minute later, and Lovath had quietly laughed and told me to pick my jaw up off the floor. I was sitting so close to him our thighs pressed together, and it made me wish we were back on the Horizon.

Everyone chatted amiably—even Talisaar—and the drink he got me actually tasted good. It was fruity in a pineapple-like way, though it really tasted nothing like any fruit I’d ever had. It burned going down, but it was nice to enjoy something like a drink with friends again. Even if the circumstances were far different than I could have ever imagined.

“Another round?” The waitress’s raspy, chirpy voice cut into the conversation, and I suppressed the urge to stare too hard. She had mandibles that clicked together as she waited for a response, and I realized she was topless. Which was maybe sexy to certain aliens? But her top half was all hard exoskeleton so I didn’t see the appeal. Women didn’t have any appeal at all really, so maybe I wasn’t the best judge.

Everyone else ordered another except Lovath, to which Qwexil scoffed, “Getting old or something, Lo? Never seen you turn down a second drink.”

“I’m only 86, you piece of shtec.” He scowled back, and I gasped.

“86?!”

“Oh drek, you guys haven’t had the lifespan conversation?” Zenkara had her hand over her mouth, golden scales flashing in the club lights as she clearly tried not to laugh. Her dark blue hair was braided back, and Talisaar had the end of the braid wrapped around his hand.

I looked to Lovath, wide-eyed. “We need to have a lifespan conversation?”

“What, do humans live a short time?” He blinked at me. “200 years or something?”

“Try 80. More if they’re lucky.” Kryn snorted. As a medic, I guess he’d done some reading on humans.

Lovath looked surprised for a long moment, then shrugged. “Nothing some cybernetic implants can’t fix.”

It hadn’t occurred to me that humans might have a short lifespan compared to alien races, and I’d never imagined there’d be implants that could extend that span. “Like…by how long?”

Lovath deferred to Kryn, who explained, “Half the battle is more advanced medical care. Could get you to 150 just with that. Implants should tack on another 200 years. With some illegal implants you’d live to maybe…500? That would put you two on par.” He motioned between me and Lovath, and I flushed.

He’d assumed I specifically wanted to live as long as Lovath. Which, Jesus Christ, was a long ass time. “Traakians live to be 500 years old naturally?”

“More like 300.” Lovath supplied. “I’ll probably get to 500 if this job doesn’t kill me first. I have an implant or two myself.”

That was a lot to swallow. And contemplate. I was uncomfortable enough knowing in a week their contact on Pretia was going to remove my microchip just to put a new one in. That was enough tech in my body for me, thank you very much. But presented with the opportunity to live longer? And not just live longer, but significantly longer. Hundreds of years.

Enough years to see the day that humans integrated into this society even. Did I want that? I didn’t even know if cybernetics like that were feasible to buy. I was still painfully oblivious to how most of this world worked.

“Don’t think on it so hard, ksiva.” Lovath’s low voice in my ear was more comforting than I cared to admit. “Just have a good time.”

As he spoke, the waitress came back with another round of drinks and I tried to slough off all my worry. Lovath was right. It was time to have fun, to find some joy somewhere in all this. So I took my second drink, imagined I was at a college party with friends back on Earth, and chugged it.

“Explain the microchip thing to me again.” I slurred to a very amused Lovath. Had the lights gotten brighter? The music louder? Bass thumped so loud my chest vibrated and the lights might have started spinning. I wasn’t too sure.

“You won’t remember if I tell you.”

“No fun. Try me.” I pouted, running my fingers over his scaled knuckles. He’d probably punched so many people with them. That was hot. I didn’t know when I’d started holding his hand, but I was keeping it.

“I’ll try you anytime.” He chuckled in my ear and I shivered. “But fine, I’ll humor you. Illegal chips aren’t Federation issue. Legal chips are. But you can have an illegally modified Federation chip.”

“Makes no sense.” I was trying hard to concentrate on his words, but the I kept getting distracted by the leathery feel of the back of his hand on my fingertips. I traced down each of his fingers, all three of them. How did he get anything done with only three? Even if the two that weren’t a thumb were decently longer than mine.

How deep could those fingers get inside me?

“It makes sense if you’re sober.” The mirth in Lovath’s tone irked me, so I frowned and concentrated on his face. “Illegal chips are illegal because they’re meant for pets. Many stations have automated chip scanners, no eyes. So you can bring an illegal exotic most places with no trouble. Still gotta be careful with contraband, but if you’re caught, Federation enforcers take the exotic away, give ‘em a chip, and you get a slap on the wrist.”

“Right.” I didn’t get it. Only a slap on the wrist for breaking what seemed like a ton of laws?

“With a legal chip, you’re a Federation citizen. If you get caught with an exotic that has a legal chip, you’ll catch slavery charges. It’s legal semantics. You’re not a citizen yet with the illegal chip.”

“So…getting caught is bad either way?” I really wasn’t listening to what he was saying, just watching the way his lips moved when he talked. Kissing him was so nice sometimes. He’d told me traakians weren’t much for kissing, but he liked it with me.

Lovath made an exasperated noise, and I didn’t like that. “The consequences are far worse if you get caught with a legally chipped exotic than an illegally chipped one. But you can mod a legal chip to be untraceable or have different information. It’s still a Federation chip, so you’re still a citizen. Just a citizen breaking the law.”

“Oh. Okay, I understand.” When Lovath groaned, I knew he could tell that I hadn’t understood at all. So I tried to distract him by bringing his hand to my mouth and kissing his knuckles. When he raised a brow, I put the clawed tip of his first finger in my mouth and licked it. Someone snickered—Zenkara, maybe?—but I just tried to crawl on Lovath’s lap.

“Okay, we’re going back to the ship. Still sober, Kryn?”

The krexxian grunted in affirmation, when I could swear he’d had, like, 10 drinks. I was more interested in the knowledge that Lovath was taking me back to the ship. We’d be alone and maybe I’d finally—

“Oof!” When I tried to stand, I immediately started falling, and Lovath’s arm swooped around my waist to grab me. Why was he so strong and sexy and alien? He supported my weight like I was lighter than a feather, and I…fuck, I was woozy.

“I’ve got you, Gray.” His skin was so warm against mine, and I wanted to feel more of it.

“Shouldn’t you be like…cold blooded?” I asked as he straightened us out, still making sure to support my weight.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You’re so warm.” Was my voice a little husky? “But you’re like…on Earth, we have these…lizards. They have cold blood and you’re like a lizard.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” Lovath balked. Behind us, someone burst out laughing but I wasn’t really sure why. And that was all I heard before I blacked out.