“I can’t help it,” Kat whispered back with a horrified expression on her face. “It’s like staring at a transporter wreck. I don’t want to look, but my eyes are automatically drawn to that spot.”
She gave Dykan a quick glance, then her focus went back to the lower part of the alien in front of her.
“This is so extremely disturbing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Tentacles. They’ve got freaking butt tentacles, for Goddess’s sake. Butt. Tentacles. Freaking tentacles sprouting from their butts. Why didn’t you warn me? I still would have been…shocked, but at least I would have had some time to emotionally prepare myself.”
Kat hadn’t noticed anything strange about the Zzjitzzeëns when she had exited the shuttle, except for their unpleasant body odor, which reminded her of sweaty socks stuffed with Brussels sprouts and rotten eggs. But then they had turned around, and her attention was immediately drawn to the four wriggling tentacles originating from the part of their bodies where their butts should be. Or maybe still were. The tentacles were about four feet long and thinner at the tip than at the base. Flabbergasted, Kat had wondered how she could have completely missed that when they had talked to the Zzjitzzeën leader on the viewscreen. Then she realized that the leader had been wearing a long robe-like garment that had covered his entire body, while these two were wearing short dark tunics and tight pants with an opening for the tentacles to sprout through.
Dykan shrugged. “I thought you knew what Zzjitzzeëns looked like.”
“No,” she said slowly. “There are thousands of alien species. You can’t expect me to know what every single one of them looks like. At least not in detail. I knew of the Zzjitzzeëns’ reputation and that it’s best not to cross their paths. But this, nope. No one ever enlightened me about this. And I most certainly would have remembered.”
“Be that as it may, I don’t want this Zzjitzzeën to think you are interested in him and get excited. We need to stay focused, avoid distractions. We need to get to the bridge, so keep your gaze down.”
Kat snapped her head toward Dykan and shivered. “Interested? Excited? Why? Are the tentacles supposed to be…sexual?” She gasped and her eyes went wide. “Please don’t tell me those things are their penises or something. That would be absolutely disturbing. Look at them, they squirm like big worms. Ew, that’s so disgusting. Can you imagine having one of those in your…? Well, you know. Or worse: all four.”
Instinctively, Kat squeezed her thighs together.
Dykan rolled his eyes. “No, the tentacles aren’t their cocks, more like additional limbs. You, female, have a dirty mind. Even dirtier than Boda’s.”
Kat wanted to slap him for that remark, but she needed to remain in character. So, instead she made a face, rocked her head and mouthed his last sentence, mimicking him.
Dykan grinned. “When you stare at a Zzjitzzeën,” he continued in a low voice, ignoring her reaction, “he will think you want to either fight or fuck. I assume you don’t want either. Now, be a good slave and be quiet and obedient.”
Kat snorted softly. “Just wait till we’re back on your freighter, then I’ll show you how quiet and obedient I can be.”
“Don’t get me excited, female,” Dykan responded with a low rumble.
The Zzjitzzeën walking in front of them stopped near black double doors and slammed his three-fingered hand against a panel on the wall. The doors slid open with a squeak and the Zzjitzzeën gestured for them to go through. Dykan took a hold of Kat’s hand and stepped through the doors with Kat in tow, entering the ship’s bridge. The doors swooshed closed behind them.
This bridge was much bigger than the one on Dykan’s ship. At the front, a large viewscreen filled the wall from top to bottom, showing Dykan’s freighter floating in the midst of the star-filled darkness. About five feet in front of the screen, one long semicircular control table with various blinking lights took up half the room. Three Zzjitzzeëns were operating the control table, occasionally pushing buttons.
“Ah, my guests have finally arrived,” lisped a Zzjitzzeën sitting in a large red swivel chair right in the center of the bridge.
Kat recognized him. This was the Zzjitzzeën Dykan had spoken with. All the other Zzjitzzeëns on the bridge turned around and looked at them with curiosity. Well, looked at her with curiosity.
The Zzjitzzeën rose from his chair, staggered closer to Dykan and bowed his head.
“Welcome to my ship, Makaen. I am Zzjipadien, leader of this tribe and commander of this ship. You may call me Zzjipadien.”
Dykan bowed in return, but not as deep or long as he had done for his crew only moments earlier.
“Thank you for the invitation, Zzjipadien. I’m Dykan and this is my slave, Red.”
Kat willed herself not to jerk back when the Zzjitzzeën raised his three-fingered hand with the intention of touching her face. To her relief, Dykan intervened just in time by shoving his hand away.
“No one touches what’s mine without my permission,” he growled. “And until we have a deal, she remains mine.”
Zzjipadien laughed, showing his nasty teeth. “My apologies if you find my behavior too presumptuous for your taste. I’ve heard that Makaen are very possessive of their possessions and that you rarely share. Especially when your females are concerned. My kind have other views on ownership. Zzjitzzeën males tend to share with all the males in their tribe. You see, it’s all about the tribe’s wealth, not the individual’s. But as the leader, I do have some privileges, like the right to sample first.”
He gave Kat a lecherous glance, flicking his long tongue over his beak. It made Kat’s skin crawl.
“But I can certainly understand you’d want to keep a beautiful creature like this for yourself. Do tell me, how did she come into your possession?”
“By pure luck,” Dykan answered. “We responded to a distress call. When we arrived, we found a small cruiser that had crash-landed on a deserted moon. The only two survivors were this beauty and her former owner, an old Bazarian. I got rid of the Bazarian—well, he was already more dead than alive, so I practically did him a favor—and claimed the female according to pirate’s law. And she has been keeping my bed warm ever since.”
“You lucky male,” Zzjipadien lisped.
He scanned Kat from head to toe, nodding appreciatively. She suppressed the urge to cross her arms in front of her chest to obscure her body to his lustful gaze. Dykan was having a hard time too, she noticed. He might fool the Zzjitzzeën by looking emotionless, but Kat recognized the warning signs. The corners of his mouth were slightly raised and his glowing eyes showed his true feelings: restrained anger. He most definitely didn’t like the way the Zzjitzzeën was looking at her. Kat prayed Dykan could contain himself and wouldn’t start attacking the Zzjitzzeën with the strange name, or this entire mission could fail.
Kat squeezed Dykan’s hand. He needed to let her go, so she could start Operation Distract the Lecherous Duck-Squid Aliens. When Dykan didn’t respond and kept staring at the Zzjitzzeën, Kat squeezed his hand once more, a little harder this time.
She felt him tense up, but he finally let go and turned his attention to her.