chapter 33 Jinta The Hive believed me by all the odd gods they actually accepted the cover story about having Tech that would hide them from the seers at least they believed it enough to invite me on board via careful directions and their much larger ship swallowing mine up like a whale though possibly they just wanted me to stop broadcasting the illegal conversation where everyone could hear as the bay doors shut behind me I hoped that everyone had indeed heard that would make these jerks all the easier to track down when the seers started checking private
memories later everything wrote on loyal being right about the bluff if all my worldly belongings were atomized in the next few minutes and I was down here for nothing I was going to track loyal down and disassemble his favorite robotic bits I landed the little yellow ship in a crowded launch bay other ships and storage crates were everywhere along with armed Mesmer watching me from all sides as soon as I shut off the engines a bedazzled blue leader lit into a round of questioning while her underlings pointed a variety of weapons at me I gave
short answers into the microphone good thing loyal had pointed out the controls for that one it might have taken me a bit too long to find otherwise and these weren't the sort of people who liked to wait very well the leader finally said you may exit slowly I took her at her word making every motion as smooth as as if I was repairing a panicky cyborg they watched me through the windshield as I pressed the hatch release and picked up the small Silver Box labeled sear repellent they probably couldn't read the words from outside they'd
better not be able to scan past the shielding on it to see the teleporter Target inside loyal had sworn the target was just as invisible as KH was nestled inside the luggage compartment by the door I pretended to be an honest criminal and stepped out to face the waiting ring of weapon barrels to my surprise the ship's large bay door slid open to admit planetary sunlight I'll never get used to ships with highquality inertial dampeners give it commanded the glittery leader who was hard to look at in the light all those Spangles on her deep
blue exoskeleton were probably meant to look like stars but to me they were just irritating I held up the box somebody snatched it away and opened it be careful I said the mechanisms are delicate thankfully the mess of tech is inside meant nothing to anyone there walk the leader said the others led the way out of the big ship and into a sunny hanger where the breeze drifting in made my nose itch I thought I heard the quiet slap of tentacles as they escorted me away the seers ought to find my memories interesting focusing on
the unsettling mind reading to come was a decent way to avoid thinking about the bigger worries like whether I'd be shot before I got the chance to Bear my insecurities to a stranger we busy crowds filled the hanger and I didn't get much opportunity to sightsee it looked like a human brand of cheap construction I frowned but kept my opinion to myself as the quick stepping Mesmer ushered me between ships through a doorway and through a maze of passageways that I did my best to keep track of one room in particular looked important I caught
a glimpse of what could only be a vault door as we passed I put a big red star on my mental map for that one that that's probably where they have the terraformer I thought I wonder if I can get them to confirm it stealthily of course it'll save us some time when loyal appears I was just thinking this when my escort parted to Usher me into a room I wondered why none of them went first then as soon as I passed the door it shut behind me the room held only a pair of the
Mesmer chest cushions that passed for chairs and a table bolted down boring gray walls great so much for seeing the boss right away to give loyal some context as he listened on the caller radio I called through the door so I guess the boss is busy going to see me later be careful with that thing okay it really is fragile no one answered me though their muttered words and footsteps both a flurry of clicks told me that a guard was stationed outside the majority of the group hustled away taking the teleporter Target with them I
heaved a sigh and tried to be optimistic loyal B could pop in at any time I thought now would make sense before the target gets taken far away from me to who knows where but no sign of him yet so I guess he's waiting a bit I hope he doesn't have any trouble with the teleporter there were several other things that I hoped right then that KH would be able to join us when the time came that there weren't more guards watching than loyal could handle that generally everything worked out somehow my odds weren't great
then voices outside clicked urgently and the door opened again guns and bug eyes were aimed at me human the tallest green one addressed me were there any others on your ship No I said acting like that was obvious did you see how tiny it is more couldn't fit the pair behind him talked in a fast-paced mix of languages between scattered familiar words and the occasional gesture I got the impression that an intruder lurked in the compound off to the left remembering the way KH had bragged about being able to imitate human shape using the spare
jumpsuit from the ship I smiled he worked fast if we survived this I'd owe him a drink wait can you guys see ghosts I asked in excitement nobody ever believes me I swear that ship has been haunted since I got it the last owner died in the seat that got the reaction I was hoping for alarm that they tried to hide the tall Mesmer quizzed me on the specifics which I made up with enthusiasm then a small smaller red orange Mesmer joined them from the right hand Corridor with a similar report from a completely different
part of the compound the leader turned back to me how many ghosts did you say the ship contained can they multiply I continued making things up while I privately wondered KH was good but not that fast who was the other one chapter 34 Robin I was having a grand time sneaking about the place in what had been a dream of mine since childhood I had found a trash can with a removable base big enough to work as a costume it didn't even stink much just a bit of alien food smell tiptoeing through the hallways undetected
I moved from corner to corner whenever the coast was clear apparently this sort of shenanigans didn't pop up much in bug alien media because absolutely no one looked twice at the trash can no matter where I parked it this was absurd and foolish and I could die at any time but I was living for it I had so many near misses they just walked right by me suspecting nothing at one point I shucked off my disguise in an empty conference room to climb the furniture for a look out a high window and somebody opened the
door behind me I crouched on top of the bookshelf SL whatever knocking over a bowl of decorative spheres as I Whirled to see a pink bug alien looking more goggle eyed than usual when he started to say something I grabbed one of the Spheres and winged it at him with all my might it was heavier than I'd expected and it flew really well took a chunk out of the door when he ducked he scrambled back into the hallway and clicked like mad about the intruder with a wild leap I grabbed the trash can and pulled
it over my head my breathing echoed though I tried to keep it down when several bug baddies came looking for me they assumed I'd gone out the window I made a mental note to go in the opposite direction as soon as they left which they did finally I waited a while longer until I could breathe evenly safe in my trash can I crept out the door and toward the first likely Corner listening hard this really was a stupid plan why hadn't I thought it through surely there were better ways to flush out a bug alien
who we could drag in front of high society I didn't even know how to find the front door from here the warehouse full of supplies wasn't where I'd thought it had been well too late now I could try to hog tie a captive on my own but this trash can held no room room for two maybe I could steal another ship terrible idea but it had worked before sort of worth a try anyway I had a rough concept of where the hanger waited theoretically so I made my way there worrying as I did that the
turtle dowo posi was waiting at the front of the compound concerned about me my visibility through the hatch left much to be desired I wanted to spy on everything here bug aliens scuttled by talking in more than one language and looking looking busy some carried things some escorted others who looked important a couple carried video communicators and the people on the other end of the conversation weren't always the same species so far everyone in the base was though I just had that thought when something shuffled past my Hiding Place the footsteps were so different from
the insectile clicks that I peaked out of the hatch before the whatever disappeared around a corner I got a glimpse of something humanoid in a flight suit walking in the most unnatural way bones shouldn't Bend like that then it was gone I closed the hatch again to wait a little before moving on I didn't know what I'd seen But the back of my brain where instincts lived said that I wanted nothing to do with it so I waited other unexplained sights peppered my trip through the place I really wanted to know about some of the
items that those criminals were carrying around this one glowed orange that one smelled like a spicy flower and which humans they were talking to on their communicators the bug aliens themselves ran the range of colors and I could tell which were high ranking by the decorations and the body language instead of bowing to superiors they held themselves at different heights in a way that felt very foreign to me like walking around with bent knees all the time at one point I held still for something scuttling more quietly than usual it moved past me like every
everything else I didn't press my luck by looking this time did they have baby bugs here or maybe just small ones oh well I'd either find out or I wouldn't when it was gone I resumed my creeping along the hanger was pretty close I thought when I reached an open doorway with a lot of action inside H problem I listened for an idea of the scene inside and How likely it would be that they'd spot me easing past the door multiple voices all in Click the sound of alien Electronics being tapped and typed on video
screens with projected voices everything sounded urgent in there which only made sense then something outside exploded rocking the floor and making every bug in the room exclaim at once I barely kept in a startled gasp they weren't coming toward the door very few footsteps many voices I edged sideways to peek inside extremely obvious if they happened to look they didn't the eight or so bug aliens were all focused on the screen that showed a smoking crater in the outside wall good news all around I put the question of who had done that aside for the
moment and glided past the door as smoothly as possible I made it then I hiked up the trash can and ran peeking out through a seam an ideal shadowy Corner waited next to the hanger entrance I could see it as soon as I rounded yet another corner and I popped into place before the many footsteps inside the hanger reached the door lots of bug aliens moved to and fro I wondered if I would get a chance to leave this corner without getting caught did I have another direction to take aside from the Hanger's main entrance
I opened the hatch just a crack and looked around to my surprise the shadowy corner held a doorway and a broken light my Speedy deduction said storage room and someone clumsy with something heavy the scrape on the wall looked like the kind of thing that a person could get a Stern talking 24 oh well not my problem I Edge toward the door a little bit at a time with no one the wiser fun fact bug aliens aren't fond of doorknobs even the ones with proper fingers instead of praying mantis grabby arms tend to have trouble
grasping hard round things and even the door handles that humans use aren't always the best at least the horizontal ones vertical paddles are the way to go that way even the mantis-like types can bump one to the side and so can a person whose arms are full also a person whose arms are inside a trash can the can had just enough of a corner that I could lean against the latch until it clicked open nobody looking good I crept into the room which did look like a storage area complete with dim lighting and stuff everywhere
no bug aliens though Dusty air moving quietly I took off the can and wedged it in front of the door then I found the light switch panel and gave it a good press it was a big bigger place than I'd thought only part was visible from here with the rest just past a dividing wall something made a scrabbling sound when the lights went on I froze one hand reaching back for the trash can and the other in front of me in search of a weapon decision time leaving meant probably getting caught by the bugs in
the hanger staying could mean getting caught getting shot or heck even getting eaten wasn't off the table at this point for all I knew a dangerous animal had escaped its crate in here most of the boxes on the floor looked like they'd been heaved around at random probably to make space for more important things I hadn't made a decision but I found myself easing forward anyway what the heck I flattened against the wall and kept moving one of the boxes had broken open spilling canned food across the floor I picked up two cans feeling more
confident now that I was armed the average human's throwing ability was widely regarded as frightening among the galactic Community something that made me proud for the sake of my baseball playing Rock chucking ancestors hooray for ball and socket shoulder joints I gripped the cans tightly and looked around this latest corner I didn't expect to find a tiny golden robot with spidery legs and many arms pushing against one of the boxes with all its might the box was one of many clustered about a round yellow spaceship which wouldn't be flying anywhere without the help of a
forklift to move some of them but the little guy was clearly trying was that what I'd heard in the hallway earlier possibly was it in League with the baddies probably did it look incredibly desperate in trying to get at the ship yes I will die as I lived I thought making friends do you need help I whispered
