Alien Pets, Trisha McNary [free novel 24 .txt] 📗
- Author: Trisha McNary
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“I’m not trying to blame or criticize Antaska. After all, she’s no more flawed than any other Earth human, and even among the Verdantes, we have our faults. Can any humanoid ever be perfect?” the master asked. “What I’m trying to say is that if my pets have singled out Antaska for their special attention, it’s a sign that she needs that attention. The universe always provides us with what we need, but we must be willing to accept that help in whatever form it is given.”
“Huh?” said M. Hoyvil again.
“Yes,” said Master Mytaar. “Be warned that your companion will have even greater challenges to face in the future. Be grateful that she’s being forced to learn to defend herself against much stronger forces that may threaten her. And the universe is not providing this lesson for her benefit alone. It’s clear that there’s something you also need to learn from this experience in order to face what lies ahead of you.”
M. Hoyvil wasn’t pleased by this explanation, but he bowed appropriately and answered, “Yes, instructor.”
As Master Mytaar walked away, M. Hoyvil’s thoughts about him were less than appropriate.
I wonder if he’s just making excuses because he doesn’t want to upset his precious pets. The adults always claim to have superior knowledge because they talk to the trees. I guess the trees are experts on this situation, M. Hoyvil thought sarcastically.
The large instructor turned back and looked at M. Hoyvil with the corners of his eyes lifted in a smug smile.
“Do not ever assume that I don’t know what you’re thinking,” he said.
A loud but melodious gong sounded throughout the gym.
“Time for exercise is over!” Tall, beautiful Tilde shouted at the class of Earth humans.
Antaska was relieved. The room darkened, and the occupants of the gym, both Earth human and Verdante, all sat down for a final stretch and cool down. After ten minutes, the gong sounded again, and the light in the room brightened. They all stretched and rose to their feet, and the Verdantes came to collect their human companions. Antaska slowly stood back up, pushing against her body’s aches and stiffness.
She was still in the painful process of straightening back up to a standing position when M. Hoyvil reached her side.
“Are you OK? Do you need a hand getting up?” he asked her.
His enormous eyes were wide with what she recognized as concern.
Antaska was touched, and she wanted to grab onto the big green hand. But she looked over and saw the two fitness instructors watching her.
If he helps me up, they’ll see that as a sign of weakness, she thought. And Tilde will think she’s beaten me down.
“Thank you, but I’m fine. I can get up by myself,” said Antaska.
“OK. If you’re sure,” said M. Hoyvil.
He dropped his hand back to his side and waited. Then they walked together out of the gym.
As each of the students exited, a blue light filled the entranceway. M. Hoyvil paused to let Antaska go through first, then he followed.
Just outside the door, a disembodied voice spoke out loud.
“Four of the left ribs of this human are badly bruised but not broken. Place a cold pack on the ribs for twenty minutes.”
A small compartment opened up in the wall on the side of the doorway. Inside was a round, soft-looking liquid-filled object. M. Hoyvil reached in and removed the cold pack. He handed it to Antaska, and the opening in the wall closed again.
“I’m relieved to hear that nothing is broken. Hold this on your ribs, and it should help you feel better,” M. Hoyvil told her.
Antaska placed the pack on her sore ribs, and it did seem to help. She walked slowly, distracted more by thoughts of Eegor than by the pain.
I guess this is proof that he really is interested in me, she thought giddily.
Similar thoughts about Eegor swirled uncontrollably through her mind, accompanied by visual images of his physical perfections.
Up close, he was even more beautiful than I imagined, almost like a work of art. Perfectly sculpted cheekbones and straight nose—not too small, not too big. The power of his intense gray-green eyes was irresistible. He really is the most handsome and physically fit man I’ve ever seen. How could he even notice me when it seems like the world’s most beautiful woman is his partner? Antaska asked herself with a pleasurable surge of vanity.
M. Hoyvil was walking at a slow pace that was easy for Antaska to keep up with. He didn’t speak until they were inside their main room.
“Are you OK?” he asked again looking down at her. “Do you want to see Dr. Daji? Those trainers were much too rough on you.”
Antaska could sense some emotion in his facial expression and his words, and she was touched by his concern. At this moment, the beginning of a small but very real bond between them began to form.
“I’m sore, but I don’t need to see the doctor. The voice at the gym door said nothing is broken. Thank you for asking,” she answered.
In Antaska’s mind, the thrill of Eegor’s interest far outweighed the price of pain she had paid. She felt a strong urge to tell someone about what had happened but definitely not her new employer, M. Hoyvil.
“OK, but tell me if they get too rough, and I’ll do something about it,” M. Hoyvil promised. “Would you rather stay in the rooms and rest now instead of going to the meeting with me?”
“No, I want to go to the meeting,” Antaska answered.
He nodded, and they both went into their separate rooms to shower and change into their ship suits.
In Antaska’s room, Potat was still asleep on the round pillow on the round bed in the exact position she had been in when they left. Antaska sat next to her on the bed, and Potat opened her tiny golden eyes to stare up at her. Then Potat got up and rubbed softly against Antaska’s bruised side, purring loudly. Antaska petted her lightly but felt too sore to pick her up.
Bursting with the need to talk about her experience in the gym, she spoke to Potat.
“Something really interesting has happened. The most gorgeous, most buff man you’ve ever seen was looking at me in the dining hall, and today he came right over to me in gym class. I think he’s interested in me. Even though he might already have a partner, who is amazingly beautiful. Well, sometimes people change partners. That happens all the time. That’s how it was on Earth. Maybe their relationship is ending, and he’s looking for a new partner. What do you think?”
Of course, Potat didn’t answer. She didn’t seem to be interested in the story at all.
I must have been crazy to think this cat was talking to me before, Antaska thought. She doesn’t care about my love life!
“I care, but you don’t listen,” Antaska imagined that Potat was answering her.
“Yeah, I must have hit my head too,” Antaska said.
Potat looked up at her and meowed.
“Hello!” Antaska imagined the cat voice was saying.
She bent over painfully to give Potat a small hug. Then she sat back up with a groan.
“I have to shower and get ready for the meeting now,” Antaska told her. “I’d like to take you, but I don’t know if that would be allowed. I’ll ask M. Hoyvil about it, and maybe you can go next time.”
Potat continued to circle around her, purring and pressing against her sides.
“I’m fine,” Antaska insisted.
She stood up slowly, still feeling the pain in her ribs, and got ready for the meeting.
M. Hoyvil waited for Antaska in the main room. He carried his backpack and computer. They were really going to one of his classes, but he had told Antaska it was a meeting. He wasn’t sure if she was ready to find out yet that he wasn’t really an adult, and this wasn’t really a job.
Antaska came out with Potat right behind her. But instead of standing next to the door and meowing like she did the last time they went out, Potat stopped in the middle of the room.
She must not want to go with us this time, M. Hoyvil thought.
Potat looked up at him and blinked. A low female voice seemed to echo in his mind, but he couldn’t make out the words.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t hear you very well,” M. Hoyvil apologized to her telepathically.
Potat blinked at him again. Then circled around the main room and headed into his room through his open door.
“That’s not your room!” Antaska called after her.
M. Hoyvil’s eyes curved up in a smile.
“It’s fine,” he told Antaska. “She can’t break anything in there.”
“Knowing Potat, she might try. She loves to rip up couches and chairs,” said Antaska.
“Oh, that’s OK,” said M. Hoyvil. “All the furniture is self-repairing.”
He palmed the door opener, and they went out and on their way.
On the way to class, M. Hoyvil thought about what had happened to Antaska in the gym. It didn’t escape his notice that she was probably interested in the un-Earthly attractive male trainer, but she was an adult of her species. The rules for the treatment of humans didn’t allow him to interfere with their mating behavior. He could give her advice, but he was sure that she would resent it. In any case, he really didn’t want to talk about it.
Still, he was worried. What if something worse happened next time? He didn’t know what he could actually do, but he was determined to protect her.
Antaska walked with M. Hoyvil into the circle-shaped meeting room, and she heard more of the now-familiar whispering sounds. The room held about thirty large desks placed so they curved around and faced a larger desk placed at the back. The ceiling was higher than the one in the main room in their quarters but lower than those in the dining hall and gym. It had the same domed shape Antaska had seen so far in all the rooms in the space ship.
Verdantes who were the same size as M. Hoyvil—some accompanied by Earth humans, some not—entered the room and sat at big desks. Each desk had at least two chairs: one large Verdante chair and one or more smaller human-sized chairs with attached step ladders.
M. Hoyvil first led Antaska to a side wall. He opened a compartment and handed her two drink tubes. Then he took four more for himself, easily holding two in each of his six-fingered hands. Then he led her to an empty desk. He pulled a computer tablet from his backpack and placed it on the desk before sitting down.
Antaska was temporarily distracted from both her sore ribs and her thoughts of Eegor by the sound of loud whispering. She climbed the steps to her chair and sat down. Then she looked around the room and recognized some of the humans from her exercise class but not all of them. Antaska wondered if the rest of them had stayed in their rooms resting and recovering from the intense, unaccustomed workout.
The red-haired woman who had spoke to Antaska in the gym was sitting a few seats over. She smiled
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