Alien Pets, Trisha McNary [free novel 24 .txt] 📗

Chapter 18

Shortly before that time, back in their quarters, Potat had become more and more worried about Antaska. She had tried to tell M. Hoyvil that Antaska was in danger, but his intelligence was limited. He could only understand a few words of the cat telepathic language.

“My pet is in danger! We must go get her!” she told M. Hoyvil.

“Did you say, ‘Get pet, get pet?’” he asked Potat. “I’m worried about her too, but I can’t just go out and force her to come back. She’s got the right to make her own decisions, and I’m not going to treat her like a pet.”

“She’s my pet, and she is in danger!” Potat insisted. “Someone’s hurting her! We have to go get her!”

“Did you say, ‘My pet. My pet. Get my pet?” M. Hoyvil asked. “I’m not saying that she’s not your pet. But even if she is, I still can’t go get her. That would be treating her like she was my pet. She’s not going to believe that I was just doing what you told me to.”

Potat grew frustrated at his obstinacy. It was clear that he didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation. So she used the same drastic measures that were often necessary to get Antaska’s attention.

Meowing loudly, Potat stuck her claws as hard and deep as she could into M. Hoyvil’s thigh. He didn’t seem to feel the claws, but at least he heard the meowing.

“It’s okay, little cat,” he said.

I know he doesn’t really believe that, Potat thought.

M. Hoyvil lifted her up and hugged her.

Potat kept meowing and struggled with all her might. Then she attacked M. Hoyvil with a whirlwind of all four scratching paws. He let her go, and she dashed to the hallway door. She stood up on her back legs and scratched the door furiously with her front paws.

“Bad boy! Bad girl!” she shouted at M. Hoyvil telepathically, hoping he would finally get the message.

At last, M. Hoyvil gave in. “Since you insist, I guess it won’t hurt for us to at least go check on Antaska. I won’t tell her she has to come back, I’ll just say you seemed worried.”

He opened the door, and Potat ran out and down the hallway toward the gym. But M. Hoyvil was much faster. He scooped Potat up, dropped her in his pocket, and rushed toward the gym in a blur of speed that was faster than even the most powerful Earth human.

Finally, he gets it, thought Potat.

Chapter 19

Back in the classroom, the sound of more pounding feet came from the hallway. Then a big green and red blur flowed into the room, stopped, and appeared as a gigantic male Verdante. But Antaska didn’t pay any attention to that. All her attention was on Tilde’s rage-fueled fist. Frozen in time, Antaska watched the fist move as if in slow motion toward her face. Antaska knew there was no escape this time. She closed her eyes and waited.

“Thud!” Antaska heard the sound of Tilde’s fist hitting something hard. But she didn’t feel anything. Not even the slight thump she would have felt in a virtual game. Antaska opened her eyes.

M. Hoyvil was standing between her and Tilde. He rubbed a big green hand on a spot in the middle of his chest.

“Ouch!” he said loudly but telepathically.

Antaska heard but pretended not to. She peered around M. Hoyvil and saw Tilde standing there rubbing her bruised fist with her other hand. Tilde’s mouth was clenched shut, and a drop of wetness appeared in the corner of one eye.

Eegor was still sitting on the floor looking up with wide eyes and a wide-open mouth.

A loud, deep male voice came from the middle of the room. “What is going on here?” demanded Master Mytaar.

The gigantic green man stood there dressed in the usual bright red ship suit worn by Verdante adults. He’d arrived in the room just in time to watch Tilde throw her punch. Master Mytaar towered over them all in the middle of the room.

“Master Mytaar!” said Eegor and Tilde out loud.

And M. Hoyvil said the same thing telepathically.

“Tilde! Why did I just see you aiming a punch for this human’s face?” Master Mytaar said with a gesture toward Antaska. “And Eegor, why are you there on the floor? And you, M. Hoyvil, what are you doing here?”

Tilde and Eegor both lowered their heads, but M. Hoyvil, even though he was two feet shorter than the big man, kept his head high.

This was all very dramatic, but Antaska looked over to the front of the room and saw someone who was even more important.

Potat stood on the desk where M. Hoyvil had carefully placed her when he dashed into the room. Her back was still arched to its highest, and her fur extended in sharp spikes. She hissed and spat.

When Potat saw that Antaska was safe and finally noticed her, she started to calm down. She sat down on the desk and began smoothing down her fluffed up gray and white fur. Good. Antaska was on her way over.

“Are you OK?” asked Antaska. “What are you doing here? This isn’t a safe place for a little cat like you.”

Potat was happy to see that her pet Antaska had the right priorities.

“I’m fine,” Potat answered her telepathically. “Can you hear me now?”

Antaska didn’t answer, she just winked at her. Potat knew why. If the Verdantes found out Antaska was telepathic, they wouldn’t let her travel to outer space with them.

Potat looked back over at the others. M. Hoyvil stood with arms across his chest glaring down at the two big humanoids.

That’s good too, thought Potat.

Then more pounding feet were heard outside in the hallway. Everyone turned to look at the door. An Earth human male of Antaska’s size rushed in. He braked to a stop in the middle of the room.

“Pablo!” said Antaska and Tilde at the same time.

“What’s going on in here?” asked Pablo, looking around the room.

He walked over and stood next to Antaska.

“Yes, what is going on in here?” asked someone else.

Another large presence had entered the room unnoticed by everyone except Potat. A cat notices everything.

Master Mytaar’s life partner, Mistress Moneeka, stood just within the doorway. Standing in the dimly lit room, Mistress Moneeka seemed to be surrounded by a golden aura, perhaps caused by the soft shine of her lime green skin and hair against the glow of her shiny red ship suit. Her large eyes scanned each person in the room as if seeking the answer to her question.

Mistress Moneeka’s large-eyed gaze moved around the room from Eegor to Tilde to M. Hoyvil to Pablo and then to Potat. All the others looked down under the almost supernatural force of Mistress Moneeka’s stare, but Potat stared right back at her.

Of course, the giant humanoid woman looked away first.

When the heavy weight of Mistress Moneeka’s probing gaze settled on Antaska, she felt as if all her deepest and darkest secrets were being revealed and judged. Antaska looked up at the large Verdante woman with confused feelings of shame, fear, and resentment. Mistress Moneeka met her eyes and held them, and for a few moments, Antaska was unable to look away. After what seemed like an eternity, the huge emerald green eyes released their hold on her.

“That was kind of invasive, don’t you think?” Antaska heard M. Hoyvil say telepathically.

Mistress Moneeka ignored his question. She walked over to stand next to Master Mytaar.

“Come over here and join us,” said the gigantic lime-green woman out loud to Antaska. Her voice was gentle but compelling. “We must hear from you what happened, and then we’ll decide what to do about all this.”

Antaska walked over and stood next to M. Hoyvil.

“I’m fine. I’m not harmed,” Antaska insisted in a calm but shaky voice.

“You say you’re fine, but in this situation, we must find out what happened. If someone broke our laws and the galactic laws, that must be punished,” said Mistress Moneeka.

She looked down at Antaska from four feet above.

“A record must be made for legal purposes. Luckily, there are many witnesses here. We will hear everyone’s stories, starting with yours,” said Mistress Moneeka.

Master Mytaar remained silent and stood with downcast eyes, apparently letting his mate handle things.

Antaska didn’t argue with Mistress Moneeka. She told them all what had happened, starting from when Eegor grabbed her in the hallway.

Pablo gasped when Antaska got to the part about Tilde swinging her fist toward her face. He didn’t say anything. But Antaska saw Tilde turn to look at him with an expression that Antaska couldn’t read. Antaska ended the story when she opened her eyes and saw M. Hoyvil standing in front of her.

“Thank you,” said Mistress Moneeka . “You may wait with your friend over there.”

She gestured with a gigantic green hand toward Pablo and Potat. Antaska wasted no time in going back to them. Wiry, dark-haired Pablo was leaning against the big desk that Potat was on, and Antaska joined him there.

“Are you OK?” he asked in a whisper. “You didn’t show up for practice, and I got worried.”

“Yes,” Antaska whispered back.

Then they both turned and listened to Mistress Moneeka.

“Eegor, your turn is next,” the big alien woman said. “You know I care about you, and I don’t mean to sound harsh. But if you lie to me, I’ll know, and your punishment will be worse.”

Eegor frowned, but he stood up. His thoughts about Antaska were resentful.

I don’t see why we have to wait here talking about a foolish Earth woman’s so-called ‘injuries.’ A scar will form on my skin if it isn’t seen to soon. She won’t have any scars. Surely they can see who’s the real villain here. We all know that Master Mytaar and Mistress Moneeka won’t interfere with my mating habits. They’ll let me keep doing what I’ve always been doing. What a joke this is!

He knew he had to tell the truth though. Eegor had lived with Mistress Moneeka all of his life, and she wasn’t kidding about knowing when someone was lying.

But how can I make them understand my side of the story? he wondered.

“Well, it’s like this,” said Eegor. “This Earth female acted like she was interested in me. She kept looking at me in the dining hall, you know. So even though she’s not up to my usual standards, I decided to give her some attention since she wanted it so bad.”

Eegor heard some gasps and grumbles from Tilde and others around the room. He didn’t look at Tilde. It was awkward. He’d always lied to her in the past, but that wouldn’t work this time.

Instead, Eegor looked up at Master Mytaar. He expected to see the usual amused but understanding look