Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,23

dies when three Gurandu hunters calmly step out of the greenery to block my way, weapons held ready.

The antimatter gun is dangling uselessly from my shoulder, and the vibroblade is a joke against these armored hunters.

I quickly run through my options.

There are none. Even if I dump Averie on the ground, I’ll be burned to a crisp before I can lift the antimatter gun in the vague direction of my enemies.

“Why are we stopped?” Averie asks from behind my lower back.

I carefully put her down on the ground in front of me, pulling her halfway out of the cocoon in the same movement.

“Drop the gun, too,” the Gurandu leader says in smooth Interspeech. I recognize him. It’s the chief hunter, IruBex. He’s old and experienced, and he’s my worst enemy.

I do as he says, taking the antimatter gun by the strap and tossing it away.

Quickly ducking to avoid a whipping vine, I discreetly drop the vibroblade right next to Averie’s hand.

“You can let her go, at least,” I suggest, knowing the game is up for me. “She has nothing to do with it.”

The tentacles around IruBex’s main mouth undulate like a sickening wave. “Ah. This is the human female you stole from the Bululg, no doubt. We will take her, of course. The Bululg will pay for her.”

“I doubt it,” I reply. “She was passed over for harvesting. Just take back to her planet.”

“Perhaps,” the centipede-like alien says. “I suppose we should find something to amuse us now that we’ve finally caught you.”

IruBex narrowly avoids a barrage of seeds shot at his face. At least the Fentrat isn’t playing favorites.

“Well, you got me,” I agree. “You can just shoot me now, win your pitiful game.”

“We could—” he ducks as two vines whip at his thorax, “—do that. But you are the last one of your kind. And it would be tempting to bring you home and put you to death in public. In the Royal Square, probably. I mean, the ticket sales— oh, these vines are annoying – would make me richer than I’d ever dreamed. You’re by far the most evasive and persistent prey we’ve ever hunted, Zaroc. Do you know you’re becoming legendary on our planet?”

“Just shoot me and reduce your risk,” I sigh. A clean death here actually doesn’t seem so bad, compared to a drawn-out spectacle in the Gurandu’s capital city. “Given the slightest opening, I’ll kill myself and you will only collect a fraction of the points.”

“There is that risk,” IruBex agrees. “And yet we’re tempted. At any rate, let’s get away from this green hell so we can think properly.”

I take a step back. “Bring the female to Earth,” I urge them. “I’ll rather let the Fentrat kill me, and then you won’t be able to prove I’m dead. There will be no body, you see.”

The three Gurandu look at each other with huge compound eyes.

“How about this,” IruBex says quickly. “We will take the female back to her planet only if you come with us, too. If you escape to be killed by the Fentrat, we leave her here as well.”

If the Gurandu were notorious liars, I would laugh and let the plant kill me. But they are no more prone to untruths than most species. In a position of power, like IruBex is in now, he might well be sincere and fully intending to keep up his part of the deal.

Averie is looking up at me, almost completely free of the cocoon. Her hand is clenched around the vibroblade.

My tongue shoots out. She smells incredible, better than ever. I want to savor it, this last time.

“Let me check if she will survive,” I demand. “If she will die anyway, your proposal is worthless.”

“Very well,” IruBex says. “But be fast. The Fentrat is trying to weave a dense canopy over our ships.”

I bend down and free Averie of the cocoon, doing my best to luxuriate in the final touch of her skin. She has not been injured by the Fentrat.

“I think this can work out for you,” I tell her. “They might well take you back home. It’s your best chance.”

“I heard what they said. They’re going to kill you, right?”

“That is what they do,” I confirm gruffly.

“You’re giving yourself up to these guys just so they will take me home?”

My tongue shoots out, sampling her one last time. Then I lift her to her feet.

“She’ll be fine,” I inform the Gurandu. “She needs oxygen at about twenty percent, carbon-rich nutrition, and pure