to Hidden Planet. They pay to government for access to Hidden Planet market. Those people take trade items and get compensation on trade planets.” Again, the calm tone left Max in shock. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a problem Max could shoot, although he wanted to.
“Why don’t you go to a trade planet yourself?” If Rick was afraid of the other aliens, Max was more than willing to play bodyguard, and he might even consider a career in breaking knees—assuming he could find something that passed as a knee on whichever alien insulted Rick.
“The many peoples refuse compensation to Hidden People.”
Max thought about how his social worker had reacted to Max’s decision to take the job with Rick. Even then he’d known something more important than the volume of Rick’s voice was involved. “Query. How can they refuse to trade? Query. Isn’t refusing trade unfair?”
Rick shifted to look out of different eyes. “Query. Is fairness required for earning of compensation?”
Max blew out a frustrated breath. Rick had him there.
Rick shifted closer and Max spread his knees so Rick would fit between them. “Hidden People are hidden. Hidden Planet is hidden. The peoples dislike hidden. They retaliation.”
“Clarify. They retaliate,” Max said absent-mindedly. “Query. What do they retaliate against?”
“Answer. The hidden.”
One of these days Max was going to pound his head against a wall. However, ignoring communication problems had gotten him knocked up last time, so he had to put on his big-pilot’s pants and figure this out.
“Query. Why do they care if you are hidden people?”
Rick turned a quarter rotation, which almost always meant he was confused. Or worried. Sometimes it meant worried. “The Hidden People disrupt space...” and another series of belches and wails came through the computer. Rick continued despite the translation failure. “The peoples cannot ship navigate that part of space without...” More wailing.
“Wait.” Max caught Rick by the tentacle. “Query. Have the Hidden People set up a defense that blocks other people from traveling in their part of space?”
“Yes.” Rick didn’t even twitch a tentacle.
Oh, that explained most of the anger. Rick’s people wouldn’t let the others walk on their metaphorical lawn. And the others were retaliating by putting sanctions on the Hidden people. That made a lot more sense than discrimination against non-symmetry. However, if these assholes thought they could cheat Rick, they had another thought coming. Max had no idea how to fix this, but he did know the universe did not get to cheat his husband or his children.
Max was distracted when a tentacle snuck under his shirt. “You are horny.” Max was not complaining at all.
“Lack of horns,” Rick disagreed. “But I am the man your man could smell like.”
Max snorted so hard that he had a snot backup on the brain. “You like those deodorant commercials too much.”
“I am desired as is man of muscles.” Rick raised a tentacle to mimic flexing an arm. The gesture was ridiculous when gym rats did it, and doubly so when Rick copied it, but Max had to agree with Rick’s basic conclusion. Rick was hot. Max caught that red tipped tentacle.
“Tangle tentacles.” Rick curled a tentacle around Max's wrist and tugged him off the awkward stool. It was funny how Max had learned to interpret tentacle positions, even in the absence of any emotional tone. The translator was still monotone despite everything Max had done, but Rick’s happiness shone through. The finger tentacles tickled across Max’s arm before Rick wound the slender tentacle around Max’s hand.
“You have beautiful tentacles to tangle.” Max hooked his heel around one of Rick’s larger tentacles and pulled it closer. Rick twitch-shivered in pleasure. Then Rick grabbed Max’s legs and jerked them hard enough that Max lost contact with the floor. But Rick had the strength to hold him, so now Max was suspended as Rick slowly spread his legs.
“You can’t get my pants off that way,” Max warned. Their sex did lead to a significant amount of torn clothing.
Rick tugged the bottom of Max’s shirt, pushing it up. It got caught on Max’s neck, and trapped his arms in the fabric. Maybe that was an accident, maybe not. But Rick took advantage of the situation to curl around Max’s bare torso. Fingers pulled at Max’s nipple, and his cock hardened.
“No fair,” Max complained, his voice muffled in his shirt.
“All advantage fair in love,” Rick countered. He pulled Max’s legs up.
Max squirmed out of his shirt and grabbed the nearest tentacle. He knew Rick was strong enough to hold him. Hell, they’d