Now, his green skin didn’t bother me that much. His tusks, though... Yes, tusks. Sharp and long, poking out of his mouth and curling over his upper lip. His eyes were dark, and his hair was raven black. But the tusks... I found it hard to look away from the tusks!
“Human,” he said again. “How did you get here?”
“I... I don’t know.” I looked at the pod, at his ship, then at our surroundings. We seemed to be on a beach. Then I looked up at the sky, and finally understood why the light burned so bright and hot. There were two suns! “Where am I?”
I removed my hoodie and was both surprised and relieved when I realized by backpack was still attached to my body. Because I was wearing it in the front when they’d abducted me, the aliens had probably thought nothing of it. Maybe they’d thought I was even bigger than I actually was. They hadn’t removed my hoodie and hadn’t inspected me. Did that mean they were in a hurry?
He cocked an eyebrow. “You’re on P79 Rigus System, also known as Reazus Prime.”
“I... I don’t know what any of those words mean.” I sucked my lower lip in and munched on it. It was cracked. I was so thirsty that I could barely think.
“Here,” he said, and handed me a strange bottle.
I took it, opened it, and sniffed the liquid inside.
“It’s water. Drink.”
“Thank you.”
I drank greedily and watched him as he turned away from me. He cursed under his breath, and the words weren’t translated perfectly in my brain, because I understood maybe half of them. I scratched the back of my head, and I felt there was some pain there. I remembered the jab, and it hit me that my kidnappers had probably installed a translation device into my brain. Otherwise, how was I able to understand everything the orc man said?
Yes! An orc! That was what he was. What other creature had tusks like his? And also green skin...
“You’re an orc,” I said.
He ignored me, busy with his tools as he tried to fix the damage my pod had done.
I stepped closer to him.
“You’re an orc, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“Orc,” I said again. Was he deaf or something?
Exasperated, he turned toward me and shot me an annoyed glance.
“What are you on about, human? I don’t know what that word means, and the translator doesn’t know, either.”
“You don’t know what an orc is? It’s like... a fantasy creature... umm... monster. Yes! A fantasy monster with green or gray skin, and with tusks, just like yours.”
He blinked, then shook his head and returned to his work.
“I’m not a fantasy creature, much less a monster. Or an orc. I am Zokunian.”
“What’s a Zokunian?” I drank more water and leaned against the side of his ship.
He let out a growl and looked at me like he wanted to murder me, so I jumped aside and put distance between myself and his spaceship.
“You’ve done enough damage for one day, human. I don’t have time for this. I don’t have time for you, and I’m only trying to fix the ship so it would fly to the Hub. It will need more fixing after, if I want to make it back to Zorran. But until then, I’m on a mission, and I’m behind already. So, step aside, be done with your babbling, and let me work.”
“Hmph.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I only asked a question. What’s a Zokunian? And what’s Zorran? And what’s the Hub? Also, my name is Angie. Stop calling me human. It doesn’t sound very flattering.”
“Angie.”
He stopped for a moment and looked at me. Our eyes met, and he held my gaze for well over a minute. It felt like we were suspended in time. A dozen thoughts went through my mind. Was he trying to decide what to do with me? So far, he’d been nice. He’d helped me out of the pod, and he’d given me water to drink. But my presence clearly annoyed him. I’d crashed on top of his ship at a very inopportune moment. He was on a mission, he’d said. And I was in his way.
“Angie.” His brows furrowed when he said my name a second time. “Zorran is the name of my planet. Zokunian is my race. And the Hub is the place where you might find a solution to your predicament. Angie, you have to know that the planet you landed on, Reazus Prime, is very dangerous. It’s not a good place for someone like you.”