“You have mistaken my intent, little one. I am not buying you as a Sex Pet—though there is, regrettably, quite a large trade in those in my own galaxy. I only wanted a companion and, as I said earlier, there is a point I need to prove about your galaxy.”
“Well pick some other curvy girl to be your companion and prove your point!” I told him. “I’mnotavailable!”
“Oh, but I am afraid you are. And I tire of this inane conversation—you are coming with me.” The gray giant crossed the room in a single stride, picked me up, and slung me over one broad shoulder.
I gasped and kicked—or tried to—but he was incredibly strong. I felt like I had been caught by a force of nature—might as well try to fight a tornado that had scooped you up! But still—I tried.
“Let me go! Let mego!”I shouted, pounding on his broad back.
“Farewell, Overlord!” Charnoth called, waving his many blue, clawed hands. “Enjoy your new acquisition and please do not forget to study the pamphlet about the care and feeding of your new human!”
The giant didn’t answer. He was too busy striding through the spaceship—oh my God, I was actually in a spaceship!—with me over his shoulder.
There were other worms in the next room, all staring at me with interest. I saw a lot of equipment that looked like it belonged in a science fiction movie. And I also saw my captor’s ass—which looked pretty spectacular in the tight, black trousers, I can tell you. Not that I was thinking that at the time.
Because it was at that moment that I realized the gray giant had atail.
It stuck out from the back of his trousers, right above his ass, and waved to and fro in a businesslike manner. It looked kind of like a cat’s tail, I thought, though my captor didn’t appear otherwise feline. It was long and gray and the tip of it had a kind of silver metal cap on it.
But forget the tail—I was trying to get away! I shouted myself hoarse and struggled like crazy and all the while the damn tail waved back and forth in the corner of my vision. Before I knew it, we were going through a doorway and then through a long, flexible tunnel, and then into what I assumed was another spaceship.
When we got through this last door, the giant swung it closed. Then he walked through the ship—I got hasty glimpses of glowing equipment and then a living area filled with enormous furniture—and into another room.
The outside area had been lit with a low, golden light but this new place had a strange, blue luminescence which made everything look like it was underwater. The giant put me down…and promptly shoved me into a kind of cage that was sitting in the corner of the room.
“I do not have time to train you at present,” he informed me as he closed and latched the door of the cage. “But you will be safe here, little one.”
“Wait!” I exclaimed, looking around in panic.
The cage he had put me in was about six feet long and four feet tall and very narrow. Since I’m five foot four, I couldn’t even stand up in it and I’mhorriblyclaustrophobic.
“Wait, please!” I begged again. “Please—don’t leave me in here!”
My captor frowned at me.
“I need to pilot the ship to the nearest spaceport for fuel. You will have to be patient until I can attend you. I promise no harm will befall you while you are in your crate.”
Mycrate?Was heserious?
Apparently so because he was about to leave.
“Okay, okay,” I said quickly. “I understand you don’t have time to, er, train me right now, but you don’t have to lock me up like this! I’ll be good—Ipromise.”
He shook his head.
“This is my sleeping chamber—I cannot let a strange animal run around causing chaos in my absence.”
Then, before I could say anything else, he turned and left, shutting the bedroom door behind him and leaving me alone in the cage, bathed in the eerie blue glow.
FOUR
SIR
Ifrowned as I left the sleeping chamber and made my way to the front of the ship, where the ship’s cockpit was located. Sliding into the pilot’s seat, I picked up the control band and placed it on my head, making certain that the thought- conduction pads were pressed firmly against my temples.
Closing my eyes, I attempted to start the ship and set a course for the nearest spaceport. But my mind was full of my new pet—the little Earthling which I had bought from the Commercians.
She was a fetching little thing, though I had not yet thought of a name for her. She was rather loquacious, but that was probably just because she was frightened. I hadn’t owned a pet in a long time—not since my boyhood—and I had never owned a sentient pet before. She would get used to me eventually—it would just take a lot of patience and training to tame her, that was all.