Chapter 6
Hawk ripped the watch off of his wrist and made to smash it on the ground, but at the last moment he stopped himself. As much as he hated all of them, he needed to remain in contact for his girlfriend's sake. He reluctantly strapped it back on.
He shook his head. Fine. He'll disable the weapon. If the Rhaokins were telling the truth, which he was sure that they were, there was no harm in disabling it. Perhaps he could convince the Rhaokins of his situation and they would understand.
He shook his head. Or perhaps they wouldn't.
Not worth the chance. The greatest infiltrator on Earth shouldn't have a problem disabling an alien device in a locked off part of an alien cruise ship. And with about five thousand possible suspects aboard the craft, if he performed well enough humanity wouldn't even be a suspect.
He left the closet and walked down the hall. The hallway stretched so far down that it disappeared into a black dot. The walls were white and the floors some sort of black marble. He kept forward, past the door where he'd cleaned with Golf, and past the following door where Golf was currently cleaning.
"There must be some sort of shuttle," he said to himself.
The prospect of showing his face to too many Rhaokins wasn't alluring, but his options were limited. He continued onward, looking for any sort of backdoor or air vent, anything he could utilize to remain unseen.
A few more doors down the hallway dynamic changed. All the doors had so far been on his right, but there was no a hallway opening to his left. He turned the corner.
Here was what he was looking for. Reminiscent of a subway platform, he was now standing in a larger room with a track lying parallel to the hallway. The platform was completely empty, much to Hawk's relief.
On his left was a large tunnel. He shifted his perception. It wasn't a tunnel—it was a hole. He had to force his brain to recognize the ship differently than his mind naturally wanted to perceive it. Despite the fact that he stood perpendicular to the track, he had to force himself to recognize it less like a subway and more like an elevator. And for the sake of his sanity, he had to come to terms with the fact that he was walking on the inner walls of an upright water tower-shaped ship. Where he needed to go, the area that was off-limits, was not at the front of the ship, but at the top of it.
It made him nauseous just thinking about it. The track was a long metal stripper pole, although considerably thicker, and from what Hawk could see, it ran from the bottom of the ship to the top of it.
The vehicle shot by unbelievably quickly. It was shaped like a long doughnut. All the legs of the water tower or jellyfish shaped ship connected to this center hub, which was the equivalent of an elevator lobby.
He walked forward and found a button. He pressed it, but it was just shaped like a button, and didn't submit to his touch. He kept trying it, but nothing happened.
"Dumbass," Hawk called himself. He took his cardkey from his waistband and swiped it against the button. It now glowed yellow.
A moment later, the donut shot past him again, this time from the opposite direction. It had glass walls, so he was able to make out the Rhaokins inside. And from his quick glimpse, a few of them saw him for a second as well.
He swiped his card against the button again, but it didn't react. He tapped his foot.
Then the elevator shot back up and stopped on his floor. As soon as the doors opened, something strange happened. Hawk was immediately lifted off his feet, rotated gently in midair, and gently placed down on the inside center of the elevator, so he was looking up at where he'd just been standing moments before.
This time he couldn't hold it in. He puked, and it flew out of the elevator and landed where he'd been standing.
The doors didn't close. The elevator wouldn't move. Then a mechanical alien voice spoke, pleasant and feminine.
It sounded like similar to the Rhaokin phrase Golf had taught him earlier. A second after, the feminine voice spoke again, this time in English.
"Please step off the docking platform. Thank you. Please step off the docking platform. Thank you."
Hawk realized the ship wouldn't move until he did. At the bottom of the elevator were buttons. He didn't want to mess with those, however, so he just stepped off the docking platform and hoped that the elevator would just move on its own, similar to a human elevator.
A second after he stepped off the platform, the doors shut and the elevator shot forward.
Through the glass window above him he now saw into space. Around him were clearly the other legs of the ship, and between them he saw nothing but empty space and countless stars. He wasn't facing Earth, and from his angle he couldn't make out any identifiable space objects.
The floor of the elevator circled around the stripper pole track. Hawk couldn't stomach walking while in motion, but he suspected that if he followed the ring he would walk in a circle around the vehicle and return right where he stood now.
He arrived at another lobby sort of room, looking almost identical to the room he had been in a minute prior, but the elevator shot straight past it.
At the next stop he wasn't so lucky. The vehicle slowed to a stop. But he didn't see anyone enter from the lobby he could observe, and on his left and right the doors remained shut as well.
The doors closed and the elevator continued upward.
To his horror, he heard two voices conversing in the Rhaokin language.
Hawk kept perfectly still. He barely moved. He kept his breathing slow and deliberate.
Then he heard footsteps. They were walking toward him.
Stepping with an impossible lightness for a man of his size, Hawk walked the opposite direction, to keep the direct center floor of the vehicle between himself and the Rhaokin. He glanced at his back a couple times to gage the speed of the other occupants—and almost walked directly into the back of another Rhaokin.
This one was obviously female. Considerably smaller than her male counterpart, she stood a few inches short of six feet, had long hair, and a considerably smaller frame.
She gasped as he approached, then said something unintelligible in Rhaokin.
Hawk responded quickly. "English ayvrusk trunk avast."
The Rhaokin woman paused for a second, appearing to think very hard. Objectively, she had a pleasant, softer face than the males Hawk had met.
"English bad."
There was a second Rhaokin in the elevator, the one that had began to walk toward him earlier. It paused at the two of them and looked for a second, then spoke.
"I'm assuming, from your custodial equipment and badge, that you've already met a fellow custodian?"
Hawk nodded. "Yeah, Golf got me set up."
"Did he shake your hand?"
Hawk nodded and smiled. "Yeah, both him and Omega."
"Damn."
The female Rhaokin said something intelligible to the Rhaokin, and he replied in their language. Then he turned to Hawk and continued in English.
"So are you a member of your government or an independent?"
"Independent."
"Did Golf fill you in on everything?"
"Yeah pretty much. From what he told me, I'm guessing that she's a guest?"
"Yeah that's right. Good thing he taught you that phrase too. The guests aren't as used to alien invaders on our ship as we are."
The female spoke again. Then the male replied. Hawk tried to listen to them speak, to pick up patterns and repeated phrases, but nothing clicked. They spoke too quickly. The female spoke again. The custodian replied with a short, "Rah" sound. The female said "Cruoe'um" and the custodian replied again with "Rah," shaking his head. The female gave him a pleading look, and the custodian sighed, then turned to Hawk.
"I'm really sorry about this." The Rhaokin sighed and shook his head, then continued. "She wants me to ask if you would consider having intimate relations with her."
Hawk blinked a few times. "Um... What?" He avoided looking at the female.
The custodian shook his head.
"This is... I've heard of this happening, but I never thought..." He stopped for a moment, then continued. "It's rare, not as uncommon as you'd think, but rare, that alien species look and behave in a similar enough manner that we can recognize facial expressions and motions. Our species are very similar in that regard. We even shake our heads in the same manner to indicate a positive and negative response. That gesture isn't as uncommon as you would think either, but yeah. I'm rambling a little bit. To get to the point, she is thrilled that you are relatively attractive, and undoubtedly wants to be the first Rhaokin in history to have intimate relations with a human."
Hawk had no idea how to reply. She definitely appeared to be softer than the males, and the general shape of her body seemed feminine, aside for the shorter legs, the longer arms, and the trunk like thing extending from the back of her neck. If he had to guess, she probably weighed about a buck sixty, which wasn't unreasonable.
Why was he even considering this? That would be crazy. He shook his head. It would be crazy.
The female spoke again. The custodian translated. "She says she'll pay you."
Hawk blurted his reply without thinking. "How much?"
The custodian looked at him for a few seconds with a raised eyebrow. Then he shrugged and turned back to the female and spoke. She replied and the custodian translated. "She says twenty thousand units of space currency."
Hawk rubbed his forehead. He knew he couldn't resist replying—his curiosity was getting the better of him. "How much is that, relatively?"
The custodian grinned. "A bit more than I make in a year."
Hawk squeezed his eyes with his fingers and sighed. "What am I doing?" he said under his breath. The custodian spoke again. "Are you actually considering this, or should I let her down easy?"
"I don't know. That's the scary part."
"Well, if it makes your decision any easier, to our species she would be considered very attractive."
"The scarier part is that I can sort of see it."
"I see it with your females too. It's definitely bizarre."
The female spoke again, now smiling. The custodian translated. "She's negotiating now. She says she'll pay you ten thousand to strip for her, and another ten thousand after the deed is done."
"I feel dirty."
The custodian laughed. "I'm glad you do. I was starting to question the integrity of your species for a minute there."
"I'm not, by any means, a typical example of a good human."
"You don't have to justify this to me. This is new territory for us all."
Hawk sighed and shook his head, looking at the floor.
Then he looked at the female. "Fine," he said. "Yes."
She smiled. "Yes?"
Hawk nodded. "Yes."
"Yes!" she said again. "Yes yes!"
She scanned her cardkey on the elevator and a different button lit up.
"Is this a mistake?" Hawk asked the custodian.
"I guess we'll find out," he replied with a grin.
The elevator stopped two places later. The female stepped onto the docking platform, and was gently lifted and rotated out of the elevator. She looked up into the vehicle at Hawk expectedly. Hawk turned to the custodian and shrugged, then followed onto the platform. He was lifted off his feet and pulled out of the elevator. He rotated in midair and landed on his feet outside.
It took him a moment to regain his bearings. He took a deep breath, then smiled at the female Rhaokin.
"What's your name?"
She smiled back, but wore a confused look.
Hawk pointed to himself. "Hawk."
She pointed to herself. "Hawk."
"No." Hawk shook his head. He pointed to himself again. "Hawk."
She pointed at him. "Hawk."
He nodded. "Yes."
She pointed to herself. "Weeeeee," she said for about eight seconds.
Hawk pointed to her. "Weeeeee," he replied, for the length she said it.
She motioned for him to follow her. "Hawk," she said. "Yes. Hawk."
He followed. "English? Yes?" he said, hoping to learn what other words she knew.
"English bad," she said. Then she added, "I drink water."
Hawk laughed. "You drink water. Good to know."
She smiled and kept at it. "I like space."
"So do I," Hawk said. "Space is fun."
"What is the time," she said, saying it as if it were a fact instead of a question.
Hawk looked at his watch. "It's close seven at night."
"I eat a red apple. You are welcome," she said. He could tell by the way she spoke that she barely knew what the phrases she spoke meant. And likely didn't understand a word he was saying. He wondered what the "Introduction to English" course was like as taught by aliens.
They walked down the hallway. This one looked exactly like the one Hawk had been in previously. Then he remembered that this was the same hallway, just closer to the top than he had been. The hallway ran parallel to the elevator. Thinking about it made his head swim.
There was a door on there left that Weeeeee stopped at. She used her key to open the door then she entered and looked back at Hawk expectedly. He nodded and followed her inside.
The room looked similar to the one that Hawk had helped clean earlier, except more personalized. He wondered how long this cruise ran for. How fast did it fly—how far away was the Rhaokin planet?
But he couldn't ask Weeeeee those questions, unfortunately. He saw personal items scattered about the room. There were clothes hanging from the walls, but in a way that made it look intentional. In the kitchen area were dirty dishes. They had plates and cups, and silverware that resembled human silverware except, by his quick glance, they had no spoons, just two-pronged forks with serrated edges for cutting.
Weeeeee sat down on the bed and watched Hawk as he looked around. Curiosity was a factor in his investigation, but he was also stalling. Sleeping with an alien? That would be something. It might kill him. For all he knew, females might rip the heads off of the males after coitus like praying mantises.
Weeeeee called after him. "No shirt and pants," she said, her voice soft and slightly nervous sounding as well.
Hawk looked at her, and she waved him close to her. He walked over and she pointed in front of the bed.
"No shirt and pants," she repeated, but this time as a question. Hawk nodded. He understood what she meant. She wanted him to strip naked.
He stood where she pointed and took a deep breath. "Here we go," he said. "Let's make history. Bow chica-wow."
He took off his jacket first. He had a tight white shirt on underneath. Both the gadgets on his arms were exposed, but she clearly didn't think anything of them. The tactical utility belt was also exposed but, again, considering the circumstances, she evidently didn't think twice.
Next he unstrapped the tactical fanny pack first and then the tactical utility belt. They hung at opposite angles across his hips so that the bands formed a cross in the front and back.
His heart raced. He'd slept with enough women that this nervous feeling had subsided, but despite how hard he tried to align this with those other hookups, his brain wouldn't bite. This, by no means, was an ordinary hookup.
He placed the belts down on the same chair he tossed his shirt over. Now to his pants.
Weeeeee stared intently. It seemed her curiosity had overtaken her nervousness. Then again, she wasn't the one stripping.
He couldn't take it. "It's like ripping off a Band-Aid, I suppose," he said. And without hesitation, pulled down his pants and boxers simultaneously.
She gasped. And didn't respond.
"Well?"
Her eyes widened.
"Well?" he said again, significantly less sure of himself.
"No," she said. "No no no." She kept her eyes glued on his junk. "No no no no no."
She stood up, pointed at him, and mimed putting back on pants.
"What's the problem?" he said. "Hey, what's the problem?"
"No no," she kept saying. She walked over to the counter and picked something up, similar to a purse. She rifled through it, pulled out a wad of thick cards, about the same size as playing cards, and handed it to him. She did not make eye contact, and kept her eyes off him, repeatedly saying no.
"What's going on? What's the matter?" Hawks said.
She picked up his clothes and items off the chair and handed it to him as he fiddled with the button on his pants. He caught his items in his arms.
She walked to the door and opened it, then stood at the doorway, obviously waiting for him to leave.
He didn't move. "What's the problem?" He felt embarrassed, but was unsure why.
She shook her head. "No no no."
With her arm she motioned for him to leave.
He walked past her and stood in the threshold of the door. "Was it something I said? Is it how I look?"
She kept shaking her head and wouldn't look at him.
"Am I weird looking? What's the problem? Speak English damn it!"
She looked scared now. Hawk sighed and took two steps backward, and as soon as he was out of the way of the door she closed it and quickly locked it.
He sighed and bowed his head, topless, his clothes and items in his arms and a large wad of foreign currency in his hand.
"Not the first time, eh Hawk?" he said to himself, then sighed again. He pulled up his pants, pocketed the money, and began putting on his shirt.
His watch buzzed. "Great," he said to himself. "Just great."
He pressed the button on the side and said, "Go for Hawk."
"Hawk? This is Jordan. Your heart rate has been at one sixty B.M.I for the past minute or so. Is everything all right? Have you been discovered? Over."
Hawk's shame quickly turned to anger. "As I already told you guys, the Rhaokins are no threat. I just got into a little situation. Over."
"Did it involve something sexual? Over."
Hawk paused. "What? Why would you say that?" He waited a second for a reply, then remembered to add, "Over."
"Your reading suggest that you were sexually ar—"
He cut her off. "That's enough, thanks. No, I just... forget it."
When he let go of the button she continued, evidently not realizing he'd cut her off. "—to your groin area. Over."
Hawk waited a moment. "Thank you. Jordan. Everything is fine here. Over and out."
He was about to drop his wrist when the watch buzzed again. He pressed the button, and said with weariness, "Go for Hawk."
"Hawk this is Casey. Your increased heart rate might be due to dehydration. In your utility belt there is a black cloth bag with a syringe inside. Inject that intravenously for a pressurized saline and iron boost. Also good for shock, if something should happen. Over."
"I'll keep that in mind," Hawk replied. "Over and out."
All of his clothes back on and items equipped, he walked back the way he came, down the hallway, to return to the elevator. "Let's see what's in the head of this jellyfish ship."
The custodian from earlier, followed by Golf, turned the corner up the hallway and ran towards Hawk. He stopped, and when they saw him they stopped running.
"Crap, we missed it," the custodian said. "Did you already do it?"
Golf continued, "Solar came and retrieved me as soon as she took you. So what happened? Did you do it?"
Hawk grinned. "Is your species normally this candid about sex?"
Solar and Golf both laughed. "Not normally, no," said Golf. "But these are extenuating circumstances."
Hawk laughed. "I suppose they are."
"So what happened?" Solar asked. Hawk wasn't adept at reading the Rhaokin emotions yet, but if he had to describe it we would call the pair of them giddy.
"She took one look at my," he nodded downward, "...Me, and kicked me out."
Golf and Solar burst out laughing. Hawk couldn't resist laughing along with them, despite the fact that the whole situation had been uncomfortable.
"That's great. That's just fantastic," Golf said. "Well, how about this? We know your species is almost as fond of alcohol as we are. Let me buy you a mrúrk, an alcoholic drink. Probably most similar to your beer."
Hawk grinned. "You guys really know your humans."
"We've been watching your species for longer than we care to admit," Golf said. "We are pretty familiar with your culture."
"About fifty years," said Solar. "Not as bad as Golf makes it sound."
"Doesn't make a difference to me," Hawk said. "Lead the way, fellas."