“You are serious?” Aehako’s hand grips my arm. His voice is incredulous. “Kira, this is dangerous.”
“I know.” I look up at him. “So give me a kiss for luck, and make it a really good one.”
He makes a strangled noise in his throat. “I don’t want to kiss you right now. I want to throttle you for being foolish.”
I shake my head. “This isn’t foolishness. I’ve got everything under control. I promise.”
The look on Aehako’s face is pained and full of worry. I expect him to protest again, to tell me that I’m not the right girl for the job. Instead, he grabs me in a fierce bear hug and hauls me up to his face for a kiss. His lips brush against mine, surprisingly tender. His nose nuzzles mine. Then he closes his eyes and murmurs, “I will protect you with my life, you know that, yes?”
I’m overwhelmed by his sweet words. Hot tears threaten, and I fling my arms around his neck and kiss him like he should be kissed – wild and utterly abandoned. This might be the last kiss I have with him, and I let him know how much I love him. My tongue slicks against his ridged one, and I kiss him so passionately and so fervently that Harlow clears her throat behind us.
Right. I have a mission.
I give Aehako one last peck. “I love you,” I whisper to him.
“Be safe, Sad Eyes,” he tells me. “Do not make me come out there to protect you.”
“I won’t.” I force a smile to my face, like everything’s okay. Truth be told, I have a really bad feeling about this. I look at Harlow and the two hunters, both of whom are gripping their spears as if they’d do something against these aliens.
They’ll be slaughtered. I can’t let that happen.
I move toward Harlow and hug her. She seems surprised by my spontaneous gesture, and her arms go around me slowly. “Whatever you do, stay inside the ship,” I tell her in a low whisper. “If I don’t make it back, make sure Aehako and Haeden go back to the caves, all right? They can’t come after me.” I pull back and smile at her, pretending like nothing’s wrong.
Wide-eyed, she nods at me.
I shoulder my laser cannon again and approach the door. I take a deep breath, and then furtively slip the small packet into my mouth, fitting it between gums and teeth. No one will know it’s there, and I can barely feel it in my mouth. Perfect. “Computer, give me a visual on the aliens, please.”
A wall panel off to my side lights up and displays the snowy wasteland outside. Only, instead of being uninhabited, there are three figures off in the distance, heading in this direction. Two of them have rounded, burnt-orange heads that I remember has hard, pebbled skin. The one in the middle is smaller, rail-thin.
One of the Little Green Men, accompanied by his bodyguards.
I need to stop them before they come any closer.
“Open the door,” I say resolutely, then look behind me at the three. “Stay inside, whatever happens, all right?”
“This is madness,” Haeden growls, clutching his spear.
Aehako puts a hand on his chest. “Let her do it.”
The door slides open, and I take one last look back at Aehako’s broad, blue face before I step outside. The air is crisp, the winds high. It’s a beautiful day on Not-Hoth, ironically enough. There’s no snowstorms brewing and I can see far enough in the distance that I can see the expressions on the aliens’ faces as they see me.
I hoist my laser cannon, aim, and fire at their feet.
“Hold it right there,” I yell out in szzt. I can’t make the sounds of the birdlike Little Green Men, but I can speak the other language well enough. “We have guns trained on you and we’re prepared to shoot.”
A little bluffing never hurt anything. I just hope they buy it. If they don’t, well, I’m toast.
They pause, and I can see the slim green alien gesturing to the others.
“Guns down,” I command.
They don’t obey. But they do remain in place. They confer for a moment and then one of the basketball heads calls out, “Why do you shoot?”
“Because I know why you’re here,” I yell back. “You want your cargo back, and we’re not coming back.” I keep my laser cannon trained on them.
More conferring. Then, “You will be treated very well if you return with us,” the basketball head translates.
Oh, bullshit. I know they’re full of crap. “You can’t take us off this planet. We’ve been infected with native symbionts and will die if we are removed. Your cargo is gone either way.”
“Where are the girls that were in the stasis tubes?”
Nice to see we matter to them. “Gone. Infected as well.”