The Beast

The Beast - Part 29

No, he just couldn't afford to lose Tibi as an asset not with the bomb still inside him. Rejecting Zu's demand was painful as he also wanted to hurt Tibi, but he had to explain himself: "I want to hurt Tibi, trust me she will regret signing up for service but not today. She's currently basically our property and I still need to get the bomb out of me."

"Can you promise me that she'll suffer as I did?" He knew Zuski wasn't a vengeful person, she was merely trying to cope with the fact that Tibi was living next to them.

"I can, she will." His intentions were pure, but he doubted himself as he said those words. The transfer into Taro's crew wasn't planned and neither were most things he did. Bringing justice to Tibi might very well be out of his control.

"Thank you so much," She hugged him before taking a seat on the desk with a game already prepared. "Ready to be crushed?" A daring smile was on her face.

"Always but I think it's better if I get accustomed to the ship, crew and Taro first." Zu's smile faded but she was understanding. He opened the door only to find Verona standing in the Doorframe. This should have been a bigger surprise but at this point he simply wasn't caught off guard by alien behavior anymore.

"How long have you been listening?" He took a step closer in order to make their size difference more apparent, but Verona was unfaced.

"Hours, I was informed you didn't like being awoken by intruders."

"Is knocking something you don't do in space?" He wasn't even mad; politeness is hard to translate between cultures and they were still thinking he was nothing, but a beast made for war.

"That still constitutes being awoken by intruders. You may choose a fitting consequence if that resolves our conflict." She said that as if it was the most normal response and wouldn't violate her dignity

"We have no conflict; I was just asking and why would you assume that I want to punish you?"

"I was listening."

"Yeah, right. You heard that out of context, you can forget what you heard. Am I right to assume you aren't here without an agenda?"

"Yes, please follow me." She signaled him to follow her with a wave of her hand and he did. The other room was still dim, but it looked better cleaned this time. He was wondering whether it actually was or if the sleep had cleared his mind. On the stairs he was surprised by Chip carrying down a part of his suit. He wanted to at least do some small talk with Chip, but Verona continued so he was forced to hastily catch up with her, but Chip noticed and shouted: "I've got a surprise waiting for you!". He knew she was purposefully vague to mess with him nevertheless it still worked. Chip rarely did good things so it was most like something neutral or bad, but he couldn't imagine anything worse than her spontaneously 'improving' the bomb inside him.

The trip itself proved to be their destination as she explained how elevators worked, where staircases led and key points of the ship. He did his best to remember it all, but the big boy was bigger than he imagined. By the end he thought he could remember most of what he heard but Verona quizzing him promptly tore that imagination apart. It really wasn't a good start to his whole prove-your-worth plan he came up with Zu. Afterwards she asked him to lead the way to Taro's place and he was able to, a small Victory.

He was ready to enter through the red doors, but the guard stepped into his path. Verona walked past them before explaining: "He's busy right now. You can study the ship on your own, but be aware that some of the crew, some of them aren't ready to meet you." The doors opened and closed behind her, leaving him stranded. He shouldn't have expected more support, but he did. He turned around to see the same busy hallways as before, he overlooked a sea of nians dodging each other as they made their way around the ship, but this time he was alone.

He took a deep breath before reminding himself that he was the most dangerous thing on board and not a lost child. Gabriel started to walk, this time he wasn't guided but had to focus on everything around him. He noticed that more of the cat people watched pass by than he previously thought. Some made noises that his translator didn't pick up, the obvious conclusion was racial slurs, but he wasn't sure enough to act on it. He reached an elevator and was 80% sure that taking it would be a shortcut, so he pressed a button, calling it. The elevator arrives empty but as he stepped a nian sneaked in behind him. It was silent but he saw its swift movement in the corner of his eye. Finally, an opportunity arose, he hoped it wasn't just an assassination attempt. Gabriel faced the door motionless, making sure not to give any hints to his little companion. He waited patiently for the cart to begin moving before activating the brakes, it came to a squeaking halt. He heard the breath of the nian pick up pace, it was scared he could feel it.