I had messed up. I had messed up good. I could hear Rachel laughing in the back of my mind and I shivered from the sound.
Fluffing my feathers I looked out into deep space. Or maybe it wasn't deep space at all. Maybe if I kept on going in the direction I was already going I'd see Jupiter. Hell, maybe I'd see Earth's Moon.
I looked at my Red-Tailed Hawk reflection on the inside of the Bug fighter. This was the last thing of home I would ever see. A hawk where one didn't belong and a boy in a body he wasn't born in. Though, truth be told, I belonged in this body more than I did in my old one.
Maybe that's why Rachel and I were apart for the moment. Or maybe she wouldn't have been meant for me even if I hadn't become a nothlit.
Hours had passed and I kept staring in the dark that was littered with tiny spots of lights that were stars. The thought of going into Z-space again crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it.
Even though going back into Z-space would mean I had the chance of returning home sooner, it could also mean that I'd end up farther away from home than I was now.
So all I did was keep on looking out into space for hours, or maybe it was days, as I waited for something to happen. Even if that thing was the Bug fighter randomly exploding.
At least I wouldn't have to worry about my family worrying about me. My father had been eaten by Visser Three and my mother was dead. And my Aunt and Uncle couldn't muster even a shit to give about me.
Suddenly I saw something on the Bug fighter's view screen. It didn't appear to be anything from the Yeerks and so I decided I had to communicate with it. If it turned out to be bad news then at least something would happen.
I worked at the controls and tried to figure out how to contact the alien craft.
Hello? Hello? I kept asking as I tried to contact the aliens.
As I waited and thought that my lack of knowledge of alien technology would be the death of me, I heard a reply.
It appeared to be a form of the language that the Hork-Bajir Controllers on Earth used. I think Ax had said it was Galard and it was the language used for trading. I concentrated on figuring out what the alien was saying.
I assumed the alien had said some form of a greeting.
I am- I began and then the alien replied angrily in Galard.
I mean no harm. I am just in need. I told the alien and then got a good glimpse at the alien's ship.
The ship reminded me of the cheesy sci-fi movies where aliens are invading the Earth. That could only mean that I was talking to a Skrit Na. The Skrit Na were cowards that never took sides in any conflict. At least according to Ax.
I'll make a trade. I told the Skrit Na.
I have been to the planet Earth recently and can give you a piece of human clothing. Help me get back to Earth and I'll let you have it.
While I waited for their response I morphed a Hork-Bajir before letting them see me. And when they did see me the conversation was a little more than awkward. They quickly found out that I couldn't understand them and assumed it was because my translator chip had been broken.
I assumed part of the conversation directly following that was asking if they could remove the chip from my head. To this I angrily shook my head.
The final bit of the conversation had us agreeing to some sort of truce. All I had to do was follow them to a planet that was close by. As I followed them I demorphed and waited until the planet was in sight before morphing back to Hork-Bajir.
Landing on the alien planet was awkward for a few reasons. The first being that going on any other planet than Earth was still something I wasn't used to. The second being that the whole planet seemed to be covered by a forest.
But it wasn't a forest like on Earth. The trees seemed to be creatures that couldn't move while I saw a few flying creatures that had pieces of leaves attached to their bodies.
All in all it was different than Earth.
When I landed and met up with the Skrit Na I saw them coming out with some cargo. I guess they wanted to show how awesome they were before accepting my payment. That they didn't have to accept my offer, but they were going to because they were kind. I held out a little bit of my morphing suit, I had morphed to human very briefly after contacting the Skrit Na, and I somehow felt beaten by these aliens.
Then a piece of the cargo came out and I was beyond shocked.
Ax had told me that the Skrit Na would take creatures of primitive planets and put them into zoos. But it's one thing to hear that and another thing to see a human being lead out like an item.
The human was a young woman, in her early twenties, and seemed to be wearing a hearing aid. Maybe the Skrit Na chose her because of what they would see as an odd alien device. She didn't look happy and I knew that I had to get her back home.
No matter what.
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All of Tobias and Me
