Chapter Three
The ship landed with a thud that made the hull rattle and the safety straps dig into Max’s armpits. Harnesses built for tentacles were not kind to human anatomy.
“Honey, we’re home,” Rick said. Max didn’t think the phrase fit this situation. Rick and two of the three children had curly tentacles of distress. Heck, James probably regretted asking to come if his stiff tentacles were anything to judge by. He was too stubborn to admit his discomfort.
Like father, like son. The two had honed being ornery into an artform. Or a weapon. Sometimes it felt vaguely weapony.
“So what do we need to do? Do we need to check in with someone? Have our passports stamped? File birth certificates for the children?” Max put as much cheer into his voice as possible.
Not only did his family need reassurance, but he was on the verge of a mini-panic attack himself.
As much as Max had grown used to the alienness of the ship and the semi-edibleness of most of the food, every time he had to do something new, he felt his anxiety ramp up.
Maybe he could get out of returning to the Air Force by developing a panic disorder. He was at least fifty percent of the way there, so one good shove would turn him into a neurotic mess.
“I find swimming waters for James,” Kohei said.
Rick released the straps on his safety harness.
“Must explain to Hidden ones on Hidden world why the outsiders call them Hidden ones and not Ugly ones. Must announce pair bonding. Must list offspring. Then must leave quickly quickly quickly quickly quickly.” He stretched his squiggly tentacles.
He’d get one arm extended to its full, impressive, red-tipped length, and two others would curl.
It was a never-ending fight Rick was not winning.
“I swim quickly and return,” James said, which was as good as an apology from their stubborn middle child.
Kohei said, “I escort brother James to avoid insult.”
James bugled his displeasure. “I am not insulting.”
Max could argue that point, but describing his son’s faults led to hurt feelings, so he kept his mouth shut.
Being a parent was hard. He was used to letting his sarcasm spillout on people who irritated him, and as much as he loved his kids, they annoyed him more than every other sentient creature in the universe combined.
Xander was not as circumspect. He blew a raspberry of amusement, at least until Max pinned his youngest child with an unhappy look. Then Xander’s head lowered in apology.
“Quickly quickly,” Rick said. “If ship relocates, search directory for information.”
That was an alarming suggestion. “Will our ship move?” The shipyard was a huge, flat plane with all the grass burnt off and no real infrastructure. There was a lack of ship berths.
“Shelter below ground,” Rick said. With that, Rick flowed toward the exit, using his longer arms to rush into the corridor that led to the exit ramp.
Max rushed to follow. Whatever weirdness was going on, Max didn’t want his husband facing it by himself.
They were married, so all weirdness was shared equally.
Xander tried to follow, but Rick whirled around.
“No,” he bellowed. “Stay with ship. With ship.” Rick was the soft-spoken parent who never issued orders, so his outburst startled Max and Xander’s tentacles jerked like he had touched a hot stove.
Rick had drawn himself up to his full height, which was enough to make his tool hat clank against the ceiling, but then he shrank without voicing an apology.
Max and Xander stood in shocked silence. Even Dee’s mouth was open, but Rick glided down the corridor toward the exit, ignoring them.
Oh yeah, there was something seriously wrong with his husband.
Max ran to catch up. “You’re freaking me out a little bit.”
“Clarify.” Rick was speed gliding, and Max made a grab for the closest tentacles and pulled him to a stop. Behind him, Dee collided into him before huffing. However, she backed away, giving them an illusion of privacy.
Max lowered his voice to a whisper. “Tell me what’s going on. Something is bothering you, and I can’t help unless you tell me what it is.”
“Clarify. Query. Is that a query?”
Oh yeah, Rick was intentionally playing up the language barrier. Max could play this game. “Query. What is going on?”
Rick shimmied and sank lower on his curling walking tentacle. Dee cleared her throat and said, “I think I need to do my laundry. I don’t remember doing my laundry today.” She retreated down the hallway in the opposite direction of her sleeping quarters. Subtle.
“I’m your husband,” Max said.
“Unnecessary information to repeat. We are covenant husbands,” Rick said.
“Yeah, well you’re supposed to tell me what’s going on because we’re married.” He almost felt guilty about the abject misery causing Rick’s tentacles to curl tighter than ever. But if he had to make his husband miserable to get information, he would.
“More than one person has claim to ship of Rick,” Rick said after an awkward silence. More than one...
“Clarify. The ship’s co-owner is on the planet?”
Rick made a tiny chirp that might have been a “yes” or a burp. It was hard to tell. “And we want to get off the planet before he can reclaim his ship,” Max guessed. Yeah, that could be a major problem. “Who has a better claim for possession of the ship?”
“Neither,” Rick bellowed; then he said softer, “The alternate owner of ship is more popular than Rick.”
Well, shit. “Kohei will make sure James returns quickly. We’ll take off as soon as the kids are back.
We don’t even have to get off the ship at all,” Max said.
He knew Rick wanted to explain the recent changes to his people, but if they liked this other person more than Rick, then fuck ‘em. Max felt no need to be helpful or reasonable with people who didn’t respect his husband.
And that was ignoring potential issues of grand theft spaceship.
“I will never become more popular if I hide,” Rick said.
Max hadn’t thought Rick wanted popularity. “You don’t need your people to like you, so if you want to go meet them, great. If you want to hide in the ship and work on your navigation program, that’s great, too,” Max said. “You don’t owe your people any explanations.”
Rick shrunk, his walking tentacle picking up a strong clockwise twist. “Hidden ones will be confused by new attitude of others.”
“Their confusion is not your problem,” Max insisted. “You’re welcome to leave them confused. You don’t owe them anything.”
“To avoid contact is to miss opportunity for sales in contravention of embargo.”
Max did want to go around that damn embargo the rest of the universe put on Hidden ones.
One microscopic political disagreement and an anti-navigation net over this part of the universe, and everyone overreacted.
However, family meant more than sticking it to ‘the man’ or even ‘the universe.’ He caught Rick’s tentacles, holding tightly and feeling the involuntary contractions as stress coursed through Rick’s body.
“Do we need money?” he asked, knowing the answer.
He kept a closer eye on their accounts after Rick let them go nearly broke before cutting James off from the expensive raw materials.
“We register pair bonding and announce children before we leave quickly quickly quickly quickly quickly,” Rick said, using his greater strength to free his tentacles.
Max sighed. “I’m going with you.” At least Xander and Kohei had orders to make sure someone was on the ship at all times. If someone wanted to repo it, they would have to navigate upgraded security features–the strongest he and James could come up with.
By the time they reached the exit, Kohei and James were nowhere to be seen. But Max didn’t have the spare brain cells to worry about that. The planet distracted him.
They were on a flat-topped hill that gave Max a view of the crescent shaped peninsula the spaceport sat at the end of.
The sea roiled beneath a sky stretched out like a canvas painted with clouds, the colors shifting in a mesmerizing pattern.
Every hue from pastel blues to deep crimson reds and brilliant oranges and yellows glowed with the light of an unseen sun.
The clouds were spun like cotton candy in the lower atmosphere with huge flat bottomed darker clouds above.
It was alien. Well, obviously it was alien, but the last two planets he’d been on hadn’t been this beautiful and unique and utterly alien.
There wasn’t another word for it. The air was heavy and fragrant with the scent of exotic flowers.
And in the distance, tall spikes and spires marked the alien city.
From this distance, the cable cars connecting the upper levels resembled spider webs.
It was too delicate to be real, giving Max the feeling of imminent danger, like the city might topple at any moment.
Other alien cities he’d seen felt like human cities, only impossibly advanced ones. But this... nothing like this would ever exist on Earth, and it took Max’s breath away.
“It’s beautiful,” he whispered.
“It is home,” Rick said. “The children deserve to know home.” If this had been his home, Max would have done anything to come back to it.
Once the initial shock was over, Max studied the immediate area and nearly got aesthetic whiplash. The ground was unpaved, scorched and lifeless. The dirt was packed so hard Max’s boots didn’t disturb more than a few motes of dust. And to the right were squat gray buildings.
“Query. Is it me, or is the spaceport sort of...” Max looked around.
“Ugly,” Rick finished. “Ugly for outsiders. Traders live there,” Rick gestured with a tentacle to a spot halfway between the spaceport and the city.
Where the city was bright with greens and blues that made it look like it was Atlantis rising from the waves, the trader’s village was squat and gray with squares and pentagons clustered around narrow roads.