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EO-ALIEN.LIT
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1994-10-15
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ALIEN FOR SALE
"I'll give you five hundred dollars for her," offered Josh Pintac,
gesturing to the silver-barred cage. Inside, a cat-like woman prowled the
perimeter. Her hair was dark and long, and her eyes were vibrant and bright
green, almost neon. Her ears were pointed, and she had a delicate black tail.
She was not tall, maybe five feet three inches at most, and she glared at the
two men as they talked about, but never to, her. A long, sturdy chain attached
her wrist to the bars, as if the cage wasn't quite enough.
"Nah, she's worth a good deal more. You government agents aren't
gettin' your hands on her unless I get properly paid," refused Matt Delsa.
"After all, her ship landed on my farm."
"Understand, Mr. Delsa, that we will not take no for an answer," warned Pintac,
tossing a subtle glance at his coat pocket, where a gun bulged.
"And I won't be selling an alien for any less than five million.
Farmers need to get along, you know!" replied Delsa, not thrown by the other
man's threats. "I have her spaceship, don't forget. The engineering is
incredible!" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Of course, if I'm not alive,
you might never find it...... But of course your superiors will understand."
Pintac was trapped. "Fine," he relented. "You'll get your money. But
how do I know this isn't some girl you've dressed up?"
"Would I risk the wrath of the FBI?" reasoned the farmer. "I call her
Andora. I like the sound of it."
"Sweena," hissed the woman in the cage.
"She speaks English?" asked Josh in disbelief.
"Nah, she just keeps repeating that. I'm sure it's probably a curse on
us," laughed the farmer, and Josh joined in.
"Well, I'd better be going," said Josh when the round of polite
laughter was over. He surveyed the gray skies. "Looks like a storm. I'll be
back tomorrow with a few others to examine the alien and her spacecraft. And of
course, I'll bring the money. Two million, and not a penny more."
"Well, it's more than I'd make in a lifetime of farming, so I'll take
it," decided Delsa. He also looked at the sky, at the clouds rumbling in. "But
the storm will be here before you get out of town, and it'll be a big one. The
roads will all turn to mud. You'd best stay the night." Josh Pintac had no
choice but to agree.
The night was spent at a small house on the farm. Andora was given a
dinner, which she did not eat, and Josh and Matt found themselves on the patio
talking long into the night. The winds howled, and it was cold, but Matt
brought out a couple of heavy coats and they were fine. Andora hissed "Sweena"
a few more times, but they laughed, and soon ignored her. They went inside when
the rain came, and left her in the cold.
Pintac woke up in the middle of the night, as did Delsa. Both heard the
eerie howls and moans, just outside the window. It had to be Andora. They tried
their best to ignore her and go back to sleep.
At dawn the next morning, the two men went outside to examine their
treasure. She was still there, and she looked up at the sound of the intruding
men. The cage was a shambles, lying in eight twisted pieces. The chain was
still around her wrist, and attached to what was left of the cage. She glared
up at the men accusingly. If they had slept in, she would have been long gone.
"Wow." That was all Delsa could say. "Wow."
"Can you get the end of the chain?" asked Pintac.
"You're the agent, you do it!" said the farmer. Josh dove for the
chain, and Andora spun around. He grabbed the end and shielded himself behind
the piece of metal that held the chain. He carefully unwound it, keeping his
eye on the enraged alien.
"Alright," he said, handing the chain to Matt. "Let's find her ship."
Matt Delsa hadn't known the exact location of the small spaceship, but
with Andora leading him, he found it in no time. Josh Pintac looked over the
white bullet-shaped ship in appreciation. "How do you open it?"
Andora seemed to understand. She pressed a palm against the side of a
blue panel, and a circular door swirled open. She suddenly pulled away and
raced inside. "Hey!" The two men quickly followed before the door could shut.
The inside of the ship was a maze, with intersecting corridors and
color-coded doors, flashing panels and harsh red lights. Neither Pintac nor
Delsa could see Andora anywhere near, and yet she'd only been a split-second
ahead of them.
"I think she went this way." Delsa nodded down a curving corridor, and
headed into it. Pintac pulled out a gun and followed. They went quite a
distance, until the farmer burst out, "We've been going in a circle!" Indeed,
they were back where they'd started. And that's when Pintac noticed something
else.
"We're moving!" Indeed, the floor was trembling ever so slightly, and
both got the feeling that they were in a futuristic elevator.
"What is she trying to do?" asked Delsa. Pintac looked over his gun, as
if it would help.
"She can't do much. She's still ours!" But somehow, neither man
believed it.
A panel across from them flickered to life, and Andora's face filled
the screen. She began speaking in a strange language, which neither man could
understand. When she stopped, the computer whirred and translated what she'd
said into English.
"Foolish humans," read Pintac from the screen. "You wished to buy and
sell me, when I am not yours. That cannot go unpunished. We are headed for
Kaklito VII, my home planet. Because of my world's highly advanced technology,
we shall be there in two hours. Enjoy the ride."
The two men dicussed their fate for the two hours, coming up with more and more
terrifying situations. Finally, Andora came and pointed what looked like a
highly-modified dustbuster at them. But instead of sucking dirt, it fired a red
beam, which disintegrated Pintac's gun without harming him. Then she pushed a
button on the weapon's surface, and out shot a yellow beam, which split into
two beams. Each beam twisted around the neck of one of the humans. Then she
turned and began to walk, and with a jerk on the weapon, they were forced to
follow.
The door opened once more, and she led them down onto the surface of a
red planet. It was dusty and hot, and they found the air too thin and the
gravity too high. Pintac found his feet getting heavier and heavier, and Delsa
could hardly breath. The two men lagged behind, already exhausted, but Sweena
gave the weapon a quick yank, and the beams tightened. They instantly hurried
up, both regretting that they had ever seen Andora, let alone tried to sell
her.
She ignored their discomfort and led them past a signpost, which bore
a symbol the men couldn't understand. "Sweena," she translated, and led them
into a vast area.
" 'Sweena' must mean intergalactic zoo," commented Pintac. There were huge
transparent cubes, each housing a few aliens. Other aliens like Andora laughed
and pointed at the specimens. Andora smiled and dragged Josh and Matt to an
empty cube.
The symbol under it was complicated, but she said, "Hu-man." She put
her hand on the cube's smooth surface, and an opening appeared. Her prisoners
were thrown inside, and the door melted back into the rest of the cube. Andora
posted herself outside, stopping others who walked by and gesturing at the
humans. Josh noticed other aliens in front of other cubes doing the same.
Delsa looked at the cube next to him, and motioned for Pintac to do the
same. There were two imprisoned aliens who looked like turtles with wings. They
were small, about the size of cats, and there was an alien man in front of
their cage, talking to an alien woman. She looked at the two turtle-aliens, and
then handed their keeper a handful of red chips. He counted them, nodded, and
opened the door.
She focused a weapon on one of them, and pressed a button. A yellow
beam shot out and encircled itself around the neck of one of the creatures. She
pulled it out and towards her. The door closed and she walked off, leading the
reluctant turtle-creature behind her.
"Oh no. OH NO!" Matt Delsa had figured it out. In horror, he turned to
his companion, who looked equally unnerved. "This isn't a galactic zoo. It's a
galactic pet shop! And we're for sale!"
THE END
SAUCE00Alien for SaleEoanyaMiSTiGRiS20941015