“Your pet?” I stared at the enormous gray alien in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“I am in need of a pet from the most primitive planet in this galaxy,” he said patiently. “And you are the one I have chosen.”
“But…but you can’t just pick someone out and make them your pet!” I protested. “I mean, I’m a thinking person—not an animal!”
“The inhabitants of Korrigon Four are from a more evolved galaxy than our own,” Charnoth informed me. “They consider all other creatures other than themselves—both sentient and non-sentient—to be animals.”
“Well that’s pretty damn arrogant of them!” I exclaimed and glared up at the giant. “Look, I might not be from your galaxy or be able to talk with my mind or whatever, but that doesn’t make me an animal and I am not your pet!”
I don’t know where I got the nerve to speak to him like that—maybe it was another part of my fight or flight response asserting itself. But it made me really mad that some guy from another galaxy could just come over and pick me out, the same way my Great Aunt Maizy went to the Pomeranian breeder to get her next favorite dog! I’m a person—not some “pick of the human litter,” after all.
But in response to my angry speech, the gray giant only sighed and shook his head.
“I can see that owning a sentient pet will be more challenging than I anticipated.”
“We have included a handy digital pamphlet about the care and feeding of your new human,” Charnoth told him. “The females of the species can be troublesome at first but once you train her, it is my belief that you will become quite fond of your new pet, Overlord.”
“Yes, well…I don’t know about that.” The gray giant looked at me doubtfully. “It isn’t my wish to form any kind of affectionate bond with the Earthling—I simply needed a primitive creature from your galaxy to make a point.”
“Wait—so you’re not even buying me because you like me?” I demanded, incensed all over again. “What—did you just pick me out at random?”
“Not at all—I scanned and studied many hundreds of millions of Earthlings before I chose you,” the gray giant said loftily. “You were chosen because I believed you and I would be compatible. That is important, considering we will be sharing the confines of my ship.” He looked me up and down. “And also because I liked your configuration and lines. Your form is…most curvilinear.” He described an hourglass with his hands in the air and one side of his thin but sensual mouth curved up in a kind of smile. “I find that pleasing. I find you pleasing, little one,” he added.
I felt a cold chill go down my back.
“So you picked me because you like curvy girls? Look, I already told you, there’s no way your equipment is going to fit with mine—you’re too big! You’ll split me in half if you try to…to…” But here, words failed me.
The giant frowned again.
“You have mistaken my intent, little one. I am not buying you as a Sex Pet—though there is, regrettably, quite a large trade in those in my own galaxy. I only wanted a companion and, as I said earlier, there is a point I need to prove about your galaxy.”
“Well pick some other curvy girl to be your companion and prove your point!” I told him. “I’m not available!”
“Oh, but I am afraid you are. And I tire of this inane conversation—you are coming with me.” The gray giant crossed the room in a single stride, picked me up, and slung me over one broad shoulder.
I gasped and kicked—or tried to—but he was incredibly strong. I felt like I had been caught by a force of nature—might as well try to fight a tornado that had scooped you up! But still—I tried.
“Let me go! Let me go!” I shouted, pounding on his broad back.
“Farewell, Overlord!” Charnoth called, waving his many blue, clawed hands. “Enjoy your new acquisition and please do not forget to study the pamphlet about the care and feeding of your new human!”
The giant didn’t answer. He was too busy striding through the spaceship—oh my God, I was actually in a spaceship!—with me over his shoulder.
There were other worms in the next room, all staring at me with interest. I saw a lot of equipment that looked like it belonged in a science fiction movie. And I also saw my captor’s ass—which looked pretty spectacular in the tight, black trousers, I can tell you. Not that I was thinking that at the time.
Because it was at that moment that I realized the gray giant had a tail.
It stuck out from the back of his trousers, right above his ass, and waved to and fro in a businesslike manner. It looked kind of like a cat’s tail, I thought, though my captor didn’t appear otherwise feline. It was long and gray and the tip of it had a kind of silver metal cap on it.
But forget the tail—I was trying to get away! I shouted myself hoarse and struggled like crazy and all the while the damn tail waved back and forth in the corner of my vision. Before I knew it, we were going through a doorway and then through a long, flexible tunnel, and then into what I assumed was another spaceship.
When we got through this last door, the giant swung it closed. Then he walked through the ship—I got hasty glimpses of glowing equipment and then a living area filled with enormous furniture—and into another room.
The outside area had been lit with a low, golden light but this new place had a strange, blue luminescence which made everything look like it was underwater. The giant put me down…and promptly shoved me into a kind of cage that was sitting in the corner of the room.
“I do not have time to train you at present,” he informed me as he closed and latched the door of the cage. “But you will be safe here, little one.”
“Wait!” I exclaimed, looking around in panic.
The cage he had put me in was about six feet long and four feet tall and very narrow. Since I’m five foot four, I couldn’t even stand up in it and I’m horribly claustrophobic.
“Wait, please!” I begged again. “Please—don’t leave me in here!”
My captor frowned at me.
“I need to pilot the ship to the nearest spaceport for fuel. You will have to be patient until I can attend you. I promise no harm will befall you while you are in your crate.”
My crate? Was he serious?
Apparently so because he was about to leave.
“Okay, okay,” I said quickly. “I understand you don’t have time to, er, train me right now, but you don’t have to lock me up like this! I’ll be good—I promise.”
He shook his head.
“This is my sleeping chamber—I cannot let a strange animal run around causing chaos in my absence.”
Then, before I could say anything else, he turned and left, shutting the bedroom door behind him and leaving me alone in the cage, bathed in the eerie blue glow.