Mandy and the Tentacle Monster: Chapter 30

“That Arana-Vora is our friend Baht?” Ken is still confused about everything even after I have already explained things.

“Yes,” I agree, “Baht is an Arana-Vora.”

“And you shot him with this,” Ken has the mystery weapon wrapped in his tentacle and he waves it around.

“Yes,” I answer. Again.

“He was assisting you and Tiny in the med-bay,” his is less certain as he says this, “while Tiny had a surgery performed on her to remove four Homeworlder eggs.”

I nod my head in agreement.

“How was he helping?”

“He injected Tiny with venom. Recall that knock-out gas does not work on humans,” I explain.

“I recall.”

I am relieved. Now that he understands, he can answer a few of my questions. But before I can ask, he interrupts with, “But why did you shoot him?”

“Review the Med-bay security video. I am tired of your questions.”

He does as I command, pulling up the security feed to watch the series of events. He reviews a few conversations leading up to the surgery, then the surgery itself. He bobs his head and a few tentacle arms in understanding. Then he is tracking back further. A lot further. I realize he is reviewing our capture when we were taken by bounty hunters to be turned over to authorities on Homeworld 2.

He goes back a little further than necessary, and witnesses how I bred Tiny in the shuttle bay all those many months ago. My instinct is to stop him from watching that, but it did happen in a public area. It is unfair to pretend like he is intruding on a private moment when it occurred in the shuttle bay for anyone to see. It is entertaining to watch him change from blue to orange, to slightly green.

“That explains that.” He murmurs when he hears Tiny demanding to be bred. I will not inform him of the miscommunication that occurred. Let him believe that Tiny claimed me as her breed-mate so demandingly. Let him understand that she has chosen me.

He moves the video along to watch the bounty hunters board and collect our three unconscious bodies, leaving Tiny alone and undefended.

He tracks forward, watching all the many days of Tiny wandered the homeship helplessly.

Tiny and our spawn are resting in my quarters. Baht is still twitching on the med-bay floor. Oh’Tech and Shafeenah have been paid for their help and sent on their way. I was in a hurry to get them gone, so I have resigned myself to hearing an explanation of Lu’s continued absence from Ken. If only he would pause his questioning so I could ask.

“Our poor little human!” He bemoans as he watches Tiny wonder about the ship on her own. I watch the next few parts where Baht boards our ship and interacts with my breed-mate. Ken laughs as Tiny informs Baht that humans taste “gamy and stringy” to deter him from seeing her as a “snack.” He changes color rapidly as he follows their interactions, skipping along from one conversation to another. When Baht discusses his surprising conclusions about human DNA heritage, Ken is not surprised at all.

When he is done he turns toward me and explains, “Lu and I were imprisoned by Seereechees. They took us to Tiny’s Earth where they abducted more Earth Humans. Lu stole an emergency escape shuttle while we orbited Earth, with the understanding that he would come back with help and free me, the humans and the other enslaved sentients aboard the Seereechee ship. I have not seen him since. The Seereechees folded away from Earth orbit and then sold me to your bounty hunter friends.”

I think about this for a second. I would ask him why the Seereechees stole him, but clearly, he would not know.

“So Lu is-“

“Crash landed on Earth. He was not the only one to escape. The Seereechees fired on three escaped emergency shuttles. They fell to Earth.”

We are silent, both of us contemplating the fact that Lu is probably dead.

“Are you aware,” Ken asks, “That the ownership of this ship has been transferred?”

I shake my head. I knew that we would be stripped of ownership after we were arrested and detained by Homeworld authorities. I had not considered that there was a new owner.

“Who is the new owner?”

“Tiny of Earth.”

It makes sense that Homeworld 2 attempted to placate her by awarding her the ship. I wonder if she knows that she alone owns it now. She has no implants, so it is an impractical situation andd a responsibility she probably will not welcome.

“Tiny has told me that she wishes to work toward rescuing abducted humans from the Seereechees and finding Earth. She has a loose plan to do so. We should also search for Lu in the process.” I am thinking out loud. Ken has a strange look on his face and his tentacles are a bit scrunched, so I ask, “Are you planning to remain with us?”

“What else might I do? Not only was the Homeship awarded to your human, but my account has been garnished. I have nothing to fall back on if you or Tiny were to ask me to leave,” all his tentacles are winding tight together as he continues to consider his circumstances.

“We would never do that. She and Baht have worked tirelessly to free you and bring you back here.” For an unkind moment, I imagine what it might be like to live on this ship with just my human and my spawn. I shake that thought off though. Tiny would not approve.

“You have been through a very traumatic experience,” I attempt to soothe him, “No decisions need to be made at this moment. Lets all take a day to recover and regroup and then discuss our next steps together.”

He nods dejectedly and moves to leave the alcove where we have been reviewing footage.

I place a hand on his shoulder and lightly squeeze, “I am glad to have you back my friend.”

He nods then leaves.

My thoughts are troubling as I cross the corridor to check in on my family sequestered in my quarters. I repeat the phrase “my family” in my thoughts a few times, a sense of wonder and warmth enveloping me. I have a family, something no Homeworlder has had for generations.

I find Tiny burrowed into her nest, but awake and gazing into the tank that holds our eggs.

She sees me enter and says, “I didn’t know they’d be transparent,” her eyes move from one gelatinous egg to another, watching our spawn twist and move about in their confines. She gestures at the one with human ears “I’ve named this one Picard,” she points at the one with a mane, “This one is Riker. That one is Odo,” she’s pointing out the one that closely resembles a Homeworlder, without any human characteristics to note.

She quiets as she studies the last one, the one with human legs and no tentacle arms at all.

“This one is,” she pauses and restarts, “This one looks female. I thought Homeworlder spawn couldn’t be female?”

I study this human-like spawn and try to figure out what she’s talking about. Then I remember what Shawn’s naked body looked like, his sex organ external for all to observe.

“We should not assume,” I hedge. I do not want to disappoint her if she was excited to have female young, “The implantation arm is a discreet organ, stored internally. We could not know by observing if this fledgling were female. We could have them scanned again if you would like to try to know for certain, but sex and gender can be complicated. It’s not always one or the other, especially considering interspecies hybrids who’s parents do not share gender norms.”

“It doesn’t matter. I named them Jadzia. We can change the name later if it doesn’t fit.”

She stands and walks carefully toward me, stepping over tentacle arms to get close to me. She wraps her arms around my torso and speaks, “I’m not pregnant anymore.”

I embrace her in return and comb my claws through her mane, trilling a purr the whole time.

“I love you Seven. You’re always good to me. You always take care of me. And our communication problems aren’t your fault,” she says all this with a certain gravity and then looks at me expectantly.

I squeeze her with the exact pressure of a human ‘hug’ and respond, “I love you too, Tiny.”