An Alien Love Bk. 02 Ch. 11

This week I am trying to finish one of my Ice Era Chronicles so that I can work on this again. I am sorry that these chapters have been short, but I promise you I have some great ideas for these two. Please stick with me.

Cheers,

~M.~ From C.M. Moore.

*Chapter 11*

Get comfortable. We will be here for a while.

Sloan explored the steady trickle of water that filled a small rock basin. "What's the plan to get out of here?"

"I do not have one yet." Octnavin sat with his back to one wall. His tentacles were crossed over his body and his ankles were plopped over each other. He appeared just as relaxed as if he was still on that fake beach. "My hair as you call it is not hair. It gives off a signal."

"Like a cell phone tower or a satellite?"

"Yes. You see, I am trying to connect with my siblings and inform them of where I am, but I am being blocked... even from JP."

"I saw JP." Sloan found a pile of fruit in the corner. Some of the food was rotten, but he found a piece was that decent. He picked off the dirt and flicked away a funny looking bug.

"I saw that interaction through your brain. You and I are still connected because of sharing fluids. I am cut off from everyone else currently. The room where they are keeping JP is destroying our signals." Octnavin sighed. "The dome above us is also interrupting my signal. The mirrors, as you call them, are keeping all of us from calling out a warning or calling for help."

Sloan washed off his fruit and then froze. "All of us? Who else is here?"

"There are many prisoners around us in similar holding cells." Octnavin waved.

"What for?" Sloan wasn't sure he wanted the answer.

"Do you understand dogfighting? You have that on your planet?"

"Yes..." Sloan picked out another piece of fruit and again washed the skin under the little stream of water.

"We are the dogs. The Folantos have different aliens fight to the death in the arena above us. They bet on the different species to win or lose."

"To the death." Sloan had already died once. "I was sorta hoping not to do that again."

"Do not concern yourself with this issue. You will not fight exactly."

"I won't? Why not?" Sloan chuckled at his budding resentment. "It's not that I want to throw down, it's just that now I feel left out." That kinda stung. He could brawl.

"Do not feel left out, little pebble." Octnavin chuckled. "It is not you specifically. Humans are considered silly and weak. You have only a mere eighty to a hundred years to learn anything. Your bodies break down, and you get sick, and you have no abilities or skills. That is nonsense to the rest of us." Octavin sighed again. "How shall I put this, little pebble? Do you understand rodeo?"

Sloan glared at the pebble name. "Yes. What's your point?"

"Here." He waved a tentacle. "You are the rodeo clown."

"Can you say anything that doesn't make you a giant dick?" Sloan finished drinking water and then sat next to Octnavin with his two-fruit meal.

"I am discovering that I am good at being a dick." Octnavin laughed. "Now, my little pebble, do not worry. My people will be looking for me. A ruler cannot go missing unnoticed. Keltrix and Rhylent will hunt for us."

"If you go up and fight, and if you die, then you will see JP. You could talk to him when you come out of the alive-again-tube. That could be good. You could make a plan with your sibling for calling Rhylent and Keltrix." Sloan ate his fruit as he tried to come up with something he could do to get out of this hole in the ground. Nothing came to him right away.

"No," Octnavin murmured. "If I am killed in the ring, I die. There is no revival for me."

"Why the fuck not?" Sloan's head swiveled to the alien next to him. That was some shit.

"The Dagerstanteens are more complex than you are. Humans and some lesser species can be repaired and reanimated, but not I."

"Fuck." Sloan tossed his fruit core where the small whole for defecating was located. He glared at the information.

"Calm, little pebble." Octnavin slipped a tentacle over Sloan's hair. "Do not worry. I am Dagerstanteen. I am warrior. I will win all my fights. When I am in the arena, I will work to broadcast my location. We will be free soon."

Sloan didn't know how Octnavin could be so casual and relaxed. He studied his mind. In his head, Octnavin's father, who he called his creator, told him to never think of himself as losing any battle. Octnavin had complete faith in himself and his ability to fight. Sloan wished that, at this moment, he could borrow a little of that confidence. He wasn't as sure-footed trapped in a whole waiting to be chased around by an alien bull.

Shivering. Sloan curled his arms around his middle and hugged himself. He tucked his ice-cold feet under him.

"I will warm you."

Before Sloan could say yes or no, Octnavin drew him into the alien's chest and Sloan's cheek was pressed to the alien's warm muscles. He felt like he was sitting on a hot rock.

"How are you so warm down here?"

"I can regulate my body temperature. There is nothing about me that is not equipped to handle everything in the universe. Even my skin hardens like an impenetrable shield when I am in battle. I am all warrior."

Sloan grinned. "Warrior, dick-head, and electric blanket."