Chapter 92: Mimicry
I had been lying in my hammock for a while, staring up at the jungle canopy. I would have much rather been staring at the stars, but that would mean that I was in the middle of the clearing. And in the middle of a jungle with a bunch of carnivorous predators, that felt a bit too vulnerable.
Night had scampered off someplace. I was hoping not to bring more snakes in my direction, but either way, I missed the cute little Nightmare. I was all alone for the first time in a really, really long time.
In fact, I couldn’t really remember the last time I was like this. It must have been the night that I was abducted from my cabin. I can still feel the breeze coming off of the lake, my oversized sweater fighting off most of the chill, the hot chocolate doing a much better job. I remember that I didn’t even bother to put on my slipper, just wearing skinny jeans and thick fuzzy socks. I had a big blanket on the Adirondack chair, almost exactly like the one that was waiting for me on my captain’s chair.
I couldn’t bring myself to go back to that spot. I really don’t know why; maybe it was fear, maybe it was something else. But even with Jun Li looking out for me, I couldn’t do it. Then again, maybe it was because I had run out of time being kidnapped by my neighbor this time instead of aliens.
I chuckled as my thoughts continued to bring me back to that fateful night. Did I regret it? No, I really didn’t. If the Sisalik hadn’t abducted me, I would have never met Jun Li, and I would never be trying to make a name for myself as a weapons dealer. I wouldn’t change that for anything that Earth offered me.
I felt a breeze beside me. Turning to look at it, I wasn’t able to see anything, but I knew my guardian angel was hovering beside me. "Is dinner ready?" I asked with a smile on my face. I wasn’t in my armor anymore, thinking that I was going to be in bed for the rest of the night. However, I could be convinced otherwise if food was involved.
I felt an arm sliding between me and the cloth of the hammock, first at my back and then just under my knees. I had a moment to wonder if I was too stupid to live but decided on the ’you only live once’ philosophy. I wrapped my arm where I thought the neck of the Saalistaja would be, but all I was met with was hard Nanos covering their shoulders.
Then again, it would stand to reason that they were still in their suit. They were invisible and hovering almost 20 feet in the air.
I was slowly lowered to the jungle floor in a much smoother manner than I ever managed to do using my anti-gravitational setting. "Show off," I joked. "I’ve only had the armor for a month. Cut me some slack."
I didn’t know if the Saalistaja could understand what I was saying or if my words were confusing. But I knew for a fact that my Saaja sucked. With all my luck, if I tried to say anything, it would probably come out as a challenge of some kind. So, I picked the smartest route... rambling.
"Any clue what dinner is tonight? The meat this morning was really good once I managed to cook it. I really can’t handle raw meat. Knowing my luck, it would contain some type of bacteria that would end up killing me. And death by rabbit is not the way I want to go." I chuckled at my own words. We landed so softly on the ground that it took me a few minutes to realize that I was on it.
The weirdest/most concerning part was that I was still a good six feet from it. It made me wonder just how tall my guardian angel was. "Are you going to let me down? Or are you planning on feeding me like this?" Okay, so I sucked at flirting. I knew that already.
Even if I wasn’t incredibly awkward as a kid and like ten years younger than my peers, I was being tortured for almost six years. All in all, not a lot of chances to meet guys.
Then again, seeing as I haven’t even seen my guardian angel, it was not really like I have met him either. I could consider this to be like a summer fling. It was not like I was ever going to see him after. And yes, I was assuming that it was a male.
The point was that he was invisible, and if I wanted him to look like a famous Samoan actor from Earth, I could. But I really didn’t. I wanted him to be a seven-foot-tall alien with the ability to rip heads off spines. After all, why settle for Earth standards when I was literally among the stars?
"I heard a joke once," I said when I remained in his arms. "It went something like, ’Women like men who make plans, commit to those plans, and still have a few surprises left in them. That is why your girlfriend is obsessed with serial killers.’ I don’t suppose you happen to be a serial killer?"
"Girlfriend?" The question was said back in my over voice and my own tone, which was more than a little creepy, but I got the general idea.
"According to my language, a girlfriend is a regular female companion with whom a person has a romantic or sexual relationship," I said because, yes, I had actually looked up that definition when I was a kid.
And everything that I read or hear is forever stuck in my brain.
"No... girlfriend." The first voice also sounded like me, but it was clear that it was far away when it was recorded. The second word was repeated back the same as before. I forgot that the Saalistaja included mimicry as part of their language capabilities.
Now, all that was left was for me to interpret his words however I wanted to.
