Page 6 of Mazorium Buys a Human

“You’re displaying your teeth to me!” the Talin said. “That’s a good thing, isn’t it? You humans call it a smile.”

I’d momentarily forgotten to be careful about showing my teeth. Unlike humans, most species saw it as a threat display, except for this Talin. He knew what a smile was!

“Sir?” A new med tech came over carrying a chair and set it down next to him. “I’ve brought you this to use while you’re here.”

The med tech hurried away the moment the Talin thanked him. Then the Talin moved the chair closer to my bed and sat down.

“I’ll be glad to be gone from this place,” he grumbled. His words were annoyed but he went back to making that purring sound. “You’ll like my ship. It’s new and well designed. Not like this decrepit station.”

I couldn’t believe he called this place decrepit. It was only about five years old and had some of the most modern tech I’d ever seen.

It made me curious about his ship despite myself. “What kind of ship do you have?”

“I own a Science Tour Mark II. It’s a long distance, atmospheric tolerant, fully equipped relocatable domicile outfitted with a full lab of cartographic-ready equipment and deployable air and ground survey bots.”

Woah. It took me a moment to digest everything he’d said. The ship sounded expensive, which made sense. If he had money to burn on buying me and Nadia and then on taking us to the med bay, he must be wealthy.

“Does it have separate sleeping spaces?” I asked.

“My resting quarters are large enough to accommodate your nest,” he assured me.

Nest? Did he think I was a bird species? The way he talked about me to the techs made me think he knew what a human was, but it was clear by the way he was surprised by Nadia that he’d never dealt with a human infant. How could he know we smiled but think we slept in nests?

If my freedom wasn’t at stake, I’d probably find the entire situation humorous.

“Here is the infant’s food,” a tech said, walking in with a tray full of jiggly, milky white balls about the size of my fist. I’d seen my mother use one to feed my youngest sibling, so I knew how they worked. “Do you feel strong enough to feed your offspring or should I?”

“I can do it,” I said, taking one of the milk balls. Everyone watched me as I twisted a nipple-like shape into the top of it. Then I brushed the nipple against her mouth. She opened up and latched on, sucking greedily.

The jelly-like substance of the nipple I shaped broke down when it came into contact with Nadia’s mouth, and she was easily able to draw the formula out.

“That’s good,” my new owner said. Purring, he leaned in close to watch Nadia feed. “I’ll consult with the med tech about Nadia’s dietary needs now and in the future. That way I can make sure to purchase enough for her at each stage of her growth. We’ll be stationed at my next assignment for at least two rotations and I can’t guarantee the next station we stop off before then will have what we need.”

I debated about asking questions, then decided to risk it. “Sir, uh, Master, what do you plan to do with us?”

His purring suddenly stopped and he sat back, looking at me instead of Nadia. “You can call me Mazorium, although I’ve heard humans will shorten names as a sign of affection so you’re free to abide by that if you feel the urge. As for your question,” he said, dropping his gaze to Nadia, “my plans for you and Nadia are simple—you’ll belong to me, and I’ll care for you.”

I expected Mazorium to leave eventually. The chair the staff provided was too small for his large frame. He couldn’t be comfortable.

That would worked to my advantage. Once he left, I was going to escape. The med bay wasn’t set up to incarcerate anyone. There were no alarms or locks. When they weren’t treating someone, the med techs all gathered in a backroom to talk and drink tea. If Nadia cooperated by being quiet, it would be easy enough to slip out the front entrance and disappear into the station.

After that, I didn’t know what I’d do. I had no wealth and no contacts, but I’d figure something out.

The one snag in my plan was that Mazorium wasn’t leaving! He seemed to have settled into that chair and was keeping busydoing things on his Ident. It was a fancy piece of technology that I didn’t see often. That Ident was another example of his wealth, giving me second thoughts about running.

No, that didn’t matter. I needed freedom, otherwise how could I protect Nadia?

He must have sensed me staring because he looked up and met my gaze. “Are you in need of anything, Mika?”

“I, uh, no,” I answered.

Next to my bed, Nadia slept peacefully in a Doringo incubator. It was big for her but could be set to temperature and oxygen levels that were appropriate for a human baby. There were two more milk balls sitting on top of the incubator. They were meant for her next meal and they’d be easy to steal when I left. They’d also fed me, but I’d been too hungry to save any of that food. They planned to bring me another meal soon; maybe I should tuck some away for later.

Mazorium started purring again, interrupting my planning.

“You should be sleeping. After undergoing birth and then the stress of being sold, you need plenty of rest. I know this isn’t the best setting but try. Soon we’ll be on my ship and you won’t have to deal with all this noise and chaos.”

As he spoke, he pointed to a med tech checking in on the only other patient in the bay. They were talking quietly, and I couldn’t even make out what they were saying. If this was noisy and chaotic, then this guy wasn’t ready for what a human child could do!