Page 23 of Space Daddy’s Guide to the Galaxy (Villains in Space #2)

23

ZIGGY

:We require your ship’s manifest before granting you access to our city:

I shielded my eyes against the glare, sweeping my gaze over the blindingly white landscape outside the cockpit window, wondering where this so-called “city” was located.

Perhaps they’ve cloaked it in some way?

Theo hadn’t been exaggerating when he said no one came to Ekistron. While the Eki were renowned for their engineering powers, not much was known about how they lived. Exactly why a species as advanced as they were chose to inhabit a barren wasteland was beyond me, but I was willing to play by anyone’s rules— temporarily —if it got me what I wanted.

What my babygirl wants, that is.

:Start with life forms, including artificial intelligence:

I began entering my reply into the communicator, knowing this was standard, if not tiresome, protocol.

- Two adult males, 21 and 25 years, Earthlings from 03-Via Lactea.

- One droid, model GRX-5L.

:Do you possess documentation for the droid?:

We did not, of course, considering I hadn’t paid for the nanny bot before star hopping away from the scene of multiple murders.

Oops.

- Documentation destroyed during a skirmish with Stellarians.

Mentioning my kind usually frightened others enough to let the subject drop. It helped that a prevalent superstition claimed those who said our name three times resulted in us materializing like harbingers of doom.

And here I am.

:Proceed:

- One newborn, female.

:Species?:

Fuck.

- Unknown.

The ignorance tactic was a gamble, but, along with betting on the Eki being unfamiliar with Earthlings, I was hoping this highly intelligent species would grant us entry based on their deeply ingrained scientific curiosity.

As opposed to other species who eliminate potential threats without question.

Unfortunately, the lack of response stretched on so long, I began to question the merit of my strategy.

Perhaps I should mention Uulvin sent us…

The seer had actually cautioned against mentioning them—only because the Eki were notoriously suspicious—so I’d decided to make up a story about how we ended up here.

It’s easy enough to fool these lesser species.

“Tell them about my powers.” My mate appeared at my side, bundled in a puffy insulated coat for the impending cold, yet still flavoring the air with his familiar scent.

Mine.

“You’ll be activating your shields once we leave the ship, I assume…” I sighed as I dutifully typed, already growing agitated over the knowledge I’d be unable to smell him for much of our visit.

I hate it.

- Earthling adult male, 25 years, possesses similar powers to the Eki.

“No,” he softly replied, causing me to spin in my captain’s chair to face him.

“Micah…” I warned. Even if I was personally conflicted on his shields, his safety was my top priority. “If this is about others not being able to smell me on you?—”

“It’s not,” he brusquely interrupted, his gaze drifting to the communicator screen as it chimed with a reply. “But I think it will look weird if only one Earthling has a shield, and I would never want to… trap your tendrils like that.”

Oh, sunshine…

I grimaced. “Well, I would offer to change skinsuits, but I’ve already told them to expect two Earthlings…” I trailed off as I turned to read the message.

:Standby for Nuclei City hatch:

What in Stellaria’s name does that mean?

“Presenting ourselves as a pair of Earthlings is a good cover, Zig.” Micah placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, drawing my attention back to him. “It will help sell the idea that we’re mates.”

Enough of this!

With an annoyed huff, I roughly pulled him down onto my lap, determined to put this silly misconception to bed.

“We are mates,” I growled, claiming his mouth with mine until he melted against me, licking and biting until he understood who he belonged to. “We are space fiancés.”

Micah laughed and playfully shoved me away. “Yeah, we are. Although…” He looked down at his bare hand with exaggerated disapproval. “I still don’t see a ring on this eligible finger.”

With another huff, I grabbed his hand and raised the finger in question to my mouth, biting down on the first knuckle with my blunt Earthling teeth, hard enough to leave a mark.

Since, apparently, he likes me to mark him up.

“There.” I met his shocked gaze with an innocent smile. “Now you have a ring.”

“Dammit, Zig,” he grumbled, although a smile twitched his equally abused lips as he admired my gift. “I really didn’t want to be rocking a boner when they opened the hatch for us.”

Opened the hatch…?

My confusion turned to alarm as the endless tundra outside the cockpit window shuddered so violently, the Lodger shook.

“Wait for it,” Micah murmured, grabbing my hand before I could reactively fly us from danger.

Trusting my stellar collision’s calm, I watched as a split appeared in the snow-covered ground before two massive, yet oddly silent, trap doors swung upward, revealing the neon orange glow of a city below.

Nuclei City…

“Knew it!” Micah crowed. When I eyed him curiously, he shrugged. “I did some research on the geological history of Ekistron and, apparently, the planet was once covered in now-extinct shield volcanoes. At some point, an ice age hit, making the surface unlivable, but then the Eki realized the lava tubes left over from volcanic times created the perfect subterranean infrastructure for underground living. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Indeed,” I murmured, impressed as always with my impressive mate but also wondering how I’d missed this detail myself.

I’m losing my touch.

“The location of Nuclei City isn’t documented, Zig,” Micah added, either sensing my frustration or simply knowing me well enough. “I just made an educated guess.”

Of course, you did.

“More educated than me, sunshine,” I chuckled. “Hunting down undocumented intel is usually my specialty.”

He frowned, so I deposited one last kiss before gently sliding him onto his own captain’s chair. While I could fly the Lodger with my mate in my lap—as we’d done many, many times before—the angle with which we’d be entering the city required my full concentration to maneuver. I also wanted to pass through the hatch as quickly as possible, assuming the Eki would prefer to seal it up again before any passing ships spotted it from above.

The better to keep that intel undocumented.

At this point in my mercenary career, I’d visited dozens of technically-advanced planets—had materialized in the middle of New York City when I first arrived on Earth—but I had never experienced nose diving between two underground skyscrapers in order to land on an area the size of a helipad.

A helipad surrounded by flowing lava.

In fact, it appeared the entire city was powered by lava—from the ground-level streets to the towering buildings seemingly carved from the rock itself. Lava flowed in thin rivulets everywhere I looked, like a naturally-occurring alternative to neon tube lighting.

It’s fairly impressive.

Although still not as impressive as my mate.

“I… guess my educated guess was only half-educated,” Mach laughed nervously. “Maybe those volcanoes aren’t as extinct as I thought they were.”

“It’s all right, sunshine,” I soothed as we landed. “I’m assuming the Eki are using their powers to keep the lava under control.”

He chewed on his bottom lip, radiating nervousness. “I’ve never attempted to control something I didn’t create myself… Do you think they’ll teach me how to do that?”

Exactly how generous the Eki planned to be remained to be seen. While it was promising they had allowed us into their secret city—especially with the vague manifest I provided—their alliances and agenda were unconfirmed.

They better not try to hurt my mate.

Or attempt to take Pedro away from us…

The visceral protectiveness that shot through me at the thought of these creatures attempting to harm the Trol surprised me. Then, I remembered the karnilian—how the stone hadn’t stopped calling to me since I’d come in contact with it days ago.

“Micah…” I put the ship in standby and turned to face my entire universe. “About Pedro…”

How am I going to explain this?

“It’s okay, Space Daddy—I’ve already activated Pedro’s shields.” His smile was nearly as bright as the lava’s glow reflecting off his face. “And I know to let you take the lead on explaining how we got the egg, but otherwise, not tell the Eki anything about our little bundle of joy.”

As usual, Micah talking about Pedro as if they were our child made my instincts glitch, and I realized now wasn’t the time for a deep discussion anyway—not when our hosts were waiting.

And I am perfectly fine with delaying the conversation.

The nanny bot lumbered into view with Pedro attached, and, again, I had to fight the urge not to snatch the sling for myself. Besides the Eki already knowing the “little bundle of joy” wasn’t biologically ours, it would probably be best to downplay any attachment to Pedro—to redirect all attention to my mate.

“Should we tell them you have powers too?” Micah asked as I pulled on the puffer jacket I didn’t need, for appearances’ sake. “Or make it sound like I’m an Earthling anomaly?”

I considered my answer as I star hopped our party to the landing bay. While I understood Micah’s hesitation to draw attention to his home planet, I begrudgingly believed honesty would be best in this circumstance.

Honesty to a point.

“Eki value innovation and discovery over the idea of conquering other planets,” I replied. “Yes, meeting you may make them curious about Earth, but we are many light years away from your galaxy. Telling them about the existence of superheroes and villains probably won’t make the trip worth their while.” I paused to tap in the code to open the ramp. “And to answer your question—let’s keep me off their radar for now. Tell them I’m a powerless normie.”

So if I need to kill them, they won’t see me coming.

My mate nodded thoughtfully as the ramp deployed, the light from outside the ship illuminating his perfection in an orange glow once again. “Do you think they’ll like me?”

What?

This was the last question I expected him to ask, and one I had no easy answer for. If there was one thing I’d learned in all my years of infiltrating various vessels and societies, it was that some experiences were universal while others were as varied as the stars in the sky.

“I believe they will respect you,” I carefully replied. “Because anyone who doesn’t lacks intelligence, and the Eki are an extremely intelligent species.”

Unfortunately, I sensed this was not what Micah wanted to hear, but then the ramp hit the ground with a resounding clang, and we collectively walked to where a trio of hooded figures awaited.

The Eki.