Chapter One
Atticus Steele was a flying telepathic rat. A flying telepathic rat with problems. First of all he owned an interstellar porn shop and second of all, his landlord was a cat who had ties to the biker section of the yakuza. Mr. Rex was the name of the landlord, and true to his name he had short front arms and large back paws. He was also possessing of a mouth of needle-sharp teeth and a lot of tattoos. He liked wearing a loincloth in his spare time. Atticus wore pants, had no tattoos or sharp teeth and did not like speaking to his landlord.
This led to misunderstandings about the rent. Mr. Rex thought Atticus was avoiding the rent, whereas Atticus was simply avoiding the feline demanding the rent. Consequentially Atticus was now being shipped across the universe to be sold in a market for exotic animals. The ship that he was on was not spacious or comfortable. It might be related to the slave ships of Africa. If any of the animals died, they were left to molder for a couple days until the ship would register a lump not giving out any body heat and toss out the corpse. Atticus thought that this might be a good way of escape if his body didn't a) have to be dead to be tossed into b) the pressures of space.
He was shipped to a planet called Falmien that had a population of mostly Ki-Rin and Humans. Since the journey was a long one he chatted with the other members of the ship about what they remembered or had heard about the races. Humans were fleshy, mostly hairless and had differing skin colors, no real abilities. The Ki-Rin were a race that had been engineered by Humanity to be able to endure long space voyages without becoming emotionally unstable. Ki-Rin, Atticus learned, were autistic phsycics. They were called the "unicorn race" because of star shaped birthmarks that they had on their foreheads and their pale skin with silvery hair.
Atticus thought this was incredibly cheesy, but this was beside the point since he was now sitting in a marketplace filled with potential buyers. The stall owner was a Hebe, a snake race and had been eyeing him hungrily for the last couple days. Atticus watched for "masters" that would be easy to manipulate into taking him back to his home planet. There, walking nonchalantly through the crowd was a younger human with a hearing aid. He was sporting one of those hairstyles that was artfully made to look as if it had not been artfully made, but it did anyway because of the massive amount of effort that was put into making it "casual". He had a faded mark on his forehead but his dark hair indicated that he was a half-breed. The flying rat grinned.
-o-
Mirko left his rooms to look through the flea market a couple of blocks from his apartment. The flea market was selling animals, dead and alive, candies, clothing, vehicles, writing implements, computers, lens cleaner, weapons, automatons, oil, suspicious statues, old texts, and garbage. Every night scavengers descended on the dump of the largest city on the surface of Falmien to find valuables that were still in good condition. The scavengers hoarded these goods until a yearly flea market where they could be sold at a decent price.
Hey you. Mirko looked around. Seeing nobody looking in his direction but an interested-looking rat as big as his forearm wearing pants, he twiddled with his hearing aid. Oh come on, why would a rat be able to form words with his mouth? Mirko glared at the large rat. What do you want you weird thing? The rat smiled at him. I want you… To buy me. Mirko snorted, causing a group of schoolgirls walking past him to giggle. And why would I waste my hard earned money on a scruffy thing like you? The rat eyed him through the bars of its cage. I could help you raise your psychic defenses. Besides, your money isn't hard earned, you whine it out of your mother. Isn't that a bit immature for a twenty year old of your kind? C'mon, I can spice up your life. Strangely, Mirko found himself being drawn to the rat in the ridiculous trousers. I can fly too, thought the rat smugly. Mirko gave up and asked the Hebe pet dealer how much the large rat in the pants cost.
"All that you need to feed hhhim ith a little of what you would eat. If you have any problemth within the netht few dayth, don't bother. Thith ith my latht day on thith planet for awhile." Said the Hebeian to Mirko. Oh a sandwich. A glorious cheese and lettuce and tomato and bacon… moaned the rat in Mirko's head as he took the caged rat from the dealer and walked towards his apartment near the space docks. "What's your name anyway?" asked Mirko after he set the rat down on the floor and poring himself a drink. It's Atticus Steele. Mirko coughed on the drink he was sipping. "Isn't that a bit hard boiled detective sounding?" Well yes initially, I was going to be a detective, but I realized that I belonged more in the… Entertainment industry. My name stuck though, it makes me sound pretty cool, not at all like the owner of "Steele's Palace of Mushi" "Wait. You're joking right? You own a porn shop?" The rat nodded. "Finest wares that cater to all tastes in the multiverse." That's my motto.
Mirko considered this for awhile. "But if you own a porn shop, then why were you for sale?" The rat shifted uneasily. It's because my landlord is a cat, and I don't like seeing him, so I haven't been giving him the rent. You see, he has this policy of paying it in cash, not credits, because he's worried about getting scammed over. Atticus shivered. He always looks at me funny, like he'd like to take a bite out of me. It freaks me out. So in any case since I didn't pay it he used his yakuza connections to ship me off-planet. Now how about that sandwich? Atticus looked at Mirko hopefully.