Aisha was woken up the next morning by Nick
"Eight hours? Or have I woken the delicate flower up too soon?" Nick said using her own words to taunt her
"You're the only delicate flower around here, what kind of man gets wasted off of tea?" She said with a smirk
"Hey that was some screwed up stuff that I'm avoiding with care for the rest of my days, mark my words. Anyways, if you keep pickin on me, I might decide not to take you on your little vacation home" He crossed his arms and turned his head
"Oh come on", she sighed and gave him a soft punch in the stomach
"What are you doing?" He asked flatly
"Picking on you, but you're not putting up much of a fight", and she hit him again
"Well, I can't hit girls", he rolled his eyes and she hit him two more times
"I could do this all day, what a great workout it would be!"
"I could also stand here all day and take your life threatening blows but I think I'd die of boredom faster sooo..." he quickly scooped her up and put her over his shoulder
"Hey!"
"All's fair in love and war", he said and gave her a tap on the rear
"Hey NOT fair!"
"Wasn't me!" he got a whip in the face by her tail
He laughed and carried her into the ship and set her down,"Ok I need complete silence to maneuver this thing outta here and with enough luck, we'll live and my house wont cave in!"
"Yer even worse than Gene!"
"Yeah yeah", he said waving his hand while buckling up and flipping switches
Aisha grabbed some extra belts for the co-pilot seat
"What are you doing?", Nick asked raising a brow
"Knowing how you landed this thing, I'm amazed that you're still here. I'm not taking any chances", she said pulling the belts tight
"This ship is a lot tougher than you give it credit for, but suit yourself... literally", He grabbed the shifting rod and throttle and slowly backed out and cleared the other apartments with room to spare and they soon shot out of the atmosphere
"See? No prob, now I just turn off invisibility and-"
"Invisibility? It sure as heck wasn't invisible last night or this morning when I was standing next to it"
"Well that's because it's visible when you are 10 meters or closer, otherwise you can't see it. I set it like that so it's not completely impossible to get back inside. I wouldn't have pulled that off if it didn't have that capability. Like I said, THE BEST stealth ship"
"Ohh"
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The flight was pretty uneventful but the distance wasn't too far so they managed to survive. As for the landing, it was much better than Aisha had planned for which was something like them ejecting out of a fireball. She let out a sigh of relief when they had landed almost flawlessly.
The docking platform clamped onto the side of the fighter just as one of the comm screens blinked on.
Nick looked at the screen and saw a gruff old Ctarl. He was about to greet him but was knocked out of his chair with a friendly; "AISHA? REPORT!"
She popped up giving a salute, "Yes Sir!"
He regarded her for a minute before speaking with a smile, "Well Aisha, it's been a while since your departure, welcome home!". She was definitely surprised to get such a warm welcome after her big demotion. The old guy regained his "old man" expression, "Have you returned with the specimen? And is it intact and contained?"
"Yeah, I have him, and as far as I know, it's fine, but it's not contained...", She gave a small shrug
"WHAT? You have something like that running around? CODE SILVER: QUARANTINE ALARM!", He punched a button on his console and lights started flashing throughout the docks and doors bolted shut. After a minute the alarm subsided and the old man came back on the screen,"Aisha, tell me quickly, where is the creature?"
She gave a sigh and pointed at Nick
The old dude focused his gaze behind her, "You! Human!", Nick, confused, pointed at himself, "Yes you! Move!"
"Aisha? Do they even know what I look like when not transformed?", he sighed
"I didn't have time to explain ALL the details", She said, casually waving her hand at him and he dropped his head and let out a sigh.
Nick walked to the screen and demanded to be released. After much arguing and compromise, they agreed to let him off, but only after telling him that there were dozens of guards in the area with tranq. guns just in case he tried anything stupid
"Sure! Great! If I do anything wrong put me to sleep... Yes, OK! BYE!", He punched the end transmission key but the screen popped up again
"Oh... my... God!", He shook his fists, "What now?"
A different Ctarl came on, this one was a female, "We need you to be registered into our network system. What is your name?"
Nick knew there was no way around this so he gave in,"Rotox Cariotarian"
"Species?"
"Ertarian"
"What? I've never heard of them" Aisha interrupted
"Well that's good, because I just made it up. My kind never really named ourselves so I am now. Ertar in our old language means people, so I guess that's what it would have been since that's how many cultures have done it"
The registration lady looked mildly annoyed at the interruption but continued, "Uhh... Ok... Age?"
"Does stasis count?"
"If you could give your age with and without stasis, I'd appreciate it"
He started counting on his fingers, "Hmmm, about 1329 with stasis. Without? Uhh, about 20 years old"
The questioning lasted another 10 minutes. When Nick finished them off, the registration lady congratulated him on his new citizenship and thanked him for his cooperation.
"New citizenship? Aisha, I'm not gonna have to live here am I?" sweat ran down his brow
She put a finger on her chin, "Nooooo, or at least I think not"
The bulk head doors released with a hiss and he gave a shrug and practically dove out, "THERE IS A GOD!"
---------------
They headed towards the main part of the city walking on elevated paths that were made of metal but the sides were shrouded in vines and leaves. There were even water falls that were feed by canals that ran over the tops of the buildings. Nick liked the feel of the place, it was strangely urban yet natural. The Ctarl must have put a lot of work into incorporating the jungle into their technology and everyday life.
"The Mayor wants to welcome you into the city personally. I bet there's gonna be news crews and everything! They might even give me a promotion! And promotions mean money and money means... FOOOOOOD!", Aisha rubbed her hands together
"And what do I get?"
"My appreciation, of course!"
"Cant wait"
She caught the sarcasm, "Geeze Nick you're so greedy!"
He fell on the ground and twitched. As he got up he noticed a strange vehicle pulling up next to what he thought was some kind of police station or something. He watched as four armed guards got out and escorted someone towards the door. He tried to see who or what it was. Then there was a small break in the passing crowd and he could see it perfectly.
"What the Hell is that?" He said scratching his head
"What?" Aisha turned around and looked to where he pointed,"Ummm, that would be classified information"
"Well then, if you wont tell me, I think I'll just march back to my ship, head home and go to sleep", he said with a threatening smile
"NO! You can't! This is my big break!"
"If you tell me, I won't say anything to anyone. Promise"
"You better not or so help me I'll... I'll... I don't know what I'll do, but you really won't like it!" She had her index finger poking his chest
"Ok then, so tell me"
"They're a race almost exactly like the Ctarl Ctarl, only where we are felonic they are canine, fox mostly. They come from one of our moons. The general public doesn't know about them, they think they're just mutants or something", She suddenly raised her voice and put a fist in the air, "We Ctarl Ctarl impose our might upon them because we are superior and they are accursed creatures!"
"AISHA! You know why the Ctarl Ctarl Empire always gets screwed over? It's because of all the stupid stuff they do, and this is one of em! Back when my race was still thriving, we monitored Earth, back before its people had space capabilities. We saw wars going on all the time and our people often gambled on their outcomes for sport. But in one war, there were these guys called Nazis and they killed just about everybody that didn't look like them or follow their beliefs. They were extremely powerful for a short time but it was probably the fact that they participated in genocide that ultimately finished them off because so many wanted to put an end to it. I lost money on that one... bummer. Anyways, even though this isn't exactly genocide, it's still racism and still wrong."
He glanced up and noticed that a huge crowd had formed and was listening to everything he and Aisha had said. He quickly put his arm around Aisha and waved,"Hey everybody! This is Aisha!"
Everybody in the crowd put on a smile and said, "I AISHA!"
"What are you doing?" she growled
He whispered into her ear, "Just go along with it or else your classified information is on the news tomorrow"
"Ill get you back for this one!" she muttered then gave a smile and waved
"Aisha here is nuts!", He announced and the crowd let out a big "OOoooo!" as if it were a show
Her eyes bulged out,"WHA-!", He quickly put his hand over her mouth
"See, if I don't have this crazy conversation with her everyday, she flips out, kinda like what she's doing now", She was clawing feebly at his arm
"Well folks, I think Aisha and I should go. She's starting to get cranky and needs her nap back at the institute", He started backing away while waving, "Say bye Aisha". Her eyes turned red and she frantically swung her arms around
"BYE AISHA!" The crowd cheered and then slowly dissipated
Nick took her into an alleyway and decided it was a good time to let her loose on him.
She pinned him to the wall, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! IM A DECORATED CTARL CTARL OFFICER NOT SOME WANDERING LOON!" He reached around and started rubbing the back of her neck and she purred, "But you know I can't stay mad at you...", and fell asleep. He remembered that maneuver from his training back in the Ertarian Empire. It was what they called a reverse pressure point since it didn't cause pain, it only induced sleep.
"Yeah, I know, I'm just that good", He smiled and hoisted her onto his shoulder gently and exited the alley, "Man, she must be gettin used to me carryin her around all the time. Sigh, now to find this stupid city hall"
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