The Lizard Chronicles
Chapter 6
As I walk down the ramp, the majority of the alien species who were present, stopped what they were doing, as they all started gawking at me, some were whispering amongst themselves, some just plain stared not knowing how to react, as their eyes followed me, it's as if the whole vicinity had come to a halt because of me.
Me, a 6'0 human, wearing black jeans, black leather dress ankle boots, a leather jacket with a white top and wearing Ray Ban sunglasses, with hundreds of alien eyes watching me, and then there's Lizareth, a anthropomorphic lizard, standing a couple of inches taller than me, walking adjacent to me on my left, looking very confident and professional, as if saying `I have a human as a friend, so suck it and back off!'
I walk with a casual stroll, feeling uneasy with all the eyes upon me, up ahead I see four, what seemed to be officers of sort, I gazed at them as if I was ogling an attractive woman at a bar, but not with that kind of affection, but with utter amazement and the utmost bewilderment and also with a hint of `What the fuck am I going to do?' As we walk, I whisper to Lizareth from the corner of my mouth in a hushed tone, ``You told me every race on this ship, including your own, walk around every where naked, but what I see is everyone wearing uniforms and clothing.''
She leans in closer, ``I forgot to mention, that I haven't been on my ship for half a year, so a lot of things have changed since then as I came to Earth for my mission.'' She whispers.
``What mission?'' I ask. ``Shh, we will talk about that later.'' She says in a hushed whisper. I raise an eyebrow at her, as I take note of the four figures standing ahead of us; I take in their races, the one to the furthest right, is a male anthro bird, standing about I'd say my height, he resembled a hawk, he wore a blue uniform, with a mirage of medals pinned to his chest, while his rank looked very superior, his feathers gleaming and carefully groomed.
The one next to him on his left, is the same species as Lizareth, a Narvian, but a male, he likely stood the same height as Lizareth, he wore a black uniform, by the contrast of the artificial light of the hanger bay, I could tell that his skin was green, a light to darkish green, his long tail swishing side-to-side, but something was amiss, he was different from Lizareth in some sort of way, then it finally clicked, he skin looked smooth, he didn't have any form of scales like Lizareth has. Upon further inspection, he has a white skin tone that ran underneath his arms, starting from the palms of his hands, I'm pretty sure it runs the length of his stomach, his private area and by the looks of it runs the full length of his tail underneath it, going to the base of his tail, to the tip.
He must be a different version of Lizareth's race, because he has two ears that sleek back on top of his head and turquoise coloured hair that started from the top was short, with the rest of its length running down the back of his neck. He wore boots, which seemed to be specially made to fit the contours of his feet, as I'm sure the same applies to Lizareth with her footwear.
I had to admit, he looked... attractive. He had a soft muzzle, where his nose is, he also had bright green eyes with slitted pupils like a snakes, and his physique looked, soft and friendly.
As my eyes met his, mine behind my shades, he just glared at me, making him look unfriendly.
To his right, stood a male dragon, an inch taller than me, I take in his physical looks, starting from his head; his muzzle is soft and elegant giving him a friendly look, his skin colour is orange with a tad of red hue to it, with a shade of white running from the bottom of his chin, running the full length of his chest, I assumed ran past his private area. His tail swished side-to-side ever so lightly, by the quick glance at it, the shade of white ran beneath his tail, running the full length of it, ending to the base of his tail.
He has two long pointed ears, which stood at attention, but I could tell, he must use them to circumvent body language, akin to a horse. His eyes are a golden colour, with a slitted pupil like a snake.
Knowing nil about dragons, I had read a few years ago on a few websites I had discovered, that dragons with his appearance are referred to as drakes. I also notice he has two arrow head markings on his muzzle, just above his nostrils. I also see that he has similar distinct markings on his hands and the tip of his tail; he also has three fingers and a thumb on each hand.
Standing to the drakes right, is a male shark, he looked to resemble a tiger shark, I assume. He was dressed in a blue uniform, standing the same height as me, even though he was a tiger shark, he looked more of the friendly type, his tail swishing side-to-side gradually.
I and Lizareth, arrived in front of their presence, I looked at all four of them through my shades, the drake was the first to speak, ``Lieutenant Draconian,'' He says in a soft, soothing but friendly voice, ``Welcome home, I see your mission has gone expeditionary well.'' The drake says, eyeing me carefully, and then turning his attention back to Lizareth.
``Yes, sir.'' She replies in confidence. ``Yes, Welcome home, Draconian, it's good to have you back, I assume you have a good reason to bring a human onboard our ship.'' the male Narvian says, giving me a hard look.
Lizareth puts her hands behind her back, ``I've given him a new life, sir, and he doesn't want to be part of the human abolishment anymore.''
The drake, steps forward towards me, looking grim, not very friendly, literately speaking of course. I didn't know what his intentions were, was it to frighten me, to make me feel... uncomfortable, I had no idea.
``Can you please take off your sunglasses?'' he asks. ``Oh... these pair of five hundred dollar sunglasses?'' I say pointing my index finger at them. That wasn't a good first impression for him; I see that his ears slowly flatten in annoyance or anger.
He narrows his eyes at me; I follow his instructions, as I reach up grabbing the temples of my glasses, taking them off, folding them and placing them in my jacket pocket.
In my peripheral vision, I see Lizareth; put a hand to her forehead, as if saying `Great. Not a good start to an introduction.' But the drake being very serious, changes his demeanour in an instant, having a big grin on his face then changing to a friendly smile, he sticks out his hand, ``Welcome to our ship...'' I take his offered hand shake, I feel that his skin is so smooth and leathery, akin to a dolphins, ``...Ryan, Ryan Mendoza.'' I reply, returning his hand shake. I let go of a big sigh of relief, I think he was messing with me.
``Welcome to the MSC Laywest, Ryan, glad to have the first human aboard, we're honoured and I was only messing with yah, you're alright for a human.'' He says ending the hand shake.
I turn to look at the other three `officers', who all had smiles on their faces, ``Yeah, this big bozo always does that to new comers, especially when it's a human.'' Counters the male Narvian, shoving a thumb in his direction.
``I'm flattered.'' I reply nonchalantly. He gives a chuckle, ``Where did you find this human, Lizareth? He has an amazing personality, he is really cool.''
``On my mission to Earth, I watched and studied Ryan for a year, I watched him suffer through some... unforeseen circumstances.'' Says Lizareth.
The two reptiles, avian and shark, gazed at me, then to Lizareth for some clarification. ``What circumstances would that be?'' asks the male tiger shark, giving his hand out with his arms crossed.
I look the other way at some of the aliens watching me, as Lizareth tells them of my turmoil.
``Ryan lost his wife of ten years to cancer, that's why I brought him here with me so he could start a new life, a new beginning, a fresh start so to speak.''
``Well, you brought him to the right place, Lizareth'' Says the Drake, ``I'd say,'' says the male Narvian giving me a wink.
The drake gives a bow, ``I do apologize for your loss, Mr. Mendoza. I hope this new start to a fresh life is what you intend on having.'' He gives me another wink.
I blink, if I'm seeing things, is he winking at me or am I just seeing things. I clear my throat, ``Yes...'' I twirled my hand in a, `what is your name' motion. ``...Tiesci, my name is Tiesci,''
``Yes, Tiesci, it's a life I intend to have and it's what I want. Especially with all the heartache I have gone through, due to my wife's death.''
He smiles, ``Good to hear, your new life awaits you on this ship and you do have my condolences for your wife's death.'' He says, pulling out some sort of long device that looked akin to a hand held metal detector. ``Thank you, it means a lot.''
``Now I'm going to scan you with this device, it is for security reasons and protocols, we have to scan you for any form of weapons, for ours and the ships safety.''
I swallowed nervously, knowing I have a 9mm Glock housed in the back of my waist band, but I nod in agreement, ``I have no problem with that, you can freely scan me.'' I say as I hold up my arms.
``Perfect.'' He says, as he steps a few inches closer, proceeding to wave the very futuristic looking device over me, starting with my arms, the device was giving out what looked to be anti-gravity pulses, as it beamed over me.
He then waves the device over my waist, and then down my legs, doing each one; he does my chest, then walks around behind me, starting with the back of my legs, moving his way up to my back, where the device starts beeping loudly with an alarm.
I watch as Lizareth, perks up and starts looking at me very curiously, as to why the machine had detected something on me.
``Do you have something on you Ryan, a weapon of some sort?'' asks Tiesci.
I give a half hearted sigh, as I reach around behind me, lifting up my jacket and shirt lightly, taking hold of the grip of my pistol, pulling out of my waist band, letting it become clearly visible as it was nestled in my right hand as I held it close to my chest.
I watched as the four of them widen their eyes in shock, Lizareth just glares at me, as I watch her expression turn into anger.
``It's my own personal gun; it's a nine millimeter Glock, standard service pistol that human law enforcement officers use.'' I say as I hold the gun out.
``Can I please have a look at it?'' asks Tiesci, as he holds his right hand out. I nod, as I twirl the gun around, grabbing hold of the barrel and handing him the gun, the proper and safe way of handing someone a gun.
He takes hold of the grip, as he holds it up to his eye level, admiring it, ``What a primitive weapon.'' He ponders. ``Is it loaded?'' he asks, raising an eyebrow.
I silently hold my hand out, (Lizareth was watching all this proceed in front of her, seething as her blood boiled with anger) he takes this as a sign and places the grip of the pistol back in my hand.
To answer his question, I depress the little button on the left hand side of the gun, just above the grip, below the safety, letting the magazine slide out into my left hand.
I then hold up the magazine to his eye level, showing the line of bullets that were housed in it. He frowns, ``It is loaded and those are real bullets.''
I nod, ``Yes they are and that answers your question.'' I say, sliding the magazine back up the handle of the grip, pulling the slide back, as I release it, making that familiar metallic click.
He clasps his hands in front of him, ``Alright, here's the verdict Ryan, you're our guest here and will soon become a permanent resident, we have no quarrels about civilians carrying firearms, only that they are secured, the safety is engaged and is clearly visible.''
I nod, ``Understood.'' I look over at Lizareth, who glared at me with anger.
``Since you can keep your `human' gun, not even telling me you had it on you all this time, you can keep that fucking thing away from me!'' shouts Lizareth as she turns on her heels and marches off.
I stand there shocked from Lizareth's outburst, ``What did I do?'' I ask.
I watch as Tiesci gives a sigh following my gaze, watching Lizareth storm off, ``Lizareth hates human weapons, Ryan, she hates them with a passion, and they make her very upset, she despises them.''
``But... why?'' I ask, ``There has to be a reason.'' I watch as Tiesci gives the other three a nervous look, as his ears flatten.
He places a hand on my shoulder, ``Lizareth's mate was killed by a human gun, Ryan.''
I was at a loss for words; I didn't know what to say. My mouth gaped open, ``I didn't know, she never told me.'' I say slowly.
``Only a select few know, people she trusts dearly.'' He replies. I gaze at the floor with sorrow, a sad look coming over me.
``Don't take it to heart, Ryan,'' interjects the male Narvian, ``She will calm down, just give her time.''
``Yes don't take it to heart, Ryan, give her time to cool off, you have plenty of time to do that as you will be living here permanently, I have taken the liberty to have all your personal belongings moved up here on to the ship, including your car.''
``Serious?'' I ask. He smiles, showing his sharp teeth, ``I wouldn't be a nice Drake, if I were to lie to our newest resident, that would that show that I'm not a good officer of the ship and not taking care of his crew, and plus that wouldn't gain your trust.''
``Riiiiiight, I take your word for it, so where is all my belongings that you speak of.'' I ask. He brings up his right wrist, noticing he has the same computer interface that Lizareth has on her wrist, I watch as his fingers dance away on the keypad.
I watch as a ship, that had flew in earlier before, its ramp started opening, as it slowly lowered to the deck floor.
The crew of the ship, some were, other drakes, some were anthro birds, some were dragons started pushing out my own belongings on big trolleys that seemed to levitate off the floor, no visible wheels at all.
As they pushed four anti-gravity trolleys with my personal stuff on them out, I watch as my mid night black 1968 Chevrolet Impala SS was revealed, slowly being pushed down the ramp, what seemed to be levitated on specially made trolleys that were made flat.
Two male Nali were pushing my car, they looked like they weren't even breaking a sweat, I guess those trolleys made it very easy, knowing my car weighs about two and half to three metric tons. I hear Tiesci give a low whistle, ``That is a beautiful machine.'' He says slowly, as the five of us make our way to my car.
I watch as the two Nali slowly position it, I watch as the one on the right, almost makes my car go off course, nearly crashing it into a nearby crate.
``Hey! That's a one hundred thousand dollar car, be careful with it.'' I shout to them. ``Yes, sir.'' The one on the right replies.
``Where are the keys?'' I ask, as quickly as I ask that, the male Nali on the left, throws me my car keys, I raise my right hand up and catch them.
``Thanks.'' I say. The male Narvian walks up to my car, as he slowly runs his fingers along the right fender.
``You humans make incredible machines,'' he counters. ``What is this?'' he asks slowly.
``It's a 1968 Chevrolet Impala SS, it's a muscle car.'' I reply. ``It's big; it's amazing how you humans invented this, you humans made this.''
``Hey, not all of us are dumb and arrogant.'' I say putting my hands out. ``What powers this machine?'' he says pointing at my car.
I smile, walk around to the driver's side door, opening, reaching under the dash and tugging the bonnet release lever.
It pops up, as I shut the door, walking to the front of the car, lifting up the bonnet, revealing the chrome polished big block 350 Chev. ``This is the engine; it is a big block 350 Chev V8 engine, very powerful and really loud.'' I say.
He gives a low hiss, ``That is huge! You humans made that.'' I nod fast, ``Yes we did.'' I reply.
The male shark, dragon and Tiesci come to have a peek. ``That's a big engine.'' Says Tiesci, as he leans in inspecting the engine closer.
``Indeed it is,'' I say pushing the bonnet down, letting it slam shut. I look over at the two male Nali, ``I just want to check something real quickly then you can take my car to storage.'' They both nod.
I walk around to the driver's side door, swing it open and slump down onto the seat; I insert the key into the ignition, turning on the accessories, I see the dash light up and the Pioneer Bluetooth and MP3 head unit I had installed lit up, and then on comes a song that I dreaded to hear.
The voice of Raul Malo, the lead singer of The Mavericks, starts blaring through the sound system. ``Star lit skies, Texas eyes
Looking down on me tonight.
Across the street, strangers meet
hoping to catch a rising star.
You and I, will stay up and wake up
And then...
One more day, come what may at the San Jose.''
I sigh, ``Ah, shit, I didn't want to hear that.'' I turn the key, shutting everything off. I hop out, shutting the car door and tossing the keys to the male Nali, as I waved them off.
They started pushing my car and belonging away to storage. The male Narvian walks up beside me; ``What was that amazing tune that came from your machine?'' he asks, ``Music, a human song, a song that I shouldn't have heard.'' I reply as a lone tear runs down my cheek, he takes notice of it.
``Ryan, are you okay?'' he asks, slightly concerned. ``Yeah...'' I reply in a way that it sounded like I didn't mean it.
``Talk to me.'' He says. ``That song you heard is called San Jose by The Mavericks, I and my wife danced to that song many times during our marriage, it was considered our song.''
``I can see that it brings back memories, painful memories for you, but Ryan, if you keep beating yourself up about this, it will make you feel worse, it is not healthy.'' He says in a soft voice.
I sigh, he has a point, ``Yeah, you're right.'' I softy say.
``C'mon, let me show you your quarters.'' He says, as he waves me to him, ``No, I want to show him his quarters,'' interjects Tiesci, ``I will be the honored one to show him his quarters, you have duties to attend to.'' Says the male Narvian, as he narrows his eyes at Tiesci.
``Yes, sir.'' He salutes, turns on his heels and walks off.
``This way, Ryan, follow me,'' He smiles, as I begin to walk following him, ``We'll make our way to the living quarters deck.''
