A Spaceman

Chapter 15--Define Magniloquent

We wake up to the sound of the cell door opening. We like that. Sometimes. Sometimes it is very bad for us. Especially bad for Quinn. Things haven't gone so very well for him lately. Poor thing. We will take care of him, though.

Spot comes in. He is holding a cookie, and his lips drip with the little alien version of a smile. We smile back at him and extend a hand, to take the cookie. All three of his eyes light up as he hands it to me. His tentacles are slimy, but he doesn't have so very many of them, so we like him better than all the rest.

Speaking of the rest, a big one comes in behind him. It gives a roar and Spot screams, then it proceeds to chase him around the room in ever increasing circles. This is risible to us, because Spot is very small and cannot move quickly, and the other one is big and cannot move quickly, and they are both trying to move ridiculously quickly. The whole time, Spot is screaming and doing what Isylgyns do instead of crying, which is this dolorus noise that is like a moan but with even more sadness. The other thing is roaring in apparent rage. We can only assume that it is because Spot was not supposed to be feeding us cookies. We are to eat human flesh, no cookies for Quinn.

They work their way around the room, we are laughing and the big one is trying to slap Spot with his tentacles. Spot is whining in fear.

They near us, and we jerk upward, using our arm to pull Spot behind us chained to the wall, and the big one slaps me, trying to free Spot. Spot squeals but stays still. We block the blows of the acidic tentacles with our body, and spit at the big Isylgyn.

"Leave him alone," we say, although it ignores us.

Spot wraps his tentacles around our chest and moans, this time in apparent affection. We roll our eyes. The big thing keeps slapping at us, stinging our sensitive skin. We swear at him but he does not appreciate it.

There is a snap of Isylgyn from the doorway. Our sworn enemy, Titus Card, is hanging in it. He is wearing his white Space Forces Suit, no helmet. How singularly odd. At his voice, the Isylgyn stops and squiggles away, looking very dejected. Spot quivers behind us.

"What's going on?" Titus asks me, pushing off the doorway and floating in.

"Go to hell," we tell him, although we doubt if he'll do it.

Titus tells Spot something in Isylgyn and Spot crawls out from behind us and Titus slaps him on his way out, all the while Spot looking back at us sadly with his big lonely eyes. We wave at him, our face grim. He will be in trouble for helping Quinn.

"Come on, it's time you got out," Titus says, unlocking my hands so I can float free.

We don't say anything.

"Now that you've spoken to them, you see how I'm the only one who can help you? You saw the video feed, there was a room full of analysts, you know what they think? They think you've joined me," Titus says, leading me out into one of the main rooms. We follow him. we don't know why we obey but we do. We don't want to. but when he speaks we are supposed to obey we know that. Quinn doesn't want to, but Quinn makes us get hurt, with big things that poke us in painful places, and little things that stick in our skin and make us hurt. No that makes us sad.

"Yes," we say. He is right. "They won't like Quinn anymore, will they?"

"No, they won't," Titus says, "They'll think Quinn is a monster now, because he is with Titus, and if Quinn goes back, they'll hurt him."

"Lt North, Major Tom, everyone who lived, they won't like Quinn, not anymore," I say. The more we say it, the more we know it's true. Quinn is wrong. We have to keep him safe. And we can do that here. Even if Quinn's sworn enemy Titus Card is here. We can stay.