“What are you doing?” he said, working his way up onto his knees. “Get away from there! It’s mine!”
He took it out every day. Sometimes to put money inside, more often to take some out. I reached in and removed the small bag of credits. I tucked it in my pocket and did the same with the other items. If they were in that tin box, they must have some value.
“For services rendered,” I said.
“You’re a thief!” he spat.
“And you’re a slaver,” I said. “I guess none of us are perfect.”
I moved for the door and stopped in the doorway. The rusted floating truck sat outside the shack. Maybe I could figure out how to drive it. It would save me a lot of travel time.
But the keys were in Master’s pocket. He was never going to hand them to me. Could I take them with another strike to his head? I didn’t trust myself not to mess it up. It took a lot for me to escape. I didn’t want to accidentally end up handing myself over now.
I headed outside. The sun was just beginning to set on the arid landscape. It was fairly cool. A breeze tickled the wound around my ankle but I felt strong—stronger than I’d been in a long time.
On the far horizon, bright light bloomed and replaced the dying sunlight. The lights of civilization and the next stage on my journey.
The red dust felt hot beneath the soles of my feet. I jogged down across the expanse of the desert in the direction of that glowing light, reveling in the sensation of being out in the wide-open space, knowing every step took me closer to freedom and my true home.
Earth.
It took three hours of continuous jogging to reach the city’s outskirts. It was the dead of night and very quiet.
A couple of taxis pulled over and asked if I wanted a ride. I did but decided to save as much the money as possible. I asked for directions to the spaceport and they were kind enough to point it out. I saw the ships coming in and taking off from miles away.
Assuming it took twelve hours for Stinky to complete a cycle and pass the food, the wrapper and the enclosed key shouldn’t be through his system for another nine hours or so. Even if it went through unusually fast, that still left me with six or seven hours.
More than enough for me to get as far from this planet as possible.
But there were other options too.
What if Stinky was sick and threw up the wrapper immediately after I left? Or it passed through his system faster like diarrhea? Did that even exist on this planet? I guessed so. These things were still biological creatures. There was no reason why they should be spared the same embarrassment we humans had to put up with.
Or maybe Master had changed his mind about his affections toward the poor pet and decided to tear defenseless old Stinky apart…
I shook my head. I was worrying about nothing. Best to concentrate on getting out of there as fast as possible.
And I really should stop thinking of him as “Master.” I wasn’t Igor. I was free now. He would never hold dominion over me ever again.
I hoped.
His new name would be… Asshole. Yes, that was a pretty good fit. He was an asshole and so his name would now forever be Asshole.
Asshole. Asshole. Asshole.
The spaceport was packed with fellow travelers. There were dozens of different species. Some had green skin and had the appearance of lizards, others were yellow and glowed with the brightness of a midday sun and had to wear thick jackets to conceal their skin. Some were tiny and I almost trampled them underfoot, while others were even larger than Titans and I was the one who was almost trampled. But the dominant species were the Titans. They were the workers and the vast majority of travelers. It had to be a Titan moon or planet.
I considered taking one of the workers aside to tell them how I came to end up in this place. Who knows, they might be able to help me. But I knew nothing about them. It was better for me to focus on getting the hell out of dodge than take the risk of putting myself in even more trouble.
I dug my hands in my pockets, holding on tight to that little bag of credits, and took my place in the line to buy a ticket. Some creatures were using fancy machines but they needed payment other than the physical credits I had.
“Next!” a nasal voice said.
I approached the kiosk. The counter was built for Titans, not for short asses like me. I had to go up on tiptoe to see inside.
“Destination?” the bored worker said.
“Earth,” I said.
“Earth?” the worker said. “That’s an unusual one.”
She turned to her computer terminal and tapped it in. It took a moment for the computer to bring up the information.
The worker squinted at her screen and brushed at it with her finger. She looked surprised when it didn’t come off. She thought Earth was a piece of lint.
“Huh,” she said. “Would you look at that. I never knew there was a solar system all the way out there. What’s it like? I might go there on my next holiday.”
“It’s… okay,” I said. “We have some nice beaches.”
“Mm-hm. Now that’s what I like to hear. How many tickets do you want, sugar?”
I was glad she was kind. It’d been a while since I saw a friendly face. Maybe it would be okay for me to share my story with her after all…
I stamped on that desire to ask for help. It always got me in trouble on Earth so why wouldn’t it wind up
