Hello! First of all, thanks for coming to read my story! This is my first story on lit, so feedback is appreciated. It starts out slow, so if you're looking for just sex without plot than this isn't for you. Anyways, enough of me talking- I hope you like the story!
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Nothing. Nothing at all was going my way. The drivers of the left engine weren't cooling properly, space barnacles had attached under the fifth wing, and worst of all my hair had gotten stuck in the blender this morning and to detach myself from the device I had to cut it off, leaving an odd chunk shorter than the rest.
I scowl. Cutting your hair is shameful to the utmost degree- I would have rather confessed to my second mother that I was frequenting a strip club! The only upside to the wretched day I was having was that I wasn't going home anytime soon, so none of my mothers could see that my hair had been cut.
I crouch over the baryon reaction capsule in the left engine, halfway through searching everything for the cooling failure. After fiddling with and tightening several components on it, I determine that it is not the cause of my problem but that it may be about time to replace it. I sigh and pull out my notepad to write a reminder to buy a new one at the next intergalactic way station.
As I leap to my nearby ladder, I stop to catch my breath and look around the left engine room. The left engine room, contrary to the right one in the back (basically just a large crawlspace), is shaped like a large kaleidoscope- the components covering the wall reaching up and down the full half mile of the space. On the end facing up, five large translucent solar harvesters are layered; each one being a different shade of the usually invisible light range that helped crystals grow. But because I was born from the Caoko race which is famed for their unique eyesight (among other things) I could see the magnificent colors of the wavy light that got through to the inside of the cylindrical room.
That light, and the light given off by the crystals I grow on my ship to sell, are the reasons I left my home to travel across the multiverse. That, and the money. I take one last deep breath and continue my way up the ladder to the exit hatch near the top.
---
The Caoko species is known not only for their magnificent eyesight, but their renowned stereotypical characteristics. If I had to list some, they would be reclusive, short tempered, and long haired. Caoko have an interplanetary population of about 0.07%, while the rest of the 99.23% choose to remain secluded on their native planet.
Due to the nature of our biological anatomy, the line between males and females is so greatly blurred that there is no gender distinction and either of the primary "sexes" has the capability to bare children. The "sex" of Caoko, something introduced by early interplanetary explorers back in the day, is based on a set set of personality traits at the age of 10 that dictate how they identify (male or female) until the age of 35 when they may or may not be reassigned. Due to this, polygamy and what other planets like to call "homosexuality" is widely accepted and encouraged. So why am I explaining this? The reason the Caoko are renowned for their short temper is because not only is it customary for battles (or wars, depending on the size of the polygamous group) to ensue over mates but children to be stolen multiple times to be raised by an assortment of parental figures (kidnapping, murder, or betting are the most common and respected ways of taking a child).
As most other cultures see us, we are brutes and a culture based on violence and not often treated as equals among others. Other cultures considered to be more normal quickly made the Caoko outcasts to the culture of public places. Though this might be a cause for so much of the population staying on the home world, it is also a growing affect the longer my people seclude themselves.
Lastly, in my culture, it is unheard of to cut your hair. As far as our written history goes, the reason for this is hazy at best. It just is. Cutting hair is reserved for prisoners of dreadful crimes and betrayers to the Caoko culture.
Seeing as I am off-world and have a chunk of my hair missing I suspected that some staring at an intergalactic way station would ensue, but not of this magnitude. As soon I had stepped out of my ship hangar when I arrived, the gaping stares and finger pointing started.
Now, as I stand in line to buy a replacement baryon reaction capsule, even the spare parts clerk manning the booth can't help but glance behind the customer in front of me (to which he was counting out change to) to stare at his unusual guest. The man in line behind me steps on my hair which is trailing on the ground behind me and I hiss at the sharp pain in my scalp.
I turn with a withering glare as the man looks up from his mobile geothermal monitor and jumps back with a 'eep!' He garbles his hurried apologies and I turn back around. I'm not really short tempered, but when the way station population in places such as this are so disrespectful it is hard not to live up to my species' reputation.
"What would you like, miss?" the clerk says in as upbeat a voice as he can manage.
"I'm male, thank you." I hiss coolly, and he flushes scarlet red. "I would like a model T-008 baryon reaction capsule."
I wait as the clerk turns to the ancient computer on his desk and searches the digital inventory.
"um... excuse me, sir," he says pointedly, "we don't have baryon reaction capsule of that model in our new or used holding right now." He shivers as my glare becomes below zero frigid.
"When would more be shipped in, then?"
"w-well, it isn't one of the items we usually restock on so you'd have to special order. That w-would take longer, m-maybe-"
"tsk." maybe I am a bit short tempered. I glare at the whimpering clerk for a moment longer and then spit out a "Thank you very much" before turning on my heel and striding away.
I get about fifteen steps before a man calls out to me and jogs to catch up. "excuse me, sir," he says as my sharp eyes catch the fraction of a second smirk as he emphasized the word sir, "I couldn't help overhearing you needed a T-008 baryon reaction capsule. I may have what you're looking for if you're willing to trade for it?"
He stands up from his bent over position he was in to catch his breath and I now notice that this man towers over my slight frame. I turn completely to face the stranger at the mention of his deal, and get a good look at him. My eyes connected with his figure and, to my surprise, I could not (nor did I really want to) tare them away. He was devilishly handsome with curly golden locks and a wide (mischievous) smile not to mention a toned frame only covered by a strange pair of pants that seemed to be remnant of the eastern nebular district. As my enraptured eyes glide back up his body I notice that he has shimmery scales.
...scales...
After the five long seconds I stood enthralled by his beauty, I recoil and flinch as I realize that he's Boccoi! The Caoko have always hated the Boccoi, their prideful nature clashing with the playful Boccoi who seemed to disrespect and ignore the Caoko at every turn. In the close to a century that the two species have interacted, they have yet to acknowledge the other for their differences and remain hostile.
None of my mothers had ever liked the Boccoi, and thus I had been raised the same. I can't help the hiss of distrust that escapes my mouth.
"Okay, Okay! I know, yes- I'm Boccoian and yes- you're Caokoan but can't we just-!" I turn and continue to head back to my ship.
"Hey! Please! Just hear me out!" The Boccoi man pleads. Seeing that I am unwavering, he runs and catches up to me, standing in my way to the hangar. "Look, you need my part, right?" he asks, the lighthearted joking tone gone from his voice. "All I ask is that you let me hitch hike a couple galaxies over- only two or tree weeks!"
Weeks?! I already haven't taking any liking to him, but he's spot on- I need that T-008 baryon reaction capsule! I stand still and look into his purple eyes. Would I rather tolerate him for three weeks or wait who knows how long for my 'special order' to be requested and transported here? I scowl.
"what's your name, Boccoi?"
"Kagaurmuroe, you?"
Ka-, Kaga-... geez, even Boccoi's names are difficult to handle!
"Ari. Now, if you're coming on my ship you're going to help with all the manual labor and chores. Also, I'll call you Kaga. This is final, understand?"
