The Terran

She knew he was a Terran as soon as he walked in her door -- all approximately six and a half feet, 180 pounds of him. He was built like a Terran, solid and tanned with wide shoulders and trim hips just made for riding those horses she’d read about. And gorgeous -- he had brown hair and soft blue eyes, a combination that she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“What can I do for you?” she said.

His face broke into a wide smile like he’d found his best friend. “Howdy. I was hoping you could help me hire someone to escort me around.”

He wanted an escort? Okay -- she could do that. For that body she could do about anything. “An escort? Why do you need an escort?”

He gave her a bashful look and, for a second there, she thought he’d been going to shuffle his feet. “Well, I haven’t been off-Earth before and I’m not too sure of things up here. But the real problem is that I think someone is trying to kill me.”

Kill him? And waste a prime specimen like that? Not if she could help it. “Why would anyone want to kill you, Mister ...”

“I’m sorry ma’am, the name’s Cody. Max Cody. And I’m not sure why someone would want to kill me, but the reason I believe they might be thinking about it is this.” He handed her a small, torn piece of paper which read “If you want to live, meet me at Scott’s Bar at noon. I’ll find you.”

Hmmm. “A mysterious, scribbled note isn’t necessarily indicative of high drama, Mr. Cody.”

“Well, no, maybe not ma’am, but the note was left on the desk in my room along with this little piece of jewelry.” He handed her a small pin.

She took it and gulped. He was in trouble all right. The pin was small, made to wear on the collar, and square-shaped with red enamel and a small black dot in the center. Everyone around knew that this was a serious pin associated with a seriously powerful guy who played for keeps. Aw, what the hell. Things had been slow lately and you couldn’t live forever, could you?

“Yeah, I’ll help you, Mr. Cody. Let me grab my bag, then we’ll go load onto my ship.”

“Okay, but shouldn’t I get my gear?” He looked at her with a worried frown as if he should be doing something.

“Well, now, I suppose that depends on how you look at it.” She opened her locker, grabbed a huge duffle, then opened the front door. “If you want to live, Mr. Cody, the best place for you right now is another galaxy.” And out she went.

i'm feeling -- creative
as i listen to I-Cube playing Adore