Capítulo 11: Move On
"Wait, I thought that you said that the lizards never stole from the Saalistaja because of how scary they were," I said as I decided to use the tablet to find the nearest common room where I could sit down in. Finding one about five doors down, I continued on my journey while waiting for Jun Li to answer my question.
"When I said that the Sisalik never stole from the Saalistaja, I was correct. As a species, the Sisalik have never once stolen from them. It was only this ship that took the banned technology and installed it. The original captain thought that as long as there weren't any records of it happening, then they couldn't prove anything."
"Plausible deniability," I said with a smile as I entered a different common room than the previous one. This one looked more like a bar or nightclub than a lounge.
"Plausible deniability?" asked Jun Li as I sat down in one of the booths. A medium bot, the height of the table rushed over to me and handed me a menu. Looking at all the squiggles, lines, and dashes that I didn't understand, I simply handed the folder back to the bot with a shake of my head.
"It means that if you don't admit that it happened and they can't prove that it happened, then it didn't happen," I explained as the bot came back with a plate that for the life of me looked like steak and potatoes. With a shrug of my shoulders, I picked up what looked to be cutlery and started to dig in. I didn't know what I was eating, and I was pretty sure that I never wanted to know, but it was delicious no matter what it was.
"Exactly," agreed Jun Li as I continued to eat.
"Does Stargazer know about the modifications?" I asked. It might come back to bite us on the ass if he and Pippa knew we had contraband onboard.
"Not the specifics, those were not in the system when he managed to infiltrate me to wake me. However, it was noted that I was modified."
"And that simple fact was enough to have him not trust you?" I asked surprised as I finished the last bite of the white puree on the plate. It wasn't potatoes per se, but it didn't taste bad either.
"I am the only one to have been modified," said Jun Li like it wasn't that big of a deal, but I could tell through his voice that it was.
"That is frigging fantastic!" I said trying to inject as much enthusiasm into my voice as I could, and honestly, it wasn't that hard. "No one will know what they are up against when it comes to you. That will be a huge benefit in a fight. But that brings me to my second question," I said, not too sure how to word what I wanted to say.
"What is your second question?" asked Jun Li.
"If you are more powerful, why didn't you just blow him up?"
"Who?"
"Stargazer. If you are more powerful than him, why didn't you just blow him up?"
"I thought you would disapprove," said Jun Li honestly. "I mean, there was a human on the ship. I didn't think you would approve of her death."
"Next time, don't worry about me. If you want to blow him up, then go right ahead," I assured him as I leaned back in the booth a took a minute to look around.
"But if I did that, then the Saalistaja would be aware that we have their technology," admitted Jun Li. Well, that was a great reason against using the weapons unless it was an emergency. I would not want to be the prey to a predator species, that is for sure.
"Alright, we will leave those weapons for a life-or-death situation." Standing up, I walked over to what I could only describe as a dance floor. "I don't suppose that you happen to have downloaded any music?" I asked with a smile on my face. I couldn't wait to get back to Earth and have him download the internet. I wouldn't have to pay for any streaming services when that happened.
"I am afraid that the Sisalik did not download any music," apologize Jun Li. "They are not a species that has music."
"Huh," I said surprised. I didn't think that I knew a single culture on Earth that doesn't have some form or another of music. "Have we started the journey home?" I asked as it just occurred that we had been talking all this time and that Jun Li might have just been hanging out in the same spot all this time.
"We are approximately 20 standard minutes into our journey," he said. "It will take almost 48 days to get to our coordinates, so just under one Earth month."
That had me pause my inspection of the club. "I'm sorry, a month only has 31 days, some are 30, but the majority are 31 days."
"Oh," he said sounding embarrassed. "I was under the impression that a month was approximately 60 rotations of Earth in relation to your sun."
Now, I prided myself on being a high-functioning psychopath. I really did. I wasn't prone to panic attacks, it was too much effort to really be angry or happy, but I think that I was panicking for the first time in my life right now. "How many days in a year?" I asked him, hoping against all hope that I was wrong.
I closed my eyes and waited for his answer. "I was under the impression that there were 730 days in an Earth year, however, based on your reaction, I am assuming that I am incorrect in this."
Taking in a deep breath, I quickly did the math. "So, I was taken 5 years, 9 months, and 21 days as of today. Is that what you are saying?" I would not panic. I would accept this fact and move on. Getting upset will not help or change anything. I just needed to move on.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
Devilbesideyou666
Devilbesideyou666 Jun Li needs a body and I need help picking it. Head over to my Instagram page (@devil_besideyou666) to have a say. Not to mention, if you have any ideas for an interesting alien let me know that too!
It's a vast universe out there... the possibilities are endless!
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