The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [67]
Shran continued to stand where he was, angry but vacillating, his weapon in hand, though still concealed. Archer remained poised to body-slam him, despite the very real risk of starting a panic in the crowd. “Shran.”
Slump-shouldered with defeat, the Andorian finally holstered his weapon, then began moving toward Reed and the MACOs. Archer followed him, heaving a sigh of relief.
“Let’s find Jhamel, Archer,” Shran said as the group reached the periphery of the madly bidding crowd, where they could hear each other without having to raise their voices. “I’ll save my anger for those who took her- and for anybody who tries to stop me from getting to them.”
Thank goodness for Andorian restraint, Archer thought as the slave auction passed from his sight, though not from his conscience.
Eighteen
Monday, February 17, 2155
Adigeon Prime
ALTHOUGH ADIGEON PRIME was an Earth-like planet in most respects, its significantly lower gravity took some getting used to- as did the natives. Trip looked out a window at the expansive city over which flew hundreds of winged Adigeons.
Outside of graphic novels and vids, he had never before seen flying humanoids with his own eyes. He’d heard of a race called the Skorr, but their homeworld was apparently some distance away from the sectors through which Enterprise had traveled thus far.
The Adigeons he’d seen so far were all roughly three meters tall or taller, and were made more imposing by the large wings that sprouted from either shoulder blade. Unlike bird wings, however, these were more membranous; an intricate weaving of connective tissue and musculature striated the wings, over which were layered the membranes. The effect left Trip with the impression of fleshy feathers overlaid onto bat’s wings.
Other than their wings and their large, lidless, side-mounted eyes, the Adigeons weren’t particularly avian in appearance, once one got past first impressions. For one thing, their wings terminated in exceptionally long, slender, and sensitive fingers, which must have accounted for the reputation of their surgeons, as well as going a long way toward redeeming their relative lack of binocular vision. Their skin came in a wide variety of colors, ranging from a mottled gray to deeper browns and purples, while the feathery hair they exhibited seemed to grow mostly on the backs of their skulls, just above their almost catlike, membrane-feather-covered neck ruffs. Their facial features were also striking: their mouths were vertical and lipless, with two gill-like flaps on either side underneath high-set cheekbones.
When they’d docked the Branson, Trip and Phuong were greeted by a pair of indistinguishable Adigeons- Trip took them to be females, though he couldn’t be certain- who greeted them politely but officiously. They had presented the two humans with small translation devices to attach to their clothing, and some sort of gravity-regulating ankle bracelets that allowed them to walk with some semblance of normalcy in the planet’s low-gravity environment, which Trip found reminiscent of Mars.
On their way to the c’Revno-hibce- the surgical facility where their physical alterations were to be performed- neither of the females spoke unless spoken to, so both Trip and Phuong had mostly looked out the windows of their hovercab-like transport.
Once they had reached the facility, an apparently male Adigeon went over the financial arrangements with Phuong; when those details appeared to have at last been agreed upon, Trip and Phuong were given a stack of papers to fill out. Another Adigeon, a clerical specialist with skin the color of expensive Beaujolais, sat with them to read the questions on the forms into their translation units and record their answers by hand in the Adigeons’ written language.
Trip answered the questions about his medical history as best he could, but a good half of the questions