“It’s valuable and rare as can be. You won’t find another human this far out in space, I’ll tell you that much.” The Florian went on, lips turned up as he waved dramatically at the small cage. Techno let out a huff, taking a good look at the human inside.
The poor guy was terrified, that was for sure. Curled up in the very back and shaking as he stared up at the two of them with wide blue eyes. He also looked really young, which was going to make Phil insufferable. The Elytrian always had a soft spot for fledglings, even if those fledglings weren’t technically fledglings.
“Right. And how much is valuable?” Techno asked, letting his normal monotone voice do all the acting he needed. He didn’t know why he was the one picked for this. Everyone knew how much he hated interaction. Just because he knew a few words in English they thought it was a good idea that he picked up the human. Well if that’s all that was needed, he could have taught Wilbur the few words he knew. But no, it had to be Techno.
Really, Techno knew why he was the one here and it wasn’t just because he knew the most English. Though that helped a lot, Techno was also the sturdiest in his crew. If something went south, he was more likely to be able to get out of it. And in things like this, it was very possible things could go south.
Hopefully that didn’t happen though.
“Well, for you I think I’ll say...mmm 5000 credits?” The Florian said and it was clear to Techno how much of his thinking was fake. Techno reminded himself to react, lifting his eyebrows as if to say, wow, that much?
In reality, Techno had as many scam credits as he needed to get the human out of there and go. Ones that would take a while for the Florian to figure out it was fake and by then, Techno and the rest of the SBI would be long gone.
“5000 credits? And you expect me to make a profit off of that?” He had to keep up appearances, so he played the skeptical card. Although as he glanced back down at the frightened human, he was thankful that the human couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Although...at the same time, Techno supposed it didn’t really matter. The human was probably smart enough to figure out what was happening anyway. He didn’t need the words to go along with it. Being sold wasn’t hard to pick up on.
“Of course! Especially if you find those exotic pet collectors or human fanatics. You could easily make twice as much.” The Florian explained, though Techno didn’t really believe his words. Not that it mattered if Techno did or not since he had no desire to sell the human after this.
“Really? Huh, well I guess you are giving me quite the deal then.” Techno hummed, already pulling up the credits transfer on his comm.
The Florian nodded excitedly. “Oh yes, yes, quite the deal.” Techno refrained from rolling his eyes and they completed the transfer of credits. The cage with the human was then handed to Techno, who held it awkwardly. “Pleasure doing business with you. If you ever want to purchase other exotic pets, then I’m your guy.”
“I’ll be sure to check back in.” Techno lied before walking out of the little shop. Techno found himself in one of the many back alleys of Diac, a marketplace planet. There was no one around, thankfully, because if anyone saw the human in his hands well...it wouldn’t be good, that’s for sure.
But he couldn’t exactly hide an entire cage away from prying eyes, so this was where his very limited knowledge of English came in. To try and convince the human he was safe as he took him out of the cage to hide him away in a pocket.
Simple. He thought sarcastically.
He placed the cage on top of a nearby box and kneeled down to be a bit more eye level with the human. The human was still as far back in the cage as he could go, arms curled around himself and looking at Techno like he was just waiting for him to reach in and grab him. Which, well, was what Techno was going to do but not without warning. And at the very least, he wanted to try and get the human on board with it.
He let out a sigh before speaking a single, English word. “Safe.” The word still felt weird on his vocal cords and it definitely came out more growly than he intended but the word’s meaning still seemed to come across because the human seemed to freeze at it, eyes going wide in what Techno could only assume was shock.
“Safe.” He repeated again, pointing towards the human as well for good measure. He watched in fascination as the human slowly opened himself to him and leaned a bit forward.
“S-Safe?” The human repeated the word back and now it was Techno’s turn for his eyes to widen. Not only had he not expected the human to speak so soon, this was also the first time he had ever heard English straight from a human’s mouth. It was certainly interesting and Techno could see Wilbur being all over this.
Techno nodded his head forward in what he knew was a human motion for yes, before repeating the word once again as confirmation. “Safe.”
The human bit his lip and then opened his mouth and said something that Techno didn’t understand. When the human looked at him expectantly, Techno could only assume the human was testing to see if Techno could understand anything else. Techno shook his head. “Sorry kid, I only know a few words in English.” The unfamiliar words, to the human, made him deflate a bit.
Techno felt bad for the little human but now was not the time to regret not trying harder to learn more words in English. He had to get the human out of there, unseen, and soon. This alleyway was empty and out of the way but that didn’t mean no one could show up at any moment. So Techno reached forward and undid the lock, opening the door to the cage.
The reaction was instantaneous. The human backed away once again, closing himself off and looking at Techno with fear. His eyes darted back and forth between Techno’s face and his hands and Techno let out a sigh. He figured this would happen. “Safe.” He said again and slowly began to reach in.
The human pushed himself against the bars of the cage but of course, Techno reached him easily. He wrapped his hand around the human’s middle, gently applying enough pressure to secure him in his grip. The human froze for only a split second before he was pushing against his fingers and trying to bite his hand. Thankfully, Techno’s tough skin was hard for even human teeth to pierce, so he didn’t even feel it.
Techno took him out of the cage and lifted his hand so he could see the human better. He was shaking, still pushing at his fingers but not as much as before. As if he had given up on actually being able to move them. To make it better, Techno opened his hand and brought up his other one, allowing the human to sit in the middle of his two open palms.
“Safe.” Techno said again and then decided to bring out the only other words he knew. “No hurt. Protect.”
The sound of other English words made the human freeze again and the two of them met eyes. The human looked skeptical but also like he very much wanted to believe Techno’s words. “No...hurt?” The human asked hesitantly and Techno nodded.
“Protect. Safe. We just want to get you out of here, kid. You won’t be a pet. I promise.” Even though the human couldn’t understand more than half of what he said, it seemed to have the intended effect and the human calmed down a bit more. Though he still looked scared out of his mind, Techno understood.
He thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head. One that might get the human to become a bit more comfortable with him. “Techno.” He said, switching the human to one hand so he could point to himself. The human looked confused and wary, so he repeated himself. “Techno.” He patted at his chest, trying to drive home the meaning.
Suddenly, the human’s eyes widened and a spark of recognition appeared in his eyes. “Techno?” He mimicked, almost perfectly, and pointed towards Techno. Techno nodded and the human smiled. He then hesitated for a moment before pointing at himself. “Tommy.”
It seemed the human really did understand what Techno had meant because he’s pretty sure the human just told him his own name as well. “Tommy?” He said, sounding out the weird English letters and doing his best to repeat as the human had. The human nodded though, so it seemed like Techno had gotten it at least close enough.
He noticed tears edging at Tommy’s eyes and subconsciously reached up with his thumb to wipe the tears away. Tommy flinched back but paused when he realized what Techno had been doing. “Safe.” Techno said, once again, this time as soft and gentle as he could make his voice go.
He smiled when Tommy relaxed in his hold. Though the human was still scared, Techno seemed to have gained at least a bit of his trust.
It was getting time for them to go though, so Techno opened his coat, revealing his chest pocket. He looked towards Tommy and back down at his pocket, trying to convey what was going to happen next.
Tommy’s eyes widened and he exclaimed something in English, looking up at Techno before staring at the pocket. He shook his head. Techno sighed. He figured this was going to happen, even with the progress made so far.
“It’s fine. It’s safe. I promise. But I need to put you in there so I can protect you.” He replaced the two words with the English ones, hoping the meaning would come across as intended.
Tommy looked apprehensive at Techno and his pocket before groaning. He said something, more words that Techno didn’t know, but nodded his head. That Techno knew the meaning of.
“Good, alright. In you go then.” He brought Tommy forward, using his free hand to open up his pocket. He then slid Tommy into it, hearing the human yelp on the way down to the bottom. The human squirmed when inside and for a moment, Techno thought he was struggling, fear taking hold of Tommy once again. But then the squirming died down and Techno sighed in relief. He had probably just been trying to get comfortable.
He stood up, stretching his limbs before walking out of the alleyway. He decided to just leave the cage where it was. He didn’t need it and no one was going to question why it was with the trash anyway.
He took out his comm once he was clear of people, placing a gentle hand on the pocket and over the human. He felt the human push back but not from fear this time. He smiled a little and was still smiling by the time the comm was picked up.
“Hello? Techno?” Phil’s voice cut through.
“Job’s done. Bringing the human to the ship now.” Techno said, already seeing where they parked the SBI in the distance. He heard Phil coo in approval.
“Good job mate. We’ll see you in a few.” And then the comm went silent. Techno put it away and gently patted his pocket again.
“Don’t worry Tommy, we’ll take care of you. I promise.”
