The Betwixt Book One

All
characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance
to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The
Betwixt Book One

Copyright © 2010 Odette C. Bell

Smashwords Edition

The
Betwixt Book one and The Betwixt Book Two were previously published
as a collection under the name The Betwixt. As of September 2012
they have been split up and published separately.

Cover
art stock photos: Young attractive couple. Handsome man and sexy
woman © dpaint, Illustration of virtual data © Wavebreakmedia, and
Beautiful sunriece at the red planet in space © Taden1. Licensed
from Depositphotos.

For
free fiction and details of current and upcoming titles, please
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www.odettecbell.com

The
Betwixt Book One

Chapter 1

‘
You have such a boring life, Mini. Honestly, don't you ever
look out the window and wish you were out there in the thick of the
galaxy, rather than stuck in here with space bums and
GAMs?’

I spread my mouth wide, in the kind of nervous smile I was
used to giving Claudia – all teeth, no lips. ‘Oh, I don't know,
it's okay here, I guess.’ I gestured at the packed diner before us.
Humans and aliens shoveling down their food with differing degrees
of coordination; it wasn't paradise, but it would make for a
manageable hell.

Claudia, with her perfect human features, just groaned. Her
brown eyes flickered, her mouth pulled tight, and her thick brown
ponytail fell limp over a shoulder. ‘You are so boring for a
halfy.’

Ah yes, a halfy.

I ignored Claudia and moved around her to a waiting customer.
He was a big guy, a bull Crag if I wasn't mistaken. He towered over
the two Galactic Army soldiers (GAMs for short) that sat to the
side of him. And he sure looked hungry.

Crags were a big race, all tough lizard skin, muscle, and
bone. They found their trade as mercenaries, security, or general
brawn. There weren't too many creatures, after all, that would be
happy to take on a charging Crag, gun or not. They had a reputation
for being to the point, gruff, and ridiculously sloppy. Most of the
other girls wouldn't serve them, but I didn't mind so much. I'd
serve anyone who was hungry.

Like I said before, working in Marty's Space Diner wasn't
heaven – but it paid the bills, and was quite a bit safer than
working planet-side on the colonies.

‘
Meat,’ the Crag's massive, brick-like hands pounded on the
bar.

‘
Okay,’ I nodded sweetly, ‘A kilo?’

The Crag hit the bar twice, and the plastic rippled like he
was flicking water in a puddle. The GAM by his side was just quick
enough to grab his drink before it spilled.

I took that to be an order of 2 kilos, and quickly thumbed it
into my order pad.

Yep, that was my job. I took orders, cleaned up after patrons,
and smiled. Something a cheap robot could do, technically, but
Marty always liked the 'human' touch. He said it added authenticity
to have real people serving customers. And Marty was all about
making things 'authentic'. He kept real bottles of liquor behind
the bar (well, the bottles were real, the liquid substances in them
could only be classed as industrial solvents), and always had a
'chef's special' (which was the same every single day, making it
the chef's regular). He'd gotten ‘real’ fixtures as well. He'd
ripped up old flight chairs from decommissioned fighters and
freight ships, and even had old control panels with plate plastic
over them for tables. He only got the place cleaned once a year
too. His philosophy was that frequent fumigating killed 'de bugs,
but a bit of dirt and grit just added to the
atmosphere'.

All this made for a dirty, smelly, old looking diner. But the
customers seemed to like it.

‘
Excuse me, ma'am.’

I span quickly. Only one type of person usually bothered with
manners in a space diner. Sure enough, I came face to face with a
GAM, and by the looks of it a ranking officer too.

‘
How can I help you, sir?’ I smiled as I took out my order pad,
Marty always told us a smile sells a dinner in a diner.

This GAM was wearing standard black fatigues with the sleeves
rolled up till just under his holo-insignia of the Galactic Army.
He looked youngish, but tired. He had jet-black hair – made all the
blacker by his dark uniform – that was cropped to a neat,
regulation half centimeter. He blinked slowly with hazel eyes and
closed his lips to make a half-smile that lifted just one
cheek.

He was . . . 

‘
Oh wow,’ Claudia said quietly from behind me as she pinched
hold of my apron ties, ‘oh no, I have this one. Go on break, Mini,
I've got this one totally covered.’ Claudia pushed past me, head
tilting to the side. ‘Can I take your order, officer?’

The guy frowned with confusion, looked at me, then back at
Claudia. Eventually he shrugged, looking all the more tired by the
minute. In my opinion, he needed a nice spiced Tika tea and maybe a
bowl of hot pot – that would raise the color in his
cheeks.

But no one was interested in my opinion, I was just a halfy
working in a diner. I backed off, untied my apron, and headed for
the little doors that separated the bar from the rest of the
room.

I didn't really need a break right now, I wasn't hungry, and
there were too many ships in port to see the stars through the
windows. Still, I could
always . . . 

Something grabbed my ponytail and pulled me backwards. I let
out a little shriek, not loud enough to carry through the packed
diner, more like the sound a tiny mouse might make if you
accidentally stood on its tail.

‘
Oh, ahh,’ I protested lightly as whatever it was still had a
hold of my hair. ‘Could you please . . .
‘

‘
Wh-ite,’ something hissed.

I tried to wriggle free, but to no avail. ‘Could you umm,
could you please not grab my hair. Um, excuse me—’

‘
Let her go.’

Sure enough, the pressure pulling me down released and I
popped back up like a balloon in a lake. I immediately patted my
hair straight, trying to massage the pain out of my
scalp.

‘
Are you okay?’

I turned to see my ranking officer with a hand flat on some
strange, short alien's shoulder. My officer no longer looked tired
– his face was pressed into a stern, but alert look.

‘
Ah, yes. I—’

The alien, a species I had never seen before, looked at me
with what could only be classed as human-like surprise. Then his
blood red face twisted into-

The little thing lunged at me with one long hiss.

‘
What the—’ my ranking officer pushed forward and grabbed the
alien around the middle, pulling him back just before his
outstretched hands grabbed the hem of my skirt. ‘Remain still,’ he
snapped, getting down on one knee to maintain a better hold of the
little red guy.

I put a hand up to my mouth and blinked, too stunned and far
too polite to say anything. Claudia would have probably taken the
opportunity to sock the tiny alien, but Marty always told us that
manners get 'ya tips while attitude gets you bruised'. And even
though all tips went to Marty, I always maintained a pleasant
persona around patrons.

‘
Wh-ite,’ the alien hissed again.

I instinctively patted my hair. It was the only white thing
about me. And it wasn't just white – it was white. It was right up
there alongside full sunshine hitting snow, the clean fur of an
Arctic Fox, or the light of a white dwarf star. It was one of the
first things people looked at, and the first clue that I wasn't
entirely human. I mean, I looked almost like a human; I was normal
height, normal build and I had honey brown skin. But the hair and
my supernova-blue eyes would always give it away. So they'd call me
'halfy': half human and half something different.

But none of that mattered right now. The only thing I cared
about was the little angry, red thing that was trying to steal my
hair. That, and we were starting to make a scene. The alien was
hissing like a broken valve, and my gallant officer was grunting
trying to hold him in place. GAMs were starting to move over to us,
space bums gathering around for a better view.

‘
Sir, what's going on?’ a trio of huge, armour-clad GAMs walked
up behind the ranking officer, one leaning down to wrap an arm
around the alien's middle.

‘
I have no idea,’ my officer straightened up, pulling down
tight on his top, and staring straight at me. ‘Do you mind telling
us, ma'am—’

Then the little thing got loose again. The alien ducked down
and under the GAM's arm, did the cutest of roles, then sprang at me
with the agility of an Elurian monkey cat.

This time I shrieked. No more of the prissy, extra-nice girl;
I just saw this flash of red shooting towards my face with no time
to duck, and let loose with my lungs. And sure enough, it collected
me right in the middle of the chest and sent us both slamming back
onto a table. Then the world tipped again as the table pitched
backwards, sending me sliding to the ground, wailing like a broken
klaxon.

There was a second where I just lay there, my legs all splayed
over the side of the table, my skirt disheveled, and heaven knows
what view I was offering my ranking officer. And in that tiny
fraction of time I noticed the alien just sitting on my chest,
staring at my face with his little bobble-head cocked to the side.
The brain picks up all sorts of details in times of stress, and for
the first time, I got a good look at the little guy. He was just
about two foot tall, wore a brown robe tied at the middle like a
Franciscan monk, and had mottled blood-red skin.

He looked . . . .

My ranking officer vaulted over the table, tackled the alien,
and slammed him to the ground with a grunt like a charging Crag.
The other GAMs made their quick way over and soon had, what one
would hope, a better hold of the little escapee.

I watched them blankly for a moment, my brain completely
overloaded. Then I realized my skirt was still up around my middle
and my legs practically in stirrups as they rested over the table.
I scrambled up just as my officer seemed to lean down to offer me a
hand.

I flattened my skirt from every angle, and concentrated very
hard on not meeting my officer's gaze.

‘
Are you alright?’ he asked, voice less of a snapped command
than it had been before. ‘You should go to the Med Bay, you took
quite a tumble.’

‘
Oh, I don't think—’ I began, automatically stumbling to tell
all and sundry that I was okay, that this was just nothing, and
that nobody should be bothered by little old me. But I didn't get
that far – Claudia swept up behind me and put an arm around my
shoulders.

‘
Oh my god, officer, you're a hero!’ she proclaimed, a little
too loudly.

I waited for my officer to flick his eyes to Claudia, maybe
smile, maybe even chuckle at such welcome praise. But there was
nothing, he didn't even look her way, just kept his eyes on me like
the rest of the world was blocked out by blinkers. ‘Do you know
this Kroplin?’ he asked quickly.