A Challenge From A Breaker Of Molds... ;-)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Today, I thought I'd give you another little peek at what Alyce is up to. Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from my sci-fi satire novel:
Finally, he threw his clipboard onto the floor where it slid across the room until it hit the toe of my shoe. I watched it until it stopped moving, and then turned my attention back to its owner. He had turned an interesting shade of green; almost the same shade as what my skin was. And his body seemed to pulse as he drew air through his beak in sharp, hissing breaths.

I crossed my arms in front of me and cocked an eyebrow at him. "So, that's what it looks like when a Squid has a temper-tantrum, huh?"

He stalked across the room towards me, his tentacles stiff with the ends making little clicking sounds against the floor, and drew himself up to the very limit of his four-foot height. Glaring up at me, he said, "You are needed here and you will help us."

I wasn't having any of it; he'd gotten on my last nerve. "Oh, I will, will I? Or what?"

He deflated right there, before my eyes. It almost seemed like he shrunk. "Or nothing, young human. I apologize; I was attempting to use the dominance behavior your species demonstrates to gain your compliance, but you do not conform to any of our statistical models." He picked up his clipboard and looked back up at me. "You are a conundrum."

I snorted. "Oh, yeah, that's me; Alyce Walker, breaker of molds. Alright, Squid-boy, you want my help, I'll consider it. But only on my terms."

He stepped back and narrowed his eyes at me. "What terms?"

"First, if I ask you a question, I want you to answer it with a real answer. Deal?"

He made that gurgling sound he was so fond of. "I have explained…"

I held up my hand. "Deal?"

More gurgling. "I suppose I have little choice."

I cocked an eyebrow at him.

Waving his arms around his head, he said. "Fine! I will answer. But I reserve the right to protect the privacy of individual residents of this station."

I waved that away. "I got no interest in juicy gossip; just real information."

"Fine."

"Okay, and second, you need to stop assuming humans are stupid just because we don't act the way you think we should."

"Objectively speaking, your species intelligence is measurably…"

I held up my hand again. "I don't care how smart you think you are; I'm not going to stand here and listen to you make fun of my people. You want to know why some things are the way they are, I'll try to explain. But you don't get to poke fun just because we're different from you."

He waved his arms around his head again before gurgling at me some more. "I will endeavor to control my reactions."

I pinned him with a glare until he squirmed.

"Truly! I will do my best."

Oh, my! A challenge! ;-)  Thank you all so much for stopping by today, and don't forget to check back tomorrow for the latest in Mistral Dawn's Musings! :-)