Rules

"First, you are nothing more than a pilot. You have no say, no opinion, and no power over whatever we decide on our plans. Whatever we ask you to do, follow it. Just shut up and keep your opinion to yourself. We're four and enough to decide for ourselves."

Davy nodded like an obedient kid and silently urged her to continue. Valdis was like a mother who kept on reminding her kid about the house rules after he broke her favorite vase. She was walking in front of him while he was still tied to the chair, of course. The other three were listening to her as well while seated on the floor. Valdis, indeed, was their leader.

"Secondly, you are not allowed to talk to your robot without asking us for permission and without telling us first what you're going to say. We don't trust you enough not to think you're not going to stab us behind our backs. Who knows if you have secret communication that would eradicate us from here, so don't talk to it unless necessary."

He frowned. Luisa was the only one he had talked to for years, and he had grown close to that AI even though all it did was to sarcastic reply to him and oppose all of his decisions. Talking to her was like a natural thing to him already, so this one, he couldn't promise.

It was like Valdis was asking him to be deaf and mute. Knowing her, it was probably really her goal. 

"Thirdly, you are not to question our decision, and you are to follow our orders, whatever it is. Don't worry. We won't ask you to do something that will cause your death. If one of us was the cause of your death, then may the Almighty's curse should be upon us-"

"The Almighty's curse is considered the worst punishment to Keplians. So, when we promise to the Almighty, it's a grave promise we should not break," Zarah interjected, explaining for his sake. "Just so you know the gravity of our promise."

"Thank you. That gives me relief," he told her. At least he knew that they were not going to kill him anytime soon. Valdis seemed to be preparing that in her mind every time he would look at her, and she was glaring. Well, that was probably really her plan. "Do you have more?"

Valdis glanced at her friends, asking them through her eyes if they wanted to say anything, but they shook their heads. Thank goodness! "That's all for now. It may increase as time goes by. It depends on how you will act if we will need to add more."

"Okay. Can you get me out of here now? I'm dying to stretch my bones."

He had been twisting and turning since earlier. He wanted to stand, but he couldn't. His arms and back felt numb, too. If another day he would be tied like that, he would beg them just to kill him. That's a little dramatic, yeah.

Thankfully, they had mercy on him. Maddox cut the rope using his sharp knife and freed him. His arms flailed weakly as he fell on the ground, hearing cracks from his lower back. "Thank you. My blood can finally circulate freely. I thought I would turn purple."

"So dramatic," Piotr commented from behind him. He stepped on his back, and he moaned, not because of pain but because it felt good. It was like a massage. "Fix the route. We're going to Exoshelm."

"Ahh… Wait, step on me a little lower. There, there. Ahh… So good." He could sleep peacefully by now. He was just sitting, but he was so tired. He didn't get a good sleep last night. What if he sleeps… right now…hmm…

He was near to falling deep to sleep when he felt a firm kick on his side, causing him to jolt up in shock. He almost screamed, but a squeak came out of his mouth. He was ticklish on that part! Weren't they taught about manners? 

"What a shameless human, tsk, tsk. Sleeping already when we're asking something." Zarah shook her head. She was looking at him with disappointment. Piotr and Maddox were also unimpressed. Well, who cares about them? They weren't the ones who kicked him.

It was, of course, Valdis. She was looking down at him scarily with a dark aura surrounding her. This woman… She was beautiful, but she was scary. Her almond eyes were pretty, but when they squinted, it was expressive enough to tell someone that their doom had arrived.

He chuckled fakely, scrambling to stand up even when his knees were shaking. Brr… scary. "Come on, you guys, I'm just playing. Chill out. What are you asking me again? Oh! The route, right? Yes, on it!"

He sat on his swivel chair and did a few things on the controller. Normally he would just ask Luisa, but since he was not allowed to speak and he was expected to be mute, he did it manually. He located the Exoshelm first among the routes presented and found it about a few months away from them. What? A month? Damn…

"Hey, why are you slumping? Did something happen?" Piotr asked curiously, observing the way he slumped because of the moment he thought that he would have to deal with them for a month without being actually killed. 

"Uh, no. I just thought of something," he said, awkwardly faking a laugh. "Anyway, the course is set, and we're going to Exoshelm. But like any other, according to here, we have to stop by some planets for a checkpoint, and sometimes we have to… steal food and necessities, too. I don't have any money to buy anything." 

"Huh. Money isn't a problem," Maddox took one of the bags that they had been carrying since they came in his aircraft and opened it. He was almost blinded when gold, silver, bronze, stones, and coins filled the bag. "We might not have their currencies or what kind of money they had, but these elements are universally accepted with value, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Where did those come from?" he asked curiously. If they exchanged that for the Earth's money, they would be billionaires! As they said, those elements were valued by almost every planet.

"These? Well, uhm… stolen. We're thieves. Of course, everything that we have is stolen. What do you expect, we dug the ground for these? No way. When there are easy and short ways to get things, why waste time?" Piotr said, looking at him as if his question was only from fools. 

"Right." He sat on his swivel chair and looked back at his widescreen. "Since I don't know anything about this planet Exoshelm that you're planning to go to and drag me there with you, may I ask Luisa to give me information about Exoshelm and what is with that planet that you want to go there?"

"No, you can't-"

"Processing information about Exoshelm..." Luisa's voice cut Valdis' answer off and gave the information even when the leader opposed it.

Valdis glared at him, but he only let out a tee-hee. The screen showed the image of a white and green planet filled with clouds and probably lush forests. It was huge and seemingly… scary. 

"Exoshelm is a gaseous planet but also rich with oxygen and carbon dioxide. According to some accounts, it is hard to see inside as the whole planet is covered with fog and high trees and forests. It is known as the most dangerous planet in the Andromeda galaxy, with no human populace but only unknown creatures, one being known as Milios, a complicated creature known as the guardian of the planet. It is reported that everyone who came to the planet never came out. Whatever is inside is undiscovered, and no one came there and came out to tell the tale of the journey. It is advisable not to go there."

Davy glanced at the four who were also listening to Luisa. He saw Maddox and Zarah gulp in what they heard. Well, even he felt his lips dry. Luisa's voice was usually robotic but cheerful, but right now, it sounded grim, which brought goosebumps to him. Why would these thieves go to that planet though if it was dangerous there? Do they wish for their death?

"Why do people try to go there when they know it is dangerous, though?" he asked again curiously. Just by the look of the planet screamed, 'don't go here!'. But there were still other creatures going there, and one of those was these thieves.

"You can't ask that quest-"

"Exoshelm, despite its known scary background, is also known for having a lot of different expensive and yet-to-be-discovered minerals that are deemed to be valuable. Aside from that, as legends say, there is a powerful stone, known as Batu Enerhia, somewhere around that grants wishes to come true, whatever it is. However, it is only a legend. No one has yet proven it true."

"Huh? Really? There's something like that in this world? I doubt it," he asked, snorting in amusement. If he were in their position, he wouldn't believe that. Or, if ever that was true, there was no way he would waste his time to find that and be killed by that Milios creature in the end. 

"Stop with your insolence!" Valdis shouted at him. "That powerful stone had proven itself to be true. That robot of yours knows nothing. If not for that powerful stone, the whole universe wouldn't be connected together, and you wouldn't be here in space if not because of the Batu Enerhia that my ancestor had wished before to unite everyone as one."

He snorted again, shaking his head. He was near to thinking that these people were crazy. "I am here because of the development of science on Earth, and my father built this aircraft that allows me to visit planets from the planet. I have never heard about that Batu something, whatever that is, before. Science kept us together."

Valdis was about to say something again, probably a harsher rebuttal about what she claimed was his insolence. But Zarah stood up and held her shoulders, shaking her head and stopping the beast from bursting. Well, okay, maybe he was wrong, too, for not respecting whatever was taught on their planet.

"It's a waste of time squabbling with a fool." Okay, that was a low blow. "Anyway, he's only here to bring us to Exoshelm and to the planets we need to go to. Other than that, he's useless. Don't waste your energy on him. Earthlings are low-minded and selfish people, just exactly what our parents told us."

"Yeah. What does he know? They think they know everything when obviously they don't. Let's just let him do his job, and if he fails, then I'm sure it's not that hard to overtake this aircraft without him. We can always study this," Piotr added, looking around the aircraft. He had been showing interest in his aircraft ever since. It was making him irritated.

The ill-tempered Valdis seemed to listen to them as she slowly sighed and calmed down, though her eyes were still sharp toward him. "Fine. This is the only time I will let your impudence pass. But if this repeats, and you break the rules, you will be tied to your chair until we reach the planet Exoshelm."

She walked out after saying that, completely aggravated with their argument. Davy watched as the others also did the same, following Valdis to the storage room. They were probably going to talk about something there about him. Whatever. As long as he wasn't tied to the chair and his bones and blood were restricted from moving and flowing freely, he was fine. He didn't care about them that much. 

He just needed to endure a month with them. After that, he could be peaceful and alone again with his aircraft. What could go wrong as long as he followed their rules right?

That was… if he could follow their rules at all.