The Space Spoon novel Chapter 9

Kalden Deltak was wearing the best uniform he could find. He straightened his back so he would have a more imposing stature on the uncomfortable chair. Raising his hand to check if his hair was neatly arranged, he instead ended up fondling his skull. That was the moment when he realized he should have polished his head for extra shininess. Why didn’t he think of that before now?

Because now was way too late for touch-ups. The screen in front of him glitched and then the image of a member of the Universal Consensus appeared. Kalden Deltak clicked his tongue in displeasure. That alien was almost radiating light from his bright baldness. The Nubilae felt utterly defeated from the very start.

The screen was barely long enough to be able to show the long egg-shaped head of the member of the Universal Consensus. His ears were large and glued to his head while going down to his chin, where the lobes converged in a single one, left hanging from there.

“State your official designation, unknown vessel,” the egg-headed alien demanded before Tejeda could say anything.

The Nubilae swiped up, and the screen vanished, showing Shayla, who was staring at him with concern on her face. “Why did you close the call?”

A stupid smirk emerged on Kalden Deltak's face, giving him the appearance of a scary mass killer. "Oh, huh, Shayla, hmmm, I still don't know what the name of this ship is."

Shayla literally facepalmed. Still holding her hand over her face to cover her eyes and not seeing him anymore, she murmured. "For crying out loud! This is the Syndicate of Cosmic Freedom’s flagship named SCF1. Called 1 since there are no numbers 2, 3, or 4; it's our only ship. Ha! I think I want to slap my face again."

Kalden Deltak raised his chin proudly and winked, not caring if her eyes were covered. Or was she looking at him between her fingers? Oh, well, he had better things to do right now than to ponder on peek-a-boo. He resumed his elegant posture and swiped down.

The screen reappeared and, after a few seconds, reconnected with the Universal Consensus member. This time, Tejeda managed to talk first. "This is SCF1, the Syndicate of Cosmic Freedom’s flagship. Sorry about what happened earlier. It was a glitch in the system, but now we should be fine. I am Kalden Deltak, the captain of this ship and the leader of the Syndicate of Cosmic Freedom. I have something I want to trade in the upcoming business meeting that is about to take place between you and the Alpha Pirates."

The Universal Consensus member had small black eyes that resembled two buttons stitched on a white tablecloth. They seemed to shrink even more if that was possible. “You seem well informed for a leader of a small irrelevant organization. We like information and the ways to obtain the pesky bits. Please, tell us, how did you get this data?”