Kidnapping is illegal, Yunaria! [Scene 13]

"Why were you in my device?" Yunaria stared at the woman who was now tied with black cables to a chair in the spaceship.

Right now, Yunaria and I were interviewing or shaking down, the woman who supposedly stumbled across her spaceship sedan. I was unaware she had such a side to her. 

"I already told you; I found it! Now, let me go,"

"I believe that part, but why were you inside of it?" Yunaria questioned, "This device is the only way I can return home,"

"Ryujin," Yunaria turned towards me. I had only been half listening. After the disappointment of it being a fake spaceship, the fact that there were real gadgets and flashy buttons made me giddy. 

"Ryujin,"

"Oh, what?"

"What do you think about this woman's intentions?" Yunaria continued to stare at me. I should give a serious answer. 

"Well," I looked at the woman, "You said you were going to steal the car, but even so, this car is in the middle of the desert. How'd you even get out here? Or better yet, what were you doing out here?"

She tried to wiggle free and stared at me with a frown, signaling to let her out of the cables. 

"Yunaria, I think we should let her go,"

"Why? I won't get any answers that way,"

"Maybe, but you aren't getting any answers now. Humans don't always respond well to threats. Sometimes, they are more honest with incentives."

"Incentives?" Yunaria scrunched her face, "I don't understand."

Watch and learn, Yunaria. Humans are a lot simpler than you think. "There's a reason we're compared to primates,"

"Primates?"

"That theory's been disproven!" the woman screamed behind her being tied up. 

Just so it was said, I personally did not tie this woman up. Kidnapping is a very serious crime, and I would never, condone that. My back was turned for a second and saw her roped together on a chair. When did Yunaria learn anything about hostage tactics...robots learned at an alarming rate. 

I turned to the woman and pulled out two-hundred dollars. "I don't think you are telling the truth," 

I undid the cables that kept her to the chair and pulled them off. She jumped off the chair and ran to the door but stopped. "What is that supposed to mean? You already lost your leverage. I can leave whenever I want," she hissed. 

"Sure, but think about it. You could have two hundred dollars,"

"That won't do much,"

"Do you have two-hundred dollars in your pocket right now? No one steals a car unless they want money. I'm giving it to you. All you have to do is tell me the truth. When have you ever gotten two-hundred dollars for being honest? Most people expect it for free. I understand the world isn't so idealistic," 

"Okay," the woman adjusted her sweater, looking at the both of us. "You both are an odd couple. You nutballs were made for each other. I'll take you to my village and treat you. I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused. After the two-hundred dollars, of course,"

"Of course," 

It was always about money. Who would've thought that a coyote would teach me the art of negotiation. He should've been my lawyer instead of that shell of an idiot back in Japan. "We'll be right outside. Can you leave us for a moment?"

With that, she exited the spaceship and before Yunaria could go after the woman, I stopped her. "She's not leaving, don't worry."

"How can you be certain?"

"Because money. Humans are simple like that," I turned to the spaceship commands once again and my eyes lit up. Green light emanated from the control panel and some buttons were off, others on. Pressing buttons didn't seem to do anything, I guess it really was broken.

"An odd couple. That woman said we were odd. And made for each other, what did she mean by that?" Yunaria asked.

"Uh, don't worry about her. People say all kinds of things to get out of a situation. I mean, it's over ninety degrees and she's wearing a sweater. Not much credibility, I'd say."

Yunaria stared at the control panel and dazed off through the front mirror. "Odd...for some reason, I don't get the sense that it was a well-intentioned phrase. Are humans all like us in relationships? Odd?"

Recently, she'd been asking more and more questions like that. The simple answer is yes. A space robot with blue skin dating a human was odd. This woman was the first person to point out something that strangely, no one else did. Which was that she was different. 

"I never felt a sensation such as this one, or when you were speaking with that other woman earlier, in all my time on Yalina. Maybe that woman could help fix my spaceship. It's likely that these feelings would go away if I returned home. Do you think she knows anything?"

My cellphone had no reception out here, so any calls from the production staff wouldn't have come through. This conversation was one I wanted to avoid, but she kept bringing it up. The ting that constantly pulled at my insides, had only become larger and larger in the coming days. How could I explain anything about Earth to someone when even humans didn't understand how it all worked?

"Being odd isn't a bad thing. Well, not always. Sometimes, yes. But not always, no. For example, putting mayonnaise on a sandwich is odd to me, but to others no."

"You didn't enjoy the sandwich? I read that it was a standard thing to do."

"Uh, well, no, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the sandwich. Just that my preference is to not have mayonnaise on food. Just like you like gasoline."

"So, humans are typically different than the next human, even if they are all one species. That doesn't really make sense."

"No, it doesn't. So, being called odd doesn't really mean much. Anyways, let's go. I'm sure she'll tell us all about her information on the spaceship," She better. I was staking two-hundred dollars on that. I didn't want to see the woman get lasered... 

I walked toward the door to open it, but Yunaria stood still. "What?"

"We're still going on a date later, right?"

I almost forgot. It was a promise. She skipped out on her job for that. I guess, in a weird way, so did I. Maybe we weren't a typical couple, well, clearly, we weren't. It was never possible. An odd couple, huh?

"You know, odd couple don't go on dates," I said, opening the door. God, it was so hot. 

"Really? This is news to me. What do they do?" Yunaria asked sincerely. 

"Something only odd couples would," This bought me some time. It would be more embarrassing to admit that I didn't own a suit. 

Yunaria looked confused, and the woman gave me a disapproving glare upon walking out into the deserted land. "You're a horrible liar,"

"Shut up. Attempted robbery and eavesdropping. Quite the redeemable person yourself. Where's your village?"

She held her hand out, "Money?"

"Here," I gave her two hundred dollars. 

"Over there," She pointed right above the hill. At the very top, a lone car sat. I must've never noticed but a large settlement of houses loomed in the background beyond its apex. 

Yunaria flew the three of us to the top and she flailed and screamed the entire time. It was an entire town. The sun had begun to set, and a funny feeling bubbled in the pit of my stomach. I didn't realize just how much Yunaria's life on another planet made her feel so lonely. Ironically, isolationist creatures and collectivist ones like humans still had that in common. 

"Human woman," Yunaria spoke, "What's your name? And why are you shorter than the average human?"

"Arlene," she muttered, "And why are you blue, you freak,"

Hopefully the woman wouldn't call the police. Seriously, we were an odd couple. Kidnapping on our first date, who would've guessed?

Me, of course. I'll let her know it's very much illegal another time. 

***