Creature in the Crater : 13

Lucalle accompanied the creature when it released Klane and Ketha from the assessment chamber. She had been woken two hours earlier and put to work cleaning a second holding tank. Tired as she was, the princess immediately identified signs in their body language which marked a change in the relationship between her two fellow prisoners. She shot a glace of wounded suspicion at her handmaiden which turned into a glare as the creature spoke. Ketha only met this unspoken accusation with a faint smile.
"I note that that you two have made more traditional us... s... e of your night in the chamber," the creature said. "You may res...s ... ume your tasks now Ketha. Be off with you. I s.. shall defer the choosing until tonight. The damage to my aerocopter needs s.. to be repaired this morning if I am to travel to one of the high pass.. s.. es..s.. this afternoon where I am monitoring migration patterns. As interes... s... ting as you no doubt find your lives, I s..till have other s.. cientific concerns," it pronounced loftily. "And they can't wait."
Lucalle and Klane accompanied the creature out into the compound.
"This.. s... girl has not yet been punis.. s.. hed properly for s.. she has done more damage than I first realised! Come with me, both of you. The male mus.. s..t go back in the s... pecimen jar until tonight."
"You are making a big mistake," Klane said. "It was not Lucalle who planned the escape, it was me. And it is me you should be punishing, not her."
"Abs.. s.. urd!" the creature said, yet it seemed amused. "I know what this..s.. is.. s... It is all some part of the mating game, isn't it?"
"I don't know what you mean," Klane said. "I told Lucalle to kill the power in the expectation it would release me. She would not have done it on her own."
"I know you lie, yet I have not time to devote to study the dynamics of this.. s... today."
The translation device conveyed a hint of exasperation as the creature hesitated.
"Very well. I will come back to ALL your vexing little human problems tonight. S.. ome one will be punished! Have no fear of that!"
They reached the jar where Klane was to be confined once more. To his consternation he saw that his weapon was no longer in plain sight on the plinth in front of his prison. As the glass cylinder walls dropped to allow him to enter the jar, Lucalle suddenly pressed him back against them and delivered a passionate kiss.
"I know where the creature has taken it," she whispered without needing a question from him. "And I can get it back to you, if it will help."
Then she kissed him again. Of course it was necessary for them to speak secretly in this intimate proximity if they were to hide their words from the creature. Even so, Klane thought that Lucalle was far more convincing in her acting today than she had been yesterday.