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"How is any of this your fault?" Zoe shakes her head in disbelief.
"Qhix and I we wearing disguises while on the Gilded Orb. I got a little drunk and ran into the Lizordian," I admit, guilt and regret laying heavy on my heart. "Now that I've had time to think back, I remember my mask glitching, so he must have seen I was human and followed us to Crao."
"That's why he said it was nice to see you again?" Stacy looks at me with wide eyes.
“Yes, and I'm so sorry I got all of you into this mess." Tears blur my vision.
"Stop." Romy wraps an arm around me. "Don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault. We'll find a way out of this."
Our group goes quiet as the eight of us ponder how to keep a seven-foot-tall, turquoise-scaled lizard man dressed like a cowboy distracted.
"Karaoke at The Gambler," Stacy murmurs.
"What?" Darcy eyes Stacy as if she's lost her mind.
"When I was first abducted and locked inside a cage all that time, I would close my eyes and picture everything I missed about Earth," Stacy says. "Tuesday was ladies’ night at The Gambler. Free beer but the tradeoff was an ear-fucking by hours of karaoke. Most people were drunk and couldn't sing but it was entertaining, if not a train wreck that couldn't be ignored."
"Any ideas for songs?" Romy shares a look with all of us. "I don't really know that many to be able to sing word for word."
"Me either," Zoe admits. "If we're gonna pull this off, we're all going to need to be at least familiar enough with the song to hum along."
"And we need to make a production out of it so his eyes will stay on us," Stacy says.
"The only song that comes to mind, especially when I look at Rex, is 'Cowboy' by Kid Rock," Lena suggests, shrugging. "Everybody know that one?" After a round of nods, Lena flashes her palm. "I volunteer to be lead singer since I know all the words."
"Diversion hatched." Zoe's lips curl into a hint of a mischievous grin. "I say we give him a show. Prance around like we're riding horses while we belt out the chorus. Be all dramatic so he can't look away. A train wreck as Stacy said."
"Perfect," I acknowledge. "Then what do we do with him once I cut us free?"
"We can knock him out with this." Jules flashes a case filled with tiny metal tubes I recognize as the darts Rex used to knock us out.
"We don't have a gun to shoot that into him," Romy says.
"This is a type of needless syringe." Jules pulls a long tube from her pocket and demonstrates by running her thumb down the side before depressing an indentation on one end. It makes a clicking sound and a hard mist shoots out the opposite end.
"How do you know for sure that's what it's for?" I ask.
"Elle was sick when we were first brought aboard," Jules explains. "Rex treated her with a shot in the arm. I suppose it's some sort of antibiotic."
"Jules is a nurse," Elle says, answering our perplexed looks.
"We can empty out the antibiotic and fill the syringe up with the contents of the darts." Jules unscrews one end of the syringe. "The only problem is, I'll have to get up close and personal with our cowboy to administer it."
"Why you?"
"Why not?" Jules arches a perfectly plucked brow. "It's my hair-brained idea. No reason for someone else to get hurt if it doesn't work. I worry too if the mist can break through those scales of his."
"All right," I breath out, the weight of our escape settling around me. "Let's do this."
Once Jules fills the syringe, she hangs back with me at the door while Lena and the others step up to the transparent wall behind Rex. Lena raps her knuckles on the wall, gaining his attention.
"Hey, Rex." She waves. "We noticed you like music. There's a cowboy song we think you'll like. Want to hear it?"
"Ayt!" Rex nods, eagerly. "Me love all things cowboy."
"Yes, we know," Lena chuckles. "All right. Ready girls?"
As Lena and the other girls begin their charade, singing loud and galloping around in a circle on their air horses, Jules and I wait until Rex is fully engaged. It isn't long before the Lizordian goes full on cowboy, gyrating his hips and doing his version of the two-step while still managing to fly the ship. At one point, he holds up his arm and twirls it in the air as if wielding a lasso.
