Beauty And The Alien Beast

by Zara Zenia

  Chapter 4

  Manzar

  The look of shock on the human female’s face was not a good start to my plan. But why was I anxious over caring for her feelings? This was not a romantic agreement, I needed her for one reason and one reason only. To procreate. That was my main focus. If they wanted something from me then they would have to offer something in return.

  “You have forty-eight hours to give me your answer, humans,” I stated as I stood up from my throne. I turned to Lieutenant Danja to give him orders, “Show them to their chambers.” Then I leaned in closer and whispered, “Separate them. Put her in the Blue Room on my floor.”

  Lieutenant Danja nodded and then saluted me by putting his fist over his heart, which was the Trilyn salute.

  I walked away, down the steps toward the door. With that done, it was time to see to other obligations. A work of a Trilyn Prince on another planet was never done. At least now, it looked possible that I would be staying on Earth, if and only if this plan with these humans turned compatible. There was a strong possibility that Andromeda would leave, and not accept my offer.

  “Prince Manzar.” A sergeant saluted me and stood before me in the hallway stopping my path. He had a sense of urgency to his tone, and that was never a good sign.

  “You may speak, Sergeant,” I said.

  “Prince, we have just received a report. There is an incident involving an attack on a Trilyn dignitary.”

  Rage boiled inside of me. “Who?”

  The attacks were getting more and more frequent. When we first arrived, there were quite a few, but over the years, they had calmed and been less once the humans started to accept us, and of course, accept our technology. But as of late, there had been a surge in attacks, and I could only assume that the humanity first movement was behind this.

  “Tanos.”

  “What happened? Give me the full report and follow me to communications,” I demanded as I walked.

  The Sergeant followed along quickly. “Tanos was part of a convoy heading to the coast to oversee technology that the humans are using to mine that black gold out of the ocean floor. It was during this convoy that the first two vehicles were attacked, no casualties. The Trilyn were able to hold them off and escape,” he explained.

  “And where is Tanos now?” I asked.

  “Safe at his station, on the other side of the river,” the Sergeant replied.

  “Good, I will patch into him as soon as I am done with this communication,” I said bursting into the communication room. “Patch me into the Louisiana Governor, now, emergency correspondence needed.”

  “Yes, Prince,” my communications leader said and then patched me in.

  I took my position in front of the screen, arms crossed and rage contained inside of me, dangerously about to boil over.

  Finally, the Governor of Louisiana, Halbert Edwards, appeared on the screen before me. “Prince Manzar, I can understand your frustration,” he said before I could speak.

  “Frustration? That is one word for it. One of my dignitaries is on assignment helping the humans, helping you with your greed of the black oil and ruining your seas. Still, even while doing work for you, a Trilyn is not safe. Even one in as high of a position as Tanos. Or perhaps that is why he was attacked, because of his position? I demand answers, Governor!”

  “We are looking into answers, of our own. I promise you, we will get you a full report as soon as we have them, Prince Manzar,” Governor Edwards assured me.

  “That is not good enough. You can expect to see me in your offices tomorrow. Goodbye, Governor,” I said and ended the communication. “Prepare a convoy, to take me across the city of New-New Orleans, to the governor's office tomorrow.” My voice was shaking with anger as I shouted these words at the commanders in the communication room. “I want it heavily-armed. It's a convoy, but what we really are, is bait. Let those who want to attack, attack us. We will give them a taste of their own medicine.”

  They slammed their fists over their chests and gave me a hearty, “Yes, Prince!”

  A low growl rumbled in my chest as I left the communications room. These humans were becoming a problem that was not worth my frustration and rage. I’d had enough of them. There were more than enough problems for me to oversee as far as dealing with my own kind.

  Having to deal with commanding my country which was millions of light-years away on my home planet was enough. Add to that, the ungrateful humans who didn’t want peace with the Trilyns, and I had a very full plate. Then add in the fact that I had to find a mate, which was the whole reason for being on Earth in the first place. It was all too much, and it only succeeded in making me angrier day in and day out. That was why I wanted to set up this trap. Because my rage was, in fact, needing an outlet and a good battle in the streets of the human city would relieve me of that. It was true that I needed to speak with the local government, but that was just part of it.

  The following day, I waited until the Earth noon hour to embark on the convoy to the governor's office.

  “Stay sharp. They are out there. I am sure that there were many spies in the office of the governor. They know that we’re coming, be ready for the attack at any moment,” I stated over the radio waves to each armored vehicle in my convoy. I was in the vehicle that was third to the front. Something my lieutenant had protested against. Indeed, they did not want me to ride in this convoy at all, but they didn’t know that I needed a little bit of fun.

  Boom!

  The explosion scraped against the first vehicle, but didn’t harm it.

  “They’re here! We’re under attack! Defensive positions!” I commanded.

  We had studied every single section of the route and made defensive plans for every single block. My vehicle moved to the left, while the one behind me and in front of me moved to the right. We knew exactly what we were doing. I scanned the area with heat sensors, and could see human activity.

  “They are on the roof of these buildings, all of them. Bring in the drones!” I shouted into the command radio.

  As soon as the vehicle was parked against the building, I opened the door and leaped out, fully armed. “On me!” I shouted to the group with me.

  With my laser blaster in hand, I kicked open the door of the building. And ran directly in, my army spread out, covering the bases. I made my way to the staircase, as I knew they were up top.

  I took the steps four at a time with a few soldiers behind me. Finally making it to the top, I kicked open the door of the roof. They didn't even have time to react. The humans were facing over the ledge, firing at my vehicles below.

  Bam!

  My shot projected out and wasted all of them.

  Check their identifications!” I shouted as my army spread out and moved against the high walls of the ledge of the roof. We began to fire at the roof across from us which held more humans firing at my vehicles below. It was a full-on roof to roof battle.

  “Here! Prince!” my lead commander shouted to me as he held one of the humans, with his clothing pushed up on his forearms. I ran over to look. The letters H.F.T.M were tattooed on his arm.

  “Humanity First,” I sneered.

  “The humans are retreating, repeat the humans are retreating!” a commander at another post informed us over the radio.

  “Have the drones follow them, as much as possible. I want to know where their headquarters is located,” I commanded.

  “Yes, Prince.”

  “Load these two into my vehicle. I have a gift for the governor.”

  “Yes, Prince.”

  We loaded up. We had no casualties on our end. Once we were settled, we continued our journey to the governor's office. He was not too pleased when I showed up, carrying two human casualties.

  “What the hell is this, Manzar? Are you trying to cause a war?” he questioned, his face angry.

  “If you look at your city surveillance, you will see that we were the ones who were attacked. We acted in self-defense. That is part of the agreement
. We do not fire unless fired upon. We were ambushed and attacked, just as my dignitary, Tanos was the day before. You already have a war on your hands, Governor, you're just too blind to see it. Look at this!” I demanded.

  My lead commander rolled up the sleeve of the human, showing him the tattoo.

  “Humanity First,” Governor Edwards conceded, shaking his head.

  “This organization has become out of hand. What started as a small group of retaliation, has formed into an army, and they want a war. We will give them one if that is what they want.”

  “No, give us time to deal with Humanity First. Humans need to deal with humans, not the Trilyn,” the governor protested, getting red in the face again.

  “Fair enough, Governor. But know this. Anytime we are attacked, we will act in self-defense. That is all,” I assured him.

  Then I turned and walked out. There was no way that the Louisiana Government would be able to squash this movement, I already knew that. Hell, it could be that the government was involved in Humanity First. I was sure that the Humanity First Movement had their spies everywhere.

  I was beginning to hate humans. I had always been displeased with them, but now hatred for them was coming over me. If it had not been for Doctor LaBelle walking in with his beautiful daughter, then I might have been on the tipping point of leaving Earth immediately. To hell with the thirty days that I gave my elder brother. He didn't control me anyway. I was as much of a ruler as he was. Just because he was born first, did not make him better than me.

  We returned to my palace ship. We had parked it in a remote swampy region just outside of the city of New-New Orleans. This was what I chose. It would give me a greater advantage to be away from the tall buildings. This way, our radar could scan if anyone was coming. My ship sat high above the water on Trilyn metal stilts stuck into the swampy mud water. No one would be able to get to us except by using the main road, which we had constructed ourselves. This made it a fortress. The only way someone could surprise attack us would be through the swampy water. They would have to deal with the alligators and deadly snakes, as well as get past our radar system.

  As we drove up the ramp into the ship, the first thing that I thought about was Andromeda. What would it be like to return from a mission such as the one I’d engaged in today, to a wife waiting for me? I felt a weight of loneliness lift from my body as I thought about it. But she had yet to agree and a feeling of strangeness came over me as I thought about it. What if she says no?

  Anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks, and after a moment, the anxiety turned to anger. I snarled as my eyes narrowed and I jumped from the vehicle as soon as it entered the cargo bay of the ship.

  Chapter 5

  Andi

  I didn’t like the idea of being separated from my father. I couldn’t understand why we weren’t sharing an apartment on the ship. I knew there had to be one big enough to allow both of us to live in it. Instead, Father was kept on a completely different floor from me.

  I was being kept on the eighth floor, two floors from the top of the ship. My room was a beautiful gray and blue color. I heard others refer to it as the Blue Room. There was a very large bed on one side of the room, practically eleven feet long and I realized it was because it needed to accommodate an almost eight-foot Trilyn. A thought that made me blush for some reason as I imagined a naked Prince Manzar laying on that very bed. I cleared my mind of these thoughts and kept myself occupied.

  A small kitchen area on the other side had cabinets full of food and drink. There was a bathroom facility just beyond the door with a very large bathtub, again it was Trilyn sized. All in all, the room seemed very luxurious to me and I didn't understand why I was in it. I had assumed those seeking asylum would probably be held in a bunk of sorts with very few amenities and yet, I was in a room fit for a queen.

  I sat down on the chair that was one of three comprising of a sitting area near the glass window.

  The floor-to-ceiling glass on one wall gave me a view of the beautiful Louisiana bayou swamp. I held these swamps very dear to my heart, beautiful and thriving with wildlife. A large crane walked in the swampy water and then flew off into the distance spreading its massive wings. I could watch this view all day, but there were things I needed to attend to just now.

  I had a decision looming before me. I already knew the answer of course. There was no way in hell that I would become the mate of that brutish alien, Manzar. I would rather fend for myself and for my father out in the streets of New-New Orleans. We had gotten this far on our own and we would continue. Even if we had to leave the city—anything other than marrying that beast.

  I walked back and forth thinking about how to convince my father that we needed to come up with a plan after leaving the ship. Maybe it wouldn't be too much of a bother if the guard escorted us back to our house to gather supplies for our journey out of the city. My stomach grumbled slightly and I realize that it had been almost a full day since I’d eaten anything. I had also slept very badly the night before, not knowing if that tyrant would burst in on me in the middle of the night and demand wifely duties from me. Therefore, I tossed and turned, not getting a full night of sleep.

  I walked over to the cabinet, poured myself a bowl of oatmeal, and added hot water to it. This was the Trilyn version of oatmeal, made out of plants from their own planet that were then dried and put into a pouch. It was quite delicious and actually made me feel good and warm inside.

  After I finished eating, I decided to take a hot shower since it had been several days since I’d been able to do so. I thought that the water coming out of the shower head smelled a bit fragrant, like flowers. But that could have just been my extreme enjoyment of finally having a shower.

  I wrapped a towel around me and stepped out into the main room as I pushed a comb into my hair, brushing it.

  The sound of electronic beeps reached my ears and before I could react, Prince Manzar was stomping into my room heading straight for me. He was alone. There was fire in his orange eyes, filled with rage. “Why are you humans so stubborn and dumb!” he bellowed at me as he walked in.

  Then when he saw I was wearing nothing but a towel and dripping wet, he stopped in his tracks. His eyes trailed from my head all the way down to my bare feet. His jaw clenched. He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders as though having to force himself, he went back into his angry mode.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I could say the exact same thing about the Trilyn!” I screamed back at him. I didn’t enjoy hearing bad things about my own race. He had already put down my home and now he was going after the entire human race.

  “I demand to know some answers, human. My dignitary Tanos was attacked yesterday on a convoy to help the humans! And then today, my convoy came under fire. I have just returned from a battle!”

  My eyes grew wide. “Battle? Are you hurt?”

  “No, I am not hurt.” He laughed. “Yet, a battle is what these humans demand of us. If they attack us, we will attack in return. It is in our own defense. We aren’t going to sit around like pigs waiting to be slaughtered in an attack. What do you know, human? You must know about Humanity First! They targeted your father for a reason. You ran an information site about the Trilyn. A reporter, the worst kind of person that a human can be, I am told.” He spit toward my feet.

  My anger boiled over. I took steps toward him and pushed my finger into his hard chest. It was decidedly, fantastically hard. I wasn’t expecting that, but I brushed it aside to think on later. “You do not talk to me like that. What I do brings information to many, and I have risked my life to get it many times.” I exploded at him. “Your kind should be thanking me, not insulting me. For it is my information that helps a lot of humans turn toward being accepting of your presence here on Earth, when before they feared it,”

  “What do you know of the Humanity First Movement? The names of members. You must know more than you are letting on,” Manzar raged, his orange eyes narrowing at me.

>   He was right, of course, but I wasn't going to admit it. If he knew the truth about my relationship with Jake, he would throw my father and me out immediately. I couldn’t allow that, not before we had a plan. I needed to buy us some time, because I wouldn’t tell him about Jake. Manzar would probably hold us prisoner for treason if I did. I knew he would think that I had come to his ship to gather information or to be a gateway for Jake to come in and attack them. He would be right to think that, in a way, considering that I, not too long ago, I had shared my bed with Jake. So jumping to that conclusion wouldn’t be unreasonable, hell, I would be suspicious of myself if I were on the other end.

  “I don’t know much. Only the basic information that everyone knows,” I huffed. “Now as you can see, I’m clearly not properly dressed. I know that you are a beast of a Trilyn, but surely, even you know that when a lady is undressed it is improper to walk in on her! Where are your manners? You are nothing but a monster!” I accused.

  His eyes shifted. As if something I’d said moved him, and not in a positive way.

  For a second, I thought I saw a flicker of sadness. I felt remorse for the words that I had used. Indeed, he was being kind by giving us shelter for the time being, even if his requirements were ghastly.

  He looked me up and down again, as though remembering that I was wet and naked with a towel around me. A slight frown marred his face. “Do you have an answer yet to my request?” His voice was calm.

  “No, it has only been twenty-four hours and you gave me forty-eight. I have not decided. Why do you want me anyway? You don’t even know if I am a match for you. We may not be compatible. Do you really expect to be able to force me to love you?”

  His lip curled sideways showing me pearly white teeth, aggressively. Then he turned and stomped away, out of my room.

  Once the door slid closed, I breathed out. I hadn't even realized that I was holding my breath. I sat down in shock. I had not been expecting such a confrontation and being so vulnerable with no clothes on hadn’t made it any easier. I needed to speak with my father and quickly.