Beauty And The Alien Beast

by Zara Zenia

  “He wants me. He wants me to marry him. He has my father, Manzar. If I don’t marry him then Jake will harm my father.” Tears filled my eyes and my lips trembled.

  With that, Manzar stood up from bed. He paced back and forth in the room, naked. Steam seemed to be coming out of his eyes, he was so angry. “You’re telling me that you want to marry this human man, just minutes after I've been inside of you? What kind of human female are you?” He glared at me with such hurt and anger. “Deceptive and devious.”

  “No, I don’t want to marry him! I don’t love him, Manzar. He’s an awful man. I’m only telling you what I know, and that is that he has my father. I must go find him and figure this out. I don’t want to marry Jake, but I need to find my father. Can’t you see that? Wouldn’t you do anything for your own blood, your own family?” I begged him to understand my position.

  He stopped and stared at me. It was as though he was about to say something, but he didn’t. He sat down on the bed and sighed.

  I sat there confused, watching him.

  He didn’t speak for a long time. Then he turned and looked at me with a cloud of sadness in his orange eyes. “Then that’s what you want? To go to them? To go to this man Jake, and to Humanity First?”

  “It’s not what I want to do, Manzar, but what I have to do to get my father. Not for any other reason except for that. I want you to know that. I’m not with this group. I only want to go to them to see how I can free my father from them. He is very important to me,” I pleaded with him, hoping beyond hope that he would allow me to go.

  After a moment, he said, “Fine. You may go.”

  “What?” I stared at him, my eyes wide with surprise.

  “I said, you may go. It’s where you belong. You want to be with that group, then you should go with that group.”

  “No, it isn’t where I belong. I don’t belong with them, but I do belong at my father's side. He needs me. I must go to him,” I tried to make him understand, but he seemed too hurt to hear me.

  “Then put your clothes on.” He started to put his own clothes on.

  I couldn’t believe it. Was this some sort of trick or was he actually going to allow me to go? I didn’t want to have him change his mind. I quickly stood up and pulled on my pants, shirt, and boots.

  “I can’t have you just walk out of the ship. We’re too far remote.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I’ll have you dropped off in a place of your choice in the city.”

  “You will? Manzar, thank you so much. This isn’t what you think, and I promise that what I say is the truth. Though I know it will take time for you to see it that way. But thank you, thank you so much.” I wrapped my arms around him. I pressed my face against his chest, hugging him tightly. I inhaled his manly scent. I knew that it was possible that this would be the last time I ever saw him. I loved him. I was in love with this alien, but I couldn’t tell him. It would be no use. He didn’t want me any longer…he didn’t trust me. He thought of me as a spy and a bewitching woman. Therefore, it didn’t matter how I felt.

  He cleared his throat loudly. “I will arrange your travel.” He grabbed my hands and pulled them from him, moving away from me. Walking over to the panel control on the wall, he spoke into it, “I need a passenger ship. Have it ready on the roof light pad in ten minutes.”

  “Yes, Prince,” was the response.

  “Tell the pilot wherever you want to be dropped off. I hope that you pick somewhere safe, with many people. Tensions are high in the street, and it’s not a good place right now.” His voice sounded so hard, so unfeeling and yet concerned.

  “I will. Thank you, Manzar. This means a lot. I won't forget this.”

  “I know that you will not.” He turned from me and toward the door. “Come with me, I’ll take you to the roof.”

  “Yes, I’m ready.” I followed behind him.

  I thought about where I should have them take me. I couldn’t have them take me to the Waterfront. They would report back to Manzar. I couldn’t have him showing up and putting himself in danger. It was already nine at night. I had until 8 p.m. tomorrow to meet Jake. That would give me some time to make some sort of plan. I needed the help of a friend. I couldn’t go to the meeting with Jake without a proper plan, and weapons.

  “Once you’re with Humanity First, you’re nothing to me,” Manzar stated as we stood in the elevator together.

  His words broke my heart. I wished that he would believe me and I wanted to stay, simply to continue to talk to him until he believed me. But I didn’t have that luxury, time was of the essence, and my father needed me. I had less than twenty-four hours to get to him, and convince Jake to let him go.

  “I understand,” I said, my voice quiet and broken.

  I watched his throat as he swallowed hard. We said nothing to each other, even though there was much that I wanted to say to him. We got to the roof where a small ship was waiting.

  “I want you to take this human wherever she needs to go. This is a one-way trip. You will drop her off where she wants to be dropped. Then you will come back here. Is that understood? She is no longer a prisoner. She is free, you will treat her with the utmost respect,” he said to the pilot.

  “Yes, my Prince. Understood.” The pilot nodded.

  He turned and looked at me.

  I wanted to throw my arms around him, to hold him and kiss him one last time. Instead, I just whispered, “Thank you, Manzar. Goodbye.” Inside, my heart was breaking and I thought I might break right there.

  I climbed into the ship. The door closed behind me. It hovered in the air and I looked down at Manzar. He was a large beast, but from this height, he looked small and vulnerable—my heart shattered as the aircraft took me farther and farther away from him.

  Chapter 26

  Manzar

  As soon as she left, I missed her already. I’d made a mistake letting her go. Not because I thought it was dangerous, but because now I wanted her back. I wanted to be able to simply open a door and look at her sweet face. But it wasn’t possible now—now she was gone.

  “Lieutenant Danja, I want you to prepare the ship."

  “Prepare the ship? The palace ship? Are we leaving this spot? Searching for a new location?" he asked.

  “No, we’re not leaving. Prepare the palace ship for invasion," I ordered.

  “Invasion? What do you mean?" He walked in front of me, planting himself firmly. His hands on his hips, concerned.

  “We have both of the Humanity First spies who were on this ship, out there. They are now with Humanity First, and reporting everything that they saw inside of here to them. That means that there will be an invasion and soon. It has to be coming fairly soon. I want to be ready. Create defenses for invasions on all fronts. Put extra guards out and have battle ships standing by.”

  “Yes, Prince. We also have the report that you asked for. The guard was slow in sending it to us, but we have it," Lieutenant Danja said.

  "The report about the bomb at the LaBelle house?" I asked.

  “Yes, exactly. Here it is.” He nodded.

  "Good. Now go and do what I asked, prepare the ship while I look this over," I ordered.

  “Yes, Prince.”

  I opened the file projection and looked it over. I read through it. I looked at the photographs. It was a legit bomb planted in the house, but how was I to know who did it? Was it on purpose? Did James and Andi plant it themselves, going through these extravagant steps in order to get to where they were, in my ship? There was no way for me to know. Then something caught my eye, the timer when the bomb squad arrived was less than one minute before detonation. Then I knew, she had been telling the truth. Why would she risk it so closely? Why would she put herself and her father's life in danger by one minute? Looking at the report, I noted that it was an actual bomb, a dirty one. If it had gone off, people around them would have become very sick, and died from the gases. No, this was not the Andi that I knew. She wouldn’t put that many people in danger. That was com
pletely against the Humanity First notion, their whole statement was humans over Trilyn.

  “Damn it!” I yelled as I realize that she had indeed been telling the truth. I should have known. A side of me had known, but I ignored it. I denied it.

  I looked at the file on Jake Marsh, what the guard had on him, showed that he had only recently been linked to Humanity First. They’d searched their files and didn’t find anything other than a stellar military record and that too, fit in with what Andromeda had told me. She’d said that she was involved with him before he joined the organization. At the time, he would have been just the soldier and nothing else. Perhaps he had sought her out? Everyone knew that she and her father were friends of the Trilyn. That was what their work entailed. So if Jake had thoughts of joining Humanity First, he would be able to join if he brought them some sort of intel. Dating the daughter of a renowned scientist who studied Trilyns would be plenty to get him an invitation into the organization. He had used Andi. My poor Andromeda. She had been used by this jerk.

  I threw the file down. I was angrier than ever. My rage had me practically foaming at the mouth. The beast was coming out.

  With Lieutenant Danja completing my orders to get the ship ready for battle, I called out to my nearest commander, “Get my ship ready! I want a scout team with me, the best we have. If they are already out on patrol, call them back this instant. We leave in less than fifteen minutes. I have new orders. Get the pilot that dropped off Andromeda to come to me now. I need to see his tracking device. I want to know where she was dropped off and now! Get him to me. I have questions!"

  “Yes, Prince," my crew replied, scurrying to make it all happen.

  I needed to find her. She’d been telling the truth all along, and I’d dismissed her. Now she was out there alone. What had she said? I didn’t remember clearly because of my rage. She’d said that she needed to find her father or Humanity First was going to hurt him… She knew something, but I didn’t know what, she hadn't told me. I didn't blame her. I would have thought it was another trick. What a fool I’ve been.

  “Yes, Prince? You asked to see me?"

  “You’re the pilot who dropped off Andromeda at her destination?" I stared at him, demanding a quick answer.

  “Yes, my Prince."

  “I have your tracking being pulled up, so I can see where you dropped her. I need to know if she said anything. Did she say where she was going? I need to find her now, anything you say will be of much help," I urged.

  “No, sir, when she climbed into the ship she was quiet until she told me where to take her, it was the top of a building, on the roof. That was all that she said except ‘goodbye’. There was nothing else, my Prince," the pilot replied.

  “Did you see her walk inside the door of the roof, or was she picked up by another ship perhaps?" I questioned.

  “I did see her walk inside, but I left shortly after. I didn’t wait to see if she walked back out onto the roof to be picked up. There were no other ships in the vicinity, but that doesn’t mean there weren't some later, my Prince." His tone was respectful.

  I knew he was giving me everything he could think of. “Good, that is a good start.” I nodded and looked at the map in front of us.

  “There, that is where I dropped her." He pointed at the map on the screen that showed his coordinates. Every ship had a tracking log. This one showed his tracking.

  “What building is that? A government building? A bank?" I didn’t recognize it.

  “No, Prince. It is simply a resident building, homes for people,” the pilot informed me.

  “Good, that is where we will start our search. Now I want everyone to listen to this order, and to spread it throughout the army. I want everyone to know that we search for Andromeda LaBelle as well as her father James LaBelle, neither are to be harmed. They are to be treated with respect. She is no longer my prisoner or an enemy, I look for her because I feel she is in danger, and it’s our job to protect her. Now go and send that message on every single radio frequency that we operate. Everyone must know," I commanded.

  “Yes, Prince right away." My crew hurried to get the message out to everyone.

  I needed to find a Humanity First soldier and get the information I needed. It was the only way.

  An hour later… I had one.

  “When the Humanity First Movement finds out about this, there will be retaliation,” the human that I had clamped in the chair said.

  “Ha! What will they do? The humans are scared of all-out war with us, they do anything they can to prevent it and to preserve the peace.” I smirked at him.

  “And what is wrong with that? A cold war between the humans and the Trilyn is better than a real war filled with murder, loss of lives, and bloodshed on both sides. But I don't expect you to understand that! You are nothing but a beast! Look at you!” He struggled in the chair.

  “No, I don’t understand that. We’re an advanced species of soldiers. It’s in our blood to fight and to win. Victory is always ours. Now tell me of the female I seek! Andromeda LaBelle where is she?” I roared.

  “You Trilyn are all the same, no matter what region you are from on your home planet,” he sneered at me.

  I got down in his face, a hair’s breath away as I said, “That, you are wrong about, human. I am the ruler of Lirian and I’m more ruthless than any of my brothers. Something you are soon to find out when I torture you. Now tell me what I need to know! Where is she?”

  The human squirmed in the chair, it was obvious that I had caught onto something. “I know nothing of importance. I’m just a foot soldier of the movement. I don’t know what the leaders do.” He struggled as he spoke.

  “You lie, human! I can always tell when humans are lying. You are such weak and vulnerable creatures. Your emotions are always all over your face.” I turned to my crew. “Scan his database. Scan all drives aboard his ship, and on his person. He is carrying more information than he knows. He must carry information, human secrets... trade secrets. I will know what it is.”

  “Yes, Prince Manzar,” one of my soldiers replied.

  The human stiffened.

  I knew that I was onto something. I moved closer to him and something gleamed and caught my eye. There was an amulet hanging from his neck, I reached out and pulled it off.

  “Don't. Give that back. That is nothing to you,” he exclaimed, desperation in his voice.

  He struggled to get out of the chair even more, which only intrigued me. I opened the amulet. A digital photo moved inside, something that a lot of the humans used. They were captured memories, usually of a loved one. I watched the movement inside the amulet. It was not a memory. It was a map of some sort. It was of the city, but it was in code. “This is a map of some kind,” I acknowledged, watching his face.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Give that back, you piece of shit.”

  “Prince Manzar, we have found large amounts of information on the database this human carried. There does seem to be classified information,” my soldier reported.

  The human hung his head low.

  “Don't you worry yourself, human. It’s not your fault. You’re just up against a superior Trilyn. You could never win in this situation. But fear not, we’re going to let you go. You can go back to your ship and head back to your base. But you must not tell anyone of your pit stop. If you do, I will have to come after you,” I warned lifting the amulet. “Is that understood?”

  “Yes,” he muttered with anger all over his face.

  “Is the human’s ship ready?” I asked out loud.

  “Yes, Prince Manzar.”

  “Good, take him to it,” I ordered.

  My crew unlatched the clamps around his wrist and ankles then pulled him up.

  He glared at me, angry. “Trilyn scum,” he sneered at me.

  I just laughed. “At least this human was spirited, not like the Humanity First leaders who avoid confrontation at all costs.”

  I moved to the large windshield of my large fleet ship.
I waited a few minutes until the human was escorted to our cargo landing bay and then onto his ship.

  “He has launched, Prince Manzar.”

  “Good, this should be interesting…” I watched his ship leave mine.

  His ship was a smaller short distance ship, it headed toward the blue sky. Then the blue of the sky flashed for a brief second as the human’s ship exploded.

  I smiled. We had prepared his ship to self-destruct after leaving ours and getting within a certain height above the city. I couldn’t have him going back without his database. The humans would figure out that it had been stolen and track it back to me. No, it was better that his ship mysteriously malfunctioned upon re-entry. Then no questions would be asked. It was necessary. I always did what I wanted, and getting rid of one human, was a necessary action in this case.

  I looked down at the amulet, to study the map. “Lieutenant Danja. Scan the data the human had for addresses on Earth, and also scan this amulet for information. I believe this is a map to a Humanity First base or some other place important.” I handed my trusted lieutenant the amulet.

  “Yes, Prince Manzar,” he said grabbing it.

  I crossed my arms and watched the remnants of the spaceship floating into the darkness. It had been a productive scout…I was only just getting started. I had to find her.

  Chapter 27

  Andi

  “I’m here to see Governor Edwards,” I said at the Earth council lobby.

  “Do you have an appointment? Is he expecting you?” the man behind the desk replied.

  “Yes, he is,” I lied. “I’m the daughter of scientist James LaBelle, he knows who I am,” I stuck my chin out stubbornly.

  “One moment, I will call up to his office. Have a seat.” He pointed to the waiting area.

  I moved to the waiting area, but I couldn’t sit. I was too amped up and anxious. I paced back and forth knowing that my little ploy wasn’t going to work, but I had to do something.