I squeeze his thigh for emphasis, and then I pull my hand away. My cheeks burn red as I look away from him and toward the stars.
“So we can see the stars like this even in the day?”
“Yes,” he says. “How long do you want to stay on this beach, Annabelle?”
I smile. “You just called me by my name. That’s great. Are you in a rush to go? Do you really want to see your brother so badly.”
He flinches when I mention his brother.
“He’s my half-brother,” Raiska says, voice going cold. “I think we can stay on the beach longer.”
“Are you avoiding your brother—half-brother? Didn’t you say we came here to find him?”
“Yes. In part.”
“Do you two not get along?”
He runs his hand through the sand. His blue fingers rake through the black grains, and his turquoise eyes look down, lost in thought.
I decide not to press him on this.
Something catches my eye, and I turn to see a chrome sphere approaching us.
I scream.
Raiska grabs hold of my arm. “It’s a med bot. Chill, little human.”
The sphere approaches us. It lights up with a smiley face as it hovers toward us.
“You are injured,” it says. It flashes a light onto Raiska. “It looks like you are APARAN. Is this correct?”
“He’s Valittu,” I tell the robot.
“I’m Aparan,” he says. He speaks then to me rather than to the robot. “Biologically we are the same. It must know Aparan biology from my half-brother.”
“Lie down, Aparan,” it says. “I will tend to your wounds.”
“I’m fine,” he growls at it, standing up.
I pull on his arm and try to tug him back down. I’m under no illusions that I can force a man who can lift up a car to do anything, but I want to fight him on this. This robot is offering to heal him, and he’s stubbornly refusing it for no discernable reason.
“I will be fine,” he says, meeting my eyes.
“You’ll especially be fine if you just let it take care of you. Or do you not trust it?”
He eyes it. “I trust my own body to heal.”
“Worry not, Aparan,” the robot chirps. “I am experienced in healing your kind. We have healed KULA many times.”
Raiska bristles at the name.
“I decline your services—”
I step in front of him. “Heal him. Please. He was hit on the head and can’t make his own decisions.”
“Apologies, Aparan, but your mate has consented on your behalf. Lie down—”
Raiska starts walking off, and a little arm pops out of the robot’s spherical body. It pokes him in the back, and he falls down onto the sand.
“What the hell?” I shriek. “Did you hurt him?”
“I’ve stunned him. The anesthesia will last for THREE minutes and TWENTY SEVEN seconds. This is how long I will need to treat the wounds, human.”
Great. Even the robots are calling me “human.”
A swarm, much like the one I saw in the library, erupts from the sphere. The swarming things, which I’ve gathered by now are some kind of machines, move all along Raiska’s body. They get so thick around his wounded arm and leg that I can’t see through them. After just over three minutes, the swarm starts thinning out, and I see Raiska’s wounds are entirely gone. The swarm melts back into the robotic sphere, and it chirps.
“Welcome to Lakria, Aparan. Be well, human!”
It nods it head by rotating forward a few degrees, and then it floats off as Raiska groans and stands back up.
I move to help him, but he holds up a hand. “I can stand on my own, little human.”
I cross my arms and watch him stand up, panting and scrunching his face as he stands to his full and towering height.
“You look exhausted, Raiska.”
“The nanobots healed me, but they used a lot of my own energy to do it. If I had healed on my own, it wouldn’t have taken as much out of me.”
“Do we want to get a hotel or something? To avoid your half-brother?”
He presses his lips together and puts a hand on his chin. He looks out over the water, and his eyes run along the planet’s ring and up toward the stars. He takes a long time to consider my suggestion, but eventually shakes his head.
“My half-brother Kula is a powerful warrior. It hurts my pride to admit this, but with my scythe and his axe, you will be safer than with me alone.”
“You guys all have a different glowy weapon?”
“They are six-dimensional weapons. They are not glowy.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Six.”
“Do you get along with the rest of them?”
He gives me a strained look, but doesn’t answer my question. “I get along with Kula least of all. It’s unfortunate that he happens to live on the safest planet. We will go to him now though, come, little human.”
When we leave the beach and enter the city itself, culture shock is a word that barely even begins to describe what I feel. I expected to see a new kind of alien—whatever the natives of this planet were—but instead I see hundreds of different alien species. I can’t even tell if one of them is native to this planet, because everywhere I look I see new types. Occasionally I will see multiples of one species, but it’s relatively rare. Raiska said this planet was a trading hub, and it must have served this role for long enough that the planet—or at least this city—has become completely cosmopolitan. Or whatever the word is for “galactically cosmopolitan.”
The city is nothing like anything on Earth. There are no cars, and thus no roads. Instead, there are grassy paths with plenty of trees running between buildings. The buildings are not laid out in a grid, but are more like points of interest within a garden or a park. The whole thing just feels pleasant and inviting. “Utopia” is the word that keeps sticking out to me.
I expected to be stared at as some kind of weird alien invader, but none of the hundreds of species occupying this city even seem to give me a second glance. A few smile at me, or wriggle their strange mouth parts at me in a way that is probably friendly, but most just ignore Raiska and me entirely.
We eventually reach a building with glowing alien letters on it. I can’t read them, of course, but the building seems popular. There are dozens of people waiting outside, some standing in small groups and drinking colorful drinks out of strangely shaped glasses, while others sit on lounge chairs outside the building. There is a nice little garden with alien flowers of incredibly bright and vibrant colors all around us, and there’s several trees with deep purple and teal leaves.
Raiska walks up to the door, opens it, and holds it open for me.
I nervously walk ahead of him, completely unsure of where we are even going.
We get inside, and I see dozens of dining tables in an open and luxurious space. The space is mostly black and white, with purple or teal accents on various pieces of cutlery or napkins.
“An alien restaurant,” I whisper.
“You shouldn’t call things ‘alien,’ little human, it’s seen as offensive.”
I glare at him. “What if I told you that calling me ‘little human’ is offensive to me?”
He smirks at me, puts a possessive hand on the small of my back, and guides me forward.
An alien with pale blue skin and one big eye steps in front of us. “If you’d like a table, I can put you on the list…”
He trails off as he really looks at Raiska.
“Are you...here to see Kula?” he asks us.
Raiska nods. “Yes. I am his half-brother.”
The host looks up at Raiska’s horns and nods understanding. “I’ll take you to him then. Is he expecting you?”
By the host’s tone, it’s very clear that Kula is indeed not expecting Raiska.
Raiska shakes his head, and the host forces a smile. HIs one big eye scans left to right and settles on me. “Are you his Muru?”
�
�Muru?” I ask.
Raiska coughs loud enough to end our conversation, and he takes a step forward. “Just take me to Kula.”
The host bristles and nods to us. “Right this way.”
“Is this where Kula usually eats? Kind of fancy for a warrior, isn’t it?” I whisper to Raiska as we walk.
I expect to be taken to some other room with more tables, and to see Kula eating his meal. I imagine him looking a lot like Raiska, shirtless with a kilt.
Instead, the host takes us through a pair of double doors that slide open as we approach.
Intense smells of alien spices and other things my nose and brain can’t identify hit me all at once. The bustle and noise of the kitchen is a stark contrast to the calm quiet of the dining room. Dozens of people are rushing back and forth, gathering, chopping, and deseeding various ingredients—most of which are completely alien to me. I think I maybe see a tomato, but I realize it might just look like a tomato and taste entirely different.
The bustle dies down as we walk in, and everyone slowly looks up at us.
There’s a massive, horned man in the back stirring a pot. I only see his back, and he speaks without turning around. His voice booms across the kitchen. “Get back to work, or I will end all of you!”
He turns around to see everyone staring at us. When he sees Raiska, he drops his spoon. “Raiska.”
Kula is nearly as big as Raiska. He’s wearing a white chef’s suit and an apron. Still, his body looks like a warrior’s, and if there were any doubt, he has a big scar across his face. It shimmers the same colors as Raiska’s scythe.
“Kula,” Raiska says, his voice even less warm than Kula’s.
Kula looks over at me, and then back at Raiska. He nods slowly. “What are you doing here, brother.”
I’ve never heard the word “brother” sound so much like an insult. Raiska, his hand still on my back, nudges me forward. We approach Kula, and the kitchen staff clears like the sea cleared for Moses as we move toward Kula.
The kitchen has suddenly become quieter than the dining room. The sounds of soups and broths bubbling, and root vegetables sizzling are the loudest sounds in the kitchen.
I can hear my own footsteps as we approach Kula. I’m pretty sure I can see a big vein twitching on his blue-skinned neck.
Raiska stops several feet short of Kula. We’re not quite close enough to shake his hand, not that it seems a handshake is at all going to happen here.
“This human was in danger, Kula,” Raiska says. “I have sworn myself to protect her. The Ulkar have chosen her for the Breeding Games, and I am greatly outnumbered.”
“Step away from my brother, little human,” Kula says.
I look up at Raiska, and Raiska shakes his head. “You do not tell her what to do, Kula, I tell her what to do!”
Now doesn’t seem like the time to tell Raiska that I am not his slave.
“Step away now,” Kula says. “I don’t want to hurt you, human.”
Raiska nods to me, and I step back a few paces, putting Raiska between myself and Kula.
Even with an apron, Kula does look just as much like a warrior as Raiska. He lowers his head so that his horns point toward Raiska.
Raiska’s hands ball up into fists.
Kula growls and lunges forward. His fist connects right into Raiska’s jaw. His horns plow into his chest.
Raiska stumbles backward, but punches back. He hits Kula upside the skull.
The brothers start punching and headbutting each other with incredible speed.
The cooks do not seem especially surprised, and I even see a few smiling.
Raiska throws Kula, and he lands on top of a counter. His massive body knocks several full pots onto the ground. Their contents spill all over the tiled floor. Raiska leaps onto the counter and digs his knee into Kula’s neck. He grips Kula by the horns and snarls at him.
“You still can fight, brother?” Raiska shouts. “Can you still wield your axe, or only a small little wooden spoon for stirring soups and tasting silly little treats?”
Kula brings his knee up. I wasn’t 100% clear on Valittu anatomy, but judging from the way Raiska’s face looks as Kula’s knee slams between his legs, he definitely has balls that are about as vulnerable as a human’s.
Raiska rolls off the counter and lands flat on his back.
Kula grins and stands, towering over Raiska. He reaches out a hand, and Raiska takes it. Their big forearms bulge as they finally shake hands. They butt their heads together until their horns lock.
“I don’t forgive you,” Kula says. “But I will help you protect your mate.”
“I’m not his mate,” I say.
My voice cuts through the silence of the kitchen. One of the cooks clears her throat.
Raiska looks over to me. “You are not. Still, I will protect you as if you were.”
Kula nods and snaps his fingers. “Yufia! You will run the kitchen today.”
He undoes his apron and throws it into a drawer.
He cocks his head toward us, and we follow him.
He takes us into the dining room, and we’re given a table. A waitress brings us several different items, and that’s when I first realize just how starving I am. I didn’t eat on my lunch break, and then an alien battle erupted out in the library before I could even have a snack. My missed lunch was only a few hours ago, but it’s felt like days. I’ve been almost entirely in flight-or-fight mode ever since I realized Raiska was an alien, and my body is completely drained, and my stomach painfully empty.
Kula introduces us to each dish. It’s clear he’s very proud of his creations, and as I start trying everything, I’m certain that it’s not just my hunger making everything taste so good.
“It’s silly,” Raiska says, crossing his arms. “You could simply synthesize everything. Instead you and all these people waste your lives with primitive cooking as if you lived on some backwater.”
“I think this tastes great,” I say, taking a big bite of something that tastes a lot like cheese, but somehow much better than cheese. It even squeaks as I bite into it.
Raiska crosses his arms. “Because you’re from a backwater, little human.”
I roll my eyes at Raiska and take a sip of this pink drink that is like liquid happiness. It probably actually has some kind of drug in it that is liquid happiness.
“Tell me about the Breeding Games,” Kula says.
Raiska does his best to explain. He talks about the little goblin aliens, the guy with the nanoswarm that died, and the golden-skinned one that really likes cheese steaks.
Kula nods as Raiska speaks, as if this is all just normal stuff that isn’t at all surprising.
When Raiska finishes, Kula looks at me, and then back at Raiska. “I, um, Annabelle, my Muru is a human woman as well. I understand human culture and customs much better than my barbarian of a half-brother. Still, I am Aparan, and what I am going to suggest is likely to offend you. I think it would be quite rude of me to ask you to leave, but saying my suggestion in front of you will also be rude. I don’t see a way to move forward without giving you a poor first impression of me, so I’ll apologize in advance, and ask you what you’d like to do.”
Raiska lets out the most exasperated sigh I’ve ever heard. “She can hear what you have to say.”
I nod. “You won’t offend me, Kula. I realize this is a dire situation, and I don’t need you to walk on eggshells around me.”
Kula frowns, and takes several moments to collect his thoughts.
Finally he speaks. “Strategically, the answer to your situation is very clear. You could stand your ground here and wait for the others to come for the fertilze pr—for Annabelle. I could fight with you and help to even the odds, but we could still easily be caught off guard. Fighting while keeping Annabelle safe is a tactical disadvantage and—”
“Don’t lecture me on strategy,” Raiska says, pounding a fist on the table. “I have defeated fiercer foes than you.”
Kula rolls his
eyes. “So you get it. It’s not advisable to stand and fight. The winner of the Breeding Games is decided by whoever’s seed is strongest. Whoever gets Annabelle pregnant wins, and the Ulkar will exterminate the losers. If you simply bond her as your mate, and fill her with your child, the Ulkar will do the dirty work for you. The other contestants will be killed before they can even think to lay a hand on her.”
My cheeks go crimson. Even my ears get hot. I try to take a big gulp of the drugged-up drink, but I swallow too much and start coughing.
Kula tries to pat me on the back, but Raiska grabs his wrist. “Keep your hands off her!”
“I’m sorry I spoke so bluntly, Annabelle,” Kula says over my coughing fit. “But it’s truly the best solution. I don’t know if you are attracted to my half-brother—I know that I would not be attracted to him if I were a human female—but if you aren’t too detested by the prospect of accepting his Valittu seed and being the mother to his child, you could avoid another battle which could potentially kill all of us. On a selfish note, my human mate is due to have her child soon, and I would not like to leave my child an orphan and my wife a widow.”
I get a few more coughs out, and reply in a raspy voice. “So, no pressure!” My voice cracks and goes up several octaves on the last syllable.
Raiska stands up and starts pacing back and forth. “How dare you insult her!”
Kula sighs. “I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Tell me when you’re ready, and I’ll take you to my home.”
When Kula is gone, Raiska locks eyes with me. “I will not take an unwilling mate! I will not allow my half-brother to coerce you into taking my seed!”
“Can you not ever use the phrase ‘taking my seed’ again, to start with?”
He looks at me in confusion, and I bite my lip. “Raiska...I know you have vowed to protect me and everything, and I really, truly appreciate it. I don’t think you need to protect me from Kula. He mentioned he has a pregnant wife. He’s bonded to her or whatever, right? He’s not trying to take me—”
I was about to say “Take me from you,” but I’m not his.
The Breeding Prize: A Scifi Alien Romance (The Breeding Games Book 2) Page 4