by Drew Briney
Nevertheless, Aria was a woman of great poise and self control. As she set the syringe inside the washing compartment and sealed it shut, she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, wrapped her fingers around the ceremonial cup, and quickly exited into the hallway. Moments later, she spoke into Blaze’s door monitor, requesting entry. Receiving no response, she quickly determined that he was probably in Evelia’s chambers, a conclusion that left Aria more anxious and stressed than ever. Her biological talents of persuasion were designed to work on males; occasionally, they helped to calm down females as well but more often than not, they created unwanted tension. Aria’s task was difficult enough – she didn’t need further complications.
Deliberately managing her walk, she practiced making her seductive movements more subtle as she approached Evelia’s door. “Evelia,” she called in as sweet of voice as she could muster, “are you available?”
“Yes,” came the quick reply. A moment later, the door opened to reveal the captain.
“Perfect,” Aria replied, looking towards Blaze. “Captain, I have your report and some drink.” Lifting the mantha juice with both hands, she smiled. In my Unit, it is tradition to offer a drink to a leader before he goes on a journey or begins some great task,” she explained, sauntering towards him.
“People in your Order went on journeys?” Evelia instinctually interrupted, forgetting that Aria’s Unit was more aware of the outside world than any of the other Units.
“Not frequently,” Aria confessed, “but it is our strong tradition nonetheless.” Raising the drink a little higher, Aria offered a slight bow towards Blaze, lowering her head in echo and leaving it there for an uncomfortably long moment – neither Blaze nor Evelia knew how the young warrior should properly respond to the offer so they remained motionless in anticipation. Just as Blaze reached towards the drink, Aria straightened her back and took a drink out of the cup, letting her lips linger on the edge for a moment before removing the cup. Releasing a very subtle amount of her scent into the air, she met Blaze’s eyes squarely and offered a clear but restrained smile. “Those who offer the drink must take the first sip to assure the leader that it is safe to drink,” she explained as she now clearly offered the ceremonial cup to Blaze.
He drank. And when he finished drinking, Aria continued to meet his gaze in a way that clearly suggested anticipation – like she was waiting for him to drink the entire cup – so he did. Bowing again towards the young warrior, Aria held her hands out to receive the empty cup. “May peace envelop your journey,” she ceremoniously concluded. “Would you like your report now?” she asked, this time looking over at Evelia with as friendly of a smile as she could muster.
But Evelia could discern the erratic energy around Aria and her disapproval of her presence was intuitively evident to the bombshell scientist.
“Yes, please be quick,” Blaze answered, still feeling rather pressed to learn everything he needed to learn before boarding the alien ship. “I need something plain and easy to pass on to the Alien captain,” Blaze explained. “I do not need technical medical terminology.”
“Yes, sir. The alien woman clearly died from external wounds. The energy bolts were indisputably the only cause for her death. Certain chemicals in her body appeared elevated before she died, suggesting severe anxiety or intense anger. Unfortunately, in an alien species, it is difficult to determine whether these chemical levels might be uncharacteristically high for her species or whether they are typically found in their bodies at higher levels than we expect in humans. We just don’t know enough about her species to make a solid conclusion. Because of that uncertainty, it is difficult to determine whether or not she had any intent to kill Dr. Boyd.”
And that was it. She offered nothing more.
Blaze waited only briefly before asking a follow up question. “What does your gut instinct tell you Aria?”
The question clearly caught her by surprise. “What do you mean?” she countered.
“Was she stressed, angry, or totally normal?” Blaze responded as if the question had been obvious the first time but Aria was clearly out of her element. Even Blaze, who could not see the erratic movement of energy around her intuitively detected something was bothering her – was the very icon of poise breaking down?
“I haven’t really considered that,” she confessed. But after a few moments passed, she understood that her response was not getting her off the hook – she had to offer an answer.
“If I had to answer based upon her chemical makeup alone, I would say that she was under severe stress,” Aria concluded. “But if I had to answer based upon her autopsy scans and the video, I would say that she was angry because of whatever she was stressed about but I wasn’t close enough to her to really make that call. You would be better off asking someone closer to her.” The last phrase was clearly directed towards Evelia as Aria nodded her head towards the petite woman and offered a slight smile.
“Greydon has not brought the report on interactions with alien races – do you by chance know when that is coming?” Blaze asked.
Suddenly, Aria fell even further outside of her element, her countenance now outwardly betraying her many misgivings. For Evelia however, the change in countenance was far less obvious than the violently erratic energy enveloping her body. Coupled with an unmistakable look of apprehension, Evelia was not inclined to let the moment pass unnoticed.
“Aria, are you alright?” she pressed with seeming innocence.
Toka’s siren now cast her eyes at the floor. Years of training, conditioning, and practice were suddenly useless. She could probably cover, make up some excuse, and go back to her chambers to sort out her feelings. She could probably easily get away with some lame excuse about not getting enough sleep or not feeling well – after all, Blaze wouldn’t be feeling well in the very near future either. But something inside of her snapped, something very primal moved within her, something deep in her soul shifted.
“Are you recording?” she barely whispered, asking the question before she was absolutely sure she would really choose this life changing course correction. Blaze and Evelia exchanged curious glances.
“No,” Blaze answered, still looking at Evelia to make sure that his answer was accurate. “What you have to say, say freely.”
But Aria continued to hesitate. There was so much to tell but what was wise to tell, she didn’t really know.
“Greydon delegated that duty to Toka,” Aria answered quietly. Then, with great deliberation and with a look of sincerity that was unmistakable, she met Blaze’s gaze with great intensity and refused to break eye contact for the slightest moment. “Believe very little of what you will hear,” she counseled. Her eyes darted back and forth between his own eyes and then they fell to the ground.
As Evelia observed Aria’s energy movements stabilizing, she knew that Aria spoke the truth. As Blaze carefully observed Aria’s eyes, he knew she spoke the truth. But before either of them could say anything, Aria spun around, covered her mouth with her fingers, and quickly sped out of the room with nothing more to say.
As the door shut, Evelia grabbed Blaze’s hand, looked deeply into his eyes, and confirmed what he already knew: “She told the truth.”
“I know,” he confessed. “I am unsure what to make of it though.”
“I’m sure you will understand soon,” Evelia responded, looking towards the ground. “Blaze,” she started again, raising her head and then her eyes to look more directly at Blaze. “Our time is short but what I have to say is also very important – not just to answer your question but perhaps to explain a number of things about this alien race that may be more helpful than the report you will receive from Toka.” The look on her face was manifestly sincere and Blaze felt that surge of crush on her that momentarily removed any doubts he may have had about his feelings for her. “Can you trust me?” she asked with such sincerity that Blaze felt badly that she would need to ask at all.
“Of course,” he answered.
Without saying anything in return, Evelia reached her hands up to Blaze’s jaw and softly tugged his face down to her level. Then, she pressed her cheek against his and slowly glided her cheek across his scruffy jaw line until her lips rested next to his ear and he could feel her warm breath pulsing into his ears. Soon, he relaxed and closed his eyes without any instruction. Then, he began to observe scenes from Evelia’s life flashing before his mind. Unbeknown to Blaze, she was only sharing her most intense memories so that the process would not take very long but he observed and understood many things about Evelia that would have changed his worldview growing up had he only known a small portion of what he was learning now. Her feelings for the Order, her feelings for her family, and her feelings for Blaze – especially in context of having reviewed all of his memories – were now deeply imbedded into his soul as well. The things she had been learning from the magic woman superficially passed through his mind but Evelia’s feelings about what she was learning were forcefully implanted into his heart. The magic woman’s feelings about her people, her feelings about the conspiracy, and her feelings towards the new race of humans she had so recently met all passed through Blaze’s mind as well. Soon, Blaze had a strong foundation to understand the people he was about to meet.
But he also had a very new understanding about the woman he loved. As the scenes ended, Evelia slowly pulled her cheeks away from Blaze, feeling a little emotionally overwhelmed and not unnoticeably vulnerable. But now, Blaze could innately understand how she was feeling at that moment. Contrary to every cultural tradition he had been raised with, he responded to her feelings by raising his hands in cupping shape around her jaw line and pulling her face close to his.
And then he kissed her.
But as their lips moved together, the virus moved as well.
LATELY, IT SEEMED LIKE NOTHING happened the way Blaze expected. Evelia’s newest conundrum was an unforeseen complication that left him feeling uncomfortable - Aria’s brief visit was anything but normal - and Toka's report left Blaze entirely baffled. Now, looking out the transport bay, it was evident that the alien's transport unit was much too large to make it into his receiving bay. That wouldn’t have been too surprising or stressful in and of itself. What was surprising to Blaze was that the potential transport units he had to choose from were small enough to fit into the bay of the alien transport unit. In every way, the alien ships dwarfed the human ships. And that created a very rare internal event for the young warrior: he felt intimidated.
But that wouldn’t be the end of his surprises that day.
He looked over at Evelia who was holding Elayuh and then shifted his eyes down to the infant's tiny hands that were erratically moving around her face. When Evelia suggested that they should bring the child on the alien ship, Blaze hesitated to argue the point. Evelia knew the alien culture better than he did. He suspected she was right in believing that bringing a child would deflate any atmosphere of tension that the aliens might be experiencing. Still, the baby’s presence left him feeling all the more outside of his element. He was used to being the protectorate, the hero, the hope of his race. Now, he was charting the course for his species by meeting an alien race without any weapons and bringing along an orphan baby that didn’t even belong to him. And while he felt fond feelings towards the child, Elayuh frequently reminded Blaze of his first real battle and all of the conflicting emotions that were associated with that horrific experience. Calm, quiet, and relaxing, the child’s presence nonetheless brought occasional echoes of blood, carnage, and intolerable suffering. But as she shifted in Evelia’s arms and smiled over at Blaze, his heart softened and he remembered why he felt tender affection for her nonetheless.
“Looks like we need to fly out to meet them,” Blaze ventured, stating the obvious only because it needed to be said. “Let’s go.” Evelia smiled in return. She couldn’t articulate her feelings well but she knew that she was pleased to hear Blaze using contractions. She couldn’t say why that was important to her or why it made her happy but it made her smile nonetheless. Perhaps it represented internal growth. Perhaps it represented a rejection of all things false. Perhaps it represented his determination to only pursue the very best paths he could find. Whatever the reason, it seemed a good thing.
A FEMALE ALIEN GREETED BLAZE, Evelia, and the child as soon as they exited the alien’s transport unit onto the colossal moon-sized ship. In an instant, Blaze recognized those recurring feelings that he had felt around the magic woman back home. He felt peace; he felt calm and trusting. He felt anything but stressed. The female alien’s unusual language, her dual toned voice, her shimmery skin, and her graceful movements created a fleeting moment of melancholy for the magic woman. Having only known her very briefly, she had nonetheless greatly affected his life and she would continue to affect him until the moment he would die. Now that Evelia had shared some of the magic woman’s feelings with Blaze, he was less inclined to intellectualize his experiences with her – he now felt more at one with her and felt empathy towards her goals and ideals and he knew her to be a woman of unquestionable integrity and perhaps, valor.
Evelia broke out in smiles the moment she saw the new woman and bowed towards the lithe little alien with both hands held in a cupping shape and with one arm outstretched to grab hands as was the aliens' custom. Clearly surprised, the alien woman returned the smiles, warmly grasped Evelia’s hands, and spoke through some unseen translating unit, “Our captain anxiously awaits your visit in his private chambers.”
Blaze instinctively tensed his muscles. Intuitively, the alien woman immediately noticed the changing energy flow around Blaze and cast Evelia a look of concern. Evelia, in her characteristically sweet manner winked at Blaze and responded out loud. “The captain would only invite us to his private chambers if he was expecting this to be a peaceful visit,” she offered. “If he expected trouble, we would meet in a public venue. He intends to show us that he is friendly.”
Unlike his transmission, Blaze silently grumbled, failing to suppress his nervousness about being in a situation where he had zero control over whatever was about to happen.
Still holding the alien’s hand with her arm bent and with her hand still in cupping shape, Evelia motioned for the alien to lead them wherever they needed to go. As they walked, the alien woman spoke a few words about the captain, including his name, which was anything but pronounceable to Blaze and which was barely understandable by Evelia. Given her background with the alien race, she was able to remember the name, although whether or not she would be able to say it properly when speaking psionically was a different question altogether. Their guide politely warned them that the captain was exceedingly intelligent, overly quick to respond, and unnervingly adept at accurately anticipating what other people would say. “Nonetheless,” she explained, “he intends no malice in doing so. That is simply who he is and it is no surprise that he is so. He is the most gifted psionic communicator that our species has any record of … and his other gifts are extraordinary as well,” she added. "He often thinks several steps ahead of everyone that surrounds him and that can make him a little difficult to follow ... but if you get a little behind in the conversation, he will likely know where and why so don't let that bother you."
As they turned the last corridor – a corridor designed after sandstone-esque caverns from their home moon – Evelia felt a stronger energy flow than she had ever experienced before and instantly recognized that her psionic barrier had been noticed, respected, and passed upon and that her barrier over Blaze was similarly treated. What surprised her was that Elayuh’s mind, which she had not anticipated a need to protect, was the subject of quite a bit of the alien captain’s attention before the doorway to his chambers was even visible.
When Blaze saw the entrance to the captain’s private chambers, he was more than a little surprised. There was no door. And as soon as Blaze noticed this, he retrospectively noticed that he hadn’t seen a single door aboard the ship excepting those transitioning the r
eceiving bay into the main ship itself – doors that were necessary to keep the atmosphere on the ship stabilized. He glanced around and saw no doors throughout the entirety of the captain’s private chambers. It appeared that subtle turns in corridors allowed some degree of privacy in the bed chambers and in the lavatory but other than these, it seemed that this alien species had some issue with doors – an idiosyncrasy that Blaze would have never thought to imagine or contemplate on his own. Why would a technologically advanced alien species neglect doors in the design of their ship? The very idea seemed too primitive to be consistent with the superior technology exhibited by this species.
The moment that Blaze and Evelia observed the captain, he graciously bowed his large frame and held both of his hands outstretched towards them, hands in upside down cupping position. Blaze, who had not paid close attention to what had transpired between the alien guide and Evelia, was somewhat oblivious as to what he should do to return the captain’s greeting. And unsure as to whether or not he should follow Evelia’s lead, he simply bowed in return and lifted his arm out in front of him with his hand roughly shaped like a fist, ready to shake hands if that is what these aliens did. The primer he received from Evelia less than an hour earlier hadn’t prepared him for formal occasions like this one and that gave him yet one more reason to feel stressed over this meeting.
The alien captain took Evelia’s hand and touched it to his temple as was his custom. In contrast, his response to Blaze was something of a cross between a wheeze and a chuckle, his two voices slightly grating against one another. The young warrior would have been defensive over the sound but for the gentle look that the alien captain was offering. It may not have been clear to Blaze that the captain was amused but it was definitively clear that he was in no way exhibiting any aggression towards the young warrior.