by Snow Novels
Several people filed into the room and Sophie realized two things: they were all older than she was, and they were all men. They sat around the table, introducing themselves to Sophie.
"I'm sure you know that Lextarr is the government's leading biological research facility," a man who'd been introduced as Jonathan Stark said. "What you may not know is that our research extends to extra-terrestrials." Sophie's eyes widened.
"Don't blow this," her father whispered.
"Your job is simple, Stark said. "Collect the samples we ask for. No more, no less. I think it's best just to show you."
They all rose from the table then and Sophie followed her father and Stark to an elevator. They took it to the basement and upon exiting Sophie saw a second elevator, much wider and with a security pad just outside the door. Her father flashed his security badge in front of the pad and the door opened.
"Where does this go?" she asked.
"The sub-basements," Stark said. "We have ten underground levels." Sophie's breath quickened as the elevator descended. Her father gave no clues as to what she might see when she got off. When the doors finally opened on the deepest level, Sophie was led down a long, brightly lit hallway with windows lining either side of it.
"Reinforced tempered glass," Stark said, as they passed the first window. Sophie's head got dizzy. A giant frog-like creature stood staring at her. It must have been six feet tall and just as wide. It flicked its tongue at her before giving her a big smile.
The next window enclosed a strange blue mist. She wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she saw a face in it. The window after that made Sophie's heart race. A shark-like creature stood grinning at her. His face was a mass of teeth the size of butcher knives. He appeared to breathe air and winked at her as they walked by.
At the end of the hall was a door. It was steel and reinforced with rows of locks that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. She held her breath as her father unlocked it, expecting to see something pulled from her nightmares. Instead she saw a man. A naked man. Her cheeks burned but she didn't turn her head. He was in his late twenties, with dark hair and piercing green eyes that shimmered in the light. His body was the perfect blend of smooth skin and muscles.
"What is this?" she asked, angered by the way they had this innocent man locked up. "This man is human."
"Don't be stupid," her father said before pulling something from his pocket that looked like a knife. He threw it at the man and Sophie watched in awe as the man's body thickened and his head bulged. A dragon that filled a third of the room with its size blew fire towards the ceiling. The heat hit Sophie's face and made her head light. She heard her father say, "Don't you dare," before the room went black and Sophie's head collided with the ground.
Chapter 3
Sophie's eyes fluttered open. She was staring at the ceiling. Her head hurt and her she thought her cheek had been smashed into a million pieces. She reached up and touched it, but it felt perfectly normal. The ground she laid on was cold. She looked around and saw Stark standing nearby.
"It's about time," he snapped. Sophie sat up and realized she was on the floor just outside the dragon's room. Her father had not even bothered to move her to a cot. At least they took the time to pull me out, she thought, rubbing her head.
"Get up," Stark commanded, "don't be such a girl."
She felt the heat rise in her cheeks and put a hand on the wall to steady herself as she stood up. "I'm afraid your father's right about you," he said, shaking his head.
"What does that mean?" she asked, but he didn't answer. He just looked at her with a rare combination of pity and irritation. "Where is my father anyways?" she asked when she realized he was gone.
"He had better things to do than wait for you to wake up. Would you care to try this again, or shall I fire you now?"
Sophie's head buzzed with anger. Apparently her father was not the only man who enjoyed berating her. "Again, please," she said.
Stark punched some numbers into the keypad, "Remember these," he told her. "Five, five, three, nine, one." Sophie nodded, making a mental note of the numbers and locking them in what she liked to think of as her brain vault. Stark pushed the door open. The dragon... alien... whatever he was, had turned back into the naked man Sophie had seen initially upon stepping into the room, before she'd embarrassed herself by fainting like a child.
"Hello," the man said, his eyes brightening when he saw her. "I'm happy to see that you're alright. I'm so sorry if I frightened you." His voice was deep and sensuous. It made the hairs on Sophie's arms stand up.
Her eyes went wild. Sophie looked from the man to Stark back to the man, finally turning to Stark and leaning towards him conspiratorially. "It can talk?" she whispered.
"Yes," the man said. "And I can hear as well."
Sophie blushed. "Sorry," she said. "I just thought..." But she didn't know how to complete her sentence. Thought he couldn't speak English? Thought he was dangerous? Thought he was better looking than most human men were? All these things were true, but none of them were things Sophie cared to reveal.
Stark stepped towards the man, who was still naked. Sophie tried not to stare but it was impossible. His body was too perfect. Too convincing as a human. She wondered if it was some sort of mask they wore or whether he had undergone surgery of some kind to blend in.
"Sophie Noble," Stark said. "Meet K'mpok K'tar of the Intragneous Galaxy."
"The who of what?" Sophie asked before she could stop herself. K'mpok laughed. The sound carried to Sophie's ears like music on the wind. Her body shivered as she looked into his face, searching his eyes for some sign of his true nature. Was this a kind being? Was he dangerous? She longed for answers to the questions burning within her.
Stark grumbled and put a hand to his head. Sophie thought she heard him mumble something about "stupid women" but didn't dare ask for clarification.
"K'mpok," Stark finally said, "is who I would like you to collect samples from on a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis."
"Him?" Sophie asked, still standing by the door in case she had to retreat before he burned her up with his fire breath.
"You can call me Kay," K'mpok said, stepping towards her and extending a hand. She looked at Stark who motioned for her to go ahead. "I promise, I won't hurt you," Kay said. Sophie saw the sincerity in his eyes and felt herself drawn to this strange being in ways she had never felt herself drawn to anyone before.
"Hello," she finally managed to say, stepping forward to take his hand. His skin was hot and when she touched him she felt sparks of electricity pass over her fingers and up her arm. She couldn't tell if he felt it too. "I'm Sophie."
"It is nice to meet you Sophie," Kay said, smiling. "I think we are going to be great friends."
Chapter 4
Sophie entered the numbers into the keypad as Stark had shown her. The door slid open, the rows of locks unlatching themselves at the touch of the buttons. She took a breath and stepped into the room. The door slid shut again behind her and she heard the locks close up once more.
"Hello again," she said, approaching Kay with her kit. She had been instructed to take his blood every hour on the hour, as well as his vitals. They also wanted skin samples, which she thought might prove more difficult. They'd given her a jar and some sort of scraping device, telling her to rub it against his skin like a cheese grater. If that didn't work, she was simply to cut out a piece of his skin with a knife and put it in the jar. She wasn't sure she could do that if she had to.
"Good day," Kay said. He was very polite. Sophie wondered why they wouldn't let him have any clothes, but didn't want to embarrass him by asking. She tried to keep her eyes to the ground, even though Kay didn't seem to mind in the least.
"I, um, just need some samples," she told him.
"Of course," he smiled.
She approached him and took a needle from her kit. "I, um, just need your arm," she said. He held it out to her. Sophie placed the needle against his skin and pushe
d. It bounced off of him like he was made of rubber.
"Oh," she said.
"My skin looks like yours," he told her, "but it is much thicker. You will need something stronger than that small needle to break it."
"Well, I, uh..." she looked in her bag, flustered. Stark and the others must not have realized that when they gave her this kit. The only other needle in here was exactly the same size as this one. "Maybe if I just push a little harder," she said, taking the same needle and jabbing it into his skin with force. The needle broke.
Kay was watching her with his liquid green eyes. She caught the reflection of light in them and for a second was lost, mesmerized by the movement that seemed to take place deep in his pupils. His eyes shimmered and glowed, turning blue then green then a beautiful combination of both that reminded her of the sea.
She shook her head, realizing she was staring at him, and blushed. "Sorry," she mumbled.
"It is okay. It is your people who will be sorry," he said.
Sophie's heart thumped hard against her chest.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Only that my people were going to settle here peacefully. Make this our new home. Protect it as we would our own. Now, that is all lost."
"Are you saying that your people are going to destroy Earth because we won't let you settle here?" The horror of what he was saying shook her to her core. If it was true, Kay was right to be locked up in here.
"You misunderstand," Kay said, taking her hand. Sophie jumped and tried to pull her hand away. "I will not hurt you," he said. "Just listen. Please. It may not yet be too late." There was something about his voice that soothed Sophie's nerves. An earnestness there that made her think she should trust him. He placed her hand over his chest and she felt the strong and steady beat of his heart. It almost matched her own.
"You feel that, do you not?" he asked. Sophie nodded. "We are more like you than you realize right now. We wish you no harm. We are a peaceful race."
"Then why are you threatening us?" she asked. Kay released her hand.
"It is not us who are the threat. Our own planet was destroyed by a meteor that broke away from its orbit unexpectedly. It is heading towards Earth. We were going to destroy it because we wanted to settle here. But now..." He looked sad and Sophie's heart ached for him. "We cannot settle here now that we have been detected. If I am not released peacefully, my people will have no reason to destroy the meteor."
Sophie's eyes widened. "You mean that... if we don't let you go, your people will just let the meteor hit us?"
Kay nodded, his eyes had lost some of their vibrancy as he'd told his story.
"But I'm sure Earth's scientists would have detected a meteor that size heading towards us."
"By the time they realize it is coming, it will be too late."
Sophie shook her head, refusing to believe. "I'm sorry," she said. "I can't help you. I'm sure if there's something really going on our own people can handle things. You're just trying to trick me."
"I'm not."
"I'm just a tech," she said. "I only want to do my job and make my father proud of me. I just... I'll be back in an hour."
Sophie quickly gathered her things and left the room, feeling Kay's eyes on her even after the door shut behind her.
Chapter 5
"What the hell is the matter with you?" Mike Noble yelled at his daughter.
Sophie stood with her shoulders slunk and her head lowered. Her hands twiddled together and she had to force herself to stop fidgeting. She did not want her father knowing how upset he was making her; it would only make his criticisms worse.
Stark stood nearby, a smirk on his face. He was trying not to laugh.
"You're not leaving here tonight until you redo these samples."
Sophie cringed. She hated the thought of working alone in the lab at night with all those creatures. "Yes Father," she said, kicking herself for feeling like a little girl. She looked to the floor and felt her body shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"Is there something else?" her father demanded.
"Well, no, just um... Kay said something about a meteor hitting Earth and I just—"
"Lies," her father said. "All lies. You can't trust anything that comes out of that creature's mouth." Sophie nodded. "Now go get those samples and analyze them."
Stark stepped out from behind her father now. "And get some of the Kranian and the Lolamite while you're at it," he said.
Sophie stared at him, not comprehending. Stark exchanged a look with her father that said Sophie was clearly an idiot. "The frog and the shark," Stark told her, dumbing it down so she could understand.
Sophie nodded and grabbed her kit, but inside she was terrified. Kay was one thing. He was polite and looked human enough. She didn't think she was in any real danger from him, but that strange shark creature... how was she supposed to get close to that thing without getting eaten?"
Kay was gracious about giving her fresh samples. She had gotten a thicker needle and with a little help from him, it went through his skin and she was able to properly draw his blood.
"Thanks," she said.
"Of course."
Sophie felt that he had something on his mind, but was hesitating to ask her.
"Was there anything you needed?" she asked him.
"I was just wondering," he said, "why the people here put you down so. You seem very wise to me. I do not understand their antagonism towards you."
Sophie blushed. "It's my father. He wishes I was a boy."
"I do not understand," Kay said.
"Neither do I," Sophie said and smiled at him. "This should be good for now. I'll be back in the morning."
Kay nodded as she took her leave.
The frog thing turned out to be a cinch. He just stood there with his face against the glass, watching a fly buzz the room, while Sophie drew all the blood she wanted. It was actually sort of cute in a hairless cat kind of way.
The shark creature—Stark had called it a Lolamite—was much more problematic. Sophie opened the door and realized for the first time that although its head looked like a giant shark, it had legs and could move around the room with ease. Its legs were a cross between fins and human legs, and Sophie approached it carefully as it turned its head to her.
It smiled. It had an extra row of teeth at the back of its mouth and Sophie thought that just one bite from that thing could chomp her head clean off.
"Hello," she said, trying to keep soft, even tones as she spoke. "I, um... I'm Sophie. I'm just going to take some blood right now. Is that alright?"
The Lolamite hissed at her. It sounded like a giant cat. Sophie backed up. When cats hissed, they usually meant business. "Maybe I should just come back later," she said.
It crouched down, it's legs bending in a grotesque way that made Sophie's stomach churn.
"Sorry to disturb you," she said. "I'll just be going." She turned and realized she'd forgotten to lock the door behind her when she came in. It stood ajar as the Lolamite lunged at her. Sophie screamed. Her hands tore through the air, trying to push it away before it could sink its teeth into her. She felt something scrape her skin and looked down to see her arm bleeding at the elbow.
"Help!" Sophie screamed, but it was after midnight. The only ones here right now were the security guards who had ten levels to check between them. By the time they found her, it would be too late.
Thankfully, darkness overtook her as the Lolamite threw her to the floor. Its mouth opened wide and Sophie embraced the fog that covered her eyes, grateful that at least she would not be conscious when the thing began to eat her. She heard a loud roar, and the last thing Sophie felt before passing out completely was extreme heat that warmed her face, sending her to her grave basked in toasty warmth.
Chapter 6
Sophie's ears were ringing. Is this what it's like to be dead? A soft, warm hand reached out and touched her face. The pain along her jaw receded with its warmth.
"Sophie
," a voice said. The ringing faded as Sophie concentrated on that voice. It was deep and hypnotic. She almost thought she could feel it inside her, moving through her blood with the strong, slow beat of a drum. "Sophie," it said again.
She opened her eyes. Alarms were blaring and red lights were flashing. Kay hovered over her as she lay on the floor in his room. The door to his cell had been macerated. Blood stained his face.
"Am I dead?" she asked.
Kay smiled. "Not yet."
She stood up and almost fell back to the floor as her knees wobbled. Kay caught her and wrapped his arms tight around her waist, supporting her. "You're okay," he said. "I have you."
She turned her eyes towards him and clutched his neck. "You saved me," she whispered. She felt the heat of his body as she clung to him, his breath caressing her face. So human, so sweet... His eyes swam towards.
There was something about the way he held her that made her feel safe. The longer she was near him, the easier it was for her to feel the pulse of electricity that ebbed and flowed from his body to hers. It tantalized her, drawing her closer. Before Sophie knew what was happening, Kay's lips were pressing against hers. She let herself sink into them, her mouth burning as his soft and perfect lips pressed harder as she pulled him to her. It was like heaven on Earth. Then he was pushing her away.
"They are coming," he said. "They will not be happy."
Sophie stepped away from him just before a team of security men stormed into the room, followed closely by Stark and her father. The team did not stop to ask questions, they saw Kay standing with Sophie and drew a long spear-like rod, stabbing Kay in the side with it. He dropped to the floor as electricity flew through the rod and seized his body.
"No!" Sophie screamed.
The guards ignored her, more of them joining in with their own spear Tasers. Kay's body convulsed and his face turned red.