D'zia's Dilemma

by Keri Kruspe

  “You know, the Chancellor told me to keep you alive,” he gestured to D’zia as he stared at the four guards, “but unfortunately, bad accidents happen all the time.” He grasped the case closer to his body. His eyes glinted with malice at D’zia before he gave one last order as he left with a jaunty wave of his thin hand. “Kill him.”

  D’zia let go of the bars and backed up. The four Erkek guards smiled in unison as they raised their disintegration blasters and aimed at him. His gaze darted around to see if he’d missed anything he could use to defend himself.

  A loud screech echoed down the hallway. “We’re here, bitches, and we’re gonna fuckin’ kick your ugly, green asses!”

  The loud scream startled D’zia. The voice sounded familiar, and when a human woman stomped through the doorway, his breath caught in shock.

  The human, Chloe, from the AoA on Naraka ran into the room. She waved a disintegration blaster with jerky movements in the air. Without stopping, she took a shot and actually hit a guard while making her chaotic entrance. The body dissolved in a puff of ash and smoke. Was she alone? No, wait, someone thundered down the passageway right behind her.

  A very massive someone.

  D’zia’s eyes widened as the Runihura, Aylzrunth, came storming in right behind Chloe.

  “Dlofokyo, female! Can’t you wait for me for once in your life?” The large, onyx alien roared after her, blasting the other three guards in quick, efficient succession.

  D’zia blinked…what just happened? One click he was facing death and the next…the threat was gone. The abrupt change made it hard to keep up with what he’d seen with his own eyes.

  “Chloe?” Lora’s voice scratched. The effort to speak was clear as her forehead furrowed with the brackets of pain etched around her mouth.

  “Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick! Is that you, Lora?”

  Chloe’s screech of surprise pierced D’zia’s delicate ears and had his eyes crossing in pain.

  “Hell, girl! You’re naked!” The human female glanced around the room before settling on him in the confinement cage. “Oooh whee…we’s got us a naked Zerin in a box.” She turned to his prone TrueBond. “He yours, missy?”

  “Yes,” Lora’s answer came out stronger. Maybe the paralysis was wearing off. “Please let him out.” Her imploring tone had him grinning as their eyes searched before they clicked together.

  “Aylzrunth, you heard the girl.” The short human female waved to her much larger Runihura companion. “Let the boy out.”

  “Female, I am not yours to command.” The large alien gave her an indignant reply as he walked over to D’zia’s confinement cage.

  “Yeah, yeah. That and a bag of chips,” came her unconcerned comment. Chloe’s eyes narrowed as she focused on Lora. “Just do it, Nike. No time to argue.” The two females shared smirks as Chloe released Lora from the examination table.

  It must be a human female thing because D’zia didn’t understand what was so funny. “Runihura,” D’zia directed his focus on the male approaching him with a frown, “while I think I’m happy to see you, I don’t understand why you’re here.”

  An annoyed glare came from the large obsidian male and his neon-blue eyes. “Well, it wasn’t my idea, I can assure you.” His head tilted toward the open door as a female came through the threshold to join them.

  “I ordered it,” the familiar female voice announced. In walked Shysutá, the Merkaba AoA leader. She glided into the room with her innate style and grace, her usual large cache of weapons strapped to her lilac body.

  “Look, not that I’m not grateful, but why are you here?”

  “Dude!” JR10 came out of hiding. The little bot scurried to the top of his head before he stopped and quivered in excitement. “Don’t be rude…you told me to get them.”

  Before D’zia denied that ridiculous statement, the Merkaba took over the conversation.

  “Are you all right, JR10?” Shysutá stopped a few inches in front of him and inspected the spybot with concern. Great, his AI companion garnered more sympathy than he did.

  “Yes-yes. You came just in time, my lovely goddess,” came the slick, crooning reply. “We are all much better now that you’re here.”

  D’zia refrained from snorting in derision. He couldn’t afford to irritate any of them until he got out of this damn cage. “I don’t suppose you’d consider getting me out of here?” He motioned to the metal bars holding him.

  Aylzrunth crossed his massive arms and splayed his legs in an aggressive stance. “Not so fast, Zerin. We need to come to an agreement first.”

  “And what agreement would that be, Runihura?” He crossed his arms and mirrored the aggressive stance.

  “Oh lordy, why are all men throughout the galaxy the same?” Chloe rolled her eyes as she helped her friend put on a tunic top they’d found somewhere.

  Lora was shivering.

  Good, he was glad she was covered. He didn’t like her glorious naked body bare for other males to ogle.

  Chloe finished her observation. “Always measurin’ their dicks to see whose is bigger.”

  Lora’s eyes twinkled as he caught her glancing at his nude form. She nodded in agreement with her human friend as her dimples surrounded a feminine smile of appreciation.

  At the same time, JR11 took small steps to poke out from Lora’s messy, light hair. She stood and swiveled her small head from side-to-side.

  Chloe took one look at the arachnid spybot and shrieked, “Oh freakin’ hell…a spider! I’ll get it…I’ll get it!” Hopping from one foot to the other, her arms flayed around Lora’s head, trying to dislodge the hapless JR11.

  D’zia was afraid the crazy human would hurt his TrueBond.

  “No…no don’t hurt her!” Lora countered in a strong tone. She scooped JR11 off her head and cupped her in gentle hands. She kept the bot safe within her palms as she twisted her torso away from Chloe. “She’s not a spider, Chloe!”

  “She?” Chloe stopped her crazy dance and planted her fists on her ample hips. “What are you talking about? It sure looks like a spider to me!”

  “No, she’s not! She’s my AI companion.” She opened her hands for a peek. “You okay, JR11? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

  “No, Miss Lora. I’m fine, thank you for asking.” The tiny bot’s voice whispered. Her voice was so soft D’zia had a hard time hearing her across the room.

  “AI?” Chloe’s eyes widened as she bent to peer into Lora’s hands. “Can I see?”

  D’zia almost laughed at the complete change in attitude from the human. Before, she was ready to attack the little bot, now her head bobbed to see what Lora held. Nice, but he had other things to worry about. He glared at the massive onyx alien standing in front of him. “Runihura.”

  The male raised a white eyebrow in a haughty expression. “Zerin.”

  “Any chance of you letting me out before the creation of the next universe?”

  “Shysutá, your thoughts?”

  D’zia swore he’d drive his fist into the annoying smirk on the Runihura the first chance he got.

  The Merkaba female walked over and stood in front of him. Though the bars distorted her features, he kept his eyes focused on hers. After a few nerve-racking clicks of her examining him, she finally nodded.

  No telling why the delay, but right now he didn’t care. When the large male reached over and gave a quick yank, the metal bars ripped along the corners. D’zia jumped back and put his hands up to protect his face to avoid shards of metal flying around. “Thanks. Does anyone else get this level of help from you?” D’zia lowered his hands and glared at the male as Aylzrunth dropped the metal slab with a clang. He walked out of the confined space and pushed between the large male and Shysutá to get to Lora.

  She sat on the side of the table chatting with her human friend and JR11. Not waiting for her to see him, he grabbed his female into his protective embrace. She squealed in surprise and JR11 flew out of her hands.

  Chloe caught the flying s
pybot with a happy squeal.

  He breathed in Lora’s enthralling scent as his nose found his favorite place between her neck and shoulder. Her soft body molded into his, his missing piece finally in place. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he choked. He couldn’t believe he let her get caught and abused by Knum’Nz again.

  “D’zia, stop.” As she hugged him, her shivering slowed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and whispered. “It’s not your fault…I’m okay. I’m okay.” She patted the back of his head as his loose hair wrapped itself around her, engulfing them in a silken cocoon. It took a few nanoclicks before he was comfortable enough to release her, to gaze into her beautiful, exotic face. He gathered a shaky breath. “We’re getting out of here, but I have to do something first.” His hair fell to flow down his back as he faced the other three in the room. He ignored the bemused expressions on their faces.

  I believe now is a good time to leave.” Shysutá waved both right arms toward the exit.

  “I agree, but I have to get something first.” D’zia let Lora go as he walked up to the Merkaba leader. “Give me a weapon.”

  She placed both sets of fists on her slender hips. “Oh? Why?”

  “I have to return to Zerin with proof of the Chancellor’s intentions. What better way than to take Dr. Knum’Nz with us?”

  As the Merkaba opened her mouth, a loud klaxon sound reverberated throughout the small room and echoed down the corridor.

  “Dlofokyo!” Aylzrunth’s deep voice carried over the piercing sound of the alarms. “Let’s go.” He grabbed the small human Chloe by the arm and pulled her toward the doorway. “Give the human her toy back and let’s go.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” Chloe dropped JR11 in Lora’s outstretched palm and dug in her heels. With a frantic jerk she tried to yank her arm out of the large male’s grip. “Quick dragging me around, you big oaf!”

  His hold was firm and the little human made no leeway in dislodging him. After a few fruitless tugs, Aylzrunth reached down and put the squirming human facedown over his shoulder while he stood by the door.

  Ignoring them, D’zia addressed Shysutá. “I know we’re running out of time, but I’ve got to grab Knum’Nz.” He walked closer to her. “If you don’t want to help, give me a weapon and get out of my way.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  “Wait, D’zia!”

  Lora’s frantic cry grabbed his attention as she threw a pair of pants in his direction. “You aren’t going anywhere naked, mister.”

  He plucked the fabric before it covered his head and slid the pants on. They were big around his lean frame, but fortunately, they were snug enough to stay in place. He smiled at his TrueBond. “Lora, follow Chloe and Aylzrunth out of this place before more guards come in.” He walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss before he sprinted over to Shysutá, who handed him a small disintegration blaster. “JR11 will tell you where my ship is and I’ll be right behind you.”

  He glanced over at the large Runihura as Chloe tried to free herself by squirming and smacking the male.

  She didn’t make any progress in getting the alien to set her down.

  Lora rushed over to grab his arm. “You’re leaving without me? Where are you going?”

  D’zia gave a whoop of sheer joy at being free to do what he did best. He placed a reassuring hand over hers. “Don’t worry, my love…I’m off to save the galaxy!”

  Chapter Nine

  LORA

  Lora was going to kill him.

  He left.

  He left her and followed that beautiful, strange four-armed purple alien…without her. Save the galaxy? What in the hell was he talking about? She stomped her foot in frustration with her hands on her hips as she watched him disappear beyond the reach of the flickering lights of the lab. Seriously, they were going to have a long conversation about his lack of communication skills.

  Before she had a chance to scream her frustrations out loud, the humongous onyx alien grabbed her arm. He pulled her in the opposite direction from where D’zia and the purple woman had gone. She kept glancing back, trying to glimpse D’zia and the female. Jealousy reared its ugly head as hot anger scrambled her emotions into a jumbled mess.

  “Female, if you don’t stop struggling, I’ll put you over my other shoulder like your friend, here.” The scary alien threatened her.

  Lora scowled at him and at Chloe held in a firefighter’s hold on his opposite side. He was more than intimidating with his blacker-than-black skin over a mountain of muscles. His strength was obvious by the easy way he handled Chloe. Yeah, he’d be able to take both of them on with little trouble. She was already nauseous from the bloodletting, cell scraping, and injections Dr. Creepy Nuts did. She sure didn’t want to tempt fate and have her stomach squished against a rock-hard shoulder and bouncing with every step.

  Hurling while escaping didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun.

  “Fine, whatever. Let’s go.” She gave one last lingering gaze down the dim corridor, but D’zia and his companion were long gone. She had no idea which way they went, so she didn’t have a choice but to go on without him.

  The intimidating male released Lora’s arm and gave Chloe a hard swat on her butt. “You will calm down now, human,” he admonished her in a deep, no-nonsense tone.

  In response, Chloe reached to grab and squeeze both globes of his ass. She had a handful in the tight-fitting pants he wore tucked into his calf-high boots. “Aylzrunth, I swear to God, when I get down from here, I’m gonna make you sorry.” Her words were spaced by grunts as she bounced against his hard back.

  “I’m already sorry, you ornery female,” Aylzrunth rubbed Chloe’s backside.

  Lora gave a silent chuckle. Well, well, well…the large alien had a thing for her friend. Lora wasn’t sure about Chloe’s feelings about him, especially with her head down and bobbing in time as he moved. But then again, Chloe sure liked to grab his ass.

  Lora rushed to keep up with him because for every one of his steps she had to take two and a half. The floor was ice cold on her bare feet and the drafty corridor played peek-a-boo with her delicate nether regions. She was glad she found the tunic when she did, but it would have been nice to find pants and some shoes to wear. Oh well, at least she had something on. “Where are we going?” Her voice came out breathless as she trotted next to the lumbering male.

  “We’ve got to get out of here before reinforcements arrive,” came his enigmatic reply.

  Lora stopped dead in her tracks. “What? Wait…what about D’zia and that…that female?”

  The dark-as-midnight alien stopped before he grabbed her arm and tugged her to run with him. Chloe gave a reactive squeal and once again grabbed his ass.

  Lora doubted it was because Chloe needed to hold on.

  “Do not worry about them,” he told her, not at all winded from carrying Chloe and sprinting at a fast pace. “Shysutá can take care of herself.”

  “Okay, okay…let go! I’m with you.” Lora tugged her arm out of his grasp as they came to a blank wall.

  With a gentle hand, he put Chloe down on her feet.

  She immediately punched him in his biceps, eliciting a short, manly grunt. “Don’t you ever do that again!” Chloe stomped her foot and placed her fists at her waist.

  He ignored her. Instead, he pulled a small, square metallic box out of his vest pocket and attached it to the wall. Before Lora asked him what he was doing, he stepped back and pushed her and Chloe behind him with one arm. Between one breath and the next, the small box sizzled and popped before the wall dissolved. The caustic smell of burning circuits floated on small ribbons of smoke streaming by.

  “Let’s go, humans,” came his autocratic order. He went behind them to give them both a slight shove with one palm. Together they stumbled into the warmer, humid atmosphere of FiPan.

  “I swear to God, Aylzrunth…” Chloe stopped and made her empty threat with a severe glare.

  Lora smiled and nudged her f
riend on the shoulder to show solidarity.

  “Miss Lora?” JR11’s sweet voice echoed in her head. “We are to meet JR10 and D’zia at his ship.”

  Now Chloe and the alien were way ahead of her. They walked at a brisk pace toward a sleek, metallic ship shaped like an “M” on stilts.

  “Is this D’zia’s ship?” she asked her hidden companion in a quiet tone.

  “No, that is in the opposite direction,” JR11 replied.

  Making an instant decision, she stopped. “Hey, guys. I’m gonna go to go over to D’zia’s ship and wait for him there.”

  The towering, dark alien stared at her with his inhuman neon-blue eyes. He was a formidable sight with his bleached-white hair, silver torque around his forehead and midnight skin over mountains of muscles. His handsome, chiseled face was expressionless. “You know where to go?” he finally asked.

  “Yes, my spybot…”

  Before Lora finished her statement, Chloe ran over and wrapped her in a tight hug before pulling away to scrutinize her. Keeping her hands around Lora’s upper arms, she declared, “Girl, you and I have got to get together so we can talk.”

  Lora hugged Chloe back. “You couldn’t keep me away.” She gave her friend a kiss on the cheek. “I have to get my idiot male out of trouble first.” She peeked at the looming male behind Chloe. “How will I find you?”

  “We will find you.” He crossed his arms as if daring her to argue.

  Chloe snorted. “Ignore him, he’s brain deficient.” The two women let go of each other and stepped back. “Don’t you worry; I have my ways of finding you.” She reached into a pocket of the cargo pants she wore. “Here, take this.” She shoved a small round object into Lora’s hands.

  Lora turned it over. It was a rock attached to a leather string. She ran her thumb over its smooth surface. “What’s this?”

  “It’s my own personal communication interface program I call BóBó.” Chloe nodded in the direction where JR11 burrowed underneath Lora’s hair. “Have your AI connect with it and you’ll be able to contact me anytime.” She chuckled when she stepped back. “I never thought I’d be giving it away for a bug to use, but hey, what can I say? This is one weird-ass universe.”