by Maia Starr
“But, it is too soon. We don't have much time together,” she said as she moved to me and put her hands on my chest. Her eyes began to water.
“You must not be sad, Heather. We both knew that this time would come. I cannot stay here. The entire point of this mission is to keep humans and the Draqua apart. What we are doing we do in secret for a very important reason. You knew this day would come; I knew this day would come. We have to cope with it,” I said, putting her delicate hands in mine.
She looked up into my eyes. One single tear fell down her cheek. She was quiet for a long time before she finally said something. “You are right. I knew this would come. I knew this would be the end of our love affair. It is just knowing that it now has a time frame that makes me sad,” she said.
“Then let us not waste any time. If we only have this short time togethe, then let us use it to our advantage,” I said, picking her up into my arms. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held me close. I carried her to her bed and laid her down softly on top of it. I kissed her deeply. I kissed her with the yearning and passion that came with knowing that after a few more days, I would never kiss her again. I kissed her knowing that in a short time she would be galaxies away from me. It was a heavy burden to think of in each kiss that I gave her. She wrapped her body around mine. I was aching to enter her. I kissed her neck and her soft breasts that were covered by the white silk nightgown that she wore. It reminded me of the sheer muslin gowns that the human females wore on my home planet. I could almost picture her in one, how my heart ached at the thought.
“Have you lost your mind!” a voice roared loudly. It startled Heather and me as we jumped. Over on the terrace was Captain Blace and two warriors.
“Captain!” I shouted.
“When I saw you leave the ship, I thought that perhaps you needed to stretch your wings. I thought that being on the ship too long was forcing you to take flight. But never did I think that you were doing this!” he growled as he stomped toward us.
“The human is not at fault here! I have forced myself on her!” I said, trying to make sure that Heather would be safe.
“Take him!” the captain roared.
“No! Don’t!” Heather shouted in tears.
“Heather, shut up,” I whispered to her. It was then that the captain looked at her and looked at me. The tears in her eyes gave her away. It was obvious then that there was more between us than just this one night of me forcing myself on her.
“You, human female! You will stay quiet! You will speak of this to no one, is that understood? You have jeopardized this entire mission! What will your leaders think now if they find out about this? They will think we have been lying about the cause of our opposition. I am so mad that I could kill you, human!”
“Don’t touch her!” I shouted as I struggled in the arms of the guard.
“No. I will not. It will only lead back to us, and the humans will not trust the opposition. So we will do nothing to her, as long as she keeps her mouth shut.”
“I will say nothing. I promise; just don’t hurt him,” Heather said.
“The commander is no concern of yours, but if you must know, he faces death as soon as we return to Tiok. He has betrayed us. He had put his own desires above this mission, and he is a traitor. Traitors die,” the captain roared. “Let’s go, now!”
“Zoq!” Heather cried out.
I went peacefully with the guards and the captain. I wanted to get them as far away from Heather as possible. I knew that this would happen eventually, that I would be found out as a traitor, but I did not mean to bring anyone else into this, especially not the human female that I had fallen in love with. I looked at her one last time. She was standing and staring at me. I wanted to memorize her because I knew that I would never see her again.
Minutes later, we were inside the Mothership. The captain was shouting at me, and I knew that I was being taken to the prison cells.
“This is your home now. We will deal with you when we get back to Tiok. For now, I will make excuses for your absence to the humans. You have disgraced us. You have been reckless and completely went against the entire purpose of the opposition. You will stay in this cell until you are punished at the opposition base on Tiok. Throw him in there!” he shouted.
The warrior guards threw me into the cell and locked it behind me. It was a standard holding room with a locked door. There were no bars; there were no windows. It was a self-sufficient and sustaining living quarters. I sat down to think about my next steps.When I first started out on this mission, I knew the chances of me ending up in the locked cells were very high, but for another reason. I was not expecting to be arrested because I was with a human female. But nevertheless I was now locked up; lucky for me, I already had a plan. I had planned for this all along, just in case.
I sat in the cell waiting it out. I knew exactly when the captain would be meeting with the leaders again the following day. I got a few hours of sleep knowing that I was going to need my strength for the chaos ahead.
The next day when I woke, I timed my plan for when the captain and several of the warriors would be off of the ship with the humans. Then I made my move. I opened the wall panel on my side of the cell with a contraption that I had hidden in my boot for just such an occasion. I manipulated the wiring until the door opened. I stood in silence; no one was guarding me. This was good. I closed the door and quietly moved into the hallway. I made myself very quiet and almost invisible as I took light steps toward the communication room. Every time I heard voices I stopped and leaned against the wall in a nook and waited for the voices to disappear.
Finally, I made it to the communication room. I quickly opened a communication line to Kelon, to my King, King Hydros.
“Commander Zoq, what are you doing? You are supposed to be in disguise as a member of the opposition. You cannot risk calling here,” the King said.
“Apologies, King Hydros, I do not have much time. I have been found out. My cover has been blown. I will not go into the details. I have been locked up in a prison cell aboard the ship here on Earth. I will be taken back to the base on Tiok; that is what the captain plans,” I said.
“This is bad news,” the King said. “You are a spy among the opposition. You are to stay with them as long as it takes in order to report to us what they have planned. So far we know that they are on Earth and that they have successfully told them that we have been taking human females for mating. But we need to know what the next move is,” the King said.
“Yes, that was my mission. But things have changed. This is why I have opened a communication with you. I am going to attempt to flee the mothership on a transport as soon as I get a chance. It is the only way that I can see getting away. The captain will not open fire on a transport here on Earth. He knows that it will be seen as a hostile move to the humans. They will not think that the captain is firing on his own ship. Therefore he will not risk it; it is my only chance. Expect new communication from me in 24 hours, from the transport. I must go now,” I said as I ended the communication quickly. I did not want to give the King time to disapprove of my plan. It was his right to do so; I had to follow his orders. He was the King, after all, but I knew what I was doing. I knew that it was the right thing to do and a clever way to do it. It wasn't a plan of action that I had just thought of, it was always my backup plan just in case. Now my backup plan was needed.
I made my way quietly back to my cell. I opened the door and covered up the evidence inside, putting the wall panel back on the wall. That was phase one of my backup plan; phase 2 required me to steal a transport and quickly leave Earth. But now, I desperately wanted to add a step in between phase 1 and phase 2, and it involved Heather. The thought that kept circulating in my mind was taking her with me. It was all that I could think about. But what made me think she wanted to go with me? Why would she leave Earth? I knew she cared for me based on the way she reacted when the captain found us. But that was not enough to think that she would want to leave
everything behind and go live on a strange planet with me, one that would be dangerous for her. Yet[SBM29] I could not stop the thought from entering my mind over and over again. I was already thinking about the best course of action to take to get her once I stole the transport, and what time would be the best to find her. My mind was working on overtime simply to get the human female that I had feelings for to come with me, to spend her life with me. It was something that I had no right to ask of her. But I already knew that I was going to do it. I could not be stopped.
Hours later, the door to the cell opened. I was sitting on the bench. I was not going to give the captain any reason to restrain me. I sat quietly and obediently.
“Now that the day of work with the humans is over, I can properly address this situation. What am I going to do with you, Commander? You have completely defied the entire reason that we are here on Earth. We are the opposition; we are against being with human females, something you have seemed to have forgotten. But as I thought about this longer throughout the day, something came into my mind,” he said as he walked back and forth in front of me.
I was going to play along. I was going to defend my actions and lie. “Captain, I am the opposition. This was not something that I planned. Spending the long hours with the human female Heather, I let my lust overtake me. It is not because she is a human; it is because she is a female. I know you knew of my sexual appetite on Tiok. I indulged in many races from many planets. This was no secret. None of this stopped me from being faithful to the opposition,” I said calmly.
“Don't play with me, Commander. Yes, I knew of your sexual appetite, but I also know that you have the good sense not to indulge in something that can ruin a mission, especially one as delicate as this one. You chose to indulge with that human female even though you knew it could cost everything, the entire reason that we are here. If the humans caught you, they would think that we were lying about our mission. They would become suspicious of us, but you knew all of this, and you indulged anyway. Your actions are treachery, and you are a traitor. But I have said all of this before, but that was not what came to my attention when I was thinking of this today. I realize that perhaps you have not been opposition all along. Perhaps you are a spy,” he said.
I remained calm even though he was completely right about me. But he had no proof, obviously, or he would be throwing it in my face. “First I am a traitor, and now I am a spy? What else? I assure you that I am only guilty of allowing myself to indulge in the human flesh. Yes, it was reckless and I should be punished for that recklessness, but nothing more,” I said to him.
He grinned, “And you will be punished. Death will be your punishment, I am sure of it. But your punishment will be delivered once we are back on Tiok. It is too risky here to do anything about this situation,” he said, walking toward the door. Then he stopped at he stared at it. Damn it, did he see the loose wall panel? He was quiet, and I was beginning to think he would remove it at any second.
“Get comfortable here; you will be living in this cell at least a week,” he said. Then he walked out. The door closed behind him, and I felt relief. I sighed. My escape plan was safe for now. But the captain was smart; that’s why he was a captain. He was on to me and had figured out I was a spy for the King and only pretending to be opposition. It would be only a matter of time, once we were back on Tiok, to find proof of it. This meant I must escape while on Earth; it was my only chance.
But I did not want to leave with out her. The thought of leaving her was torture to me. I laid back on my bench and closed my eyes. I could imagine her long brown hair caressing my chest. I could imagine her scent and her lips on mine. It was an intoxicating feeling. I had to try. I had to try to get her to leave with me. I would not be satisfied, otherwise.
CHAPTER NINE
HEATHER MAVEN
Watching Zoq being taken away by his own race of aliens broke my heart. I was in such a panic. I did not know what to do. What could I do? I was powerless against these shifting aliens. But I knew then that I had fallen in love with him. Why else would I be so devastated over this? What was the captain going to do to him? Zoq once told me that if we were caught that the captain would kill us both. Now, I did not know if Zoq would be killed, or if they would return to kill me. As soon as they flew away from my terrace, I ran out of the French glass doors and watched them return to the Mothership.
“You have to get out of here, Heather,” I said to myself.
I ran back inside my bedroom and grabbed a bag and began stuffing clothes into it. I grabbed toiletries from the bathroom. I grabbed my makeup bag and shoes. I grabbed towels. I would have to go to a hotel. The captain could return at any minute to do away with me. But what if Zoq got loose and came back to me? I thought. I stopped in my tracks. I dropped my bag. I couldn't leave. If there was a chance that he could get away and come to me, even just to say goodbye, then I would risk being here. I moved back out onto my terrace and watched the Mothership.
“Damn it, Zoq. I love you. I do…” I whispered.
“Think, Heather. Stop panicking and really think about this situation. You are a smart woman,” I said, moving inside and sitting on my bed. If the captain was going to kill me, he would have done so the moment he caught us. No, he was not going to touch me. I was too involved in the mission. Finding me dead would make the aliens the first suspects. It would be too suspicious. No, he was not going to come for me. He was going to go on like nothing happened. And so was I. I had to. It was the only way that I could find out what he was going to do to Zoq.
I got very little sleep that night. How could I? The next day I went into the office very early. I felt safer there than I did in my own home, considering the circumstances. I counted down the hours until the meeting between Captain Blace and our leaders would start.
Finally, the time came, and we all stood in the garage just as we had been when waiting for the Draqua to arrive. The transport landed. The door opened, and the captain stepped out with three of his warriors. The commander was not with him.
“Once again, President, it is good to meet with you,” the captain said as he approached us.
“And you. These meetings have given us much insight, all of us. Will the commander be joining us today?” the president asked, noticing his absence. I tried to remain calm, but my breathing was heavy. My chest was heaving up and down as I restrained my panic. Was he dead?
“No, the commander will not be joining us. We leave in less than 20 hours from your great planet. He is preparing for our departure,” the captain said as he gave a quick glance in my direction. I narrowed my eyes at him in an act of defiance. I wasn't going to let him scare me.
“Then let us get started,” the president said as he gestured for the captain to follow everyone inside the building. The meeting was long and detailed, as always. I could barely keep my focus on it. I was feeling uneasy; it was because I knew that Zoq was either in a lot of trouble, or he was already dead. It pained me to not know the truth. I felt my stomach turning the entire day. Because the meeting was packed with assistants and officials, no one noticed when I stepped out. I had to get some air. I went to the ladies room in order to regroup. As soon as I walked in, I felt a wave of nausea hit me. I ran into a stall, and before I knew it, I was puking into the toilet. The nerves were finally getting to me. Not knowing if Zoq was alive or dead was getting to me. This entire experience had finally come down to this moment of actually making me sick.
“Heather? Are you alright?” I heard my assistant Sarah say.
“It is just my nerves. The stress of the work is finally getting to me I think,” I said, trying to cover up for myself.
“Yes, I kind of figured that was the deal. I mean, it's not like you are pregnant or anything. You have no sex life to speak of,” she said. I straightened up and looked at her with wide eyes as I turned behind me where she stood in the open doorway of the stall. She took my look as though I was telling her not to speak of my personal life.
�
��I am sorry. I will go get you a sparkling water or a ginger ale; the bubbles will help,” she said nervously.
“Sarah,” I said.
“Yes?” she said timidly.
“Keep this to yourself,” I said.
“Of course, boss,” she said, quickly stepping out of the bathroom. Her heels clacked on the floor.
As soon as she left, I had time to think of her words. Of course I was not pregnant. That was ridiculous. It had only been 10 days or so since the first time that I had been with the commander. I didn't think symptoms would show up that fast. But[SBM30] then I stood up straight and in a panic. Shit. That was only in thinking about a human pregnancy. This would not be a human pregnancy; this would be an alien baby. Who knew how quickly the symptoms came? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I moved to the sink and rinsed my mouth out with cold water. Then I splashed water on my face. I looked at myself in the mirror. Could it be true? Was I pregnant?