by Heather Karn
Sighing, I rubbed my temples, not wanting to divulge my personal issues with a strange alien, no matter how patient and kind he’d been to me. “No. I think I’m going to take a quick nap.”
“Very well. I’ll be out in the hall. If you need anything, please either step outside or use the comm unit to speak with me directly if you wish.”
There was no way I wanted to ask him about this comm unit. I’d just step out into the hallway and speak with him. Plus, if he was right outside, it’d almost be rude not to speak with him in person about my needs.
“Thanks. I appreciate your help and knowledge.”
Bowing his head to me, Maltak left the room, swiping his hand over the random spot that glowed red and opened the door. After the door closed behind him, my eyes drifted toward the circular bed with its blankets and pillows. It would likely be seen as greatly disrespectful if I slept on the floor, or even in the bathtub, though I contemplated it briefly. It also wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable.
Resigning myself to the fact I’d have to sleep in a stranger’s bed, and hope he didn’t have any strange diseases I might wind up becoming infected with, I pulled the blankets back and crawled underneath them. The bed was far softer than I’d imagined, and far softer than any mattress I’d ever laid on. Even the material the pillows were made from was like resting my head on a cloud.
Scents clung to the pillows. I couldn’t name half of them, but I was certain they came from the captain. They were comforting in a way they shouldn’t have been, and as I drifted off, they left me with a question I didn’t have an answer for: Why did the irritating alien have to smell so good?
An alien presence woke me, quite literally. My sixth sense, or whatever it was, raised the red flag and ripped me out of sleep to tell me that someone was standing over me, watching me. It took less than a second for my eyes to whip open. Jumping at the sight of Maltak leaning over me, I threw a hand over my mouth to stifle any bit of a scream that might emerge. He leapt back at my sudden movement, his already dark, worried gaze growing more so.
“I’m sorry. I did not mean to startle you.”
Heart still racing and beating against my ribs, I waved him off and tried to keep my voice steady. “You’re fine. No need to worry the captain will be angry about this. What’s wrong? I thought you were going to wait outside.”
“You slept so long that Captain Kilani asked me to check on you to make sure that you were all right.”
My body was definitely rested, so I had slept longer than I’d anticipated. Looking across the room at my dresser, I groaned when I found my digital clock missing. Obviously time didn’t translate in a virtual room.
“Any idea what time it is?” I asked Maltak, who cocked his head.
“We measure our time differently than you did on your planet. I’m unsure what time it is there, and I’m unsure you’ll understand our measure of time yet.”
Rubbing my face, I groaned when I felt my makeup smear. I hadn’t bothered to look in the mirror while in the bathroom earlier, so how long had I appeared like a racoon with my mascara smeared around my eyes? At this point, my hair was probably tangled and standing all over the place with bedhead. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t appear like roadkill.
Then again, I was on a ship full of aliens who had no idea what a human female was really supposed to look like, so they likely wouldn’t judge too hard. After a good, long stretch, I climbed out of the bed and Maltak once again announced he’d be waiting for me in the corridor. Apparently the captain wished to see me. Lovely.
Well, I definitely appeared like roadkill in the bathroom mirror. Using all the supplies still available to me in the bathroom, which appeared to be most of what I had back home, I cleaned up my face, but didn’t bother to put more makeup on, brushed my teeth, and did the best I could to fix my hair. After worrying Maltak about how long I slept, I didn’t dare take a shower and have him step in to check on me if I was taking longer than he expected.
My clothes were wrinkled after sleeping in them, but I didn’t care. Appearance was the last item on my mind as apparently the only person eligible for me to choose as a mate, which was never going to happen, was the captain. He’d have to take me as I was. Plus, most of my clothes were on the floor, so they were wrinkled anyway. Remembering Maltak’s reaction earlier, I hesitated at the door and wondered what was wrong with the outfit a second before swiping my hand over the door opener area and stepped into the corridor.
Maltak took in my appearance and shrugged. “This way.”
“He’s not going to like what I’m wearing, is he?”
“Probably not, but he will likely keep that to himself.”
“What exactly is wrong with my outfit?”
I could imagine Maltak’s cheeks were pink with how tense his voice was when he answered. “It’s...tight.”
And that’s what I’d thought.
“Well, it’s comfortable and it’s the fashion back home. If he doesn’t like it, then maybe he should take me back.”
Maltak didn’t respond. This wasn’t a fight I was either going to win, or win easily. Thus far, homesickness had been kept at bay by the curiosity I had over the people and my surroundings, but I could feel it worming its way into my chest as it tightened. I’d likely been asleep for hours. That meant I’d been missing from Earth for hours. Mom had to be freaking out by now. What would she do when I never returned?
My breath caught in my throat as my eyes stung and vision blurred with unshed tears. No, I couldn’t think like this. Not yet. Not when I was going to face...him. I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of seeing me cry. I wouldn’t give any of them that pleasure. If I intended to return home, I’d need to be strong.
Rubbing my clean eyes to rid them of the moisture, I took a deep breath and tried not to stumble along the corridor. Maltak was much more considerate in leading me. He moved much slower, always sure that I was keeping up with him. However, the further we traveled, the more aliens we passed. Again, they all appeared curious, cranking their necks around as we passed to get a better look at me.
Once, I lost my balance on a stair again, mostly because I was too curious about an open doorway that we passed, and I almost fell over. Thankfully one of the aliens was passing by and I was able to catch myself on him before I crashed to the ground. His eyes widened so far I was almost afraid his eyes would pop out of his head. I wasn’t even stable on my feet again before he backed out of my grip and all but fled down the hallway. Those nearest to him followed close, giving me a wide berth.
Was this whole being the Captain’s potential Mate thing so intimidating that they didn’t even want to touch me? This was ridiculous, and when I had a private moment to tell him so, me and Kilani were having a long discussion about this. I didn’t want to lay into him in front of his men. That really wouldn’t look good and I doubted he’d appreciate it. He’d likely change his mind about wanting me, but he also still wouldn’t take me home. But we were going to talk.
“Where are we going?” I finally asked when I was certain we’d walked a mile. Up one corridor, down another, up one set of stairs and down another. Just how big was this ship? And how many aliens were on it?
“The deck. We’re almost there.”
The deck? I was fairly certain he didn’t mean the going-outside-the-ship-to-relax kind of deck. Did he mean the bridge? Or whatever it was called on a spaceship where they ran the whole thing?
Maltak stopped us in front of a door and waved his hand across the frame and it opened, revealing a large, tiered room. We entered in at the side, halfway up the tiers...it appeared there were five. Aliens sat at various computer stations, and like the medical room, this room was brightly lit by white light, not the red my eyes were growing accustomed to. I wasn’t the only one to blink a few times to adjust to the brighter light. Maltak’s eyes watered a little before he led me across the third tier and up to the fourth where Kilani stood behind another alien, looking at something on the computer the alien was sho
wing him.
As we approached, Kilani glanced at us before looking back at the computer. It gave me a few more seconds to study the room. Besides the various computer stations, there wasn’t much to actually look at in the room. However, the rounded front of the room appeared made of some sort of glass, as well as a large portion of the ceiling. Currently it was all black. Was it a screen of some sort? Or a way to see outside if Kilani wanted?
“Maltak said you were sleeping well,” Kilani stated, drawing my attention back to him as he stepped forward and his second in command moved back, but still close enough to be available if needed.
“Yeah, I did. Thank you for letting me use your room.”
Kilani nodded. “It was my pleasure. Is there anything else that you require?”
Rubbing my temples, I breathed a gusty sigh. “A hug and for someone to tell me this isn’t real.”
“Hug? What is a hug?”
My gaze narrowed on him. “You don’t know what a hug is?”
“No. I’ve never heard this word before. It will not translate for me.”
We’d go back to the translate bit in a second…
“You know, a hug. Wrap your arms around each other and hold on, maybe squeeze a little.”
Kilani’s eyes rounded like the man who I’d bumped into in the hallway. “Touch? You mean a hug is touching someone? Your kind touch?”
“Uhh, yeah. You don’t?” Which could explain the man in the hall.
Shaking his head, Kilani’s gaze grew wary like he was expecting me to reach out and wipe my hand along his arm. “No, we do not touch, unless it is required in extreme situations, or for medical purposes.”
“Is it against the law or something?”
“No. It’s just not done. Why do you do this...hug?” He spoke the word like he was still unsure of it.
I shrugged. “It’s versatile, really. Some people like to hug, and some people don’t. We can hug when we say hello and goodbye, when we’re feeling emotional and just need someone’s touch, when we’re excited and it’s spontaneous, when someone’s grieving and we’re expressing our sorrow with them. Lots of reasons. My kind need touch. We need the contact.” Until now, I hadn’t realized just how much we needed it. Sure, some people were just fine without the contact of other people, but for the most part, we were social creatures, and touch was huge, not just hugs.
Kilani was quiet as he contemplated my words, and after a few minutes, he shivered. “I’m not sure how we will be able to help you with this contact. After you choose a mate, he can supply the touch you need.”
“So Mates actually touch.” Well, they made babies so apparently they did.
“Yes, in private. Outside of the home or with guests, they do not touch. It would be rude to do so.”
“Well, let me apologize ahead of time for accidentally touching anyone. I fell over into a guy in the hallway and I think I almost gave him a heart attack. It was an accident.”
Nodding, Kilani folded his arms. “Accidents do happen, even among my kind, but we take as much precaution as we can to avoid them.”
“Why don’t you touch?”
“It is the way of our people. Why do your people hug?”
“Like I said, it’s social.”
“And we don’t require that social aspect in our culture.”
Well, he had a point.
“Fine, I’ll deal with no touching. By the way, do you happen to know how long I was asleep? Maltak didn’t know using my time. Perhaps you do?”
Biting his full lower lip, Kilani stared out across the room, but I could see the wheels turning in his head. “I believe it was almost nine hours, if I am calculating the difference in our times correctly.”
“Seems about right,” I stated. “It would’ve been close to night on Earth, and I’d been in my soaked clothes for a while, and that always makes me tired.”
Kilani’s gaze whipped back to me. “Nine hours sounds right?”
“Nine hours is normal,” I replied to which he appeared almost appalled.
“Nine is normal?”
“Yeah...how much sleep do you need?”
Again, he was quiet as he made the internal calculations. “About one or two hours for one of your days. If we go two days without sleep, we may need as much as four, but that is rare.”
I blinked several times at him. “One or two hours a day? That would probably kill me after a while.”
“Would it?” Kilani appeared far more concerned than I would’ve believed possible.
Nodding, I rested a hand over my grumbling stomach. “Yes, I do believe it would. Not right away, but after a while it would. We’re supposed to get eight to nine hours of sleep a day. By the way, after sleeping nine hours, I’m starving. You wouldn’t happen to have any food on this ship, would you?”
The worry in Kilani’s eyes and furrowed brows intensified. “How often does your kind need to eat?”
“How often do you eat?”
“One meal a week. Yours?”
My eyebrows shot up my forehead as I squawked, “One meal a week? That’s insane.”
“How often do you eat?” His stern tone caught my attention and reined in my shock.
“Usually three meals a day with some snacking between them. Some people say five meals a day is better, but I usually eat three.”
Several of the aliens near us turned to stare at me with almost horror filled expressions. I supposed when you were used to eating only one meal a week, meeting someone who ate more than one meal a day would sound insane. Then again, to me, eating one meal a week was crazy.
My stomach growled again, this time louder, and I clutched my arm closer to stop it. Not that stomachs ever stopped rolling or quieted down when hands and arms were placed over them. If anything, that was a sign for them to grow louder.
Kilani’s worried, pinched brows grew deeper. “Then I must make sure that you’re fed. I was ready to take a break from the deck anyway. Maltak, you’re in charge. We should reach Outpost 545 in a few hours. Notify our stock merchant that we’ll require more food.”
“Yes, Captain,” Maltak responded, stepping forward and around Kilani to take his place.
This was just lovely. Looked like I’d be eating breakfast with the enemy.
The corridor was a dark curtain of red after we stepped through the doorway from the deck. It didn’t bother Kilani, who was off to the races once again. If he didn’t want me to fall over a step again and into one of his men, he needed to slow down until my eyes adjusted. There were more obvious differences in our kinds than our eating and sleeping. He had to see far better than I did with those slit pupiled eyes.
“Where’s the emergency?” I hissed when I almost missed a step down.
Slowing to a stop and staring back at me several yards behind him, Kilani arched a furry brow. “There is no emergency.”
“Yeah, I figured that. It’s a saying on Earth asking why you’re going so fast and leaving me behind in a sarcastic tone.”
“I thought you could see now to keep up.”
“I can see when my eyes adjust to the different lighting,” I explained, catching up. “Plus, if you haven’t noticed, I’m shorter than you and you know where the steps are on this ship. I don’t, and I’d like to not fall on my face or fall into one of your men again. They don’t seem to appreciate that.”
“They shouldn’t.”
“Then slow your butt down.”
He heaved a heavy sigh. “I take it that saying is another way to tell me to slow down using sarcasm.”
“Nice guess. You’d be correct.”
“You still blame me for your being here. That’s where the attitude is coming from, isn’t it?”
It sure was, and because if I was throwing around attitude, I’d be less likely to break down and cry. But there was no way I was going to tell him that.
“How are you sure it’s not just who I am?”
“Because Maltak gave me an update after he woke you and he didn’
t mention your bad attitude. That makes me believe it’s only me you’re snapping at. I’m correct, aren’t I?”
Annoying alien. Crossing my arms, I glowered at him. “Fine, you win. I’m still ticked off at you for not taking me home and for taking people from Earth in the first place.”
Unlike the anger I expected, his expression softened and for the first time since meeting him, he appeared vulnerable and tired. “We are a desperate people. Please, let me make sure you’re fed, and I’ll explain.”
I nodded and followed behind him, again losing my way in the ship. This time, he slowed his pace so I could keep up with him without face planting into the floor or someone else. It became clear once again that this ship was much bigger than I’d first anticipated.
“Do you have a map of this place?” I grumbled as we climbed up yet another ladder to the next level.
“No. Most Lutharian ships are built with a similar floor plan so once you know your way around one, you can find your way around the others.”
“Well, I’m not planning to hop onto any other ships. I just want to know where I’m going on this one without an escort.”
Kilani pointed to an open doorway with white light pouring through it. “That’s where we’re going. And you’ll have an escort for the duration of your stay on my ship. It’s for your benefit, not to hinder you. They’ll make sure you are cared for and your needs are met.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I grumbled, not liking his valid answer.
“That’s for me to decide,” he responded back in a softer, gentler tone. “I will try to be more flexible with your other needs, but in that one I will not budge.”
“Of course.”
He ignored my muttered response and entered the lit room. There were a couple dozen small, round tables with four chairs per table. It was definitely not enough seating compared to the amount of aliens I’d seen on the ship, but if they only ate once per week and ate in shifts, then I supposed this number of spaces would be perfect. I’d likely be the most frequent occupant here from now on.
“There is always food available for those who require it, but if you want something specific, you can ask Mortan, the chief cook. He’ll serve you personally to make sure that you’re kept fed.”