by Maia Starr
The most remarkable part was that the food, although filling, left a light, airy feeling in my stomach, and I stood up feeling more energized and alert than I had been since I was a child.
I became suddenly confident that no matter what this man tried to throw at me, I would be able to make it through. I pushed through the doors of the kitchen feeling like a new person, and immediately caught Jaize’s eye. He smiled and started walking, and I followed him through the house, knowing that wherever we ended up, things were going to turn out fine.
***
“Have you ever ridden in a thuse before?” Jaize asked me once we were out the door. I looked fearfully at the contraption he was pointing to. It looked like a cross between something like a motorcycle and a high-tech hovercraft, and I shook my head.
“It looks like a death trap,” I said. “I’m not getting on that thing.”
Jaize laughed heartily.
“I assure you, nothing bad has ever happened to me on a thuse. I know how to navigate.”
I frowned, but since it didn’t appear that I had much choice, I mounted the bike reluctantly.
“You’re going to be fine,” Jaize assured me, seating himself in front of me.
I was shocked by the sensation of his muscular body pressed so suddenly against mine, and I had to take a deep breath to try to maintain my composure. There was no reason to be acting so ridiculously around this man. Whether he was attractive or not, it wasn’t enough of a motivation to betray my people – even worse, myself – for this stupid man.
I gasped when a loud whirring sound erupted from the motor, startling me and causing me to grip onto Jaize’s waist tightly. I could feel his abdomen rippling with laughter, and wasn’t sure whether to be angry or join him.
Before I had a chance to make up my mind, the thuse spread a pair of impressive wings and began to roll forward, picking up speed until we launched into the air, nothing between my body and the ground except air.
At first, I was terrified. I cursed Jaize with every horrible word and name I knew, but his broad chest just quaked even harder with laughter. Finally, I began to relax. We hadn’t crashed and burned yet, and somehow it seemed that I was safely planted in the seat and the wind wasn’t going to make me fly off the contraption. It wasn’t exactly a vote of confidence, but it was better than nothing.
“You’re doing great, Yula!” Jaize shouted over his shoulder. As much as I didn’t want it to, the compliment felt good to me. I was feeling proud of myself for managing not to shriek in terror every time we rounded a corner and it felt like I was going to slip off of my seat. It helped that Jaize was a good driver. He clearly had experience with the death trap.
“We’re almost there!” he yelled to me. I caught his eye in the mirror, and I felt suddenly trapped in his gaze. He was unbelievably attractive, and no matter how much I hated myself for it, I couldn’t look away.
We eventually slowed to a stop, and Jaize hopped off the thuse, offering his hand to me. I took it, knowing that with my legs shaking so badly, it would be stupid not to. The feeling of his warm hand closing around me sent a thrill down my spine, and I gritted my teeth, swatting away the unwanted desire Jaize stirred up in me.
“So, this is where we keep Verian doctors busy,” Jaize said, leading me across a barren desert wasteland and toward a tall building. It was white, but it looked old, and flecks of the stone structure were coming off, giving it a worn and aged look.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, nervously stepping toward the imposing building. “Am I applying for a job?”
“Not exactly,” Jaize said, his charming smile still lighting his face. He was up to something, that much was obvious, but what was it?
“You might as well tell me what I’m doing here before we go in,” I said. “I’m not a big fan of surprises.”
“Trust me,” Jaize said, his purple eyes sparkling. “All will be revealed.”
He led me through the huge doors and into a clinical looking room. He briefly flashed a card and was allowed clearance into a long, pure-white hallway. We walked through together for what seemed like an eternity, until we came upon a door. He tapped the same card against a panel mounted on the wall, and metallic doors whirred open. We walked through, and a sudden burst of light illuminated us both.
“Jaize Lorna! What an unexpected pleasure.”
“Karan. It’s always nice to see you.”
I felt suddenly nauseated at the sight of the Verian man speaking to us from across the room. He seemed hardened somehow, in a way I had never seen a man before. It was chilling, to be honest, and I was immediately uncomfortable.
“What have you brought me today?” he asked, lifting the round goggles that were perched over his eyes so that they sat on top of his head. “She’s quite a beauty.”
“Yes,” Jaize said matter-of-factly, and I felt a rush of heat involuntarily flood my cheeks. I had never taken compliments well, and frankly rarely received them. I was a woman with a mission, focused on taking over my parents’ work and learning all I could about health and healing. That left little time for love-interests, whether they were few and far between or lining up around the block for me.
“So, what brings the two of you here today?” Karan asked, coming uncomfortably close to me. I shirked away, and thankfully Jaize intercepted us.
“I need to give her room in one of the labs. We will need to talk to her about the…disease.”
I froze. The disease? There had been rumors about a disease to be launched that would put the war in the favor of the humans, but as far as I knew, it was only a rumor. It had never gotten distributed. However, as Jaize and the unnerving scientist led me deeper through the labyrinths and into a vast, white laboratory, I realized that it had, indeed, begun to work its way into the Verian population.
Row after row of Verian man was hooked up to machines and tubes, many of them standing, others moving on exercise machines, and some incapacitated and lying down on hospital-style beds. All of them were being closely monitored by a small team of Verian scientists, the room silent but for the beeping of the machines that the men were hooked up to.
Jaize went to an empty bed and sat down upon it, hooking himself up to one of the monitors and looking at me, his smile still bright on his face.
“You’re going to help me get better.”
The blood drained from my face. “But I don’t know anything about it.”
For the first time that morning, the good nature of Jaize’s face disappeared, and it was quickly replaced by a dark fury.
“Of course you do. You’re from Zone 36. That’s where all of this started. And you’re going to help us get rid of it.”
Jaize stared at me expectantly, and I opened and closed my mouth. There was nothing I could do to get out of this. He was convinced I was the one to help him. I hadn’t even been able to tell that there was anything wrong with him.
Whether I could cure him or not, only time could tell. For now, all I could do was my best. I took a deep breath and nodded. If I didn’t comply, I could be killed, which might mean never escaping to find my brother. I was at this man’s mercy.
“All right,” I said, swallowing hard. “Let’s take your vitals.”
Chapter 5
Commander Jaize Lorna
Taking Christina to the lab didn’t wield the immediate results I had hoped for, and we returned to the house soon after, with Christina quiet and my spirits significantly dampened. Still, there was a possibility that she would hold the answers in her hands. I could tell she was telling the truth about not knowing anything about the disease, but she understood human thinking better than I did. She might offer some use in treating my problem.
“Are you ready for another meal?” I asked tiredly once we arrived back at the house. Christina nodded, and I took her to the small kitchen, where the tiny Pelin cook, whom Malnia and I had hired just a few months after we’d lost our kitchen staff, was busy preparing the evening meal. Humans ate a signific
ant amount of food compared to the Verians, and I left her to the meal, contemplating my next move.
I was going to visit the men’s section of the prison the next day to find out whatever I could about the young man who had been captured during the last raid on Earth. It could possibly be enough incentive to truly motivate Christina to find a cure to the disease. Whether she wanted to cure me or not, she would gladly do so if I could promise the safe release of her brother.
Unfortunately, the safe release of her brother was something I couldn’t actually guarantee. Although I was a high-ranking officer, there was no way I could corrupt the course of justice on Helna, and without a fair trial, it would be nearly impossible to be able to grant the boy freedom and refuge back on Earth.
To put it simply, that was the kind of thing that rarely, if ever, happened. If the boy was already in the prison system, he was more likely to be executed. Especially if he refused the offer to join the fight against humans.
“Where have you two been?” Malnia barked when I trudged into the bedroom, ready to shed my clothing and cleanse myself. I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was already prepared to fight, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. She didn’t know about my disease yet, and if she did, she would most certainly blame me even more adamantly for everything that she perceived to be wrong in her life. Sometimes I really regretted marrying her.
“I took her down to the lab,” I said, trying to come up with a good lie on the spot. It was hard to think on my feet like this though. Lying wasn’t my strong suit. I much preferred the truth, no matter how bitter it might be.
“And why did you take her to the lab?” Malnia asked, her eyes flashing angrily at me. She probably thought I had taken her off somewhere to secretly mate. But what she didn’t realize was that when the time came, I would mate with the female wherever it was appropriate. In my home or elsewhere wouldn’t matter. She was meant to be mine, not only as my duty to my people, but for my own sake. Somehow, it was just the way it was.
“I wanted to make sure that it was safe to keep her here. You were worried that she was a disease vector, so I had her checked out.”
Malnia raised her eyebrow. “And?”
“Clean bill of health,” I lied. Now I was going to have to get her checked out for real, in case Malnia had her father do a little bit of digging.
“Good.”
“But,” I said, realizing that now would be a good opportunity to cover for the times I would take her back to the lab to work on an antidote to my mysterious disease. “I’m supposed to take her back regularly for routine checkups. Just to make sure that everything stays as it should be. You understand.”
“Yes…”
Malnia studied me for a moment and then turned away. “And where is the human now?” she asked, dropping her clothes to the floor. I gaped at my wife’s naked body, a small twinge of nausea gathering in my stomach. She was jealous of the human and hoping to make herself appeal to me. But I’d heard rumors that while I was gone that she had done the same thing to Kerai Baltross, an eligible bachelor and a man who just so happened to be one of her father’s favorite mooks.
“She is having her evening meal,” I said quietly. The coyer Malnia attempted to be with me, the more resentful I started to feel. She hadn’t said a kind word to me in almost an entire year. She took advantage of my needs every so often to satisfy herself and attempt another chance of having a child and considering herself a successful Verian wife and mother, but again and again, our efforts in that department failed. It left her with a serious vengeance, and I knew that if I gave in again, it would be no different this time than it had been any of the others.
“And would you lay with me before it is time for ours?” Malnia asked.
My body responded despite my brain’s best effort to avoid my wife’s manipulative insecurities, but for the first time in the history of our marriage, I backed away from the promise of her body. If the only thing keeping us together was sex, then what was the point in being married?
“I have some matters to attend to right now,” I said, standing rigidly in the doorway. “Perhaps some other time.”
“Perhaps?!”
But before I could feel Malnia’s scornful gaze upon me, I was gone.
***
“What does it matter to you, Jaize? You’ve never shown an interest in such matters before.”
I sighed. Perhaps it had been a mistake to try and confront the guards so late in the evening. Everybody was eager for their late-night meal and anxious to go home. The prisons were highly under-staffed since the last waves of war had ravaged the planet, and every able-bodied soldier possible was recruited, leaving only the most competent guards with the huge responsibility of managing the entire prison system themselves.
In fact, I was called in regularly to cover shifts when I was on Helna and had some spare time, though as the situations on the front lines became direr with more and more men succumbing to the disease, I was increasingly busy attending to matters of war.
“It doesn’t matter, does it, Narei?” I asked. “I’m just asking about a boy being brought through here. It’s my business why I need to know.”
“Well, there is one,” Narei said reluctantly. “He’s kind of a pain, actually. I doubt he’ll end up lasting long in this place.”
A trouble maker? That sounded familiar. Must have been a shared genetic trait.
“Can you take me to his cell? Don’t tell them I’m looking for anybody specific. I would just like to see for myself. There’s a possibility he might do well on the battlefield. If he’s from the Zone I am thinking he’s from, he might also do as a medic. That’s a lot less dangerous than arming a human and hoping they stay on our side during a fight.”
“Absolutely,” Narei agreed. “He’s kind of a runt, so I don’t know how he would do out in the field anyway.”
I chuckled. “Most humans are small anyway, particularly the young ones,” I said, slapping the young man on the back and heading down the passage with him. He shone his light into each cell and allowed it to linger on the seventh cell. In the back, I saw a young boy, shivering against the wall, with the same unmistakable features as my human.
For some reason, the sight made me feel sick to my stomach, and I turned away quickly. I hated to see the boy suffering. Perhaps I had too much invested in the human. Whatever the case, Narei followed my lead, and we walked to the end of the cell block and back out to the receiving area.
“Did you find the kid you’re looking for?” Narei asked eagerly.
“No,” I lied, shaking my head with a sigh. “But the one in there might do sometime. Who knows.”
Narei nodded. “Sorry to disappoint you, Yul Lorna. Maybe next time we pick up a straggler, it will be the right one.”
“It’s no problem,” I said quickly, walking to the doorway. “It will be all right. We are managing without humans on our ranks. It is more important to create the hybrids anyway.”
“Little chance of that happening with such a small male,” Narei said with a snort. “Most Verians won’t let their women near human men, even if their seed was strong enough to stick.”
“Since it isn’t, we just have to keep on trying to create our army with human females to incubate the hybrids. It’s not an issue,” I said.
“It’s really not,” Narei agreed. “I heard you have a human living with you now. Do you think that, in time, that will be a standard arrangement on Helna?”
“If all goes well, Narei, then living on Helna will be the temporary arrangement. We will be colonizing Earth before you know it. Nothing right now is standard. It’s all a state of transition. It’s best to stay open-minded and prepared for change at this point. It’s for the best.”
Narei nodded, and I knelt to him.
“Enjoy your meal,” I said, eager to shirk off any talk about the human that was making herself comfortable in my home. I had enough issues dealing with her on my own without other people prying for information.
As much as I dreaded going back to the place where two women were likely to be very angry at me, I had no choice. I was the Yul of the house, after all. And whether they liked it or not, I would do what was best for all of us.
***
When I arrived home, Malnia was lying in bed, still half naked, and I cleansed myself before joining her. She lay rigidly across from me, her body cold, distant, and pale white, like a distant glacier.
Eventually, she turned to me, as I knew she would, and her eyes settled upon me.
“I don’t know what has happened between us,” she said quietly. “But I am not happy. And I haven’t been for a long time.”
I sighed.
“I know,” I said. “I wish I could be the man to make you happy, but it is not so. My rank in the squad is not enough to make us compatible.”
Malnia nodded and turned away from me again, and I lay in silence until my chest was close to bursting. I got up from the bed quietly and left the room, contemplating what this meant. Neither of us was happy. It seemed a painful declaration to make out loud, but it was an honest one. And honesty was something I valued highly, even though I seemed to be finding myself lying more and more over the course of time.
“Oh! I’m sorry!”
My heart thudded hard in my chest at the sound of Christina’s voice, and I halted my voyage down the hallway to find her standing in front of the little servant’s kitchen. I laughed despite myself.
“I think human appetites are something that will take me a while to get used to. Do you want me to fetch the Pelin for you? He can cook another meal.”
“No, that’s all right,” Christina said, laughing sheepishly. “I don’t want a whole meal. I just want something I can snack on right now.”
I nodded, and we stood awkwardly in the hallway. I could feel Christina studying me and felt suddenly self-conscious. It wasn’t a feeling I was used to having. Frankly, I had always been a man who was confident and athletic, both qualities that had helped get me so far in my career. But ever since the disease had caused such grief in my personal life, I wasn’t particularly feeling my best.