Sarai

by Jarli Grey

  Alekyn’s hand immediately went to his sword. The Naferi commander stilled his companion’s aggressive response with an easy gesture and then swung into a smart salute. Alekyn immediately responded, as did his pardmates. The Naferi commander smiled, though Jamie noticed it didn’t reach his close-set yellow eyes.

  “My apologies, Major Alekyn, Lord Smarx has seen many humans but, like many of us, is fascinated by their beauty. I must say, sir, I cannot blame him.”

  The Keinyn stepped away, nodding, but his gaze remained fixed on Jamie. It almost looked as if he was licking his chops, thought Jamie, like a hunting dog. He felt the sour rise of bile in his throat.

  Allies of the Naferi and members of PanGal or not, there was something off about the Keinyn, he decided.

  Alekyn bowed his head stiffly and the commander continued smoothly, “Your little human is gorgeous, Major Alekyn. I saw many of them on my trip to Earth with the delegation. A stubborn but attractive species — we couldn’t convince them to be sensible and accept our offer of a protectorate. Still, at least this pretty thing is here. You’ve banded and formally claimed him? I can see he is pregnant.”

  Huh? What the hell did this guy mean by discussing Jamie as if he wasn’t present? Alekyn squeezed Jamie’s hand, stilling the words fighting their way to his lips.

  “Greetings, Guesta. This is my sarai, Jamie Munroe.”

  Jamie immediately offered his right hand to Guesta who stared at it as if fascinated, but made no attempt to take it.

  Then he laughed, the sound brittle and sharp. “My word,” he brayed, “he’s forward, isn’t he? You’ll have to train that out of him, Alekyn.”

  Jamie pulled his hand back quickly. “He won’t be training anything out of me,” he snapped. “Alekyn doesn’t own me. “

  The yellow eyes staring at him were amused. “The bands you wear suggest otherwise, little human.”

  Alekyn tucked Jamie’s hand under his elbow, pushing him slightly behind him. “Commander Guesta, my sarai is new to Naferi and our customs are unlike his own.”

  Jamie felt his anger growing. Was Alekyn apologizing for him? He bridled and then felt another gentle squeeze of Alekyn’s fingers against his own. He subsided in time to hear Alekyn add, “I will formally claim Jamie after we have visited his family.”

  “Oh?” Guesta said smoothly, “I don’t think so, Major Alekyn — if by that you mean visiting the planet now under attack by the Zill?”

  Jamie gasped. “What the hell do you mean — "under attack"?”

  Guesta flicked a small piece of lint from his uniform and then posed with his hand on his sword buckle. “It seems you haven’t heard latest news, Alekyn-sarai. The queens are brooding and your planet, Jamiemunrow — ”

  “Jamie Munroe,” Jamie interposed automatically.

  “ — is now trying to fight off a Zill swarm. Such a shame your people did not accept our offer. For the sake of a few hundred thousand sarai, Jamiemunrow, your entire species will be lost.”

  He smiled with rueful sort of smile that paradoxically made Jamie’s fists clench. “And death by Zill is not pleasant. Too bad, so sad. If you tire of such a poorly behaved sarai, Alekyn, you can contact my steward. Once your pardling is born, I may be inclined to take him off your hands, particularly as he seems so…breedable.”

  Eled gasped and Tig glared after Guesta as he and the grinning Keinyn walked away. “Arseholes,” he muttered.

  Jamie felt sick. He pulled his hand away from Alekyn’s, staring up at him with eyes wide with horror. “Is he telling the truth? Are the Zill attacking? Is my world being destroyed while we stand here?”

  Alekyn shook his head. “If there is an attack, it has just started. Your world isn’t yet lost, Jamie —

  “But people are dying.”

  There was no way to hide the truth. “If the Zill are attacking, yes, they are fighting for their lives. Jamie, we have to persuade the governments of your world to accept our help —

  “By surrendering part of our population to become sarai…slaves …what he said — ”

  “Sarai are not slaves,” desperation colored Alekyn’s voice. “Guesta has old fashioned views. He was angry and trying to put you in your place. I told you — we love our sarai, we would die for our sarai. I love you — will love you forever. You are everything to me and without you, there is nothing.”

  He means it, thought Jamie, he really believes he loves me, and the worst thing is that I think I love him back, even with these stupid bands and being a sarai, and never going home…

  He blinked tears from his eyes. What a time to hear a declaration of love! When his world was on the brink of destruction. The thought made him straighten his back. Suddenly he knew his instincts were right.

  “Without my family and my world, there is nothing for me,” he made himself sound cold and determined. “I will hate you and your kind forever if the Zill wipe humans out. Do you understand? Forever. Now take me to your king. I need to talk to him about another delegation — this time one with me on it.”

  _________________________________

  HUGE METALLIC DOORS INLAID with ornate wooden carvings opened smoothly and silently. Alekyn, his face tight with worry, walked beside Jamie. He wanted to hold his sarai’s hand, but the cold, remote expression on Jamie’s face acted like a barrier, locking him out.

  They made their way into an antechamber, where several courtiers and advisers waited. Jamie was again subjected to great scrutiny but this time he didn’t acknowledge it. Alekyn wondered what he was thinking — it was obvious he was deeply distressed by Guesta’s comments, but he was evidently determined to do what he could to help his own kind. Alekyn just hoped that common sense prevailed — they needed the humans as much as the humans needed them.

  They’d barely seated themselves when one of the advisers nodded as he received a message into his personal communications device. He made his way over to Alekyn, saluting him.

  “Sir, the Adan ap Reji will see you now.”

  To Alekyn’s surprise, they were led not to a formal meeting room, but to the Adan’s private quarters, which were brightly lit and filled with sunshine and flowers. The spacious room opened onto a garden patio where several small children played under the watchful eye of their caregivers. Jamie stiffened at the sound of their laughter; he was trying not to peer through the doors, but his curiosity was obvious.

  The Adan rose. He was tall and commanding; his blond hair held a few threads of silvery grey but his gaze was keen and sharp.

  Alekyn and his pardmates saluted. Jamie stood unmoving, staring first at the Adan and then at the sarai who had been kneeling at the Adan’s feet. This was the first time he’d actually seen another sarai and Alekyn wondered what he was thinking.

  For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence. Then the Adan spoke, “I am Adan ap Reji, and this is my sarai, Iffyn.”

  To Jamie’s surprise both the Adan and Iffyn offered their hands for him to shake. The sarai nodded shyly and smiled sweetly, “I am pleased to meet you, Jamie Munroe.”

  Jamie’s jaw dropped. “You pronounced my name correctly! You’re the first Naferi I’ve met who’s done that. Most of them have no idea and don’t bother listening.”

  Alekyn groaned, but Iffyn looked pleased, gazing at Jamie with shining eyes. The Adan merely smiled.

  “We’ve both been reading as much as we could about your kind, Jamie — and very interesting reading it has been too.”

  Jamie reddened. Human history, with its destruction and violence, was not something anyone could be proud of. “Yes,” he said awkwardly. “We’re not like the Naferi.”

  The Adan tilted his head to one side, his eyes shrewd. “But more alike than you realise, Jamie.”

  He gestured to some nearby couches, indicating they should sit. He resumed his seat. Iffyn, to Jamie’s astonishment, sat next to him wrapping an arm around the Adan’s waist and tucking his body as close to him as possible. Outside a child laughed raucously and someone hushe
d them.

  “You find us en famille, Jamie. You do not mind that I call you that?”

  “No, sir. I have to admit to being impressed that you’ve learned some French as well as English.”

  “Ah, no — alas, I have not learned either language. Your implanted translator is finding linguistic equivalencies and applying them in Naferi.”

  “I see. I don’t understand the technology but it seems to me that there’s more to communication than linguistic equivalency.”

  The Adan chuckled. “Which is a rather neat way of referring to our current problem with your people.”

  “It sure is.” Jamie hesitated for a second and then blurted out, “The problem is not so much with my people — well, I suppose it is, at least a bit — but it’s mostly with the way they’ve been approached. You can’t simply tell people you’ll look after them provided they give you some of their population — no way, no how, is that going to work.”

  “So it seems,” the Adan stroked Iffyn’s hair, running his fingers through its silky dark length, and then looked at Jamie wryly. We underestimated the humans’ capacity for…” He fell silent, clearly wondering what to say next.

  “Being bloody-minded,” Jamie supplied. “Humans know ourselves to be stubborn and blind to our own faults. Our history is littered with examples of our violence towards ourselves and the creatures who live on our world. Hell, our insatiable greed and stupidity is slowly destroying our planet and were too stubborn and set in our ways to help ourselves, even though we know what we should do.”

  Alekyn sucked in a sharp breath. He honestly didn’t know where Jamie was going with this.

  “We’re famous among ourselves for not learning things until it’s too late, and sometimes that’s bad, very, very bad. But this time it’s going to be worse than that — this time if humans aren’t persuaded to cooperate, they will be annihilated. Alekyn told me about the Zill ship with the human remains, and that ars… Guesta said that my planet was already under attack and that my people were going to be wiped out — he thought it was a joke, I could tell, but it’s not something you should allow …”

  He paused, catching his thoughts together, “My brothers are all I have and they’re going to die along with the rest of the planet unless you help my people in spite of the stubbornness and arrogance of our leaders. There are plenty of good people — plenty of beautiful animals and plants and other living creatures — on my planet that don’t deserve to be eaten by the Zill just because our leaders are too stupid to face facts.”

  Chapter Eleven

  ALEYKYN WRAPPED AN ARM around his sarai’s shoulders, trying to offer comfort. Damn court protocol — Jamie needed him. His sarai grabbed hold of his hand, clinging to it as if he were drowning.

  “The approach taken by your diplomats was wrong. You can’t just rock up and tell them that you’ll make them a…a…protectorate provided they turn over their sons and daughters to you. In our culture that’s akin to blackmail.”

  The Adan frowned. “I understand. It was not intended but now it has happened, what can we do?”

  Jamie pulled away from Alekyn’s hold. “Is what Guesta said true? Have the Zill already attacked?”

  The Adan nodded. “Yes,” he confirmed. “Several large population centers have been partly destroyed. London, Washington, Paris — the worst hit was a place called Sydney.”

  “All over the globe,” Jamie murmured, shading his eyes with his hands. Alekyn saw a tear run down his smooth cheek, but he rubbed it away before straightening. “Are they still under attack? Have the Zill retreated?”

  There was silence for a moment. The Adan shook his head. “No. Zill feeder ships are now in orbit around Earth’s moon. They are being supplied with…captives captured by Zill robot drones which are sending them whatever is caught in their webs.”

  “Feeder ships?” Jamie’s voice was almost too faint to be heard.

  Iffyn lent forward, his face sympathetic. “They are like those places on your planet where farm animals are slaughtered, except the Zill cocoon them, some of them feed the workers, but some are drained by the queens.”

  Alekyn watched as his sarai’s face crumpled. “Like cattle yards and abattoirs,” he whispered. “I know — Alekyn and Bram showed me vids of a captured ship and the…husks that were left.”

  Outside the children were still playing, squealing with excitement. A lazy warm breeze lifted a thin pale drape and the sweet scent of nefan flowers wafted in. It contrasted incongruously with the horror of the subject they were discussing. Alekyn thought his heart would break for his sarai, whose face was tormented with grief. Then Jamie straightened, wiping the tears now falling down his cheeks with an impatient hand.

  “So now they know,” he cleared the huskiness from his throat. “In a way, that might make it easier for them to accept your help. If you’re still willing to offer it? If it’s not too late?”

  The Adan hesitated. “It’s not too late,” he said finally. “My brother Arakin is determined to fight for the humans. He and Commander Tain are now close in orbit to Earth. But your people will have to allow us sarai before the Naferi fleet will be allowed to help — that’s not negotiable. The other PanGal species demand it, the Halatians, the Elusians and the Keinyn, as well as many Naferi. “

  Jamie shook his head. “I understand. But — and this is important — you’re going to have to allow humans their pride. They’re going to have to fight the Zill beside you, as equals. That means sharing some of your technology and treating them with respect, otherwise they’ll hate you and your allies. And you’re going to have to limit the number of sarai taken — it can’t be a free-for-all. Those sarai can’t just be scooped up the way I was. Limits have to be set on who can be taken and at what stage of their lives, whether they already have partners, children, dependants of any sort, including parents or siblings …”

  Alekyn’s chest tightened. His sarai still resented being claimed by Alekyn.

  “There’s something else,” Jamie leaned forward. “Alekyn has talked to me about how Naferi bond with their sarai, that they have a soul bond. If that’s true, then that’s may be the way to go about securing the humans” cooperation.”

  The Adan frowned. “I’m not sure I understand. Surely they understand that —

  “No, they don’t — it’s something humans often dream about but rarely experience. All they can hear now is that you want to take thousands of them away to be sarai, and I bet people think just like I did — that that means they’re only going to be sex slaves, not equals.”

  Iffyn gasped. “They don’t understand, my beloved,” he said to the Adan, “how important sarai are to their Sarat — ”

  His husband frowned and patted Iffyn’s hand. “If that’s the case, no wonder they’ve been so vociferous in their objections —

  Jamie nodded his head vigorously. “I thought the same until Alekyn showed me that wasn’t the case. Then we met Guesta and Smarx on the way here, and Guesta implied I and other humans were only going to be slaves, so I guess even some Naferi think that’s all the humans will be - just fucktoys.”

  “I know Guesta,” replied the Adan. “He is a close friend of my brother’s. I’m surprised he should suggest something so awful — ”

  “I’m not,” said Iffyn sharply, “I was schooled with him. His great uncle is Syfern, the Patriarch of Nemta. Reactionary and unreasonable.”

  Another thought occurred to Jamie. “I mentioned earlier the age at which people can be taken. My people will fear that anyone could be taken, at any time, at any age. Is that the case?”

  “Well,” the Adan considered for a moment, “it’s true that we can find our sarai at any stage of our lives, but — ”

  “Does that tie — the Sarat-sarai bond — does that override other relationships?”

  “Well, yes — it’s the way we produce offspring. Without the bond, there is no chance of pardlings.”

  Damn. So not what he wanted to hear. “What if you’re re
ally old when you find your sarai? I mean, like too old to have children.”

  The looks now turned on him were uncomprehending. “Jamie,” said Alekyn after a few seconds. “Our scientists learned how to stop the ageing process hundreds of years ago.”

  Jamie felt faint. “Seriously?” he whispered. “Stopped it? You don’t get old? Ever?”

  Alekyn nodded. “That’s right, sweetheart. “

  “So you don’t die?” Jamie couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he was ticking off fingers as he spoke. “You don’t get cancer, you don’t get other diseases and you don’t get old and you don’t die…”

  The Adan shook his head, “Of course we die — there are accidents, there are wars with enemy species like the Zill. And sometimes we simply choose to move to the next plane of existence, particularly if someone we loved has died or because we want another adventure.”

  Jamie put his head in his hands for a moment, then looked up at Alekyn, his face white. “The next plane of existence,” he echoed. “Another adventure…I don’t think that you realise how different that makes you to humans, to my people.”

  “That your lifetimes are short, not much more than about eighty of your sun’s yearly rotations? Yes, we understand,” said the Adan softly. “We can extend the lives of your people, even those who do not become sarai.”

  Jamie shook his head slowly. “Did you tell them about that? And about curing disease? You can fix the environment too, can’t you? And help them make better choices?”

  “I’m not sure about that,” said the Adan. “Your people seem to like making strange and weird-headed choices, but perhaps we could help them in other ways?”

  “No diseases and staying young forever,” Jamie heaved a sigh. “Tell them all that and you’ll be inundated by people queuing up to be sarai. But you’ll need to convince them that what you’ve said is the truth — that it’s not some sort of trick — ”