Gavriel: Alien Sci-Fi Romance

by Enid Titan

  “So what? I feed you to the beast?”

  “Yes,” she whispers, “Because once I’m in the brig, I can get us out of here. How good are you at helm?”

  “Nearly as good as Kazim.”

  “Tomorrow, you’ll need to be better,” she hisses, “Because if I don’t get you out of here, they’ll kill you.”

  “What will your boyfriend think about this little plan?” I grumble.

  “What?”

  I worry that she’s going to stab me again, but that doesn’t stop me from lodging my foot in my mouth.

  “The good doctor. What will he think about you helping me to run away?”

  “You are unbelievably stupid sometimes, Gavriel,” she whispers, “I’m risking my life to help you. How do you think I feel about you?”

  “Hopefully not like stabbing me.”

  “Idiot,” she whispers, before getting on her tiptoes and kissing me. She breaks away once we hear shuffling. She disables the forcefield and disappears. The guards awaken, but the lights stay off for the rest of the night. I can sleep. Finally.

  Chapter 42

  Tortured

  Garth comes after I’ve had barely enough sleep to not appear a drooling mess to him. He comes alone with his kit and a chair. The guards tie me to the chair. The lights return and Garth prepares his tools silently. Once he’s finished, he stands across from me, his scowl giving him a uniquely monstrous appearance. He’s enormous with chalky skin the color of olives and those large tusks, now tipped with gold caps. His black hair hangs in thick dreadlocks from his boxy skull.

  “I never thought we’d end up here, Gav.”

  “Neither did I.”

  “It’s foolish, wanting to know why someone betrayed you. Traitors don’t think like normal people. They don’t care who they hurt. What burns me the most is I trusted you. Kazim trusted you. Everyone on this bloody ship, trusted you!”

  “I have an alibi for most of the events you wish to blame me for,” I choke out. I’m still thirsty and now that I’ve gone a night without water, my voice comes out hoarse and gravely.

  “That may be so. Our investigation team suspects you have an accomplice.”

  I can’t give up Jaen’s name too soon. He’ll get suspicious. I haven’t decided if I want to go along with her vague escape plans. I have nothing to lose either way. But Jaen has everything to lose.

  “I have no accomplice… because I’m innocent.”

  Garth takes his first instrument of torture. A tuning fork. I shudder and struggle to fight my way out of my binds. He holds the fork between my horns and strikes it. I scream. The vibrations travel through my skull and my brain feels like it’s about to ooze out of my ears.

  “I know it’ll take more to get an answer out of you,” Garth mutters, as if his torture methods hurt him more than they hurt me. He strikes the fork again. The vibrations hurt worse the second time around. Salty tears spill from my eyes as I shudder and foam at the mouth. I’ve never hated having horns. All Odilian males have them, but they’re less common amongst species in this sector. Some kids get shamed for having horns, but I’ve always been proud of mine. Now, I hate them. I hate them because these proud protrusions from my skull give Garth an easy method to torture me with.

  “I know how hard it will be to get you to talk. Make it easy. Give me your accomplice.”

  “I haven’t admitted to any crimes, Garth. I have committed none.”

  “Yes. You have. I saw the evidence, Gavriel. Don’t deny it. She warned me you would…”

  “Who warned you!?”

  “That’s none of your business. If this isn’t enough to make you talk…”

  Garth reaches into his kit for a metal probe. He turns the temperature up. Oh fuck. Not burning. He rips my shirt open and I close my eyes.

  “Open them!”

  “Don’t do this, Garth… I’m innocent. I swear I’m innocent.”

  One burn. That’s all it takes before I give in. If Jaen’s plan fails, then we’ll die together. But I can’t help it. I yell her name.

  “Jaen! It’s Jaen! She’s my accomplice.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “I’m not… Why do you think she was your suspect before? And I fought to make sure you didn’t believe it. It makes sense.”

  It doesn’t make complete sense. But it makes enough sense that whatever crazed assumption has infected Garth’s brain will hear my words and run.

  “You corrupted her. Sweet Jaen. You turned her into a traitor.”

  “I had to.”

  “You’re a monster.”

  Garth punches me. Hard. In the face. In the stomach. He punches me so hard I fall unconscious and by the time I wake up the lights are off again. And there’s someone in my cell.

  “Jaen…” I whisper.

  She’s come to take me away.

  “No, stupid,” Nova hisses, “It’s me.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Treating your wounds.”

  “You can’t help me.”

  “I have to. Garth is on a rampage and you’ll walk the plank tomorrow if we don’t get you out.”

  “We?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just leave.”

  “I can’t out-fly Kazim.”

  “You won’t have to. He’s off duty tonight. You still have friends on the ship, Gavriel.”

  “Tell Kazim I didn’t do this.”

  “I’m sorry, Gavriel. I don’t have time for sentiments. Take this.”

  She slides something into my pocket. It’s a chip. Something for the pod.

  “How far away will the pod get me?”

  “That chip will help you find a place to land. Once you land, you must blow the pod up. I’ll try to come back and find you after this mission. Maybe.”

  “We both know that’s impossible.”

  “Damn it, Gavriel,” Nova hisses, “how do you get yourself into trouble like this?”

  “My dashing good looks?”

  She slaps my face playfully, but I groan, anyway. She clamps her hand over my mouth.

  “Jaen will get you out of here soon. I’m not supposed to be here. If Garth found out…”

  “He won’t.”

  “I’m sorry things turned out this way, Gavriel. You deserve better.”

  “When I leave, there will still be a saboteur on this ship.”

  “Look, whatever you did, I’m sure you had a good reason, Gav. I’m helping you but don’t ask me for more than that.”

  And that’s it. Nova disappears. I have the chip and now all I can do is wait for Jaen Nabokov.

  Chapter 43

  Don’t Be Such A Baby

  The forcefield produces a large hum and then silence. I hear footsteps.

  “Jaen?” I whisper.

  There’s no response, just a small hand clamping over my wrist and tiny squeaks. Bonbon! It has to be Jaen. Before I can call her name again, she teleports us.

  “Get to helm,” she commands.

  I never took her for such a swashbuckler and my eyes sting as they adjust to the light, but there’s no time.

  “Co-ordinates?”

  She plugs them in.

  “Hold on tight, Jaen…” I murmur and we’re off. Jaen yells as the ship rumbles up to speed. I don’t think pods are meant to accelerate that quickly. But what choice do we have? We die in space pursuing freedom or walk the plank at the hands of Garth Moray. He’s not the forgiving sort. The ship doesn’t give chase.

  “That’s it then,” Jaen whispers. Once we’re far enough out of range they don’t even appear on a short range sensor sweep.

  “Yup. We’re free.”

  “Great.”

  Bonbon appears from a nest of Jaen’s curls and wraps itself in a ball on her shoulder.

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me.”

  “Why not? You saved my life.”

  “And you saved mine. So we’re even.”

  “You’re more resourceful tha
n I thought, Nabokov.”

  “And you’re more reckless than I thought. Gavriel.”

  “Hm. I’m not reckless at all. I had everything under control.”

  “You spent an entire week in the brig!”

  “Was it a week? Time flies when you’re having fun.”

  Jaen gets up and rolls her eyes.

  “Stupid. Take your shirt off.”

  “Jaen? Has Kazim had such a lascivious effect on you?”

  “I’m not trying to have sex with you, idiot. You’ve been tortured. I can’t let these wounds get infected.”

  She sits across from me, peering over her spectacles. Someone’s repaired them.

  “I see you fixed those.”

  “Yes. It’s why I went on a date with Xanth, if you must know. I’d hardly win out in a triage situation.”

  “Oh.”

  I unbutton my shirt and peel it off my flesh. I wince. She’s right. The burns on my chest hurt. Jaen scowls.

  “This doesn’t look good.”

  “It doesn’t feel good… OW!”

  “Sorry. I had to touch it.”

  “Did you have to touch it or do you enjoy torturing me?”

  “Don’t be such a baby, Gavriel.”

  “A baby?! A baby? I’ve been tortured!”

  My voice growing increasingly shrill doesn’t do much for my case, but Jaen laughs.

  “Fine. Nova gave me all the medical supplies I needed.”

  “She could get her ass in serious trouble for that.”

  “She did the best she could.”

  “Why did she agree to help you? As far as I know, she hates everyone Kazim’s tried to get his hands on.”

  “Kazim never tried to put his hands on me.”

  “Whatever. I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “She agreed to help me because she believes in my cause. That’s all.”

  “What cause might that be?”

  Her cinnamon-colored cheeks turn mulberry.

  “Nothing.”

  “Ouch! I thought you were going to try not to treat me like a savage.”

  “Sorry…”

  She spreads a little ointment on my wounds and runs over them with a probe. They’re mostly healed in a few minutes, but delaying treatment means they’ll still hurt to the touch. She spreads my shirt open wider and I’m suddenly conscious of my bare chest exposed to her. Her brow furrows and I groan as I try to sit straighter.

  “Stop moving,” she mutters, “I’m looking at your stab wound.”

  “Plan on giving me another?”

  “No.”

  “I ought to be grateful of that, I suppose.”

  “Are you in pain?”

  “Perpetual pain, dear human.”

  Her cheeks darken. What a strange human response. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was embarrassing Jaen. Making her squeamish.

  “Your cheeks are red,” I tell her, like she can’t feel the warmth spreading over them.

  “They are not,” she grumbles, “You’re imagining things. I think you should have some spirits and lie down.”

  “No. I ought to monitor the star chart. We could run into Saroyan out here. Or the excellent Captain.”

  She sighs once I bring up Garth.

  “There’s something wrong with him.”

  “Several things. First, you’re way too young for him.”

  Jaen protests, “That isn’t what I meant.”

  “Right. But you are too young for him.”

  “Shut up, Gavriel! I meant… it’s not like him to be so unwavering in his suspicions. He’s gone paranoid. Or he’s being manipulated.”

  “Listen, Jaen. The Captain of a pirate ship isn’t easily manipulated. Garth believes what he’s doing is right, otherwise he wouldn’t have tortured me. If someone’s manipulating him, they’re doing a damned good job of it.”

  “He listens to me normally,” Jaen mumbles, “But this time, it’s like everything I pointed out to him angered him. He’s listening to someone else.”

  “He’s your ex. He’s not supposed to listen to you. Especially now that he has a new girlfriend.”

  “Hungry?” she asks, digging through her knapsack.

  “What have you got for me, Nabokov?”

  “Ever heard of ramen noodles?”

  “What the devil is that?”

  “I had a stash before I came aboard the ship. I was saving them for when I missed home.”

  “Fine. I’ll try your mysterious noodles.”

  I lean back in the chair and my hair falls out of its knot, cascading between my horns. My head still hurts at the base of them from Garth’s effective form of torture. I’ll probably have a mild headache for a week. As my hair falls out of its knot, Jaen gasps.

  “What?” I murmur.

  Now that the surge of adrenaline has died down, I want to sleep again. Could Jaen be right about how long I spent in the brig? It would explain my exhaustion.

  “Nothing.”

  “Are all human girls this shy?”

  “Haven’t you met other human girls?”

  “No. Not really. You’re even rarer than Odilians out here.”

  “I’m not shy.”

  “Come then,” I murmur, “if you aren’t shy, I want you to kiss me.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Gavriel. We need each other to survive out here. I can’t go around kissing you and complicating things.”

  I smile, but keep my eyes closed. It’s enough to listen to her voice. It would be better to touch her. But now closed eyes feel like the most important thing in the world.

  “I want to complicate things,” I murmur, “I want to complicate things with you so badly.”

  I feel a hard tug on the back of my scalp.

  “OUCH!”

  I sit up and whirl around to find Jaen with her hands on her hips and smug expression on her face.

  “What the hell was that for?!”

  “You need to be responsible, Gavriel. We’re in hot water and we can’t go around getting all romantic.”

  “We’re about to land on an alien planet a week’s journey away. I think we ought to spend the time getting as romantic as possible. We’ll need to repopulate.”

  Her eyes open so wide they look mostly white.

  “Gavriel!” she hisses, “Now isn’t the time to think about repopulating anywhere!”

  Chapter 44

  I Promise

  “Sorry, Jaen… I must be… It must be…”

  “I gave you painkillers,” she confesses, “they must be kicking in.”

  “You drugged me!”

  “I knew you wouldn’t fall asleep. Now get out of that chair.”

  “Jaen… I can’t sleep. Must… pilot…”

  “Get into bed. You’ll be groggy for a while but you can still have ramen.”

  “Bed?”

  “Yeah there should be two cots back here…”

  She takes a few steps and pulls the curtain back and then shrieks.

  “NOVA!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  I stumble over toward her, holding the ship’s walls for balance.

  “Uh oh.”

  “One bed,” Jaen mumbles, “Great. Well. Get in.”

  I sit propped up in bed while she helps me spoon ramen noodles into my mouth. They’re delicious. I’m almost sorry for doubting her. I close my eyes and let her feed me and the last thing I remember before falling asleep is dribbling a little on my chin and Jaen taking the edge of her sleeve to wipe it up. Great job setting the romantic mood…

  I feel constrained when I wake up and I get out of bed quickly, realizing that I’ve nearly flung Jaen off the cot. And then she falls.

  “OUCH! What the hell, Gavriel!?”

  “Sorry. I thought you were… restraining me.”

  “No. I was sleeping. Like a normal person. We’re on a tiny pod escaping certain death. Remember?”

  “Now that I’m awake… yes…”

  My shirt’s sti
ll billowing open and Jaen’s eyes travel from my face down to my bare chest. I grin.

  “Like the view?”

  “Me looking at your chest doesn’t mean I want to repopulate with you!”

  “Who said anything about repopulating? You have a very dirty mind, Nabokov.”

  “But — You said — I don’t — I didn’t mean —

  “Calm down. I remember what I said in my drug induced haze. But don’t worry. You have nothing to fear. I won’t have my way with you.”

  “I wasn’t worried about that,” she snaps.

  “What was that delicious broth and chewy carbohydrate you fed me yesterday called?”

  “Ramen noodles. And no, they’re not a breakfast food.”

  “All food is breakfast food if you eat it for breakfast.”

  Jaen wipes her eyes.

  “Are you seriously hungry already?”

  “Famished.”

  I sit on the edge of the cot and pat the spot next to me.

  “Sorry for flinging you out of bed.”

  “It’s fine. I don’t know what Nova was getting at sticking one cot in here when there are clearly two of us.”

  She sits next to me and wraps her arms around her torso. Her hair billows around her like a giant cloud of curls. Adorable. I ought to just kiss her. Take Kazim’s advice and pray she’s serious about not stabbing me. But after my drug-induced repopulation fiasco, I don’t want Jaen to think I’m a total pervert. Hell, she already thinks all alien males are perverts and I suppose maybe I am a pervert if I’m thinking about kissing her.

  “I thought I was supposed to be the quiet one,” she says.

  “I’m too hungry to talk.”

  “Oatmeal?”

  “Yes. Thanks.”

  “How’s your head?”

  “Fine.”

  “Good.”

  She brings me a bowl and I want to pour the entire thing down my throat. I’m starved. She eats slowly and I follow her lead at first but end up sucking down the entire meal. Jaen takes our bowls and then sits next to me on the cot.

  “We made it through the night without alarm. There’s not much work to do navigating today. The systems seem fine. I was up most of the night.”