by Tracy Lauren
“Dark space are areas of space that for different reasons interfere with scanners, comms, distress beacons… They are good places to go if you want to disappear or deal in less savory business. These areas are somewhat lawless. Or more accurately, governed by their own laws. The UPC does not even patrol it. I am surprised Tennir knows of such a place.”
“It stands to reason that Tennir did not send those coordinates,” Kellen postulates.
My stomach sinks, if Tennir did not send those coordinates it means one of two things. Either his message was intercepted and altered, or he created that message under the pressure of a captor. If the former is true, we are being led into a trap. If the latter is true, we are still being led into a trap, but likely my brother is dead.
“No, the message definitely had not been altered. It was too complex and had none of the markers of an altered message,” Bossan asserts.
“Okay, so great. Tennir sent the coordinates. How long will it take for us to meet up with him?” Kate inquires.
“It is not that simple, my Kate,” I explain gently.
“What do you mean?”
“We all saw Tennir, sweet Kate. He was badly beaten, his lab had sustained much damage,” I tell her.
“Okay?”
“He might have been forced to send that message,” as I say this realization dawns on her.
“No, he’s your brother. He wouldn’t do that. He’d try to protect you, he’d find a way to signal it was a trap,” she reasons.
“If there were hostages. His friends, his fellow scientists? He may not have had a choice. It is odd he asks us to go to dark space rather than to head directly to the Mother Planet. That he didn’t ask us to contact UPC for aid,” the questions continue to mount in my brain.
“Well what’s the alternative then, if you guys don’t trust this Tennir dude?” Reagan asks.
I look to my crew, “Mother Planet. Trying to contact the UPC and the Governing Core.”
“But Tennir said not to trust anyone,” Reagan adds. “What if you do those things and it gets us killed because we didn’t listen to his warning?”
“She’s right Rennek. Why would Tennir say not to trust anyone? It seems superfluous if he was being coerced into sending the message in the first place,” Kate maintains.
I bow my head to think on what we should do. If the message is authentic and I do not rendezvous with him I could be putting his life in danger. If I go to him and it is a trap I am putting all the females and my friends at risk. But I do trust Tennir and I owe a duty to him. Plus, it is clear he has information we do not have and if I hope to keep Kate and the other humans safe I will need to know what information my brother has.
“We will go. Da’vi, Bossan. I want you to map the area as best as possible. We will try to find a location to conceal the ship. I will take a pod down and look for Tennir. If I am not back in one rotation, leave without me and continue on to the Mother Planet.”
“What? No way!” Kate exclaims. “You can’t go down there alone! What if it’s a trap?”
“Then it is best that as many of my crew as possible is here with you and your people--to protect you and get you to safety,” I tell her.
“You need someone to watch your back,” she tries to justify.
“I would rather they watch your back, my little queen,” I coo to her, petting her mane to calm her, but I look challengingly to my crew to ensure none of them are watching her back. Her delicious round backside is for my eyes only.
She swats my hands away from her mane. “No! I don’t want you going alone. It’s dangerous.”
“Yes Kate, we are in a dangerous situation right now. This is the only way to proceed however.”
“Look Rennek, you have kept me safe… well, you all have and I thank you for it, but you have made me feel safe. I’m scared for you to go down there alone. I’m scared to be away from you.” I see her eyes light up, “Let me go with you!”
“Absolutely not,” I tell her.
“I want to go too,” Allison says.
“No,” Da’vi and I say in unison.
“Why not?” Dax interjects. “This is life in space, if this is where your mate is to be--by your side, it is foolish to pretend we do not find ourselves in dangerous situations every rotation. Let her keep learning, see if she is cut out for this life. And her,” he shrugs toward Allison. “Are you going to argue with that one?” He raises his eyebrows.
“Thank you!” my Kate mouths toward Dax, “Look, I will stay out of the way. I’ll just be an extra set of eyes.”
“We go, the four of us then,” Da’vi says. “I will help you take care of the females.”
“I don’t think we need taking care of,” Allison squares to him but he ignores her offense at his statement.
“Wait, I want to go now too,” Reagan says.
“No. Reagan, you must stay here. You are the only other human with a translator implant. One of you must remain with the other humans in case there is an emergency,” I tell her.
“Wait. Did you just call me Reagan? Like… you said my name right?” She asks shocked.
“Yes. Your name is very easy to say. We were making fun before, but now is not the time.”
“Rennek! I wanted to see how long we could keep it going!” Dax laughs and throws himself into a chair in mock dejection.
“Assholes!” She rages.
“It was poor timing for a joke, Reagan. Our apologies,” I tell her. “Okay, it is settled then, as long as there are no more objections. We head to the coordinates and hide the ship. Da’vi, Kate and Allison will come to the surface with me, we will find Tennir and return.” My crew and the human females nod in response.
“Dax, lock coordinates and engage. Bossan, Da’vi, start mapping. Find the safest place to leave our ship. Let me know when we have an ETA. Kellen, you and I will continue scans.”
“I appreciate it Rennek,” Kate tells me. “I know this is all super scary and dangerous, but part of me is excited to see some more of what’s out there and… I’m glad we aren’t going to be separated.” She aims smiles that beautiful sweet smile of hers at me and part of me is glad too.
I pull her to me and breath in her mane. Perhaps I am making the wrong decision. Perhaps I am being selfish. Part of me only agreed to allow the females to come along because I cannot bear the idea of being away from my Kate. The thought fills me with dread. Perhaps I am putting us all at risk. I hold her at arm’s length and gaze into her eyes. I am ruled by my core now more than ever.
Chapter 23
Kate
We have been busy since the message from Rennek’s brother came in. It seems we’ll be in this “dark space” region in a few hours. I feel nervous, but excited at the same time. It reminds me of midterm exams in one of my classes. The only difference is I’m actually confident about the answers for some reason. I feel like I can ace this.
Regardless, I need to do all I can to prepare in the small amount of time I have. I can feel the speed of the ship has increased. Rennek is trying to hurry, in case his brother is in danger, I think. I try to imagine what he must be feeling. Relationships are hard though--unique to the people in them. I think of my own brother. How would I react if he were in danger? How would he react if he were in Rennek’s shoes and thought I was in danger, I wonder?
Then I finally start to consider what my family will think once they realize I’m gone. It’s the first time I’ve really thought about it. I feel a deep sadness for them. They’ll never know what happened to me. That would be the worst thing, I think. It must be hard for Rennek right now, not knowing what happened to his brother, if he is safe or not.
Da’vi finished his work on the bridge and brought all of us ‘females’ to some kind of training room. It’s like a gym… kind of, but with guns though. He gives each of us a hand-held weapon that looks more like a cell phone than a gun and sets us up in front of some targets and fighting dummies--which look nothing like Earth fighting dummies, mind you.
He
teaches us how to fire the weapon, it’s called a charger, and shows us that in close combat it can be used like a taser. We all spend some time practicing on the targets and the dummies. Years of cell phone and remote-control use has made us pretty adaptable to this weapon in particular.
“I don’t understand why we are doing this,” Vivian says. “You and Allison sure, but we’re all going to be hiding here--safe on the ship.”
Allison rolls her eyes and continues to practice. I sigh. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news.
“Vivian, sweetie… I think there’s a reason why the guys are going to try and hide the ship when we go down to this space station. We’re going someplace very dangerous and there’s a chance--hopefully a very, very small chance, that it’s a trap. If it is, you guys might be in just as much danger as we are and you might find yourself in a position where you have to defend yourself,” I explain, trying my best to give her the information without freaking her out.
“I don’t get it,” she trembles. “We got away from those bad aliens. I thought we were just going to their government, like… like refugees or something and they would find a place for us.”
“There’s a bounty on them.” Allison says without looking up. I’d shoot her a dirty look, but she wouldn’t care anyway, so I save it.
“Wait, what? There’s a bounty on them? The bad aliens are looking for them, not us? We could just leave and go to the government and we’d be safe? They could deal with all this dangerous stuff and we could go somewhere safe?”
I look at her a little shocked. I mean, they saved our lives and any trouble they’re in now is entirely because of us.
“Don’t give me that look,” she says. “Just look at these guys,” she waves her hands at Da’vi… who seems like he could care less about whatever conversation we are having and continues to correct all the other girl’s shooting techniques. “They can handle themselves. This is like… their thing or whatever. We, on the other hand, are not cut out for situations like this. I’m going to school to become a librarian for Christ’s sake! Not to become a… a… space bandit!”
“A space bandit? Seriously?” Allison sets down her charger. “Wake up Vivian. You are not a librarian. You will never be a librarian. So, you can put that sad little dream away. We were abducted by aliens. We are in danger. Get that shit through your head. Whether you sit here crying, trying to pretend this is some kind of survival getaway or get your shit together and learn how to protect yourself: you are in danger. Bottom line.” She picks her charger up and resumes her practice.
“Oh, why don’t you just… just… suck it Allison!” And I have to admit, it’s hard not to laugh. Even Reagan laughs, and I’m sure she’s wanted to tell Allison to ‘suck it’ too. Vivian throws her charger down on a mat and Da’vi barks at her, only she can’t understand what he’s saying and it just scares her into another sobbing fit. I’m glad he’s chastising her, throwing a weapon she doesn’t know anything about is extremely stupid. Throwing a weapon in general is just stupid.
“Hey, come on,” April chimes in, pulling Vivian into a hug. “Take some deep breaths.”
Vivian buries her face in her hands, sobbing. “What is going on here? I don’t get it! Abducted by aliens? Seriously? And here we are learning to shoot and protect ourselves, and there’s a bounty? And Kate is having sex with one of them?” Everybody’s eyes swing to me and I probably turn red enough to pale the nearest star in comparison.
“Whoa, nobody is having sex with anyone,” I say in my defense.
“Damn, Vivian. Are you trying to win the title of biggest bitch? You sure you want to go up against Allison for that?” Reagan says and I can hear the anger lacing her voice. I’m starting to really get Reagan, she is fiercely loyal and Vivian throwing me under the bus in front of everyone? Well, it wasn’t her place to say and neither of us seem to appreciate the judgement in her tone either.
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but what’s up with that?” April asks.
Part of me is embarrassed, but mostly just because I have only known Rennek for a few days. I don’t want to come off like a slut to everyone.
“Yeah, they were straight up calling you his mate.” Reagan teases. “Are you guys like alien married now?”
“Haha, very funny. I don’t know. Maybe ‘mate’ is just like alien for girlfriend or something?” I say shrugging it off.
“Doubt it,” Allison says, only marginally engaged in the conversation.
“Well, isn’t it a little weird. Like bestiality or something?” Clark asks. And now I am completely offended.
“Exactly,” Vivian adds.
I’m instantly furious. How dare they say such a thing, or even consider Rennek and his friends to be more like animals than people. Granted some of their features are pretty… let’s just say wild. But, they are mostly just like us in the ways that count.
“Look, there is something going on between Rennek and I, it’s new and I don’t know how to define it, but I have feelings for him and he clearly seems to return them. If anyone dares call him an animal again, I am tearing down this human alliance. These guys saved our lives. We would have been raped and maybe a million worse things if they hadn’t risked their asses for us. We will return the favor and if not, you’re out. Go fend for yourself.”
“I’m so sorry Kate, I didn’t mean it like that.” Clark says remorsefully. “I’m just still getting used to the changes. Really, I appreciate all they’ve done and I didn’t mean to sound like I was judging your connection.”
“That’s fine. I get it, we all are still getting used to things. I didn’t mean all of what I said either,” I sigh. “Well, if anyone calls him an animal again, I will lose my shit and I’ll get pissed if we don’t all try to pull our own weight around here. But when it comes down to it, I’ll always be team human.”
“I’m sorry too. Bitch isn’t in my nature, I don’t know what got into me. Team human,” Vivian almost begs as she wipes her tears and hugs me. I return the hug. Everyone will take their own time to adjust, I accept that. Who knows, I might be the next to go nuts and have a crazy crying fit where I say a bunch of shit I regret. Hopefully everyone will be as forgiving with me when I do. All the girls come in for a group hug. Except Allison. We stare at her expectantly.
“Yeah, I’m not doing that.”
“Get back to work!” Da’vi barks and we all jump.
Chapter 24
Kate
It’s time. We are near the coordinates Tennir sent us. The guys are able to gather some data from scans and explain this area is “dark space” because of the composition of a few of the surrounding planets and asteroid belts. Luckily, the geography of this region in space provides us with lots of places to hide the ship without fear of detection. We watch as Dax pulls us into a crater on an asteroid… which is probably the size of Texas. It’s like watching a movie, only super scary because it’s real. Vivian nearly faints.
The guys continue their work on the bridge, but all the humans go down to the pod bay to see us off. There is lots of hugging… and awkward not hugging in Allison’s case. Rennek and Da’vi make sure there are enough emergency suits in the pod, but I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed and pray we don’t have to use them. First of all, they are way too big--I don’t even know how I’d be able to move in one and secondly, if I have to walk around out in the open in space I’m going to throw up and then die from fear.
Once we are on our way, I feel a bit more at ease. Though I do wish I were wearing jeans and a tee shirt rather than this makeshift dress. It’s not super functional. Rennek keeps squeezing my hand and looking at me with worried eyes. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when he finally pulls me out of my seat and onto his lap. Allison looks practically disgusted by our PDA and even Da’vi tenses a bit. I just kind of go along, because it honestly feels nice and safe. Plus, I don’t know alien culture yet, maybe this is a thing. Maybe everybody does this and I’d be rude if I didn’t accept. I don’t wa
nt to be rude, so I snuggle against his solid chest.
It’s quiet in the pod as we head towards the spaceport. Finally, we align in a way where I can see the looming port through the viewing window. I gasp. I thought the asteroid was the size of Texas. This space port is… well it’s beyond my imagination. I am thankful movies on Earth gave us some kind of preparation for our new lifestyle, a frame of reference at least.
The port looks a little old and hodgepodge. Like bits and pieces have been added on over a long period of time. I start to realize there are many other small ships and pods floating through space around us, heading in and out of terminals. I can see lights coming from the spaceport and it reminds me of high rise buildings in big cities. The specs of light coming through windows are tiny pinpoints and it makes me realize the scale of all this. I wonder how we will find Tennir here. I look at Rennek. His eyes are dark and his body tense. I squeeze his hand.