by Alyx X
I swallowed my anger, determined to remain the calm one in this situation. “You’re being ridiculous,” I countered. “You know what my species’ culture is. You know what we do. You knew we’d come to Earth to assess benefits to Euquaniar. What did you possibly think such a dried-out rock could offer a race such as mine? We conquer. We take what we want. Neither Roe, nor I, have ever hidden that fact from you.” I didn’t add that, while I came from generations who conquered for themselves, I did it with the good of my people in mind. I doubted she’d really note the difference. With her current attitude, she probably wouldn’t care either.
She parted her lips, but I suddenly really needed her to understand.
“It’s just what I must do. It’s more than a behavior. It’s an instinct.” The instinct to survive drove me ever forward.
She shook her head, denying my words. “No. I don’t agree. No race conquers others due to an instinct.” But she stopped, biting off another retort. She couldn’t possibly know enough about the culture of my people to understand. I was a fool for trying to make her understand.
“It’s survival,” I murmured into her hesitation.
She shook her head. “No. You’ve evolved beyond that reasoning. Or at least I thought you had. Maybe I never knew anything at all.”
I watched her, my jaw tightening as she piled on insult after insult. Even her passive assertion about my evolution grated on my pride. “I was wrong to credit you with basic intelligence on Earth,” I growled, my desire to calm her now gone. Her words had hurt me, thought I’d never admit it. “I was wrong to allow you to stay on this ship once I discovered you. Your mere presence has put all of our plans in jeopardy.” I shook my head. “I’ve imagined things that aren’t there. I believed we could be compatible, but we’re not. Not at all.”
She narrowed her eyes a little, like she couldn’t understand what I’d just said, so I clarified it for her. “You can’t grasp basic truths about the galaxy and the alien races that inhabit it. You don’t belong with me, and I don’t want you. You’re just a weak, puny human, who lacks knowledge and understanding. You don’t belong with a powerful conqueror.” I forced a harsh laugh to follow my words.
This time, her eyes widened and glazed, shimmering as her lips parted. Her chest heaved with rapid breaths, and she thrust her entire body weight at me, forcing me out of her path.
“If you think I’d want any involvement with such a basic race as yours, where life holds no value at all, then you’re mistaken. I’m too intelligent to believe the fucking shit you’ve just spouted at me about ‘instinct’. If you truly believe that planned destruction and genocide is instinct, then you’re beyond all hope. You’re the weak one, Qui, not me.”
With those last words, she sprinted down the corridor, her rapid footsteps almost drowning out her sobs. I glanced over my shoulder, into the bridge. My men were all watching me, their mouths open as they gaped at the exchange they’d clearly just witnessed.
Humiliation and rage burned low in my gut. No one had ever spoken to me the way Emma just had. In my anger, I wildly gestured at the bridge, indicating that the men should get back to work. They all jumped and scrambled back, and I dragged my hand down my face in frustration. Today was just getting worse and worse.
Sighing, I strode in Emma’s direction, the need to punish her for her words racing through me. My men had seen her call me weak, and to let that drop would make me weak in their eyes too. I’d proven her assertions through inaction, and I couldn’t let that stand.
Before I could even make three strides in the direction Emma had run, Roe stepped into my path. “Stop and think. Calm yourself down,” she instructed as she folded her arms.
I tried to move past her. I needed to reach Emma, to stop her, to make her hurt the way her words had hurt me.
“No.” Roe gripped my upper arm. “Get your shit together, Qui.”
“She can’t be allowed to just get away with this.” As I spoke, Fin sounded the all clear signal from the bridge. Whatever problem Emma had caused had been fixed, but it still didn’t negate the fact that she’d destroyed my property and affected my men’s confidence in me.
“No, this is the reason I wanted her taken care of. She shouldn’t have fucking been here to listen in to my conversation with Tir, or cause all this mess!” Roe didn’t react. “Did you even see what she did!?” I prompted, my anger still running high.
Of all the people, I expected my sister to understand the importance of this. We’d travelled the galaxy together. She was no stranger to what we were doing or why. Roe understood our achievements, and because of that, she also knew why we couldn’t stop.
She laughed instead, and the sound grated across each of my nerves exposed by Emma’s words and behavior. “And why do you think I took care of her the way I did?” she asked. “You need to get your head on straight, Qui. It’s clear we’ve both been second guessing everything for a while—leaving Emma on the moon, destroying the Earth. The cattle we have onboard have just been a happy coincidence that has slowed our pace, but now you’ve reached a critical point. You’re struggling with your decisions, and I think I know why.”
18
Emma
I ran without really knowing where I was going, listening to the sound my heavy footsteps made as they struck the metal floor. I timed my breathing with them until I was running down corridors I hadn’t even explored yet, pounding my anger against the ship’s floor. I’d never yearned so badly for the escape of the vast desert of Earth. Here, I was trapped like an animal, pacing my cage.
I should have known. Damn him.
No, damn me and fuck him. He’d shown me who he really was multiple times, and I’d been stupid enough to ignore it. I shook my head as I dragged in another breath. I’d ignored all the signs he’d given me in favor of appreciating a hard body, and that magical, vibrating dick.
I seemed to pass yard after yard of matte-reflective silver surface, all holding me accountable, forcing me to look at myself every step of the way. Why hadn’t I picked up on Qui’s plans before? That was an easy answer. I’d been too starry-eyed from being up in space at last. Too distracted by being near a really sexy alien, even if it was his sister who’d rescued me from his restraints. I hadn’t wanted to look any further. I hadn’t wanted to see.
The clue was in what he called himself—a conqueror. What had I been thinking? That his conquering of Earth was limited to a bit of cattle-rustling? That it was limited to fucking me in a maid’s closet?
I shook my head. Okay. So I hadn’t known before. But I did know now, and I had to stop Qui from destroying Earth. My planet was already dying, true. But while it remained there, people were living on it. People who were unknowingly counting on me to save them. My life was waiting for me to return to it. I hadn’t said I was never going back, and if I didn’t stop Qui and his arrogant destruction of my planet, soon I’d never be able to go back.
Maybe Qui planned to destroy my life rather than killing me outright. He’d decided pretty early on to just dump me on the moon. I shrugged, the movement interrupting my jogging rhythm. If he agreed to leave Earth alone, I’d let him leave me anywhere he wanted. I could always persuade someone to see things my way and give me a ride back to Earth. Or I could just find the nearest airlock on my own, because I sure as shit didn’t want to stay on this ship with Qui any longer.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I had to do something, but I was up here, rattling around in this glorified tin can with no access back to Earth. Maybe I could find some sort of docking bay onboard and they’d have a one-man pod and I could fly myself back down to the farm.
I almost laughed. Yeah. right. Sometimes my own imagination surprised me. I hadn’t even been in space for more than a few weeks, and suddenly here I was planning to steal a spaceship I wasn’t sure existed and fly myself home? Yep. Leave all plans and plotting to me. Humans could surely rely on me to save them. I had to be smarter.
I glanced into a room as I passed, then stopped
and walked back to the open doorway. The moon was visible outside, the biggest I’d seen it this entire journey. I could almost make out buildings under the settlement dome, and I pictured humans beetling from place to place, going about their business of working cooperatively to make society function.
Yes, that was definitely preferable to staying with this monster. Never thought I’d say it, but it was true. Anything was better than warming the bed of the man who’d destroy an entire planet for some fuel.
I slapped my palm against my forehead, trying to think of a better solution. Maybe I could radio someone at the TerraLink Program HQ. Fin always had earbuds in, so I figured he was their comms specialist. Maybe I could just seduce him into letting me use his desk. Perhaps I could even sit on his desk and accidentally switch the communications part on while we fucked. I grimaced at the idea of the TerraLink rep who received that particular message.
Shit. I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t even have a ‘pl’. I didn’t have a complete fucking thought in my head. The image of the computer simulation was burned into my brain, yet it sparked another memory too. I’d seen something like it before, although much cruder. A diagram perhaps. I stopped again. I just had to remember where, because if I could get off Qui’s ship with proof of his plan when he left me at the settlement, maybe I could stop him completely.
The TerraLink Program had backup of some very hard hitters in the alien world—some species big on muscle, others advanced in technology—and I didn’t think Qui could take all of them on at once and win. After all, he was just a big, blushing cock. I grinned at the image of his face when I’d said those words. He’d looked mad enough for me to guess no one had ever spoken to him like that besides my own father.
I sighed, thinking of my poor, innocent father. All he’d ever wanted was to protect me. Protect me from men like Qui, who’d use me, then destroy my entire planet just because someone hurt his feelings. I scoffed. Qui was sure big on being a conqueror, but that man was far too easily affected by his emotions.
I nodded. Cock suited him. I paused as my brain snagged on a thought. I’d seen a picture that day I snuck onto the bridge. Well, I hadn’t snuck, but Roe had certainly behaved like I wasn’t supposed to be there. The picture had been of a planet with a big old dildo thing sticking into it. What if it wasn’t a dildo? What if that was the exact evidence I needed? I felt my resolve harden in my chest. I needed to see that picture again.
My best chance of sneaking onto the bridge was when I knew the upper crewmen went for their evening meal. The bridge would be empty, or at least nearly empty. If Fin was in there, perhaps he’d be doing his communication thing and not notice me, like the first time.
I turned around in the corridor, trying to get my bearings in an area of the ship I hadn’t been to before. Usually, I just bounced around between rooms with big viewing windows to see if anything interesting had changed in the starscape. It never had. The moon had grown steadily closer, but that was actually what I wanted right now. Once I had the proof, I would hardly be able to wait for Qui to offload me.
I peered into a room. It held a small cot and a basic chest of drawers. No window. I was on a sleeping level—perhaps for lower crewmen, if I had to guess from the lack of comforts and view in the room. I listened carefully. The sound of the engines was louder than I was used to, so I must have run deeper and lower into the ship.
I walked slowly in the direction I’d come, looking out for familiar landmarks of the ship as I went. The smell of cooking grew stronger, so I followed it. I could find most places if I started from the kitchen. It was a shame I didn’t have any cookies left. I would have taken them with me as an excuse to visit the bridge again. But I couldn’t be so bold. I had to employ stealth tactics, so I moved slowly and carefully, my feet barely making a noise as I walked steadily forward.
I tried to plan in my head as I went. The diagram had been where when I’d seen it the first time? I scanned my memory as I tried to dredge the exact location up. Then I paused. Shit. I’d seen it on one of the screens at Qui’s desk. I was going to need all of my stealth capability to pull this off. Hopefully Euquanian technology wasn’t so different to ours that I couldn’t work the computer or find a printer.
I sighed. This seemed almost like I’d lost before I’d even started. But I couldn’t afford to think that way. If the alternative to me finding this evidence and handing it to someone on the moon was the total destruction of Earth, that was no alternative at all.
I avoided passing the open doorway of the dining hall. As I’d suspected, it was full of upper crewmen, and they were probably all waiting for me to make an appearance so they could arrest me of something. Qui would probably take great satisfaction in tossing me into that dank cargo hold again. I shivered. I couldn’t let him do that to me again.
The rest of my walk to the bridge was uneventful, even though I almost asphyxiated myself by holding my breath nearly the whole way. When I arrived at the bridge, I peered around the door. As I’d suspected, the only one at his desk was Fin. Vaguely, I wondered where Qui was, worried he’d be looking for me. I heard no approaching footsteps in the silence, so I steeled myself for my next move. For a moment, I toyed with the idea that I could seduce the diagram out of him. I preferred him to Qui anyway—that other bastard had always left me cold—and Fin said he could also do the magical vibrating thing.
Yeah. Qui meant nothing to me. Shame I’d never taken Fin for a ride. Would have been fun to try him out. But because Qui meant so little to me, I could absolutely fuck him over good and proper now. I checked on Fin again. He appeared to be completely absorbed in whatever he was doing. He looked kind of sexy when he was engrossed in his work. Almost enough for me to consider seducing him and engaging him in an anger fuck against Qui, but not quite. I had a mission.
I crept toward Qui’s chair. All of his screens were off, which was a pain in the ass. I turned them on as quietly as I could, hoping Fin didn’t notice the flare of light. Then I grinned. For fuck’s sake. Qui was so arrogant and sure of himself that the exact same screen as last time was still displaying the diagram of Earth’s imminent destruction. If only I’d known what I was looking at before, I could have dealt with it way before today.
So, great. I’d found the document. Now I just needed a printer, or some way to get it off the screen and into my hand. I sighed. There was no point in trying to beam it back to Earth somehow. Dad never checked his messages. He’d die in the first blast of the laser without even knowing I’d tried to contact him. He was way too used to me handling all of his technical needs.
I looked around and bent down beneath Qui’s desk, checking for anything that looked remotely printer-like. It didn’t help that the one Dad had me use at the farm was pretty much an antique.
There was a box down there with a slot. It looked like print outs could come from it—or trash could go into it. It wasn’t really clear. I looked back at Qui’s screen. Did it work by touch? I pressed my fingertips against it. Lightly at first, then harder, trying all four corners, in the middle, a bit of scrolling movement, then a random tapping beat, but nothing worked.
I was about to give up and stand when the part of the desk I was leaning on slid out to reveal something that looked like a keyboard. I didn’t understand the letters printed on the keys, but some had small icons, and one looked like it might relate to printing.
I pressed the key and held my breath. I’d come too far to fail now. The familiar sound of a printer starting up came from the corner of the room, and I glanced at Fin to see if he’d heard, but he didn’t even move. I crept behind the desks, keeping low, as the printer spat out my document. Hopefully the humans on the moon would believe me. The diagram had measurements on it that I didn’t really understand and hadn’t seen before, but it looked scientific enough.
After I had the piece of paper, I folded it and stuck it in my waistband to secure it, then I crept back between the desks to turn Qui’s screen off. It had to look like I’d never be
en here.
I glanced at Fin again. Still no movement. Perhaps he’d fallen asleep at his desk. I found the switch to put Qui’s screen back to sleep mode and stood up to head out, feeling proud of my sneaking. However, as I pulled up on the desk, I bumped into Qui’s chair and Fin turned around at the sudden noise.
“Emma,” he said. “What are you doing here?” But his eyes weren’t suspicious, and I grinned—hopefully disarmingly—as I lounged against Qui’s desk.
“Came to see ya,” I said in my perkiest voice as I walked slowly toward him, extra wiggle in my step.
His expression turned wary and he frowned slightly. “Then what are you doing over by Qui’s desk?”
I looked behind me like Fin had surprised me. “Oh, is it? I was just trying to get closer to you before you saw me in here. You know, a surprise.” As I reached him, I looped my arms around his neck.
“Yeah? Well you sure did that.” He smiled up at me, and guilt gnawed in my gut.
For the first time in my life, it felt wrong to use the promise of sex to get what I wanted, especially since I’d been lying to myself. I didn’t feel anything for Fin at all. I maintained my smile as he reached around my waist, then cringed as my contraband print-out rustled under his touch.
His smile turned quizzical. “What have you got there?”
“Oh, just something Roe leant me to read.” I shrugged.
“Anything good?” He leaned forward like he might try to nuzzle my neck, but I stepped back.
I’d suddenly developed a conscience, which was weird, but I didn’t want to spend too much time examining why. “Actually, I have to return it to her.” I stepped away from him.