by Kyanna Skye
Rayna took a step back from him, placing his sample into a vial. “What do you mean?”
“My unit and I were sent here on a mission, to find a new planet to live on. Our own was destroyed when our sun imploded. We set out across the universe to find similar planets. And we found yours. The plan was to locate a few specific regions on the planet where we could make settlements, and live in secret. Earth is very similar in climate. There aren’t many which would support us, at least not without traveling many more light years. We didn’t want to interfere with your people. There are groups of us here scattered around the world. In a few weeks’ time, the rest will come down on our ships. If they don’t find us free and safe, they will fight to extricate us. There will be carnage. At this point, I don’t even know where my unit is, or if my men are still alive.”
Rayna didn’t know what to say. “You can’t hear them, wherever they are?” she asked.
“Not if they’re far from me,” Kirin replied. “They’re not in this building. That much I know. I wouldn’t begin to know where to look for them.”
Rayna felt sorry for him. But what could she do? She had barely even started working at this job, she couldn’t concern herself with trying to help him. The best she could do was keep her head down and do her work. If an opportunity presented itself, maybe she would consider appealing to someone else. Except for the first time she met him, Kirin had controlled himself. Maybe he and his people deserved a chance to find somewhere safe to live on Earth.
She couldn’t imagine the government allowing dragons to live freely without some kind of process to make sure they didn’t endanger humans. And though Kirin seemed calm and surprisingly gentle, she didn’t know what his other people were like. What if they weren’t all to be trusted?
Rayna packed up her equipment and left him, somehow feeling sadder than before she saw him. His amber eyes lit upon her, and though he was no doubt missing those he left behind, he attempted a smile for her.
The first week of Rayna’s job was bad enough, but the second was far worse.
Rayna got called into the office by her father. She was hoping he just wanted to chat and catch up with her. The moment she saw his serious expression she knew it was all business.
“Close the door behind you, and have a seat,” he said.
Rayna did as she was told. “What’s wrong?”
“Dr. Sidell is very unhappy. I just got off the phone with him after a very long and unpleasant conversation.”
“Does he ever meet with anyone in person? I have yet to see him. I wouldn’t know who he is if I bumped into him in the hallway.”
“Well you might not if things continue this way,” he snapped. “Are you unclear about the channels I had to go through to get you this position?”
Rayna shook her head. “You’ve made it abundantly clear, Dad. What’s the problem?”
Ashton sighed at her. “Rayna. He’s saying that after reviewing the samples you took last week, all of them need to be redone. He told me you’re so bad he can’t fathom how you graduated.”
“What’s he comparing the samples to? That’s the question I’d like answered. These are extra-terrestrial beings. Nothing we get from them is going to chart in the range of what we consider normal. And you’re the CEO so don’t pretend like this is information you’re shocked to hear from me.”
Rayna didn’t usually stand up to her father, but she was just too angry not to. Her father had been the one who encouraged her to go into science so she could work for the company one day. Now that she had made it through school she refused to be talked down to. When he stared at her in surprise, Rayna continued.
“If anything, the company has put me in a position working with some dangerous species. I can handle myself, but a little slack on my first week doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.”
“Be that as it may, even a CEO has to answer to a board,” he snapped. “The last thing I need is my daughter making me look bad in front of people I admire.”
“Oh, you mean because you admire them, but you don’t respect my opinion? If Dr. Sidell is upset about my performance then maybe he could have spent a moment to at least meet me and make sure I understand exactly what his preferred protocols are.”
“Dr. Sidell has other responsibilities. He doesn’t have time to babysit you! If you don’t show marked improvement by the end of the week, then you’ll have to leave the company. That includes re-doing the samples from last week and staying on top of those ordered for this week.”
After the unpleasant meeting with her father, the next business for the day was to go over the old lab results and see that Dr. Sidell was upset about. There were a couple which came back with skewed levels for Poe, but the ones for Kirin were a total loss. She was surprised to find that Johnny and Mimi’s results were fine. No one told her that. If she hadn’t double checked she’d have ended up doing their tests again too.
Rayna’s theory was that Poe’s results were being tested against a regular earth primate, and a pattern of his own old tests. The ape-like creature’s records went back seven years. So what were Kirin’s results compared to? Was there was another dragon in Dynamic Tech’s keeping? She didn’t have the kind of clearance she would need to find out but it was food for thought.
Rayna didn’t have time to mull over that mystery. There was other work to be done. Working late into the evening, she decided to take Poe’s samples first, and then go in to see Kirin. As much as she looked forward to seeing him, she felt bad because she needed to extract another painful skin sample. She decided it was best to delay his discomfort.
She had a hard time remembering that Poe was indeed an ape and not a man in a suit. He asked how she was and commented that she looked tired. Noticing this demanded an amount of emotional intelligence she would not have expected from the primate. After she took what she needed from him, she closed the door, and paid attention to checking off items on her chart.
Rayna felt a whoosh of movement from behind. She was almost on her tenth hour of work, and she hadn’t taken a break. If she had been thinking straight, she would have realized what she’d just done; she closed the door on Poe’s cage but had forgotten to secure the lock.
Rayna was pushed to the ground. She fell face down. Poe grabbed her by the ponytail and smashed her face against the floor. She tried to crawl away, but he pulled her backwards and turned her on her back. She clawed at his face but it did no good. His hands were at her throat, strangling her. Looking towards the ceiling, she felt her body grow numb. She stopped struggling against him. She couldn’t breathe anymore, and everything was going blurry. This is not good, she thought, trying to summon up the energy to fight back. Her arms went slack and fell to her sides with a thump.
There was a booming noise that shook the entire building. Rayna thought of an earthquake, but the movement wasn’t beneath them. It was coming from the opposite wall. Poe looked over his shoulder. He cussed. If she had any air left in her lungs, she would have laughed. One of her predecessors at the lab had taught him to swear along with his obsessive memorization of his namesake’s works.
This is how it ends, Rayna thought as her vision began to shrink. As she slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing she was aware of was a rattling noise and the feeling of heat.
Rayna woke to the blaring of alarms. She was lying on the floor. Coughing, she rolled onto her side. She put a hand to her throat, which still burned. She bled from a gash above her right eyebrow. She had to move slowly because she was nauseous. She tried to sit up and found that for the moment it was no use. The room was filled with smoke.
She saw a pair of bare feet approaching her through the gloom.
“Rayna, don’t get up yet,” Kirin said. “I shouldn’t have moved you in the first place, but I had no choice,” he bent near her. He dabbed at her forehead with bandages retrieved from her cart. It was a few feet away, overturned. Tears came to her eyes when she realized all the samples she had taken were very likely destroyed.
Not far from the cart was a burned, smoldering heap in the form of a body. Then she remembered. Poe had tried to kill her. The smoking mess of cinder was all that remained of him.
“You saved me!” Rayna turned to Kirin. “How did you get out of your cage?”
“I could have gotten out anytime I wanted,” he replied. “But it’s a question of how many people I’d have to kill to leave this place. I heard you were in trouble, and I came. I only wish I had known sooner what he was planning to do. Poe’s brainwaves are not the same as a human’s, or those of my race. I couldn’t read him, but I heard you cry out the moment he hit you.”
Rayna saw the concern in his eyes. He bent over her, wiping her blood away. Through the smoke, she could only see half his body. She was still aware of his nudity, his closeness, and the quickening of her pulse. She was so embarrassed to know he could hear her thoughts and she still couldn’t stop the flow of them. “Thank you for helping me,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Ah,” he said, caressing her cheek. “I would never let anyone hurt you. But this shame you feel. There’s no reason for it,” he said, leaning closer. “When I feel all the same things about you.”
Kirin wrapped his arms around her, and they kissed.
It was just a gentle touch, a brush of his lips against hers. And then he parted her lips with his tongue. She opened her mouth to him, let her tongue stroke his. He took her breath into him. She moved, pulling him more firmly into her arms, and bringing his body on top of hers.
Rayna heard a bang and screaming. Security guards rushed through the doorway. They pulled Kirin off of her and dragged him to the middle of the room. Two guards threw him to the floor and beat him with clubs while the others pointed their guns at him.
“No! Stop!” Rayna pleaded. She got to her feet, but two of the men held her down while they others circled Kirin, guns were drawn. “Poe attacked me! He saved me! Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing! Please!”
Kirin was surrounded. He lifted his hands in surrender, getting to his knees. The guards trained their guns on him. The air began to fill with heat. Sweat gathered on his face, and he shivered, trying hard to control himself. Rayna knew his change could be prompted involuntarily by anger or fear. Being threatened at gunpoint was enough of a stress to bring on his change. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to beg for Kirin’s life. No one was listening to her.
“Stop!”
A booming male voice stopped the men. Rayna’s father, Ashton, came through the doorway, red-faced, apoplectic with anger.
“Stand down now you fools before he burns the entire building down! How did this happen? Does anybody know?”
“Poe got out of his cage. He tried to kill me. Kirin stopped him.”
“And how did he get out of his cage?” Ashton asked. “You can let go of my daughter now!”
The men that were holding Rayna dropped her arms abruptly. She was surprised that she was able to stand on her own, despite the ringing in her ears and the pounding in her head. Kirin slowly got to his feet, but the men didn’t move away from him. Rayna realized they were poised for her father’s next orders.
“What she’s saying is the truth,” Kirin affirmed.
“No one was speaking to you, Dragon,” Ashton huffed. “Answer my question, Rayna!”
“I must not have locked the door to his cage properly,” she replied.
“Take him away,” he made a dismissive wave towards Kirin.
The men grabbed Kirin’s arms. He gazed over his shoulder at Rayna with a look of concern as the men pushed him through the doorway.
Once he was gone, another guard shut the door behind them.
“I made a mistake, I will admit that,” Rayna said. “But Kirin could have sat by and did nothing. He knew that Poe was hurting me, and he came to help. He doesn’t deserve to be held here like an animal. He’s not less of a danger here than he is anyplace else. Holding him captive is just making the entire situation worse. He told me about his people and how they were only looking for a new home after their planet was destroyed. They never meant to wage war, but if pushed they’ll have no choice but to fight back!”
“I told you before I’m not the only person here to make the decision about whether he stays here or is let go free.”
“Dad that’s bullshit! You’re the CEO. These people wake up and go to bed on your orders. You don’t want to do anything about it so it’s easier to blame the board. Otherwise, you have to admit to me and yourself you’re a coward.”
Ashton slapped his daughter’s face. Even the guards winced. “I don’t know what’s happened to you lately. You never used to be so…mouthy,” he snarled.
Despite the pain, Rayna refused to cry out. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. He was used to his kind, submissive little daughter who fell into line with whatever he wanted. Not this time. It was too important. Kirin and the future of his people were too entwined with their own fate. For once, she intended to stand up for something that mattered.
“You can hit me all you want, the truth is the truth,” Rayna said. “Kirin and his people are peaceful. What happened just now is proof of that. He didn’t have to protect me to begin with, much less allow your men to point their guns at him. He could have killed us all.”
“We will discuss this further, in private,” Ashton hissed under his breath. “I knew you weren’t cut out for this job.”
Over the next two weeks, Rayna started spending more time with Kirin. Since Poe was no longer part of her rounds, she was able to spare a few extra minutes with him in the mornings. She also came to visit him after hours each day. Though her excuse was that she was there to tend to his wounds and keep him calm, she was really there just to get closer to him. After he put himself in danger to protect her an unspoken bond was forged between the two.
Kirin’s situation was both better and worse. Because of Rayna’s complaints, someone at the facility saw to it that Kirin was provided with clothes. They were plain- white shirts and beige pants, not much better than clothes of a jailed prisoner, but they were something. Also, he was no longer chained. He’d broke the chains and decimated the barriers that held him in before. His new enclosure was built of stone, like a small house within an outer Plexi glass shell. It would be harder for him to destroy. The positive thing was it provided some privacy for him. There was a private bath and toilet. A bed and a small table with two chairs were also provided. Before, he’d only had a toilet and sink with a small screen in front of it, and no bunk or bed to sleep in. Rayna was satisfied to know she had convinced her father to make Kirin’s accommodations a bit more humane.
Kirin told her stories about his home world every day. He described to her the night skies which were the color of magenta, the deep green-blue skies of daylight, and the sun and moon which were both visible during all hours of the day. He told her how the climate was very much like California- mild through most of the year, with lands in the north that had rain or snow in the winter. He explained that his particular tribe of dragons lived in a mountainous area. Their homes were built into the rock face of the mountains. In the morning the fledgling dragons would leave their homes to fly together, returning at sundown. It sounded like a beautiful life, a dream rather than reality. Rayna tried to imagine what it would be like to fly. She imagined it was the most awesome feeling of freedom.
Kirin had cuts and bruises on his body from being beaten by the guards, mostly on his limbs, but there was a very nasty cut on his left side, below his second rib. Rayna made sure his bandages were changed twice a day.“I feel bad because I’m using this ointment on you and I don’t know if it even works,” she told him.
Kirin smiled. “Don’t worry about it. We tend to heal well. Back home, kids try to see how many cuts and bruises they can get and still pretend it doesn’t hurt. You’re keeping it clean and covered at least which is the important thing.”
“So dragons don’t like to admit to their vul
nerabilities?” Rayna teased.
“We sure don’t,” he agreed.
“I can’t blame you. We all have them. Sometimes it feels like if you can pretend you don’t, you become impervious.”
On this particular evening, they were sitting together at his table. They had gotten into the habit of eating dinner together. She’d sneaked in Thai food on this occasion. One of the things she noticed was that Kirin liked anything spicy. He rolled noodles over chopsticks with ease. There was really nothing he seemed unable to master without the slightest of effort.
“What’s your vulnerability?” he asked, fixing her with those amber eyes of his.
“My father,” she said quickly. “He’s my weak spot.”
“How so?”
“You probably don’t want to hear about it.”
“Yes, I do,” Kirin urged gently. “I want to know all I can about you.”
Rayna sighed. “Well, my father’s very domineering. I suppose it’s worked for him in business, but not so much in our personal lives. My mother died when I was very little, so it was just the two of us….”
“I’m sorry,” Kirin said.
“Thank you. It was a long time ago. Anyway, I guess I always wanted to impress my father. He spent so much time working, and he always told me Dynamic Tech would do things to change the world for the better. He encouraged me to go into science from the time I was old enough to go to school. I excelled in all my courses. But good was never good enough. Even when I was making straight A’s, he always managed to put me down. If it wasn’t something about my school work, it was always about my body. I was never thin enough. I wasn’t going to have a husband or a man in my life who cared for me because of the way I looked. He used to tell me I was big as a side of a barn, and it was a good thing I was smart. I needed to take care of myself because obviously, who else would want to? It didn’t help that when I hit puberty, I gained a few extra pounds, and I had to wear glasses. It was like I was proving everything he’d ever said about me. I was the nerdy, chubby kid no one wanted to go to the dance with.”