by Elin Wyn
“Ready to see if it’s safe?”
She blinked. “Don’t you have a tool to test that? Sticking our head out into space doesn’t seem like the best way to find out!” Sharla was no astrophysicist, but she had seen plenty of science fiction movies, and had a pretty good idea of what happened when you went out into vacuum without a suit. Your eyes exploded, and things went south from there.
No way, not for her. Maybe her mystery guy’s suit would protect him, but it wouldn’t do a thing to keep her eyeballs in place.
Caught up in the ways her body could implode (or was it explode?), she didn’t resist when her rescuer pulled her to her feet and tucked her form tightly against his chest.
“Just in case,” he muttered.
Sharla didn’t mind. If nothing else, it was the one place she’d felt safe since this whole mess started.
He slapped the switch, and the door rolled open smoothly.
No noise.
No wind.
No vacuum.
Sharla’s shoulders sagged as she let out the breath she’d been holding. He set her down, and stepped out of the alcove, glancing both ways.
“Clear enough. Let’s go.”
She followed him, racing down the corridor. Two rights and a left, and they were at another door. A line of small ships, not much larger than the VW bugs she’d coveted since high school, were parked in a row, behind another shimmering red field, this one the size of the side of a house. Through the field she could faintly see a field of stars, slowly rotating in her vision.
Sharla felt queasy. Intellectually understanding that she must, logically, be in space, seeing the aliens, running through the ship -- all of that was all one thing. But actually seeing the galaxy spread before her? Something else entirely.
She needed to sit down. And get a drink. Not necessarily in that order.
And not yet, apparently.
Her rescuer leaned over one of the small craft, poking something, and the top half slid away.
“Get in.”
Without waiting for her response, he lifted her and settled her into the back seat.
But instead of following her, he pulled a flat package from a hidden pocket of his suit, and placed it against the wall, right next to the red haze.
Before she could wonder what he was doing, he’d leapt into the craft, and begun to punch buttons.
As they swooped out of the landing bay, Sharla closed her eyes. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Losing the fight with willpower, she snuck a peek from between her fingers to watch the view behind them. The alien craft looked like a massive grey skyscraper, laying on its side, with odd juts and angles down its length. Although silent, a series of explosions ran down one side, leading away from the bay they’d just fled.
She turned to the front, tried to peer around the broad shoulders of the man in front of her. He stared ahead with steely focus. “What… How… What did you do?” She looked behind them again. The massive ship was slowly listing to the side, as if wounded.
He grunted. “They’re faster than my ship. We need to gain some time.” He punched more buttons and the tiny ship slung between rocky fragments. Sharla wondered if closing her eyes might be the best decision, after all.
“I thought you crashed your ship back there?” In the room you didn’t warn me to avoid, she didn’t add, but thought it rather loudly.
“That was just a dory, a little away vessel like this.” He patted the metallic sides encasing them.
“So, once we get to your ship, then what?”
He didn’t answer for long moments. The craft came to a slow stop, then seemed to sink.
Sharla gasped as she realized they were coming to rest inside a larger ship. A long green and grey tunnel surrounded her vision, blocking out the broad expanse of the stars she was just starting to get used to.
The ship bumped, rocked, and finally settled. She listened to various hisses as he tapped out more commands, then slid the top of the small craft open. Apparently, they’d arrived. He leapt out, and reached a hand to lift her out.
“Then, we take you back to Earth.”
Sharla sagged at his words, but he caught her, scooped her into his arms and held her tight against his chest.
“Are you alright?” He asked.
She nodded, trembling. “I think it’s all been a little much.” She sniffled, hating how much she sounded like a six-year-old, and not really able to do much about it. She patted his arm. “I’m fine, you can set me down.”
He didn’t seem to hear her, but instead walked with her towards the far wall. A metal door slid open at their approach, closing silently behind them. He went up a short series of stairs to a small room. She looked around at all the monitors. Based solely on her science fiction movie addiction, maybe the control room for the ship?
He placed her in a soft padded chair, and turned to a panel of switches and buttons, doing something, she didn’t know what, but from his previous statement, heading back to Earth.
She sank into the chair, the trembling getting worse. She’d been abducted, threatened with life as a sex slave on some alien world, nearly blown up and then sucked into space (even if the last was partially her own doing). And now, it was all going to be as if nothing had happened?
Her rescuer’s hands stilled on the board. She couldn’t feel any acceleration, but he seemed satisfied. “Now I can get this thing off.” He ran a gloved finger around the neck of the suit, and a small opening appeared. Reaching behind his head he pulled the helmet off, and she finally faced him.
His skin was a luscious, golden color, his short hair shades deeper. Sharp cheekbones kept his full lips from looking too soft. And his eyes… Sharla jumped, realized she was gaping open mouthed.
When in doubt, go back to what you know. She pushed herself out of the chair and held out a hand. “Hello, I’m Sharla Davidson. Thank you very much for rescuing me.”
He stared at her hand while peeling off his gloves. “Kordiss of Clan Th’roi.” He shrugged, took her hand in his own, held it as if they were going on a walk. “You’re welcome.”
His casualness shook her. “Does this, those people, does this happen often?”
He ran his free hand through his hair. “The Nargest are getting pretty bold, but they won’t be following us for a while. I scanned their energy trail back to where they picked you up. We should be back to your planet in three days, maybe four.”
Her shaking only got worse. “If you take me back to Earth, what’s to keep them from coming again? The one back there, on the ship, he sounded like they knew about my planet, like they’d been there before.”
Kordiss sighed. He hadn’t really thought that part through. The job was to rescue and return. But she had a point. Was that going to be the game now? Wait for another abduction, chase them down, hope to rescue the woman in time, and then do it all over again? Someone was going to have to come up with a better system.
He straightened his shoulders. But it wouldn’t be him, not right now. Right now he had one job. Get the tiny female standing in front of him safely home, and in one piece.
One piece. Something tickled the back of his mind. “Before I came, did they…” now he was the one reaching for words, tangled in what he wanted to say. Damn the job for not coming with a few more cultural lessons, anyway. How was he supposed to know what was taboo or not? She looked at him, head tilted, and her dark hair fell away from her face, baring her richly colored eyes. Darkness, how had he not noticed her eyes before this?
“Did they,” she echoed, and then must have understood his meaning. Her skin darkened, and she looked away. “No. The one that spoke to me said they’d get a better price for me because I hadn’t been touched yet.”
His eyes narrowed as he looked at her more closely. Did her species have such a different standard of beauty? Perhaps he’d misunderstood.
“Hadn’t been touched by them?” His throat tightened, as he
looked at her again. “Or, not at all?”
She shrugged, obviously feeling uncomfortable with the line of questioning. “Not at all. They seemed to think it would make a difference.”
Kordiss dropped her hand and stepped back, mind reeling. Of course it would make a difference. For a completely inexperienced woman, there were some creatures who would pay anything. He turned to examine the control panel. There was no way to get more speed out of his craft, no way he could hide her…
Her only hope, his only hope, was to get her back to Earth, and hope that in the masses she’d be overlooked.
His heart told him that was a crappy plan, but he couldn’t come up with any alternatives.
He glanced back over to Sharla, who’d crawled back into the co-captain’s chair. The padded chair dwarfed her, especially as she’d chosen to curl up into a ball, shoes kicked off underneath.
“What are you doing?”
“Sleeping,” she mumbled. “It’s comfy.”
4
She drifted off, and when she woke a small light blinked on a panel on the wall. As she moved, it grew in brightness, revealing a small, cramped room.
She stretched slowly, feeling every muscle she’d strained during yesterday’s escape. And now that she was free, now what? Back to Earth, the same job, the same life that felt as if it was going nowhere?
All her life, she’d been waiting. But maybe, just maybe, that was a good thing. If she hadn’t waited, she wouldn’t have been taken, and then she wouldn’t have been rescued by Kordiss. She thought again of his hands, sure against the controls, warm and steady as they carried her.
His care for her. His calm control of the rescue, the concern in his eyes.
A delicious shiver ran down her spine, and butterflies started to swarm in her stomach.
This was someone more than “okay enough.” Lots more. Was she really going to do this?
Sharla thought about the grey man, his flat eyes as they roamed over her body, and squared her shoulders. No more waiting.
So what was she going to do about it?
She sat up in bed. How long until they reached Earth? Three days? She ran fingers through her hair, combing out the worst of the tangles. Then she’d better get moving.
Sharla looked down at her date clothes, rumpled and stained now. Cream, silky blouse, not real silk, but not too cheap, the best she could afford on her bank teller’s salary. An A line charcoal colored skirt that she was glad wasn’t a pencil skirt. She shuddered. That was a clothing decision that might have killed her last night, not being able to run. Slightly battered shoes placed carefully at the side of the bed. A bit impractical, but she’d loved them.
Nothing that seemed like it would catch her spaceman’s eye. Besides, he’d seen her in that outfit, and hadn’t seemed interested. Maybe a peek into the containers still littering the room would give her something to work with.
A short time later, she padded down the metal hallway, looking for Kordiss. When she found him, her lips twitched, just a bit. He was head and shoulders inside a hatch of some sort. She cleared her throat. He didn’t move. “Kordiss?” Still no answer.
She lay a hand on his leg, and smothered a giggle when he jerked, apparently hitting his head inside the tube, muttering words she didn’t recognize.
And that was something else to ask him about.
He slid out of the tube, eyes narrowed, but flushed a deeper shade of gold when he saw her. He looked at her, eyes wide. “Why are you wearing that?”
She looked at him, willing herself not to blush. “My clothes were dirty, and I didn’t exactly pack for a trip.”
Maybe she’d made the wrong decision. The only other clothes she’d found were obviously his. She’d found a deep emerald green top, much like a man’s dress shirt, but out of smoother fabric than she’d ever felt. When she pulled it on it nearly reached her knees. She’d left the top few fastenings undone, further down than she’d ever bothered for on a date. This time, she wanted him to catch flashes of her bra, see the curve of her breast. She’d wrapped length of black fabric around her waist, to make the make-shift outfit less like pajamas.
She waited, the cold of the floor seeping through the socks she’d found. Not the most attractive footwear, but she really couldn’t keep traipsing about in heels. She’d break something, and she was pretty sure that was decidedly unsexy.
But… was anything she did going to appeal to him? For all she knew, the females of his species were all seven foot tall warrior goddesses. Heck, for all she knew, he wasn’t interested in females.
Her shoulders slumped and she turned away.
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, and when she turned to face him, she fought down a smile.
His jaw was tight, eyes focused on the curve of her neck. He ran his hand softly over her arm, stroking her through the fabric, then he pulled away as if he’d been burned.
“What were you looking for?”
Her tongue darted out, moistening suddenly dry lips. She wrenched her attention away from the feel of his hand on her arm, a craving to feel him against her bare skin. “I didn’t know if you were ready for breakfast. Or,” she shrugged, “whatever meal time it is.”
She pointed back up the tube. “I may not be able to do… whatever it is you’re doing, but I’m a pretty good cook.”
He smiled and started to pack away the tools. “Probably not a bad skill, but I’m afraid there’s not much use for it.” He stood and headed down the hall. “I’m a terrible cook, so I tend to mostly stock just basic food packs.”
She shuddered, but hurried to catch up to him. “Not like the orange brick?”
He paused, looked back at her. “Orange brick?”
“On the ship, they tried to feed me a compressed block of... something. I don’t know, but it was pretty awful. Like the worst granola bar you could imagine.”
He shifted the tools to his other arm so he had a free hand to guide her through the maze of corridors. “No orange bricks here, promise.”
Suddenly the passage opened into a spacious room. A set of furniture clustered to one side, looking forebodingly like dentists’ chairs. Across the back wall was a long length of counter, with shelving and cabinets above and below.
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t even know this was here.”
He flashed a grin at her, white teeth dazzling against his golden skin. “You’ve only been on board for a day. I’ll give you a pass on this one.”
He led the way to the back wall while she looked around. “So much space. Is there anyone else on board?”
Kordiss shook his head. “Nope, whole thing is mine. Bought her from a family operation on the cheap. Keeps me busy with repairs, but I’m never bored.”
He reached into a lower cabinet and brought out a small silver cube, about half the size of a shoebox. He handed it to her and pointed at one corner. “See the tab there?” A bit of the foil had been folded over the top. Sharla ran her fingers over the seam. Seriously, this was dinner?
“If you give that a tug, the whole thing will heat to cook the contents."
That sounded either totally promising – no pans, no stove top to clean when things boiled over, no recipes to shop for – or totally a disaster. TV dinners, every night, forever?
He frowned. “Of course we'll have to figure out what you eat, but if the Nargest could do it, so can we.”
Sharla gave the tab a tentative pull. Immediately the container heated in her hands. She yelped and dropped it quickly on the counter. Staring at her already reddening palms she gasped as tears came unbidden to her eyes.
“I didn't think, it was just so fast…”
She heard herself talking, stuttering as she stared at the blisters forming on her hands. The pain was overwhelming, pushing everything aside, leaving room only for the shrieks of her nerves.
“Damn, damn, damn,” muttered Kordiss. He whirled to another cabinet, yanking it open and grabbing something
she couldn’t see. He slammed a long black case to the counter and rummaged through it.
“Shhh, sweetie. It's going to be okay. Hold on, hold on.” He took her hand delicately in his own and waved over her damaged skin something that looked like a barcode reader.
Sharla started shaking as shock set in. The wave of light from the device soothed her hands, and she watched in amazement as the damage reversed, blisters receding, the angry red fading away. But still, her mind refused to stop shrieking in pain.
5
Kordiss finished his work with the healing gun and put it on the counter as Sharla’s knees collapsed. He scooped her up and held her close to his chest, fighting to ignore how soft and warm she felt pressed against him.
He brought her over to the stim chair, but when he started to place her in it she whimpered and nuzzled closer into him. His gut tightened as he considered what to do.
“Honey, it's just a way for you to relax while getting over the shock.”
Sharla's arms tightened around his neck. He sighed, and gingerly lowered them both into the chair, her frame still nestled in his lap.
“Do you have these on your planet?” He asked, knowing the answer was likely not but hoping to distract her. She shook her head against him but then cracked an eye open, curious. "What is it?”
“It's for viewing stims, like moving pictures that tell stories.” He frowned, unable to come up with a better description.
"Oh, like movies. Sure, we have movies.” She grinned up at him and he could feel her muscles beginning to soften. “Earth isn’t a complete backwater. Well, maybe it is compared to this, but we’re not too bad.”
He smiled back at her. “Then let's just put this on and let you relax while your hands finish healing.” He reached to the side of the reclined chair and pulled out a mesh cap.
Sharla eyed it with suspicion. “Maybe movie wasn’t the right analogy. What's that for?”
He paused. “It's to watch the stim, the movie, as it plays in your mind.”
Sharla's eyes widened. “How do you know that would even work on me?" A little creepy, sure but the idea of a movie inside her mind sounded kind of interesting.