Transmission Lost

by Stefan Mazzara

“Uh...Jack...,” he responded. “My name's Jack.”

  “I haven't seen another person in ages...,” Brooke said. “Where are you from?”

  “Earth,” Jack said.

  “Earth? What's that? I've never heard of that place...Is that a town?”

  Jack was completely taken aback by that. “No, it's...It's a planet. Don't you know? That's where humans...we...come from.”

  “Oh,” Brooke said, sounding apologetic. “I'm sorry, I...I didn't know that.”

  “No, it's okay,” Jack assured her, not wanting to upset the girl. He paused for a moment. “Er...so...Where are you from?”

  Brooke's voice sounded a little distressed. “I...don't know. I can't remember that far back...The only place I've ever known I lived was here, on Lirna. I've always been a slave, so far as I can remember.”

  “Really?”

  Jack felt a wave of pity wash over him. If Brooke couldn't even remember where she had been born, she must be a lot younger than he though, perhaps as young as twelve or thirteen. The war had only lasted for about ten years, so far. Since Brooke had never heard of Earth, she must have been taken as a slave from a colony world before she was old enough to remember much of anything. This poor girl had been a slave for almost her entire life.

  Jack changed the subject a little. “Why are you down here, Brooke? They put me here because I hit one of the Ailians...What did you do?”

  “Oh...Well...I tried to run away.” Brooke sighed, and she seemed to draw herself into a tight ball where she sat. “My master kept beating me so I kept trying to leave. He didn't like that...Finally, I ran away so many times that he didn't want to bother with me anymore. So he sold me. And then I tried to run away from this place, so they put me down here.”

  “That sucks,” Jack said. “How long have you been down here?”

  “I'm not sure...A month, maybe? Whenever they take me out, I just try to run away again. So I think they're going to keep me here for a long time...I hate them. They're all terrible people.”

  “I see.” Jack straightened his legs out, shifting a bit uncomfortably where he sat. He knew that Brooke's feelings were understandable, but he couldn't help but get a little annoyed by what she was saying. Sure, it was a little difficult to come up with a defense for Ailians now that he'd seen the slave market, but Aria was proof that they weren't all bad.

  Brooke didn't make any more conversation for a while after that. Jack was starting to think she was finished talking to him, but then she spoke up again. “How did you get here?”

  “That's...kind of a long story,” Jack muttered.

  “Tell me, please,” Brooke pleaded with him. “It's just...It's been so long since I got to talk to another person...”

  Jack rubbed the back of his neck. He felt very sorry for the girl, especially since she sounded absolutely desperate to make the most of the situation. He understood very well how she felt; he'd had nobody but Aria to talk to for the last few weeks, and he did have to admit that socializing with another human was pretty nice. “Alright, well...It all started with my job back on Earth...”

  ******

  A few hours later, Jack had told Brooke the whole story, save for a few of the more salacious details that he didn't think were appropriate for a child. He'd also left out the exact nature of his relationship with Aria. He didn't think she would react very well to that, and he didn't want to upset the girl. As he finished up, he could tell she was sitting up straight, rapt with attention.

  “You mean you're actually friends with one of them?” the girl asked, not sounding as though she was capable of believing something like that.

  “Yeah...pretty much,” Jack replied, evasively. He wondered if Brooke suspected he was lying a little, but he didn't think so. She seemed disbelieving enough of the possibility of a human and an Ailian having anything but hatred for each other.

  Brooke shifted her position on the floor, crossing her legs. “But...she was mean to you when you met her. Why would you want to be friends after that?”

  “It's not that I wanted to be friends with her,” Jack said. He didn't really know how to explain it to Brooke. “It just...You don't really decide to be friends with someone. It's just something that happens. We had to survive, so we had to work together, so we grew to like each other.”

  “Oh...” Brooke seemed to think about that for a few moments. “I've never really had any friends, so I guess I don't know how it works. But...I guess she sounds like a good person. For one of them.”

  “She took some getting used to,” Jack admitted. “But, yeah...Yeah, I think she really is a good person. It's just that Ailians and humans are different. It's not bad to be different.” He thought about what he'd just said for a minute. He really hadn't liked Aria when he'd first met her. She's been so abrasive, so abusive, and such a slave driver. However, he realized now that her behavior might have been because she was just as scared as he. She'd never spent much time in the company of humans before, as he understood it, so she'd behaved in the best way she'd thought to protect herself, and the way that she'd been trained. Jack couldn't say that he wouldn't have acted the same if their roles had been reversed.

  “So...You've never had any friends?” Jack asked Brooke, curious. “Not a single one?”

  “No.”

  “What about family? What about your mother and father?”

  The girl was quiet for a while, and then Jack heard her give a little sniffle. “I...I don't know...I can barely remember them at all. I don't know if they're dead, or if they got sold, or what...” She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she cried quietly.

  “I...Sorry!” Jack said quickly. He reflected that he really wasn't good with kids at all. “I didn't mean to make you cry. I shouldn't have said anything!”

  He watched Brooke as she cried for a few minutes, not sure what to do. He was afraid of making it worse, so he held his tongue, feeling terrible and awkward and wishing she would stop. Finally, after perhaps ten minutes, she calmed down, sniffing and wiping her face.

  “It's...It's okay...,” the girl said, sniffling loudly. “I cry sometimes. That was one reason why master beat me so much. So I try not to cry all the time, but sometimes I can't help it.”

  “Oh, it's...don't worry about it,” Jack assured her. He reached out hesitantly, then patted her on the shoulder. She flinched a little, and he quickly drew his hand back. She didn't seem to be used to physical contact of the friendly sort. “You said you tried to run away...Where would you run to? It's all desert out here.”

  “I dunno,” Brooke said, shrugging. “Anything is better than being a slave, I guess. And there are rumors among the other slaves. They say there's a place out there where other escaped slaves have gathered. That there's a city or a town of all slaves, living together, free from their masters. Maybe someday I'll get away, and find that place.”

  Jack smiled a little, even though she wouldn't be able to see it. The girl just seemed so sincere, it was impossible not to believe in her, even if what she was talking about was likely nothing more than wishful thinking. “I'm sure you will...”

  Suddenly, Jack's ears perked up. Faintly, he thought he could hear voices through the door, getting gradually closer. The speech sounded agitated, angry, and it was growing louder by the second. Though he still couldn't tell a whole lot of difference between Ailian voices, Jack though he could detect the speech of the slave dealer, Pe'lia. Whatever she was saying, she didn't seem to be very happy with the person she was talking to. And the person she was talking to sounded even less pleased, though that voice was more forceful. When the voices were loud enough that he was certain they were right outside the door, he heard a dull clunk as the lock disengaged.

  The door opened, allowing light to flood into the room. His eyes hurting a little from the new light, Jack blinked a few times, then took the opportunity to get a look at Brooke. As it turned out, he had been overestimating her age when he'd thought she was fifteen. Jack would have been v
ery surprised if she was much older than twelve or thirteen. She was short, and had dark, dark skin. Her hair was midnight black, long enough to reach the small of her back, with traces of gray that were doubtless from the stress of being a slave her whole life. Brooke looked back at him with large, piercing green eyes. Jack was struck with the idea that if she lived through being a slave, she would grow up to be a gorgeous woman.

  Tearing his gaze away from the girl, he looked back to the doorway. Standing there, as he'd suspected, was Pe'lia. Beside her stood an Ailian that Jack hadn't seen before. A very tall female, she was dressed in a red military uniform exactly like the one Aria had worn, though it was in much better shape than the clothes Aria had been wearing. She had black fur spotted with white, and seemed much older than Aria.

  “You have been claimed,” Pe'lia said through gritted teeth. She shot a sideways glance at the soldier next to her, her expression suggesting murderous fury. The black Ailian didn't meet her look, instead gazing intently at Jack.

  “Oh,” he said blankly. “Really.” A cold knot formed in the pit of his stomach. The black Ailian, whom he presumed had bought him, looked like a tough person. He didn't have a good feeling about being taken by her.

  “Not just sit there!” Pe'lia snapped at him. She gestured at him. “Not waste my time. Get up and come!”

  Carefully, with just enough delay to demonstrate his defiance, Jack stood up. He paused, looking down at Brooke, not wanting to leave the girl alone again but not seeing much alternative. “Good luck, Brooke. Maybe I'll see you again.”

  Brooke waved at him, her expression clearly showing her doubt at the likelihood of that prospect. “Okay. Bye...” She waved at him with one hand, then shuffled her way back to the corner she'd been sitting in when he arrived, huddling in a little ball there.

  Turning away, Jack walked to the door and left the room, and Pe'lia closed and locked the door after him. The black Ailian placed a hand on his shoulder, gently but firmly urging him towards the stairs to take him up. He let himself be pushed along, though he was reluctant to leave the building now that he was certain that a life of slavery was what awaited him.

  When they got up the stairs and back out in the daylight, Jack was greeted by the sight of two wheeled vehicles parked a short distance from the doorway. One of them was a military vehicle, though smaller than the one he had been brought to the slave market in. The other was sleeker, black, and looked remarkably like some kind of luxury car, though of course it was designed for Ailians and was much larger than a human car might have been. Standing beside this vehicle was a slightly built Ailian of average height, dressed in similar clothing to what Pe'lia was wearing, though her clothes were a soft green color. Her fur was a bright tiger orange with black stripes. She looked young to Jack, perhaps only just out of adolescence, though he couldn't really tell. When she saw Jack and the other Ailians step out of the building, she opened the door to the vehicle.

  At an urging push from the black-furred Ailian, Jack walked to that vehicle. The orange-furred female gestured to the door. “Inside,” she said simply. Jack looked at her, his eyes narrowed, but there wasn't really anywhere to run to. Like he'd told Brooke, there was desert in three directions and a city full of enemies in the fourth. So he stepped into the vehicle, which seemed to be set up on the inside rather like a human-style limousine. There was a wall separating the passenger compartment from the front of the vehicle, where Jack assumed someone else was working as a driver.

  Jack expected the black Ailian to step inside after him, but when he looked over his shoulder he saw her walking to the military vehicle. The tiger-striped Ailian stepped in instead, and shut the door. He was a little taken aback. “Hey, what's going-”

  His voice was immediately cut off as something massive plowed right into him, knocking him off his feet and into one of the long couch seats that lined the perimeter of the inside of the vehicle. Before Jack could shout in alarm a pair of arms wrapped tightly around his body, squeezing him in a fierce hug and muffling his voice against something soft.

  “A-A-Aria?” Jack gasped, when his mouth was finally free.

  “Jack...,” Aria said, leaning back and looking at him with sparkling eyes. Then she drew him close to her once more, and she kissed him.

  “Oh, god, Aria...” Jack gladly returned the gesture, finally putting his arms around her and hugging back as tightly as he could. She wrapped her tail possessively around his waist, a thunderous purr vibrating through her chest.

  “I think I never see you again...,” Aria breathed as their kiss broke. She clutched his head against her breasts, nuzzling the top of his head.

  “You thought you'd never see me?” Jack asked, incredulous. “I was certain you were dead by now. What are you doing here?”

  “Is long story...,” Aria said, looking down at him fondly. “I explain later, yes?”

  Tearing his gaze away from her, Jack glanced over at the other Ailian in the vehicle, who was watching the entire exchange with wide eyes. Belatedly, he realized that, even considering that his ability to distinguish between different Ailians was limited, she looked remarkably like Aria. Her eyes were almost identical, flecked with gold, though of a robin's egg blue color instead of the bright yellow of Aria's. Also a moment too late, he realized it might not be the best thing for anyone else to see these displays of affection. He started to pull away from Aria, but she held him still. Then, to his surprise, the corners of the other female's mouth turned out, and she seemed to be laughing quietly.

  “Is alright,” Aria explained. She held a hand out towards the younger woman. “Is Sami. My sister.”

  “Your...oh...,” Jack said, though he was still uncertain. “Okay, but...is it still such a good idea to...You know...In front of her?”

  “She already know,” Aria assured him. “Sami is eldest sister. No secrets. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Right...Well, if you say so.” Jack extended a hand to Sami. “Pleasure to meet you, Sami. I'm Jack Squier. It's nice to finally meet some of Aria's family.”

  Sami smiled at him, waving her tail in a friendly manner, but she glanced at Aria with an expression that suggested a bit of discomfort and awkwardness. Quickly, Aria said something to her in her own language, and she seemed to relax. Then she extended her own hand, grasping Jack's with a light grip.

  “Sami not speak much human,” Aria told Jack. “I teach her a little, when I home on leave sometimes, but she still learning.”

  “Oh, well,” Jack said, “maybe I can help out with that some.”

  “She like that, I think.” Aria leaned back in her seat, keeping one arm around Jack's waist. “Ara te cha'kra ni ben, sami.”

  Sami nodded, and rapped on the front portion of the passenger compartment they were in. Jack felt the vehicle begin to move, and he tried to look out the darkened windows, but they were too tinted for him to see much other than vague movement. From what he could feel, though, they were moving at a very high speed. The ground rumbled underneath them, as they were presumably traveling over the grassy and sandy ground, but that sensation was soon replaced by the smooth travel of a paved surface.

  “Where are we going?” Jack asked. He was still intensely curious about the circumstances surrounding how Aria was able to take him like this, but he also sensed that she didn't want to talk about it right now.

  “My family home,” Aria replied. “Will be staying there for a while. You like. Is nice little home.”

  They rode in silence for the rest of the trip. Jack and Aria were perfectly content to just sit next to each other, her arm around him while he rested against her side. He noticed that she was still wearing her worn red flight suit. Jack thought about the clothes that Sami was wearing, and of course he couldn't help but imagine Aria wearing the same sort of thing. That thought was certainly a diverting one, and got him wondering about the sleeping arrangements while he was staying at Aria's family's home.

  Speaking of sleep, Jack realized that he was really in
need of some. He hadn't had a good night's sleep since before he and Aria had been rescued. He also was incredibly hungry. The last meal he'd eaten had been the day before on the Ailian ship, and you couldn't really call prison fare a meal. He wondered what sorts of things Ailians ate for dinner. He assumed, since Aria had been able to eat human food without any difficulty, that Ailian food would similarly be edible to him, but would it be appetizing or too different for him to deal with?

  After a while, the vehicle slowed and then came to a stop. Sami moved from her seat and opened the door, stepping out. Aria took a moment to give Jack one more soft, tender kiss, and then she helped him out of the vehicle. When Jack got out and had a look at where they were, he felt his jaw drop.

  In front of him was what he could only describe as a Spanish-style villa. A number of central buildings were organized in tiers, with verdant green gardens and ornamental trees filling the spaces between them. An artificial stream flowed down from the top to the bottom, splitting into branching waterfalls as the water flowed over each tier. The buildings themselves were gorgeous, constructed with what looked like some sort of sandy stone and decorated on the outside with red and blue tiles. Large windows of crystal clear glass went from the ground to the roof in many places on the buildings. This wasn't just a home, it was a palace!

  “This is your family's home?” Jack gasped, his eyes as wide as saucers.

  “Yes,” Aria said. She seemed a little surprised at his reaction. “I tell you before, I have large family, yes? And I also tell you my father is merchant.”

  “Yeah, but you didn't tell me he was successful enough for a place like this,” Jack breathed. He was starting to feel a little intimidated by the size of the place. Even in his wildest dreams, Jack had never imagined being rich enough to have a home like this.

  Aria blinked at him, then she laughed lightly. “Well, come. We go inside.” She was looking a little anxious now. “I want to see father. Not see him in months.”

  Sami was already halfway up a walkway leading to the lowest tier of buildings. Still slightly weak in the knees, Jack let Aria lead him along as they followed her. His head was spinning a bit. The only thing that he could think right now was that this was probably not the last surprise he was going to face on Lirna.