by Zara Zenia
Meanwhile, the rest of the group is in just as much awe as I am, with their eyes wide and staring at all the different colors and textures that are before us. In the center of the building, at various intervals, are metal tracks that glide down to the floor below. I see a sign to the left of each one:
ESCALATOR
“Hey Draygus,” I run to catch up with him. “Have you seen those?”
“Escalators,” he says. “I have.”
“Are they like primitive versions of the ascenders we have back home?”
“They very much are,” he nods. “Except they don’t seem to be powered by the air like ours are. They seem to run on a less efficient fuel.”
“Hmm,” I look at each one as we pass by. “I think they are very interesting.”
While the others are more interested in looking in each shop window, I am more focused on the mechanics of the building. The escalators, as well as the boxes I see travel up to the roof with cables on each end, and the way one human is dealt the task of owning a miniature craft that cleans the floor. He must be a very important human, because everyone else has to walk.
As we reach the end of the building, we find ourselves faced with a shop that is about fifty times bigger than the others. This one is the busiest of all and has a large stock of goods.
“Where are we now?” Voland and Ethazol ask in unison.
“This shop is one for food,” Draygus says, pointing inside.
“Food!” Jarick is so excited at the thought he almost shouts. “I thought we’d never eat again.”
We try to enter the shop via one of the doors, but it does nothing, and I watch as Jarick walks face-first into the glass.
“I don’t understand,” he rubs his head. “Those ones over there open,” he points to the ones further down the shop front.
We all line up in front of the other sliding doors, and to our delight, they glide open.
“It must have been an amalgamation of all our minds,” Jarick says. “There’s no way the humans have good enough technology to have motion sensors.”
“I agree,” his little sister Victorinth nods. “The humans seem ever so primitive.”
As we walk into the shop, we discover it is far brighter than all the others and to me—at least, it smells a lot more pleasant. In fact, it smells so good that I begin to salivate at the prospect of eating all the things I see in front of me.
I reach out my hand and pick up something that is round and red. It feels slightly hard to the touch, but once I grip it, the skin breaks and the fleshy inside is revealed. I take a bite, the juice inside reviving me.
“Don’t do that,” Draygus knocks it from my hand. “You have to trade for the food here. You can’t just take it.”
“Trade?”
“Yes. With money.”
“Money? Is that like the currency of the Rigel Credits back home?”
“It is, Benzen.”
“But we don’t have any human money!”
I’m desperate now. After being tempted by the food I feel I need it more than ever, even if I don’t know what any of it is.
“Hey guys,” Voland steps in. “Let’s not get irate. We're all in shock, tired, and hungry but there must be a way we can bargain with the humans.”
“I agree,” Draygus looks to us all. “I assume, if they weren’t reasonable, they would have attacked us by now, but it seems as though we are blending in, and they don’t see us as a threat. Maybe they'll just accept our money. Let’s put together what we all have.”
“I have nothing,” I shrug.
“Me neither.”
“I also have nothing,” Jarick shakes his head. “We have, after all, just survived a crash.”
“Hmmm….” Draygus pinches the bridge of his nose in thought. “I don’t have anything either.”
“I do,” a little voice at the back comes forward.
Victorinth is clinging onto her brother’s arm with one hand and showing us some Rigel Credits with the other.
“How did you manage that?” I look down at her.
“A girl has her secrets,” she smiles. “I only have seven credits, though,” she frowns. “Will that be enough?”
“I suppose we'll find out.” Voland takes them from her hand. “Let us see what we can do.”
It’s very strange and terrifying as we walk around the shop, picking things up and feeling at them with our fingers. Some things look more like weapons than food, while others look rather appetizing. There is one type of food that I enjoy the smell of more than the others. It comes in a bunch of fingers and is yellow. Looking somewhat like an oversized hand, I wonder for a while if it has been taken from a large, yellow animal that resides on this planet. Yet as I inspect it closely, I find it has no circulatory system or nerve endings.
“Do you suppose these hands can hold things?” I show a couple bunches to Draygus.
“I am just as unsure as you are,” he frowns. “Perhaps they are not even hands.”
“Hmmm…”
Regardless of whether they are real fingers or not, I do greatly enjoy the smell. It is naturally fragrant, with undertones of health, vitality, and strength. I have the feeling that if I eat enough of these, I will be very strong.
In the distance, I see the others picking out foods they think they’ll like. Victorinth seems to have picked up vast amounts of small things in colorful boxes, while Voland, being as sensible as ever, has looked at what the humans have been wandering around with and is copying them.
“This,” he shows me a giant object under his arm. “I think this will sustain us somewhat. Many of the humans are buying these, and look,” he points to the layer of fat around it. “It’s a form of animal, and therefore, will give us protein.”
I nod, fascinated by everyone’s different choices.
“I think it’s time we try to buy these,” Draygus ushers us to a long line of humans who are putting all their items onto a rubber conveyor belt.
“This seems very inefficient, standing around all day waiting to buy things. There are so many people in front of us, we’ll be here for some time,” I complain.
“I hear ya, kid,” a voice comes from behind me.
I spin around and see a rotund female. At least, I think she is a female, because she has sculpted those strange spindles from the top of her upper lid, and also has bright red lips that shimmer and catch the light. She gives me a slight smile.
“I hate shopping,” she agrees, rolling her eyes.
I’m dumbfounded, and so is the crew. It would seem we have blended in so well, the humans have begun to communicate with us.
“Well done,” Victorinth mouths silently to me.
Despite the amount of people ahead of us, their items are scanned through a laser device with tremendous speed, then placed into bags. The human then carries them away to consume them with vigor, I can only assume.
It isn’t long until our items have reached the human who is doing the scanning. I can’t help but worry that she will interrogate us as we approach, but to my surprise, she does no such thing.
“Good evening,” she says as she slides our items over the laser.
It isn’t long until she is finished and she stares at all six of us in turn.
“And how will you be paying today? Cash or card?” she focuses her eyes on Draygus, as he is obviously the oldest.
“Er… Rigel Credits,” he says.
“Uh?” the woman screws up her face. “What did you say?”
“We’ll be paying today with Rigel Credits.”
I can tell Draygus is nervous, but he’s trying his best. I can’t imagine how scared he is. Looking at him, I try to give him a look of encouragement, and he stares back at me with a worried expression on his face.
“It’ll be fine,” Victorinth whispers.
Meanwhile, the female, the gatekeeper of the food, is still looking at us strangely. She glances at the Credits in Draygus’ hand and then looks up at him.
“Sir�
� can you wait a moment please?” she stands up from her seat. “I need to speak to my manager.” And with that, she disappears behind a door at the end of the shop.
“Are we in trouble?” I ask.
“I think so,” Draygus sighs.
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The Blue Alien’s Mate: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Celestial Mates)
Chapter 1-Urie
“Ok troops, we’re cleared for landing.”
“Roger that,” a crackled voice came through my earpiece. “Brace yourself. It's going to be a bumpy landing.”
Traversing through a planet’s atmosphere is always a tumultuous experience. Often there are vast temperature fluctuations that can create chills across your skin. They are so frigid it can feel as though your limbs could snap with the cold. Other times, the descent to a planet can be raging hot with temperatures so high blisters would form across our bodies if it weren’t for our protective suits.
This landing was not to be any easier. One thing you have to get used to is the speed in which you plummet to the ground. It sends shock waves through your body as the velocity batters off your organs. You have no choice but to grit your teeth and grip your fingers into the armrest to steady your body as it tumbles through the air at the speed of light.
I looked across the craft to the ship’s pilot. As per usual, he was taking it in stride, his face steady and stoic with a grim determination pursing his lips together. He focused on the screen in front of him, ready to maneuver the ship at the precise moment. His eyes were steely and gray with concentration. He turned his head at the last minute and touched his fingers to his temples.
“Ready captain,” his voice came through my earpiece once again.
Up here, in the ship amongst the stars, you can be within an arm’s reach of one another but still not hear a word. Outer space speaks its own deafening language of crashing space debris and chaos. To remove one’s earpiece is to hear nothing but static and jarring metallic chattering. Up here, without our earpieces, we would go crazy.
“I hear ya,” I saluted the pilot. “When you’re ready.”
He nodded at me then returned his eyes to the screen.
“3.”
He pulled the lever beside him.
“2.”
He spun the wheel.
“1!”
His voice bellowed as he swung the ship into a steep decline. It roared downward, the air gushing past the windows with such ferocity, I wondered if the glass would break. But it never, ever broke. I’d traveled to other planets a thousand times with this pilot and never, had a single thing gone wrong. He was the best and that was why he was my pilot.
Wild turbulence shook the ship from side to side as we plunged our way down further and further into the atmosphere. Then, out of the stardust and clouds came the ground. It loomed up at us, red and barren. I could see the force of our approaching ship kick up the arid sand into a dusty tempest as we landed. Then the loud crash came, cacophonous like thunder and at last, everything was still.
The sand drifted across the windshield as I got my bearings. My heart thudded hard in my chest and I held a hand to my stomach, took a deep breath, then unlocked the belt that had been holding me into my seat.
I watched as the dust settled and fell around the ship. It was night time but the stars were bright and they illuminated each particle with a glittering radiance. Through the gritty mist, figures began to form on the horizon. They appeared to be growing, coming closer with every passing second. Then they were upon us, my troops, coming to retrieve their leader.
The side door was flung open and the smell of a new land permeated the cabin. The troops were eager to show me their alliance, saluting me the moment they saw my face.
“Our leader,” the biggest one said. “We don’t have much time. We need to transport you to the battlefield immediately.”
“Yes,” I stepped out of my chair and looked out the open door. “We must hurry.”
As I placed an intrepid foot down on the alien soil, I felt the excitement of a new world with all its new smells and textures. But it was not to be my new home, nor was it to be a place I would have the chance to explore. Rather, I was here to save it from invading forces.
The X’Sorians… The bastards. They are a fascist race, one hell bent on conquering what is not theirs. They arrived on this planet with the intention of invading it, of taking it away from our system but that was not to happen. I had arrived to fight back and with my reinforcements by my side, we would soon defeat them. As I was taken from the ship to the battlefield, my Shocktrooper Elite Force surrounding me, I had fire in my heart, a burning desire to crush the X’Sorians.
“Tell me,” I pointed into the distance as I addressed the nearest lieutenant. “How many are there?”
His expression was grim but honest.
“There are thousands,” he bowed his head. “Too many to count.”
His words sent a shiver down into my gut.
“Ok,” I held a clenched fist to my chest. “It does not matter how many there are, what matters is the quality of the warrior. We are the finest, we are the best. Isn’t that so?” I bellowed.
“Yes!” they roared back.
“We are the best because you are our leader,” said the lieutenant.
“Thank you,” I touched a hand to his shoulder. “Your loyalty will never be forgotten.”
In a convoy, we drove fast across the desert with the sound of missiles and explosions becoming louder as we traversed the arid landscape. The battlefield soon came into view with the bright lights of the bombs blinding me. I held my arm over my face to shield my vision.
“They are desperate,” the lieutenant spoke at my right side. “They are taking extreme measures and if I may be permitted to express my opinion, I would say that means they are scared. They are not confident in their own fighting skills so they have resorted to blustering bombs.”
“You are right,” I turned to him. “They may be scared but I also think they are powerful,” I leaned in closer to him. “Don’t spread the word, but I think… I think, we will need to ready ourselves for a colossal fight.”
He looked worried, pulled back and blinked at me.
“It’s true. This will not be as easy as the others but we are strong and you must remember that every challenge changes you for the better. It makes you tougher, stronger, a more valiant warrior.”
“What doesn’t challenge you, doesn’t change you,” he thought out loud as he glanced at the upcoming battlefield.
“My thoughts exactly,” I slapped the side of his arm. “You have been trained well.”
The truck screeched to a halt on the edge of the field. My gun was by my side with my sword secured tightly in the sheath on my belt and my lucky club secured to a strap around my waist. I thought of everything we had to fight for and took a deep breath. I was ready.
“Troops,” I stood up, hanging from the side of the open door with my rifle hanging from my shoulder. “We must advance!”
The battle cries roared in my ears as we ran. The X'Sorians, mighty people almost twice our size, were fearless and angry. It had been so long since I had seen one in person and there was a flutter of fear in my chest as I looked up at the nearest one and saw the look on his face; dark, twisted, sadistic. He was here for the love of death, for the lust for power. His muscles rippled as he waved his ax above his head, his skin red and glistening with sweat. The ax crashed down on the ground beside me and I rolled to escape it, tumbling across the ground as I fired shots up to him. I swung my club and saw as it connected with the side of his head. He bore his teeth at me in rage. They were sharp, dripping in the blood of his victims but I’d hit him square in the chest with my barrage of bullets and he was wounded, screeching in agony. As he staggered from one foot to the other, he stumbled to the ground, but not before he pulled a grenade from the strap acro
ss the chest and yanked the pin out with his teeth.
He threw it at me and I glared wide-eyed as it landed a few inches from my face. I ran, sprinting for my life as it exploded behind me, sending a cascade of X’Sorian parts scattering around me.
“Advance!” I yelled to my Shocktroopers.
Now that my first taste of battle had taken place I was truly ready to fight. I wiped the X’Sorian warrior’s blood from my eyes and ran forward, shooting every red being that stood in my way. No matter their size, no matter their will to win, I tackled them. The fighting was desperate with every X’Sorian slain, a Shocktrooper going down beside him. Manic firing and hand to hand combat plagued the field as our bodies became quickly exhausted.
Soon, we were in the center of the battlefield with no way out but to fight our way to freedom and safety. If we ever wanted to return home, see our friends and families and take a breath of Ura-Than air again, we had to win.
The bayonet of my rifle was deep into X’Sorian flesh when I felt it, the rumble in the ground. Then it happened so fast I blinked and it was over. My fellow soldiers were on the ground, lying damaged and in pain on the blood covered soil. Psionic attacks… I had heard the X'Sorians were capable of such a feat but I had never experienced it before, but then… why wasn’t I affected like the others? As I glanced around in horror I saw I was untouched, unlike my brethren who were pained and near death on the ground. What was left of my Shocktrooper Elite closed ranks around me and we proceeded.
We attacked once more, working as a solid unit but once again, as soon as we neared the X’Sorian Elite Squad, my troops were held back, pushed against the ground with a psionic force. All I could do was watch as I stood tall, unaffected by the mysterious rays of psychic attack.
“Advance!” I screamed.
The troops who could, stood up defiant and we carried on pushing our way through the hordes of X’Sorian slave warriors. But again, there was the force. It rung in my ears and made the ground tremble as it shook the airwaves. My troops were sent flying back, scattering amongst the fallen corpses of other soldiers. Yet again, I stood without being harmed.