“Left at the end of the passage to the lift and we’re going down to Deck Seven,” Moz told Taylor as he followed her and her charge into the passageway but smirked over his shoulder at the glaring Fazon. Before the door could close he heard an amazed Natalie, “Wow, dude, you really screwed up. Taylor never gets mad.”
“The idiot thought he could just charge in there and snatch her up like she was a dog or something,” Taylor fumed.
When they reached the lift door, Moz stopped and knelt next to Zabyss.
“Zabyss, my name is Moz and I’m very pleased to meet Taylor’s friend. I’d also like to apologize for my shipmate. I’ll work on his retraining,” Moz told her sincerely and held out his hand palm up.
Zabyss made a delighted chittering noise and graced his palm with a tentacle. Moz looked up and to see Taylor beaming at him.
“Now let’s go see what we need in Hydroponics so Zabyss feels comfortable and at home,” he told Taylor as he stood and took her hand.
The lift door opened after a short trip and Taylor might have stood there all day. The deck was wide and cavernous and filled to near overflowing with plants of all colors and shapes imaginable including full size trees. Moz pulled her out to stand next to him while the Xydrav was rushing from place to place chittering with excitement and awe.
“You’d almost never know you were on a ship. Are any of the plants edible?”
“About half are. The rest are fresh air creation, air filtering and water filters,” Moz told her proudly. “Our ship has one of the best hydro farms of any fleet.”
“This is your space,” she said to him as the knowledge dawned on her. He beamed and nodded, “I’ll show you around.” They wandered through the foliage for a while listening to Zabyss move around and chitter.
Zabyss came scurrying back out of the foliage. The orange of her fur had already seemed to brighten in color and shine more and her pale green eyes were lit with excitement.
“Zabyss found beautiful place. Zabyss loves flowers. Zabyss found XyNystle fruit!” the little creature told her excitedly. She gave Taylor one of the spiky dark blue green orbs that they had eaten on the suPonick ship.
“Ooh, these are great,” Taylor told her. “We had them on the suPonick ship. They were really tasty and juicy.”
Zabyss blinked for a minute. “Ugly gray teethy giants. Keep Zabyss in cage for bird,” Zabyss muttered. “Always step on everything,” she huffed.
Moz knelt next to Zabyss. “I’m glad you like my gardens. Did you find someplace to nest?”
“XyNystle trees,” she pointed a tentacle in the direction of a stand of trees whose appearance made Taylor smother a laugh. They looked like they had come out of a Dr.Seuss book Taylor had once read as a child. The trees had fronds like a coconut palm tree but with thick knobby trunks sprouting large twisted limbs that gave it an umbrella like shape. But it was the color that made Taylor smile. The fronds were the same bright orange as Zabyss and appeared to be just as fuzzy. The trunk was a bright garish purple that clashed horribly with the orange fronds. Zabyss latched on to Taylor with a tentacle and pulled her toward the trees. Up close Taylor could see the spiky blue green orbs of fruit. Zabyss latched on to a limb and scurried into the tree easily and settled into a natural pocket made by several of the limbs crossing each other at about four feet in height. She sighed in contentment. Taylor laughed at the Dr. Seuss picture in front of her.
“So you like this spot for the trip home?” Moz asked her. Looking at Taylor he said, “These trees are from the original home world of the Xydrav.”
“Oh, yessss. Zabyss happy,” The little creature sighed.
Taylor brushed a hand across one of the tentacles. “Good night, Zabyss. I’ll see you in the morning.” She and Moz left the little creature purring in her tree. Together they walked the gardens for a while longer.
“Fazon sent me your quarter assignment, 18-6.” Moz smiled at her and pulled her to stop near what looked a pad of grass but it was soft pastel yellow in color. “Sit with me,” he said pulling her down on the pad and surrounding her with his body. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said cradling her against him so that her head rested against his shoulder and he pressed his lips to her forehead. She smiled and relaxed into him.
“I’m thinking that I am SO much better off than I was forty-eight hours ago,” she said with a laugh. “I was missing my greenhouse and my plants and everything else good and bad about home while wondering when my friends and I would get eaten. And then you picked me up, literally and figuratively, and made it better.”
“You know I can’t let you go, right?”
“I’m counting on it,” she said with a smile. They sat that way for a long time talking and getting to know one another. A comfortable silence finally settled over them. Then after he felt her relax into sleep, he lifted her and carried her sleeping form back up to the quarters she had been assigned. He removed her shoes and covered her with the blanket. At the door he gave her one last look and made himself leave. In the hall, he found a grumpy Fazon.
“Are they all in for the night?” Moz asked quietly.
“Yes, and tomorrow they’re your job,” Fazon growled fiercely and poked him in the chest.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Blanca, that’s what happened. If she wasn’t pregnant, I’d paddle her bottom till she couldn’t sit down!” Fazon stalked away with this declaration and entered the lift. “I’ll be on the bridge.”
Moz just shook his head and then headed back to the gardens to do some work and store the seeds and soil conditioners he gotten on the planet. He knew he was too wound up to sleep, realizing one had found the soul mate in his life had that effect on a guy.
***
Rev knew the moment she woke. She didn’t move or change her breathing but he felt the wariness steal over her. He had been sitting for almost another hour with his hands on her. He had one hand resting on her stomach and the other was holding one of hers.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her in his deep, rough voice. “I’m using my hands to help you heal yourself. We were worried. Your nervous system took quite a hit.”
She slowly opened her eyes and he saw the surprise on her face and in her eyes. She still didn’t move. In fact, she had become nearly frozen.
“Nothing to say?” He gave her a sardonic smile. “Okay, I’ll start. My name is Rev. They told me your name is Ashaa. You and I are Zargazians which Vax tells me you probably don’t know but you can explain that to me later. You were purchased along with your human friends from a Truskan merchant on the planet Katowia. He apparently threw in the Xydrav for free. Nice of him wasn’t it,” he explained.
“I don’t know what a Xydrav is.”
“Small, fuzzy, orange and lots of tentacles?”
“Zabyss, her name is Zabyss,” she told him. She still looked a little lost and uncertain. He could feel her confusion.
“I know you’re worried and a little lost, but I promise it’s getting better already.”
“Sienna?”
“She’s asleep in the room next door. She finally stopped worrying about everyone and gave in to her exhaustion. Rose is back in one piece and down the hall with Vax and Taylor who is also well now went with Moz to show Zabyss the hydroponic lab which is on Deck Seven. The higher humidity from the plants will make Zabyss more comfortable. The others are in various rooms on this deck which is Eighteen. You are in quarters seven.”
He slipped his hand from under her shirt. “Would you like to eat something?”
“Yes. I think that would help.”
He helped her sit up and then stand. She was surprised to discover Rev had easily eight inches of height on her so she came to about his shoulder. She was used to being on eye-level with most human males. As the average for human males was six feet and since she was slightly under 6’2” herself she rarely looked so far up. Once she seemed steady Rev guided her to the table and chair set in the room pulling out her chair for her, some
thing no one had ever done for her. She watched as he pushed buttons on a console and then open the small door next it. He produced a soup with chunks of what looked like meat and vegetables and a pitcher of cool water and one of a juice he knew would do her energy levels some good. He pulled bowls and glasses and such from the next cabinet. He turned to look at her and he froze.
“Why did you re-camouflage?” he growled softly.
“What?”
“You look human again.”
“It’s what I’m used to doing. My natural coloring makes the humans nervous. So when I was small, Dr. Westing suggested I learn to alter my appearance because it would get the humans to treat me with less fear and more like a person instead of a lab experiment. He apparently was aware that I could camouflage before I was.”
He sat the dishes on the table in front of her. “Take it off. It uses up energy you need to finish healing and recovering,” he commanded in a low deep fierce growl.
Ashaa stared at him for a moment and then complied. He smiled as spots began appearing. “That’s better. When you’re with me, you have no need to hide. Who is Dr. Westing?”
“He was in charge of the lab.”
He frowned for a moment as the rest of what she said penetrated. “What did you mean ‘lab experiment’?”
“I was created as a lab experiment. I am the combined DNA of a human and an alien who crashed on Earth, so Vax is correct. I did not know the alien was called a Zargazian. After he was killed, his DNA was combined with human ova and several generations of the resulting hybrids were grown. I am approximately one third human and two thirds alien according to Dr. Westing and Nogith agreed with that figure. I am Alien Hybrid Species specimen aa or Ashaa for short,” she explained with no emotion.
“You mean Ashaa is an acronym?” he thundered.
“Yes,” she answered with puzzlement on her face.
“Then pick a name.”
“Ashaa is my name.”
“No, it is not. You are not a lab experiment here. You are an individual and a person. You will be treated as such here. Pick a name.”
“But Ashaa is the name I am accustomed to answering to.”
“I don’t give a damn. I am not going to call you some acronym someone assigned to you. What does the specimen aa part mean?”
“I am one of many that were created. The others had become deceased when they incubated my embryo and ‘birthed’ me. When specimen Zz became deceased after an experiment went wrong, I was brought forward,” she relayed calmly.
“What happened to that ‘specimen’,” he gritted through his locked jaw.
“She succumbed to an injury incurred while they were testing an extreme pressure change.”
“How many of the embryos do they have left in storage,” he seethed and already mentally planning a raid on the forbidden planet.
“If Nogith, the lead suPonick, was telling the truth about the destruction of the base: none. He indicated that when he saw me without my camouflage that he attempted to purchase me through barter with the humans. When they refused he said he did what any good suPonick would do and took. The base was completely destroyed in order to make it appear as an accident occurred with a weapon they provided. He said the ruse was necessary in order to attempt to remain a trade partner with that group of humans. After all, accidents happen. This would mean that all of Usholt’s DNA and all of the embryos would have been destroyed. When I mentioned this to Nogith, he was very aggrieved but had no one to blame but himself.”
“His name was Usholt?”
“Yes, that was the name he gave them,” she answered. “Did you know him?”
“No, he disappeared before my time but I know of him. Eat, you need your strength,” he replied.
They ate the meal in silence while Rev stewed. Furious at not only the way she had been treated but also the ease with which she accepted the behavior of those responsible for it. Part of him knew that anger would not have helped or prevented the treatment that she’d received but it didn’t lesson the irritation that he felt over her calm acceptance of it. He would need to work on that problem as he knew it was his own. As he went over her words in his head another thought occurred to him and he couldn’t stop himself from asking.
“Why was your camouflage off when Nogith saw you?”
“I had been shot with a high power laser repeatedly to see how much of the energy I could deflect before injury occurred,” she stated calmly. This response had Rev ready to hunt down the individuals responsible for treating her so and inflict as much pain as possible before he killed them. He fought to contain his rage. While working on the control, he stood and placed the dishes in the cleaning unit. Then after it cycled he removed them and placed them back in the cabinet. He felt her watching him.
“Are you angry?”
“Yes.”
“With me?” she sounded puzzled.
He took a deep breath and expelled it before facing her. “Yes and no, their treatment of you was brutality of the worst kind and it enrages me to the point that I want hunt down those responsible and pay them back in kind. That you accept it so calmly is what angers me at you. While I know that anger would not have helped you, for you to have no sense of even outrage not only puzzles me but makes me so angry I have the need to beat on things.”
A slow smile spread across her face. She stood and came to stand in front of him.
“Does anyone you know have any idea of the depth of who you are?” she asked softly.
“No, and if you tell anyone, I’ll deny we ever had this conversation,” he grumbled.
She laughed and surprised both of them by putting her arms around his waist and leaning against his shoulder. He closed his arms around her and pulled her close. They stood that way for a few moments. She felt like she had known him forever though she could not have explained why.
“Come on, I need to put you to bed. You still need to rest. Tomorrow we can talk again.” He helped her into the bed and sat down beside her. “Do you need anything before I go?”
“Do you have to go?” she asked. He could see the uncertainty on her face.
“Is something wrong?”
“No…I don’t know. I…I..,” she stuttered to a stop and took a deep breath. “I just don’t want you to go and I don’t know how to explain why.” He watched her for a moment and then leaned over to unfasten his boots.
“Then I won’t go,” he said as he slipped into the bed beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close in spoon fashion. “Sleep,” he told her and pressed his lips to the spots at the nape of her neck. She shivered in response as her spots flushed and then relaxed into him. Soon her even breathing and quiet mind told him she slept. He didn’t know how he was going to explain to Dezek that he had established a permanent connection with Ashaa. That she needed him to stay and couldn’t explain why along with the flushing spots said it all. The connection had failed to dissolve with physical disconnect. He too had found his mate but since Ashaa was so special how would the Fathers react. He reached for Vax and was shocked to discover that his brother contained an echo of the tiny red haired one named Rose.
“Vax?”
“I’m here. Is everything all right, Brother?” was the concerned reply.
“You have an echo of Rose like Lada and Tota do of each other,” Rev told him referring to his parents.
“I know. Rose and I made a connection, a permanent one.”
“Does Dezek know and what did he say?” Rev wanted to know.
“He said Lada was going to be very happy.” Vax had a smile in his voice.
“I hope he still says the same when I tell me that I just figured out my connection to Ashaa is also permanent.” Rev heard laughter from the minds of both Vax and Rose.
He smiled at the joyous sound, cut the connection and closed his eyes. The smile stayed on his face as he drifted off himself.
***
Vax continued to smile after Rev left the connection.
“Who are Lada and Tota?” a sleepy Rose queried.
“Lada means Mom and Tota means Dad in our language,” he told her with a smile. Even as sleepy as she was the connection hadn’t severed or even waned slightly. “I thought you were going to sleep?”
“I was but when he connected with you I felt your concern and it sort of roused me. Am I eavesdropping?”
“A little but we’ll work on it. I really don’t mind though. I like feeling you with me.”
“Me, too.” She answered as she drifted back to sleep.
Chapter 8
Sienna awoke with a warm, comfortable peace in her she hadn’t felt in a while. She realized there was heartbeat beneath her ear as well as the very warm hard body that went with it. She stilled. Events of the past month came back to her quickly.
“How are you feeling?”
Sienna sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. “I need to check on the others and see how Ashaa is this morning,” she told him as she climbed out the bed and went into the door on the left where she correctly assumed the bathroom was.
Dezek watched the door with narrowed eyes. Did she really think he’d be put off that easily he mused. He sent a mental message to Axon to find one of the crates of female clothing and bring it to the lounge. He would let the women go through it and find enough clothing till they could get to the next stop. They still had several stops before they could head home. He rose from the bed and went to the food dispenser and made her some breakfast. He heard the door open behind him a few minutes later and felt her pause. She hadn’t expected him to still be there. He turned and looked at her.
“You never answered my question. How are you this morning?”
“I’m fine. Why did you sleep with me?” she asked in irritation. She couldn’t believe she slept with a man she’d known less than twenty-four hours. She didn’t care what her mixed hormones and heart were cheering about.
“You needed me to be here with you.”
“No, I didn’t, I was fine and slept through the night, obviously,” she with irritation.
“Perhaps you slept so well because I was with you,” he said mildly and smiled again. Just like that she wanted to smack him. How one person’s smile could be so damned irritating was beyond her.
TAKEN: Journey to a New Home Page 8