First Contact

by S. J. Sanders

  First Contact

  A Mate Index Alien Romance

  S.J. Sanders

  ©2019 by Samantha Sanders

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission granted in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction intended for adult audiences only.

  Editor: LY Publishing

  Cover Artist: Samantha Rose

  Many thanks to all the people who made this book possible!

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Ehmhy glared at the malfunctioning comm system. He’d been trying to get through to his family on Forashual, the twin planet to the Forad homeworld Felisiat and the place he’d called home all his life. Dread settled into the pit of his stomach with a certain understanding that the comm systems had been completely fried by the anomaly that, as far as he could tell, had sucked them through to another part of the universe.

  He had no idea where it came from. He’d made plenty of trips transporting goods as a courier back and forth to the Intergalactic Space Station. This time had only been different because he’d been summoned there for personal reasons. He had received word that, due to his brother’s passing into the ancestral paradise, Ehmhy was now responsible for his young nephew, Ferikal. The meeting was brief and highly uncomfortable, and he loaded his young fashi-mu ward into the ship with all of his belongings in short order.

  In retrospect, Ehmhy should have known the trip back to Forashual was cursed the minute the pirate vessel hailed them. One look at his nephew’s worried face and he sent the male to hide in his room as he attempted to evade certain boarding. Flying far off-course, he only lost them when he managed to hide his ship within a cosmic cloud. The particles were so thick that even his own viewscreen was near useless. Even the starship’s systems couldn’t get a reading on the pirate ship through the dense cloud. It registered about as well as he figured his own had: a vague blip.

  After some time, the pirates gave up and the blip disappeared from the navigation screen. He waited for hours in that cloud until he was certain the pirates weren’t returning. Only then did he chance flying back out into open space.

  Rerouting a less direct course back to Forashual, just in case the pirates were still lurking somewhere nearby, Ehmhy had not expected an anomaly—what his people called a celestial river—to open up directly in front of him. Once caught in it, his ship was pulled into a disorienting pocket of space that left him feeling sick to his stomach. He felt even worse when his hearing returned enough to take notice of the system warnings and failures all over the ship.

  Half the systems were no longer working. It was only by some grace of the gods that life support hadn’t been knocked completely offline. The quality of air was thinner than he liked and even with his fur, the ship only provided the minimal amount of heat to keep them from freezing to death in deep space.

  His brow pulled down into a deepening scowl as his fingers flicked over the controls, his claws pushing out the only sign of his distress. The starship wasn’t going to make it much further. Ehmhy pulled up the navigational system and set it to search for the nearest hospitable planet. He wasn’t even sure if the vessel would make it through a planet’s atmosphere, but he had to give it a shot.

  The soft scrape of claws was the first thing that alerted him to his nephew’s presence. Ehmhy should have known his stubborn nephew wouldn’t remain in his cabin long. At sixteen revolutions of age, the young male still possessed much of his downy fashi fur, but he expected to be treated as if he were already fashi-afar and verging on adulthood. Ehmhy blamed his brother for that. He clearly spoiled his son and filled his head with nonsense that left him ill-prepared for life on Forashual.

  “Ehmhy, what is wrong?” Ferikal inquired. He was unconsciously clenching and gripping his fingers together, the short fur on his nape, back, and tail puffed up with anxiety. “It is very cold, and the alarms are going off in every part of the ship.”

  There was no reason to lie, not even out of kindness in this situation. Ehmhy pressed his lips together and regarded his nephew solemnly.

  “We hit a celestial river and our ship is not of a class built to travel through them. It has caused severe damage to the starship. Do you understand what this means?” he asked as gently as possible. He had to make sure that his nephew understood how grim their chances were.

  Ferikal swallowed, his eyes widening and ears flattening with fear. “Yes, it means that we have to make an emergency landing and send out a distress signal. Professor Dirthit was speaking of this just last week in navigation and routing class.”

  Ehmhy closed his eyes and nodded. “There is a good chance that, with the condition our ship is in, it will break up upon entry. The likelihood of being separated from the distress beacon lodged in the engine bay is high. I must stay here to keep the ship on course, but I want you to go to the engine room. If we become separated, you must be near the beacon.”

  He took a shaky breath. The alarms grew shriller. That wasn’t good. The tiny translucent whiskers framing his nephew’s mouth trembled.

  “Seal the door behind you and strap yourself into the emergency seat by the control panel. When we crash, it will be jarring, but there are emergency supplies including a healing kit in the wall unit to the left of the panel. Nutritional packets in the storage unit will be easy to spot. It holds food and provisions. Do not leave that room. Do not release the lock on the door for anyone but me.”

  The navigation system pulsated with an alert that they were coming within range of a habitable planet. Ehmhy spared a glance at the blue orb rushing toward them through space and pulled out two wrist units and strapped one around his nephew’s wrist.

  “These have a large enough range that we should be able to communicate anywhere on the planet. It will track your biometrics and also has a homing device, so I will be able to find you.” Ehmhy scruffed his nephew’s neck and drew him forward, touching his forehead against that of the younger male. He met Ferikal’s vivid green eyes.

  “I don’t want to be alone,” Ferikal whispered fearfully, his whiskers quivering.

  Ehmhy butted his head affectionately. “I will come for you. Trust me.”

  The ship shuddered as they drew nearer, the systems now screaming in distress. He pushed his nephew firmly.

  “Hurry. Get to the engine room now.”

  As the door closed behind his nephew, Ehmhy sat in the pilot’s seat and strapped himself in. He adjusted and re-adjusted the coordinates manually as the planet got bigger by the moment. It was close enough now that he was able to see large land masses. He sent up a prayer of relief that it wasn’t completely covered with water. He set his path for one of the landmasses and held steady.

  The ship around him vibrated with a thin, whiny screech that increased in volume until his ears hurt from it. The atmosphere was tearing the ship apart. He was comforted by the fact that the ship was designed with that possibility in mind. When the stress became too much, the sections would blast apart.

  Although he was expecting it, the sudden explosion as the ship fragmented threw him back in his seat with surprising forc
e. He fought against the rising tide of darkness, his eyes trying to focus on the patch of land rising up to meet them.

  He begged the ancestors and gods to keep his nephew safe and slipped into unconsciousness.

  AS SHE MADE HER WAY down Bourbon Street, Gerry waved to a friend who was preparing a group of sightseers for their ghost tour just outside Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo. The upbeat brunette waved back cheerfully before she returned her attention to her clients, joking with them about the first haunted location. Despite it only being two in the afternoon, all the tourists were carrying frosty cups of booze, and smiling pleasantly.

  She’d only been living in New Orleans for two months, and it never ceased to amaze her how early tourists started drinking. Holding her breath against the sour, biting smell of old alcohol and vomit that never really could be washed completely from the gutters, Gerry hopped through the shop entrance. With a shake of her head and a smile sketching over her lips, she nudged her way through the crowd to get to the back of the shop. She greeted the portrait of Marie Laveau hanging over her large shrine near the entrance as she did every day upon entering. It seemed only right to pay respect to the lady.

  Heading to the front counter, she handed a cup of coffee and a tiny paper bag of beignets to her co-worker Eric, who already looked frazzled. He’d just opened the shop an hour earlier, but as usual he’d been overrun.

  “Bless you, Gerry,” he said reverently as he shoved a beignet into his mouth.

  “You know I got you,” she called. “Besides, you’re gonna cover lunch today, remember?”

  “Yes, yes. Lunch!” He laughed and greeted the customer bearing an armful of the voodoo shop’s merchandise. She spotted more than one voodoo doll, a saint statue, and various odds and ends that were piled up in front of him before she was swallowed by the crowd.

  The back of the store was a constant battle with dust, but Gerry preferred working at the register back there much more than the one at the front of the store. There was less foot traffic and the heat was also a bit more bearable. It was close enough to the diviner’s room that every now and then she caught a blast from the fan that was turned on behind the curtain.

  Gerry tapped her finger on the curtain and “Lady Claire” stuck her head out owlishly. Claire smiled widely when she saw her.

  “Ready?” Gerry murmured.

  “Yes, yes, dear, I’m ready to go,” Claire tittered and ducked back behind her “otherworldly shroud.” After taking a sip of water, Gerry put on her best announcement voice.

  “Folks, if anyone wants to have a reading done by our reputable and gifted Lady Claire, she is taking clients now.”

  Several people wandered up, mostly couples and young folks out having a good time, but there were a few families mixed in as well. They all waited for their thirty-minute consultations with the medium and tarot reader, and each one left with a smile. Whether it was because they were told something good or just because they were entertained, Gerry had no idea. Every hour, she repeated the process and more hopefuls wandered over. One thing was for sure: Gerry was racking them in today. It was a good day for divinations.

  Although the shop didn’t close until midnight, and sometimes well after depending on how long it took to remove drunken stragglers, Claire prepared to depart at ten as usual. Wearing her sharp royal purple smock covered in glittery gold suns and moons, with more necklace chains than Gerry had ever seen on one person, Claire sailed through the curtain, brushing her graying curls back from her face.

  “Finished for the night, your ladyship?” Gerry teased.

  Claire leaned over the counter and grasped her hand, tucking several bills for her tip against her palm with a wink.

  “Indeed, Geraldine. The hour grows late, and I must retire now, but I shall be back to give readings at noon on the dot as usual.” She finished the last part loud enough for even the customers to hear at the front of the shop. Gerry sucked in a smile and nodded with what she hoped was a convincing solemn air. Claire tipped well for cashiers who could play along. With a final squeeze of her fingers, Claire drifted regally through the crowd that parted before her. Unlike Gerry, who tended to get run down and trampled on, everyone made room for Lady Claire in her finest.

  Tucking an errant dark curl behind her ear, she settled back onto her stool once more and smiled at the customers lining up at her counter. As usual, within the last two hours, the crowd became rowdier and drunker to the point that when midnight came, Gerry was thankful that it was closing time. She must have been crazy to agree to work a double shift so close to Mardi Gras. Eric had gone home at six, and his replacement Krissy didn’t look any better than Gerry felt.

  As they stepped out into the street, carefully sidestepping a smear of vomit, Krissy pulled the door shut and locked it. She rubbed her tired eyes and shot a look at her.

  “You working tomorrow?”

  “Nah. Karen asked me to work the double today. She wanted her more experienced folks on for Mardi Gras.”

  “Makes sense. You going to the parade then?”

  Gerry shrugged. “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll come down and catch part of it.”

  “You sure are fortunate. All right. Stop in then. We’ll split a king cake.”

  “I’m not sure how fortunate it is considering I’ll be opening up the next day with everyone hungover,” Gerry laughed. “But sure, I’ll stop by.”

  With a brief farewell, she hurried down the street. She just needed to catch the streetcar a few blocks up, and she would be home. She had just made it to the streetcar and set her hand upon its rail to hoist herself up when a loud boom cut through the air overhead with a flash of light.

  She pursed her lips. It sounded like a bad thunderstorm moving in. She hoped she beat the rain home. It was a three-block walk from the streetcar to the little apartment she rented, and she didn’t want to be drenched before she got through her door.

  Chapter 2

  The lights overhead flickered for several seconds before winking out, plunging the flight deck into darkness. Ehmhy groaned and blinked his eyes. His entire body ached more than it had when he completed his Fashi-eshal Trials to earn his status as an adult male. Everything from his shoulder to the end of his tail felt bruised to the seventh hell and back. He retracted his belt harness and allowed himself to drop freely to the floor.

  From the feel of things, he knew that the flight deck was sitting askew, the bow raised at a higher elevation than the stern. He weakly lifted his arm and looked at his comm unit on his wrist. The pulsing green light in the corner made him sigh with relief.

  Ferikal was alive.

  He drew up the comm screen and attempted to communicate with his nephew’s unit. It pulsated for many minutes before shutting down unanswered. Ehmhy refused to let that disturb him. It was likely that the younger male was still unconscious. All the same, he knew he needed to reach the engine room pod before anyone else discovered it.

  Touching a small part of the comm screen, he accessed the database. He was grateful that his cousin who’d gifted him with the units had been thoughtful enough to upgrade them with a trial programming to include the ASHDRU, or the Artificial Surveillance, Historical Database, and Research Unit. His cousin said it was still in its developmental stages, but he swore it could save lives. Ehmhy was happy to put that idea to the test.

  “Ashdru.”

  A small humming noise greeted him until a sultry feminine voice responded.

  “Ashdru online. How many I be of assistance?”

  Ehmhy huffed. Of course his cousin would imbue the artificial intelligence with that sort of characterization. No doubt he would be laughing himself sick if he could picture this situation: Ehmhy covered in debris while Ashdru whispered seductively at him. With females so scarce among the Forad, no doubt that was as close as he would get to a female unless he wished to pursue one of a non-compatible species. Some males swore that the Gida were excellent companions when a male needed relief, but the memory of those cool tentacles
surrounding him, prodding him, made him personally shudder.

  Ehmhy coughed as a bit of dust agitated his lungs.

  “Ashdru, what planet are we on?”

  The tiny light whirled for a moment.

  “Planet unknown, space sector unknown, uncharted region of the eighty-second quadrant. Only planet that can support life in this solar system, rotating around a single star. Sentient species detected: species unknown.” Ashdru lit up the face of his comm unit with multiple lights.

  “Evolved satellite informational network detected. Language unknown. Would you like me to decode and download an update into all available translators?”

  “Proceed.”

  “Decoding and update initializing,” she purred.

  Ashdru’s lights flickered and the unit began to work at a steady pace. Realizing that he needed to do something constructive while he waited, Ehmhy set himself upon opening the door. Since there was no power to automatically unlock the seal by handprint, he pulled the emergency door bar off the wall where it barely hung in place and wedged it against the seal. His biceps bunched and his arms burned from the exertion until it finally gave with a loud squeal.

  A damp warmth flooded the flight deck like an instant balm. It felt exactly like the jungles of Forashual in the cool days just after the wet season. His whiskers extended from above his lip and the creases beside his nose as he greedily inhaled the scents of the new world. Something hummed along his senses. He assumed it was due to the feeling of rightness he felt after so many days in space, but realized a second later that it was more due to the completed update to his translator.

  “Language update completed. Systems updated with approximately three thousand languages belong to species Homo sapiens sapiens, or human. Species indigenous of planet Earth, terra, dirt.”

  Ehmhy frowned. Over three thousand languages on one planet? How did humans get anything done without sharing a unified speech? Only at their most primitive stages did the Forad have a small selection of regionally diversified languages, but they merged together as populations expanded and came into contact with each other. It was a natural process that united the species.