by Maia Starr
"I am fine. Cultan has been kind to me. He has been honest. That is more than I can say for you,” she said to me.
I sighed and sat next to her and drank water.
"Trish, you cannot believe anything that he says. He is not to be trusted,” I said to her, realizing that he had gotten under her skin.
"You mean he was lying that you came to Earth in order to get a human wife from the 25 human females that were promised to you?” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. I looked at her with wide eyes. Shit. I didn't realize that he had told her about the arrangements, but I should have guessed.
"No, that is true. That is exactly why I came to Earth and why I brought a cargo ship. But it is not the way—"
"You asshole! You lying piece of shit! You lied to me! You have been using me all just so that you could get here and be with a human female that was promised you like some sort of property. Have you even met her? Why would you do this to me? I trusted you and yet you have proven over and over again that you were not to be trusted! I am such an idiot!"
She ran out of the space. “Trish! Let me explain!” But it was too late; she had already run out. I wasn't going to run after her and put on a show for the warriors all around. I was not going to give Cultan that satisfaction, and I knew that this was what he had set up to happen. It was official; he wanted Trish. Now he had effectively separated us and made her hate me just within the first 10 minutes of our arrival. I would be damned if he would touch her. Rage swelled up and me. He needed to be put in his place; I didn't care if he was the damn leader of this secret hideout.
I sat at the table and finished the food that Trish had not touched. I ate the wild berries, peaches, and apples. I would need all the energy I could get in order to deal with what was coming. I didn't have to wait long.
"The medic tells me you are fine,” Cultan said as he walked into the curtained off area.
"I told you that much already,” I said as I got up and poured me some more water from the giant jug.
"Where is your human female?” he smiled.
"She needed to get some air. Just as you wanted her to,” I said as I chugged the water.
"What do you mean? I just told her the truth. It shocked me that she didn't already know. So what now? Would you like to follow me to where the females are kept? There are no longer 50 of them, and of course, you will not be getting the 25 that were promised to you since you did not go through with your side of the arrangement. But I am still in good spirit to allow you to pick one. I have already chosen a wife, and she lives with me. But there are 10 females left to choose from.”
I put the glass down. I nodded at him. He smiled. I followed him out into the base. I was following him not because I was agreeing to find a new human wife, but because I wanted to get the layout of the place. I wanted to see where the human females were being kept. I wanted to see where the small escape spaceship pods were held. Going along with him was the only way to do this.
To my surprise, we walked out of the underground secret base. I followed him along a very short trail covered by the dense canopy of trees. I noticed small mounds in the distance, only a few meters away. They were the spaceships covered with branches and grass. I could see six of them from where I walked. They would be impossible to see from above, but they were not impossible to see from ground level.
There was another crevice in the rock that led into a different cave. I followed Cultan inside. Directly inside were three armed warriors. They guarded the human females.
"These are the ones that remain,” Cultan said as he pointed to the women in the room. It was a very large room that looked somewhat comfortable. There were various beds tables and sitting areas. The women looked clean and well fed. They did not look like prisoners to me.
"Take your pick,” Cultan said to me.
"I choose none. As I told you before I already have a human female: Trish,” I said as I turned and walked out of the cave back onto the trail. I needed to go find her. I needed to make sure that she was safe. I did not like her wondering around this place full of Corillion warriors without me. She should be cooled off by now.
"But are you sure that she wants you? It seems that she does not. I think I will take her for my own," Cultan sad as he joined me on the trail.
I stopped and turned to him.
"Yes. She is mine. Do not touch her,” I said growling at him.
"I think I like her better than my own human female. I think I will take her as well. Trish. She is fiery and spirited. She will create a good strong offspring. That I can tell,” he said to me smiling.
"Damn you, Cultan. I have already told you that she is mine. Why do you test me so?" I shouted at him.
"I am not testing you. I am simply telling you. I will take her. She will come to me willingly. She now knows that you are a liar; she will not want to be with you. Why would she not want to come with me? I am the one that has been honest with her. I am the one that saved you from that beast in the woods. I am the one that has offered her the safety of this base. And I am the one that will take her to the Corillion galaxy where she would be treated like a queen. So you see, Jedrian, you have no say in it. It will be her choice. She will freely choose me over you.”
I’d had enough of this. I charged him as I yelled at the top of my lungs. Boom! I crashed into his torso and pushed him into the ground. I punched him across the face. He elbowed me in the ribs. I flew off of him backward. He jumped on top of me and punched me across the jaw several times. I punched him on the left side, digging my fist in deep. It knocked the wind out of him. It was enough for me to roll on top of him and gain the upper hand. We fought brutally. We wrestled across the ground. Each of us was a match for each other, even though I had already spent a good amount of my energy fighting a bear.
"Keep punching me, it won't change the fact that she is now mine,” Cultan said.
It was just enough to motivate me even more, and I punched him harder. He did not like this. Finally, that stupid grin faded from his face. He was no longer playing, and he began to fight harder. But as we fought I heard a very familiar sound, one that I had heard before.
Thud. Thud. The sound was faint, but then it grew louder and louder. Suddenly the air on top of us was picking up into a strong wind. I rolled over to see a helicopter hovering above us and Earth soldiers sliding down ropes into the forest. I quickly jumped off of Cultan. I could see more helicopters coming in the distance.
"Trish…” I said as I ran toward the entrance of the other base. I needed to find her. Inside the base, there was a complete frenzy as warriors grabbed the weapons and piled out into the forest.
"Trish! Trish!” I shouted. But she did not respond. I looked through every inch of inside the base and knew that it was much worse; she was outside. She was somewhere in the forest. In her anger, she had stomped off to think things through. I would have no idea of where to look, and I had very little time to find her before the Earth soldiers found her, or found me.
She needed to know the truth. She needed to know that I was not using her and then I had no intent on choosing a wife from this base. I only wanted her. She needed to know that before I fought to my death. There was no way that I was going to be taken prisoner and back to that experiment facility. So I would die fighting for my freedom if I had to but not before I saw her one last time.
Chapter 11
TRISH MAXWELL
I was absolutely pissed off. My silly little thesis project had turned into a desire to make a name for myself and science, and I took things too far. Now I was way over my head. I was in love with a Corillion warrior that had used me.
I wondered what my father would say now. This would only prove that I was a fool, just as he thought I was. He thought I was a child not ready to take on any sort of real science or responsibility. And he was right. He was right because I got involved with my science experiment subject. That was something that you never did, no matter what. And I had done exactly that.
&
nbsp; I was no true scientist. I had too big of a heart in order to do so something crawled away that my father had done. He was a man that was able to abandon his daughter; he was a man that was able to experiment on the living breathing human-like alien without any remorse. I would never be like that.
I didn't want to be like that. But now I found myself in a very bad position. I was in the woods in the middle of nowhere, and I had just been told that Jedrian had made a fool of me. I had just been told that the real reason he wanted to get to the secret base was so that he could claim a human female as a wife, the price that he was promised for coming to Earth in the first place. I walked back and forth along the shoreline of the lake trying to get my anger out. How would I get back to civilization? How would I get back to my life after this? There was no way for me to do it. How could I leave Jedrian and put this behind me when I loved him so much that it hurt?
Then it all happened so suddenly. The roar of helicopters was buzzing around in the sky above me. I counted two of them. They seemed to take position in various parts of the woods.
"Shit!” I shouted as I ran back towards the base. This was not good. They were going to capture all of them. They were going to kill them. They would especially kill Jedrian if they thought that he had actually taken me hostage. I needed to find him, and I needed to find him now. I ran hard. Soon I was in the tech forest.
"Trish! Stop!” I heard a very familiar voice say. Chills ran up my spine. I turned to see my father stomping towards me. I could see soldiers scampering here and there, fighting with Corillion warriors in hand-to-hand combat. My father stood right in front of me with so much anger on his face.
"Are you hurt? What has that Corillion done to you? I will kill him for taking my own daughter hostage!” he said. “Where is he?”
"No, father. you will not hurt him. He did not take me hostage. I helped him escape. I am here of my own will," I said as I stood my ground.
"What? What are you saying? He has gotten to your mind! He has a brainwashed you. This is Stockholm Syndrome. This is not you,” he said trying to make logic of the situation.
"No. It is not. I love him. I am in love with him. I want to be with him, and you will not harm him. I must go find him,” I said as I turned away from him.
"Trish! You will not move! You will come with me! You cannot do this to me. This is an embarrassment. No daughter of mine is going to run off with my lab specimen and make me the laughingstock of the scientific community! I will not allow it. Now I'm going to grab a few soldiers to get you onto that helicopter,” he said as he yanked on my arm.
I pulled my arm away from his hands. “You are not hearing me clearly, father. You do not own me. I am an adult, and I make my own choices. I am in love with Jedrian, and I am his. Now let me go,” I said, taking a step away from him, but he grabbed me again.
I turned and punched him in the face. He fell to the ground. I stood there in shock with my hands over my mouth. I couldn't believe that I had done that. It was something that I had wanted to do all of my life putting up with all of his bullshit, and now I had done it. I took the moment to run away. I ran towards the base. There was so much chaos going on around me. It was a full-on battle. Shots from blaster guns whizzed by my head.
"Jedrian! Jedrian!” I shouted.
"Jedrian is this way. Come with me,” I heard Cultan say as he grabbed my arm. I looked at him with a shock.
"Jedrian is over here getting on this escape pod. Come with me; I will take you to him," Cultan said.
I turned away from him and scanned the forest floor. I looked at the ground at the fallen soldiers and warriors. I looked at the fighting and could not find Jedrian.
"He is not out there. I told you this. He is boarding a pod. If you want to see him, if you want to tell him goodbye, then come with me. I will show you,” Cultan said.
"Okay. Show me,” I said as I followed him. I followed him through the maze of tall pine trees dodging the battle. There was so much chaos. I saw human females running through the forest here in there. I could not believe my eyes. This was unlike anything I was ever expecting to see, and yet the scientist in me was trying to soak it all in. I wanted to remember all of this.
"Here! Here it is!” Cultan said as he pulled a large tree limb off of a small spaceship.
"Where is Jedrian?!” I shouted.
"I thought he was here. I guess he has abandoned the plan to escape in this one. Perhaps he is getting in another one. Come with me I will get you out of here,” he said, putting his hand out to me.
I stood there wide-eyed with fright on my face. I did not want to go with Cultan. I wanted to see Jedrian. I turned away from him ready to run. I felt a heavy hand on my arm that yanked me backward.
"You are coming with me!" Cultan shouted as he pulled me toward the ship. I kicked and screamed as loud as I could.
"Let go of her!”
I looked up to see Jedrian running toward us. Cultan moved quicker, trying to yank me into the ship. I grabbed everything that I could, trying to stop him. Before I knew it, Jedrian had caught up to us. He grabbed Cultan by the shoulders and threw him to the ground.
"Jedrian! I have looked for you everywhere!”
"Get in the ship!” Jedrian said.
I looked at him as he stood over Cultan. I knew they were going to fight. But even though I was looking for Jedrian, I had not made a decision to leave Earth. I loved him. I wanted to be with him, and after what I did to my father, I could not stay here. But making a rash decision to leave Earth was a lot harder than I thought it could ever be.
Bam! Cultan punched Jedrian in the stomach. Jedrian doubled over.
"Jedrian!” I shouted.
"Dammit, Trish, get in the ship!” he shouted as he rushed Cultan and jumped on top of him. They rolled across the forest floor. I started to yank off the branches from the ship as I watched them fight. Then I saw Jedrian grab a large rock in his hand and hit Cultan in the face. Blood poured out of his head as he fell to the ground. My mouth was wide open as I watched. He did not get back up.
"Let's go!” he shouted as he ran over to the ship and pushed on a panel that opened the door. He climbed in. I could see that he was pressing switches and pushing buttons on the inside. I just stood by the door paralyzed. Could I do this? I loved him. But could I leave Earth?
"What are you waiting for? We have to get out of here, and we have to go now. They will capture us,” Jedrian said as he came to the door.
"I… I… I don't know if I can leave Earth,” I said to him honestly.
He became quiet. He was silent for a moment.
"I understand, Trish. It is too much to ask of you to leave your home. If you do not want to go, then I will stay here as well,” he said to me.
"No, you cannot. They will torture you. My father said he is going to kill you. If you stay here, you will die!” I shouted at him.
"If I leave, I will die anyway; I cannot be without you,” he said to me as he stepped out of the ship.
Shit. He was serious. He was going to stay if I did not go with him. They would kill him. It would be my fault. I could not live with myself knowing that.
"No, you must leave,” I said to him trying to push him back inside.
"No, I will not leave without you. But think about it, Trish; picture yourself here on Earth, and we are not together. How does that feel? Is that what you want?" he asked me.
I grew silent. I thought about it. I pictured myself at Harvard. I was sitting in a lab working, and I was miserable. Jedrian would be dead; I would never see him again. I imagined what that would feel like and I suddenly felt my stomach turn. I felt very sick and began to shake all over. It was then that I knew that I could not live without him. It was the same feeling I got when I saw him fight the bear. When I thought he was going to die, I thought that I would die. Now I was faced with the same feeling, and I had to be honest about it. I had to be honest with myself.
"I do not want to live without you, Jedrian,” I said as I
threw my arms around him.
"I do not want to live without you either. But if we stay here on Earth, then we cannot be together. They will kill me, as you said. We will not be together unless we leave this planet. It is the only way,” he said hugging me back and squeezing me tightly.
"Then let us get out of here. Go now,” I said as I pulled away from him and jumped into the ship.
He followed me and closed the door behind us. I had never been in a spaceship before, and the battle outside was getting louder, and I knew that it was possible we would be shot out of the sky anyway.
"Strap in! This is going to be a very chaotic takeoff. You have to trust me!” he shouted as he buckled into the pilot seat. I buckled in as well. The engine roared to life, and the ship took off. We were flying low between the trees, dodging blaster guns, and then he flew straight up into the air. It was a very extreme vertical angle, and the ship was going straight into the sky. I held on tightly, and then suddenly the bright blue sky gave way to dark black.