by Maia Starr
And yet the truth in that statement didn’t make me feel any better about it. We had stolen them because we needed females. They hadn’t had a choice in the matter. And so, regardless of whether I wanted to mate with this female or not, I was not going to force my will upon her. Sure, we had given their lives an extension by bringing the females to Jenal’k, but that didn’t mean that we were the good guys. Not by a long shot.
Nothing made that more obvious than commanding the fleet in the war in the Kalron territory of the C’loggh galaxy. Whether I liked it or not, it was becoming more and more clear that things weren’t always as they seemed.
***
“What’s all this?” I asked, shocked when I woke up to find Alexa in the kitchen. She was wearing a ceremonial covering over the front of her clothing, and beaming out at me. I tried not to panic when I saw that the ceremonial cloth was full of food stains. I tried hard not to let the strain in my voice come out, but it took all the effort I had not to shout.
“I thought that I would try my hand at cooking,” Alexa said shyly, a beautiful smile lighting her face. “You know. Since you’ve been so kind to me and everything. And I love the way that your food tastes. I just wondered if I could make it myself. So, surprise, I guess. I was hoping to be done before you came out.”
“I…this is too much. Thank you, but please, allow me to help,” I said, reaching out to try to remove the ceremonial covering from her body. I gripped it, suddenly acutely aware of the closeness of my hand to her breast. I snatched my hand away and felt heat flooding my face. What was I doing? That was highly inappropriate.
“I wouldn’t refuse some help,” Alexa said, her voice defeated. She straightened the ceremonial cloth with a Kelro’ch-stained hand, leaving a bright pink smear down the front of its pure white fabric. I squeaked in anguish, but again attempted to compose myself before speaking.
“Well then, it’s a good thing I am here. The Thressl’n have a very complex cuisine, one that is coveted all across the galaxy. It makes sense that you would want to replicate it…”
I wasn’t sure if I was trying to comfort Alexa or myself.
“I just wanted to do something for you,” Alexa sighed. “You know. To make up for what a bitch I’ve been…apparently…”
Her wording startled me.
“Do not refer to yourself that way,” I said. “Come on, I will show you what to do next. What exactly were you going for here?”
Alexa laughed desperately. “Anything edible, I guess.”
“That’s a good place to begin. Can I ask…why do you have that hanging off of you?”
I gestured at the ceremonial covering and Alexa glanced down at it, surprised.
“You mean it’s not an apron?” she asked with a frown.
“I…um…no. It’s not. In fact, it should probably go into the tub before the stains set…”
“I’m so sorry!” Alexa cried, whipping the covering off and rushing to the bathroom. “I’ll fix it for you.”
“Please don’t,” I said as kindly as I could. “Why don’t you stay here and mix the sloshnar and Tena’k powder together. I’ll come out when you’re done, all right?”
Alexa looked crestfallen, and I pursed my lips. There was no time to tend to her feelings. The ceremonial covering had been passed down through my family for centuries. I had to get it clean.
Relief flooded me when the food washed off the cloth easily, and I returned to the kitchen feeling much lighter. But to my surprise, Alexa was hunched over the counter with her shoulders quaking.
“What… are you sick?” I asked, walking nervously toward her. “Do you need something? A medic?”
“No,” Alexa sighed, looking up at me. Her eyes were filled with an alarming clear liquid, and I backed away.
“Are you sure?” I asked, unable to hide the disgust on my face. “What’s that in your eyes?”
Alexa stood straight and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
“Nothing to be alarmed about. It happens sometimes.”
“But why?”
“I guess if you’re sad. Sometimes if you’re really happy. I don’t know. Extreme emotions.”
“So humans expel waste from their bodies…because they feel things?” I asked incredulously.
“That’s one way to put it,” Alexa said, sighing. “I think I’m just going to leave the cooking to the experts. Sorry I messed up your robe.”
“What? You didn’t mess up anything!” I exclaimed, panicked at the thought of Alexa suffering. “I mean, you did kind of mess up the Tehh’lerah, but most people do. It’s a hard dish to master.”
Alexa grinned through her tears.
“So how do you do it right, then?” she asked.
I grabbed a spoon and smiled warmly at her. “I’ll show you.”
***
The rest of the cooking session went well, and just as we removed the Tehh’lerah from the heat, the bell rang, and my front entrance hissed open.
“Temal, come!”
My cousin entered the room, her golden eyes on the floor and her rust-colored hair styled short today.
“Alexa, this is Temal. She takes care of the house while I’m away and helps me look after things even when I am on Jenal’k.”
“Hi, Temal,” Alexa said shyly, bowing as I had showed her. It warmed me to see her attempting my customs, and she did it unthinkingly. It was such a drastic change from the person she was when she had first arrived.
“Greetings to you,” Temal said, studying my female curiously and returning Alexa’s bow. “I didn’t think that anybody had acquired a human yet.”
“Well if you would ever attend the events, you would have seen that each of the men commanding the ships to Earth had been rewarded with the first choice in females,” I said, raising a brow at her.
“They’re so boring, Chaz’z! And you know I can cook better than the food at those feasts anyway. So can you, for that matter. I taught you myself.”
Alexa shifted uncomfortably while Temal and I bantered, and I realized that she might feel left out of the conversation.
“Temal is my cousin,” I said brightly. “We were raised together because her ranking as a keeper of house and home had been decided not long after I was chosen to become Commander of the Fleet. It paired comfortably with mine, and we got along well enough to agree to be matched together.”
Unfortunately, my explanation seemed to confuse Alexa more than ever, and I backtracked. “When we are young, it is decided by a sort of lottery what we will end up doing in our futures. Because of the coveted jobs available mostly to males, the Thressl’n began to favor male children, and fewer females were born. That is why we need the women of Earth.”
“And here I was thinking you were such an advanced species,” Alexa said. Was that bitterness in her voice? Or maybe sarcasm?
“We accept our fates,” Temal interjected, looking sourly at Alexa. “We wouldn’t want to devolve into the type of chaos you are subjected to on Earth. Why do you think so few choose to frequent that side of the universe, human?”
I put my hand on Temal’s shoulder to silence her, and did my best to smile pleasantly. “We all have a lot to learn about each other. Let’s get off to a good start, shall we?”
Temal glowered and nodded her head, and Alexa smiled at me innocently. I knew that Temal didn’t like humans. She never had. Every time we received a broadcast from Earth, she fumed about it for days. And on top of that, she was one of the Thressl’n women who were considered the lowest rungs of society. There were two camps of Thressl’n females: women who were considered nurturers and powerhouses that guided business, and the women who cleaned up after those in power and were expected to smile about it. Unfortunately, my cousin was in the second camp.
Most government tasks were assigned to males, and I didn’t see the trend changing anytime soon, despite the consequences of that preference. Especially not when men like Supreme Leader Aloitus and Zod were leading the Thressl’n. Alth
ough it was highly unfair to the women on our planet, sometimes unfair was just the way people wanted it.
“Would you females like to join me for a walk through the gardens before I leave tonight? It’s going to be a few days before I return.”
Temal glanced at Alexa and wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Actually, I have a lot of work to do in the house today. My day off left a lot to be desired. And apparently, there’s a horrifying mess in the kitchen.”
Alexa and I couldn’t help but laugh. Our attempt at cooking together had been delightfully disastrous. I hadn’t taken into consideration, however, how that might affect Temal. I had done my best to clean up, but the Thressl’n women in the house and home profession could see things that the naked eye often could not. It was all part of their training.
“My apologies, Temal. I will try to bring you something nice from Kelroa when I return.”
This brightened Temal’s face, as I knew it would, and she bowed deeply at me before retreating to the kitchen.
“I take it she’s not a fan of Earth,” Alexa said quietly.
“No, not really,” I admitted, though it pained me to have to do so.
“I guess I’m not much of a fan of Earth either,” Alexa said with a sigh. “Otherwise I would have chosen a different career path.”
“What career path did you choose?” I asked, my curiosity overwhelming. I had never considered the option of choosing one’s ranking in society. It seemed both startlingly unsure and exciting.
“Investigative journalist,” Alexa said.
“Ah…I don’t know what that is. Perhaps you would like to accompany me for a walk in the gardens? But if you do, maybe you should bring a parasol; the weather is hot today.”
Alexa smiled at me in a way that made the heat rise to my face. Again, I thought to myself how no creature here, or in any other universe, might compare to her beauty.
“That sounds nice,” she said. “Do you have a parasol I could borrow then?”
“Of course,” I stammered, walking briskly to the closet and retrieving one for her. “Please, take this.”
“That’s grandmother’s!” Temal exclaimed from the kitchen doorway. I looked sternly at her.
“Mind your rank!”
Temal’s eyes widened, surprised. I usually didn’t like to pull rank on her, but the way she was treating Alexa was starting to get on my nerves. You couldn’t judge a whole race of people based on singular events pushed forward by singularly greedy people. I had learned that the hard way as Commander of the Fleet, and soon I would be learning a whole lot more.
“Apologies to you,” Temal said bitterly, bowing deeply at me. She turned her back before I could give her my words of forgiveness and disappeared into the kitchen. A few moments later, I could hear her scrubbing the floor furiously, and I sighed deeply.
“Just give her some time,” Alexa said, linking my hand with hers and squeezing it gently. A sudden peace washed over me, and the heat from Alexa’s hands seemed to warm my entire body. How had I ever lived without this female in my life?
“The gardens are this way,” I said, not acknowledging my cousin’s emotional outburst. I would have to have a talk with her privately. If she continued to treat the human poorly, I would have to fire her.
“It’s so beautiful!”
Alexa’s clear hazel eyes were wide in wonderment as she gazed at all of the lush greenery of Jenal’k. Much of my collection was exotic and had come from Mount Zennith, and even I had to express amazement at the beauty of my garden. I had forsaken a large house so that I would have space for my huge sanctuary of plants, though most men in my position would have built a palace instead.
“This is my sanctuary,” I said, smiling at Alexa. “I’m gone from home so much that when I come back, I don’t need a lot of rooms in a fancy house. I need a place where I can unwind and be comfortable.”
“I love it,” Alexa said, turning her dazzling eyes on me. Her face was radiant with pleasure, and a fleeting, forbidden thought drove me to wonder just what it might look like when other types of pleasure flickered across it.
“Anyway, you still haven’t told me,” I said, trying to shove the forbidden thoughts out of my mind. It was surprisingly difficult. “What is an investigative journalist?”
Alexa looked down at her hands and laughed quietly. “It’s someone who goes around uncovering mysteries and conspiracies. Corruption in places where people are getting hurt because of other people’s greed.”
“So then…you choose to go against the wishes of your people?” I asked, surprised that one might decide on such a risky career path.
“Only the people with something to hide and more power than they deserve,” Alexa said, jutting her chin out defiantly.
“And who determines who deserves power and who doesn’t?” I asked, finding myself at odds with her words. My planet’s philosophy would dictate that we accept what we are fated with or suffer.
“How you use your power should determine whether or not you deserve to have it,” Alexa said confidently. “Some people take advantage of what they’re given and profit at the expense of others.”
“That’s no different than Earth’s concept of capitalism,” I pointed out, cleverly I thought. Alexa ignored the point though, and continued speaking. I had never heard a female so passionate about something before. It was attractive.
“Well, I think that’s wrong. There’s an unspoken moral code that one should follow, and when the people in power are doing things that hurt others for their own profit, and then lying about it, that’s when an investigative journalist should get involved and expose those lies so that nobody else falls victim to them. Are you trying to tell me that there is no such thing as corruption on Jenal’k?”
“Well, no, it’s just that we listen to our leaders. They are chosen by Fate, you understand. There are divinities that we hold very dear and who guide our way. And until recently, everything has run very smoothly upon listening to their guidance. So I don’t see any reason to—”
“Wait a second. You said ‘until recently,’ which means there is a problem with the system. When there is a problem with the system, it’s somebody’s job to speak up about it, don’t you think?” Alexa was staring hard at me, and raising questions in my mind that made me feel very uncomfortable.
I hesitated to answer. My job was to protect the secrecy of the men above me and command ships in a war that, to my knowledge, nobody on Jenal’k understood. Why the war was happening was simple, but the reasons were left obscured by distance and time. It was to the point that nobody was asking, “Why is the war happening in the Kalron territory,” and instead they would say things such as, “I hear there was a Thressl’n casualty in the war on the other side of the galaxy. What a shame.”
The Thressl’n enlisted to fight had been carefully selected. They were men with nothing to lose, or men with nothing to gain from the career paths they were already on. It was a dangerous time to be living in, but nobody knew just how little safety they had to rely on. And if I didn’t do my job right, Jenal’k itself could end up being a target.
All because Supreme Leader Aloitus was after something the Kalron had. Something I wasn’t sure was worth the lives of countless casualties.
“I don’t think I want to talk about this right now,” I said finally, clearing my throat. “But I wonder…of all the paths you could have chosen, why this one? Isn’t it dangerous? Earthlings aren’t huge fans of the truth, are they?”
Alexa laughed softly, and I noticed suddenly the way her cheeks formed into shallow, alluring dimples when she smiled. I had to tear my eyes away before she caught me staring.
“No, the truth is a difficult concept on Earth because they’ve made it such a subjective thing. It’s different for everybody.”
“But facts are facts,” I said. There was clearly a lot I had to learn about Earth.
Alexa shrugged. “I chose the path I’m on because I wanted to help people. And I love photography. It
was a great way to combine two of my passions: sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, and taking pictures.”
I grinned. “Taking pictures?”
“It probably seems silly to you. Thressl’n technology is so advanced that I doubt you would ever covet photography like I do.”
“It is a rather primitive art form, don’t you think? There are satellite feeds you can insert location points into and get a feed of an image from any date or time. Isn’t that good enough?”
Alexa looked at me as if I were the biggest idiot in the world.
“You don’t think the people doing corrupt things and owning satellites could alter images to keep themselves out of trouble?” she exclaimed. “I want my own camera.”
“You want a camera, huh?” I asked, chuckling and shaking my head. “Well, I’m not sure what to tell you about that.”
Alexa smiled at me, and all of the tension I was feeling from the conversation melted away. “That’s okay. I think I can keep myself occupied here.”
She was just so unbelievably beautiful.
“I hope so. Will you be okay while I’m gone?”
“I should be fine, though I don’t know what I’m going to eat,” she laughed.
I grinned. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I will arrange meals to be delivered if you aren’t confident after yesterday’s lesson.”
“Would you be?” she exclaimed. We both laughed. It had been a pleasant disaster.
“Like I said, meals will be arranged. But don’t let anybody inside with you. There is a lot of hostility about the humans, kind of what you’ve seen with my cousin. It would be safer if you stayed inside and kept to yourself. I would take you with me if I could.”
“Where are you going?”
“To war,” I said without thinking.
“What? I thought you guys were relatively peaceful. I mean, despite kidnapping hundreds of women and forcing them into camps where people like Zod can abduct them.”