by Maia Starr
“Right in here, and across the hall here,” the soldier said and then nodded to me and left.
“There is a shower in there, and a bed.” I walked in and slid open a cabinet. “Here is food and a few things to eat. On this side are clothes for drying. I will have food brought to you in an hour,” I said pointing to the amenities.
“Thank you,” she said and tilted her head up toward me; she was expecting a kiss. I couldn't do that. I walked out of the room and across the hall and into my own room, leaving her standing there. I couldn't let the captain know that I had taken her; she wasn't mine to take. It was possible that she was destined to be a mate for the royal family; the captain was a prince. He could punish me. He could punish her. It was best to keep it a secret, even if it hurt her feelings.
I walked into the familiar room and closed the door. I had stayed in rooms like this on the massive Kynon ships before. I quickly pulled off everything and took a very quick shower, washing the desert sand off of me, and washing the smell of the human female off. I wrapped a cloth around my waist and walked into the small room. I slid open a cabinet in the wall and poured myself some water. I needed a stronger drink, but I couldn't find it in this room. I would have to get it from the kitchens. I opened another cabinet to find a fresh pair of pants. I pulled them on and put my boots over them and my belt. I quickly dried my hair. I stepped out of the room. A soldier was passing. “In half an hour, take a tray of food to the human in this room,” I said to him.
“Yes, sir,” he said.
Then I walked onto the flight deck to find the captain and the lieutenant standing there looking out over the nighttime desert. The horizon was starting to glow, meaning that the sun was going to be coming up soon.
“I am glad that you received my signal. I had to make some adjustments; I thought it might be too weak. I am glad that it eventually reached you,” I said to them.
“Yes, it is a good signal. Is that your crash site? It seems that we were strewn out across the planet in an arc,” the lieutenant said.
“Yes, that is where I woke up a few days ago. But the human female was not with me; I found her later,” I said.
“Tell us everything,” the captain said.
“Should we wait for the ambassador?” I asked as the captain begin to lead me and the lieutenant down the hall to a conference room. They both looked at each other.
“The ambassador is not with us. We have learned that he has returned home,” the lieutenant said.
“Home? How did he—”
“That is a story for another time. Come, let's sit and tell us what you know,” the captain said. We walked into the conference room and sat down, all except the lieutenant who pulled out a bottle from the cabinet: a strong drink. He poured us each a glass of it.
I took a long sip and then began to tell what I had been through. I told them everything from crashing to setting up the beacon, to coming across the two cyborgs in the desert and taking their speeder. Then overhearing on the radio communications that they were transporting human females from a base to a city called C2. Then I told them that I followed them and began to fire on them; that was when Emma jumped out of a moving ship. They found it to be almost unbelievable, but I assured them that I was not lying.
“She must be a very special human; I cannot wait to hear more of what she has to say,” the captain said. A tinge of jealousy came over me. I didn't want him to be impressed with the human female Emma; I didn't want him to find her interesting and attractive. He was a prince; he could have whatever he wanted. He could take whatever he wanted. But I sure as hell wasn't going to let him have her, even if it meant committing treason against the prince.
“That is all of it. Then we camped in the desert for two nights, and then you found us. I am very lucky for this. Those cyborgs are out there hunting me and hunting her. How many do you think that there are?” I asked.
“Thousands. We know that C2 is the main city for them, controlled by K8L. I have had my own run-ins with him,” the captain said.
“So what do we do? How do we get the females back? Emma said there were six of them,” I said.
“I need to think on this. This is not something to be taken lightly. We can't just take the fleet into that city and take the females back. I will make a decision soon, but I need to think,” the captain said as he got up from the table and walked out.
“I am going to go get a few hours of sleep before the sun rises. I advise you to do the same,” the lieutenant said as he took another shot of the strong drink and then walked out. I got up and poured another glass. I was going to need it. I could only hope that the captain would decide to rescue the females; it wouldn't be up to me. But I didn't want to see the look of disappointment on Emma's face. For some reason, I only wanted to make her happy.
I walked down the hall toward my room. I stood outside her door. I was going to knock on it and tell her that the captain knew about the human females, but what if she was sleeping? I didn't want to disturb her. But mostly I didn't want to be alone with her; I wouldn't be able to resist taking her into my arms. So I walked across to my room and lay down to get a few hours’ sleep before the start of the next day.
Chapter Nine
Emma Garrett
I didn't know what to think of Elonu. I had let him in. I had allowed him to touch me, kiss me, and to be inside of me. Then afterward, he seemed to change. I should have known better. I didn't trust the men of Earth, so what made a male alien any different? I had been stupid to trust him. When he showed me to my new room I was grateful to have it, but I tried to allow him to kiss me. Instead, he walked away. Was it because he got what he wanted and now he was done with me? I felt foolish. Why did I think he would be different? He didn't promise me anything other than to help me get the girls back from the cyborgs. We never spoke of any sort of relationship between us two; I had just given into a night of lust and then expected something more. It was a big mistake. Then out of nowhere after we had sex he suddenly spoke of another female. When I asked him why he came on the mission, he said because he promised her. Who the hell was her? Why hadn't he mentioned this her before? Did he have a wife on his planet waiting for him? I had been the other woman, but maybe that was allowed in this alien society. It only made me feel more foolish and angry. So I decided to just take a shower and try to make a new start. The room was fairly large, but so was the spaceship that we were on. The room had a bed and a small table against the wall. The cabinet was open showing me what Elonu had showed me before: water and cloth, I assumed to be used like towels. I pulled one out. I took off my boots and then I put my hand against the wall until I found the door. It opened, revealing a small washroom with a sink, shower, and toilet. I pulled off the sandy dress and put it in the sink. Then I stepped into the shower and turned it on. Surprisingly, the water was warm; I couldn't get it hot, but at least it was warm. I washed my hair and took the sand off of me. I felt very guilty knowing that I was experiencing such luxury when the other girls were probably locked in another cell. I had to get to them.
After my shower, I washed the dress and set it out to dry. I wrapped the cloth around me, not having anything to change into. I dried my hair and a couple of minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I smiled; it must be Elonu. I opened the door, but there was a soldier standing there with a tray of food. He nodded at me but didn't say anything. I took the tray and thanked him and closed the door. I set it on the table. I was hungry, and it smelled very good. I drank a large amount of water trying to rehydrate myself. Then I ate some hot broth, some dried fruit that I did not know what it was, and what seemed to me like bread. It was all very delicious, mostly because it was hot. It has been a while since I had a hot meal. After the meal, I felt very full and tired. I laid down on the bed to wait for Elonu to come to me to tell me what the next plan would be. I was sure that he was talking to the captain to tell him about the other human females and how to get them out. Before long, I fell asleep. When I woke up, my hair wa
s dried, and I didn't know how long I had been asleep. I noticed that Elonu did not knock on my door. It made me sad, but what was I to expect? He wasn't going to come to me and sleep next to me; he had already gotten what he wanted from me, and I had given it willingly. I had to admit I had a lot of pleasure sleeping with someone so taboo. But I wasn't someone that was able to just sleep with someone and forget it; feelings always got in the way. That was just the type of woman that I was. It had always been hard for me because of it. I envied women that were able to have a good time with one-night stands and forget about it.
I looked through the cabinets again and found something that was not cloth for drying. I pulled it out of the cupboard and unfolded it. They were clean pairs of pants that the aliens wore. I held it up next to me and I laughed. they were very long and wide. But as I looked at them, I had an idea. I sat down and pulled the pants on, pulling the waist all the way above my breasts, like a bodysuit with a tube top. It fit me very loose, but I was able to make some adjustments by tying knots down one side. The legs went well past my feet, so I folded them up back on themselves all the way up to my thigh. This worked. Then I grabbed the flimsy dress I set out to dry and pulled it over the new bodysuit. There: now it was an outfit I could run around the desert in. I braided my hair down the side and pulled on my boots. I was satisfied with my new look.
Knock. Knock.
“Come in!”
Elonu opened the door. He looked at me up and down and smiled. “I like what you’ve done. You’ve been busy,” he said.
“I can’t wear this flimsy dress without more material. These pants help,” I said with a smile, very proud of myself.
“Come, we are eating breakfast with the captain. He wants to hear what you have to say,” Elonu said.
“Great! I am ready,” I said following him out. He led me to a large room that was like a conference room of an office building. I walked in to find two aliens that I recognized from Earth and from entering this ship the first time. They both nodded at me.
“I am Captain Alicron Qinov and this Lieutenant Vnor Gin,” the one with long black hair and brown eyes said as he pointed to the one with platinum blonde hair and crystal blue eyes.
“Pleased to meet you. I am Emma,” I said with a nod. I didn't know why I was being so pleasant to them; they were my abductors after all. The smell of the breakfast hit me, and I saw that there were covered plates set out with cups next to them.
“I would like to hear about the cyborgs that had captured you and the other humans,” the captain said, motioning for me to sit down.
I sat down, and we all uncovered our plates. We began to eat slowly as the captain started to ask me questions. I answered them and told him all about how we had been taken by the cyborgs. I told them about being kept on chains and in the cell. I told them about being ordered by the leader to be taken to C2 and how that affected K2Q. I told them every little detail that I could, except what K2Q had done to me.
After breakfast, the captain was quiet. I was waiting for him to tell us some grand plan that would allow us to get the girls back, sneak them out of the city somehow. Then he finally spoke.
“I have decided that it is just too dangerous to get these six human females back. It would be easier for us to take the risk of going to Earth to collect more human females instead of going up against a cyborg city where we could lose our entire fleet. I do not wish to start an intergalactic war between the Kynon and the cyborg. The Vindon cyborgs didn’t have anything against us before we crashed here; now listening to everyone’s stories and what I have been through myself, we are slowly going to the top of their shit list. That is not good for the Kynon. We don't want this angst to go beyond this and follow us back to our planet. Therefore, we are going to go back to the mothership and then head back home.”
“What! No! You can’t do that! You can’t just abandon them. You are the reason they are here in the first place. You put the human females on this planet and now it is your responsibility to protect them!” I stood up slamming my hand on the table. I was so incredibly angry.
“Emma…” Elonu said.
“I can, and I will! I am the captain of this ship, not you, human female! Now that is the end of this matter!” the captain shouted.
“If you are afraid of the cyborgs, just say it! If you are too much of a coward to defend what you say is rightfully yours then just admit it!” I shouted at him.
The captain’s eyes lit up with rage and fire. He was pissed off, and he scared me as he stood up to his full height. But I stuck to my guns. I jutted my chin out and put my hands on my hips.
“I am no coward. Now you will go back to your room, human, and you will stay there!” he shouted. “Elonu, take her out of here!”
“Yes, Captain,” Elonu said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of there.
“What are you doing? Let go of me, Elonu,” I said to him.
“Quiet.”
He pulled me down the hall and threw me into my room. He followed me in and closed the door.
“Are you out of your mind?” he barked at me.
“Are you? Who the hell do you guys think you are to take women from Earth and then not protect them?” I said sticking my finger into his chest.
“You cannot call the prince a coward. He could have your head,” he said.
“Prince?” I said with wide eyes.
“Yes. The captain is a son of the king. He is a prince, but he prefers to be called Captain,” Elonu said.
“Well… I don’t care! Prince… Captain… I will call him a coward,” I said.
“You must stay calm,” he said.
“So that’s it? You are just going to let him go and abandon the women? You promised me that if we waited for help from your stupid beacon that we would take that help to go help my friends. Your promise means nothing!” I said. I couldn’t fight back the tears anymore. I had been through so much, and it was all culminating in this moment. I was shattered and disappointed that we were going to let my sisters down. I had promised them. I had promised that if any of us escaped, we would go get help. Now I found help, and help did not want to go to them. So the tears rolled down my face.
“It is not that easy. I can’t just defy the captain. What are we going to do? Storm into a city of thousands of cyborgs? We would die!”
“I don’t care. I promised them I would come back for them. If I was the one being held by the cyborgs, I would be holding on to a shred of hope every day that someone was coming. You can’t possibly know what it feels like to hold onto hope like that,” I cried.
“Yes, I do,” he said with a serious tone. His face turned into a sour disposition.
Then he stomped toward the door.
“You’re just a coward too,” I sneered.
He stopped, but he didn’t turn around. He just stood there with his broad back to me. Then he opened the door and walked out. I threw myself on the bed and cried. I had failed my friends.
Chapter Ten
Elonu Fiul
I could not handle it when I heard her call me a coward. I couldn't handle it when I heard her cry. I didn't like to see her broken like this. It hit me at my very core. But what could I do? I wasn't the captain of the ship. I wasn't the captain of the fleet.
I left Emma and walked back to my quarters. I walked back and forth inside the room trying to get rid of the anger that I felt toward my own captain. This did not make sense. I understood his reason for not wanting to attack an entire city full of cyborgs, but what about a stealth mission? There were other ways we could try to get the human females back. The fact that he wasn't even going to try and was ready to retreat was unlike him. I wondered what had happened to him in the time since we crashed and now. For some reason, he was ready to go back pretty much empty-handed. Lieutenant Vnor Gin had told me that they had found a few of the other human females simply because they had crashed alongside them. They were in the safety of the mothership out in space hovering above this planet. But this w
as six human females; that was a lot to pass up. Each of these women could be the mate of a Kynon. So why wasn't he willing to at least try to get them back?
I thought about what it would be like to go home, to see her again. It felt good. I did want to see her again. But what would it be like with Emma? She would always look at me as a coward, forever. I couldn't have that. I couldn't have her on my home planet with me never trusting me again. She would think that my words were always empty. That is what the outcome would be if I didn't at least try to help her get her friends. She was right. We were the reason that the human females were on this planet in the first place. We were the ones responsible for the capture of them by the cyborgs. So it should also be our responsibility to get them back. I had to do something, but I didn't know what.