The Alien’s Stowaway

by Alyx X

  She cocked her head at me, seeming to work through everything I’d said. I knew war was unsavory among many species, but I hoped this tiny warrior wouldn’t condemn me for my heritage. After a moment, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away," she whispered.

  "What lord?" I asked.

  She shook her head. "Another old expression. My mother said it a lot." Leaning back, she looked around the corner and down the cave toward the entrance. "I gotta go soon."

  Surprisingly, I was disappointed that she'd be leaving. We were making great progress in our conversation, though why I cared about that was unclear. I’d already decided I liked this human, and it would be lonely without her, especially now that I felt up to being conscious. "Will you return?" I asked.

  "Of course." She jumped up and began filling a bag with water. "I'll be back after sunrise again. Please don't try to work on the ship without me, okay?" I tried to pretend that it didn't mean she thought I was weak.

  She sighed, exasperated with me. "You're not weak." Had she read my mind? Was that a human ability? "It doesn't mean you're weak that you need time to heal. The most fearsome warrior can be wounded and still must heal."

  I nodded once. She was right. "I will be very careful and not do anything that will set back my healing."

  She didn't like that answer, but shook her head and gave up. "Fine. I guess that's the best I'll get out of you."

  When the water bag was full, she stood and walked close again. "Be safe, Jarix. I’ll see you soon." She looked down at me, her flame-colored hair falling around her in a wild tangle. Gazing up at her from where I still rested, it struck me again how attractive I found her. I hadn’t let myself get caught up in being embarrassed that I’d been speaking my thoughts out loud the other day, but I knew she’d heard them. Was she as attracted to me as I clearly was to her? Did she think of me the way I’d been thinking of her? There was little else to do while I was stuck here, but I still chided myself. Now was not the time to be fucking, much less seeking a companion.

  Apparently I’d paused for too long, because without waiting for my response, she strode into the darkness and out of the meager light provided by the flashlight. I sighed and looked around, then turned off the light to conserve battery. Nothing to do but try to rest and wait for her return.

  9

  Evvie

  It was too hot. Too fucking hot every single day, as always. Normally, we’d probably be dead working in the heat like this, but with the water supply, it was bearable. What I wouldn’t give for just one cool day. Hour. Minute. Because I didn’t want to get caught, and I didn’t want to endanger Alice more, I'd had to start skipping some days. The progress was slow, but we were gaining on the repairs.

  Jarix had been telling the truth. He definitely healed quickly, which still made me jealous. He assured me several times that he normally wasn't so slow-moving, and it was only lingering tiredness from his body's rapid-healing process that kept him from fixing the ship much faster. Looking at his long body, glistening with sweat in the heat of the day… he seemed fit enough to me.

  We could only work in the morning and evening. I always had to leave before it got dark, but I was sure he worked until the darkness made it impossible to continue. More if the moon was bright.

  Two mornings ago when I’d arrived, he’d held out a garment to me proudly. "I made you something." Laughing, I took it and examined it. It was made from part of the only blanket he had. "It's a hat," he said. "So you won't burn your fair skin more while out on the ship." I was already deeply tanned on all of my visible skin from my months out here in the desert, but I didn’t let him know that. It was an incredibly sweet gesture, that I wasn’t sure the purpose of. Because of what he’d accidentally revealed to me that first day, I knew he was at least physically attracted to me. This hat seemed like something a man might do for a woman he cared for.

  "Thank you," I'd whispered, my heart thumping once. I couldn't remember a time when anyone besides Alice had given me a gift. Jarix was already so much kinder to me than anyone I’d known here on Earth, and he wasn’t even from here. What had I done to deserve this treatment? Jarix had simply nodded at my thank-you, then returned to working.

  He hadn't been able to work on the ship if it took him off the ground. We figured he'd had a concussion after all and it had affected his inner ear, because as soon as he climbed up onto the ship, he got so dizzy he had to get down. It had taken me two visits to convince him that his body’s natural reactions didn't make him weak.

  I already knew I cared for Jarix. More than I liked to admit, and more than I let myself acknowledge. It was dangerous to develop feelings for the person you were counting on to whisk you away from your imprisonment, but I liked him anyway. He was funny, and sweet sometimes. I found his strange obsession with his own physical abilities sort of endearing. It made sense to want to be capable of taking care of yourself, but I couldn’t understand why he was so reluctant to accept help.

  Ah well, at least he was letting me help him with the ship. It allowed us a lot of time to chat. I learned about his childhood, his warrior’s training, the attributes of his planet and culture. He would sometimes mention having a sister that he seemed to care for deeply, but would usually shut down and not talk for a long period after mentioning her. I couldn’t figure it out, but didn’t want to pry.

  Today, we were laboring under the hot sun as usual. I was wearing the hat he’d made me while I worked. "So, are all the men from your planet this obsessed with masculinity?" I asked from the top of the pod.

  Jarix sat on what was left of the blanket in the sand, working on reattaching the heat shielding. "Of course. Are they not here?" He called out, not looking at me. We had gotten into a nice groove of working and chatting simultaneously.

  "Well, yes. To an extent. But I think most of them understand that small conversational comments don't equal insults." I looked down at him, waiting to see his face contort in confusion. Sometimes he was baffled by human culture, and I found it very amusing.

  "It is a part of our culture to never insinuate weakness in any way, but it isn't just the men. My sister was just as tough as me." There it was, another mention of his sister. I waited to see if he’d shut down as he usually did. Instead, he stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. There was pain in his eyes, and he looked like he was about to say something more, but then thought better of it.

  He turned back to his work, and I cursed myself for not inviting him to continue. How do you ask the alien stranger you’re getting to know about his obviously dead sister? I sighed, returning to my own work after wiping the sweat from my forehead. The sun baked against my back, and I was about ready to give up when the part I was trying to fit back into place finally slid in and I was able to tighten the screw.

  It was strangely satisfying to fix the ship. It felt like an accomplishment, when my work in the salt mines only ever felt like a punishment. Jarix had found a tool kit and a few other useful items behind the water tanks, and that had sped up our progress considerably the last few days. Still, I couldn't help but feel we were running out of time. It had been nearly two weeks since Jarix's ship had crash landed, and he was starting to run low on food. I was careful never to eat while here, just drink all the water I could. It’s not like I could keep both of us alive on my rations. I was barely alive on my rations.

  The water, though, had been a huge blessing. Not only did it make my journeys to and from the cave manageable, but it was also restoring a little health to my dried-out body. I'd managed to sneak some back to Alice too, but if I didn't watch myself, we’d both end up caught.

  "Come on," I called down to him. "Are you nearly done? We need to get inside." I hopped off the side of the ship and squatted to watch him closing the panel that controlled the heat shield.

  "Just finished." He got to his feet without any difficulty, moving to put away our tools. I was happy with his progress, and embarrassed at how often my mind wandered to thinking of his fully-healed
body and all it could do to me. I’d touched myself more than once to thoughts of his body on top of mine, his lips pressed to every inch of my skin.

  Shaking myself out of my dirty thoughts, I began to follow him toward the cave. Jarix walked with his shoulders square, his back straight. It was the walk of a warrior, and I admired him discreetly from behind. He was proud of our progress, and it showed in his posture. When he’d first landed, I'd assumed I could fix the ship on my own, but once I got into it, there was no way. It was far above my technological abilities.

  Jarix claimed to be from an advanced species, and it certainly seemed that way, considering how easily he fixed the parts we found in the sand. Too bad he couldn't physically get up on the ship yet. He would've been able to attach parts far faster than I could.

  In the silence, Jarix turned back to me with a smile, "Come, I've got a surprise for you." I gave him a puzzled look, but followed him the rest of the way to the cave. We'd gotten into a pattern. He was usually already out working on the ship when I arrived in the mornings. Then, we typically worked until we couldn't stand the heat, then went in to drink water and sleep.

  Well, I slept. He had to amuse himself, because he slept at night while I was working in the salt mines. Was that when he’d created this surprise for me? I thought the hat was already too kind, but another gift? I couldn’t ignore the wave of happiness that pooled in my belly. I liked that Jarix wanted to do kind things for me, even if I didn’t deserve them. "What surprise?"

  Jarix didn’t respond, just strode into the cave. I went in after him, looking around. My jaw dropped when he clicked on the flashlight. "You filled the water tub!" I exclaimed. "But I thought we'd decided to fill it slowly with the bags? We can't carry this back to the ship."

  "It's not for taking to the ship. This little stream of water doesn't seem to be in danger of drying up yet, so I filled it for you to have a bath."

  I gasped and looked at him in the dim light. "You did?" He nodded, a huge smile stretching his face. He was truly happy to have made me happy, while all I wanted to do was cry. Though, that probably would’ve freaked him out, so I settled for smiling hugely back at him.

  This was better than anything I’d anticipated. I took a tiny step forward, almost unbelieving. He held out his hand, offering me something. "I took one already and have been letting the tub refill."

  I took the small object from his hand. "Soap," I breathed.

  "It was in the emergency kit," he explained. "I found it yesterday. That's what inspired me to lug the tub all the way in here."

  "Thank you," I whispered. I wanted to say so much more. I wanted to throw my arms around him and scream my excitement. Instead, I eagerly stepped forward, never taking my eyes off the tub of water.

  He shrugged. "Well, it was for me, too. And you'd said something about not having enough water to bathe, so..." He’d remembered that? After clearing his throat, he turned toward the cave entrance. "Take your time. I'll sit here around the corner and wait for you." He strode off, but my eyes were still glued to the water.

  As soon as he was out of sight, I hurriedly stripped my clothing off. I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be completely clean. I’d had to skip the last monthly two-minute shower the camp offered so I could sneak out here to help with the ship. As such, I’d been a little smellier than usual lately. Jarix couldn’t know how much he was saving me right now. I wished Alice could be here to enjoy this. We’d already discussed trying to get her out here, but ultimately decided it was too dangerous to have us both leave. My heart ached that she would miss this, but wasted no time in enjoying it.

  The tub was just big enough for me to sit down in if I tucked my legs close. I sighed as I sank into the cool, crisp water. "This is amazing," I said to no one. Using my hands, I wet my hair over and over, relishing in the feeling of the water trickling down my bare back, breasts, and neck.

  "How's it going?" Jarix called from where he sat, maybe twenty feet away. "All the dirt coming off okay?"

  I laughed in delight and cupped more water in my hand. "I haven't even started." My voice sounded like a little girl’s. No, not a little girl’s. It sounded happy. For the first time in a long time.

  Jarix's laughter answered me. "I meant it. Take your time. I did."

  Languishing in the water, I wiggled around so my head rested on the side of the plastic tub. "Tell me something about you I don't already know," I said, never stopping my hands as they ran the water across my whole body. I was too delighted at how cool I finally felt.

  Jarix hummed. "I love to cook."

  It was hard not to laugh as I imagined him wearing an apron like the few picture books I'd seen over the years. Women used to cook a lot on Earth, wearing white ruffled aprons as they did. The books were a few hundred years old, so I wasn’t sure what modern women or men looked like when they cooked. Not wanting another chat about how not weak he was, I contained my giggles that the image conjured. "What do you like to cook?” As Jarix described some of his favorite dishes from home, I relaxed in the water. His deep voice was nice to listen to. It calmed me, and after a few minutes I felt myself growing sleepier and sleepier.

  "Evvie?" Jarix's voice was suddenly very close. "I turned out the light so I could come in here. I think you fell asleep."

  "Oh, I'm sorry." I heard and felt the water splash as I sat up. I really had fallen asleep. It was the most relaxed I’d been in months. "Stay behind me and you can turn on the light."

  He did as I asked.

  "Hand me the soap?" I held out my hand, but didn't want to turn. Okay, that was a lie. The image of Jarix raking those golden eyes across my naked body was actually exciting. I’d imagined him doing so a number of times, but reality was not my imagination, and I had no idea if the alien even wanted to look at me.

  He'd seemed flirtatious at times, but then at other times he drew back and was very reserved. It had been hard to tell if he was as attracted to me as I was to him. Though, this bath certainly meant something. The idea that I might be about to find out exactly what this gesture meant to him had my stomach fluttering.

  The small, white bar of soap was just big enough to cover my palm when he set it in it. I wet my hair again, then worked up as much of a lather as I could. "I can help," Jarix said huskily. I didn’t know he was still standing there. "I'll wash your hair while you do your..." He trailed off, then cleared his throat. "Your body." I took special note of the strangled way those two words had come out, smiling to myself. Maybe he was interested after all.

  "Thank you." My voice came out as invitingly as I’d wanted. "I'd appreciate that."

  As his fingers touched my scalp tentatively, I began moving the bar of soap between my hands to make a later. Then, I balanced it on my knee and scrubbed my face and neck. Jarix became more confident after a moment, and his fingers dug into my scalp just hard enough to massage and scratch as he worked the soap around my hair.

  I couldn't stop the moan that slipped out. The fingers paused. "Sorry," I said. "It just feels so good."

  "Having my hair washed is one of my favorite feelings," he said in a far-off voice. "Maybe we can do this again before we leave, and you can wash my hair?" My pussy clenched at both his voice and the prospect of finally being able to touch that hair. He had no idea how badly I wanted to do just what he was indicating. And more.

  "I'd be happy to return the favor," I promised. After rinsing off my face, I lathered my body and tried not to make whimpering and moaning sounds as Jarix's fingers moved around my scalp.

  "Hand me more soap," he said. "And I'll wash your back if you'd like."

  His voice had gone deeper. I hesitated, but couldn't skip the opportunity to have his hands on my bare, wet back. My body begged me to let him touch it. He seemed to be holding his breath behind me, so I whispered, "Okay." Handing the soap back to him, I leaned forward and pulled my hair over my shoulder to work the soap through it.

  Jarix placed his hands on my shoulder blades, and I nearly jumped wit
h anticipation. He moved slowly, massaging more than cleaning. My head dropped, falling forward onto my knees. I wasn't able to stop the moans by the time his hands went low enough to meet the water.

  "Thank you," I choked out when he dipped his hands behind me into the water and rinsed them off. "I'm going to stand and wash my legs now," I said, secretly hoping he wouldn’t leave just yet.

  He backed away and turned to give me privacy. I peeked over my shoulder, pleased to see he was clenching his hands into fists. I quickly lathered up my ass and legs. "Rinsing will be harder. I can't see much, but I'm sure the water in the tub is dirty."

  "Oh, I forgot I solved that," he said. Jarix turned and moved toward the bags of water. "All four bags are full for rinsing. I had to cup my hands under that little stream and rinse off a little at a time, so I thought I’d make it easier for you.”

  I giggled and crossed my arms in front of me. My long hair wasn't long enough to cover my ass from his view, but if he was going to pour the water over me, he'd have to see it.

  When he straightened up with the first bag of water, he froze, staring at me.

  "Something wrong?" I asked in a teasing voice. I knew why he'd frozen; I wasn't an idiot. The last few hours had finally given me enough proof to know he definitely did want to fuck me. Knowing he found me attractive enough to make him pause and stutter was exhilarating.

  Recovering quickly, he moved forward and held the bag over my head. "Close your eyes," Jarix whispered. I did as he said and shivered in delight as the cool water washed over my head, taking much of the soap away and splashing off of my breasts. My nipples pebbled, nearly cold for the first time in months. "I can't describe how good that feels," I whispered over my shoulder.

  He picked up another bag and poured it more slowly, focusing the water over my shoulders to get residual soap. It took everything I had not to collapse under the beauty of the sensation of cool water on me. When Jarix's hand ran down my bicep, I shivered and looked at him over my shoulder. He stood behind me, his hand frozen on my arm, eyes heavy-lidded.