Worlds Apart (Warriors of Risnar)

by Tracy St. John

  She swung off Route 37 and onto a small gravel lane that ran into a wooded plot. Anneliese’s truck bumped over the indifferently plowed path that consisted more of ruts than road. Since Anneliese owned it herself, it was her problem to keep it up. She’d been saving to pave the path in the summer. Next winter would find the route to her home much easier to traverse.

  Her house was partially hidden from the road by the stand of trees it sat in the middle of. A good thing, she reflected, thinking of the visit Nex would make later. The rez would go nuts if they believed they were being invaded by aliens. “And you guys thought the feds were bad,” Anneliese cracked. Akwesasro:non considered themselves a sovereign nation and despised interference from outside governments.

  She turned a corner, and her snow-covered front yard opened up. Waiting to warm her in its familiar embrace, the single-story ranch-style home her parents had built themselves loomed before Anneliese. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it was well built and cozy. It was hers.

  Anneliese groaned. A car sat in the driveway, a new Cadillac one of her cousins had bought only the month before. Being a lawyer had its perks.

  Her stocky cousin was just stomping down Anneliese’s swept front steps. He brightened and swept his thick black hair back as she pulled her old truck in next to his gleaming luxury sedan. She stopped in front of the dwindling woodpile she hoped she wouldn’t have to replenish before spring arrived.

  Her favorite cousin was not quite welcome today of all days. “Not now, Kanateseh,” Anneliese muttered as she got out of the truck and crunched over the snow. She headed for the front walk where he waited. With Nex arriving in about an hour and a half, she didn’t need anyone roaming her property.

  Kanateseh turned from watching a finch that huddled on the birdfeeder a few feet away in front of the picture window. He boomed a hearty greeting, using the Mohawk name her godmother had given her. “Sekon, Kahente. Where you coming from?”

  “Massena.”

  “Oh, the big city.” After they laughed at the old joke, their breath releasing plumes of mist, Kanateseh got down to business. “Hey, a group of us are going to the capital this weekend to protest that new dam they want to put in.”

  “After we just convinced Albany to get rid of the old one?” Anneliese scowled. “That takes some balls.”

  “No, not another here on the rez. Upriver, where we can’t claim sovereignty, but it will affect the fishing. It’s a proposed combined federal project between the U.S. and Canada.”

  Anneliese’s willingness to fight woke, momentarily overriding her need to shoo Kanateseh out of her hair fast. “Of course it is. Because both believe in screwing native rights whenever possible.” Give them an inch, and they’ll always take a mile.

  “As usual. I’m taking the SUV, so you can ride with me if you want to go.”

  “I’m thinking of running off to another planet instead. I’ve about reached my limit here.”

  He laughed again. “Yeah, I’ll go with you. But forget the SUV, I can’t put that many miles on it. So, you in?”

  “Ottawa or D.C.?” Belonging to a tribe with lands in two countries came with a unique set of problems. Akwesasro:non had to exercise vigilance over two federal governments. Both had an alarming tendency to overreach.

  “Both of them are screwing with us, but we’re going to hit up Ottawa. It’s closer, and if one side caves, the other can’t go forward.”

  “Yeah, I’ll go.” A worthy fight would help Anneliese get over the inevitable letdown after saying goodbye to Nex again. “Who else?”

  “The usual suspects. Jody and Kariwase are rolling up from Syracuse and said they’d go too. It’ll be an excellent turnout because we got people from Onondaga and Oneida heading there as well.”

  “Great. What time?”

  “I’ll swing by at six Saturday morning.”

  Anneliese groaned. “That early?”

  “Hey, I wake up way earlier to go ice fishing.”

  “Yeah, but you’re insane.”

  Kanateseh grinned, slapped her heartily on the shoulder, and headed for his car. “How’d you survive the military, hating mornings so much?”

  “Barely. Oh-five-hundred wake-up call was worse than getting blown up.”

  He laughed and got in his car. As his nice new Caddy bumped down Anneliese’s rutted driveway, she let herself into the house. She sighed as the warmth seeped into her bones, chasing the crisp chill out.

  In the small foyer of her home, Anneliese kicked off her snow boots, hung up her heavy coat in the closet and looked herself over. Jeans. Red and black flannel shirt over a T-shirt she’d gotten free from a casino promotion. Maybe she should change before Nex showed up. But what did a woman wear on a sort-of date with an alien who didn’t bother with clothes?

  “He’s taking me to Risnar. I wonder how the weather is there?” she mused out loud.

  She’d never seen the planet Risnar, not outside anyway. Anneliese had always been taken straight to the Monsudan labs, located in some sort of underground bunker. Except for the torturous scientific tools and instruments the drones manipulated, the place had been nearly featureless. All Anneliese had ever experienced of the alien planet were corridors and walls made of dull silvery metal.

  Wondering if Nex would show her more of his home planet, she headed to the back of the house, where her bedroom was. The glow of the ceiling fan’s light was golden over a room full of wooden furniture, linens and curtains with native designs, an unmade bed, and artwork done by local painters. The air in the room, as in most of the house, had the acrid sweetness of burnt sage. Anneliese maintained the practice of smudging out of a nostalgic fondness for the scent.

  She sorted through her small closet and contemplated the various offerings.

  Anneliese didn’t attend many dressy occasions, if she didn’t count a couple powwows a year, and she doubted a trip to Risnar warranted a ribbon blouse and skirt she’d sewn herself. She pushed the hangers aside. Two dresses for weddings and funerals. A couple pairs of nice slacks. Most of her closet and bureau were taken up by sweatshirts, T-shirts, jeans, and shorts.

  She finally settled on a tank top with a lacy neckline, over which she put on a cotton long-sleeved blouse. If it was warm on Nex’s world, she could roll up the sleeves or strip down to the tank. She stuck with jeans, though she did switch to a nicer pair. She changed her socks too, grunting with pained effort when her hip complained she was bending too far to put the left one on. At least she’d replaced the laces of her sneakers with the elastic no-tie versions, allowing her to slip them on and off with minimal trouble.

  Anneliese went to her dresser, which had once belonged to her parents, and perhaps a grandparent before that. The majority of her belongings were passed down. She appreciated having items belonging to long-gone family members, though the reverence was detached since she’d not personally known them.

  The scarred wooden top of her dresser was scattered with a few pieces of jewelry, a small stack of laundry she hadn’t gotten around to putting away, and stray beads and spools of threads. Anneliese picked through the bits and found her strawberry-flavored lip balm. She wasn’t big on cosmetics, but lip protection was a must in the frozen North Country. She brushed her shoulder-length hair, listening to it crackle with static before it settled in a smooth curve to frame a face she believed too long for beauty. After a moment’s consideration, she dabbed on a little extra perfume.

  “As if I’m going on a real date or something,” she told her reflection. She shook her head and considered the room. Should she tidy her messy bed? Ever since her discharge from the army, she’d quit worrying over such things. “Well, why do it now? Are you taking Mr. No-Dick to your bedroom?”

  Anneliese sighed over the missing bit of Nex. He’d starred in scores of sexy fantasies since that kiss six months ago, even without evidence of the necessary equipment.


  Man-parts or not, Nex had returned her passionate embrace with interest. Anneliese had reason to hope Nex had more up his sleeve—or somewhere else—than evidence suggested. He’d sprouted extra fingers from his hands as he operated the saucer and portal controls. If he could form appendages such as those, why not others? The Risnarish had to make babies somehow. Though they were an alien race, they looked humanoid enough. Anneliese judged they should be capable of doing the horizontal bump the same way Earthlings did.

  “Though hopefully he’d offer something bigger than a finger. But why am I thinking about this? I’m not so desperate to be dreaming of alien bejut!”

  Except she was and she already had. Striped bejut, no less. Good night, she was pathetic. Anneliese’s penchant for challenging others led to too many fights, fights that ended with lovers leaving for good. She was overdue a decent lay, so it was no wonder her thoughts had seized on otherworldly sex, especially with a man who had treated her like an equal. While their acquaintance had been brief, Nex had impressed her with his obvious intelligence and devotion to helping those who needed it.

  And respect. Anneliese thought Nex might respect a woman of strength.

  “It’s not my fault nobody around here wants an independent woman who doesn’t take any crap,” she complained to the room. “They all want the sweet girls who cook and clean and let them stay out all night with their buddies. I’m not that girl. I never will be.”

  With that proclamation, she exited the room, dismissing the messy bed, cluttered dresser top, and all.

  * * *

  The half hour before Nex showed up stretched for an eternity. Anneliese grew irritated with herself for checking out the windows to peer up at the darkening sky for any sign of the saucer. She knew when it started snowing heavily. She blessed it despite having to clear her long driveway again. At least it would deter any potential visitors from showing up at the wrong instant.

  Anneliese forced herself to sit in the chair her mother had used to sew jingle dresses and ribbon shirts from. It was the same chair she often used for the same reason when she grew uncomfortable from sitting at her worktable too long. She picked up a length of white ribbon and twined it around her slender fingers, thinking.

  Nex hadn’t been the sole reason she had been freed from the last round of horrific tests by the Monsuda. However, he’d been the person who’d volunteered to take her home, to take her to safety. In a flash of terrible weakness, a rare moment, her strength had crumbled. She, Anneliese Thompson, had needed someone to help her. Nex had done so without any sign that he’d found her pathetic.

  Anneliese didn’t do helpless. She aided the helpless. She stood up for the weak. However, the Monsuda had sought to strip her of her iron core, and for a little while, they’d succeeded.

  Nex had marked the end of that terrible period. In her exuberance to be free of the Monsuda, Anneliese had given in to the spontaneous urge to kiss the stunning alien. He had kissed her back. Had he ever! His raw passion had taken her breath away, left her tremulous with want. Yet it was how Nex gazed at her afterward that had threatened to sweep her off her feet. His strange but beautiful eyes had riveted on her face with a mix of hunger and joy that she would never forget. No one had looked at her that way her entire life.

  Then he’d dropped her at home, shaken and wondering if she’d ever see him again.

  Anneliese had feared the Monsuda would return for her. They’d erased her memories before leaving her on Earth after each abduction, and she only regained those lost memories when they dragged her in for more experiments. That last occasion, though, her recollection had remained intact. She had wondered if the Risnarish had wiped the Monsuda out.

  Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Anneliese found none of the usual, subtle signs of missing time. Her remembrance of the escape from the hive remained intact. Finally, she had dared to hope the abductions were over.

  With the growing realization that she might truly be free came the regret that Nex was lost to her forever. Not that she wanted rescue—not that, never again. But she’d entertained the fantasy that maybe he’d come with a warning that she had to do something to keep her people safe, that she had to find a way to be worthwhile to the defense of others once again. And maybe, just maybe while he was delivering that message, they’d touch again.

  Stupid, lonely fantasies. But exciting ones.

  “Hello? Anneliese?”

  The voice outside her picture window made her jump to her feet. A striped hand with three fingers waved at the bottom to grab her attention.

  “I’m here, come to the door!” she called.

  She rushed to the foyer, cursing to herself for getting so lost in her thoughts that she’d forgotten to look for Nex’s arrival. She threw open the door as he stomped through the snow, which was already accumulating.

  The darned man was naked as ever, walking around in the freezing temperatures in the middle of a snowstorm. Anneliese shook her head at him as he climbed the front steps. “Weh! Get in here, you crazy alien! Aren’t you cold?”

  Nex stepped in, grinning big enough to show off his sharp back teeth. He thumped his chest with a now fingerless hand as she slammed the door shut against the icy temperatures rushing in with him. “Only a bit. When my skin is armored, I don’t feel much of the temperature.”

  “Armored skin?” She stared at him, not understanding. He looked the same as ever, wearing only his belt with a bunch of pouches and the box that translated their words to each other.

  Nex gently gripped her wrist, guiding her hand to his chest. Anneliese flattened her palm out, letting him press it to flesh that felt as hard as granite. She gasped as it rippled against her hand. Suddenly it was as pliable as her own flesh, but warmer. She felt the heavy thud of an incredibly strong heartbeat.

  She was impressed and more than a little envious. “Natural armor. How cool is that?”

  He nodded. “Yes, it is cool here. It is warm at my village on Risnar. It’s spring.”

  Anneliese chuckled at his nonexistent grasp of figurative language but didn’t comment on it. Instead, she told him, “It’s spring here too. This is how we do it in the North Country. Your heart is really pounding, Nex. Are you all right?”

  “I am fine. I have two hearts, not one. That must be why my pulse feels so strong to you.”

  “Wow.” So very alien. Even so, he was beyond exquisite. Her thumb rubbed over the muscled ridge of a pectoral muscle. How long could she keep touching without Nex figuring out she was doing it purely for her own enjoyment? Or had he discerned her lascivious intent? She peeked up at him. He had that happy kid-at-the-amusement-park look again.

  Well, at least he didn’t look put off. If he’d just lean closer, maybe she’d try another kiss. She needed that hint of extra interest before she’d make a move. He didn’t get nearer, however, and Anneliese started feeling awkward.

  To cover up the overlong moment of staring at him, and the disappointment that he seemed perfectly happy to stay put, she asked, “When your skin is armored, can it withstand impacts? Bullets? Explosives?”

  He no longer clasped her wrist. Instead he rubbed up and down her arm. He hadn’t zoomed in for the kiss she wanted, but he acted delighted to touch her. “I do not know ‘bullets.’ But blunt trauma and stabs are deflected. The Risnarish are vulnerable to close-range scatter-shot from the Monsuda or their drones, however.”

  Anneliese had no idea what scatter-shot was, except it must be some sort of weapon. The gist of his explanation was clear enough. “It defends against blunt trauma and some shrapnel, huh? I could have used that in the Helmand Province.” She glanced at his toeless feet. “Armored skin that also has some amazing elastic abilities. You can grow appendages anywhere on your body?”

  Nice, Anneliese. Why don’t you just grab his crotch if you’re going to be so obvious?

  Hey! I was looking at hi
s feet, not his groin. No reason to construe that as rude.

  If Nex took her question the wrong way—okay, maybe not so wrong—he showed no hint of it. For an answer, he sprouted toes that looked more like fingers and thumbs on his feet. Anneliese was about to make a pun on how “handy” that must be when a tap on her shoulder brought her attention upward.

  She gaped at the long, slender, striped tail that reached around Nex’s waist. It playfully moved from her shoulder to tweak her nose. Behind Nex’s head, a second tail waved back and forth like a cobra dancing for a snake charmer.

  Anneliese’s face warmed as she imagined things she shouldn’t. No, there would be no problems in the bedroom department. Nex’s body was full of surprises. If he had the talent to go with the abilities, the fantasies she’d had would pale to the reality.

  Damn if she wasn’t getting wet with the ideas invading her head.

  Maybe Earthlings aren’t that hot to his kind anyway. Get your head where it needs to be and stop thinking like a horndog.

  Time to take her hand off him. Smiling as if her single heart didn’t pound harder than his pair, she motioned to the sofa beneath the picture window. “Well. It’s great to see you again, Nex. Have a seat and tell me about this tracking device you’re going to cure me of.”

  Chapter Four

  Disappointment stabbed Nex when Anneliese’s hand moved from his skin. Its pressure had reminded him of how it had felt to hold her close. For a few moments, he’d hoped she might not be averse to being pulled against him to share another spirit-warming kiss.

  However, she was settling on the couch before the window that looked out into the black night beyond. He had the unwelcome idea that maybe Anneliese regretted kissing him before. Worse still, perhaps the kiss they’d shared didn’t mean the same thing in their cultures. It could be she’d never been attracted to Nex.