We walked out of there holding hands like a real couple on Earth would do. I wasn’t sure if that was the best thing, but I did say I wanted to date him. How was I going to do this from a jail cell?
Later that day after the tearful memorial service, we boarded the transport ship and made our way back to the jail ship. I missed the colony from the moment we took off. There had to be a way I could get into the colony as a worker.
We were making our landing when inspiration struck. “Paris, could I have dinner with you tonight? I have some questions about my status and how it will all work here on this planet. Is that possible? Can you come get me from jail whenever you have a chance?”
“I can get you tonight, I think. In the future, I will have to run it past Venay. He’s running the entire ship, and I need to be careful about the liberties I take, even if I am his mate.” Then she whispered, “Aren’t you interested in Zelan?”
I leaned in closer and replied, “Yes, I am. Although, I have never been a single adult. I don’t even know who I am without Ben. I want to figure this out before I accept anyone’s offer of marriage.”
“Then why don’t you just accept Zelan’s offer and sleep on his couch. That was what I did in the beginning.” She had mentioned that before the crash she was sleeping on the Commander’s couch, but I didn’t think much about it.
While it did sound good, I wasn’t sure how long I needed to be single. Or if I would eventually accept Zelan. It wouldn’t be right to give him the expectation that we would marry and then for me to say I wasn’t in love with him. Plus, I doubted I could go back to being a prisoner after being treated as a mate.
“Yes, but you only waited, what a week, before you married the Commander? I’m not interested in just waiting a week. Zelan and I had a great conversation over breakfast. I would love to talk to you about it and see if what I asked him is even possible. Could we do that tonight? Or tomorrow sometime?” I looked over and noticed that Zelan was smiling at me.
I returned his smile and remembered that they had excellent hearing. Everyone here probably heard what we just said. I could feel my cheeks heating up. There was no way anyone missed my blush.
Paris noticed and chuckled. “Yes. I’ll get you an invite to dinner at my place tonight. Don’t worry. Since we have been gone longer than expected, I doubt Venay will even be home tonight.”
“Thank you, my friend.” I realized that she really was my friend in every sense of the word. Hopefully, we wouldn’t be separated once we got back to the V’Zenian homeworld.
Going back to the jail cell was miserable. I felt oppressed and depressed all at once. The only thing that made it tolerable was the knowledge that I would see Paris soon.
Lucy and Betty came over right away, “How was it? Did you get to meet any interesting people?” Lucy asked.
Betty asked, “How did they treat their humans? Did you get to see many of them?”
Everyone around us perked up and listened to our conversation.
“Yes, I did see how the humans live here, and if there is any way you can get a spot in that colony, you need to do it! Seriously, they are not slaves here. Every one of them works at a job and have regular freedoms like we would back home. Well, except for now. They are all required to stay inside the fences, but that’s for their own safety. After the attack yesterday, I bet they are going to be looking for some more workers.”
Rachelle was in the cell next to mine. She stood up and got as close as she could. “What attack? Who attacked you guys in a big colony?” She put her hands on her hips and chewed on her lower lip.
“It was the bugs. They found a way to quickly reproduce and send hundreds, if not thousands of their young cockroaches to attack the settlement. Paris and I both had to fight them off from the top of their fence. It was awful. So many got over and they killed fifty warriors and humans who lived in the settlement. They were not prepared for this attack at all.” I continued to tell them about what I saw, and they were all shocked.
“But, but, how could that be? I overheard one of the warriors talking about how the mutants reproduce. How could they have reproduced so many in such a short time?” Lucy asked.
"I don't know the specifics, but from what we saw the other day when we found those women out there in the jungle, I would say that there are no more free humans on this planet. My guess is that they were all rounded up by the Zateelians and used as breeding vessels. Zelan thought that maybe multiple bugs implanted their eggs into each person." I wasn't the only one who was grossed out. Most of those near me were shivering, and it wasn’t cold in this room. A few even coughed, probably trying to hide the fact that they were gagging.
I directed the conversation back to the colony. “Our kind have normal lives and work at regular jobs. I met a woman named Clarissa who’s a receptionist in a regular office building. They have human architects who are designing new buildings here and sending their designs to the V’Zenian homeworld. They have restaurants, and even regular BBQ’s where everyone gets together for the evening and has fun. We were supposed to have one last night, but the cockroaches ruined it!” I pounded my fist against my thigh. Still thinking about the attack upset me.
A few of the women smiled, but most sat there thinking. Rachelle spoke up, “Do you think we will have a chance to stay here and get regular jobs? Do they have any industries there, or manufacturing?” She seemed to be very interested in this new turn of events. Her hands were holding the bars pretty tightly, and she was focused on the conversation. Even the male jail handlers, who she normally kept one eye on so she could flirt with, had lost her attention.
“I did see industry, but I couldn’t tell you what they make, or if they actually manufacture anything.” We all spent the next hour or so discussing the things I saw while I tried to answer their questions. Most of which I couldn’t. I told them I would be seeing Paris soon and would ask her if any of us could move to the settlement.
Zelan came to get me. He smiled at me and opened the door to my cell. “Natalie, come on. We are both invited to dinner with the Commander and his mate.”
I raised one eyebrow. “Oh really? The Commander will be there?” I asked as I walked out, not sure if I liked that idea. He usually intimidated me. “I thought he was going to be really busy tonight since we were gone so long? At least, that’s what Paris thought.”
"He had planned to work late until he heard your conversation with Paris. I think he might like the idea of sending all of you humans to the settlement when half of our warriors go later this week."
I stopped and put a hand on his arm. “Wait, half of you guys are going to the settlement? Why?”
“They need our help. Until we have eradicated those bugs, the civilians are in real danger, especially the children. Commander Venay wants to set up a training regimen for all the settlers. That way they can learn to defend themselves. Even once we eradicate the bugs, they still have other animals on this planet which are quite deadly.” He continued to walk, and I followed him.
"That makes sense. If we can be given the same freedoms as all of the other people living there, then I know that everyone will want to go and get jobs. I’m sure some will even be happy to marry or mate with V’Zenians. Especially if they learn how to woo a lady.” I raised my eyebrows suggestively at him.
His veins pulsed purple as his smile grew, and he reached for my hand. We walked hand in hand the rest of the way there.
Paris answered the door. “Natalie, I’m so happy you could make it tonight.” She smiled and acted like this was some regular dinner party where I was invited but didn’t RSVP for. Strange.
“Um, I just saw…” She put up her hand to quiet me and invited me in. I almost stopped dead in my tracks. There was Captain Montgomery, the former leader of this ship. He was worse than Commander Venay. I got the impression he didn’t like humans.
Zelan did his strange military salute, where he put his right fist over his heart, and then bowed slightly. “Commander, Captain
, it is an honor to be invited to your dinner tonight.”
I stayed quiet since I didn’t know the protocol for this. The Commander came over and put his hand out for me to shake. “Commander, thank you for the dinner invitation.” I almost curtsied but remembered he was military, not royalty.
The Captain came over and shook my hand too. "Nice to formally meet you, Captain. What an honor it is for me to have dinner with such prestigious company.” Thankfully, my mother taught me how to kiss up when in the presence of powerful men.
Paris took my hand and brought me into the kitchen with her while the men stayed in the living room chatting in their native tongue. I still needed to get my universal translator installed. Maybe I could get that tomorrow or the next day. One more way to keep out of the prison cells.
“Paris, what’s going on?” I looked back at the men, and over to Paris who had plastered a smile on her face.
“I think that a large group of us are going to be asked to volunteer to head over to the settlement for the next few months. You might want to consider it.” She kept her voice low, so as not to attract the attention of the men in the other room.
“Are you going? Or staying?” I was very tempted to go, even if Paris didn’t.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I think Venay and the Captain are discussing that tonight. Either way, Zelan is going to be heading up the mission. Although, I’m not sure he knows that yet. So, keep it quiet until they ask him. It’s a really great opportunity for him. Here, he is highly ranked but not in charge of the warriors. On Venay’s ship, he was in charge of the warriors. He created their schedule and conducted the daily training. I think he misses it.” She was preparing some sort of meal in the replicator. It looked like it might be a pot roast.
“Did they get the replicators from our old ship while we were gone?” I wondered.
“Yes, one was installed here, and two were installed in the mess hall. All of our friends will get human food starting tomorrow.” She smiled from ear to ear. Her excitement was evident in the way she kept moving around and smiling.
“That is great news.” My stomach responded its appreciation as well with a nice rumble. “Well, I guess that was an approval of the smell at least. It does smell great.”
“I’m glad you approve. Help me carry the dishes out to the table?” Paris asked.
“Sure.”
Dinner went rather smoothly, and Zelan even brought up the subject of my universal translator. “Natalie, now that we are back, have you thought about getting a universal translator installed?” I noticed the Captain was paying particular attention to me.
“Yes, I was actually just thinking about that. Is there a way to do it tomorrow or the next day?” I hadn’t heard of any issues from Paris, so I figured it was probably safe. More women had been getting them implanted since we arrived on this ship. I was a bit leery at first, but now I thought it might be smart.
“Natalie, how did you like your time at the New Hope settlement? Did you find it relaxing? Or enjoyable? I understand you pretended to be mated to Zelan in order to stay with him,” the Captain asked.
My cheeks heated up very quickly. “Yes, it was an interesting time. Dealing with the attack on the settlement changed the entire stay. Paris and I both took up positions on the wall and helped to kill quite a few mutant cockroaches.”
“Really, I hadn’t heard you both fought. I assumed that you would have stayed back in the safety of your rooms.” He turned his head toward the Commander, “You allowed your mate to fight? But she isn’t trained. Please tell me she didn’t get in the way of your leading the defense of the city.” I saw what he was up to, he wanted to get the Commander out of the picture and was trying to make him out to be a bad leader.
“Actually, Paris is quite adept at defending herself as well as anyone else in her care. She was on a different part of the wall with Zelan and Natalie. From what I understand, they killed quite a few Zateelians. In fact, Paris and Natalie both figured out we were battling young bugs right about the time that I did. I had just given the intel to Captain Mypo to disseminate when Zelan called to tell me. Zelan was able to relay the news to his side of the wall quite easily, and they worked together to kill more than their fair share. I will always be happy to have her watch my back in battle.” Venay puffed his chest out, but I could tell he was eyeing the Captain suspiciously.
“Thank you, Venay. I hope I can live up to your kind praise.” She bowed her head toward him. I hadn’t seen her act so compliant before. There must be more going on here than I understood. I knew the Captain was a jerk, but why care about impressing him?
“Interesting. Well, maybe we should send more slaves to the settlement and have them help guard the families. I wonder if they would really help or use the opportunity to kill our species.” What was he thinking? Why in the world would we kill their families! I swear, if I ever got the chance, I was going to kick that man in his family jewels. He seriously needs to be taken down a peg or two.
I looked over to Paris and rolled my eyes. She just smiled.
The Commander stood up and picked up his glass of water. “I would like to propose a toast to our newest Captain.” He looked over to Zelan who was positively beaming.
Well, I guess Paris didn’t know all of the news. And why didn’t Zelan tell me about his promotion when he picked me up earlier?
We all picked up our glasses and cheered to his new promotion. Both the Commander and Zelan were pulsing green, but the Captain was going back and forth between orange and dark blue. I knew that orange meant he was frustrated. The dark blue must have meant he was despondent. Strange that he would be upset over Zelan’s promotion.
As soon as we were done with dinner, the Captain said his goodbyes, and everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief once the door closed.
“Venay, I don’t trust that man. He gives me the creeps the way he looks at us women. I get the feeling he just wants slaves, not mates or helpers. Please never leave me on this ship alone with him.” Paris walked over to the Commander and put her arms around his torso.
He put his around her and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “He isn’t a fan of humans. I promise I will never leave you with that man. Like I said back on our ship, you are not to leave my side until we get off this planet.” They really did make a cute couple.
Paris looked to me. “Natalie, you said you had some things you wanted to discuss with me? Why don’t we go into the kitchen and talk?” She nodded her head into the kitchen, and I followed her.
“What was up with the Captain at dinner? If he hates us so much, then why did he join us?” I had brought some plates with me and put them in the alien dishwasher contraption.
“I think he felt like he had to come. Venay didn’t order him, but when your commander invites you to dinner, you don’t say no.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess. Why did the Commander invite him?”
“Venay told me that he wanted to try and bridge the gap between us all. Make him see that humans weren’t so bad. Something tells me his plan didn’t work.” She blew her bangs out of her eyes.
“So, when did Zelan get his promotion? I never heard them discuss it until the end of dinner.” I was really excited for Zelan and couldn’t wait to tell him so.
“Maybe they offered it to him while you were helping me get dinner prepared? That could be why the Captain was upset too. I heard them talking before you got here, and he wanted his Lieutenant to get the job and the promotion.”
I stopped working on the dishes and looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming in the room. “Do you think I should go to the settlement? It’s what I wanted from the moment we stepped foot in their village. If the Captain is mad at Zelan, do you think he will try to take it out on me?” The only thing that gave me pause was the fact that Zelan was going and he would expect me to spend my time with him. Not that he had told me as much, but I knew enough to know he’d give me very little time to myself.
Even Paris seemed to enjoy her alien taking care of her.
“I wouldn’t put it past him. In his mind, you are still just a slave. It might be better if you chose to mate with Zelan sooner rather than later.” She stopped what she was doing and looked at me with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.
I sighed. "I know that’s what I am supposed to do, but I wish everyone would let me take the time I need to get over Ben. It's not that I was in love with the man, but he was the only boyfriend I ever had as an adult. Can we stop bringing this up? When I’m ready, I’ll let you and Zelan know." I huffed and slapped the dish towel on the counter.
“I’m sorry, Natalie. That wasn’t very nice of me. I guess there are so few of us who are mated, that I was thinking about myself in this case. It was just that I wanted more nights like tonight. Well, without the Captain.” She started to laugh, and I smiled.
“Okay, just let me go at my own pace, alright?”
“Of course, forgive me?” She asked.
“Always.” We hugged and finished the dishes.
Paris grabbed a couple of teas, and then we both sat at her kitchen table.
“Alright, here is what I wanted to know. If I moved to the settlement, would I have free rein of the place like the other humans who live and work there?” The tea cup in my hand was warm and it felt really good to hold it.
“I think so. But you would need to talk to Venay about that one.” She took a sip of her tea and put the cup down on the table.
Worlds Collide Page 9