Worlds Collide

by J. L. Hendricks

  “It’s something you’ll want to keep in mind. Be sure to set your boundaries with him. He seems to be very honorable and I doubt he would push you to go further than you’re willing to, but he needs to know exactly what you do and don't want. In a way, it’s refreshing. There is no need to play games with these men. Be honest and upfront and they will respect you for it. Plus, he’ll know when to stop."

  “Thank you, Paris. That really helps. I can’t believe you can’t come with me. I’m going to miss you. I know that sounds weird, but I really value your opinion. Plus, you and Lisa were the first ones to take the plunge. Sheila, well, she went in cannon ball style so her experiences are very different.” We both chuckled thinking back to how that woman flirted so hard with so many of the warriors in the beginning. She was the only one I have met so far who was excited to be abducted.

  “Glad I could help. Now, I think today might be a good day to head over to the settlement and check out the living situation for everyone. What do you think?” Paris asked with a grin.

  “Paris, I couldn’t agree more. Let’s do this!” I was very excited to see where I was going to live and to meet more of the residents of New Hope. If all went well, this would be the place I would live out the rest of my life.

  I never thought I’d be excited to live in such a small place before. Malls and coffee shops and parks were always a part of my life. I guess, there is a coffee shop and one of the largest parks ever imagined is just outside the settlement walls. Maybe I could survive without a mall. Actually, I knew I could survive without shopping. In fact, this was the first time I had even though about shopping since being abducted. Huh? I wondered what that meant.

  By lunch time we were at the settlement. Commander Venay and Zelan came with us. We all hitched a ride with the warriors who were being transferred there.

  "Haver, Aysiaer, it’s good to see the two of you again. I hope you are enjoying all of the extra flights you have scheduled this week." I shook their hands when I entered and Aysiaer held mine a bit too long. He released my hand when Zelan growled.

  That was the first time I’d heard him do that. He reminded me of an alpha shifter from one of my favorite books back home. Which reminded me, we were going to have to get a list of items together so that next time someone went to Earth we could get some supplies, like a great collection of books.

  Aysiaer moved away immediately while Haver chuckled and shook his head. “Yes, it has been a nice change of pace flying back and forth. Yesterday, we even went out on a recon flight to look for that crashed ship. I hope we can find any last hideouts by those insectoids and destroy them all.”

  “I have to agree with you there. Don’t you have a satellite system in orbit to help you track them?” Even we had such technology back on Earth. Surely these advanced aliens had even better tech than us backward humans did.

  “No, we have a weather satellite, and one to relay messages to our other planets, but nothing that will help us to track down any crashed ships or find living beings outside of our settlement.” Haver looked to Zelan and then back to me and I wondered if an unspoken message had passed between them.

  The Commander boarded at that point. “We actually have one on the way, Natalie. I think it might be time you set up your office and get up to speed on what we have going on here. Zelan, I want her on tomorrow’s shipment of warriors to the settlement. Today we need to find her space to live and work. There is much to do.”

  “Commander, thank you. Not that I don’t appreciate you letting me sleep on your couch, but it would be nice to have somewhere else to sleep.” Mentally I added, somewhere that doesn’t have two newlyweds waking me up early in the morning with their lovemaking.

  “Yes, I am sure. Alright Haver, if we have everything let’s get moving. I have a lot to do today,” the Commander barked out.

  Haver moved to his seat in the front of the ship. “Yes, sir!”

  It was a nice flight to the settlement. Zelan and I chatted about nothing in particular. It wasn't exactly the place to talk about personal stuff. Even if we had whispered, all of the warriors had excellent hearing, they would have heard it all.

  Captain Mypo was waiting for us when we arrived. “Natalie, if you will follow me, I will show you to the women’s barracks. There aren’t many living there right now so you will have your pick of the place.” The imposing female warrior was still the only one I had seen so far on this planet. Maybe the Captain was an anomaly? Or maybe since this planet was so small, she just happened to be the only female warrior. Just one more item to add to my list of questions.

  Paris and I both followed her. She was right, it was mostly open. Only two other women had set up bunks in the place. There was room for another twenty women in this one room alone. “There are six other bunk houses if you don’t like this one. However, it is the closest one to your new office.”

  “I’ll take it. How long before some more apartments open up?” I could live here, but I really wanted some privacy for a change.

  The Captain walked around the large open bay with a total of twenty-two bunks and wardrobes. “We weren’t planning on giving any of you an apartment yet. It is best to wait and see what happens first. Many women will mate with our warriors, and some will leave.”

  “Do you have a place where we can get more clothes? I only have what I’m wearing plus a change of undergarments. The warriors on our ship didn’t plan on us changing our clothes often.” Or all, from what I could tell.

  “There is a factory that makes clothes here. They could use some more bodies. Do you know if anyone in your group can sew? We really need more workers to handle the influx of warriors and people. There is also a need for trained cooks.” Captain Mypo led us back outside as we headed towards the industrial area.

  "I will have to talk to everyone to see what they specialize in. That might be a great first project for me unless the Commander has something else in mind. He did say he needed me to move here tomorrow and get up to speed. I’ll have to ask him what he had in mind." I couldn’t believe I already had a project needing my attention. Maybe life on this planet wouldn’t be so bad. It would be nice to stay busy and contribute to the settlement.

  Once we made it to the factory, my measurements were taken, and I was told that I would have a full set of clothes by the end of the week. They were going to send over to my room a couple changes of clothes and undergarments I could use until my new ones were completed.

  “There will be a long line once everyone moves here, won’t there?” Paris asked.

  The Captain responded, “Yes, it is good Natalie is here early. We might want to send a couple of seamstresses to the ship just to get some measurements so we can get started. Natalie, do you want to handle that as well?”

  “Sure, I’ll get with Zelan to see when we have a transport with room going back to the ship.” I could feel the stress leaving my body, which was strange. You’d think I’d be more stressful with all the responsibilities piling up. But this was what I wanted, to feel needed in a way that made a difference. Back home, I only felt as though I was an ornament on Ben’s arm. Not that he needed me, or anyone else did for any reason other than to help Ben look good.

  Here, on Zeleron 10, I was going to help humans adapt to their new environment and quite possibly help an alien race to view humans as more than cattle.

  The rest of the day was spent looking at offices with the Commander and Zelan. They were able to choose where they wanted to work, and I was given a desk next to their offices. It was a very spacious area, and no one else was in this section of the building. It was nice and private. But that also meant that our coffee corner wasn’t stocked yet. That was something I needed to get on right away.

  When we went back down to the lobby, I saw Clarissa. “Hi there, looks like we will be working together soon. I can’t wait to move here tomorrow. But I gotta ask, how do I get a coffee corner set up on our floor?”

  She smiled at me. “I’ll take care of that. Since w
e had no plans to put anyone there yet, we didn’t see a need to set up supplies. I can go through your area tomorrow and make sure you guys have all of the necessities, like coffee and tea.”

  “Great! Maybe one day next week we can go to lunch and get to know each other? I would love to hear any suggestions you have to help me integrate here as well.” Excitement coursed through my veins and a smiled was plastered on my face the rest of the day.

  “I would love that! This Friday is our monthly dance night. You should consider joining us. Maybe even Paris and her mate can as well?”

  Paris had been standing nearby when she heard her name and she came over. “I would love to join you all. But I don’t know what plans Venay has. I’ll ask him.”

  I hadn’t seen any dancing by any of the V’Zenians yet. “Clarissa, do the aliens know how to dance?”

  Paris answered instead. “Actually, Venay does. He surprised me one night before we were mated and put together a very romantic dinner, and we danced. I think that was the night I knew I was falling for him … hard.” She had this dreamy, far-away look in her eyes.

  “Some of our guys here can dance. They like to learn, and we do monthly dances and teach them. With a huge influx of women, I bet all of the men turn out this week.” She smiled and went back to her filing.

  “Paris, how many women will be here by Friday? And what day is today? I have lost all count of days since we left Earth.” I tried to think how long we had been here, but I wasn’t really sure.

  “Um, I think today is Monday. I couldn’t tell you what the alien word is, but I heard Venay talking about the day of the week yesterday with Zelan and the translator said it was Sunday.”

  “Oh, okay, I guess that makes sense. So, I have five days to get a boat load of women transferred here. Hmm, Haver is going to be working overtime I think.” I smiled thinking about all the women that were going to be the object of Aysiaer’s flirting. He wasn’t going to be upset in the least with all the extra flights.

  When we got back to the ship that night, I had a lot of notes from the day. I spent the rest of the evening working out a tentative schedule. First thing on the list was to figure out who was heading to New Hope this week, and then I needed to get the seamstress over here to take measurements for the women.

  “Commander, can I schedule a seamstress to come over here tomorrow and get measurements for the first of the women going to New Hope? Oh, and what about the men? Are they going to the settlement as well?” I stood to his side, holding my notepad barely able to keep the excitement from bubbling out.

  “Why do you need measurements?” He gruffed.

  “Because none of us have anything more than the clothes on our backs. We need more than that. The settlement has a few seamstresses and they make all of their own clothes, so they wanted to get the measurements as soon as they could. They need to schedule the work. Also, I need to poll the women and see who has what skills. We need to match them up with the jobs that need filling first.” We hadn’t discussed what he wanted me to do first, but I knew this was something that was important.

  “Hm, sounds like you already have a full schedule. I need to sit down with you tomorrow and go over what I need from you, but after that go ahead and schedule what you see fit. I would start with the women who have the universal translators first. The men will go, but they are going last. I want the women to get settled in before I release the men. I have a feeling we are going to have some issues with them. They still haven’t settled down and accepted their fate. Just the other day, one of them tried to attack one of my warriors.” He shook his head.

  "Oh, I had hoped they would appreciate going to the colony versus staying in cells. It's too bad because I know that the settlement could use some muscle and some construction workers too. Maybe some of the women can fill those roles." I shrugged my shoulders and went back to working on my schedule.

  Chapter 15

  The next day came way too early. “Come on sleepy head, time to get up.” I woke up to Commander Venay’s face directly in front of mine. It startled me so much I jumped and screamed a bit.

  He laughed.

  “Really funny, Commander. That is not a nice way to be woken up. What time is it? I feel like I just went to sleep.” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I sat up.

  “It is 6 am local time. We have a lot to do today. So let’s get going. First stop is the bridge. You need to meet the crew working there so you can come and go as well as allow you to communicate with the settlement whenever you are on this ship. Your communication device isn’t strong enough to reach the settlement, so all comms must go through the bridge, for now. We are working on setting up repeaters so that you can just use your internal comm with anyone no matter where you are.”

  “Sounds good, but why so early?” I yawned.

  “Because you have a very full day if you want to get the seamstresses here and survey the humans for job skills before you move.” He took a few steps back and smiled at me. I think he enjoyed waking me up so early.

  What a monster, and no coffee here to help me wake up, either.

  I sighed deeply. “Yes, of course. Do I have time to get some tea before we leave?”

  “Breakfast is ready and waiting for you on the table. We leave in fifteen minutes so get going.” He pointed to the kitchen.

  He had no clue how long it took women to get ready. I was so happy that he wouldn’t be around to wake me up every day. Poor Paris.

  True to his word, we left his quarters within fifteen minutes. I wasn’t finished with my breakfast, so I just took the toast with me, and ate it while we walked to the bridge.

  The Commander stopped me around the corner from the bridge entrance, “Natalie, I need you to be on your best behavior while on the bridge. Most of the warriors here are not mine. They won’t be as tolerant of your presence as I am. It might be best if you only come to the bridge with either myself, or Zelan. I would hate to hear you had been treated poorly by one of the bridge officers.”

  “Won’t they respect your word? If you tell them I’m your assistant, doesn’t that mean something to them?” I furrowed my brow and hoped that none of them would be rude to me. All sorts of appalling scenarios raced through my brain in just a few seconds.

  “To some it will, to others you are just a slave. Even if you are my assistant, you are no better than cattle. I understand both you, and Paris, want to work to improve the status of humans in my world, but this bridge is not a place to experiment. Do you understand?” He looked me straight in the eyes and I felt a little intimidated by the intensity of his look.

  “Yes, Sir. I will do my best to stay out of everyone’s way here.” It was hard not to cower in his presence when he went all Commander-mode on me.

  I followed him into the room and looked around. The bridge was smaller than I expected. It had multiple work stations, and each one was manned by different aliens. A few were pure-bloods, but most were hybrids.

  What surprised me the most was the viewscreen. It took up the entire wall in front of the workstations. The captain’s chair sat in the middle of the room, like a throne. In front of that was a long workstation where four warriors sat looking at the displays on the tabletops in front of them. If they looked up, they would see a giant screen that had to be bigger than the movie theatre screen back home. Off to the left and the right were more workstations built into the wall.

  We walked over to one side, “Natalie, this is my communications officer, Maximillian. Max, this is my new assistant. She will on occasion need to comm the colony, and if she ever sends a message to me from the colony, you are to route it immediately to me. Show her how to send her messages. And be sure to tell your replacement the same thing.” I smiled when I saw Max. At least one face on this bridge would be somewhat friendly.

  He smiled at me as well, “Natalie, it is good to see you again.” He stood up, “Please, take the seat here and I will show you how to send a comm.”

  The commander looked at me wi
th a stern face, and an arched eyebrow, but said nothing as he walked to his throne chair.

  As soon as I finished relaying my message for the seamstresses to come over, the Commander told me to follow him. We went to a room that was off to the side of the bridge.

  “This is my office, while on this ship. The only way to enter is via the bridge. If I ever request your presence on the bridge, and I am not there, I will be in here.”

  “Okay.” I wondered what he wanted that had to be said in private.

  He must have read my mind, “There will be times when we speak in private because there are factions on this ship who want nothing more than to keep the humans in our cells. Most of those who were serving on this ship are not human friendly, so keep that in mind when making friends. How do you know Max?”

  “I met him the other night in the mess hall when we had movie night. He seemed to be fine with me being a human.” I wasn’t worried about Max, or even his brother. Even though his brother was a flirt.

  “I am sure he is, but others are not. Just be careful. It will be better for all humans to move to the settlement as quickly as possible.” He then gave me a list of things he wanted done tomorrow. After which, he promptly kicked me off the bridge. Truth be told, I was happy to leave.

  While I was getting more comfortable with the Commander, it was still intimidating being on the bridge in front of so many aliens. He was right too, as I walked away, I saw a few of them looking at me with scowls on their faces and even heard one say, “Why did the Commander use a slave as his assistant? Any one of us could have done that job so much better.”

  I didn’t wait around to hear what his companion said, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t have been nice. Those were two guys I would try to avoid at all costs.