by A. G. Wilde
Athena seemed to hesitate.
“He said the Tasqals are sick beasts who like to rape—” V’Alen started.
“V’Alen!” Athena cut the robot man off.
But it was too late.
Another wave of cries ensued and Kerena could acknowledge that was the last word anyone wanted to hear.
She didn’t need to be a genius to get the drift. There was only one reason she could think of why an alien race would abduct only females.
Still, the robot’s unfinished words made her shiver.
Athena had to raise her voice to talk over the noise and bring order back to the group.
“That will not happen. Here, you are safe from those hideous beasts’ atrocities. But we know it was not your choice to be here. And while I and the others,” she motioned to the women close by her again, “have embraced this new life, we know some of you might not want to do the same.”
There was murmuring as everyone tried to come to terms with what they were hearing.
“How do we know you’re not in on this?” someone asked. “How do we know you and those three women with you are not using us as guinea pigs in some grand scheme of yours?!”
“Yea!” someone else joined in. “I was thinking that! How do we know you aren’t working with these aliens that abducted us?!”
The women’s exclamations caused the group to go crazy. Everyone began whispering, arguments began to form, and there were so many people speaking at once that the noise level grew immediately.
Athena’s face fell, the look in her eyes was one of utter heartache, as if the accusation was one that hurt her deeply.
Behind Athena, the alien named Xul looked positively enraged. He stalked forward to stand in front of the Athena, dwarfing her.
“How dare you suggest that my Athena would do such a thing?” Xul looked furious, and his image alone made a hush pass through the group of females before him. “To conspire with such despicable beasts—scum—!” He spat the word.
Athena placed a hand on the alien’s arm and stepped in front of him once more.
“It’s okay, hon.” Her voice was low, but in the quietness of the room, it still carried. “They have the right to be suspicious. I would be. It’s hard to come to terms with this.” She patted his arm. “It’s okay.”
The large horned alien seemed to relax a little, but his furious gaze was still directed at the woman who’d voiced the opinion first.
Kerena took a deep breath, her eyes moving over the group.
This wasn’t a time to throw accusations around, especially when none of them knew what the hell had happened to get them to this place or how to navigate this unknown world.
They all needed more information.
“I think we should all take a few breaths and calm down.” Her gaze moved from one woman to the other. “We don’t know anything yet and it’s best we all try to learn as much as we can before we start making assumptions.”
A few of the women nodded.
“She’s right,” the curly-haired woman said as she ran her hand through her hair. “But they are right too.” She motioned to the two suspicious women. “So let’s just calm down. No need to get hysterical until we know for sure what the hell we’re dealing with here.”
There were a few more nods, and Kerena smiled slightly at the curly-haired woman.
“Elfre er erneighborix,” the minty-teal alien above her said, and Kerena glanced his way.
She wished she could understand his words.
“What now? Is there no way to go home?” someone asked.
All eyes went back to Athena.
“Unfortunately not,” the woman confirmed, raising her voice before the protests began. “For that reason, we give you two choices.”
“Choices?” Kerena pulled her gaze away from the alien beside her. She hadn’t realized she’d even been staring at him.
Athena sighed and the redhead standing beside her took over.
“You can try to make the most of this new life the Tasqals have thrust us into, or you can choose to go back into cryogenic sleep until they find a way to return to Earth in the future.” The redhead was straight to the point.
Kerena appreciated that.
“I want to go back to sleep. Wake me up when we get out of this nightmare!” someone said, to which some others agreed.
The prospect sounded like a good one. But Kerena was a scientist. She knew it wasn’t that simple.
It never was.
“And how long will that take? Worst case?” she asked.
V’Alen’s eyes flashed. Literally.
“Worst case?” he asked then continued without stopping. “I calculate the worst case would be that you return to your planet after twenty million of your Earth years have passed.”
She knew her eyes bugged out, but she couldn’t help it. Someone began crying once more.
“What would be the point of that?” Kerena finally asked.
“Fooda,” the minty-teal alien said, and despite herself, Kerena smiled inwardly.
She didn’t need a translator for that. It sounded as if he agreed with her completely.
“He said, ‘Exactly.’” The robot spoke up.
The room became loud once more with protests and cries and Kerena bit on the tip of her finger as she thought about this predicament she’d found herself in.
Twenty million Earth years meant humans might not even exist when, if, they made it back to Earth. Everything she knew would be gone. Everyone she knew would have long ceased to exist.
Her mom, her dad…Cindy Clawford!
Her heart suddenly ached for her beloved pet.
Images of the little furball meowing by her bedroom door almost crushed her, and she sagged a little.
Strong arms were quick to support her, but she didn’t even need to look up to see who it was.
She knew it was the tall alien.
Her chest heaved with the pain of withheld emotion.
Her poor cat.
She felt like the worst mother, not having thought about Cindy sooner.
She could only hope that her lovely elderly neighbor stopped by to bring her some stew and saw that Cindy was alone. The woman had a key and could get into the apartment without trouble—something her mother had forced her to do should there be an emergency. She wasn’t more grateful for that advice than now.
Easing off the huge alien, Kerena swallowed hard.
“Thank you,” she murmured to him, and she wasn’t sure he even heard her from the noise and cries of the other women around them.
Kerena took a deep breath as she considered the situation.
This wasn’t a desirable experience; it was certainly not one she’d ever considered would happen to her, and because of that, she had no backup plan.
BUT, and that was a big but, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
She could approach this in two ways.
She could cower and be afraid, wishing that she could turn back the hands of time and return to her life on Earth.
Or, she could grab this opportunity and make the most of it.
Out of seven billion humans, she was one that had the chance to interact with and possibly even study alien life.
What would the scientists at NASA give to switch spots with her?
“I want the chip,” Kerena finally said, talking over the din. “The translator chip. I want it.”
Her words brought an instant hush across the group.
“What the hell did she just ask for?” someone murmured.
“I don’t know, but I’m not letting them inject me with anything,” someone else whispered.
Athena’s eyebrows moved up a little before she smiled and nodded. “I was just about to bring that up.” The woman turned her gaze to everyone else. “We have translator chips for those who do not wish to go back into cryogenic sleep. The chip is a small device that goes behind your ear. V’Alen here has volunteered to install them, as he is the most capable of do
ing so.”
The robot tilted his head slightly before stepping forward.
“Are you sure?” One of the women touched Kerena’s leg before cowering back. Glancing behind her, Kerena realized why. The impossibly tall alien was still there, his eyes now on the woman. He was looking at the woman as if he would slice her hand off for touching her.
Kerena’s brows furrowed.
She must be reading that wrong.
Alien emotions. Different facial muscles.
Confused, Kerena pulled her gaze away to answer the cowering woman. “I’m sure.” She forced a smile. “I want it.”
The curly-haired woman raised her hand. “I want one too. No way I’m going back to that God-forsaken planet. I gladly volunteer to stay. This is too…awesome.” She grinned.
Some others murmured that they’d also want to get the chip installed.
As the robot approached, Kerena took a deep breath.
She was going to do this.
What was the point of being around aliens if she couldn’t understand them? If this was real, if this was her new life, then she needed all the advantages she could get and communication was central to all of that.
If she was going to advocate for herself, she didn’t want information coming to her second-hand.
“Okay.” Athena smiled and continued addressing the group. “As V’Alen administers the first chip, I’ll just tell you a bit more about the Restitution. I’m pretty sure you have a lot of questions.”
As the conversation droned on in the background, the robot spoke as he reached by her.
“This will only hurt a little,” he said, and she was sure the minty-teal alien said something in response.
“Yes, Ajos. I will take care. I am aware her skin is fragile and easily broken.”
Kerena’s eyes darted to the minty-teal alien.
Ajos was his name.
It suited him well.
He was frowning at her skin as V’Alen touched her ear.
He must have noticed the difference in their skin when he’d held her earlier.
Memory of that experience flooded her, and she felt her cheeks warm.
Looking back at it now, her response when she’d initially regained consciousness had been inappropriate.
“I and three other humans are sort of leading this transition, but we don’t want you to feel like we’re your overlords or anything.” Athena's voice pulled Kerena’s thoughts away for a moment. “We’ve just been here longer than you have and have formed relationships with the aliens here. We trust them and we want you to know you can trust them too. My husband and his team have worked really hard to make sure all the females will be comfortable here.”
“Husband? I thought you said no men were taken,” one woman spoke up immediately.
Athena’s cheeks grew pink. “He’s not exactly human…”
Oh…
There were more gasps and shocked expressions in the group.
Only the aliens in the room didn’t seem surprised by this.
It must be usual out here…in this open universe. Different species must form bonds where it was reproductively possible to. Obviously, Ajos, V’Alen, and Athena’s husband were different species. There was biodiversity…an open economy too?
It would make sense.
The cold tips of V’Alen’s fingers touched her ear, interrupting her thoughts, and Kerena inhaled sharply.
“Esfre freem oh negde?”
“I have not installed it yet. Patience, brother.” The robot turned his gaze to her. “I will install the chip in five, four—”
A sharp pain sprung up at the side of her head that made her yelp in pain.
All eyes turned on her and she realized Ajos stepped between her and V’Alen.
There was a pulsing behind her eyes and it felt as if her head was heating up. But the feeling only lasted for a few seconds.
“I told you to be careful,” the minty-teal alien said.
“I was. The deception was necessary. I have logs that humans prefer deceit when being administered medical jabs.”
Kerena blinked. She knew exactly what he meant, but how he knew that was a surprise to her.
“I’m okay.” At her voice, the minty-teal alien turned. His gaze searched her face even as he ignored the hushed mumbling around them.
As she rubbed the area behind her ear, she could feel the raised surface under her skin.
It only hurt a little. It was more the surprise of it all than the pain that had caused her to yelp.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Kerena nodded then froze. “I can understand you,” she breathed. She hadn’t expected it to work so quickly.
The tall alien took a step forward then, towering over her.
There were more whispers and a few gasps.
But despite that, Kerena all but forgot that there were other people in the room. All she could do was stare at the alien before her.
He filled her space and this close, he was absolutely mesmerizing.
“So, you can…Keh-reh-nah,” he said.
She didn’t remember telling him her name…and the way he said it…nobody had ever said her name like that before.
His tongue caressed the syllables as if it was moving over her skin.
A very inappropriate thought indeed—even if it did make her heart quicken a bit.
“I am Ajos, Commander of Reku 2,” he continued, his eyes moving over her face slowly. “I am here to take care of you.”
Something must be wrong with her because that last sentence sounded loaded with insinuation.
Shaking her head slightly, she stretched out her hand for a handshake, ignoring the gasps around her.
Ajos’ eyes fell to her hand before he pressed his three-fingered palm against hers in a not-so handshake.
For that moment, she stared at the contact of their hands.
His skin felt cool against hers, and when he caught her eyes again, his mouth twisted slightly.
“I will be by your side, Keh-reh-nah.”
That was just a mixed-up translation, wasn’t it?
Still, why did it make her smile?
As the alien’s lips twisted slightly into a smile of his own, something suddenly changed within him.
For a split second, she saw terror in the alien’s eyes.
“Take cover!” She was sure it was the robot guy, V’Alen, that shouted the instructions, but she didn’t get the chance to investigate why.
She was suddenly pulled into a hard chest, as Ajos gripped her and plastered her face against him.
She made to protest but something happened that made her so confused, it felt like she lost control of her mind and body.
There was a bright flash.
So bright, it lit up the inside of the dim space like they had placed the sun inside. In horror, Kerena realized she could see right through the alien standing before her.
For a few moments, it was like she was pressed against a living x-ray.
She’d never seen anything like it before.
All his bones, his blood vessels…it was all lit up in front of her eyes. There was a sudden unexplainable warmth in the room, a heat she’d never felt before, but Ajos didn’t let her go. He shielded her from the light and pulled her closer to him before a loud sound erupted. Loud enough to deafen her as the ground shook beneath them.
For a moment, she couldn’t hear anything—there was a high pitch ringing in her ears and all she could feel was Ajos holding her against him as he brought them to the floor.
Realization slowly hit as his heavy body pinned down hers.
Another explosion seemed to hit close by because the ground shook once more.
This was all strangely familiar.
Suddenly, her grandfather’s stories didn’t feel like old war tales anymore.
They’d been hit by something big, and there was only one thing it could be.
They’d been bombed.
6
Staring wi
de-eyed, she saw Ajos’ mouth move. He was shouting something, but she couldn’t hear any words.
Her ears were still ringing, and she wasn’t sure if he was speaking to her or to everyone else in the room.
He was still covering her, his body pressed against hers, shielding her, but despite the ringing in her ears, she was vaguely aware that chaos had erupted all around them.
Women were screaming and clamoring behind and between the stasis pods for cover, everyone trying to save themselves.
A fear she’d never known crept deep inside her.
Her grandfather had talked about it so many times—of being a young man who’d been sent out to Christmas Island, being told nothing except that they were going to test bombs. He’d said they’d been told to shield their eyes with their hands or to bury their face in the crook of their arm.
And then the light.
A bright light that made him see his bones through his flesh. Then the heat. A heat that felt like someone on fire had walked right through him.
It was all too similar.
“What’s happening?!” she screamed, but her words were not answered as another explosion hit the hold.
The entire structure tilted, and the world went topsy-turvy. In the back of her mind, she knew the building was flipping over—either that or gravity had shifted and the planet had turned on its axis.
Strong arms gripped her as Ajos pulled her toward his chest and secured her there. With the entire structure falling over on its side, she didn’t know in which direction they went, only that their bodies were thrown as if they were dolls.
In front of her, some women were still trying to find cover, but without the strength of someone holding them down, they flew effortlessly across the room.
Some of them hit the hard stasis pods lined up against the wall, and Kerena was sure she saw blood.
Behind her, she heard Ajos grunt as his back collided with something hard. He’d taken the brunt of the impact, saving her from injury.
Her heart felt like a brick hitting against her chest as the huge stasis hold stopped moving and the ringing of her ears subsided enough that she fully heard the screaming occurring around her.
There was dust in the room now, coming through the hole that was in the wall, and Kerena coughed as she covered her nose, her eyes watering as she searched for any survivors nearby.