by A. G. Wilde
The bull-alien, V’Alen, and Athena walked in front, while she and Ajos followed behind in silence.
There was that brown dust everywhere, and she tried to imagine what the place had looked like before the bombs had dropped, just to keep her mind off things.
Judging from what was left of the buildings, the place had probably resembled somewhere like Cairo possibly, and it looked like it had been teeming with life.
It took a few minutes, but soon, most of the destruction was behind them.
“Who’s going to bury them? Their families?” she asked, her mind still on the carnage.
She supposed the aliens had family around.
“Most of those beings were refugees like you are,” Ajos answered. “Most have no blood relations on the base. Only a few, like me, are lucky to have relatives with us.” He paused. “We all are family here. The Restitution is all most of the beings on this base have.”
Kerena nodded.
She guessed that applied to her as well.
The Restitution was all she had now too.
She’d lost everything.
Her family. Her friends. Her job. Cindy Clawford.
Everything.
Craning her neck to look up at Ajos, her heart skipped a beat.
She kept forgetting he was a completely different lifeform. When she wasn’t looking at him, it felt as if she was speaking to a regular person, a human.
Talking to him came so easily.
It wasn’t how she’d expected first contact would be.
“You have family here? You are one of the lucky ones then,” she said, forcing a smile.
Ajos’ golden eyes flicked to hers and as she craned her neck so she could study his face, she didn’t miss the fact that he seemed to stiffen somewhat.
“Some would say so,” he finally answered.
He stopped walking suddenly, and she realized the three others had stopped in front of a large, rectangular building.
There was a glowing sign etched into the wall in a language she couldn’t read, but when the doors slid open, it was obvious what the building was.
The hospital.
As they walked in, the moans and whimpers of the people being treated reached her ears and Kerena tried not to wince.
It seemed as if it was an emergency room.
They’d lined the walls with floating gurneys holding humans on them.
Guilt flooded her as she looked at the faces of her fellow humans.
Muddied, dirty, bloodied—some were in hysterics while some were crying silently.
Others looked numb.
Almost every one of them had devices covering their eyes, possibly to help with the exposure to that bright light.
Those who weren’t unconscious looked like they were in pain, and she couldn’t help but feel as if she’d been given a cheat code by not having any injuries at all.
As they walked past a room on their way to the front of the emergency area, a door slid open and an alien that looked like a huge fly walked out.
He was about five feet tall and had huge bug eyes at the side of his head. At least, she assumed they were eyes. There were no pupils, only two rounded, textured sacs.
But that wasn’t the thing that caught her attention.
The sight behind the alien did.
Inside the room, a dark-haired woman sat on a floating gurney and it was immediately clear that something was off about the woman.
She was staring straight at Kerena, but it was like looking into the eyes of someone dead.
There was nothing there.
The door slid closed, but not before Kerena noticed two more things.
The woman didn’t look dirty or beat up like the rest of the injured humans, and she was in a private room alone.
It seemed as if they had placed everyone else in the huge emergency area.
What had warranted that the woman with the dead eyes be placed in a room by herself?
Call it her “spidey” senses, but something immediately felt out of place.
The fly-looking alien was about to buzz by her when Ajos stepped in his path.
“Aker.”
The alien had to tilt his head almost ninety degrees to look Ajos in the face.
“Commander Ajos, how surprising to see you here.” The fly guy’s voice was normal. She didn’t know why she’d expected him to buzz a little when he spoke. “You are injured to the point of needing medical attention?”
“I am here to assist with the humans.” Ajos turned to her. “Please run diagnostics on this female.”
The fly alien turned to her and outstretched his hand. He had six fingers that looked slightly hairy.
Kerena took his hand, and he squeezed it so firmly, she winced a little.
“Oh, my apologies.” Aker didn’t have any lips. At least, she couldn’t even see his mouth. His nose was like a relaxed ball sack that hung down his face and moved as he spoke. It was difficult not to stare. “I am still learning human customs. The human named Piper taught me the shaking of hands. Did I not do it correctly?”
Kerena smiled.
She was good at judging people within the first few moments of meeting them, and this alien seemed like a good enough being.
“Just a little too hard on your grip there.” She smiled.
The doctor nodded. Or, at least, she thought he did.
“I will work on the pressure I place on my hand.” He moved his head, and she assumed by the angle that he was looking up at Ajos. “Show her to the scanner. I will be right with you.”
Ajos jerked his head in a nod as the short, little doctor hustled over to Athena and Xul, who were waiting a few steps away.
She watched them converse and noticed their gazes kept moving to the room with the strange woman inside, but she couldn’t pick up what they were saying.
Between the general noise of wails and sobs within the emergency room, the three were speaking in hushed tones.
“This way,” Ajos said, and when she looked up, she realized he was studying her like he always seemed to be doing.
Forcing a smile and pushing away her apprehension, Kerena followed him over to a machine that stood against the wall in the room.
It looked like one of those ring lights photographers used in their studios.
“Stand here,” he said. “It will scan you, let you know if there is anything of concern.”
When she didn’t immediately step forward, Ajos made a sound like “hmm” in his throat.
“I will show you,” he said as he stood under the ring light and Kerena watched as the thing moved to adjust itself to his height.
A green light formed a circle around his head and proceeded to move down his body.
“This is technology we scavenged from a Tasqal ship,” he said, and Kerena realized that the entire time, he’d still been studying her.
He had the advantage to do that. She had to look up every time she wanted to look at his face.
“The Tasqals…” She’d heard the name so much now, she could almost imagine what they looked like. Probably a huge warrior race that went around plundering. “Is there not much access to technology on this planet?” She paused. “Which planet are we on, anyway?”
“You are on Murn GZ and no.” The green ring of light had almost reached his knees now. “The Tasqals restrict the movement of goods to planets that do not form treaties with them,” he said. “Murn GZ is not eligible for any treaties.” His facial muscles stiffened. “Not that we’d want them.”
“So it’s like an embargo?”
Ajos’ head tilted slightly as his hairless eyebrows knitted.
“I do not know what an em-bahr-goh is,” he said, stepping from under the machine just as the green light disappeared.
As he moved, a full-body 3D image appeared in the space he’d just stepped out of.
Kerena’s eyes widened.
The image spun as he moved it with his fingers and her eyes widened some more.
It hi
ghlighted an area at the back with a glow, and Ajos stepped behind the image of himself to look at the area.
He did something to the image, tapped a setting, and suddenly, the clothes on his 3D self disappeared.
It took less than a second for her to realize that she was looking at a full-3D representation of Ajos naked and her eyes widened in their sockets.
Was this normal?
Should she look away?
Kerena cleared her throat, but her eyes wouldn’t move.
For science.
She was observing for science.
That was her job, wasn’t it?
Well, it had been.
Ajos had a broad, firm chest and memory of how she’d snuggled into him without knowing what she was doing came back to her immediately.
Despite that his skin was such a strange color, nothing about him made her squeamish. Instead…he was so very interesting.
Without realizing, she took a step forward toward the image.
Out of respect, she should probably turn and give him some privacy as he checked out the injury on his back but, instead, her gaze fell farther, moving down the muscles etched in his chest and lower.
He was a fighter, and it showed.
His body was fit, carved impeccably, and not an ounce of fat was present.
Muscle. Pure muscle.
Because of his height, her gaze didn’t even have to fall far before she was looking at his crotch.
And…
This time, her eyes bugged out when she realized where she was looking.
There was nothing there.
Apart from a noticeable bulge, his crotch was smooth.
What the…
Kerena released a breath at her stupidity. Of course, the image wouldn’t be anatomically correct. Why would they make it so it displayed the genitals for all to see?
“It seems I have sustained a minor injury to my posterior when we fell during the explosions.” Ajos’ voice reached her ears and Kerena pulled her gaze away, the warmth in her cheeks giving away the fact she’d been doing something inappropriate.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She cleared her throat. He’d gotten hurt that time when he’d grabbed her and shielded her while they’d been thrown around like rag dolls. “Do you need to have the fly doctor check it out or…”
As Ajos stepped from behind the 3D projection, she couldn’t meet his gaze and looked everywhere except at him.
“Fly doctor?”
Oh, of course, he wouldn’t know what she meant. There were probably no flies here…also what she’d said could be taken the wrong way. This was a whole other culture. She’d have to mind her words so she didn’t offend anyone.
She had so much to learn.
“I mean the doctor guy.”
“Aker,” he said. “No. My cells will fix themselves.” He paused. “Now, it’s your turn.”
Clearing her throat again, Kerena nodded and stepped underneath the light-ring thing.
“Do I have to do anything or will it—” Just as she spoke, the machine began scanning her.
She didn’t feel a thing as the green light ran over her body.
The entire time the machine scanned her, they stood in silence, the sobs and groans of the other humans that were being tended to by more fly-like aliens filling the space.
That sobered her a bit.
She couldn’t forget what was happening around them and with that thought, her gaze flew to the door where she’d seen the woman with the dead eyes. What had happened to her?
As the green light shut off and she stepped from underneath the machine, a 3D image of her sprung up in the space.
It was strange seeing a life-size image of herself, and it was at that moment that she realized how frazzled she looked.
It had captured her exact image.
Her eyes looked drawn and haunted, and her hair was a mess.
Reaching forward, she tried to touch the image, but her hands went right through.
It was amazing technology.
“So, this thing scanned my entire body?”
“Everything. Your entire anatomy down to the last cell.”
Safe to say, she was impressed.
“Wow, nothing like this exists on Earth,” she murmured, turning her hand, and the image turned as she did that action.
“And nothing like this exists in Sector 3 regions. We were lucky to retrieve this scanner while on a mission.”
“Sector 3?”
“Like Murn GZ,” he said. “The undesirables.”
Kerena’s eyebrows rose a little as she looked at her image.
“The bad guys, the Tasqals…they really keep these things to themselves?”
Withholding technology, healthcare, to retain their power? They sounded like sick beings and she was happy she was rescued from them.
“It is how they became so powerful…how they’ve been able to invade and control so many cultures.”
As she flexed her hand, she must have activated something within the image because one moment she was looking at a clothed image of herself and the next, she wasn’t.
Fuck it. She’d been wrong.
It was VERY anatomically correct.
“Shit.”
Her breasts…her nipples…her crotch with the singular line of hair she’d left unshaved! Everything was RIGHT THERE.
Kerena gasped, fanning her hand inside the image to make it change back, but instead of re-clothing her or shutting off, she somehow caused it to zoom in on her breasts.
“Shit, shit, shit!” she cursed underneath her breath.
She could feel Ajos staring and the fact that he said nothing only made it worse.
When she finally gathered the courage to look at him, she paused for a moment, blinking at the look he was giving the image.
Her mouth fell open slightly as she stared at him.
The look in his eyes was both one of wonder and…well, that other look was something she hadn’t expected to read so clearly on an alien face.
Lust.
It shone in those gold eyes like they were glazed.
With wide eyes, she jumped in front of the image, blocking his view.
“Uh—”
Ajos blinked at the sudden intrusion, and his eyes finally focused on the real version of her.
His throat moved, and he touched the machine, causing the image behind her to disappear.
“You do not appear to have any injuries,” he said.
So they were going to ignore that she’d just shown him her naked body?
All right.
She wasn’t complaining. She was actually thankful for that.
“You should still get some rest,” he said, and it seemed as if he was concentrating hard on looking her in the eyes.
There was a slight frown on his forehead and she wasn’t sure if it was because he was confused or disturbed.
Kerena didn’t know what to think.
“I’ll try and help the others instead of resting.” She glanced at the hustle and bustle happening around them. “These doctors look overwhelmed.”
As she looked over the emergency room, her gaze found the curly-haired woman, Alaina.
The woman was sitting upright on a gurney and was looking around the room.
It was the perfect option to get away from the tension suddenly swimming around her and the tall, minty-teal alien. “Be right back.”
She shot him a glance and Ajos jerked his head in a nod.
Ajos watched Keh-reh-nah go.
She moved quickly from him, her small feet taking her across the white flooring towards another human, and he immediately felt a loss at her not being by his side.
Ridiculous.
It was not like him to…bond—if he could even call it that.
His nefre pulsed.
It was probably because the female reminded him of Nama.
He’d loved his sister, and memory of her had been strong this day.
Keh-reh-nah’s small feet took her ove
r to the other female quickly.
She was embarrassed.
The change in her skin coloring told him that.
He hadn’t meant to stare at her bare flesh but, at the same time, he hadn't been able to stop himself.
Something had stirred within him when he’d seen her, and his nefre pulsed again.
He took a few steps towards her before he realized what he was doing.
Why was he following her?
Squeezing his eyes shut to clear his thoughts, he opened them to glance around the room.
There were so many other humans that needed help—all injured, some crying, some unconscious.
Even though they'd been protected by the stasis hold, so many of them had been hurt badly.
It didn’t seem as if any of the humans had regenerative qualities either.
Not surprising. The Tasqals went for planets that had little to no defenses against them, only to steal as many resources as they could by sheer force.
The Tasqals may have thought the humans had still been locked in the stasis pods and, therefore, protected from the explosions.
But that hadn’t been a surety.
They were cruel beings.
Maybe they intended all this to happen, for the humans to hurt, for rebels’ lives to be lost, for the entire base to go into disarray and quake with fear.
“You already scanned?” The medic, Aker, interrupted his thoughts and Ajos looked down at the small Taiq'ud.
“Yes, and the human scanned as well.” Ajos’ gaze flicked back to Keh-reh-nah. She was smiling with the other human she was speaking to, her white teeth showing in her small mouth. As he stared at her, his nefre stirred again, and once more, he had the urge to plant himself by her side. He frowned and shook away the feeling. “The human is well.”
As he said this, one human at the far end of the room let out a high-pitched sound, her arms thrashing as she tried to fight the Taiq'ud tending to her.
The intern, shocked by the sound, fell back, scattering trays upon trays of medical items that were behind her.
Aker winced. “The humans’ pain tolerance is remarkably high for their simple bodies. However, they are scared urgless of us.” Aker winced again as the woman continued with the high-pitched noises. “We have given them the standard dose of anesthesia, and it seems to work for the pain. It would be unethical for us to give them more just to make them calm.”