by Liz Paffel
Sasha didn’t think twice about mimicking her stance and putting her hands in the air, too. “We’re not armed.”
What a stupid thing to say. She shook her head a little. Would it matter if they were? This guy had a laser that split things in half.
The person said something softly, the tone undeniably male. There was a lick of static, and then a robotic, female voice. “Life form identified. Human.”
“Scan for additional lifeforms.”
“Additional lifeforms not detected.”
Sasha whispered to Blume. “Does that mean there aren’t more snake things?”
A male voice seemed to fill the room. “Tubular, fanged reptile with armor piercing tail appendage?”
Sasha cocked her head as the words jumbled together. Tubular snake fanged reptile snake. Pause. Snake. She tapped on the translator behind her ear, cursing the glitches.
“Are they gone?”
“My scans don’t detect further tubular, fanged reptiles.”
Thank goodness. Blume was incrementally inching her way back to Sasha, hands still in the air. Lifting her chin, Sasha held her ground as the alien took a step toward them. He raised his face shield, but the glow of the light made it difficult to get a good look at him.
“What do you want?” She cringed at the fear in her voice. So much for being a badass like Blume.
The alien lowered his weapon and after a moment’s hesitation, fastened it to a holster at his hip. “I intercepted a distress signal from this place. From a human female asking for assistance. That was you?”
Well hot damn. Her attempts at sending the S.O.S. had worked. “I have females and young here. We’re low on supplies and we’ve been abandoned.”
“Captives?”
“Yes.”
It had crossed her mind repeatedly as she’d attempted to send communication that absolutely anything could respond. Creatures worse than those who’d abducted and dumped her here. She’d been in an impossible situation before. She figured if she could live through it once, she could figure it out again.
“I have come to help. Where are your captors?”
“Gone. We don’t know where, or if they’ll be back.” Sasha let out a hard breath. “Can you help us?”
“Yes. And… no. I crash landed. I’m not completely sure how bad the damage is.”
A loud crack sounded overhead. The lights slowly beamed on. She watched in trepidation and awed curiosity as their hero came fully into view. Blume shook her head in disbelief while Sasha moved a step forward. It wasn’t intentional, yet her feet moved forward as each inch of him was revealed.
Tall. So tall. She wasn’t small at five-foot-nine, and he towered over her. He was clad in a completely silver suit that dipped in high-low gradient. It had a mesh-like appearance with gleaming, solid pads around his shoulders and thighs. His massive chest was outlined by the fabric, which looked as if it had vacuum sealed to every part of his body. Hard plates shielded his legs from the knees down, his forearms covered in a similar fit. His eyes were wide and blazed a bright lavender, his face a pale shade of green. A bright blue lock of hair peeked from inside his helmet. Everything about him was intimidating and foreign.
The strong intelligence in his focused gaze drew her to stare unabashedly. He looked at her as if… he was reading her. As if he knew her, had been expecting her. Sasha’s cheeks heated. With a start, she realized she’d stepped around the dead snake and was walking toward him.
“Sasha, what the hell?” Blume whispered sharply.
She stopped a few inches from the alien and looked up. Her breath caught, sweat beading along her hairline. He blinked, the sweep of his ash gray lashes a startling contrast against the hue of his skin.
Feeling suddenly awkward, she thrust out her hand. “Thank you for killing the snake.”
He looked at her hand, then back to her eyes. He didn’t know what the hell a handshake was. Duh. Real smooth, Sasha.
But then he took her hand, his gloved fingers wrapping around her palm, the mesh of his glove gently pressing into her skin. Heat transferred to her hand, streaking down her fingers and palm and over the heel to her wrist. Her breath jacked.
“I am Hahn. It is nice to meet you.”
Nice to meet you? She cocked her head. “Sasha Black. How do you know what this is?” She gestured to the handshake, which they still hadn’t broken.
“I resided for three solar rotations on Earth.”
She yanked her hand back with sudden realization. “You’re one of the Axxeon. That’s why you look… familiar. You stole a bunch of women. Oh my God. You’re not forcing me or any of these women into a breeding—”
“Wait. Please.” He spread his hands wide as if to placate her. “I have the impression that you will not be forced into anything, Sasha Black. I will not force anything onto you. That, I promise.”
“Oh, shit.” Blume crossed her arms. “There were Axxeon in Texas when I was abducted. It wasn’t them that took me, obviously.”
“How long have you been here?”
Sasha shook her head. This couldn’t be happening. The Axxeon had come to Earth to gather supplies and females. The world governments had allowed it to happen, claiming some kind of peace treaty. And then the other aliens came, and there was an uprising. She didn’t know what happened after that. She’d been abducted in the middle of the chaos.
“I don’t know.”
“Well I do. I was abducted three-ish months ago.” Blume crossed her arms.
Hahn frowned. “Much has happened on your planet since then.”
Sasha turned to the sound of rustling behind her. Angel and Fran had stepped back inside, each hanging onto the door frame like they may bolt back. Sasha’s spine prickled. She was responsible for these women, including the alien females that needed to be returned to their homes. Hahn may have saved them from the ‘tubular reptile with fangs’ but his kind had abducted women from Earth and plopped them into the Axxeon breeding program. Okay, maybe they hadn’t been abducted per say. And last she’d heard, the women chosen for the program were given an option to back out.
Still. His kind had sought out humans for one purpose. What made him different from the douchecanoes who’d abducted her and all these other women for the same purpose?
“Why should I trust you?”
Hahn regarded her for a moment before slowly grasping his helmet and pulling it off. A cascade of bright blue hair fell around his shoulders. She caught her breath. Fuck if he didn’t look like a young Henry Cavill, but with green and red skin and purple eyes.
He bent to set the helmet down, then took a pack off his back, and produced something from inside. He held up four slender items in shiny brown wrappers.
“Would the enemy come bearing Snickers?”
Chapter Seven
The human stared him down, her eyes never leaving him even as the ground began to shake. Her lashes fluttered, her mouth pulling into an annoyed line as if she’d been through this trembling before and was well over it.
The building rattled around them, the metal walls creaking and clanking. The tremor lasted a few beats of his heart, and then it was done.
“Run environment scan.”
“Running.”
The female--Sasha--looked around as if startled by the voice.
“Planetary instability detected. Underground disturbance. Cause unknown.”
“Who are you speaking to?”
Hahn put his scanner onto his belt. “My craft has an artificial intelligence system. Have the tremors happened often?”
He approached slowly, cautiously, holding out the sweet foods as promised. He’d learned on Earth that humans loved sweets almost as much as they loved pizza. He’d grown fond of both himself and may have had a stockpile of candy sent to Axxeon 9. Their food synthesizers could recreate nearly anything but could never replace the real thing. He rarely left without a bit of chocolate in his pocket.
Sasha eyed him warily, then grabbed the treats and
handed them to the female behind her. He wished she’d kept one for herself. She was thin, her cheeks hollow and pale. Her lips were dry, her eyes hollow despite the spark that flashed there. Long hair hung to her back. It was perhaps a light color, but it was hard to tell. It was obvious her captors hadn’t provided good care. All of these females were probably hungry and dehydrated.
The sound of wrappers rustling filled the air. “These are real! Oh my God.”
The woman behind Sasha tried to hand one back to her, but she waved it off. He had the urge to take it and feed it to her himself, bit by bit until she’d enjoyed the entire thing.
“The ground has been shaking a lot. I can’t tell you exactly when it started because I have no good way to measure time. It seems they are becoming more frequent and violent.”
“And the storms?”
“What storms?”
“You haven’t seen the sky? I penetrated a massive atmospheric storm. The planet is blanketed in chaos.”
“I’ve never left this building. There are no windows. I couldn’t tell you what’s happening out there.” A line furrowed between her alluring brown eyes. “Is that why you crashed? The storm?”
“Yes.”
“If it was that hard to get into the planet, how did the assholes get out of here?” She turned to the female behind her. “You’ve been with them for months, you said. Do they have like magic spacecraft or something?”
“Sorry, girl. I’m not an expert in spacecraft. I couldn’t tell you.”
Hahn couldn’t shake a feeling of dread. He’d had the sensation of the air closing in on him since he stepped foot out of the Threv. Perhaps it had been more than his nerves toying with him. He needed to get back to his craft, fix the electrical juncture, and find a way back out.
He looked at the faces before him. It wasn’t just himself he needed to get out. Slipping out of his gloves, he checked his comlet. Half of this planet’s daylight was gone. The quicker he could complete surveillance, the faster he could get back to the Threv.
“How many of you are here?”
“Six.”
“Have you seen others, Axxeon like me?”
He’d been sucked into the storm so easily. It was possible the same had happened to the Zeph.
She shook her head. “No. Until recently, it was only myself, the Lork, and the alien females I’ve tended to. The other humans are a recent development. If there were any others here, I never knew about them.”
Hahn closed his eyes in a moment of disappointment. He’d crashed on this planet for nothing, and the time on his father’s life was running short.
“Sasha? Um. Can you come?”
A timid voice came from the doorway. The humans skittered in all directions, revealing a tall, slender alien female with purple-hued skin. She wore a loose brown garment which pulled tight over a large abdomen that she cradled in her arms. Two curved horns sprouted from her temples, her slit eyes yellow and dull. Her facial features looked almost human, as did her form. She wavered a little, her legs buckling.
A human with bright red hair rushed to grab the female’s arm and held her upright. Sasha hurried to help.
“Pains?” Sasha asked.
The female groaned, her face contorting with agony.
“I need to get her to the delivery room.” Sasha caught his eyes. Uncertainty crossed her face. She did not trust him not to cause harm to the other females. What had they endured since being forced to this place? He’d used a laser tool to weld together the crack in the building that he and the snake had come through. That small act of protecting these females didn’t seem like enough. Not after what they’d likely been through with the Lork.
He glanced at the dead snake. “Do you have food rations for your females?”
“Not enough.”
Hahn grinned with a glance at the snake. “You do now. I will prepare a meal while you tend to your woman.”
“I’m going to pretend not to know what you’re referencing so I can actually go through with eating it.” Sasha’s voice reached him as she walked away. The brown-haired female hung back and gave him a long, careful look before hurrying to catch up with the others.
He scanned the snake to be sure it was edible before dragging it back the way he’d come. At the end of the corridor, he made quick work of using a solar knife to quarter the creature and cut thick steaks of the meat. Pulling a thermal plate from his survival pack, he roasted the steaks one at a time, piling them onto a square of fabric. The scent of cooking meat overwhelmed him with a sense of comfort that he hoped would extend to the females, as well.
He hydrated a pack of dehydrated roots, similar to human potatoes, and another pouch of ground naktcha beans, which separated in the pouch and dripped into a bottom compartment to make strong brew. Then he activated synthesizer pellets inside a hydration bladder, watching in satisfaction as it inflated and filled to the top with cool water.
Satisfied with his handiwork, he left the meal to scout the building. He’d been on high alert since slipping in after the creature, yet neither his senses nor his scanner had detected any life forms beyond the women. From Sasha’s words, her captors had not left them much in order of rations, but he’d scour the building for electrical supplies that might aid the damage on the Threv.
He needed to be out of here as soon as possible.
Hahn walked the halls, rummaging through the four rooms in the back. They all seemed to be of medical nature, save for one that had been turned into a sleeping room. Sasha’s scent permeated the air as he walked inside. Two of the human females were inside, sitting on the only bed. A pallet of one thin blanket each had been put on the floor for the other females. Sand had piled up in the corners from cracks in the ceiling, the metal holding up the room sagging under the weight. How much longer before the whole thing came crashing down, burying the women alive as they slept?
Anger pumped through him. He wished Sasha’s captors would reappear. He had a lot to say to them, with his fists.
A check of the supply closest confirmed what he already knew. There were three small boxes of dehydrated rations, some medical supplies. No water. Why would these women be captured, only to be abandoned in a manner that would surely kill them?
His hearing tuned up at the sound of Sasha’s voice on the air. It was strained and filled with concern. Heading toward it, he stopped outside a small room. A table sat in the center. The pregnant female lay atop it, Sasha on a seat at the end. She was holding something in her hands, but from his view he couldn’t see what it was.
A monitor screen glowed with a backlight, a thin blue line running straight across it.
“I don’t have what I need.”
“It’s not your fault.” The redhead placed a hand on Sasha’s shoulder and gave a squeeze.
“There’s no lifesaving equipment, no defibrillator.”
The quiet agony in her tone made the back of his neck tingle. An uncomfortable sensation swirled in his belly. Walking toward her, Hahn placed a hand on her other shoulder as the redhead had done. It seemed to be a measure of comfort. She looked up at him and jerked before recoiling away from him.
“What has happened?” He reluctantly removed his hand, his palm immediately pulsing for the feel of her again.
“The mother has died.”
He looked at the table. A sheet had been pulled over the female’s body and face. A flag of alarm went through him when he realized the body was covered. Is this how humans sent their dead to the afterlife? Blind? Sorrow pumped through him with fast intensity.
His touch hadn’t comforted Sasha. Perhaps nothing would. Words were never useful, but actions were.
“There is a meal waiting for you in the back hall. Water, as well. If you will allow it, I will care for the body.”
She looked up and over her shoulder at him. “You’ll what?”
Fran patted Sasha’s shoulder. “He’s going to take care of things.”
His heart was beating unnecessarily fast. The
longer Sasha held his gaze, the quicker his pulse ticked. He was becoming increasingly hot inside his flight suit. Resisting the urge to unfasten it fully, he dropped his eyes to the bundle she held.
The air around him seemed to condense and expand, pulling him in multiple directions at once. How was this possible?
“What trickery is this?”
She looked at what she held, then back to him. “Do you know what this is? All of the women have delivered these.”
His face tingled, his hands longing to hold it. “It’s an Estral pod. Estrals are shape shifting, sentients of the galaxies. They are sacred.”
Her smooth brow furrowed. “I don’t follow what you’re saying. Shape shifting?”
“They sometimes walk among us, looking like us, but inside, they are Estral. They watch over us, sometimes granting wishes and offering guidance.”
A fine layer of bumps rose on Sasha’s skin. Even in the dim light, he noticed the small change to her body.
“You mean like, a guardian angel?”
The term didn’t translate. “Perhaps. You said there were others. Where are they?”
“Gone. The Lork took them and their mothers.”
He stepped closer to take a better look. Sasha subtly moved the pod out of his reach, her arms tightening around it. Her protectiveness intrigued him. Did she have any idea how valuable what she held was? She had the very light of the galaxies in her hands.
The redhead put her hands on her hips. “Are you saying these things have magical powers?”
Hahn cocked his head. “Magic? Is that the ability to make the impossible, possible?”
She considered that a moment, then nodded. “In a sense, yes.”
“Then, yes. They contain magic.”
She and the redhead looked at each other. Wishing to soothe their discomfort, he gestured to the door. “Feed your females. Rest. I will care for the body and secure the perimeter while you sleep.”
Sasha handed the pod carefully to the other women, biding her to put it in something called the nursery. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, causing her breasts to mound and the fabric to stretch tight over them. Her expression turned distrustful, hard.