by Maia Starr
But suddenly she seemed to realize again that I was beside her and she turned to me, her mesmerizing eyes studying me thoughtfully.
“What was that all about?” she asked finally, and again I could practically hear the gears in her mind moving quickly as she took me in and processed the situation we had just experienced together. “Have you been here long? Tell me what you know about this place.”
“Honestly, human, that is something that I have been trying to figure out for myself. I don’t know any more about this planet than you seem to.”
“What was that thing?” she asked. “And what are you?”
I stiffened, mildly insulted by the question. Humans and Raithers were biologically similar enough that she shouldn’t have compared me to such a loathsome creature. I was considered quite formidable by my fellow Raithers, and many females had been denied the pleasure of my company in a romantic setting. I had always been more dedicated to moving forward with my plans and goals than I happened to be when it came to romantic affairs. And because of it, I had found myself at the head of the fleet, commanding the noblest crew available on my planet.
“Come, human,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Let us get to safety and then I will tell you what I know. Unfortunately, though, I fear it isn’t much.”
“I don’t want to go with you!” she exclaimed.
I glared at her, and she froze, whether afraid of me or simply indignant, I couldn’t be sure.
“There are dangers around every corner here. You are going to come with me. You are not safe on your own.”
I stared her down until, finally, she nodded miserably.
“All right,” she sighed. “Let’s go.”
***
We walked in silence until the human’s stomach let out a peculiar rumble.
“What do we eat here?” she mumbled. “I’m hungry.”
I gritted my teeth. I hadn’t considered what we would eat on this planet. I had been more concerned with trying to find the area where my crew had landed. I still didn’t know whether or not they were alive or dead. Food had been the last thing on my mind.
Back on the planet Yala, food was always in abundance, and yet our population had been in decline lately. It was alarming how quickly it was happening, but many Raither women had found themselves unable to reproduce; whether this was because of a change in the atmosphere or something else entirely, we still didn’t know.
If I could bring the human to Yala, perhaps the two of us would be able to begin repopulating my planet together. The thought was pleasant. Probably too pleasant.
“I guess we should probably try to figure that out,” I said, sighing inwardly. As attracted as I was to this human, she had a streak that was somewhat obnoxious.
“We can look for native inhabitants of the land,” she said, trotting beside me, completely oblivious to my annoyance. “And whatever we find them eating, I guess we could try to eat it too.”
“That seems pretty risky,” I said, casting a sidelong glance at her. “What if the planet is hostile?”
“The planet wouldn’t be hostile,” she said, arching her brow at me as if I were stupid. “Actually, there are some common building blocks of life that exist on almost every planet that is teeming with Type B life.”
“I know that,” I said, pursing my lips. “That doesn’t mean we can eat all of it.”
“Look!” she exclaimed, not bothering to address my point. I looked in the direction she had thrust her arm and saw a tree in the distance. It looked as if there were heavy fruits hanging from its boughs, and I turned to the human.
“Don’t you dare…”
But before I could finish my sentence she had already taken off running in the direction of the tree. I chased after her, but she was shockingly agile and limber, climbing up the tree as if she had been doing it all her life.
“Catch!” she shouted, dropping a huge fruit down to me. I jumped away from it and let it land on the dirt in front of me. It was impossible to say what kind of reaction I might have to the foreign foliage. And although I was wearing gloves, I wanted nothing to do with the peculiar yellow fruit that the human had thrust at me. For all I knew, she could be trying to kill me. She was wildly intelligent, and I was beginning to think she just may know a lot more than she was letting on.
“Suit yourself,” she said, shrugging and tearing one of the big fruits off for herself. She kept it tucked safely under her lanky arm as she descended the tree, and then sat down on the ground, leaning comfortably against the trunk of the tree. “Do you have a knife?”
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t be giving it to you,” I said, walking forward and removing my weapon from the holster at my side. “But I will open this for you as long as you promise not to touch me with it. Raithers are very sensitive to environments outside our home planet.”
“Raithers?” the girl asked, quirking a brow at me. “I’ve never heard of your kind before. You don’t look very different though. I mean…except…”
She looked down at her fruit and trailed off, her cheeks turning an odd pink color as she examined the yellow lines of the rind.
“Well, we like to keep to ourselves. It is better that way. You know, the way you humans attract attention to yourself and your planet, it’s shocking that you haven’t been invaded by now.”
“Actually, we may have been,” she said, an easy smile brightening her face. “There are these cute little flowers…”
She trailed off as I knelt down in front of her and carefully sliced the fruit open. The air was suddenly filled with a deliciously sweet scent, and we both looked down at the bounty within. It was a cream-colored fruit with a soft-looking texture. It was only slightly juicy, and the human grinned.
“This looks so good,” she said, reaching in with her bare hands to grab a piece.
“No!” I shouted, a pang of guilt tightening my chest when the smile faded from her face, and she looked at me in fear. “It could hurt you. Use this.”
I dug through my pockets and handed her a multi-functioning tool. It was protocol to carry at least three of them on you at all times as a warrior of the Raither race. She examined it, her perfect brow forming a small line of worry.
“What is this?”
“Pull it out like this,” I said, demonstrating on my own. “That one has never been used. You can eat with it without touching anything. There is also a knife and a flame creator on it, among other useful things. You should hold onto that while we’re here, until we figure out just where we are.”
“Oh, I know what it’s called,” the human said casually, her mouth already full of the fruit. I gaped at her, unsure of whether I was more surprised that she knew more than I did about the planet, despite all of her questions, or that she was so confident eating the alien fruit.
“You do? And are you sure you should be eating that? It could be dangerous…”
“It’s perfectly safe. Do you see these seeds?”
I frowned and looked reluctantly over to the inside of the fruit. “I know this variety. This is kind of incredible, really. I’ve never seen it in person, but I’ve had a lot of training. I’m a scientist on Earth, so I know a lot about this kind of thing. Are you sure you don’t want some?”
I realized with a sudden voraciousness that I, too, was starting to need sustenance, and I went over to the fruit that I had allowed to land on the ground and reluctantly began to cut it open.
“So what planet is this then?” I asked her, taking a small, tentative taste of the fruit. “I know you’re probably as new here as I am. So, what is it that you know about this place?”
“It’s called Hexa,” the human said, her voice casual as if she didn’t realize quite what it was that she was implying.
I gaped at her, the food turning to cement in my mouth. “Hexa?”
She nodded and took another generous bite of her fruit, then smiled at me. I wished I could be as enrapt by her beauty at that moment as I had been the moment before she had spoken the
name of the most fearsome planet in the universe, but what had been said could not be undone. Hexa. So that explained why my weapons didn’t work.
“Yeah. My group and I got abducted by some creeps who called themselves the Petchuvians. They’re really creepy looking guys, too. They couldn’t mate with us. The one guy who tried ended up dead. So instead of killing us all, they dropped us on Hexa, whatever this place is.”
She looked up at me, her eyes gentle and innocent. “Do you know anything about Hexa? I’ve never even heard of it.”
I closed my eyes and took a slow, steadying breath before facing the human again.
“We are in even more danger than I had feared,” I said, shaking my head. “We must warn the others, if the others are even still alive…”
“What do you mean? What’s wrong?”
“Finish your meal, human. We have a lot of work to do.”
Chapter 3
Dr. Alice Tanner
I studied the Raither man, disbelief heavy in my chest. His handsome, chiseled features were contorted in an expression of serious concern, and I found myself feeling more contemptuous toward him than ever.
“What do you mean a prison planet?” I demanded.
Night had begun to fall, and the Raither had quickly and expertly carved out a small, comfortable shelter for the two of us to share. He kept getting up and pacing around, making sure that there was nobody within the proximity of the camp. It was making me nervous. And now that he had informed me that there was such a thing as a prison planet, and that we were on one, I was having a hard time swallowing the situation.
The alien’s sky-blue skin on his face darkened, and I pursed my lips, knowing instinctively that I wasn’t going to like what came out if his mouth next.
“A prison planet…this one specifically…is highly dangerous. It is where the most fearsome and bloodthirsty criminals in the universe are deposited. There is a universal code of sorts: a contract. If we should encounter people of another species, particularly if we are part of the Resha Federation, as most planets with a positive alignment tend to be, we do not simply dispose of those who seek to dominate or destroy us. Instead, we bring them to Hexa, or her sister planets, Jexa and Texa.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you’re a criminal?” I asked, shocked that a ridiculously handsome alien like this might be considered armed and dangerous, especially after trying to protect me from the giant red creature that I had been so bizarrely drawn to. It was almost as if it gave off some kind of scent that lured prey closer to it.
“Oh, for gred’s sake no!” he said, and I was startled by the flashing of his multicolored eyes. He ran his hand through his silky, deep blue hair, and then startled me with a broad smile. “I am the commander of my fleet, and our ship crash-landed on this planet. I have been looking for the rest of my crew, and our ship.”
“You have a ship?” I exclaimed, standing up quickly and running toward him. “If you have a ship, then maybe we can all get out of here…”
“Hold it, human,” he said, putting his hand up to keep me from coming any closer to him. “First of all, there is no reason for my men to put themselves at risk to help you and the rest of the humans on this planet. If you are here, you are here for a reason.”
“Well, yeah…because that one girl killed the Petchuvian when he tried to mate with her. But it was an accident!”
“So in the minds of the Petchuvians, your race is dangerous and deserves to be punished for murder. It would be even more dangerous for my people to break you out of this planet. I cannot put my men at the risk of persecution in the face of the Intergalactic Council. It would be a death sentence.”
“It wouldn’t put you in a position you aren’t already in,” I pointed out. “They would just put you guys back on this planet.”
“No,” the alien said, his expression stern. “They would eliminate us. For we had a sworn duty to remain bound to the contract of the alliance, and should we violate that agreement, we could find ourselves risking the penalty of death.”
“You can’t just leave us here!” I exclaimed, overwhelmed with a sudden dread. If I was left on this planet for the rest of my life, I didn’t know what I would do. I needed to go home. I needed Earth. The thought of being stuck here was absolutely unacceptable.
“Human!” the alien man said, his multicolored eyes suddenly fierce. “I do not even know where my ship is. I do not know whether my crew is alive or dead, or whether the ship is even in working order. Do you understand me? I need to find them. And I need you to cooperate so that I can do so without having to worry that you are going off becoming the next meal for a gredding Jorgan! Do you understand me?”
“All right,” I said quietly, looking down at my hands. I had been tagging along behind him all day, mostly silent, and realized suddenly that in all the time we had spent together, we hadn’t introduced ourselves. “So what’s your name, anyway?”
He seemed caught off guard by the change of subject and stared at me for a moment, his mouth slightly ajar as if he were going to say something else about how I was an idiot to get lured into the trap of the gigantic beast that had nearly devoured me alive.
“I am Commander Kecha Thornax. What do you go by, Earthling?”
“Alice,” I said simply. For as handsome as he was, he could sure be an asshole. And yet there was something about him that made me want to know more about him. He had saved my life. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
“That’s it?” he asked, his handsome brow sloping incredulously. “Just Alice?”
“Well I’m a scientist, so technically my full name is Dr. Alice Monroe. But I don’t need to be called the whole thing all the time, you know. Just Alice is fine.”
He seemed to consider this, though he made no move to acknowledge my words, and moved to the other side of the shelter to make sure that there were no unwanted creatures roaming nearby.
“You should sleep human…Alice. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I am not going to stop moving until I find my crew, and I must be alert on this planet. There are many unsavory characters here from all stretches of the universe. It would be foolish to go unprepared.”
I nodded and tried to get comfortable on the huge palm leaf that Kecha had brought in for me to lay on. It was surprisingly soft, though the ground beneath me was hard. Still, it was a lot more comfortable than the floor of the ship that I had been stuck on for far too long with the other women in my research team.
I glanced around the shelter, concerned that Kecha might have been intending to sleep near me. For some reason, the thought filled me with trepidation, and I sat up and looked at him levelly.
“Aren’t you going to sleep too?” I asked him.
“I may doze off, but I cannot leave the shelter unattended. There is no telling what might be lurking out there. There are many nasty beasts out in the universe, Dr. Alice. The kinds of monsters confined to a planet like this are the most fearsome you could possibly imagine. You just sleep for now. I am going to see to it that we make it through to the morning.”
I laid back down, my eyes lingering on the tall, no-nonsense commander. As much as I wanted to trust him, maybe even to like him, there was just something about him that made me uneasy. Whether it was just the fear of being in a new situation or feeling as if he was going to feel like I owed him something for offering me his protection, I wasn’t sure. But whatever it was, it would have to wait until morning.
I hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a week or more at that point, and my body welcomed sleep whenever it could as a means to escape the painful rumbling in my stomach and to conserve energy.
Before I knew it, the scene of the small shelter disappeared, and I was tugged into the blackness of sleep.
***
“Human, we must leave now!”
“My name is Alice,” I grumbled, opening my eyes and glaring at Kecha.
“Not a morning person, are you?” Kecha asked, flashing me an annoyingly charming
grin.
I sat up, grumpy and ravenously hungry. Nothing was fun on an empty stomach—least of all waking up to greet a new day.
“Here,” Kecha said, thrusting one of the fronds from the fruit tree at me. On it was a small collection of fruits and berries. I looked at him, bewildered.
“What is this?” I asked. “You were so freaked out about everything yesterday.”
Kecha let his handsome face relax into a smile, and I found myself mesmerized by his strange but pleasing features. His cheekbones were rather high, and his eyes were slightly larger than human eyes and very expressive, but because of it, he seemed even more handsome. It made it easy to pinpoint the different flecks of color within them—greens and blues and violets—and vibrant golds. It was almost like watching a rainbow’s reflection on the ocean, rippling and changing, depending on his thoughts and feelings. I had never seen anything so beautiful.
“I did some exploring in the early morning light,” he said. “Apparently there are orchards on this planet full of foods that are accessible to all races throughout the galaxy. There would have to be, considering this is a dumping ground. The Council is not cruel; they wouldn’t put criminals here to starve. Rather, it is more meant as a punishment whereupon they either learn to work together or annihilate themselves and each other.”
“So you know these are safe?” I asked, picking up what looked like an oversized blueberry. “I can eat all of this myself?”
“I had my fill this morning in the orchard. I presume these would be safe for humans as well; I had plenty and I feel great.”
“Thank you,” I said, stunned by the gesture.
Soon I was devouring the meal, thrilled by the ability to finally fill the gnawing void in my stomach. The fruit the night before had been great, but eating foods that were designed to truly nourish a body with my biological makeup gave me a sense of satisfaction I hadn’t had since my last meal on Earth.
“All right,” Kecha said when he saw that I had finished the meal. “We really need to get going now. I need to find my crew. And if the ship is still salvageable, even if none of the crew survived, the last thing we need is some of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy finding it and figuring out a way to get off this planet.”
