Rax

by Maia Starr

  "Why did you come to Earth? Why were you on such a large ship, yet there were only two of you on board? Tell me what happened,” Dr. Maxwell asked.

  This time I did not have the energy to give him a smart ass remark. Instead, I looked at him and narrowed my eyes at him. I mumbled something to him, letting him know that I was so beaten by the last jolt that I could not speak.

  "Turn down the voltage. The last one was too much; he can't even speak,” Dr. Maxwell said to the other young man.

  "Yes, Dr. Maxwell; right away.”

  Chapter 5

  TRISH MAXWELL

  I was running on pure adrenaline. I could not believe that I had successfully left my small apartment cottage in the middle of the night, to sneak in to see the Corillion warrior. My nerves were on high, but I knew that if I did not go, I would not stop thinking about it.

  It was a very dangerous mission for me to take on, but I was glad that I did. Talking with the Corillion warrior was a better experience than I thought it would be. He was not a rogue, brute warrior like I thought he would be. He was a very intelligent being, and he was in pain. So when I made it back to my apartment after speaking with him, my mind was made up. I was going to go through with my secret plan. I had to. It would help me, and it would help him. It was the least that I could do for him while also making a name for myself in my career. I was going to set him free, but not after having a few more deep conversations for my work.

  The next day after dinner in the commissary and making light conversation with anyone that wanted to chat, I went back to my small cottage early and got some sleep. I took a six-hour nap and woke up at 2 AM. I made myself some coffee and woke up. I prepared the questions that I wanted to ask the Corillion warrior. I had recorded everything in my notebook that he had told me the night before, but I wasn't going to show it to anyone, especially not my father. They were my own personal notes; I thought of it as my own personal diary marking my experience as a human female visiting a captive Corillion warrior. It would have nothing to do with my thesis. These notes were for myself, and my secret project. I planned to publish my own scientific report on the psychology of a Corillion based on my conversations with him. It was going to make me a very important prominent scientist.

  Tonight, I would be getting more information for that project. I once again found myself creeping through the research facility heading to the 10th floor. I was glad that the lab was empty again. I gathered my courage and walked into the lab, peering through the glass. But I was not expecting to see Jedrian asleep. He was still strapped to the table, but he was not in an up-and-down vertical position. The table had been placed horizontally, and he was asleep. I opened the glass door and stepped inside. I had never been this close to a Corillion warrior before. I got closer and looked at his face; I realized that he was not asleep. He was passed out. He looked terrible. I placed my hand on his arm and nudged him carefully. “Jedrian, Jedrian, are you all right?”

  A soft moan left his mouth as he finally came to. His eyes opened, and he looked directly at me, “Oh, it is you.”

  "What happened to you?” I asked him.

  "I didn't want to answer their questions, that is what happened,” he said quietly.

  "Do you mean they did the electricity again?” I asked him, feeling very angry that my father would do such a thing. He was cruel, very cruel.

  "Yes, it must have been a very large amount of electricity because I blacked out,” he said to me. Then he quietly whispered, “Water.”

  I ran to the side of the room and brought him a glass of water with a straw. I took it to him and gently placed the straw in his mouth, and he drank of the water. I found myself wanting to nurse this Corillion warrior. He did not deserve this type of treatment. He would waste away here. He would die.

  I sat with him giving him water until he seemed a little stronger. I did not want to bombard him with my questions after the scientists had done that to him already in a very negative way. But that did not mean I could not have a conversation with him; I was very curious about everything Corillion. But I wasn't going to pull out the list of questions from my pocket.

  I pushed his black hair away from his forehead. I could tell that he had been sweating profusely underneath the shock treatment. He looked at me with his big brown eyes as though to say thank you, but said nothing. I moved back to the side of the room and found a clean washcloth and poured some water into a bowl. I carried it back to him and said, “May I?”

  "Yes. Thank you. I am very grateful. They only let me out from this table for a couple of minutes a few times a day. I don't exactly get to indulge in the shower,” he said as I used the wet washcloth to wipe his face.

  I moved the cloth down his strong chin and over his strong neck, then to his shoulders. I did the left side, and then I moved over the right. I looked at him and then looked back at the blue scales on the right side of his body. I allowed my fingertips to move over them, feeling the hard texture of them. I found it completely fascinating. I dunked the washcloth into the bowl of water again and moved it over his six-pack abs. I felt my mouth watering as I moved over the toned muscles. Then I moved farther and farther down, stopping just above the dark curls between his thighs.

  "It's all right human female. Do not be shy. You are a scientist, are you not?” He said.

  He was right. I should not be shying away from such a thing. It was all in the name of science. “Yes, I am a scientist,” I said looking up at him.

  "Then this should be normal to you,” he said.

  I swallowed hard gulping down the extra saliva that was gathering in my mouth. I dunked the washcloth in the bowl and wrung out the excess water. I did this twice. I was procrastinating out of embarrassment. Then I moved the washcloth over his large cock. I wiped it up and down trying not to think sexually. That was impossible. It was so large, thick, and perfectly smooth. I washed it delicately and then the area around it, over his soft, dark curls. I allowed my finger tips to fall from the cloth and lightly grazed them over his cock. He moaned slightly. I couldn’t believe this was happening. What the hell was I doing? I took nurturing and nursing a wounded Corillion to sexually assaulting him!

  I noticed that he was growing hard. I quickly pulled the washcloth away and gasped. “I think that is enough of that,” I said as I stood up and put the bowl and washcloth back on the other side of the room. I stayed there moving stuff around, but not really doing anything. I was just too ashamed to turn back toward him.

  "Thank you very much, human female. I would thank you by your name, but I do not know what you are called,” Jedrian said.

  I walked back to his side and said, “My name is Trish. I am Trish Maxwell.”

  The slight smile that he had on his face faded. “You are of a relation to Dr. Maxwell? That is the same name.”

  "I am. He is my father,” I said to him.

  A look of shock crossed his face as he said, “But you are nothing like him.”

  "We are not close. I am not like him; that is true. I hope that I am never like him,” I said to him.

  "So you agree that what they are doing to me is wrong? You agree that what your father does to me is wrong?” he asked.

  "Yes, I agree that it is wrong. I am all for learning in the name of science, but I do not think that this is the way to do it. Just having conversations and learning from each other should be enough,” I said.

  "Then if you think that this is wrong, help me get out of here, right now,” he said.

  "What?! I cannot do that! We would never get out of here. We would be caught in the hallway, and we would both get into trouble," I said, rambling on as I walked back-and-forth in the small space.

  "Leave that to me. I will get us out of here, but I need your help,” he said.

  "What could I possibly do?” I asked.

  "You can do a lot. I would need to know the surroundings outside the building. I would need to know how close the woods are that I could disappear into. I don't even know anythi
ng about this building that I am in,” he said to me.

  "And if I gave you all of that information, you would still not be able to get out of here. It is a well-guarded place. There is a giant fence wall that surrounds the entire place. You would never be able to get over it. They would catch you, and I would be responsible for the punishment that they would give you. They would probably do something drastic, like break your legs so that you could never run away again. Do not underestimate what they are willing to do to keep you here. You are a very valuable scientific specimen. You are worth billions of dollars in research for them, not to mention a doorway to understanding the Corillions, which we are in a constant war with. Do you understand all of this?” I said to him in anger even though helping him escape eventually was also my plan, but it was more of a fantasy. To have him say it out loud and to want me to do it at that moment was impossible. It freaked me out. I was way over my head in this!

  "Yes, of course I understand, Trish. I am a warrior. I am a fighter. I can get myself out of here once I am loose from these restraints.”

  His voice was stern. Hearing him say my name was very hot. It sent chills down my spine with his dominant way of speaking and declaring that he was a warrior. I cleared my throat.

  "I cannot do it. I am sorry,” I said as I walked toward the glass door.

  "Trish,” he said.

  I stopped and looked at him over my shoulder. “Yes, Jedrian?”

  "If you do not help me, no one will. I will die here. My entire tribe of five hundred of warriors on my planet Glomer will die.”

  I turned back toward the door and walked out. I stealthily made my way back to my little cottage. I was glad that no one had seen me walking across the facility. I could not help him escape. It was out of the question. I thought that I could, but actually doing it was another matter entirely. I thought I had more time. I thought that I would have a few more of these visits and then decide then if and when I would help him escape. But him pushing it on me to do it, and do it now, was too much pressure.

  No, I couldn’t do it. So why did I find myself doing odd things? For example, when I walked across the grounds, I looked at the high fence and counted how many guards were posted. Why was I doing that? I did not need that information. I thought to myself and said that it would be for my thesis, a description of the facility. But I knew deep down that's not why I was counting the guards on the fence and memorizing how they moved. I was looking at the places that were dark along the fence line, a place where the fence could be cut open under darkness.

  Then when I was inside my little cottage, my behavior grew more bizarre. I found myself stuffing my backpack as though I was going camping, in the woods. Everything that I thought was needed for survival was going into that backpack. I put an extra pair of jeans, and long wool socks. One sweater rolled up as small as it would go, I pushed into a side pocket. I went to the fridge and wrapped up various foods in a small cloth bag. I grabbed a block of cheese, all of the fruit, dried fruit, trail mix, and a jar of peanut butter. I poured water into three water bottles.

  "What the hell are you doing, Trish?" I said to myself, but I did not stop shoving things into my backpack, like floss to use as a string and a plastic poncho. I wrapped a dish towel around a small kitchen knife and put it in the bottom of the backpack. “What else, what else,” I said looking around the small cottage. I didn't even know what I was packing for. I definitely wasn't packing to end my trip and go back to Harvard. I was creating a go-bag. What if I helped him escape, but I went with him?

  "No, you can't do that, Trish,” I said as I grabbed the backpack and put it on the floor. I spent the rest of the early morning hours pacing back-and-forth, trying to make a decision. On the one hand, I could play it safe and just write my thesis like a good girl. Then, later on, I could write my book, the real story about my time speaking with the Corillion warrior that would make me very famous and a well-respected scientist. I would never scamper for a job in my career. Or I could take the very dangerous route and help Jedrian escape. There was so much conflict thinking about it that I exhausted myself. Before I knew it, I was on top of my bed, fully clothed and asleep.

  Loud knocking at the front door woke me up hours later. I looked at the clock: it was 8:30 in the morning. It must be my father's assistant, I thought. I rolled out of bed and opened the door.

  "Father?” I said in shock. He had a frown on his face. Shit. He knew. He knew that I had been sneaking around the lab and visiting with his experiment, the Corillion warrior. He stepped into the cottage without saying a word and looked around. I started to panic. Had I left evidence around that I was packing up for a survival trip in the woods. He turned to me and then said, “Were you still asleep?”

  "No. I just have not had coffee yet. I was about to walk across to get some from the lounge,” I said, rubbing sleep from my eyes, trying to make it look believable.

  He walked around the cottage and found the small pile of clothes on the floor. He looked at the dishes in the sink. He was judging my every move. “How is your thesis coming along?”

  "Good. Good, I'm getting good stuff,” I said to him nervously.

  "Where is your work area? I don't see any notes anywhere,” he said walking over to the table.

  "I had put everything away after writing last night,” I said, not wanting him to see my diary about my conversations with Jedrian.

  "Good, at least you keep your work area tidy. I want to see what you have so far,” he said as he moved toward the front door.

  "You want to see my thesis,” I said.

  "I want to see your notes. I do not think that you have written the thesis yet, of course. Those things take time, but I should be able to get an understanding of what you are going to write from your notes. I need to make sure you were not printing anything that you should not be,” he said giving me an angry look. I was nervous. Did he know? Did he know what I had been up to?

  "Of course, father,” I said to him.

  "Bring them by my office after lunch today,” he said as he walked out of the cottage.

  "No problem. Have a good day in the lab,” I said to him as I closed the door behind him. I sighed a deep sigh of relief. I grabbed the backpack that I had stuffed in the middle of the night on an impulse and pushed it into the closet. I picked up the clothes off the floor and quickly washed the dishes. I couldn't believe that after all this time, one stern look from my father could turn me into a trembling little girl. It annoyed me.

  For the next few hours, I worked frantically on gathering my thesis notes together. I had to make sure that they did not accidentally mix in with the notes that I had made about Jedrian. I structured the notes well and put them into a very clear and elegant presentation for my father. By the time lunch came around, I was very pleased with what I had gathered. But I made sure that the notes were not complete; I did not want to get my father any reason to dismiss me from the facility earlier than my scheduled departure. I still had a lot of work to do.

  Then I found myself in my father’s office as he shuffled through my notes. He didn't seem to give it a lot of time before he was berating me.

  "This is just messy work, Trish,” he said to me.

  "It is just notes, father; it is not my actual thesis,” I said to him annoyed.

  "You have disappointed me, Trish. I hope that you use the rest of your time here to get something concrete together. This is just random information. I don't see you tying this together under one theme. Don't embarrass me,” he said to me angrily.

  "That is what you are worried about?” I said angrily.

  "Of course I am. You are my daughter. My peers will figure that out, especially since you're writing a thesis in the Harvard post-graduate biology program. You have a lot riding on this. I will write the damn thing myself if I have too. I expect you to let me review the thesis before you turn it in,” he said as he stood up from his desk.

  "Yes, father. You will definitely review it; I promise you that,” I sa
id in anger as I was already planning to go behind his back. I was already planning to embarrass him in a way that he would not see coming whatsoever. I would make my name known. He would be the laughing stock of his peers, and I would be the one to emerge as the famous, important scientist.

  "Now get out of here and go gather more data. Your notes on the facility are so random, I don't think you have even looked at a map. Here!” he shouted as he threw a laminated sheet of paper at me. It was a map of the facility. I restrained a smile. If he only knew just how useful this would be.

  "You're right, father. I haven't even looked at a map. Perhaps I will go to the research facility library and get more information, like blueprints and such on the research facility, to enrich my thesis,” I said with a smile.