Captured (Alien Space Pirates 1) (SciFi Romance)

by Mara Frost

  Quickly realizing that my big plan for escape was a pretty futile one, I somberly walk over to the window and look out. I see nothing that I recognize. I don’t even see stars. They’re all just streaks zooming by.

  “We must be going pret-ty fast,” I whisper to no one in particular, including myself.

  I don’t know how much time passed as I stared blankly out into the universe. All I see were colors. Just streaks of color. All sorts of colors streaking by, forming almost a rainbow. It was so beautiful. Without realizing it, the streaks begin to blur. I blink once and my eyes burn from the tears in my eyes. I wipe them away quickly, as if I’m trying to hide them even from myself.

  It doesn’t seem fair. I get to see all these amazing things, things that no person in my lifetime or quite possibly a hundred lifetimes after mine would ever see, and it has to be under such horrible circumstances.

  My natural reaction is to be pissed and frustrated about it all, but right now? At this moment? This moment is my moment, and I’m letting myself be a little sad.

  I swallow the knot in my throat and continue to stare outside. I don’t know how much time passed as I stared out the window. Five minutes? An hour? It’s weird how your sense of time seems to sort of disappear when you’re looking into infinite space.

  “It is impressive.”

  I jump at the sound of the low booming voice behind me. I jerk around and see my handy dandy captor peering down at me.

  Completely caught off guard, I yelp. “Huh? When did you come in here?” I snap back, irritated that he snuck up on me.

  “Only a moment ago,” he replies mechanically and then nods at the window and continues, “It is impressive – the universe. I have been traveling through it almost all my life and I’m still humbled by it.”

  “You? Humbled? I find that hard to believe.”

  He nods his head once. “I make sure of it. It’s sometimes difficult not to be.”

  I shrug. “If you say so. It does look mesmerizing – the different colors. Where do the colors come from? Is it from all the different colored stars?”

  He nods in acknowledgement. “Yes, there are stars that sit all along the color spectrum. There are even stars that emit color that can’t even be seen by your human eye, but when travelling at hyper speeds their color can be captured even for half a moment.”

  “Wow,” I murmur as I go back to staring out the window. “It’s too bad I can’t see anything other than stars whizzing by. I would love to see just a little bit of what’s out there...”

  He doesn’t respond. I assume it’s because he’s allowing the little human to be wowed by the scenery. I glance up at him, expecting him to be looking out the window as well, and my breath hitches almost immediately. I see him looking down at me intently, his dark violet eyes studying me. For a second I feel caught and I can’t look away.

  Snapping out of it after a few very long seconds, I turn away and try to hide the unexpected heat on my cheeks with my hair. “What?” I ask defensively while eyeing him.

  Without taking his eyes off me, he says loudly, “Maxaya.”

  I hear a loud chirping sound and the general humming of the ship gets louder. I look up at him skeptically. What is he up to?

  “How far are we from Lleria’s Eye?”

  ** 2456.934 TRISECS TO THE CLUSTER OF LLERIA’S EYE **

  I jump again at the new and unexpected mechanical voice that responded to him. It didn’t sound mechanical or computerized like Stephen Hawking’s voice or anything like that, it actually sounded strangely feminine, but...alien. And it sounded like there was a chorus of voices talking at once. It was the oddest thing I have ever heard.

  “What was that!”

  The big guy naturally ignores me and continues his conversation with the invisible alien voice.

  “How long would it take to get there?”

  ** AT CURRENT RATE OF TRAVEL, IT WOULD TAKE 1.469 CYCLES **

  “And if we increase speed to maximum?”

  ** IF SPEED IS INCREASED TO MAXIMUM, IN HYPER-SPEED IT WILL TAKE .0004 CYCLES, BUT ENERGY WILL BE DEPLETED AND RESERVES WILL BE NEEDED **

  I stand frozen, watching him silently, and completely lost and confused. What is a Lleria’s Eye? And, again, who in the Hell is he talking to?

  I watch as he pauses for a moment, as if deep in thought. He then replies evenly, “Make it so. Increase speed to maximum and head to the Cluster.”

  ** ACKNOWLEDGED **

  “What’s going on?” I ask in a somewhat reserved panic. “And who were you talking to?”

  “I was talking to the ship,” he replies matter of factly.

  “The ship? She was the ship? You were talking to your ship? Your ship talks?” I spit out like rapid fire.

  “Of course. Most sentient beings can communicate in one form or another,” he says and then touch of evil flashes across his eyes as his upper lip curls up slightly. “Even you humans have managed to do it.”

  Ass. I ignore his last comment. My mind is too blown away at the moment. Sentient beings? His ship is a sentient being that speaks? Okay, now this is rocking my world. Screw the colorful stars, I’m in a giant living ship.

  “Your ship is alive?!?” I yell. I pull back and look around at the room with completely different eyes.

  Okay, I’m in a living thing right now. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I stop for a second and try to take a deep breath. My heart is beating a million miles a minute and having a heart attack in space is probably not advisable.

  “What do you mean - ‘the ship is alive’? How is that possible? Does the ship know that we’re here? Why are there electronics and high tech gadgets in here?” I ask as I motion at the blinking doo-dads everywhere. I stop abruptly and then add quietly as a harrowing thought hits me, “Are we in the stomach?”

  The giant alien rolls his eyes and mumbles under his breath. I’m not sure what he said, but I’m fairly certain I heard ‘stupid humans’ in there somewhere. For the moment, I let that pass too.

  Me being frozen in shock apparently brings out my forgiving side. Who knew?

  “No, we are not in her stomach. We are in her habitable chambers, which is a significant portion of Maxaya. Her environments have been modified to support carbon-based beings, which are most beings in the Universe by the way,” he replies as if it’s the most normal thing ever and then continues, “Also, you would know if you were in her stomach. Her ‘stomach’ as you call it is in close proximity to her core, which has the nuclear power of a super sun, so you wouldn’t last long enough for you first breath.”

  My face turns pale. Panic. I’m panicking. The nuclear power of a sun? So we’re in a sun? I’m in a sun. Great. Wonderful. I’m in a living sun. Excellent.

  Screw that!

  “Are we safe? Am I being radiated right now? Is my weak human skin going to melt off or something?!”

  Big Blue sighs slowly before answering, as if he has to dig deep into a well of patience – a well of patience that must be buried somewhere deep deep deep inside of him. “No. You are fine. Trust me, you are safer here than you are on your little blue planet with its weak atmosphere. Maxaya and all live ships like her feed off the radiation. It’s all absorbed like a sponge in her core. It’s food and it’s food that she hungrily eats up.”

  To be honest, that still doesn’t really assure me too much. I mean, what happens if she gets ‘full’? And I really...really...want to ask that question, but I choose not to because even I can tell when an alien is reaching his ‘annoying human’ threshold.

  “O...kay,” I mumble uneasily. I walk back to my spot by the window and eye the room again, but with new eyes. “So she’s alive, huh,” I say softly, with clear traces of wonder and amazement in my voice.

  It sort of makes sense now that I think about it. The smooth but textured surface of the walls? The odd shape of the interior? It all makes sense. The constant melodic pulsing that you can hear all throughout the ship? It must be like her heartbeat...?

/>   I hesitantly reach for the wall again, with a new fascination, but then stop. Maybe she’s doesn’t want to be touched?

  As if reading my mind, Big Blue urges me lowly. “It’s fine to touch.”

  “Okay...”

  My fingers touch the wall next to the window and I feel the smooth but warm surface of the ship. This is so crazy. I thought the pulsing and the warmth of the walls were from the engines...or whatever...but this? The ship is live. She is alive! I brush my hand along the wall, almost like a stroke, and the pulsing hum almost seems to grow louder. Or maybe it was just in my head?

  Just then images of me banging away at the door come rushing back to me. Guilt and regret soon follow.

  “Oh God, I’m so sorry for slamming at your...” My voice trails. I want to say ‘on your wall’, but it’s not really her ‘wall’ is it? It’s her. I clear my throat and try again, “I hope I didn’t hurt you earlier. I didn’t realize and I’m sorry.”

  The giant alien next to me chuckles lowly, clearly amused. I shoot him a scathing stare.

  “She can withstand the radioactive fire of a nearby star going supernova, I’m sure she can deal with a few insignificant kicks from a little human.”

  At this the humming sound of the ship increases a fraction and the warmth under my hand slowly begins to tingle. I don’t remove my hand though. It’s actually comforting, maybe even reassuring and I don’t know, maybe in some weird way, I feel like it’s her way of accepting my apology...

  Or maybe she also thinks that Big Blue is being a rude idiot – at least that’s what I’d like to think.

  He looks around the room in slight surprise. The sudden increased pulsing apparently catches his attention as well. Now, it’s my turn to chuckle.

  I shrug as I give one final stroke to the wall. “I don’t care. If she’s alive then she deserves an apology.” I give him a dirty look and add, “Unlike you, I apparently respect living things that are self-aware.”

  Being a smart alien, he keeps his mouth shut. He knows he would be on the wrong side of the argument. Or maybe he doesn’t want to have a mutiny on his hands by his own ship. Hrmm...maybe that could be an idea actually...

  “So why does an evolved being like this ship have to live in servitude to you exactly? Did you buy her from a slaver?”

  The big alien Terminator stiffens and his stony exterior hardens even more, if that’s even possible. So he was ‘relaxed’ that whole time? This guy seriously needs a vacation. He’s going to give himself a heart attack. That is, if he even has a heart – which I highly doubt for some reason.

  “Maxaya is no slave. She was born from the most ancient parts of the universe. She was considered ‘old’ when both you and I were crawling out of the primordial mud – no one enslaves or chooses a live ship, they choose you. She and I are bonded. It’s a great honor and it’s often a bond that is only severed by death.”

  My eyes widen as my eyebrows rise in surprise. Well, that’s a bit unexpected. I wasn’t expecting to hear that the two were bonded and I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear that an advanced being would feel compelled to bond with him.

  I study him. Maybe there’s more to him than I realize?

  His jaw clenches as he meets my gaze. My stomach immediately tightens and flutters unexpectedly and I dart my eyes away.

  “Uhm...okay, so what does this bond mean...exactly? If you don’t mind me asking?” I ask, suddenly feeling flustered.

  “It means that I know what she’s thinking and feeling and she knows what I’m thinking and feeling.”

  “Can you communicate with each other? I mean, without speaking?”

  Amused, he chuckles. “Yes, but that’s the least impressive aspect of our bond.”

  I shrug. “That’s pretty damn impressive to me.” I pause and then add defensively, “So wait, does that mean that wherever you are on the ship, you can see me or hear me? Like a freaky Peeping Tom?”

  “I don’t know this ‘Peeping Tom’, but in theory yes, I could, but I have no desire to when I can just as easily look at the comms. Plus, it is draining for me to connect to Maxaya like that.”

  Just barely satisfied with his answer, I nod my head slowly. It’s not much of comfort knowing that he doesn’t have his eyes on me at all times, but I’ll take it. Honestly, I think I’m dealing with this whole abduction situation rather well. I’m being pretty level-headed considering how the series finale of “Lost” had me in a rage for years.

  “Good, I just wanted – “

  ** APPROACHING THE CLUSTER OF ILLERIA’S EYE **

  Maxaya’s booming but melodic alien voice interrupts me and I snap my mouth shut immediately. I suddenly feel a weird shift in the ship and my stomach lurches, like I just drove over a hill really fast. I instinctively reach out to hold on to something and my hand finds Big Blue and I squeeze his arm while my stomach settles. I freeze.

  “What was that?” I ask while still frozen, only moving my eyes. Oh God, I hope I don’t get sick. The only saving grace for being kidnapped by aliens was that they have the gift of gravity and I wasn’t puking every five minutes. Add puking to alien abduction and I’m now in a very special level of Hell.

  “We just broke out of Hyper-drive. We’ve stopped.”

  I stiffen even more. Oh God, are we at our destination already? Sadness and panic sweep through me. Is this it? Is this going to be the end for me now?

  “We’ve stopped? Why have we stopped?” I ask nervously, my hand still firmly attached to his arm.

  “We’ve stopped because of this.”

  He nods towards the window.

  “We stopped because of wha...”

  My mouth abruptly stops producing words as I follow his gaze and look out the window. Once my eyes land on the view outside, my throat tightens involuntarily. My lips move as I try to speak, but nothing comes out. I can’t speak. What I see strikes the breath out of my chest.

  “I...” my voice trails. I swallow and try again, “W-what is that...?”

  “It is called Lleria’s Eye.”

  “It’s...beautiful,” I whisper.

  I walk closer to the giant window until my face is pressed hard against its surface. I open my eyes wider, as if doing this will allow me to see more of the wonder in front of me.

  I see what can only be described as a massive cloud of swirling color – a cloud that has a giant thunderstorm of light inside of it. And the colors? The colors are indescribable. I’m seeing colors that I don’t even think are recognizable by humans.

  I openly stare, my mouth open and my eyes watering. I can’t look away, it’s too beautiful...too mesmerizing.

  “This cluster has been here long before Maxaya’s people can remember. It’s older than any living creature can remember, perhaps older than time. We are as close to the cluster as any living being can go. If we get any closer then time begins to distort and we would become trapped. Only live ships like Maxaya can even get this close.”

  I blink again and tears slide down my cheek – tears from the burning light and...maybe tears from seeing something so beautiful.

  Perhaps taking advantage of my silence (as rare as it is), he continues, “Some say it’s the birth of a new universe, others say it’s the death of an ancient one...and then others say it’s the creator of all universes.”

  Without looking away, I ask lowly, “What do you think it is?”

  “I don’t question the unknowable. I see it for what it is, a thing of wonder and beauty.”

  At this I rip my eyes away to look up at him. “Why did you bring me here?”

  Surprisingly, this time he looks away and looks out the window. He remains silent and I realize that he has no interest in answering my question. I look back at the amazing thing called ‘Lleria’s Eye’ and I realize that I’m fine with that. For whatever reason that we’re here, I’m just going to sit here and appreciate the view.

  A tingling warmth courses through me as I stare deeper into the massive cloud. The swirling colors
, the angry light hidden deep within, it makes me feel so safe...and so lost.

  In fact, I could just stay here and stare into the massive cloud of light forever and I would be alright with it...forever.

  I barely hear Big Blue say in the background, “Maxaya, please disengage the viewing screen in my quarters.”

  And just like that the ‘window’ that revealed to me the most beautiful secret in the universe became a wall – a boring, dull wall.

  “What the Hell! Bring it back!” I snap as I blink several times, trying to allow my eyes to adjust to the relative darkness of the room. I shake my head and reach for the big alien again as I suddenly begin to feel light-headed and shaky.

  “You can’t look at Lleria’s Eye for too long, no creature can. You would go mad. Your mind would be forever lost in the cluster, always searching for a way out, but always drawn back to its core.”

  I look up at him and then look back at the wall that used to be a window. A strong shiver dances down my back. Well, that would suck. The scary thing is, is that I could feel that happening to me as I staring into the cluster and I didn’t care. I felt so drawn to the cloud and all I wanted to do was look at it for a little bit longer...it felt so safe...better than reality...

  Well, good to see it would have turned me bat-shit crazy.

  Once I realize that I’m still holding onto the big guy’s arm – his obscenely big and strong arm – I yank it away and clear my throat. “So, where to next, Big Blue?”

  His brows furrow in open frustration. “Who is this ‘Big Blue’?” he asks lowly.

  “You. I don’t know your name.”

  “’Big Blue’ is not my name. I don’t understand why you call me this.”

  I raise an eyebrow at this. Really? He’s achieved intergalactic space travel, but doesn’t understand the name? Doesn’t speak well on all the aliens out there.

  “It’s your name for me until you tell me your real name, ” I reply evenly.

  “You will not know it,” he snaps back.

  “Then Big Blue it is!” I say almost victoriously. It’s not like he can stop me, right? Another small thing I have control over. “So where to next, Blue?”