Alien Instinct

by Tracy Lauren

  “You may have all my time,” I say, stroking her fiery mane. “We will take our time getting to the beacon as well. We can explore, run scans on the environment, discover what the best creatures for hunting are...”

  “Find wood that might build a good bed?” She adds.

  “I like how you think, sweet Kate.”

  I smile, content with my mate in my arms. A handful of days will be just what Kate and I need to continue to nurture what it is that grows between us.

  Chapter 40

  Kate

  I feel a tremendous weight off my shoulders. Rennek and I finally had the “mate” talk and he was super chill about it. Part of me worried that if I wasn’t on the same page as him he would change or get angry, but he didn’t. He was just normal, positive, reassuring and accepting Rennek.

  Now, to be fair… it isn’t that I’m exactly on a different page than he is. It’s just that everything in my life is happening super-fast right now. It’s a lot all at once. I do want to be with Rennek, I do. It’s just he is very… official with all this mate talk. It sounds very… forever, and although I want to be with Rennek for the foreseeable future… I’m just not sure if I believe in forever and I get the impression he really does. I don’t want to be the asshole that ruins that for him. He deserves someone who can give him his happily ever after.

  Also, I don’t think it’s a good idea to commit to a lifelong relationship after only knowing each other a couple weeks. It just doesn’t seem smart especially given all the crazy shit that has happened to me since I met him.

  I wonder if all alien dudes move quick like this? I wish Reagan were around so I could have some girl talk with someone about it. I suppose we’ll get the chance in a few days anyway. Until then, I’m just happy Rennek and I are in a good place.

  Even though we are off exploring on our own, Rennek uses his personal comm unit twice a day to check in with both the ship and Da’vi and Allison. The conversations have been brief. It seems everyone is doing well and finding their own stride. I got to speak with Reagan a couple times, though it was just for a minute or two. She told me Tennir was able to fabricate translators for the other girls. They are a little different from ours, but they work and I guess that’s all that matters. It’s good news for the girls, because now they can communicate with everyone and double good news for Reagan because now she doesn’t have to translate every single little thing. I can imagine how frustrating that must have been.

  My days with Rennek are a mixture of exhausting and exciting. We do a lot of walking... and hiking, and tree climbing, and mountain climbing and… well, basically every outdoorsy thing possible. At the end of the day I’m sore in muscles I didn’t know existed, but it really has been so much fun. It’s like going on a road trip and seeing a sign that says “World’s Best Pie, 200 miles” and you just go for it because why the hell not. We see a ridge that looks neat, or a waterfall, or cave and we go check it out.

  There’s just so much to see here. The views are beautiful. At night, three moons light up the sky--one large and two that are so small they are tiny pin pricks. I wonder if they are actually nearby planets.

  A couple semesters ago I took an Intro to Botany class. I wish I remembered more of what I learned. Not that much of it would transfer to an alien world. In any case, all the plant life appears to be what I would consider megaflora, or close to it. Yesterday we stumbled across some pink flowers the size of cabbages! Subsequently, much of the fauna appears to be supersized as well. I wonder if the ugly bear thing we ate the first day was this planet’s version of a mouse.

  We see more of the muppet like pterosaurs from our first day here too. They do appear to be carnivorous. Luckily, they tend to stay closer to the ocean and our path has taken us further inland.

  We also notice there is a great deal of shallow cave systems at the base of the trees, forming out of the earth and the massive twisting roots. Rennek keeps a close eye on these when we descend from the trees. He explains creatures likely nest in the caves and he doesn’t want us to stumble upon anything dangerous or predatory. I try to make mental notes of all this helpful stuff he’s sharing, but I really just count on his tough guy skills to get us through the day.

  I was in the middle of a Geology course when I was abducted and though we were only three weeks into the semester, I do remember some of that stuff. So, I pay close attention to the landscape. Many of the rocky ridges we traverse are filled with large crystalline inclusions--some of them are as big as fire hydrants, making the place feel like fairy land or somewhere you’d expect to find the seven dwarfs. I wonder if these are made of quartz or if they are actually diamonds or something.

  Yesterday we came across a rocky cave carved out of the side of a mountain. There were beautiful stalactites and stalagmites stretching from floor to ceiling. Deep inside the cave we could hear rushing water, but I freaked out when a family of squirrelly salamanders ran around my ankles. At the time it was repulsive, but once I had the chance to really look at them they were kind of adorable. They had bodies like squirrels or ferrets, but their flesh was a depigmented pinkish color and smooth like an amphibian’s. Then, Rennek suggested we eat them and it got repulsive all over again. For whatever reason, it feels less creepy to eat things with fur or feathers. I’m sure all my vegan buddies back home would not like to hear that, but frankly eating alien creatures is super weird and I’m just dealing with it as best I can.

  “Hey Rennek?” I ask at breakfast the next morning. We are down to our last MREs, but haven’t been hurting for food since the forest is so abundant with wildlife.

  “Yes, my goddess?”

  “We’ve been having some protein heavy meals lately; do you think today we could try and find some fruit or vegetables? Can your scanner tell us if things are edible?”

  “Hmm,” he grunts. “That is a good idea. Have you been getting bored with our meals?”

  “Yes and no,” I laugh. “Eating anything here is far from boring. But, to be honest I have been craving Earth food. This is cool too though, it’s like Bear Grylls extreme.”

  “What is it you crave?” he asks.

  “Oh man… things I’ll probably never have again. Rocky Road ice cream. Brownies. A carnitas torta. Some really good salsa.” I try hard to remember the last good-enough-to-drink salsa that I had.

  “Rocky Road?”

  “It’s a cold dessert. Chocolate, marshmallows, nuts. What kinds of things do you eat, I mean when you aren’t in space or backpacking alien planets?”

  “On Thaad you can buy flavored ices. It is similar I think. Though, I do not know chocolate or marshmallows.”

  “I keep getting surprised by how many things are similar across our cultures, even though our planets are light years apart,” I say getting a little lost in thought. Rennek is silent. “You’ve been a little quiet today.”

  “Quiet? No,” he smiles at me.

  “Okay, not quiet… introspective perhaps?”

  “Introspective… Your words bring to mind the Vendari. I wonder if I will have anything in common with them.”

  “You are Vendari too,” I tell him, but instead of responding he helps me to my feet and smooths my hair down, admiring me.

  “Today is an exciting day,” he says--his eyes shining.

  “Why’s that? Did you find a shower?” I tease.

  “Better… well perhaps not better, I do enjoy you and I in a shower together,” he says leaning in to kiss my neck.

  “No!” I laugh, “I’m all salty and gross!”

  “Mmm, no you are just… potent… ripe,” he says leaning in again.

  “Ew! No, get away! That’s like the least sexy thing ever!” I say trying to swat him away through my laughter, but he pulls me close and kisses my lips and I relax into him. “So, why is it an exciting day?” I ask.

  “We will reach the beacon today.”

  “That’s wonderful Rennek! So, what’s the plan? Will you try to activate it or what?”

 
“I do not believe that activation will be a straightforward process, otherwise Gorrard would have done it straightaway. I will take scans and send them back to Tennir and Bossan, see what they can uncover. But I am picking up some interesting readings on my scanner.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There is something like a structure in the vicinity of the beacon…” he begins.

  “Whoa! A what? I thought this planet didn’t have any civilization!”

  “It does not appear to have any sentient life forms, the planetary scans we did before landing did not pick up any such life forms or modern structures,” he tells me.

  “But you think there is a structure up ahead?”

  “It is too uniform to be a natural formation,” he says.

  “Could there be people living there?”

  “No, my scanner does not detect anything besides native wildlife.”

  “Then what could this thing be?”

  “It is a mystery,” he beams.

  “Well, then what are we waiting for?”

  Chapter 41

  Rennek

  When I first noticed the structure on the scans I was troubled. Though this development is an exciting one, it may lead to danger. It is my hope however that it may instead lead to more information about what might have happened here yets ago when Gorrard’s scouting ship first arrived.

  I worry over having someone as precious as my Kate with me. I try to brush away these thoughts. She has proven herself to be a formidable traveling companion, but bringing my mate into situations where there are so many unknowns… it agitates me. Hearing Kate’s excitement however, brings me back to my center. It reminds me of my fledgling days on Javan with my friends: going on adventures, getting into trouble, testing our limits.

  “We can detour back towards those denser trees there,” I point in the opposite direction of the beacon. “There is a better chance of finding fruit bearing plants in that direction. The forest thins towards the beacon. It may be less likely for us to find the food you crave if we continue on,” I explain.

  “Huh? Oh screw that. Let’s go for the beacon! We can go look for pineapples or whatever later, this is way more exciting!” She exclaims before she starts making a path along the branches of the trees. When she sees a better route, she drops down a level and continues on. I follow her, watching her movements, amused. For such a small frame she is sure footed, focused, and strong. She has gotten quite comfortable here on Elysia.

  “You are very adaptable,” I tell her.

  “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” she teases, batting her eyes.

  “I mean to say that you have been fitting in well here,” I tell her.

  “On Elysia?” she asks. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s kind of like a camping trip.”

  “And on the space station as well on the ship, when we first rescued you and your people...” I say, trying to find the right words. “Some of the other females struggled in different ways. You adapted.”

  “Thanks. I’ve actually thought about that quite a bit. It’s weird. It was never like this for me back on Earth. There, it seemed I could never find a place that fit for me--yet here, or since the abduction I mean, everything just feels right.”

  “That is wonderful,” I say encouraged by her words.

  “It is and it isn’t,” she says, surprising me.

  “How could that be bad,” I ask and she pauses her steps to answer.

  “I feel kind of guilty about it. Almost like I need to keep it a secret or something. The others all miss home and the things they left behind. They are having a hard time… transitioning. I feel like I should be having a hard time too and instead I get to make out with a sexy gargoyle alien every night and go on exciting adventures.”

  “I think I may be too biased to discuss this with you fairly,” I smile and she leans up to kiss me--but I hear the snapping of branches. I dart my gaze in the direction from which the sound originated.

  “What is it?” she asks.

  “Perhaps nothing,” I breathe deeply through my nose. “Smells like there is an animal nearby.” We both visually scan the trees around us. Just then, a small pack of primates swing through the trees above us, hooting wildly as they pass.

  “Holy shit! Did you see those things? Oh my god, wow!” Kate laughs. “Were they up there the whole time?”

  “They likely spend their time on the upper canopy, they may have heard us and became frightened.”

  “They were beautiful. We have creatures kind of like that on Earth, but those colors were unreal! At first, I thought they were freaking parrots or something---that’s a big colorful bird on Earth,” she explains. I survey our surroundings.

  “The branches become more dispersed up ahead, now is the best time to descend to the ground level of the forest.”

  “Aye, aye,” she says. I jump down to a lower limb and reach for her. She slides down off the branch and into my arms. “Do we have much farther to go?”

  “No. Just around this bend we should be able to see what the scanner is picking up.” She jumps down ahead of me to the level below. I follow behind, hurrying to get ahead of her. I jump down another branch and slide off into the leaves on the forest floor, turning to catch my mate.

  “Gosh, it’s humid down here!” She says, plucking at the collar of her shirt. “The air is a lot fresher up in the trees.”

  “Perhaps then I should build you a home in the trees,” I tell her.

  “Hey, if it has a shower and a toilet you can build it anywhere you please.” We both eye the hillside ahead of us. We look at each other. “Race you?” She asks, taking me by surprise.

  “I think instead we should approach with caution,” I tell her.

  “You said no sentient life is here? The scanner isn’t picking up any technology or energy sources except for the beacon, right?”

  “Both of those statements are correct.”

  “Well then… hey what’s that over there?” She asks, pointing behind me. When I turn to look, she bolts in the direction of the beacon. It only takes a moment for me to recover from her rouse and I chase after her. I overtake her easily, scooping her into my arms and hoisting her onto my back. I fall to all fours and run the rest of the way, laughing with my mate as she clings to my neck. The decaying leaves covering the forest floor kick up as we pass the caps of giant mushrooms and bright green ferns with long and curling branches. Fallen tree limbs occasionally litter the ground, slowly being swallowed up by moss. Roots from the massive trees sprawl out before us, but they do not slow me down.

  As we round the bend, I stagger to a halt. Kate disembarks from my back, her mouth agape. I stand to my full height and take in this mystery before me.

  “This didn’t show up on the scanners from the air?” she asks shocked.

  “No. These are all natural materials, made from the same stone as the mountains… the overgrowth may have interfered as well. Even now, all the scanner picked up was its uniformity.”

  We stand before a long stone wall, covered in moss and vines. Even with all the overgrowth I can still see the wall beneath is ornate. In the center is a wide arched gateway leading to an interior courtyard. My guns are holstered but at the ready. I run one last scan while Kate watches, but the data has not changed. We are alone here. Kate’s hand finds mine and we proceed through the arch.

  Directly across from us is a temple of sorts. It is tall in the center, as if it has multiple levels within, and long on the sides. It is made of stone just like the wall surrounding us. To access the building there are three sets of stairs leading up to a long open corridor with arched windows, looking down upon the courtyard--the primary staircase is set on the north side and two secondary sets lie on the west end and the east end. In the center of the courtyard there is a massive fountain. Within it is the dilapidated statue of a birdlike female. Her face is gazing upward toward the sky. Her stone wings are tattered and her nose… or perhaps beak, is missing--broken off
over the yets. She stands among stone flourishes and her own broken pieces. Though it is wet, the fountain is not filled with water, instead dirt and plants overflow from it.

  “It’s beautiful,” Kate breathes out. All around us I begin to notice carvings in the stone, remnants of statues and sculptures--all depicting these winged and feathered females.

  “This is either the image of the builders or an image of their Goddess,” I tell Kate as she admires the form.

  Exploring further, I notice the ground was once paved with stones, but they crumble and are covered in a layer of soil in most places. There are benches and seating areas throughout the courtyard. The walls are lined with more fountains, though the others are less ornate than the central one. Though the trees are much sparser here, they still grow out of the crumbling stone. Thankfully, the air is less humid--likely because this space is open to the sky.