“Hey you, human. Where are we?”
She tried to cover her lady parts and her boobs, but she was not doing a good job.
Come on! We just fucked right? Why is she so shy? I’m standing here totally naked, and I don’t try to hide anything.
Hastily, she put on her shirt and her pants and then proceeded to answer my question. She was blushing and trying to avert her glare from me, only to find herself always ending up checking my equipment. That somehow turned me on.
“This is...eh...we’re in planet Yaerus, in the world capital Mosa, the greatest human city that was ever created. You know...maybe it would better if you put on some clothes or something?”
“I don’t remember you being so prude earlier. Well, if that’s too big of a problem for you, then I’ll abide by your requests for now.”
When I took a move towards her, she seemed scared. This female human was way too strange. It was like she hadn’t seen me before. I picked up my clothes and quickly got dressed. I had lost my mood for getting laid, so I was right about ready to get back to my spaceship when I sensed something strange coming from the pocket of my uniform.
I put my hand inside and pulled out a scorching hot thingy that was flashing brightly. I tried to shield my eyes in order not to get blind from the strong light, but it was too late.
When I opened my eyes, the female human—I think her name was something starting with E, but I was not sure it’ll come to me soon—was nowhere to be found. I was still up in a high place only that now everything around me was different, it was not the same city as before. It was an older place, with metal and glass buildings anchored on the Earth, spreading all the way to the sky.
The skyscrapers seemed dull and motionless, nothing like the buildings of the other city, Mosa. The scenery in this place was barren, empty, no people anywhere, not even wind blowing around us. This felt more like a dream than actual reality.
I turned around and tried to find something to lead me to the right way, but there was nothing.
I spoke too soon.
I picked up something moving up in the sky, a radiant light coming straight from the stars above my head. The light got bigger and bigger until it was covering the whole sky. I didn’t understand what was going on, or where this thing came from, but I was suddenly afraid.
Me, the great warrior Jasih, I’m shaking like a leaf falling from the tree.
I tried to run but I couldn’t. I wanted to scream, to get away, but I knew that it was futile. I was going to die alone amidst a dream.
That was when a girl appeared at the edge of the roof. I rushed to her side until I was standing up there with her.
Jump.
I heard a voice echoing in my mind, but I was not sure it was mine.
Jump.
My eyes fell to the ground below, and how far away it seemed.
Isn’t it weird that no matter how far away you’re from the ground, it always seems like it’s just a leap away?
Jump.
The third time I heard the word. I was sure. It was her voice. However, for some reason, her words had also become mine.
I have to jump.
My foot was hanging in mid-air. Everything happened too fast that they ended up feeling slow.
“Jay!!! No!” Eladia screamed at me, but it was too late. I had already taken the last step forward.
But I’m not a common Esuh. I’m Jasih the Dark, one of the First Kind.
My instincts took over and my body jolted from inertia to overdrive in a moment. I kicked the ledge of the roof, pushing my body to turn around. My upper body was still close to the edge, but my lower body was too far now. I spread my arms and managed to catch the ledge, only for the momentum of my lower body hitting the wall to make me lose my balance again.
I was in mid-air, stretching for something to grasp when the female human suddenly appeared and caught my hand. She wasn’t strong enough to hold me, but her hand was more than enough to help. I swung my body forward to touch the outer wall of the building with my feet. In the meantime, Eladia lost her balance and leaped above me, screaming.
In an impossible trick, I grabbed her arm and pushed her upwards. I used the tips of my fingers to get a handle of the ledge and also pushed myself up.
We were now safe and sound, both panting on the floor.
“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done,” I said and collapsed on the floor.
There was something bothering me, something is stuck on my back, something like a small, hot, metal cube. I reached and removed it.
This day couldn’t get any crazier than it already was.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Eladia
I was not sure what happened but Dark Jay actually...saved me. I never expected I would owe my life to this version of him, but it seemed that I now did. But I was confused. What had happened? The cube started flashing and by the time I regained my sight, Dark Jay was standing on the edge of the roof, ready to jump. It was the longest second of my life when I jumped to save him, and he pulled me down with him.
For a moment, I thought that his bloodlust had returned, and he wanted to kill me, but when we found ourselves back on the roof, I couldn’t be more wrong. My heart was still beating fast. I couldn’t calm down, but neither could Jay.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he ran towards me.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“You’re a scientist, right? What happened back there? One moment I was here, talking to you, and the next moment I was jumping off that ledge.”
Okay. So, if I got that right, he just asked if I was okay because he wanted to make sure I would be able to answer his questions. This man is a true prick.
But he was right. I was a Chronicler, and to be honest, I had no idea.
“I don’t know Jay. I’m still trying to process this myself.”
“Also, there was a girl up here. Is she okay? She was the one that told me to jump.”
His voice was anxious and sharp, with short pauses. He was in a hurry to get answers.
“What girl? I was the only one here, and I’m sure I didn’t say anything like that to you.”
“No, no, I’m sure she wasn’t you. She was tall, with silver hair and beautiful, blue eyes. I’m not sure if she was a human at all. She certainly looked humanish, I mean, her beauty rivaled even some of the Changel.”
I didn’t know if I should take his sayings as a compliment or get really angry at him. I had no idea who those Changel were anyway, however, I was sure I would find out sooner or later. Nevertheless, I had no time to disagree with him. My phone started ringing, Silver made a holographic call to me.
“Eladia? Where are you? Are you okay?”
She looked really worried, way too worried.
“We’re fine. Look who woke up just now,” I said to her, trying to warn her. She got the hint and acted accordingly.
“Oh. It’s our good friend, Jasih the Prime Officer. It’s nice to see you, sir,” she said in her deepest, most servile voice. Silver only used that tone when she wanted something really bad or wanted to get off the hook from other human users.
She never used that voice with me.
“Oh, the female robot and the young man. I wouldn’t say I share the same feelings about seeing you, but this isn’t the subject now. Do you know anything about this stupid thing?” he said and showed the cube at her.
“About that, Eladia I think you should see this,” Silver said, demanding my attention.
A moment later, she showed me a recent report about Nusae readings. Since the day we arrived in Mosa, I had commanded—more like asked rather than demanded--her to scan the city regularly for reports about Nusae activity. It was not unusual when an active relic appeared in a planet for it to trigger reports about other relics never seen before, as well. At least, that was what had happened with the Morpher Relic.
I checked the report she had sent me real quick and saw that at the same time Dark Jay was holding t
he Nusae relic, another energy reading was recorded at the World Embassy, a building only three squares to the East.
“But that’s impossible. It seems that we started something. Where are you now Silver?”
“We’re on our way to meet you at the Embassy. We’ll be there in ten minutes,” she said.
I heard Zan shouting behind her, while he was trying to stand still. The poor guy must be having the worst day of his life with Silver pumping up the gas to get here in time.
I couldn’t decide if I did too or if it was actually the best. Either way, I grabbed Dark Jay’s hand and pulled him towards the stairway.
We ran all the way to the ground floor, the place where the bar was. I almost forgot that I had to return the pair of keys to Jessie, but she was nowhere to be found.
It’s okay, I can do it tomorrow.
While out on the road, Jay seemed to still be troubled about what had happened back there.
“I can’t understand. I was in another city, with buildings made of metal and glass, and there was that girl, and this intense light, and I was so afraid…”
Okay, the last word got me thinking. Last time I saw him, Dark Jay was fearless and killed for the gist of it. Now, he had seen something that got him scared?
“Tell me more. What else happened?” I asked him, not slowing down although I had trouble keeping up the pace and talking at the same time.
“This girl, the beautiful one, she stood right in front of me and asked me to jump off the roof. But she didn’t actually talk. Not out loud that is. She talked inside my head, and her word echoed inside there. It’s like she was trying to manipulate me.”
And in the end, she managed to do it. But I had no idea what he was talking about. The cube was flashing and then...and then…
I suddenly stopped.
“Let me see the cube!”
He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to me. The thing was redder than the last time I had seen it, and this time, there was an inscription on the top.
“What is this? When did this happen?” I asked him as soon as I noticed it.
“I have no idea. This is the first time I see this too. What does that mean? Is something wrong with it?”
“No. Well, I’m not sure. But I have a theory of what might have happened to you. The Professor thinks that the outside of this cube is a lock and you’re the key. Maybe it was something that you did, or maybe it was because six months passed after you first acquired it, but it seems like you’ve started unlocking it.”
I continued.
“So, what happened is that you must have peeked through the keyhole like you took a sneak peak of the data inside it. That might also explain why you’re the only one capable of unlocking it. In one of Silver’s exams, we discovered that your mind is capable of resisting the great stress that a direct data feed would cause to your mind. If it was me, it would have fried my head.”
I was not a big fan of running, but the thrill of finding another piece of the puzzle exhilarated me, making me able to endure a whole marathon if I had to.
Fortunately, I didn’t.
The World Embassy Building was straight ahead. It was dark except for the top floor, the Conference Room. It was the place where the world leaders met each other when visiting Mosa. Certainly, not a place for late-night visits. Right ahead, Silver and Zan were standing in front of the main entrance. Right about then I started thinking of an attack plan, a way inside without drawing the security’s attention to us.
I used to sneak in there many times when I was little, to meet mom and dad, but now I didn’t know if I had it in me anymore.
Suddenly, it came to me. I forgot that now I was an adult and that my father was still an immensely influential man. If the right person was there, and if I said the right thing, I should probably get inside without making a scene.
We finally got close enough to Silver and Zan for the latter one to see that Jay had changed. He quickly snarled and got ready to protect Silver and me.
“You don’t pass. You dangerous,” he said, growling.
“Down boy. I’m not here to fight you, although I would love to go a round with you when you’re older. Now we’re busy, way too busy, to stop. Shoo, shoo!” he said to Zan.
“Both of you stop! Zan, Jay just saved me. You don’t have to protect me from him. Jay, Zan isn’t a dog. He’s perfectly capable of understanding English. Now, Silver, I’m gonna need your help. I think I have an idea on how we can get inside.”
I took a quick look around and saw the faces of the people around me, the people I loved. There was something wrong about the cube, and Jay, and his parasite, and yeah, seeing him like that, not being able to recognize me or remember what had happened between us earlier, it’s less embarrassing that I thought it would be. But still, this was a mission that we had to complete.
This mission was sure to make us get closer to the truth about the Nusae and the heritage they left behind.
And I am dead set on finding it.
“Listen. We’re gonna have only one chance at this.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jay
When the short, black-haired human wanted something, she would make sure to get it no matter what. Her eyes seemed more vivid than ever before, more than that time when the underground human had captured her. I didn’t know why or how we ended up fucking before, but now I kinda saw it.
Girls like her drew me like fire drew moths. She was dangerous and safe at the same time, and I was ready and unprepared for what would follow. I wanted to make sure her plan worked because it sounded fun, plus I wanted to actually find out more about this little artifact.
Nusae, the three-eyed dwarfs, the garbage of the galaxy, ended up becoming a Great Mystery, and my people, Esuh, completely vanished from the archives. If that wasn’t unfair, then I didn’t know what was. The one thing I knew was that I had to follow her and act drunk.
It took Eladia some time to explain this to me, but humans came up with a substance that intoxicated their organism and made them do stupid things, things that a sane person wouldn’t do otherwise. It was something like inhaling Timedisol, but they actually drank this thing. Nevertheless, after many endless nights of Timedisol-infused paranoia, I kinda knew the feeling she described.
“Okay, are you ready? Here it goes. Don’t talk, don’t say anything that a drunk person wouldn’t say, and don’t stop walking. We only have one chance.”
I nodded. I started to stagger all the way to the main entrance where a thin, gray-haired man was waiting outside. By the time he saw us, he moved closer to us and tried to stop us when Eladia got in front of me and blocked his vision.
“You kids. You can’t be here. This is the World Embassy, not a bar to continue your drinking. You can’t get inside.”
“I’m really sorry. You misunderstood us. I’m Eladia Matthews, and my friend here is really drunk. We need a place to let him lie down for a moment before he returns to his mothership. They don’t tolerate behavior like that there, and he can get in jail if they catch him drunk. Would it be too much if we spend half an hour inside? We really don’t know where else to go.”
The man checked me, then Eladia, then Silver and Zan.
“Matthews? Like the politician Matthews? Oh my, are you the young Eladia, the girl with the buns that used to run back and forth all the time? I’m Ron. Do you remember me?”
“Ron? Of course, I remember you! How are you? Oh, my god, I’m so embarrassed now, you must think I’m some type of miscreant or something. I’m so sorry,” she says to him, adding a tint of drama to her voice.
At this part, I decided to improvise a little. The guard seemed like he needed one last push to break.
“Eladia? Baby? Where are we going? I can’t return to the ship. I have to sober up first. Eladia?” I bellowed like I was amidst a drunken stupor.
The guard casted me a critical glance like he wanted to stab me with his eyes.
He really thinks I can
feel remorse or something like that? Poor, little human. I shed away all those feelings when I was just a kid, unlike you overly emotional humans.
“Look, you have thirty minutes tops. But one bit of advice? You have to start choosing your company better, young lady. You don’t deserve--” he sayid, but Eladia interrupted him, waving goodbye, asking for forgiveness on her way inside.
As soon as we took a turn to our left and disappeared from the old man’s vision, I stopped acting drunk. Zan and Silver laughed, and I followed their example.
“That was the most reckless thing I’ve done in my whole life,” the android said.
Alien Romance Box Set: Alien Former: Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Books 1-5) Page 53
