Stars Apart - Stowaway: (Sci-Fi Alien Romance Part One)

by Calista Skye

  Suddenly, the one leaning over her, finishing the knot in the rope round her wrists stepped away with such force he fell on the floor. Or rather, as she realised moments later, someone had dragged him from her and thrown him to the ground after punching him in the face. He lay still on the floor.

  She looked up as Lanek threw the two other men off her. They hit the floor a little way away with a sickening crunch.

  Another alien came at him, holding some sort of sharp blade. But Lanek was both stronger and faster. He grabbed the alien’s arm and twisted it until he dropped the knife and then, continued twisting it until his shoulder dislocated.

  Lanek turned to the rest of them. His eyes flashed in rage, daring them to come forward and challenge him.

  Instead, those who were able to ran, leaving their maimed and unconscious comrades behind.

  Lanek picked up the knife and turned to Helen. He cut the rope binding her wrists. Her hands were trembling and her heart was beating far too fast.

  She picked her nyaki up from the floor, drew her hair aside and attached it to her ear. Lanek looked at her.

  “Did they hurt you?”

  She shook her head.

  “No”.

  He helped her up. She stood there, holding her ripped tunic together and feeling very exposed. Lanek took off his jacket and draped it round her. He picked up her bags and loaded them into a compartment on the ti’eyga before climbing on. She got on behind him. This time, she didn’t have to be told to hold on tightly. She clung to him, resting her head against his back.

  “Thank you” she said before they drove off. She felt safe with him somehow and she slowly began to relax, feeling more composed.

  As she returned to normal, her thoughts left the attack and she began to remember her shopping experience.

  “Do you have a lot of concubines and slave women?” she asked suddenly, lifting her head from his back. It was perhaps none of her business but she had to know.

  “Why would you think that?” he asked.

  “When I was shopping, the assistants kept asking if I belonged to you. So do you?”

  Deep down, though she didn’t want to admit it, because it seemed petty and insecure somehow, but she wanted to know if he… if the kiss really had been a throw away action – the same kind he might bestow on his concubines or slave women or whatever – or whether there was actually a possibility that it had actually meant something to him.

  “No”, said Lanek, “On Asiroth, in our modern society concubines are frowned upon and slavery was outlawed thousands of years ago”.

  They drove on in silence. Helen couldn’t help but feel relieved. She watched as the lights and buildings and people went by, not thinking of the future, but enjoying the present for what it was now.

  Chapter 17

  The ti’eyga began to slow down. After a few moments, it stopped. Helen let go reluctantly and climbed down.

  Lanek helped her get her shopping from the ti’eyga.

  It came as no surprise that Helen couldn’t read the sign but ‘inside’ seemed to be the hotel. The screen was playing footage of a man sleeping peacefully with two long antennae protruding from his green forehead. Helen had even seen one of those in real life when she was out shopping. Once open, she knew their eyes were blue – all blue without regard for pupil or iris.

  Across the road, a man slivered out of the shadows. He stared at Helen, keeping his eyes trained on her. Instinctively, Helen moved behind Lanek in an attempt to shield herself from view.

  Lanek too had seen the man. He scowled. He snatched her hand and held it in his tight grip. It was almost as though he thought the man staring might try to steal her from him if he let go for just a second. At any rate, he was furious; she could feel it. He walked quickly, taking such long strides she had to half walk and half jog to keep up.

  “Slow down” she said, but he ignored her. He kept walking at the same speed. People were staring; it was making her uncomfortable.

  “Hey!” one of the shopkeepers called from across the street, “Be gentle with her!” but far from having the desired effect, his words made Lanek walk faster and hold her hand tighter.

  “You don’t have to hold on so tight” said Helen. She tried to twist her hand out of his. Lanek looked down as though coming out of a trance. He loosened his hold. He supposed he was still disgruntled by the attack and the Uarin but the sooner they got inside, the better.

  Helen was vaguely worried where all the rooms were. The hotel was just one story and it clearly wasn’t large enough to hold more than a couple of rooms, unless it was one of those ‘bigger on the inside’ sort of things. After walking through the doors, however, Helen could clearly see it wasn’t.

  “Where are all the rooms?” she asked.

  “They’re outside”. He made his way over to a dark screen embedded in the wall to their right. It flickered on as they approached.

  “Welcome to the Floating Pod Hotel” a voice said.

  “Would you like to make a reservation?”

  “No”, said Lanek, “We already have one”.

  “Name, please”.

  “Eyanis Rorn-Asiroth”.

  “There are three rooms in total. Two are available. Will you be occupying one or two?”

  “Two”.

  “Could I confirm the names of the occupants?”

  “Helen Finch-Earth and Lanek Asiri-Asiroth”.

  “Thank you”.

  A panel opened next to the screen, behind which were two small gold rectangles, only a couple of centimetres long.

  “Please take your keys”.

  Lanek took them both and handed one to her. Helen wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it but she watched Lanek. He clipped it onto the bracelet holding his suka. She copied him. Lanek had lots of things attached to his bracelet and looking back at the two lonely ones on her own made her feel the insignificance of a new girl guide next to an older, more experienced girl.

  “On behalf of the Floating Pod Hotel, I wish you a pleasant stay”.

  Lanek started walking over to a set of doors on the far side of the room.

  “So, your name’s Lanek Asiri-Asiroth?” asked Helen.

  “Well, actually, it’s Lanek, Mighty Warrior, Heir to the Throne of Asiroth, Protector of our Nation and Priest of Jukara Asiroth. But Lanek Asiri-Asiroth is my intergalactic name”.

  “Your intergalactic name?”

  “Yeah. It’s your name, planet and galaxy but no one uses the galaxy because it gets too long”.

  “Cool”, said Helen, “So, I’d be Helen Finch-Earth Milky Way?”

  “If that’s the name of your galaxy” said Lanek.

  “What about the name of yours?”

  “Veya” he said.

  Veya. She wondered if it looked anything like Rigna.

  They reached the back doors.

  “Eyanis said he thought you’d like this hotel. Each room is a pod which you can set to float at different heights”.

  Just outside the doors, there were two pods, one glowing green and the other, red.

  “The green one’s yours” said Lanek.

  “How do you know?” asked Helen.

  “Your key glows the same colour”. Helen looked down at her wrist. He was right. She walked towards her door and it shimmered and disappeared, just like on the ship.

  “Goodnight” he said.

  “Goodnight” she said.

  He stood there for a moment, as though he wanted to say more but instead, he turned and went inside his own pod.

  Chapter 18

  The last day. She waited as her pod descended to the ground. She was wearing one of her new alien outfits. It was a fiery red dress with an asymmetrical skirt which couldn’t seem to decide whether it wanted to be a long ball gown or hot pants. And it had a large, fussy belt and a cape and even some sort of headdress with a red jewel which fell onto her forehead.

  To be honest, she wasn’t sure about the outfit. She felt both overdressed and too
exposed. However, out of all of the dresses she’d ended up buying, the shop assistant had recommended this particular one with the most vehemence and couldn’t stop singing its praises. So, despite her apprehensions, Helen wore it because after all, when in Rome…

  Lanek and Eyanis were waiting for her in the foyer.

  “Morning” she said.

  Lanek glanced at her outfit. His expression remained unchanged but she was sure he thought she looked too elaborate at best and downright ridiculous at worst.

  “Am I too overdressed?” she asked, smoothing down the skirt.

  “Not at all. You look lovely” said Eyanis.

  She hoped at the very least that she wouldn’t stand out too much when they went to breakfast.

  “Where should we go today?” Eyanis asked.

  “How about somewhere where the food won’t kill you?” said Helen.

  Eyanis smiled.

  “Okay”.

  They had breakfast in a restaurant not far from the hotel. Fortunately, there was no wenkis or any other controversial foods to be had. The food was nice enough, though there seemed to be a garnish of brown, greasy tentacles with everything.

  As she cut open a large, round red object, which Lanek had told her was a stuffed Juba egg (though she’d rather not think about what it was stuffed with), she suddenly missed the Meflu technique. The coloured cubes had a nostalgic feel to them, now she knew she might never eat them again if the ship she went home on was using a different diet, or none at all.

  After breakfast, Lanek gave her a small disc with gold writing on.

  “We’ve arranged for a flight back to Earth. Show them this disc as your identification”.

  “Thank you” she said.

  Helen had put all of her possessions into a travelling casket. They went back to the hotel to get it and take her to the departure dock.

  Since she was going back to Earth, which, being ages away, was not a popular destination with those who lived in or around Rigna, there was no one else to share a shuttle with. She had to take a chartered flight.

  She removed the hotel key from her suka bracelet and posted it in the designated area, beneath the computer screen in the foyer.

  Her suka bracelet. She went to take it off too. After all, she couldn’t just take an unlimited amount of Asiroth currency back to Earth with her.

  “Keep it” said Lanek, “In case you’re ever in this part of space again”.

  “Thanks” said Helen. She doubted she’d ever be in any part of space again, let alone Rigna, though this didn’t mean it was altogether impossible. When she thought about it, just a couple of weeks ago, she’d doubted whether she’d ever be in space at all and look at where she was. Still, how likely was it that she’d accidentally be beamed aboard another space ship?

  They took her to her departure dock. Helen wouldn’t be leaving for about another hour but Lanek and Eyanis couldn’t wait with her for long. In order to get back in time for the d’gorran to be prepared before Lanek’s wedding on the seventh rising, ideally, they should have left yesterday.

  “Well, this is goodbye then” she said.

  “Yes”, said Eyanis, “It’s been lovely having you on board”.

  “This is for you” said Lanek.

  He gave her a box.

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  “Open it” he said.

  As she lifted the lid of the box, he saw it was a gorgeous necklace, elegant in its simplicity. At its heart, hovering above its silver setting sat an opaque ivory-coloured stone. She wasn’t sure how it was defying gravity, but it added to its mystique.

  “It’s a velari stone”, said Lanek, “Its opacity changes during the day”.

  “It’s so beautiful”, she said, “Thank you”.

  Helen was not aware of the fact, but hailing from a single mine on the distant planet Nalt, the velari stone was one of the rarest and most valuable items for several galaxies. However, the thing which attracted people to it the most was its breath-taking beauty in the dark.

  “You should look at it at night”, said Lanek, “We have a saying on Asiroth ‘to have the heart of a velari stone’. It means someone who hides their true heart and only shows it to their close friends”.

  She looked at him. There was a gentle expression in his eyes, which made her not want him to go even more, but she knew he must.

  “How do you say ‘goodbye’ in Asiraan?” she asked.

  Lanek formed a triangle with his thumbs and fingers. He pressed the triangle to his forehead for a second, and then, to hers.

  “Mehawen” he said.

  Helen repeated the gesture.

  “Mehawen”.

  She watched them walk down the boulevard towards their own departure dock, interweaving through different people. Eventually, she couldn’t see them anymore. That was when it hit her: that she was alone on an alien space station, far from home. It was a strange, bewildering, frantic sort of feeling, not unlike being lost in a forest and wandering round and round to some new dead-end or a place she’d just left moments before. All the time wondering, would she ever come out of this? Would she ever get back home?

  There was also the part of her which had grown to like Lanek. A lot. She hadn’t realised how much until now, as she watched him go. She felt a pang of loss. He’d go back to his planet, get married, forget about her. And she’d go back to Earth, to teaching English, to looking up at the stars at night and knowing that somewhere he was out there. She’d hope to herself that their paths might cross again but deep down inside, she’d know – just like now as he disappeared from before her very eyes – that she would never see him again.

  Chapter 19

  Lanek scowled as his ship pulled away from Rigna Base 4. He swiped through the control panel and manoeuvred it with a sullen irritation, as though the ship were at fault.

  “You miss her that much?” asked Eyanis. Lanek looked at him for a second, neither admitting nor denying anything – at least, not verbally.

  “She’ll get back safely”, Eyanis continued, “She’ll be fine”.

  Lanek didn’t say anything, which made it clear to Eyanis that Lanek wasn’t sure he wanted Helen to go back at all. Eyanis allowed him to brood in silence as they left the space station behind.

  “It feels weird her not being here” he said after a while, “It’s strange how you can get so used to someone being around in such a short space of time”.

  “It’s how things are” said Lanek.

  He set part of the screen to display Rigna Base 4 and watched it grow further and further away. His irritation began to seep away too, leaving a sort of melancholy behind. He hoped she was all right back there, and not getting herself kidnapped by rogues. Soon they would be out in open space and the space station would grow so small that he would no longer be able to see it and then she would be lost to him forever.

  Eyanis removed his suka bracelet and put it in the pocket of his tunic. At the same time, his fingers brushed against a leaflet. He took it out and looked at it.

  “I forgot about this” he said, looking at it.

  “What?”

  “When I was out shopping last night, there was a tradesman handing out leaflets to potential buyers”. There were jewels and luxury vehicles, all at their standard prices but there was something else too.

  “Look” he said, handing the leaflet to Lanek.

  Lanek took his eyes away from Rigna Base 4 long enough to look at it.

  According to the leaflet, female humans were worth four times the cost of his custom-made, luxury Serl-Vogad ship.

  Helen.

  It angered him. And then, it worried him. Too many people had been interested in her, in acquiring her, in buying her. He hated to abandon her in such a situation but there was no other choice. He’d made sure she was in a safe place, away from people who would try to steal her and he’d paid for personal bodyguards to accompany her on her voyage home. But even so… What if the driver or the guards themselves
turned traitor and sold her, blinded by the thought of making four times the cost of his ship and never having to work again for several lifetimes? He could trust no one to bring her home. No one but himself.

  Suddenly he pressed frantically at the control pad. The ship veered sharply to the left, so hard it almost began to somersault and nearly crashed into the ship in the next lane.

  “Lanek!” Eyanis cried, “What do you think you’re doing?”

  But within a few moments, it was very clear what he was doing; he was going back to Rigna Base 4.

  ***

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading my book!

  If you want to get an email when my next book comes out, please consider signing up for my mailing list: http://eepurl.com/bpXN31. It is free and I will only send an email when I’m releasing a book, organizing a contest/special offer, or have important news to share.

  I appreciate all reviews, both good and bad.

  Happy Reading,

  Calista

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