by Maia Starr
“What?” I mumbled, lowering my weapon despite my every instinct telling me that she was not to be trusted. And yet I took a step forward as she cowered on the ground, holding a pillow out in front of herself for protection. A human.
“Please, don’t hurt me. I swear, I won’t do anything to you. You can have the ship. Just please let me go!”
Her voice was soft and gentle but on the verge of hysteria. My heart broke for this pitiful creature. Who knew what kinds of dangers she had faced on this horrifying planet? Even being as well-equipped for battle as I was, the place had a sinister energy that made me wary. I couldn’t imagine what it might be like for a defenseless human. A female no less.
“I do not intend to harm you, human,” I said, clearing my throat and putting my weapon away quickly. The sooner it was out of sight, the better. I did not want her feeling as though I was just toying with her. “What are you doing in this ship? It belongs to the Raithers. It is government property.”
“But nobody was using it…” she said quietly, dropping her pillow down to her stomach and hugging it tightly. She was seated on the ground, in a nest of blankets and pillows. I presumed that beneath her was one of the mattresses from the cots, and I couldn’t help but wonder why she was not holed up in one of the bedrooms rather than by the control panel. What was she hoping to accomplish here?
“No, and nobody will again,” I agreed. “It is broken.”
“Well, yeah, I can see that,” she said, gesturing to a small collection of parts that had been torn from beneath the control panel.
The first small glimpse of assertiveness from her supple lips was both attractive and annoying. I had to tear my eyes away from her to where she was referencing. It was a mess over there. Presumably, the other Raithers had been doing their best to repair it. Hopefully, they and they alone had had access to these valuable pieces of equipment. But the human made me wonder.
“Why are you sleeping by the control panel, human? You do understand that you are violating Raither law by trespassing in a military craft, do you not?”
“Um, I do not,” she said, standing up from her nest and eyeing me skeptically, her hands on her hips. Again, her assertiveness was highly attractive to me, except for the way I felt that she was measuring me up, as if waiting for me to do something to prove to her that she shouldn’t like or trust me. “Considering I’m from Earth and I’ve been stuck on this shitty planet for the past year…I think? Time feels funny here. Anyway, I’ve been stuck here. Not wherever the hell you come from.”
“Yala,” I said quickly. “Raithers come from the planet Yala. And this place we are on is called Hexa. It is a planet where all the most brutal monsters in the galaxy are imprisoned. It is more humane than execution. They make their own fates here.”
“Humane?” the human asked, stepping toward me and jutting her chin up. Her auburn hair fell over her shoulders as she did so, and I found myself frozen, waiting for her to continue speaking. She had quite a presence about her. “Do you think that it was ‘humane’ that a girl whose only fault in life was being dumped in this place got torn in half by some freaky red elephant monster and died here? We didn’t deserve this fate, you know. The humans on this planet? All of us were stuck here by a group of freaks who blamed us for the fact that after they abducted and even raped one of us, their men died. You think this is humane?”
For a moment, I thought she was going to strike at me, and I had to keep myself from taking a step back and reaching for my weapon. But to my surprise, she drew a long, shuddering breath and turned away from me, walking back over to the bed she had made and stepping in front of it, as if she were too ashamed of her emotions to look back at my face.
“I heard what happened to the humans on Hexa. We are working on relocating you to a lesser security planet, where survival will not be so difficult for your kind.”
She whipped around and glared at me, fury flashing in her emerald green eyes. “Oh, you are, are you? So you have some hand in whether or not we stay stuck here? What are you anyway? Some kind of cop?”
I shifted uncomfortably. “No. By we, I meant the Raithers. Many have become invested in the fate of the humans. We have some human females on the planet with us as well, and they are rallying for your cause. But the Resha Federation has decreed that the humans imprisoned here were imprisoned with just cause, though the process was not done fairly enough to their liking. The Petchuvians responsible will be put on trial as well.”
The human seemed to consider this for a moment and then nodded.
“Well, it would be nice to be able to put my guard down for a while, at least to try to get some sleep.”
“Is that why you are in the control panel and not in one of the bedrooms?” I asked, tilting my head in curiosity. The human was quite strange to me, but attractive in a way. I had never seen anything quite like it before. It stirred something deep within me that I had never felt before…an urge to possess her.
But that was not appropriate. I was there to do my job and to do my job alone. I could not allow myself to get invested in any of the creatures there, pitiful though they may be. My honor was at stake.
“No…”
The human looked down at her hands and sighed as if she were afraid to come clean to me about the truth. I raised my brow at her.
“Human. Please tell me what you are doing in here then.”
“All right!” she exclaimed as if I had been interrogating her for hours. “I was trying to fix it, okay?”
“Fix…” I stared at her baffled. She hardly seemed the type to get her hands dirty. I had always imagined repair work being left to the males of the human species. In fact, the males of most species. “You wanted to fix this ship?”
Her eyes turned fiery at the disbelief in my voice.
“You don’t think I could do it?”
“Well…” but she cut me off before I could answer.
“I could do it just as well as you or anybody else,” she said, stepping menacingly at me once again. It was starting to be cute in a way. The human was so slight and frail, and yet the power of her spirit was enough to make even the strongest of men wilt. “I’ll have you know that my planet chose me as one of its leading researchers. I’m a scientist. I have a great understanding of the way things work and their potential. And if you think for one second that just because I’m a woman, I can’t get this ship off the ground, you’d better think again, because—”
I held my hand up, and the human’s tirade halted abruptly, though the angry fire in her eyes stayed lit upon me long after her voice quit speaking.
“I believe that you are capable of great things, human,” I said, eyeing her steadily. She seemed frozen in my gaze, shocked by the admission of my words. It was as if she had never heard such a thing before. “Now tell me, great researcher of Earth: what is your name?”
She hesitated for a moment, her dazzling eyes flickering to the ground a moment before she answered.
“Lila,” she said finally. “Dr. Lila Andrews.”
Chapter 2
Dr. Lila Andrews
The Raither stared at me after I introduced myself, and I had the distinct impression that he was waiting for something more. I frowned, feeling more than a little self-conscious. Not only had this freakishly handsome blue man just burst in on me while I was getting ready for a nap, but he seemed to expect me to understand the laws and customs of a planet I had never even been to.
“Dr. Lila Andrews of Earth?” I tried, hoping that if I gave him a more official title he might leave me alone and stop looking at me as if I were the one who had interrupted his beauty sleep.
“I know where you are from, human,” he said impatiently. “I was waiting for your rank.”
“My what?” I asked, snorting. “I’m not in the military or something, guy. But I am the second leading researcher in my country. And that’s a big deal.”
It was such a big deal, in fact, that I had nearly turned the opportunity down. My fami
ly had always placed ridiculously high standards upon me. I probably would never have been considered for the position if they hadn’t pushed me so hard to excel academically. But since they had, and I had managed to use my mind successfully…apparently more successfully than most people were capable of…it had caught a few people’s attention. One of those people being the president of my country.
It was terrifying, actually. The last thing I wanted in life was to be chained to a position I might not enjoy. I had gone into science because I was good at it, not necessarily because I loved it. I loved puzzles and figuring things out, but I wanted to be an inventor. Not a fact monger. I wanted to apply new functions and uses to old things and pave the way for future technologies. But that required creativity and innovation. Neither of which were exactly buzzwords in the dormitories of the elite research team I had been drafted into.
“Well then, Dr. Lila Andrews, head researcher of Earth, I am going to have to ask you to leave now or face the penalties of Raither law.”
I quirked my eyebrow at him. “The penalties of Raither law? You mean it can get worse than being trapped on this hell planet with the most bloodthirsty demons in all the universe? That’s good news.”
The Raither looked dumbfounded for a moment, and furrowed his brow, his dumb, perfect mouth gaping open for a moment as he considered his response.
“Well, for one thing,” he said finally, “you could be stuck here while the other humans are found and relocated to a safer planet.”
“Is that the best you can do?” I asked, though frankly, the threat left me feeling unnerved. If I had to be trapped here while the other humans were going to be somewhere safer, that would really be the icing on the cake, wouldn’t it?
“Human, you really must leave now. I have work to do, and it is very time sensitive. You cannot be here.”
“But I am here. And frankly, if you make me go out there, it’s a death sentence, and I don’t think you really want to be responsible for that, do you?”
I couldn’t believe the way I was speaking to this man. He was ridiculously well-built. He looked like he would be able to lift me over his head and chuck me out of the craft with one hand, easily. And to top it off, he was hot. The kind of attractive I had never even dreamed to see up close and in person. It was kind of obnoxious, really, because he was also kind of an asshole.
“Your fate is not my concern, human,” he said, his face turning stony and his voice taking on an authoritative tone that made my skin crawl. It didn’t suit him in the least. It was like he was quoting some archaic instruction manual or something.
“Well, that’s tough because I’m not going anywhere. I claimed this spot, and I’m going to keep working on that control panel. I know I can make it work. And I’m going to fix it. You’ll see.”
I couldn’t believe what I was saying. Being stuck on that planet for so long must have messed with my mind because the idea of being so bold with someone who could probably snap me in half with just a look would not have been quite so appealing when I had first arrived on the planet.
When we had first arrived on Hexa, I had been terrified. That feeling had only increased as the days wore on and I saw girl after girl disappear. Whether they were killed or lost was impossible to say. But the chances of their survival were unlikely.
“Human…” he said slowly. “I have to work here. There is nothing more I can do about that. You must leave.”
The tone that my voice took on seemed to surprise us both because the Raither looked startled when the word I hadn’t planned to say escaped my lips. “Please…”
He seemed tormented then, his brilliant, multicolored eyes flashing as if the sun had just risen over an iridescent puddle of oil. I wanted so badly to finally be around somebody I could trust again: someone who was not after my organs or my body or even just a human who was paranoid that I was trying to hoard all the good fruit for myself. And for some reason, I wanted that person I could trust to be this alien. An alien I had never even met before, who gave me no reason to trust or even to like him. And yet there was something about the way he looked at me that gave me hope…
“Fine,” he said quietly. “You may stay until I have finished disassembling the control panel. But only until then. When I am through with this stage of my work, you are going to have to find somewhere else to go. This is no place for a human, and if my superiors were to find out about this, it could mean trouble for the both of us. Is that understood?”
I nodded eagerly, relief flooding through every inch of my body. I would get to keep my temporary shelter. At least for now. But one thing troubled me.
“Why are you disassembling the control panel?” I asked. “I’ve been working pretty hard on reassembling it these past couple of weeks. Ever since I found this place, all I could think about was getting it fixed up, so I could get the hell out of here.”
The Raither chuckled. “That’s absurd. A human would never be able to fly a Raither craft. To think you could shows what deep ignorance your people live in. I would never subscribe to such ridiculous notions.”
Blood boiled in my veins, and any intelligent, reasonable person probably would have stopped there. But of course, I was apparently beyond that ability to reason, because the Raither’s smile was wiped off my face when I fixed a look of fury upon him.
“I bet you I can. And when I do, you will regret ever saying that to me.”
He scoffed but looked at me, curiosity, and maybe a little bit of awe etched in his handsome features. “As you say, human.”
“But please, if you take apart the control panel, I will never get this ship to fly again. How would you even know if I am telling you the truth?”
“You are not authorized to repair this ship,” he said with a heavy sigh. “And even if you were, I would have a hard time believing that Raither technology is within the grasp of anybody but a Raither. Still, I am curious about your claims. I will leave the control panel for now. But I must take apart the rest of the ship’s interior and get them back to headquarters. If this ship fell into the wrong hands, do you have any idea what kind of damage it might cause?”
I looked at him blankly, unsure of whether to hug him or to answer his question. The Raither sighed.
“Leave me now, human. I suggest you find yourself a room to settle in that is a little more comfortable for now. I will leave the control panel alone. It is the weapons on this ship that are the most dangerous. I will get to work on them now.”
And with that, the Raither dismissed me, leaving my mind whirling as he strode past me and set to work.
***
As the days wore on, I learned that the Raither’s name was Zern. He was a commander of some sort and had been sent to this ridiculous planet probably as a punishment, judging by the bitterness in his voice when he spoke of it. I knew better than to ask questions, though. I wanted to be able to squat in the ship for as long as possible. There were many untold dangers out there, and the thought of having to face them again, without the comfort of a shelter or a warm bed to sleep in at night, left me feeling more than a little bit unhinged.
We had fallen into a kind of quiet routine. Zern worked to disassemble the laser weapons that had been set up in the two extreme corners of the control panel, while I did my best to make sure that he was well-fed. I had accumulated quite a stash of fruits and nuts and berries from Hexa and had learned how to spice up my meals with some of the seasonings that the Raithers had left behind on the ship.
I had even begun to teach myself some of their language using what I had found on the ship’s control panel and what literature I was able to scrape up in the many dormitories that had been abandoned. It was quite a beautiful language, really. Lyrical in a sense. I had been anxious to hear it spoken ever since I had picked up the books and learned my first few words. Now, maybe with Zern there, I would finally have my chance.
But that likelihood seemed grim, and I found myself disconcerted anytime I was near him. He was dark and brooding
, and left me wondering if he had any joy in his life at all. And yet there was something sweet about him. Almost harmless, despite knowing that, should he have the mind to do so, he could probably single-handedly take down the freakish elephant monster that had dismembered my coworker.
Whenever he was taking a break to explore the area around the ship, I would sneak back into the control panel to work on the engine, because I found it impossible to work with him around. The way he looked at me while I was working never failed to make me nervous. I hated working around men who had expressed any disbelief in my abilities, and I didn’t feel any differently about aliens either.
I was glad to find that he was gone for the afternoon when I stepped in to check on him about having breakfast. Usually, he wasn’t gone so early, but since he was, I felt a little thrill. He had left his tools on the floor of the control panel, and he had just what I needed to make real progress on the control panel.
I glanced around the room, just to try to make sure that the coast was clear before digging into it. I knew I wasn’t supposed to, and it wasn’t welcome at all, but I had to do something to make progress. If that meant bending the rules, then that was what I was going to do.
I went to the bag, my hands trembling as I searched carefully through the strange devices that the Raithers used to work on their ships. Alien technology was completely different than that which was used on Earth, and I had to do my best to make sure that I was getting everything right before I tried to use anything. My mind was processing information rapidly as I analyzed the purpose of each tool, until I finally came upon the one I knew I needed.
“Aha!” I said victoriously, studying the sleek tool in my hands. It was shockingly lightweight, made of some type of metal we either didn’t have on Earth or still hadn’t developed yet. I was rapidly making notes inwardly, just in case I ever made it back to my own planet, where I had been a member of the most prestigious research team on Earth. If I was too busy to be a scientist, I would never forgive myself.
