by Calista Skye
"It's a negotiation. It's all bullshit. And I think we might have found a sore spot for them. So, please."
Crixael shrugged and spoke more, then translated.
"While she doesn't for a moment believe that we can kill them all, she does realize that we can probably kill several of them before they inevitably kill us. But since we seem to be aware that being killed after death is the fate that everyone wants to avoid, and since we thus must be in contact with our own ancestors, it must mean that we are of the same faith and that we have some right to continue living and that surely we are under secret orders from our Ancestors, too, just like they are. I get the feeling that she's genuinely afraid of losing more of her friends and that she's now trying to justify it to everyone else more than to herself. But I could be wrong. I appreciate how polite you have become, by the way."
"Please say that there is a choice for her. We kill everyone, then kill ourselves so that we can go on killing them in eternity. Or we kill only a hundred more and they let us wait until we're picked up by our own."
"'Only a hundred'? Why not offer to not kill anyone at all?"
That was obvious to Dani. "It's a negotiation. We must seem strong. If we offer not to kill anyone, it looks like we don't think we're strong. We don't have to actually do it."
The next exchange was short.
"She says that of the two choices, she would pick the one where we only kill many and not very many and are then allowed to await our removal. She stresses that our removal must be permanent. I find that I agree with her on that point. But probably for a different reason."
"Uh-huh," Dani said and checked the overhead map image. It didn't look as if the Vlon were retreating. "Are you telling me it worked?"
Crixael looked around. "I'm not sure what to think. They don't appear to be attacking."
"Say- please say that we accept and that we will only kill some and then wait without killing anyone again if they leave us completely alone."
Crixael made the sounds, and the Vlon queen suddenly crawled backwards, very dignified, but still at great speed. Most of the other Vlon followed, but the inner ring of huge, black insects remained. It looked like they had been tasked with keeping Crixael and Dani right where they were. The black insects towered over them and looked extremely dangerous. Dani yelped as they moved even closer in.
"So these guys don't agree with that deal?" she said, feeling the happiness at having negotiated a ceasefire with the Vlon evaporate at the sight of the wall of aliens around them.
"I think they disagree in more than one sense," Crixael said, and now his amused smirk was back. "They are the one hundred we are supposed to kill. They're waiting for us to do that. Hey, don't look at me. It was your deal."
20
They walked back to the crashed saucer. The Vlon had withdrawn to a respectful distance, and the one hundred designated to sacrifice their lives were still standing around in a huddle, obviously confused about their fates.
The sky was still greenish, but the intensity was gone, and Dani hoped that it meant that it would soon be possible to receive radio transmissions again.
She was warm with happiness and pride from the accomplishment. "So you just talk to them and it comes out in their language? Pretty useful gift."
"I'm starting to realize just how useful Ethereal talents can be," Crixael agreed. "And I can't help but wish that I'll get back the ones that have been withdrawn from me."
She took him in. He wasn't bleeding anymore, but the dried streams of blood from each of the punctures made him look like the victim of a drive-by shooting, and it was a miracle that he was still alive. She wanted to know everything about him.
"But still you're pretty much immortal, right?"
"I don't know. I was, I suppose. And I would never get tired. Normally, a few tens of thousands of Vlon would not present any problem for me at all. Today I don't even know if they would have been the end of me. I'm glad you appear to have a talent of your own. I never had to negotiate with anyone before, because I'd just take what I needed. Or wanted on a whim, really. Ethereals don't actually need anything."
"Did you want me on a whim?"
He glanced down at her. "It doesn't feel like a whim. You know how it is with those – once you get what you thought you wanted, you realize you don't want it anymore. But with you... it's strange. I did want you, and I've had you a couple of times by now. And I only find myself wanting more. I want to know about you, about your thoughts, your life, your dreams. Who has ever heard of any such thing? I'd never care about the thoughts of dust before. I'd never care before. Now I do, and it's unsettling."
Dani took her helmet off. "We determined that you want me to love you. You framed that as wanting something from me. Did it occur to you to ask what you would give in return?"
He looked at her, crestfallen. "Give? In return? I am an Ethereal. We don't give. We take. Others give to us."
Dani nodded. "Strange thing about love: You have to give it to get it. I think maybe that's what you're struggling with."
They reached the crater and made their way down. Dani left her helmet on top of the hull, so that its beacon signal could still be picked up when Space Force arrived.
It didn't look as if the Vlon had been inside the saucer.
She sat down in a chair-like contraption. The suit had an internal nutrient delivery system that meant she could sip on nourishing juices while in battle, but she hadn't used much of it. She didn't know how long she'd have to wait for the rescue, and she was sure there was no other food around.
"There appears to be no shower facility on board," he said. "But the recently-back-from-the-big-war look suits me well."
Dani shook her head in disbelief. He was right. Even with his torso covered in his own blood he looked good enough to eat. She had never known anyone like him, and she wouldn't meet one again, either.
She leaned back and placed her legs up on some alien console. "How does one become a cross between human and Ethereal anyway?"
He polished his golden staff, removing the black Vlon blood. "The usual way, I imagine. Probably some Ethereal woman found herself entertained by the idea of attempting to breed with a human male. And it must have been successful. Or it was an experiment gone terribly wrong. Or right. I don't know."
"So humans and Ethereals can produce offspring?"
He shrugged. "The only evidence for that is what you have in front of you."
"There's no one else like you?"
"I don't know."
"How old are you?"
"I don't know."
She loosened her combat boots. "Okay. So there are many things you don't know. First, I think you're about mid-twenties. That's what you look like to me. Second, I know what it means to be half alien. Most of the time, you're not even sure which part is the alien part. I mean, it feels natural to you. You're just you. But you see the subtle differences between yourself and others around you, no matter who they are. Thing is, it's easy to think that you're half one and half the other, making up a whole person. Especially if you look like me, with one part from one species and one from the other. Apparently. But inside, it doesn't work like that. There's much more flexibility inside. This is just something that I've worked out. See, for the longest time I thought I was half Braxian and half Earthling. But that's not it. I'm all Braxian. And all Earthling. At the same time."
He scratched his chin. "And you think I just might be the same. Except switch Braxian for Ethereal."
She shrugged. "What do you think?"
He thought for a few seconds. "I think that's probably the most insightful thing I've ever heard. Tell me about your life. Please."
His request warmed her. He wanted to know. "All right. You know the basics, I guess. About twenty-five years ago, King Ator'aq and Queen Olivia killed the Ethereal King Denibael and disposed of his compatriots. Hooray, the Earth is safe. So they became heroes. Ator'aq had his kingdom that he had to build up again after the Ethereals ruined it,
and mom – Olivia – married him and became his queen and the Chief of Intelligence for Space Force. Lots of people on Earth wanted to make her queen of Earth too, but it never happened. Which was probably for the better. Anyway, my brother is born, Crown Prince Ter'Umion, and then me, Princess Danai'a, named after Ator'aq's mother. We grow up on Earth and on Brax, and it's a pretty sweet life. We get our swords and train with them and our parents are deeply involved in both the Space Marines and the Braxian warrior tradition."
She shifted her position. The alien chair wasn't too comfortable. "Which is fine. I mean, space is much safer now. And no one's being oppressed by Space Force or by Earth government or by Brax. All democratic and good. Well, Brax is maybe not too democratic, but still. It's not evil. So Ter'Umion can't handle Space Force discipline because he has too much Braxian in him, and he becomes a warrior. And I find the warriors a little crude, so I join the Space Marines. Like my mom did, way back when. And of course they turn about to be crude as all hell. But okay. I have a fine future there, and I'm really good at what I do. My mom's kept her hands totally out of my career. Still, the division commander begged me to become a sergeant so I'd be able to apply for officer training later. And I've got more medals than pretty much anyone else in the division."
She sighed. It would be the first time she'd ever confessed this to anyone. Heck, it would be the first time she fully admitted it to herself. All those years. Suddenly she felt tears pressing their way up into her eyes. "The thing is, that Space Marine and warrior stuff..." Her voice failed.
"Yes," Crixael casually completed her sentence, as if stating something blindingly obvious. "You hate it."
21
Her jaw dropped and for a moment she was stunned. She had never thought anyone would suspect it. She had done everything to hide it.
She dried the two tears that had fallen. Hearing him state her deepest secret just like that had shocked the grief away. "Am I wearing a sign around my neck?"
Crixael twirled his war staff using three fingers, and it spun so fast it looked like a golden disk. "Oh, you hide it well. You're good, both as a marine and with a sword. I've seen you do both things. Yes, I'm sure they want to promote you as fast as they can. Intelligence and talent is a rare combination in any endeavor, I imagine. But I can see the reluctance in every shot you fire and every swing of the sword. There's no joy in it. Technically perfect, certainly. But no joy in the act. No connection with the weapon. I've seen you during joyous times, too. You are different then. When we negotiated with the Vlon, there was life in your voice. You felt joy in that act. It was meaningful to you. War isn't."
She was stunned. It was like he was seeing into the depths of her soul. "You're the only one who has seen it. My mom thinks I am over the moon that I'm following in her footsteps. My dad is proud to the point where he's practically bursting. And he keeps trying to entice me to drop the Space Marines and join up with his crazy barbarians. Warrior Princess and all that."
Crixael twirled the staff behind his back and over his head, seeming to exert no effort or even attention on it. "Did they push you into it?"
She thought for a moment. They wanted what was best for her, she was sure of it. But they had both only known about one thing to spend one's life doing.
"No, they didn't push. It was just taken for granted that of course the prince and princess would be warriors. No other alternative was ever presented to us. It's not so strange. Ter'Umion genuinely is interested. And as the younger sister, of course I emulated him growing up. No one had reason to think otherwise, including me. I guess me spending most of my free time reading about old explorers and dealmaking and business and things like that could have been a clue. And I always took an interest in aliens and their societies and so on. But when the time came to decide about what I wanted to do in life, I was already so ingrained with the war fighting thing that nothing else really occurred to me. I mean, I'd been swordfighting since I was three. I fired my first multigun at age ten. When I was about to join Space Force, my mom said that I had to be sure that it was what I wanted. Well, I wasn't that sure. But I was eighteen and I didn't know much about anything else."
Crixael had dropped his war staff and taken up her multigun, and now he was twirling the heavy weapon with one hand in a display of power and control, made more impressive because he didn't seem to be concentrating on it. "I don't know much about human affairs. But I can only imagine that having a royal with some degree of experience in dealing with aliens beyond killing them wouldn't be a bad idea. Not everyone has to be on the front lines."
She looked at him, and now it was she who felt the wonder. He was saying things she had only thought to herself. And he said them not to make her feel better, but because he really believed them.
A warmth was spreading through her mind and body. "Crixael, you wanted me to love you. Let me just say that right now, you got your wish."
He smirked and tossed her gun into the air, spinning wildly. Then he placed one hand on her cheek, leaned in and kissed her, while catching the heavy gun in the other hand without even looking.
She felt something thaw in her at that moment, something she hadn't even known was there.
Why hold back? This man loved her. And she had tried to stop herself from loving him. For what he was. For what she was. For what her parents would think. For what everyone would think.
But he understood her better than anyone ever had. He made love like a god. He could have escaped the Vlon on his own, but chose to stay and defend her instead. He had saved her life many times now. How many more reasons did she need?
She kissed him back, more enthusiastically than she had before. Ever. And it felt wonderful.
It was as if the world was new. New and pliable. She could shape it as she wanted.
They were quiet for many minutes, just looking into each other's eyes. And she knew that this... yeah, this could be good.
She stepped on the alien deck with bare feet. It felt soft and warm and pleasant to the touch. The aliens who had made the saucer were extinct. How many more species would meet that same fate if war was the only thing everyone in the universe did when they met?
"You think I should quit Space Force and take up diplomacy?"
The Ethereal threw the big gun into the air again, spinning wildly, then calmly caught it behind his back. "It's such a strange thing for me to try to see something from someone else's perspective. Ethereals never do that. We're probably the most selfish species in the universe. But I know that I would feel better if you were to do something less dangerous. I know how easily pure humans can die. I'd prefer it if you stayed alive." He stopped the juggling, then frowned as if encountering a new emotion for the first time. "In fact, I'd strongly prefer it. So strongly that I would be willing to do quite a lot of things to help you with that."
"Like attacking ten thousand Vlon on your own?"
He nodded. "Not a bad example. Even risking my own existence...? For someone else? For dust? Only some days ago, I would have laughed heartily at the idea. Now, it's just natural."
He looked so satisfied she almost laughed out loud. "So what exactly is going on with you? You meet one human female, and suddenly your human side is waking up and taking control?"
He seemed to ponder it deeply. "That could be it. You are not the first human I've met, but none of the others intrigued me. As if you're all I need. I mean, need. Ethereals never need anything. And certainly not anyone."
Dani felt excitement brew deep inside. Was this damn alien god saying what she thought he was saying, or was it just wishful thinking? "You feel you need me?"
He looked her up and down, thinking deeply. "I feel... that my life would not be as good if you weren't in it. That everything is brighter when you're there. You fill my mind even when you're not there. All I can think of is the next time we'll be together. And what you might be doing at that moment. And... if you're thinking of me."
"Right," Dani said, trying to play it cool. Was it possible tha
t she was more than just a pleasant pastime for him? "And what if I had another man?"
She could have sworn it suddenly became darker inside the saucer, and the light became tinged with red.
"Is there such a man?" The Ethereal's voice was so low and menacing that Dani felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand up. He seemed to grow taller, to tower over her, the image of an angry ancient deity. His eyes twinkled in red and green.
"What if there is?" Dani said, keeping calm. "Is it any of your business?"
"I will rip his arms off and feed them to him," the terrible alien said with a voice that was trembling in anger. "He will regret the day he was born. No man is to get close to you."
"Just checking," Dani said, tilting her head to one side. "There isn't anyone like that."
Crixael smiled in satisfaction, and the interior of the saucer definitely became brighter again. "Good."
"Not right now, anyway," Dani added. She was not going to have her love life dictated by anyone else, not even supernatural aliens.
He stared at her for three heartbeats, and she felt the danger in him. This was not a tame human male who would meekly accept any insult with a sheepish smile. This was a wild alien with spectacular powers, answerable to no one, fully capable of murdering her and then go on with his life without a second thought.
She had an urge to change the subject. "So why exactly did you come to this planet? I'm assuming it was not a coincidence."
He turned his back and looked around the interior of the saucer. "I assume the same. Queen Benirsheba sent me here. She has a strange sense of humor."
"That's your queen? The one who gives you some of your powers?"
He glanced at her. "You know about that? Yes, some of my powers are derived from hers. I am in disfavor. She has cancelled some of them. She sent me here on an errand in this unspeakably primitive thing. And then she bombed this planet, leaving only the robust Vlon. I wonder if she didn't mean to kill us. Or rather, to kill you. With me possibly watching."
