by Bethany Shaw
Addison closed her eyes and let out a breath. Yeah, the Phoenixes’ eyes were definitely something, and as far as trusting them, I hope giving them a little trust won’t come back to haunt me.
“Hey, where’s Marcus? Is he okay?” Holly asked, touching her arm.
Addison’s stomach convulsed and she let out a long, melancholic breath. Bile crept up her throat and she gagged. “He, uh, he didn’t make it.”
Holly gasped. “Oh no! What happened?”
Marcus’ death flashed in Addison’s mind and she trembled, gripping the table for support. “I watched him die. The Imanji...they killed him right in front of me. I couldn’t stop them.” She swallowed hard and looked down at the silvery table, focusing on a speck of dirt as she tried to control her breathing. She’d never felt so helpless in her entire life.
Holly reached forward and gave her a hug, smoothing her hand up and down Addison’s back. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. That must have been so horrible.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. What could she say? Nothing. Absolutely nothing would make this better. Instead she sat, resting her chin on her friend’s shoulder and reveling in the few minutes of comfort.
“So...this is a spaceship?” Holly asked as she broke the silence.
Addison looked around at the large room. She was new to spaceships, but this room was huge and so unlike anything on Earth. “I think so. Yeah.”
Holly’s brows creased as she frowned. “Wow. Are we sure these are good guys? This isn’t some trap is it? I mean, our first experience with aliens didn’t go so well. Who is to say these guys are any better?”
“I don’t think this is a trap. They want to help.” Addison shook her head. Zephyr saved her life earlier and his men were taking care of them. At least they appeared to be. The room they were in had food, water, and cots for sleeping. She couldn’t help but wonder why they were being so helpful. It is not as if she wasn’t thankful for the help, but why go to such extremes to help another planet in a whole other galaxy? From what she’d gathered, they had followed the Imanji here. But why? What was in it for them?
“The kids have been asking for you. We were worried sick when we couldn’t find you earlier,” Holly told her.
“All of them are safe?” Her heart skipped a beat as she closed her eyes hoping every child was accounted for.
Holly squeezed her hand. “Yes. We got them all out thanks to you and Marcus.”
“Thank goodness.”
“Do you want to see them?”
She should go over and check in on them, but she wanted to talk to Holly alone a moment longer first.
“In a minute. The captain, Zephyr, offered me an opportunity.”
“Oh?” Holly’s brows rose in question.
“The Imanji possess the power of...” she trailed off trying to come up with a word, “compulsion. I was able to resist it. Zephyr wants me to go back with him to Earth to help rescue more humans. It seems when humans see their eyes we freak out and hide or attack them.” Addison could only imagine what would happen if others saw what else the “kind” aliens could do; men that transform into fiery birds was a lot to process.
“Back to Earth?” Holly whispered as her eyes widened. “I wondered with the blackness out the windows if we might be in space, but I never thought we actually were. This is crazy.”
Addison shook her head. “We are on their warship. That’s what the captain told me and I can’t see why he’d lie.” She motioned to the large room around them for emphasis.
“Wow.” Holly drew in a sharp breath. “How are you not freaking out right now? My parents live in Nebraska. Do you think they’re okay?”
Addison didn’t want to make promises to her friend. From what Zephyr had said, it was a low probability Holly’s family was still alive. “I don’t know about your family. My dad’s missing too, and I already did freak out when,” she stopped herself. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to tell Holly their alien rescuers could turn into phoenixes. She wondered if they were the same type of birds from the Greek and Egyptian legends. She might have to find out, but there was only one way to do that. “I am thinking about taking him up on his offer.”
“Really? Wouldn’t that be dangerous?” Holly asked as her eyes darted around the room.
“Probably, but...” She had too much of her dad in her to ignore the opportunity to help. Not to mention going back to Earth would give her the chance to look for her father. She prayed he was still alive.
“You’re a good soul, Addison.”
Hopefully, it won’t get her killed.
***
“Are you sure taking a human down there is wise?” Orion asked as he typed something into his handheld computer while walking alongside Zephyr.
Zephyr raked a hand over his face. “No, I’m not, but we don’t have much time. If we’re going to save more lives we will need help from their kind. Have you found any other humans that might be able to ignore the compulsion?”
“No. The young woman appears to be the only one on board, but we’ve only rescued six hundred seventy-two souls. There could be more on the ground with the ability,” Orion stated.
Zephyr closed his eyes and sighed. He’d seen the specs on the planet—there were billions more people. This was unacceptable; they had to save more lives, at least a few hundred thousand to keep the species alive and going for the years to come.
If only the equipment could pick up life signs from further away and teleport them onto The Retribution. Orion was working on the problem, but he had no way of knowing if he could fix it in time. Every planet was different and it was difficult to fine-tune the sensors to search through the diverse minerals each planet consisted of or have the equipment recognize the dissimilar bio signs of each planet species. At the moment, the detectors could only pick up life signs within a short radius of the sensor. It was vexing, but they had no choice at the moment.
“I’ll check in and see if she is ready to go,” Zephyr said with a sigh. Maybe they’d have more luck on the ground.
“The team will be ready and waiting at the shuttle,” Orion informed as he and Zephyr came to a fork in the hall. “You sure you want to go down there? It will be dangerous. We need our captain.”
Though he was captain of the ship, and any one of his subordinates would gladly take his place down on the foreign planet, but he had to go—for personal reasons.
“You know why I have to go down there. Besides, you’re a good Second-in-command, Orion. There is no one I trust more with my ship than you.”
Orion shook his head. “It is not your burden, nor is any of this your fault.”
“You’re wrong.”
This whole ordeal was his family’s fault. If they hadn’t have searched for life outside of Delphi this wouldn’t be happening right now. Now it was his burden to clean it up as best as he could. He didn’t give Orion a chance to respond before trudging to the lower deck where his people set up a refuge center.
Zephyr swiped his hand over the reader, causing the door to beep before hissing open. His guards clapped their hands at their sides in a show of salute as their captain entered. He nodded before fixating on the crowd. The number of humans they rescued was miniscule, but the room looked nearly overrun by the helpless humans. Before he left, he would ensure his men set up another deck for the refugees; their guests should be as comfortable as possible. His ship was enormous, with the capacity to accommodate hundreds of thousands. He just hoped they could locate the humans to fill it.
First, he needed to find Addison. It didn’t take him long, as she was sitting at one of the long tables with another woman. The two appeared to be in deep conversation, but there wasn’t time to spare; he strode over to them and cleared his throat.
The unknown woman blinked up at him, her eyes widening as she took him in.
Addison stood up and pointed. “Holly, this is Zephyr, their captain.”
He nodded as the corners of his mouth quirked
up into a smile. There was something about the way she’d said his name that had stirred something within him. His body heated and he shifted on his feet as he stared at the beautiful Earth woman.
“Addy’s been telling me you’re going to try to rescue more people?” Holly said as she brushed her hands on her pants and stood, offering a palm to him and drawing him out of his stupor. “I’m Holly Beauregard.”
He stared at her hand for a moment before frowning. His hands fisted at his sides, not entirely sure what he was supposed to do. Do I take her hand? If so then what? Both women were staring at him as if waiting for him to do something. But what?
If he thought about it sooner, he would have made Orion stay with him; his science officer had been studying the humans since the ship began its journey to Earth a few weeks ago.
“Okay then,” Holly lifted her hand up and smoothed it through her long red hair, catching a strand and twirling it.
Had he insulted her in some way? He hoped not. It hadn’t been his intent. There wasn’t time to worry about that now, maybe later he’d ask Addison about it.
“Have you made a decision?” he asked Addison, meeting her amber eyes. Little flecks of browns flitted through her irises; they weren’t vibrant like his eyes, but they were mesmerizing, nonetheless.
“I want to help,” she stated.
Zephyr inclined his head as excitement raced through him. He wasn’t sure why her decision pleased him, but it did. “Good. We’re leaving now. Follow me.” Turning on his heel, he started toward the door.
Addison’s mouth popped open. “Oh. Now?”
He stopped and spun back around to face her. “Are you not ready?”
“No. Yeah. Let’s go.” She took a step forward, nearly coming toe-to-toe with him.
“Is there anything I can do?” Holly asked as she propped her hands on her hips and tapped her foot on the floor. “I hate just sitting around doing nothing when I could be helping.”
Zephyr thought about it a moment and then nodded. “I’ll send my science officer down here. He’s been itching to talk to one of you. He’s got a lot of questions.”
“I’ll do my best to answer them.” Holly flashed him a smile. She ran to Addison and wrapped her arms around her in a hug before quickly taking a step back. “Be careful.” She turned to Zephyr. “You’d better take care of her and bring her back in one piece.”
“I intend to.”
If something happened to the human he would never forgive himself. He was putting her in danger by taking her back to the planet and it would be his fault for asking her to accompany him. But there was more to it than that. There was something about her. He shook his head of the conflicting concepts; he could analyze these sensations he received when around Addison later, but for now he needed to focus.
Zephyr motioned for Addison to follow him. “I’ll send Orion up to speak with your friend.”
Orion was going to enjoy getting a one-on-one interview, but Zephyr wasn’t sure Holly would be so enthusiastic about talking to him once Orion got going. His science officer was a long-time friend and confidant and Zephyr knew just how inquisitive the man could be.
“After you,” he said, motioning Addison forward.
She bit her lip, but took a tentative step before finding her footing and strutting to the door. Her hips swayed as she walked and his eyes darted to her rear, watching the muscles as they worked. It was wrong to stare, yet his eyes refused to focus on anything else. It struck him then—he was infatuated with this human woman.
This was not a distraction he needed. The mission needed to come first.
Chapter Four
Addison smoothed a hand over the black jumpsuit she was wearing. The material was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. It was softer than cotton, but had an almost elastic quality to it. Whatever it was, it was very comfortable, but alien. This was all so surreal—aliens, spaceships, flying down to Earth to rescue what was left of the human race; it couldn’t really be happening.
She half expected to wake up in her bed, or maybe the hospital, to discover this whole experience was a bad dream or a drug-induced nightmare. Aliens couldn’t be real, could they? She glanced around at the “men” and “women” in the shuttle with her; their eyes, though brown, blue, and green, sparkled in an inhuman way. Their computers and weapons were so advanced, she refused to touch them, certain she’d either break them or blow something up. Then there was the spacecraft they rode in and the beautiful view of the planet as they entered Earth’s atmosphere. As much as she wanted to deny everything, she couldn’t. This was really happening.
Butterflies wavered through her stomach at the realization everything she knew was going to change.
Her eyes met Zephyr’s electric blue ones and a sense of calm washed over her. Was that one of his alien powers or was it him in general? She had no idea and wasn’t sure she wanted to know what else these phoenixes were capable of.
“We’ll be landing in a few minutes,” Zephyr informed her as he moved to stand next to her. “Our life sign detectors are picking up a group of about sixty in this area. Stay with me until I instruct you otherwise.”
“You can detect all that from up here?” she asked in awe. It shouldn’t surprise her they were so advanced, because she was standing in their spaceship after all.
“Yes. We have sensors that can detect life from a certain distance.”
“Wow. Your tech is much more advanced than ours.”
Her dad didn’t divulge classified information even to his family, but she was pretty certain no government on Earth could detect life that accurately. Humans could learn a lot from these aliens, assuming the Phoenixes were who they said they were and humans didn’t hurt them too much out of fear.
“Our civilization has been around longer than yours,” he told her.
“Are there many other intelligent species in the galaxy?” she asked out of curiosity. If there were more aliens, hopefully they were friendly as well.
“Some. Yours in one of the more advanced we’ve come across.”
“Really?” she asked. How many species had his people encountered?
“Yes.”
“We could learn a lot from each other,” she said with a smile. They had to find a way to save the planet. With the Phoenixes help, they could do so much, not just with technology, but medicine, too.
“We don’t share tech with other species,” Zephyr said as he moved away toward the front of the shuttle where the pilots were.
Addison licked her lips and sighed. He seemed nice enough in the medical ward, but now, he seemed...she didn’t have a word for it. She rolled her shoulders back and tried not to let it get to her.
Her eyes darted around the shuttle. Phoenix men and women on board spoke quietly amongst themselves. No one had attempted to speak to her besides Zephyr. She couldn’t help but wonder what they thought of her and the human race. They must feel something if they were going to all this trouble to help them. That reminded her of her earlier question: why were they helping and what was in it for them?
The ship lurched and she gasped as she was drawn from her thoughts. A sea of anxiety rippled through her as they swooped down repeatedly until a quiet thump could be felt beneath her feet. That landing was nothing like riding on an airplane, and she wondered if there was a reason for all the up and down, or if that was just how their ship operated?
The Phoenix team unfastened their belts and stood; Addison followed their lead, watching as they turned their attention to Zephyr.
This time when he spoke he had the same inflection, but the language was unrecognizable. It was unlike anything she ever heard before, but it was soothing at the same time. His comrades cheered in the same dialect before disembarking.
“I’m guessing English isn’t your first language,” she inquired as he strolled over to her, her brow lifted. How was he able to speak to her so easily? Could he have learned their language in the short voyage to Earth? If so, he was a quick learner
.
He pressed something on his suit. “No. I forgot to turn my translator back on. My apologies.”
“Translator?”
“Yes, Orion’s design. Our computers only need to hear some of your language before they can decode and translate it. It works both ways.” He tapped his ear where there was a tiny white device on the one side. “You speak and your words are automatically translated for me.”
“That is astounding! I am truly impressed. Does it work for all languages on our planet?” Addison asked while wondering why he’d turned it off. Did he not want her to hear something? She shook the thought away not wanting to think negatively of him. It is a shame this species will not trade with Earth; some of their technology would be extremely beneficial to Earth’s citizens.
“Yes.” He motioned for her to follow him. “There are no Imanji in sight at the moment, but that could change at any time. Stay close to me.”
“Trust me, I don’t want to run into them again.” She shuddered, remembering her last encounter, though it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours yet.
Addison followed Zephyr out of the shuttle, stepping onto arid, cracked dirt and rock. As she took a breath, she began coughing; an odd combination of sulfur, burning rubber, and something else created a repugnant odor that was suffocating to inhale. She covered her face with the crook of her elbow and tried not to breath too deeply.
“This area has sustained a lot of damage, but from what we can tell there are life signs in there,” Zephyr pointed ahead.
Addison let out a breath as she stared in the direction he’d pointed. “There?” she asked, lifting her brow in confusion. “Are you sure?”
Zephyr nodded.
Addison eyed the warning sign leading down into the mines and ran a hand through her hair. It was deep underground and would be a suitable place to hide, but it couldn’t be the safest. “Okay. It’s underground and the air might not be the best.”
“It’s good enough to support life. The two of us will go inside. My team will stay back in case the Imanji arrive.” He motioned for her to take the lead.
