Arkvar

by Cara Wylde

  “Fascinating,” Ark murmured.

  She was completely wrong, of course, but her certainty that she was dreaming gave her real, undeniable power. Ark stole a glance at Thivo and Shirin, who seemed just as dumbfounded as him. Granted she was doing it in a weird, twisted way, Allie was proving to everyone on Deck that she was, indeed, special. Not like the rest of the humans on Earth. On the other hand, what did they know about her species? Their mission was never to study them, but to carry out the orders of the Galactic High Council of Seven, who had, presumably, done extensive research before deciding on this plan of action.

  “So, what are you going to do to it?” she insisted.

  There were a few more smaller windows on the Bridge, and Allie stole quick glances at them. She couldn’t see the entire fleet, but what she saw was enough to tell her this wasn’t the only spaceship with an interest in her planet.

  “I think you know.”

  Allie cringed at his words, but didn’t say anything.

  Ark was sure she had many more questions, and he imagined she preferred to leave them for later while she focused on holding her conviction that this was only a lucid dream. Come to think of it, the story she had created suited him. It wouldn’t last, though, so he’d better get on with his mission before the human came to her senses and started giving him and his crew a real headache.

  He fixed Thivo with his eyes, then focused on reaching the captains of the other six ships with the power of his mind. It wasn’t easy, but it felt good to expand himself like that. It made him feel invincible and eternal, it reminded him of who he really was. This body he was currently trapped in, by his own accord of course, had its limits. His mind couldn’t reach as far as when he was bodiless, and he had to focus more and push harder, but as long as he remained aware of his limitless nature, he could work pretty well with what he had.

  “Captain Arkvar of The Hesperia here,” he sent the message telepathically. “Stand by for my command.” He paused and watched Thivo take his seat in the chair to his right, while Shirin sat in the one to his left. “Engage.”

  When the seven ships sent their white rays toward Earth, no more than a faint buzz could be heard from the Bridge. The light coming from the planet far away was blinding, and the attack lasted for three minutes. When the rays stopped, Earth seemed to look just like before.

  “Nothing happened,” Allie noticed.

  “It’s not visible from here,” Ark explained. “Not yet. In a few hours, the Blue Planet will be the White Planet.”

  “White as in… covered in ice?”

  “Not only covered in ice. Only ice, to its very core.”

  Allie started fidgeting. She stepped closer to the window, her eyes frantically studying the blue sphere.

  “This isn’t happening,” she whispered. “It’s not real. My dreams have always been crazy, but this one takes the prize.”

  Ark cleared his throat and stood up.

  “Thivo, let’s set a course for the Council.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ll take care of this.”

  And by this, he meant Alison Page, who was giving signs of slowly losing confidence in her story. Once that happened, it would be a mess.

  “What about the people?” Her voice sounded alarmed now. “What will happen to them?” She turned to Ark, a spark of hope in her eyes. “Did you save all of them like you saved me?”

  He shook his head.

  “You’re the only human on our ship, Allie.”

  “No, no… that can’t be.” Her hands flew to her blonde locks, and she pulled at them harshly. “Are you saying you’ve just destroyed an entire planet with all the living beings on it? No, this is a nightmare. Why am I even dreaming this? My mind can’t possibly come up with something so horrible.”

  “Listen to me, Alison. This is not a dream.”

  As he tried to approach her, she backed away, almost hitting the desk of the First Pilot, who was just making sure the FTL drive was ready. She shook her head frantically.

  “No, no, no. It’s a dream. My dream. And I can control it.”

  She closed her eyes tightly, furrowed her brows, and everyone witnessing the scene could tell she was trying very hard to either reverse the attack on Earth, or make it all go away. They watched in amazement, almost forgetting they all had jobs to do. The human female was one curious specimen. They had never seen someone with skin so white, hair so smooth and shiny, dressed so oddly and impractically, not to mention someone with so much silly confidence that she was dreaming. The humans of Earth were, indeed, far from being evolved if they couldn’t make the difference between dream and reality.

  “Oh, for One’s sake!” Shirin jumped to her feet, stormed toward Allie, and pinched the skin right under her ribs hard. “You’re not asleep! See? It’s not a damn dream!”

  Allie screamed in pain and slapped Shirin’s evil hands away. She wrapped her arms around herself, gently rubbing the spot where the blue woman had pinched her.

  “I don’t understand,” she muttered. She looked down at herself, noting she was wearing the red dress and shoes she had put on to go out on Friday night. “Where am I? What day is it?” Suddenly, she felt hot, so hot that she could barely breathe. She pulled at the scarf that seemed to suffocate her, but the thing only rippled around her shoulders, refusing to let go. “Why can’t I take this off? It’s not my scarf… It’s not a scarf. What the hell is it?!” She pulled harder. “Oh my God, I can’t breathe. Take it off! Take it off!”

  “Relax,” Ark said, but didn’t make any move to help her. “It’s not going to hurt you.”

  Allie looked at him with wide, terrified eyes. Tears were threatening to spill all over her cheeks, and she did her best to blink them away. She looked around her and truly took everything in for the first time.

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re on board of my spaceship, The Hesperia.”

  Allie shook her head.

  “No. No, no, no.”

  Her mind couldn’t wrap itself around what the strange, tall, blue man was telling her. Blue. He was blue. Everyone was blue!

  “No, I’m not on a spaceship, Earth isn’t gone… No.”

  “Alison, please calm down. Listen to me: this is happening, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad.”

  “Are you fucking with me right now?! It’s not bad? You just destroyed my planet! You turned it into ice, and everyone is dead!”

  “No one is dead, you fool,” Shirin said while going back to her chair and desk.

  “FTL drive at one hundred percent,” someone from behind Allie announced.

  “Jump.” Thivo was the one who gave the order.

  Allie’s world started spinning, and her vision went blurry. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She felt like she was falling, and falling… and nothing in her body was where it was supposed to be anymore. Her stomach was in her chest, her heart was in her throat, and her brain had just decided to shut down.

  Since he still didn’t have access to her thoughts and emotions, Ark couldn’t be sure of what she was going through. His instinct kicked in when he saw her legs starting to give in, and her body losing its ability to stand. He caught her in his arms just as she fainted.

  “Well done, Captain,” Shirin chuckled.

  “Shut up.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Allie stirred in her sleep, moaned softly, and turned on her other side. She pulled at the covers, scrunching up her nose when she realized she was feeling too hot. When she touched the soft fabric covering her arms and shoulders, her eyes opened suddenly at the realization that the material didn’t quite feel as it was supposed to feel. It was too soft and too slippery at the same time. So different from what she was used to. Her breath hitched in her throat and her heart started beating faster as she glanced around the room. The white ceiling, the complete lack of furniture aside from the bed, the window… She bit the inside of her cheek a
nd sat up slowly.

  “This is not a dream,” she thought. “Oh my dear Lord, this is not a dream.”

  The view beyond the window was one she had never seen before, not even in her wildest spurs of imagination. There were colors and flashes of light, as if the ship was moving through space at an incredible speed.

  “I’m on board of a spaceship,” she thought. “I really, truly am on board of a spaceship.”

  With her blue eyes still fixed on the window, she got out of the bed, her legs swinging over the edge and her bare feet touching the smooth floor. She ran her hands through her disheveled blonde hair and smiled, then frowned, then smiled again. In truth, she had no idea how to react and no idea how to feel. A small grunt coming from behind her snapped her out of her thoughts and made her blood freeze in her veins. She turned around brusquely, silently cursing herself for not paying attention to her surroundings.

  Ark was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, and Allie shuddered at the idea that he had been watching her while she slept. That was creepy beyond belief.

  “You,” she whispered. Her voice was so small and frightened that it was barely audible. She wanted to say more, but coherent thoughts and words eluded her.

  He smiled at her, but didn’t move a muscle, apparently allowing her to get used to his presence.

  Allie took her time to study him carefully. Finally, her mind seemed to be willing to wrap itself around the fact that right there, in front of her, was a man whose skin was so blue that it resembled ink, whose eyes were so deep that they were completely out of this world, or at least out of the world Allie had known until now, and whose features were strange, foreign, and incredibly masculine at the same time. His frame was so tall and bulky that Allie was sure he was at least two heads taller than her.

  She stood up slowly and backed away, her eyes never leaving him. When her shoulder blades touched the cold surface of the window, she wrapped her arms around herself and tried to keep her body from shaking too visibly.

  “What are you doing here? Why were you watching me sleep?”

  “I wanted to make sure you’re alright,” he said in a soft, careful tone.

  “I’m alright, I’m fine,” she snapped. “Now, please, get out of my room. I don’t want to see anyone right now.”

  Ark sighed and stood up. He cringed when he saw her reaction to his sudden movement, and made a mental note to move more slowly next time. Clearly, she was still in panic mode. The last thing he wanted was for her to faint on him again. Three times would surely be a record in the span of twenty-four Earth hours.

  “Alison, I think we should talk.”

  She shook her head fiercely.

  “No, there’s nothing to talk about. You destroyed my planet, you kidnapped me, I have no idea where you’re taking me… I don’t want to be here. I don’t know what’s happening.”

  “If you’ll just listen to me…”

  “No, Ark! I don’t want to listen to you. I don’t trust you. I don’t feel safe here with you.”

  He took a step toward her, and she made herself even smaller against the other wall. He expanded his mind to reach her, but she was still protected by that wall she had mentally built the first time she woke up on The Hesperia. Frankly, he couldn’t believe she was that strong. He wasn’t even sure she was aware of her own telepathic abilities. Yet, apparently, she was using them. Consciously or unconsciously, he couldn’t tell. If he tried really hard, he could get a glimpse of her emotions, and he could feel that she was absolutely terrified of him and of the whole situation. However, there was no way he could calm her down just through the power of his mind.

  “Allie, you’re still not letting me in,” he said.

  She laughed sarcastically. “Of course I’m not letting you in. Are you insane? Why would I ever let you read my mind?”

  He lifted his hands in front of him, waving slightly as if to show he didn’t want to invade her privacy.

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s just that I’m confused… Earlier, on the Bridge, you said you believed this was all a lucid dream and you felt you had complete control over it. I thought that once you realized this is not a dream, you’d lose at least part of that control.”

  “What are you saying?” she asked.

  “I think I’m just saying… I mean it’s not a bad thing that you’re protecting yourself, but it’s fascinating.”

  Allie cocked an eyebrow, becoming interested in his discourse for the first time. Then, he made the mistake of taking another step toward her, and she once again cowered in fear. Her arms fell to her sides, and she pressed her sweaty palms against the white, cold wall, her heart jumping at the vibration she could feel in her fingers. It was as if the ship itself was alive, and Allie did everything in her power to calm herself down and convince herself that it wasn’t. It was just the speed at which it was cruising through space.

  “Please don’t come any closer,” she said in a firm tone.

  “Allie, it’s okay, I don’t want to hurt you. I want to help you. I want to answer all your questions.”

  When he took another step toward her, Allie bit her lower lip and slowly slid to the floor. She hugged her knees to her chest and began rocking back and forth. No matter how many times she told him to stay away from her, he wouldn’t listen. How could she trust Ark when he seemed incapable of respecting a simple request?

  “Please go,” she pleaded. “Please leave me alone. This whole thing is so crazy. I don’t want answers, I just want to go home.” She chuckled at her last words. The smile on her lips was sad and bitter. “Home. I have no home anymore. Earth… you destroyed it. I can’t believe you and your ships destroyed an entire planet where so many people lived.”

  “Alison, please listen to me. Please let me explain. This is not what you think it is.”

  “What is it then?” she yelled at him. “What can you possibly explain? They’re all dead, Ark! All the people on Earth, everyone I ever knew, my friends, my two cats, my dog, my sister… Oh my God, my sister!” She started hyperventilating. “My sister is dead. I can’t believe it, I don’t want to believe it. We weren’t close, but this… this is just awful.” She fixed him with her blue eyes, and they were filled with tears and hatred. “You killed my sister, you killed everyone. You’re evil, Ark. Have you ever thought that you are evil?”

  Ark sighed and ran his hands through his hair, pulling harshly at a couple of knots. This was not going in the right direction. He had to do something, and fast, because Allie looked like she was losing it. She was crying harder and harder, her shoulders shaking with the sheer power of her sobs. She was starting to pull at her own hair, at the scarf around her shoulders…

  “What is this thing?” she yelled desperately. “For fuck’s sake! It’s not a scarf! Why can’t I get it off me? Just get it off me!”

  Ark rounded the bed. He was in front of her in a split second.

  “Allie, it’s fine, it’s not going to hurt you. It’s not a scarf, it’s… I don’t know how to say this so you’d understand. It’s not a piece of garment, it’s a Kidem.”

  Allie sniffed her nose, but didn’t stop pulling at the thing, still intent on ripping it apart and throwing it as far away from her as possible. In her mind, she was already imagining herself killing it with fire.

  “A Kidem? What the hell is a Kidem? That doesn’t make any sense. Just get it off me.”

  “No, I can’t,” he said. “I mean, I can, but I won’t. It’s yours now, it belongs to you. It’s like… I don’t know, it’s… Earth has…” He paused, cleared his throat and corrected himself. “Earth had this thing with books, and movies, and TV shows about magic and witches. Let’s say that a Kidem is what a familiar is to a witch in these fantasy stories of yours.”

  “A familiar?” Allie laughed in disbelief. “So, what you’re saying is this thing is alive? This thing around me, this thing that would not get off, is actual
ly alive?”

  Ark nodded. “Yes. The Kidem is a living being. You can control it if you want, you know? You just have to calm down and use the power of your mind to reach it and establish a channel of communication. Once you do that, the Kidem will respond to your wishes and even talk to you. It’s like a pet, you know? You can consider your Kidem your pet.”

  “A pet? You have no idea what you’re talking about. On Earth, a pet is…” She took a deep breath and corrected herself just like Ark did a minute earlier. “Was… On Earth, a pet was a dog, or a cat, or a rabbit, or a fish. Not a slippery, slimy thing that clings to you.”

  She pulled at the weird being again, but it only rippled around her and squeezed her tighter.

  “Oh God, it’s like it’s suffocating me. It’s so, so hot.”

  She stood up and suddenly decided to use all her strength, to dig her nails into the thing and scratch at it to make it get off one way or another.

  Ark closed the distance between them and grabbed her wrists gently, but firmly.

  “Stop. Please stop. You’re hurting it.”

  “I don’t care, I want it to leave me alone.”

  Then, she realized he was holding her wrists, and she immediately started thrashing and screaming.

  Ark furrowed his brows in annoyance, starting to get fed up with the situation. He closed his eyes and used the full power of his mind to reach her and calm her down. He couldn’t read her thoughts, he couldn’t put images in her mind, but he could try to send calming, relaxing waves of thoughts and emotions. When she stopped struggling and crying, he breathed out in relief. Fortunately, it had worked. He was pretty sure only half of what he had sent to her had actually reached her, but it had to be enough for the time being.

  “All right, Alison, let’s just sit down right here.”

  He let go of her wrists and motioned to the edge of the bed.

  Allie took a deep breath, wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand, and sat down in silence. She didn’t understand what had happened, but she felt calm and even safe in his presence, which was in complete contradiction with her rational mind. Her instincts still screamed at her to run, put as much distance between herself and Ark, and try to find help. But where could she run? She was trapped on a spaceship, in the heart of the universe, and everyone on it obeyed Ark’s orders. She could only remember fractions of what had happened on the Bridge, but she did remember that Ark was the Captain of The Hesperia, and all of his blue, weird aliens took his words as irrefutable rules.