by Maia Starr
However, I had a solid constitution and had always been a loner at heart. My favorite place to explore as a child had been Mount Zennith. There, I had the quietude I needed to design ships for the royal fleet and build them and take them apart. I was an expert on the subject, though my placing ceremony had identified me as more of a maintenance worker. That meant I was never truly celebrated for my designs, just asked to work on them when they failed.
I suppose you could say I had developed a healthy intolerance for the other Thressl’n, who just expected me to accept my lot in life without any question. Of course I enjoyed helping to make technological advances for my brethren. But letting the clueless Thressl’n with engineering titles take all of my credit was a different story. And thus, I had chosen to make my home in the mountains. Although it was colder there, it was quiet and peaceful.
I took a quick glance around to confirm that nobody had seen me take the Earth female out of the bed of my hovercraft. Of course, my property was deserted, and I hurried inside with the bundle. I had to think fast. They had seen me remove the body, and if a cremation didn’t happen soon, it would be investigated.
“Let me out of here!” the human cried, her soft voice muffled from the bag. I frowned, my mind racing in search of a plan. “Please!”
Without thinking, I knelt down to the bag and unzipped it.
“You must be silent!” I exclaimed. I was trying to think, and her insistent shouting was driving me to agitation.
I felt immediate regret when my eyes finally fell on the human. Her face was the most gentle and vulnerable I had ever seen, with large, clear eyes that I felt immediately trapped in. They were the color of amber, and the thick, auburn curls that fell over her shoulders were astounding. It was a hair color coveted by my people, but one which occurred only rarely by natural means.
She was absolutely breathtaking, but my harsh words had contorted her features into an unattractive combination of fear and anger. But she was obediently silent, and for that I was grateful.
Finally, it occurred to me that I would still be able to bring the body bag to the crematorium, as long as I left the woman at my house.
“Come,” I said, gently at first. But when she didn’t move, my agitation and impatience came through. The females on Jenal’k were expected to listen and obey, not sit there with defiant expressions on their faces. And as much as I wanted to accommodate this unfortunate creature, I needed her to listen to me.
“Now!” I exclaimed, lifting her by the wrist. I was surprised by how much stronger I was than she, despite her resistance to my touch. It was like leading a Thressl’n infant in comparison of strength.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked, her voice soft but strong. If she was afraid, she didn’t want me to know it.
“You must wait here until I return,” I said.
But I knew she wouldn’t wait on her own accord. Unfortunately, if she were left on her own, it would be dangerous. Camps were being built on Mount Zennith, not very far from where I lived. If she escaped, she would be rounded up into the camps with the other Earth women and Zod would find her again. Who knew what would happen to her then?
I pulled the female into the dark cellar where I stored much of my food supply. “Down here.”
The female was quiet as I rummaged through sacks of supplies until I found twine used to braid certain roots together for drying.
“Sit.”
She sat silently, her eyes filled with anger.
“You won’t get away with this,” she mumbled.
It was strange to hear English in person. We had only received brief broadcasts here and there from Earth, but they had been enough to give us a basic understanding of the language. The Thressl’n were keenly adept at learning new dialects, as communication was highly valued and a necessity in maintaining peace in the universe.
“I hope for your sake that you are wrong about that,” I said.
Her eyes flashed in confusion as I bound her wrists and legs to one of the sturdy shelves in the cellar and climbed out.
“If you do not stay quiet, you are going to find more trouble than you know what to do with,” I cautioned her, before shutting and locking the cellar door.
I waited for a moment to see what she would do, and when I was satisfied with her silence, I ran to my study. My uncle had been my best friend and closest ally before his passing, and he had been a doctor. He left me all of his things after he died, and I kept one particularly interesting specimen in my office. It was the skeleton of a scarce race of people from the Yuloph galaxy. The elusive Yuloph peoples were smaller than humans, and thought mostly to be extinct. However, sightings of them did occur, although they were very rare, and my uncle had been the proud collector of this valuable treasure.
I held it in my hand a moment, reluctant to part with such a gift. Everybody had been jealous of the generous inheritance, and I had coveted that skeleton all my life, more so after my uncle’s passing. But it was the only way.
I stuffed the skeleton into the body bag and stuffed it with soaking wet bedding from around the house. I had to work quickly; they would be expecting me at the crematorium soon if any news of the body bag had reached them. When I was finally satisfied, I threw the bag back into the bed of my hovercraft and took off toward the crematorium.
The Thressl’n had a difficult relationship with death. Most didn’t enjoy looking it in the face, and so the crematorium, like my home and the camps where the human women were to be located, were located in the vast hills of Mount Zennith.
I just hoped that nobody would be any the wiser for my cargo.
***
“Laike, greetings to you,” the pleasant operator of the large ovens greeted me. His name was Kelron, but he preferred me to avoid using it for some reason. I simply avoided using his name for any reason.
“Greetings,” I replied, shifting nervously with my bundle. When the body was a Thressl’n, the bodies were removed from the black bags. I would have to tread carefully in order to avoid discovery.
“Is this one of ours?” Kelron asked.
“No, much lighter,” I said.
“Good, we’re running low on fuel today. It’s been a busy season.”
I nodded grimly. A war was raging on the other side of the C’loggh galaxy, one that the Thressl’n were determined to stay out of. However, every once in a while, a recruitment ship would land and make glittering promises to some of the men who were more dissatisfied with their roles in the rigid Thressl’n society. I had never been approached, but I wasn’t sure I would want to go with them if I was, no matter how annoying it was to surrender credit for my inventions.
Unfortunately, those Thressl’n men who managed to get recruited were more often than not returned in these same black body bags. It had been a dismal task carting them back and forth from the loading docks. I had seen more death this revolution than I could ever remember occurring in the past.
“Toss it in,” Kelron said, with an impartial flick of the head toward the large burning chamber.
“Yes, sir,” I said, throwing the bundle into the huge oven. I braced myself for discovery, knowing there was no way that the smell of burning flesh would reach our noses this time. It was a terrible, unique smell, similar to the burning of hair and the flesh of living creatures the universe over.
I was shocked when everything went as usual. My hearts were pounding as if I had just gotten away with murder. It seemed funny to me that I had actually done just the opposite. If only the Earth human would see it that way.
“All right, I’ll take it from here,” Kelron said after an insufferable bout of waiting. The skeleton my uncle had given me was broken down into small bone fragments now, and everything else in the bag had been reduced to ash. I was nearly crushed by the weight of my own relief.
“Okay, see you next time,” I said, bowing to Kelron.
“Yes,” he said distractedly. He was already halfway into the oven, pulling out the remains. I left hurr
iedly. I didn’t want to be there if he happened to sense something strange. I would have no clue how to answer his questions.
I returned to my vehicle and sat trembling for a few moments at the steering panel. What I had just done was possibly the most foolhardy thing I could ever have imagined doing. I had gone directly against Captain Zod. And if he found out what had happened, he would not rest until he knew the whereabouts of his unlucky captive.
I couldn’t let her back into his clutches. Even though it was fully clear that I was risking everything, I just couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice an innocent like that. Especially not to the merciless and cruel leaders of my planet. Captain Zod was one of the men I despised more than anybody in the universe. Who knew what horrors the poor Earth creature had already experienced?
I would go home and explain the whole mess to her. Surely she would understand. Maybe then, once the misunderstanding was cleared up, she would be able to teach me more of Earth and the places beyond the C’loggh galaxy. I had never been off my planet. I had designed ships of my own my entire life but had never been permitted to build and fly any of them myself. The injustice was great, but I would just have to accept my place in Thressl’n society. There was clearly no other option for someone like me.
I sped my hovercraft toward home, my mind reeling with possibilities. I wanted more than anything to get to know the beautiful, intoxicating woman from Earth better. I had a good feeling about her. Hopefully, she, too, would have a good feeling about me.
After all, we would only have each other to share this huge secret with from now on. Nobody but Zod knew she was on this planet. We would have to learn to trust one another eventually. There was no other option.
Chapter 3
Emily Hart (Director of Engineering)
I wanted to scream once the Thressl’n man was out of my sight, but I was already exhausted from my trip to this lowly planet, and more dehydrated than I had ever felt in my life. I hadn’t had water since the day I was captured. If I didn’t get any soon, I would die.
My eyes had finally begun to adjust to the darkness in the tiny space where I had been tied up. At first, I hadn’t been able to see a thing. At least not until my second captor had forced me out of the bag. Now I knew that I was in a dank little room surrounded by creepy looking jars. I had no way of knowing what the substances inside were. I couldn’t help but let my imagination take over. Everything started looking like body parts. Everything in there was strange.
A sudden bang from upstairs made me jump, and my heart began to pound. My dry mouth became desert-like, and I closed my eyes. I had never been a particularly religious person, but I was imploring any deity who might listen to spare me from any more cruelty at the hands of the Thressl’n race.
“Hello?”
I was confused by my reaction to my captor’s voice. It was strong, but gentle, and had a lyrical quality that made me shiver. I could hear his footfalls heading closer to the cellar door, and soon the tiny room was filled with light.
“I need water,” I croaked.
“Oh!” he exclaimed, turning his back on me and retreating up the steps. He came back moments later with a saucer full of water and held it to my lips. I drank it down greedily, but it was hardly enough to sate my thirst.
“More, please.”
His eyes looked into mine, perplexed, and I couldn’t help but be drawn into them. They were gentle compared to the eyes of the first man I had been abducted by. Instead of the dark, steel eyes of the first man, this man had a warm glow in his eyes, despite them being an icy blue color. I had to begrudgingly admit that he was attractive in a way; a broad, kind face and sensitive eyes, with dark black hair that grew in thick waves and reached the bottoms of his ears. When he smiled at me, I felt a confusing mixture of emotions.
“Here,” he said, untying me. “Come and get it yourself.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. Was it some kind of mind game? Surely I wasn’t really free to go as I pleased in this man’s house. There had to be some kind of catch.
As much as I wanted to, I was too scared to budge. He laughed, a gentle, rumbling sound that made me long to feel comforted by it. But there was no way I could let my guard down. Not with these monsters. How many others had been abducted and treated this way? The announcement had said one hundred. One hundred women from Earth suffering like this was just too much.
“Here,” he said, leading me up the stairs and to a strange looking machine in the corner of what appeared to be his kitchen. I was terrified, but he didn’t make a move to harm me and simply pressed a sequence of buttons until a thin stream of water began to flow from the machine’s nozzle.
I timidly filled the little saucer again and drank, but it was far too shallow a vessel to quench my thirst.
“Do you have anything bigger than this?” I asked with a sigh.
“Oh…yes.”
He turned his back to me and began to rummage in a cabinet.
“My name is Laike Ostra’ki,” he said, as if we were friends or something. I couldn’t believe his nerve. “Welcome to Jenal’k.”
“Some welcome,” I sneered, snatching the cup he offered me from his hand and filling it full of water. I drank three more full glasses before I finally felt satisfied. “You know, I need a lot of that stuff. Every day.”
“I see,” Laike said, furrowing his eyebrows. “I’m sure Zod didn’t accommodate you very well.”
“No,” I mumbled, fury burning my breast. The memory of Zod’s cruelty made me want to pummel Laike with the cup he had given me and get the hell out of there. If only I knew how to get home.
“He’s a piece of work,” Laike said, his face clouding over. “I’m not very fond of him.”
“Is that why you stole me from him?” I asked, in what I thought was a spiteful tone. But Laike somehow seemed oblivious.
“Yes!” he said, beaming at me.
I glared at him, and the smile faltered on his face.
“What’s your name?” he asked, tilting his head inquisitively. It seemed like he genuinely cared about who I was, but I was probably just desperate for some type of comfort after such a traumatic ordeal.
I didn’t answer and kept my glare fixed upon him.
“I asked you your name,” Laike said again, his metallic eyes beginning to harden. I didn’t want a repeat of what had happened with Zod, so I finally relented.
“Emily,” I mumbled.
“Em-il-y,” he repeated slowly, enunciating every syllable. “I think there is something you should understand while you are here. You are not allowed to leave this house. You are not allowed to speak loudly, especially if you hear somebody outside. You understand why, don’t you?”
I nodded. Of course I understood why. I had been kidnapped. For whatever reason, nobody could know I was there, just as any kidnapper on my own planet would have forced me into silence.
Laike’s smile brightened. “Great! I am glad. I hope we will be able to learn a lot from each other.”
We stood in an awkward silence for a few moments, before Laike finally smiled at me again. My heart thudded involuntarily; he was shockingly handsome. But that didn’t mean I had any real interest in him. I would have to be crazy. I was smart enough to avoid Stockholm syndrome. I just had to keep hold of my anger and figure out a way back to Earth. That would be the real challenge.
“Well…since you’re here, I guess we need to figure out sleeping arrangements,” Laike said.
I couldn’t help but be surprised. I had assumed that he was just going to keep me in the cellar. It was dangerous to get ahead of myself though. I would have to wait and see what his plans for me were.
“Follow me.”
I glanced around the kitchen, my eyes scanning for anything I could come back for in case I needed a weapon later to escape. But nothing in this place was familiar, and before my eyes could fix on anything useful, Laike was summoning me away.
***
“I don’t have another be
droom,” Laike said, pushing a button. A door hissed open, and I looked inside, my eyes widening in shock. It was a room full of mechanical and electrical parts. Sort of like what I imagined my utopia would look like. “This is where I work. I suppose you could stay in here if you wanted.”
What did it matter what I wanted? He had abducted me. Why was he trying to act like my friend?
“I could move most of this to the communal room,” Laike continued, leading me inside. We both had to step carefully over the debris strewn on the floor. I didn’t see how I could possibly sleep in here. “I assume you will let me know if this is big enough. We would have to block out the windows though. If anybody saw you, we’d both be in trouble.”
Why would we both be in trouble?
“Go ahead and sit down; I’ll get the room ready. Unless you would like to see the bedroom.”
“No, thank you,” I said quickly. I sat heavily at the large desk against the wall. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck sleeping in this bizarre man’s bedroom. Who knew how much worse the situation could escalate in there?
My eyes followed Laike’s back as he gently scooped up trinkets from the floor and placed them carefully in a steel box. His muscles rippled, bringing me to distraction. I had to work hard until I was able to focus my attention on the strange little contraptions he was moving. I couldn’t help it; being an engineer, I was unwittingly curious. Everything he was building was interesting and complex. I wanted to know the functions he had in mind. And yet I resented the hell out of my curiosity.
“This should be enough room,” he said, after about fifteen minutes of the same careful cleaning and a few trips to empty his box.
“For what?”
But he didn’t answer me.
“Wait here,” Laike said, disappearing from the room. He was gone a few moments before he emerged, dragging a huge mattress behind himself. He placed it in the corner he had cleared out and fiddled with a hidden panel in the side of the mattress. Suddenly, the mattress began to float in the air and a sleek metal frame emerged beneath it.
