Warrior's Fate: Grahf of the Ezrok - SciFi Alien Romance (Bonus Book included!)

by Vivian Venus

  The flesh slid open where the diamond sliced it, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief that the whole thing didn’t just melt or immediately lose constitution. I used the manipulators to hold open the incision, and we all peered in to take a look.

  “Fascinating,” Richard said flatly.

  “Difficult to say what we’re looking at here,” said Elsa.

  “Computer, bring up the pulsar scan please.” The 3D model projected into the air above the carcass. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to do this, but we’re going to have to do a layer by layer manual cross-referenced analysis.”

  The faces of my team were grim. They knew how difficult that would be – we had done it often for the smaller incomplete samples, analyzing each layer of the flesh to see how it interacted with the previous one until we got a complete understanding of that portion of the creature. It took hours for a tiny sample – with a whole body…I was trying not to think about it.

  When the lab technician came up to speak to me we must’ve been at it for at least three hours, but even in that amount of time and with the small percentage of body analyzed we had made a startling discovery: Veldarian physiology included a small membrane which, upon computer analysis, revealed to contain DNA code from a variety of different species. It seemed that the creatures actually acquired the DNA of the creatures that it replicated, becoming a physical copy of them rather than just a visual mimic.

  “Doctor?” the tech said softly, not wanting to alarm me.

  “What is it?”

  “Sorry to interrupt, Doctor Cast, but you have a visitor.”

  “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

  “I understand, but the visitor has special high level clearance. They’ve been sent by the Ezrok high command.”

  I frowned. If the Ezrok sent one of their warriors here personally it had to be important. “Did they say what they want?”

  “Only that they need to speak with you immediately.”

  Damnit. “Alright. I’ll be out in fifteen minutes.” The technician left and I turned back to my team. “Our research will need to be cut short,” I said, trying not to let the annoyance show through.

  “What happened?” Richard asked.

  “Apparently the Ezrok high command has sent one of their men here for me. They didn’t say what for, except that it was urgent.”

  “Unusual,” Elsa commented.

  “Computer, re-store the specimen,” I commanded, and the body slowly floated back into the wall compartment. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Hopefully we’ll be able to pick this up again before the end of the day.”

  “Hey,” Richard said, catching me before I turned to leave. “You did make a discovery today, Lily. How about that celebratory drink tonight?”

  “Not the time to bring that up, Doctor Howardson,” I said, not in the mood to be pleasant about it. “Sorry.”

  He shrugged and turned away, and I strode out of the laboratory, through the decontamination hallway and into the airlock.

  ***

  I didn’t even bother fixing my hair or anything like that after taking off my clean suit. Normally when getting an official visitor I would make some effort to be professionally presentable, but I was too annoyed with this unwanted and highly untimely intrusion. This was probably the start of the most important research project we’d ever undertaken, one that required every single moment we had available to us to be used wisely, and the Ezrok chose to send a representative unannounced. They may have been the most advanced warriors in the galaxy but they certainly lacked tact and common sense.

  Pulling my hair up into a bun, I slipped into my EzRan uniform – a pencil skirt and high collared jacket with my name emblazoned on the front. I hooked my finger into the back of my pump to pull them on, quickly brushed my skirt off, and then walked briskly to the elevator that would take me down to the reception area.

  “Third floor,” I said to the elevator, and the doors hissed shut. This really had better be good. I thought about the Veldarian body sitting in there, just waiting with all its secrets to be unlocked. Then I thought about Richard, and felt guilty about how I had answered him. I wasn’t attracted to him, but he was a good friend and his persistence was admirable. Maybe I ought to take him up on drinks – just a casual outing. I sighed. There was so much work to be done, too much to be thinking about that now. I would talk to him about it later.

  The elevator chimed and the doors slid open, and I passed through the security checkpoint and to the reception exit, an antsy looking receptionist quickly falling into step beside me.

  “Doctor Cast, thank goodness you’re here. The Ezrok visitor was starting to become demanding.”

  “Who is this guy, and what does he want?”

  “He still won't say anything other than he has orders to speak directly with you. We got a confirmation from the top. Right this way.”

  He opened up the door to a private reception area, and my heart thudded hard as I saw the huge, towering, broad shouldered back of the Ezrok warrior. He was staring out the window that overlooked the city, ships buzzing by and the Martian sun glowing a pale pink as it headed towards the horizon. His long war-braid hung down his back, shockingly white against the black of his military uniform. I always forgot how incredibly large the Ezrok were in real life, like the statues of ancient Earth. I couldn’t help but notice the huge knife that hung at his hip, as big as a broadsword in a human’s hands.

  “Um, s-sir,” the nervous receptionist said.

  “I’ve had enough waiting around,” the Ezrok said. “Don’t you understand when I say this is an urgent situation?” He turned around, his large, golden eyes angry until they saw me and softened some. The Ezrok had exotic features – humanoid, almost elf-like with pointed ears and vast eyes.

  “It better be,” I said. “I hope you know what you’ve interrupted?”

  “I have some idea,” he replied. He gave a curt bow. “I am Reylar Ven Erz, warrior under Commander Grahf Ven Diel. I’ve come on an urgent mission of galactic security.”

  “Sounds important,” I said. “What do you need me for?”

  I looked at the receptionist. “Allow us to speak alone,” I said, and he nodded and shuffled off.

  “Doctor Cast, I believe your life may be in danger.”

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  FREE bonus story!

  Ryn Tilley came to the desert to paint in solitude away from the city art scene she had come to despise, and to escape from the memory of the man who broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Remote, vast and quiet, Ryn’s refuge was perfect – but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. That is until a mysterious stranger, dehydrated and lost in the desert, stumbled into her life.

  Daggen Trys shouldn’t be on Earth, and he especially shouldn’t be lying unconscious in the bed of this beautiful human female. Interaction with humans is strictly forbidden in his mission to observe the deserts of Earth undetected from orbit – but when his scopes came across Ryn creating stunning landscapes with her paintbrush, he was enthralled enough to bring his ship in for a closer look. Close enough to lose control and crash to the Earth’s surface.

  Ryn fights to contain her undeniable attraction to him as Daggen tries to keep his true identity hidden and their forbidden relationship contained. He can’t let things go too far… after all, he knows what happens to those who break the rules of his kind.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Her strokes were vibrant and strong, each one placed purposefully with a practiced hand that was perfectly in sync with her version of the vast and lonely desert landscape. Ryn Tilley dipped her brush into her jar of turpentine and strained the loosening oil paint from the bristles against the edge of the glass. The inside of the jar was murky and caked with the buildup of hundreds of hours of painting time, a mix of every color she had placed on her canvases within the past few weeks. When she glanced into the jar, she reminded herself to do it, probably for the tenth time that week.

  She wiped t
he bristles off with a blue shop towel and delicately dipped the tip into a pre-mixed combination of cadmium red and yellow ochre on her pallet and then raised it to her canvas. After three hours of work she was nearly done with the plein air painting, and just on time too. The afternoon sun was reaching up into its highest point in the sky, and the blot of shade her beach umbrella provided was barely enough to keep her comfortable in the desert heat. The light had changed over the vista, but Ryn had already committed the scene at its most beautiful moment to her memory. She would put the finishing touches on now, and then add the details back at her camper.

  She took a step back and crossed her arms as she examined her work. It was good, not spectacular, but she was sure it would be able to sell in town. Ryn thought of Gretta, the old lady who owned the local art gallery. “A beautiful, talented young girl like you shouldn’t be selling your work in an old place like this,” she had said kindly. “You deserve to be off doing something great. More folks should be seeing your paintings. I’m always surprised you’re not out in some big city gallery, Ryn.”

  That was exactly what Ryn had come to the desert to get away from. The memories of the galleries, of the city, where everything seemed to be tainted with memories of him. When she learned just what kind of a manipulative, abusive, wicked scumbag he was, that just destroyed everything. He had been cheating on her with one of the other artists he had been managing, girl who was in his own words, “the next biggest thing,” and that it was “nothing personal.”

  Here, her work was free of the pretentiousness of the city art scene. It was free of him. And best of all, nobody knew her. She liked it that way, it gave her a chance to mend her mind and concentrate on what mattered most. She loved that she could paint as much as she wanted and could support herself enough on that. But still, Ryn felt like there was something missing. She painted and painted, trying to find what it was that was lacking. But no matter how much work she did, or how much she improved, she still felt like there was something she couldn’t grasp.

  Just a couple more things… She added a bit of color to the shadow underneath a red rock vista, and then peeked her head out from behind the canvas to take one more look at the landscape. Movement off in the distance caught her eye.

  What was that?

  She squinted. Was her eye playing tricks on her? Was that a…?

  No, she wasn’t seeing things. There was a man out there, stumbling around in the heat. A naked man, sun glinting off sweat covered skin. Ryn watched as he came closer into view. She could see his face now; he looked exhausted and dehydrated. She grabbed her water bladder and hurried down the rocky hill where she had set her easel towards the man. He turned and saw her, and their eyes locked. She shivered as his blue eyes caught her dark brown ones, and he looked at her in a way that seemed like recognition. Then he collapsed onto the dirt.

  He lay cheek to the ground, his eyes closed and breath shallow. What was he, some kind of a drug addict tripping out in the desert and wandered off from his car? The road was miles away. He could’ve come in on a 4x4, but why the hell was he naked?

  “Hey, are you okay?” she asked, shaking his shoulder. He had an athletic body, and she felt his muscle twitch under her touch.

  She cleared her throat and tried not to stare at anything indecent, and then with some effort managed to turn him over. “Hello?” No response. She sighed and tucked her arm behind his head and stuck the tube of her water bladder into his mouth and opened the spigot. Water filled his mouth until he coughed and spluttered, spilling all over his chest. Ryn saw that he was wearing a necklace – a teardrop shaped piece of metal with some kind of gem in the center. The man’s eyes opened and he gave her a delirious look.

  “Hello,” he said.

  “Yeah, hi. Come on, get up, I can’t carry you out of here by myself.” She grabbed him by the arm and grunted to pull him up, then supported him on her by wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She could feel his bare skin radiating his body heat against her, and she unexpectedly found her heart beating faster. “Come on buddy, let’s go,” she said as she struggled to keep him up as she started the long walk back to her camper.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Warning! Altitude dampening thrusters unstable. Advising readjustment to surveillance altitude immediately…

  Warning! Thruster malfunction! Prepare for emergency landing…

  Daggen Trys slowly opened his eyes, and immediately began to recall what had happened. What a foolish mistake. He should’ve known that his ship would be unstable while cloaked at such a low altitude. It was only a geological surveillance ship, after all, designed to operate outside the atmosphere. All he had wanted was a closer look. No problem, he had thought. He would only be in atmo for a short amount of time, and then he’d go back to his post.

  As his senses recovered, he realized that he was lying in a bed. Where am I? Then he remembered the face of the girl. That’s right, she had found him. He heard movement, and he slowly tilted his head down to look. He winced as pain shot through his muscles.

  She was there, her back to him as she worked on something. She’s doing that thing, he thought, and struggled to sit up to get a better view. He watched her silently as she created the world with her tool, with each movement adding more life to the image. Daggen had seen her do this before from out in orbit – in fact it was what she was doing when he first spotted her down in the desert below his ship.

  Humans were off limits, he had been briefed. Surveying them was left to others. When Daggen had caught her on his scope, unexpected and tiny in that vast desert, he couldn’t help but look. She was beautiful, like the light of a supernova, and she drew him in. Before long his daily routine was colored by her appearance. He would wait for her, sometimes watching her work instead of paying attention to his own function. Her work enthralled him. He had never seen anything like it before.

  He tried to sit up further and groaned in pain. The girl turned around and set down her tool. “You’re awake,” she said briskly. “Good. I was half expecting you to overdose or something in my bed.” She stood up and picked up a bag from a chair and then threw it onto the bed. “I bought you some clothes from town, since you didn’t seem to have any.”

  He groaned. How embarrassing.

  “Apologies,” he said, sitting upright, the blanket sliding down off his bare chest. “And thank you for saving me. My name is Daggen. Daggen Trys.”

  “Ryn Tilley,” she said, turning back to her work. “Daggen, huh? That’s an interesting name. Daggen, what were you doing out there in the desert all alone? We’re miles from town and miles from the road, but you don’t have any sunburns.”

  Daggen blinked. How could he explain that he was from another world? That he had crash landed on her planet? He cleared his throat. It was better that she didn’t know, anyway. He had already breached protocol by bringing his ship down from orbit. Now he was in her bed. Eventually one of them would be here to fix things.

  “I…got lost.”

  “You got lost. Without water or clothes.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Okay,” she shrugged. “I guess you have a right to your privacy. I’m gonna go outside and catch that sunset. You should put those clothes on and I’ll drive you back to town.”

  Daggen thought of his ship, crashed out in the desert. It was fixable, he just needed a bit of time. “I don’t think I should go to town.”

  Ryn stopped in the doorway. “Why not?”

  Daggen scratched his head. “I can’t really say.”

  “Jesus. Are you some kind of escaped convict or something? Because I’ll kick your ass right now if you are.”

  He couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m not.”

  Ryn glared silently at him for a moment before stepping out of the door. “Just get dressed already. I’m going to take you back to town, because you aren’t staying here.”

  She shut the door of her camper behind her and stepped out into the warm desert evening. The sun was dippi
ng towards the horizon, and the golden light of sundown was starting to make its way over the rocky vistas. The dirt crunched beneath her boots as she got her easel off the side of her camper and set it up to do a quick sunset impression. She thought about Daggen as she mixed her palette. It didn’t make any sense to her. She was alone out here with him. She should’ve driven him straight into town and dropped him off at the hospital the moment she found him, but for some reason she felt compelled to take him home to her trailer and patch him up herself.

  Ryn kicked herself. Yeah, the guy was attractive. Was that what this was about? Was she seriously doing this because he was hot? She dipped her brush into the oil paint and then furiously set to work, putting down broad impressionistic strokes of bright color.