by Maia Starr
“Yes, sometimes. But most of the job is working late nights and putting out fires. And there are a lot of fires all of the time,” I said.
“Well it is better than being in the lab, I am sure; probably way more glamorous but sounds like the same amount of time spent working, which is all day and into the night. No time for anything else,” she said.
“Yes, exactly. I have no social life to speak of, or I should say personal life. I haven't had a boyfriend in almost two years,” I said.
“Yes, I am going on three years. My last boyfriend cheated on me, so I wasn't in a hurry to find anyone new. I guess that's why I buried myself in my work,” she said.
“Ouch. That is awful. I can understand not wanting to open up to another man after that,” I said.
“Yes, that is why I am here,” she said.
“Oh, honey, you aren't going to find a man here. Didn't anyone tell you it is an all woman's retreat?” I said.
“No, not that,” she laughed. “I mean I am here to sort of find myself again. Learn to trust and all that crap,” she said rolling her eyes.
"Oh, yes, that is a good point,” I said. “Well, there is no other place to find yourself like the desert. That's what it's there for,” I said.
“Yes, so that's my story. What about you? You said your friend made you come?” she asked.
“Yes, because I am glued to my cell and my laptop all the time. Basically, she made me come because I never take a weekend off. So I have a lot to learn about myself as well. Finding my true self, you know?” I said. “I never thought I would say something so silly,” I laughed.
“No, it is not silly. It is honest,” she said.
“It is almost tim; should we get going?” Bridget said coming over to me.
“Yeah, sounds good. Bridget, this is Emma; she is a medical research doctor with no personal life, like me,” I said.
“Good to meet you, Emma. You sound like you have a lot in common with Vicki here. Should we get going into the meditation room?”
“Yes, let's go,” I said.
Then it was time for the actual workshop to begin.
“The nighttime hike is my favorite part,” Bridget said as we walked to the meditation room for the seven o'clock meeting.
“Really?” I asked surprised by this information.
“Yes, I know that our spunky coordinator Nancy makes it sound like something you would abhor, but it really is the best part of all of this. You will see. Because it is so dark out here, you can actually see the stars. The path is lit up by the moonlight, and you can hear the wild animals of the desert. I love it,” she said.
“Are you sure you weren't on drugs last time you were here?” I laughed.
“It was a natural high,” she said smiling.
“I feel the same way about this,” a young woman with long black hair in a braid said to me. She was stretching. She was thick and curvy with pale skin.
“Oh, did your best friend force you to come here too?” I smiled at her.
“No, my job did. I’m a lawyer and a partner at my law firm said I was going to burn out at the rate that I was going. So they signed me up for this. It’s mandatory, or I could lose my job,” she said.
“I know the pressure. I’m an agent,” I said.
“Yikes,” she said. I laughed.
“What kind of legal do you do?” I asked her. I was surprised at myself. I was really opening up to these women. I wanted to know more about them. I was starting to find them very interesting, especially because they all seemed to be like me. They were all working too hard and not making time for themselves.
“I do family law. Mostly in charge of divorces,” she said.
“Oh, I can see that that could be very stressful. You are basically watching people fight all day, couples fighting. That's a lot of drama to deal with,” I said.
“You have no idea. I work in Los Angeles, and because there's a lot of really rich people, the divorces are very ugly and very expensive,” she said.
“Yes, I understand,” I said.
“Right, you are an agent. You know.”
“Well, I could see why you are stressed out. I hope that you are able to unwind some while you were here,” I said smiling. She picked up her other leg and stretched on the bar.
“Thank you.”
“Everyone, take your positions!” the perky redhead named Nancy said coming into the room.
I nodded at Lauren. “Talk later,” I whispered to her.
I followed Bridget to a mat on the floor.
“All right, take your positions on the floor. We are going to do a thirty-minute guided meditation. Then we will do a ten-minute stretch. Each of you will be given a headlamp flashlight that looks like this, and then we will head out on our hike. Do not stray from the path. That is very important. Leave the wild alone, and it will leave you alone. It is a thirty-minute hike. Any questions?” Nancy said walking into the room.
No one asked anything. I was surprised. I figured women from the city would have a lot of questions to ask about being in the desert at night, but everyone seemed to be very excited about it.
“Excellent, let's get started,” she said as she took her position at the head of the room.
Guided meditation was easy, even relaxing. It took about ten minutes before I could clear my mind but I felt like I was finally getting into the groove.
After we stretched and grabbed a headlamp and wore it like a fashionable headband, we followed Nancy out of the facility on to the guided path.
A few minutes of walking in silence down the path, Bridget whispered to me. “Look up.”
I turned off my headlamp and looked up. I was surprised. She was right. There were so many stars in the desert sky; I had never seen anything like it. It took my breath away. They were sparkling and covered so much of the sky. I could actually see the constellations.
“Wow, it is so beautiful,” I said.
“Enjoy it,” she said. We continued walking, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night, I was impressed by the beauty of the desert. There were massive white flowers blooming on a cactus that seemed to only open at night, giving off a sweet fragrance. There were towering cactus that were as tall as trees. Large piles of boulders were the size of vehicles. I could hear the sound of an owl, and somewhere further in the distance coyotes were calling to each other. I felt good. I felt like a human again. I was a creature of the night. I was smiling.
I turned behind me to see that I could not see the facility anymore. We had been walking along the path for a long time. It was mostly silent except for some whispering every now and then between some of the women.
I didn't want to tell Bridget that she was right. I needed this. But I was really enjoying it, and I felt the tension in my back going away. I looked up into the sky again to marvel at the stars. But then something caught my attention. A satellite? No, it couldn't be. Suddenly it was coming out of the sky at a very fast rate. “Look, a meteor,” I said pointing. It was the only thing that it could be. It was in the distance and falling at such a fast rate.
“Oh, you are right. Look, it is falling nearby,” Nancy said. I smiled, proud of myself to have pointed out such a beautiful thing. But then as we were all staring at it, it stopped in the middle of the sky. It was no longer falling at a fast rate. It just hovered above the ground.
“What the hell?” I said.
“Maybe it's a plane?” one of the other women said. “Or a helicopter?”
Something told me that it was neither of those things. A plane or helicopter didn't fall at a fast rate like that and then hover. We all stood there staring at it. It didn't move. But then suddenly there was a second light that seemed to come out of the first. It's slowly moved away from the first light.
“What the hell are we looking at?” Bridget said.
"I don't know. But it looks like it is coming straight at us,” I said. Suddenly everyone began to panic, but none of us moved. How could we?
&nb
sp; Chapter 3
Captain Alicron Qinov
This was our time. This night was crucial. We had to do this fast and accurately.
“Elonu Fiul, send out a heat scan for five miles,” I said as we sat in the scouting ship. It was a smaller ship that disembarked from our main ship. The main ship was for intergalactic travel; this one was for traveling short distances when landing on a planet.
“Captain, I have a signature,” Elonu Fiul said. I walked over to the radar map.
“What do you have?” I asked.
“I am picking up heat signatures that appear to be human in nature. They are walking along the surface. It looks to be about fifteen or so,” he said.
“Are you able to identify how many are female?” I asked.
“Starting the gender identification scan,” he said. A few moments later he had an answer for me.
“Captain, they all seem to be female,” he said.
“Is that possible?” Lieutenant Vnor Gin asked.
“I don't like the sound of that. It could be a trap,” Ambassador Jion Lek said.
“What kind of trap, Ambassador Jion Lek? They do not know that we exist,” I said.
“I just like to be cautious is all,” he said.
“And I like to be successful,” I said.
“Elonu Fiul, let's head in their direction. Everyone, prepare for trapping the humans. Prepare the gas,” I said.
“Yes, Captain.”
The small ship headed toward the heat reading of the human females. I could not believe our luck that a group of them were in this area, easy for us to find. Even though Ambassador Jion Lek was right and it seemed a bit suspicious, I was not going to tell him that. But I also wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to get human females with such ease.
“We are closing in. One hundred meters,” Elonu Fiul said.
“Land directly in front of them,” I said.
“Are you out of your mind? We do not know if they are armed,” Ambassador Jion Lek said.
“I will take our chances,” I said.
“Yes, Captain.”
Minutes later, the ship was landing in front of a group of human females. Our light shined brightly on them. They stood in shock with their mouths open.
“We have to do this fast before they run. Open the door,” I said walking to the door. “Elonu Fiul, release the gas when I give you the order.”
“Yes, Captain, it is ready.”
“I am with you,” Lieutenant Vnor Gin said coming to my side. I nodded to him. We stood on the ramp of the ship as it lowered to the ground.
“What the fuck?”
“Is this real?”
We heard the female voices say as they watched us. Finally, the ramp stopped on the ground. Lieutenant Vnor Gin and I stepped off of it.
“Human females. My name is Captain Alicron Qinov. We have come to you from our planets Xeion. We are Kynon. Do not be alarmed,” I said.
“Is this a joke? Nancy, is this part of this retreat?” I heard a female voice say. She stepped forward. She had long blonde hair in a high ponytail. She had long legs, but all of the humans were still much smaller than us. Her hands were on her hips.
“No, this is not,” another weak voice said.
I did not know what they were speaking of. But they were in shock. I needed to make myself clearer.
“Listen to me. I am Captain Alicron Qinov. We have come to your planet to take you to our planet. You will come with us, and you will be our mates. Now you can step onto the ship, or we can take you by force. The time is now,” I said.
“Look, I don't know who you are. You are clearly in some sort of blue alien costume, but this is not funny. We don't know who hired you or why you have such amazing technology to pull off this prank, but we have had enough,” the blonde said.
“Vicki, I don't think this is a joke,” another human female with brown hair said, coming to her side.
“Oh come on, Bridget. You don't think this is real?”
“Vicki. This is real,” she said. The blonde turned and looked at me.
“I don't believe that it is,” she said. Then she came right for me. She stopped with a strong determination. Suddenly she was standing right in front of me. I towered over her at our height of ten feet. Even with her long legs she was still much smaller than we. She stuck her finger out and pressed it into my stomach.
“This is a bullshit costume,” she said. But then she stopped. She ran her hand higher and then lower it again. Suddenly I could tell that she was frightened. “Shit. Bridget,” she said.
“As I said. My name is Captain Alicron Qinov. We are from the planet Xeion. I am a Kynon. You are coming with me to be my mate. All of you,” I said.
She looked up at me trembling. Now she understood. Now she knew that this was very real.
“Elonu Fiul, initiate gas,” I said. Suddenly green gas began to come out of the ship.
"Run!” the blonde human said. She turned around and began to run back toward the women. The women screamed and ran in all directions.
“Captain?” Lieutenant Vnor Gin said looking at me.
“Elonu Fiul, a fly above and to release the gas. They will be out in a few minutes. Lieutenant Vnor Gin, you go that way, and I will go this way. It should be easy to round them up. Remember, only use the gas in your gun,” I said.
“Yes, Captain,” Lieutenant Vnor Gin said.
It was easy to follow the frantic yelling of the human females. But I already knew that I wanted the blonde one: the one that stood up to us. She was fearless, and she proved it. Even if she was wrong in her observations. One by one, human females began to drop to the ground. They were taking in the gas. It was a gas that would put humans to sleep, but it did nothing to us Kynon.
Then I found her. I found the blonde woman lying on her side in the dirt. She had fallen asleep. She was very close to the gas when she was standing near me. I picked her up in my arms. Having her body rest against mine made me feel immediate arousal. She smelled good. I was able to examine her face. Her facial features were delicate. Her pink lips were full. She felt small and fragile in my arms. She would be mine.
Chapter 4
Vicki Varsa
I felt the hard floor underneath me. I must have fallen asleep. I woke up and looked at the white floor. It looked like I was in the meditation room of the retreat facility. I slowly sat up. Bridget was at my side.
“I had the strangest dream. Did that crazy Nancy girl put drugs in our tea?” I asked.
“Vicki, wake up. It is not a dream,” Bridget said.
“And I did not put drugs in your tea,” Nancy said. I sat up and looked around the room for the first time. Nancy was sitting against the wall on the floor. She was covered in dirt. She was not her usual spunky self. Bridget was sitting next to me; she was also very dirty. I felt lightheaded.
“It will pass,” Bridget said as she stood up.
“What will pass? What the hell is this?” I said.
"Vicki! Big blue aliens, remember?” she said.
“Fuck.”
“Yes, exactly. Fuck,” Nancy said.
“What happened exactly? You cannot tell me that what I saw was real,” I said trying to understand and process.
“Yes, it is. Do you see this,” Bridget said walking around the room and then stopping at what looked like a panel. “It's a door. It's locked. I don't even know how to open it; you know why? Because we are on a freaking spaceship, that is why!”
“No.”
“Yes, Vicki. It is true. We were all on a nighttime hike thanks to her over there,” Bridget said pointing at Nancy.
“It's on the agenda, okay!” Nancy shouted.
“But then you spotted something in the sky. Remember? Then it came toward us and opened, and suddenly tall blue alien men were standing there telling us that they were going to take us from Earth. That is exactly what has happened. They released some sort of chloroform or something that knocked us all out. I saw almost every woman fall t
o the ground before I passed out too. When I woke up, I was in here with you two. That is as much as I know,” she said.
“Unbelievable,” I said.
“Yes, it is; I thought the same thing when she told me the story twenty minutes ago when I woke up,” Nancy said.
“No, no, this isn't happening. What do we do?” I said.
“What can we do?” Bridget said.
