Worlds Collide

by J. L. Hendricks

  I put my hand over my mouth before I screamed. Realization dawned on me that I was jealous. Not. Cool. At. All. Why should I be jealous over that stupid chick? I was the one who pushed him away when all he wanted was a hug. I shouldn’t have done that. He might have just needed a human touch.

  There was no way I could be happy with his current job. If I married him and accompanied them to Earth, I would end up doing my best to stop them from taking women against their will. Somehow, I seriously doubted the Commander would be happy with me. Or, would it give me just the opportunity I needed to get home? Could I escape on the next trip to Earth? Maybe even warn my government about the V’Zenians and the Zateelians?

  Did I want to go home?

  Betty was standing next to me, and she complained, “Ugh, do we have to go back into those cells? Come on guys. After today, do you really think we would take a chance and leave the ship on our own?” She looked between Telan and Zelan.

  “I am sorry, but you know the rules. Unless you agree to mate with a warrior who claims you as his true mate, you must stay in the holding cells.” Telan looked over at Rachelle who was hanging all over Zelan.

  Zelan kept trying to push her away, and she kept pawing him. It was as though she was an octopus. She must have had eight arms to be able to constantly be touching him all over when he kept moving her hands away from him. How could she be so obvious and forward?

  Poor Telan, she dumped him before he even had a chance to get her attention. Oh well, he was better off without her. I think all the males on this ship would be better off without her. She was so fake with her affections and attentions. I wondered what she was up to.

  Telan was walking past me when I stopped him, “Telan, is there a way to get a message to Paris? I really need to talk to her.” Maybe she figured out a way to persuade the commander to free the slaves, or something. She just didn’t seem like the type to marry an alien like that. Especially when she was the one who originally wanted us all to band together and take over the ship.

  "I will see what I can do. The Commander keeps her close to his side at all times. Since I don't get invited to the bridge very often, I rarely see her." He shrugged his shoulders, which seemed like a very human response.

  “Wait.” I put my hand out to stop him from moving on. “Are you telling me Paris is still a prisoner? Even though they mated?” That couldn’t be right. He promised her free reign of the ship if she mated with him.

  “No, she isn’t a prisoner. He thinks he is protecting her from the bugs. She got into a couple of fights with them, and the Commander doesn’t want her injured again.” He smiled and walked on, I let him go without another word.

  Chapter 6

  We missed dinner being out on that adventure today. Thank goodness! So Zelan brought us all protein bars. While they weren’t as good as the ones I ate back home, they were much better than the chalky jello mold. The consistency of the white stuff was more like dog food and one of the other women even said it smelled like the can of Pedigree she fed her dog back home. Which only served to make me hate the stuff even more.

  “Thank you, Zelan. I appreciate this more than you know,” I said quietly, as I took the food bar from behind the prison cell they locked us up in after we returned.

  The protein bar tasted more like hard grains and grass, but anything was better than eating dog food.

  “Sure thing. No problem,” Zelan said as he walked away. I felt a stab of pain when he left. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye. However, I saw enough of his face to know that he wasn’t happy. His veins were pulsing a dark blue, his eyes were furrowed, and he had no smile. Normally, he smiled when he spoke with me. I missed his smile and the purple veins, and these feelings had me confused. But I couldn’t give in. Not now.

  About an hour later Paris showed up. I got excited when I saw her. I needed to talk to her about what had happened this morning, but more importantly, I needed to discuss my feelings for Zelan. They were becoming more intense, and I needed some answers. “Paris, it is good to see you. I take it Telan was able to get my message to you?” I grabbed ahold of the bars in front of me as she walked closer.

  “Yes, I passed him on the way to the mess hall, and he told me you needed to see me tonight. What’s up? Are you okay?” She looked me over and her brow furrowed when she noticed how dirty I was. They hadn’t let us shower yet, so I can only imagine how bad I looked.

  “Is there anywhere we can go somewhere to talk? I have some important questions. Questions that shouldn’t be asked out in public like this.” I waved to my surroundings. Talking about my feelings was going to be hard enough, but doing so with an audience? That would not happen.

  She looked around the room and grabbed her lower lip with her teeth, “Yes, I think we can get an escort to my room. I’ll see what we can do about getting you some clean clothes and a shower as well.”

  I sighed with relief, “Thank you so much, Paris.” I smiled and backed into Lucy. There wasn’t much room in here, and I needed to make sure the area in front of our cell door wasn’t crowded or our jailers wouldn’t open it.

  Lorlo was the closest guard, and Paris had gestured for him to come over. “Hi there, Lorlo. Can you open this door? I need to take Natalie with me to my room.” She pointed to me.

  “Sure, but does the Commander know you are doing this? I don’t want him coming down on me for letting a slave out if there isn’t permission.” The burly jailor furrowed his brow and stared at me. To be honest, he kind of scared me.

  “She is not a slave! How many times do I have to tell you guys! Ugh, just let her out.” Paris threw her hands in the air. “I’ll take full responsibility. We’re going to my quarters, so the Commander will know, if he doesn’t already.” She pointed to the cameras on the wall nearest my cell.

  I wondered if the Commander watched her every move on this ship via those cameras.

  “Alright, have it your way. It’s your head if he doesn’t like this.” Lorlo shook his head and unlocked my cell.

  I walked out and was going to hug Paris, but she put up her hand, “No way. No hugs until you have showered.” Then she waved her hand in front of her face and scrunched her nose. “Lorlo, you guys need to make sure the women are getting a chance to shower on a regular basis. Haven’t you noticed how ripe it is in here?”

  “Yes, well, um...” He nervously moved from foot to foot. “The Captain, he doesn’t want the slav…. I mean, humans, to walk around the ship. He told us we had to keep them here.”

  “Are you planning on keeping them from showering for the next five months? You do realize they will get sick and could die from infections? Right?” The look she gave Lorlo could kill a lesser man, and he wasn’t immune to it either. He backed up, licked his lips, and quickly blinked his eyes.

  “I am just following orders, ma’am. If you can get the Commander to allow it, we would be happy to escort the humans to showers on a regular basis.” Lorlo quickly locked the cell door. He stayed behind me, and out of Paris’ line of sight. What a chicken.

  "Come on, Natalie. Let's go get you cleaned up. Then we can chat about what's been going on lately." She led the way to her cabin in silence. A guard I didn't recognize followed us, and after about two or three steps, he increased the distance between us. I lifted up my right arm and smelled. Yup, I was ripe for the picking! Gross! Maybe Zelan wasn't upset with me after all. Instead, he was disgusted with how dirty I was.

  We made it to her room and the guard stayed outside. She didn’t say anything to him, he just seemed to know his place. Strange. Once we were inside her quarters I asked her, “Who is that guard outside?”

  “Oh, that’s just Golen. He’s one of my regular bodyguards.” She gestured dismissively toward the door.

  “Don’t you mean jailor? Didn’t you just change one cell for another one? Albeit, a nicer cell, but it still seems like you’re a prisoner.” My head swiveled around taking in the sight of the room. The living quarters were quite nice. There was a b
edroom to one side, a living room in the middle, and a kitchen off to the other side. It was like a small apartment. Had I known about their living conditions, I might have been a bit nicer to Zelan.

  “No, he really is here to protect me. I can go anywhere I want, and no one says anything. Well, unless I try to go outside. Venay doesn’t want me anywhere near those insectoids. I don’t blame him. They are pretty dangerous, and I’m still healing from when I first met them.” She chuckled as she led me to the bathroom. It was located behind the kitchen.

  “Why are you laughing? That seems like it would be awful, not funny.” I stepped inside their bathroom. It was small compared to the ones back home. However, it was the largest I had seen on either space ship.

  “Sorry, I was just remembering yesterday. I got turned around on this ship, and Venay was just walking with me. We were out for a stroll, so to speak. Anyway, I was leading and led us straight outside. He thought it was a ploy on my part to go somewhere. Not really sure where he thought I would go. However, he wasn’t too happy with me. Instead of saying anything, he picked me up caveman style and threw me over his shoulder. He hightailed it back here, and when he put me down, the look on his face was priceless!” Instead of a chuckle, she was full on laughing now. She even bent over at the waist and held her stomach. I didn’t see what was so funny.

  The Commander walked into the area where we were standing, “It wasn’t funny. I truly thought you were trying to run away. The Captain had been putting negative thoughts inside my head all day regarding the humans and how dangerous they were. He isn’t a fan of mating with humans. He said he preferred to be single if his fated mate turned out to be a human.” He sighed and kissed Paris on her forehead before heading back into the bedroom.

  “I don’t get it. What was the look that made you laugh?” I scratched my head as I looked between the two of them.

  “He was so distraught. Instead of being mad, he looked like he was about to cry. His forehead was creased, and I could see the hurt in his eyes. I thought I even felt the sadness coming from him. When I explained that I was just turned around, his expression quickly changed, and he kissed me long and hard. We, well, never mind. But it was funny how he thought I wanted to run away from him, especially after the mating ceremony and the wonderful nights we’ve shared since then. There’s no way I would leave him now. We have become bonded in a way I never thought possible.” She smiled, pulled out two towels, and handed them to me.

  “Thanks, but that still didn’t seem very funny. At least not that funny. But I guess it was one of those, you had to be there, moments?” I took the towels, turned, and set them down on the cabinet inside the bathroom.

  “Yea, probably. I’ll never forget that pained look on his face. At least I know he never wants me to leave him. That’s good.” She turned to leave, then over her shoulder she said, “I’ll bring in some clean clothes for you. I don’t want you putting any of those clothes back on again.” She plugged her nose letting me know I stunk. “Their washing machine probably won’t be able to clean those so we might as well burn them.”

  "Okay, sure." I went inside and took one of the best showers I’d ever had. I washed and conditioned my hair twice. That was probably overkill, but you never knew what yucky stuff made it back into the ship with me. The shower water ran quite dirty for the first seven or eight minutes. So, I didn't feel too bad about taking a fifteen-minute shower.

  Once I was ready, Paris was in the living room waiting for me. She had set out a tea service with something that looked like it might be cookies. Since it was alien, I couldn’t really tell. I sat down next to her on the couch.

  “Here, try this tea.” She handed me a cup of warm tea that smelled like a mix of peppermint and cinnamon.

  “Hmmm, what is it? It smells wonderful!” I took a slow sip, and it was fabulous.

  “They call it comfort tea. Or at least that’s the closest translation. I’ve been drinking this since I made my way back to Venay when we were on the other ship. Maybe each night you can join me and some of the other mates for our evening tea. We’re sorta making it a new tradition. I would have invited Lisa and Sheila tonight, but it sounded like you wanted to talk about something more than gossip. Am I right?” She took a sip of her tea and sighed.

  “Yes, although I think I might like an evening of tea and gossip.” I took a deep breath and decided to go for it. “Paris, how can you be married to a man who abducts humans for a living?” I put the tea down on the saucer in my lap and looked at her.

  “I was wondering when I would be asked that question. However, I’m surprised it’s you who’s asking me first. Have you changed your mind about mating with a V’Zenian?” Paris arched an eyebrow.

  "No, well, I don't know. There is one alien who has been paying me special attention. But I can't forget what they do and what happened to me. Although, I have come to realize that this really was a good thing for me. My fiancé was a horrible man. It took me until earlier today to realize this. At the same time, I realized that I’m too strong to let myself back into an unhealthy relationship." I took a sip from my tea and relaxed my shoulders.

  “What makes you think that choosing a mate from those here on this ship would be unhealthy?” Paris picked up a cookie and took a bite. Then she tilted her head and really looked closely at me.

  I squirmed in my seat with the scrutiny. “Choosing any alien who abducts people to use as slaves would be unhealthy. I thought you felt the same way? Which is why I’m here right now. How can you be okay with what the Commander does for a living?”

  Paris took a deep breath, “I am not okay with what he’s been doing for the past few years. But, I chose him because I am in love with him. Truly, I believe that I can help our people more by being right where I am. In time, an opportunity will present itself where I can change the status quo. If I’m elsewhere, say as a slave, I won’t have an opportunity to do anything except cause a revolt on their planet. That won’t help either side.”

  She made a good point. Being a slave wouldn’t help my people in the long run. I needed to find a way to help them that also kept me safe so I could keep up the good fight.

  “Will you accompany him on his next trip to Earth to grab more women and men?” I couldn’t imagine accompanying Zelan back to Earth with the intent of abducting more people and forcing them to be slaves. I had come to realize that no one was going to force me to mate if I didn’t want to, but my only other choice was to become a slave. It was a bad choice all the way around.

  “Yes, they’re gone for almost a year when everything goes as planned. I can’t be away from my husband that long, it isn’t healthy. Also, it might afford me an opportunity to change a few things. I have been discussing with him the possibility of taking longer to get the women, and even men. There are a couple of ideas in my head rolling around. We have discussed some of them, but I think we need to see what happens in the next year. You never know what their leaders might decide, especially since it looks like there will be war with the Zateelians.” She picked up a cookie and offered it to me.

  “Thanks, what are these?” I looked at it closely before taking a small, tentative bite.

  “I don’t really know what they are, but they remind me of madeleines. My favorite coffee house sold them. Once in a while when I had some extra change I would get one with my coffee. They were my second favorite treat.” She smiled as she remembered her experiences.

  “Paris, what happened to you? I heard you were homeless at a young age. Did your parents die?” She never did explain to any of us what happened.

  She stood up and her hands shook. “Do you need any more tea? I have plenty and can make a fresh pot if you like? Or maybe a different kind of cookie?” She sniffed and wiped a tear away from her face.

  "Sorry, let's talk about something else. Did you hear about my adventure today?" I said in a not so excited voice. It was anything but an adventure. Why those stupid aliens thought to bring a bunch of women along for that journ
ey…I just couldn't believe it.

  Paris inhaled sharply. “Yes, Venay was pretty upset with Zelan. After you found those women, you should have come back to the ship. I think that Zelan just wanted to spend time with you so badly that he wasn’t thinking about the dangers for you. And now we have lost a warrior to the insectoids. Venay is very protective of his people. Losing a warrior has affected him, more than he wants to acknowledge.” She took her seat again and leaned over the edge of the sofa and picked up a tissue.

  It looked as though the aliens stocked up on some human supplies. It made me wonder what else they picked up when they were on Earth.

  “What about those women? They died such a horrible death. Did he think about them at all?” I knew that Tosie died a painful death, but at least it was quick. Those girls suffered for hours before we found them.

  "Of course, he was heartbroken when he found out. At least he can visit with Tosie's family and tell them their son died with honor in battle. The families of those women will never know what happened to them. And the way they died…” Paris shivered. “Venay actually shuddered when Zelan told him. He told me it’s one of the worst ways to die. Tomorrow he’s sending out several search parties to see if he can recover any more of our people before the bugs get them." She shook her head and sighed.

  “Do you think that anyone will willingly come back here? I don’t think they would. If it was me, and I hadn’t seen the insectoids yet, I wouldn’t do it.” I shook my head and prayed that any survivors would be alright.

  “Same here. I think that’s another reason why Zelan wanted a few of you along. So you could explain to the survivors why it is so important they come back willingly. Venay said it was too dangerous, so no more humans on the missions. At least, not until they have killed every single cockroach.” I could hear the sadness in her voice when she spoke about the missing people. She out of all of us knows what’s it’s like to be out on the streets and all alone with no one to protect you.