Alien Rescue

by Marie Dry

  “The warriors on the ship are still searching for the codes, and Viglar is working day and night to find a way to drain them out of your system.”

  She tried to smile, to look confident. “Well, I’m sure if anyone can find a cure, it’s that rude doctor.” Except she was afraid that by the time he found a way, her body may be beyond saving.

  “Viglar is the best in the empire,” he agreed.

  It took less than two days for her wound to heal enough that she could move around. No doubt about it, the aliens had some really cool technology.

  That night when Zanr took out the cards, she was ready to take him on in a challenging game of cards. She plastered an innocent look on her face. “I love the hair ornaments you bought for me on that shop uptown. Won’t you please do my hair and put a few of them in before we start?”

  He had the hair ornaments and was combing out her hair before she’d even stopped speaking. She hid her triumphant smile behind her hand. Yeah, he was in for a nasty surprise.

  It took a while for him to finish, but at last they sat on the couch in the tent, each holding their cards. It was a pleasure to play against someone as good and sometimes even better than her. She won a round and he won a round.

  She absently scratched at her arm. Her fingertips still felt no sensation and she was restless and scared. She needed something to take her mind off the little killers swimming in her blood. “Let’s make this interesting. Have you ever played strip poker?”

  His eyes flared red. “Tell me about strip poker.” His eyes stroked down her body.

  “The loser has to take off a piece of clothing. Whoever is naked first loses.” And it wouldn’t be her.

  He cocked his head. “You admire my body. I see you looking at me all the time. If I become naked first, I win because you would want to have poker sex with me.”

  She giggled. “Poker sex?”

  “Yes, sex that happened from poker,” he said, as if he explained something serious to her.

  She lost the first round and carefully took one of the ornaments out of her hair and put it on the couch between them.

  He stared from her to the ornament, repeated the action, then he laughed, that horrific, thundering-death sound that could give you nightmares. “Well done, my breeder, well done.”

  She was sure he’d go all out to win, but he must’ve been distracted, because he lost the next round. Before she could demand he take off anything, he jumped up, stepped out of his boots, and was out of his pants before she could blink. He stood naked from the hips down.

  Rose frowned, her breath coming faster. “That’s just wrong. Take everything off, but never only the bottom half. If you have to take something off, just take off the top half.”

  If it was her, she’d have taken off one boot. Obviously, he missed the whole point of winning.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is it’s seriously creepy.” And rather sexy, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

  “I do not think it is creepy,” he said stubbornly and sat down again.

  She furtively looked at him and he opened his legs wide. She palmed her head. “For the love of God, cover that thing. I’m going blind.”

  He didn’t change position and she groaned. “Please.”

  He grunted, but took off the shirt. He was naked and obviously quite pleased with that fact. “I concede, with your hair ornaments, you are sure to win this game.”

  “You are making this much too easy, my Komodo.” He had a very competitive streak. He wasn’t a mean loser, but he liked to win. She couldn’t help feeling a little flattered that he wanted her more than he wanted to win the game.

  He leaned forward. “You want to have poker sex with me now?”

  Rose laughed and held out her hand. “Yeah, I can’t resist your beautiful naked body.”

  He stood and lifted her in his arms and started toward the bed. Then suddenly he stopped and stared down at her.

  “Zanr?”

  “You have my body and my heart. If you do not live, I do not wish to live,” he said, his voice sounding more gravelly than usual. He held her closer to his body.

  Rose swallowed. She’d never been important to anyone but her mother. Her father never wanted to see her again, and her brother probably feared the destruction she’d bring if he reached out to her.

  She cupped his cheek. “You have my heart too, Zanr.” She didn’t know when or how it had happened, but she’d fallen for her Komodo dragon.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next morning, she woke from the feel of soft butterflies landing on her cheeks. She smiled at the sun shining down on her, and the soft wings of the beautiful creatures against her cheeks. Weird, she’d thought they were extinct.

  “Wake, my breeder, we will do morning sex.”

  Her smile widened. Not butterflies, but Zanr kissing her cheeks. They made slow, leisurely love and afterward, she snuggled into the blankets. She might just spend the whole day in bed.

  Zanr went to the bathroom, and she watched his muscled buttocks with a small smile.

  “I need to report to Zacar.”

  “What about Morgan? We need to find out what he was doing with the ship.”

  “We will get him, but first I must check in. I have to go to the submarine and talk to my fellow warriors. I will return in a few hours. You will rest.”

  “I will?”

  He leaned over and pressed his forehead against hers and then kissed her. “Yes, you will rest. While you rest, you may search Morgan’s TC for answers.”

  She could feel her eyes widen. “We have his TC?”

  He nodded. “I took it when we went to his apartment.”

  After he left, she sat down at the table and activated her TC. A terrible suspicion wouldn’t leave her alone. She took the TC Zanr had taken from Morgan and entered his password. One good thing about having a scary-looking alien at your side was that you didn’t have any problems getting passwords and answers out of people.

  Rose typed in the name she found on the TC when she’d researched the superman crack case. The name of one of her father’s people. She waited for the details of the people he’d been in contact with to come up. It was amazing how good a case she’d built with only the TC. By the time she could tackle it in earnest, she’d already know most of the players. And she very much feared where the clues would leave her.

  ***

  The next day, Zanr crouched on the edge of the cliff, looking out at the valley. He liked this mountain. Zyrgin would always be his home, but this place had taken his heart. The same way Rose had.

  Rose was taking a shower and it usually took a long time. Soon, they would have a few hours in the sleeping place. She’d lost feeling in her hands and complained of dizziness, but she insisted she wanted to live a normal life as long as she could. What would he do if he lost her? If he could never spend hours with her in the sleeping place? This night, while they still could, he’d make sure to do all the things she liked him to do to her body. And he’d tell her again that she had his heart; she liked that. And he would offer to buy her whatever she wanted. She would realize she had a good warrior and would want to stay with him if they managed—no, when they managed to get the nanos out of her. A crawling sensation crept down his spine—a sensation that only one being in this world could cause.

  He looked around. He’d heard that the Parenadorz could appear out of the blue, but he had never seen it. That day in the desert, he’d been focused on killing the lizard. He’d known if he didn’t manage to get his prey, he would be too weak to find another. His only chance had been to stay strong enough to get through his first change. The Zyrgin had walked up to him, but he couldn’t remember if he’d just appeared.

  “I have waited a long time to have this conversation with you, warrior,” the Zyrgin said behind him.

  Zanr spun around and saluted. The rumors about the Zyrgin’s abilities must be true. He’d appeared out of thin air.

 
“I am honored, my leader.” Why would the Paranadorz seek him out? If he tried to keep Rose from him, he’d have to find a way to disappear with her.

  The Zyrgian paced up and down. His body vibrated with energy, as if standing still would cause him to overload. Zanr stood still. “I rescued you all those years ago because I knew you would make a good warrior,” the Zyrgin said from behind him.

  Zanr couldn’t fathom having the ability to travel between planets and across galaxies. Zacar had inherited his incredible strength from The Zyrgin; he could easily take on all the warriors at headquarters and walk away the victor. But Zacar had inherited none of the strange powers his bloodline was known for.

  “You knew even then?” He stood at attention, his heart beating as if he was in the midst of a battle.

  “At ease, warrior.” The Zyrgin came to stand next to him, looking out over the picturesque valley beneath them. “The humans have one advantage over us.”

  Zanr waited. He didn’t think they had any advantage over Zyrgins, but he was curious to hear why the Zyrgin would think like that. Also, he wasn’t about to contradict a being who could move between planets without a spaceship. “They have family, tight family units. That gives them a strength that is formidable.”

  “It also gives them a weakness.” Rose had nearly killed herself trying to prove herself to her father.

  “Agreed, but the advantages outweigh that small weakness. Taking small warriors away from the breeders was a mistake.” It had always been the habit to take small warriors from the breeders to be raised and trained in the warrior camps. Zanr couldn’t remember hearing of a time when it was any different.

  “Yes, my leader,” he said. If only he knew why the Zyrgin sought him out. What this strange conversation was about.

  As if he read his mind, the Zyrgin said, “You have spent too much time living down to be the warrior that was deserted by his family.” He clasped Zanr’s shoulder. “The shame is theirs. They abandoned you. A strong, honorable warrior.” His hand on Zanr’s shoulder tightened and it took everything Zanr had not to groan from the pain of that grip. “Even if you were weak and small, and only able to be a citizen, they were still wrong to abandon you. This will never happen again under my rule.”

  “Yes, my leader.” Zanr was afraid he was going to disgrace himself. Never did he expect the Zyrgin would come to see him specifically. And to say such to him. He was truly honored.

  The Zyrgin continued, “It is time you live up to your potential as a great warrior who will start a strong, new bloodline.”

  The mountains dipped around him, became strangely flexible for one long moment. He couldn’t have heard right. “I will start a new bloodline?” He was too dazed to take in anything else the Zyrgin was saying to him.

  “Yes.”

  Zanr swallowed. He literally didn’t know what to say or do. He saluted. “Thank you, my leader.”

  “I rescued you and I kept an eye on you. The way you stayed friends with Larz when I made him a citizen impressed me. But I expected no less from you. For a while, I worried that your gambling may become a problem, but you never have problems with credits or walking away from a game.”

  The Zyrgin had been keeping an eye on him. Pride and joy and the strangest urge to make tears like a human settled over him. “Your words mean much to me, my leader.” When he told Rose that he would have an acknowledged bloodline, she’d want to stay with him.

  The Zyrgin clasped a huge hand on his other shoulder. “I cannot be more proud of you if you were my own blood. As my adopted blood, you have exceeded my expectations.”

  “Adopted blood?” Maybe he had ingested an hallucinogen. Because surely this couldn’t really be happening?

  The Zyrgin smiled. “It is a custom I am taking from the humans.”

  Zanr couldn’t quite hide his skepticism. He was an insignificant junior warrior—why would the Zyrgin claim him?

  “I always planned to claim you for my bloodline. You were two weeks old when I found you, and you’d managed to kill prey and consume their meat, and you used their skin to keep your body warm. I was impressed then and I am still very proud of you.”

  Maybe he was spending too much time with his breeder, because he was full of too much emotion.

  The Zyrgin paced again, up and down, up and down. Then he turned and came to stand in front of Zanr. “I want you to do something before I acknowledge you publicly as of my bloodline.”

  “Anything, my leader.”

  “Kill another eduki for your breeder and invite the warriors to share the meat this time. They might surprise you.”

  He’d eaten the meat of the eduki alone, had wanted Larz to share it with him, but as a citizen, Larz wasn’t allowed. Shame coursed through him. He was a bad friend to a warrior who had always treated him with friendship and respect. “It will be done, my leader.”

  “Many a warrior has been ruined by too much acknowledgement too soon. I wanted you to have the chance to grow as a warrior without being accused of favoritism. None of my closest blood have received special treatment; neither will you.” With those words, the Zyrgin was gone.

  ***

  Rose looked up and raised her eyebrows when Zanr walked in and went to the shower. “Well, someone is in a mood,” she muttered and went back to the TC. She stilled. Did he hear about the codes for the nanos? Was it bad news?

  When he came out, he came and sat down next to her. “You are beautiful, my breeder.”

  “Thank you, my Komodo.” She held up a hand when he went to pick her up. She wanted to make love with him, especially since she didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to. But first she needed some answers.

  She stared down at her TC. “You said you had a scanner that can track DNA?”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “Can this scanner figure out if my father and I are related?” Ever since he’d called her, she’d wondered if he was her real father. Her brother had her mother’s hair and long ears and her father’s square chin and slightly slanted eyes. Rose also had her mother’s thick hair and her small build. But she had none of her father’s characteristics.

  He stared at her for a long time, then nodded. “Are you sure you want to know this? It is not easy to be without blood.”

  She sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t have a choice anymore. I have to know. It would explain quite a few things.” Would it be easier to accept all these years of isolation from her family if what she suspected was true?

  Zanr left briefly and returned with a box-like silver gadget that looked like the doctor’s. He scanned her and then spent some time typing in something. She assumed he was typing; he tapped a forefinger against the metal with no change in tempo that she could see or hear. At last he stopped and looked at her. “He is not your father. If he was, I would have been able to find him based on your share DNA.”

  It was like a punch to the gut. The knowledge had come to her slowly these last few weeks. She’d known—deep inside, she’d known, but it was still a shock to her.

  He kept fiddling with the DNA machine. “The Parenadorz came to see me. Specifically.”

  Rose frowned. “Your emperor, he was here?” Did he tell her this fantastic tale to take her mind of her father? “How did he get here?”

  “The Parenadorz can be anywhere he wants to be. He sees all and knows all.”

  “Are you saying he can travel between planets without a spaceship?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why did he want to see you? Specifically?” What if this emperor sent him away? She lifted her chin. He had another think coming if he thought he’d send her warrior anywhere without her.

  “He said he had always planned to claim me for his bloodline. Because he claimed me, I have an acknowledged bloodline. Our small warriors will be born strong, respected warriors.”

  She wasn’t sure if she believed someone could travel between planets instantly. But if it was the truth, she was glad that he at least had a family now. “All fifty of
them?” she teased.

  His smile was all terrifying teeth—a flashing smile—and he’d never been more handsome. She stepped into his arms and they held each other. He rested his forehead against hers and then he kissed her. A hungry triumphant kiss. At last he lifted his head. “It is time for our meal.”

  They ate in easy silence, Rose trying to feel bad that the man she had known as her father was no blood relation. But it was almost a relief. At least it explained why he hated her so. She stabbed at the food on her plate, then she said quietly, “I can never go home again, can I?”

  It was a rhetorical question but Mr. Literal Alien answered, “No.”

  “I can go back, but I can never go home,” she said, mostly mumbling to herself.

  He cocked his head in that reptilian fashion. “There is a difference?”

  “A huge difference.” Maybe it would make what she had to do to her family—no that family, not her family—easier. She couldn’t put it off anymore. She had the evidence of their involvement and would have to act on it. “I thought if I prove to Parnell that I can pass the test, that my family will take me back.”

  “How can lying in a hole in the floor make your family take you back?”

  “At the time it made a crazy sort of sense.” She didn’t know what was worse—Parnell’s betrayal or her own stupidity in following him blindly. She shook off those thoughts; she didn’t want to think about him anymore.

  She swirled her spoon through her cereal. “Have you ever confronted your parents over what they did to you?” It was easier focusing on his relationship with his family than her own.

  He became so still, she doubted he even breathed.

  “I’m, sorry, I shouldn’t have reminded you of what they did.” He was so strong and most of the time hid his real emotions so well, she sometimes forgot he was a being with feelings.

  “I have not seen them since the day they left me in the desert.” His eyes had been black, but now they blazed red—no gradual bleeding in of red tendrils this time.