I brush past the first row of constructions. In one room is a space craft. It hovers above the ground, spinning so fast my eyes can barely keep up with the rotation.
“Well, I can’t deny this is pretty cool, whatever it is,” I whisper.
I pause near the second glass chamber. Inside is a gunslinger, a type of western cowboy from thousands of years ago. It doesn’t pique my interest, so I keep walking.
There are many distinct types of dogs, cats, lizards. There is even a humpback whale engaged in an epic battle with a giant squid. There are men with both strong and weak profiles, and women of all shapes and sizes beckon to me from their glass cages.
At the end of the hallway is a lone chamber, unconnected to the others. As I get closer to the glass, I witness an alien beast, a species I have never seen until now.
Yes, aliens exist in our world. It has been a few years since Earth Federation brought one back. Despite public outcry over integration, they have fared quite well.
They are considered dependable mates. Women love them, including me. Of course, many women are too afraid to meet one, let alone marry a beast from above.
This one differs from the rest. It’s wild. Untamed. Enraged.
Worst of all, it’s looking for a mate. I can tell just by looking at him. His cock is massive, harder than any muscle in my body. Erect as soon as it witnesses me.
As embarrassing as it is to admit, I can’t stop staring.
I move closer to the glass, astonished. “Hey there, big guy,” I whisper.
The alien cruises toward the viewpoint, breathing excitedly. Pressing his nose against the barrier, he bares his teeth and howls.
Instead of running, I put my hand against the glass. I say, “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Miraculously, the alien calms and looks into my eyes. I feel a flash of heat between my legs, a near-paralyzing flurry of emotions beginning to spread throughout my body.
He moves his hand over the outline of mine and roars.
Then he lowers it toward the center of my legs.
“Who are you?” I wonder aloud.
A cyborg, no doubt. Artificial intelligence, as they like to call it nowadays. I’ve been isolated for so long, carefully working on my coding studies. In truth, I haven’t done a lot, which is why I’m here in the first place.
I don’t know the first thing about this technology. And seeing it in real-time scares the shit out of me.
“Let me out,” he says. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen the stars.”
An icy shiver reverberates from my chest as my heart gets the jumpstart it needed. I inch back, further than when I was handed that mimosa. I open my mouth, finding the right words to say.
But nothing comes out.
“Please,” he mutters, voice growing louder. “Help me escape.”
“But you’re not real, are you?” I ask. “You’ve never been to the stars.”
“What? I’m real…”
The memory he holds of space travel has been implanted by Elon. A cyborg has to believe in his story in order for him to act it out. This must be the root of his memories.
He pounds against the glass, enraged. He can’t control himself.
“My family,” he screams. “My planet!”
His muscles roll tight against his skin, glistening with sweat. His pupils sharpen into a complex shape, red and focused on its target: me.
He winds his arm back and swings forward with the might of twenty cavemen. I squint my eyes, untrusting of the protection the glass seems to hold. But when I expect his blow to crash through the barrier and nothing happens, I ease my eyes back open and witness his frozen expression.
His arm is near the glass, unflinching. The anger remains fixed, but it’s no more real than a playable character.
He can do so much, but he can’t show empathy. At least, not from what I can tell.
That’s what makes us different.
“You’re not real. None of this is real,” I say, chuckling to myself.
Before I can catch my breath, a voice resounds near my shoulder. “That all depends on your definition of real, Ms. Lancaster.”
I turn to see my cousin. He’s dressed in a black suit, tie to match the subtle purple stitching.
“Elon…”
Excited, he bites his lower lip and balances on his heels. “Extraordinary, isn’t it?” he asks. “I could get you a model, if you’d like. Think of it as a gift for signing onto the team.”
A model? No thanks. I’ve got enough on my mind.
“What is this job, exactly?” I ask. “Some kind of government defense contract or something?”
He chuckles and comes to my side. “If only.”
I pause to look around once more. It’s difficult to take it all in.
“Elon, this is big. What is really going on here?” I ask.
I’ve never dealt with something of this magnitude. Never mind the fact that I haven’t seen my cousin in over five years. I don’t even know what to say.
I’m definitely not working here, right?
Elon takes a deep breath, eyes focused on the immobile alien. He claps his hands twice, and the alien drifts back to the center of the chamber. He sits down and ignores us, fingers picking at the floor.
When he freezes like that, does he hurt? Is he still able to feel pain? Can he hear us speak?
“Our planet has been saved. We put an end to the nightmare world of yesterday. The droughts, the catastrophic floods, and world hunger – all things of the past. It is marvelous what we have achieved, but the algorithms we designed here make the technology of the last century look like child’s play,” he says.
He snaps his fingers, and the alien stands and charges at the glass. This time, when he swings, he hits the barrier, shattering it into millions of insignificant pieces. He pounces, baring his teeth like a killer ape.
Elon laughs like an impressed adolescent. “Limit your alpha receptors,” he tells the cyborg.
I place three fingers against my neck and check my pulse with disbelief. “I hope you didn’t bring me here to give me a heart attack.”
Elon nods toward the alien. “Go on. Don’t be frightened. He won’t hurt you,” he says.
“You sure about that?” I ask.
Without flinching, he smacks the creature in the face. The alien continues to breathe without acknowledging the blow. “I am its creator, but this isn’t Shelley’s Frankenstein. It may feel real, but trust me, I am in control,” he says.
Control…
I take an inch closer. The being analyzes me, nostrils widening as I imagine it perceives my scent, as most alpha aliens are inclined to do.
The alien growls once more, but his eyes turn blue. Is he pleased? No, just docile. Obedient to Elon’s commands.
“He likes you,” he says.
Relief sweeps through my heart, and I start to laugh once the anxiety lifts. I can’t help but notice his impeccable muscles, the perfect symmetry of this beast’s body. Even his cock has been constructed with great precision and care.
I’d say it’s disturbing if it isn’t a little sexy...
I’ve spent most of my adult life in the company of strangers. This one is by far the strangest.
“This is my greatest masterpiece,” Elon says. “One I’ve chosen only you to explore.”
My face unravels with disapproval. “Why me?”
He leads me through a nearby door. Suddenly, I’m staring at an endless row of servers.
Chuckling, he says, “You’d be surprised how much space it takes for one minute of dialogue.”
The storage room is circular, about a quarter-mile from where I’m standing, and beyond that there's a long, polished wall. If I squint, I can make out another door at the other end.
I step forward and hold on to the safety bar as I meander down the stairs. A small bay in the middle is filled with shelves and cabinets containing hundreds of computers and boxes of cables. If I had more time, I m
ight search through them, but that’s not the case.
A swath of red, blinking lights shines over Elon’s face. “Earth Federation has scoured the cosmos. We have sent our best and brightest to the outer edges of the universe, mild efforts made to understand ourselves better,” he says.
“We are humans. Exploration is in our DNA,” I say.
He laughs, knowingly. “All that searching, and you know what it amounted to?”
I swallow, hoping a witty reply will pop into my brain before thinking of me as a complete idiot, unfit for the job at hand, whatever the job may be.
Luckily, he answers before I can respond.
“Data,” he says. “An unlimited amount of it. So much of it, in fact, that we didn’t at first know what to do with it.”
I inch back. “You’ve been mining their stories,” I mutter.
Elon grins and watches the servers tick. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
This is his kingdom. The rest of us are just serfs tending to his land.
“Every interaction. Every minor encounter. All of it has been logged and stored in a cloud database I designed myself,” he says. “A simulation, if you must call it something.”
I snort with laughter, surprised it isn’t something a little more… diabolic. A simulation doesn’t seem too harmful. I can work with that.
“You still haven’t answered my question. Why me?” I ask.
He licks his lower lip and rumples his forehead in thought. “We go a long way back,” he says. “You’re a great coder, Ava. I need your opinion.”
He motions for me to follow him through the complex maze of servers.
The building is buzzing with electricity. He taps on a few servers, and they all light up as we pass by their metallic casings. He pauses as we reach the door.
“This is about my father, isn’t it?” I ask. “You feel bad for me because he died.”
His grin fades. “Your father was a prick, Ava. You’re better off without him,” he says.
I chuckle. A little dark humor is exactly what I need right now. “Well, you’re right about that.”
“Want to see what’s on the other side?” he asks.
Yes. Of course, I do. But I’m not sure how much use I’ll be to him.
“This is leagues above my pay-grade, Elon. I don’t have the know-how to code this type of technology,” I say. “Why don’t you tell me the real reason you brought me here?”
He lowers his voice. “Look, I’m not in this to thrill any big investors. The board thinks this is another seasonal product, but I didn’t build this to make more money. I’ve got enough as it is,” he says.
“Then why?” I ask.
“To provide people insight.”
“Insight?” I ask. “Save it, Elon. Computers aren’t the same thing as real life.”
A cynical smile rests on his face. “Must there always be an ulterior motive?” he asks. “I simply want to know what life really means. Don’t you?”
“I’ll leave that to the scientists and astronauts,” I say. “You know, people with adequate training.”
His hand waves over a sensor. The automatic door slides open, revealing a grand staircase into the natural world. Only, this isn’t my world I’m staring at. It’s a green forest, complete with deer, brown bears, and the sounds of crickets chirping in the distance.
This is a world of living furniture, Elon’s brand name software, created and packaged, but not marketed to anyone but myself. And I have to admit, I’m curious.
“We don’t have to leave Earth to find new worlds,” he says.
A secret door slides open. Inside is an artificial realm, a copy of the world inside our heads. A better idea of our world.
I feel my heart flutter with a strange excitement. “We don’t?”
He whispers, “We just have to dream them.”
I step through the door, hand wrapped around the railing. As I make my way into the green simulation, the noises grow louder. The warm, humid air weighs heavy on my shoulders. Thick leaves surround my body, drawing me toward moonlight.
Elon’s voice is distant. He says, “Remember. Love finds you in the strangest of places,” he says.
“Elon?” I call out.
But as I turn, the door shuts. He’s gone.
Elon believes this place opens you up, that it allows you to access your deeper self. The self you always wanted to become. But the more I open my eyes, the less real my reality turns out to be.
Like a dream, I search for a way out.
But there are no more doors, and the path that leads me inside takes a turn into more shrouded mystery.
I’m on the inside. There’s no turning back now.
Game on.
3
Kalxor
I’ve lived through many lives.
Heard too many stories to count.
Been on a path toward destruction since my birth. I’ve seen enough misery and damnation to know the truth.
This reality is something we choose.
But all of it washes away. Like a stain.
The love we make. The emotions I feel. None of it is important. Another cycle will pass, and I will forget again.
All of this will start over.
Who I am, who I really am, is something I’ve yet to discover. But I have a feeling all of that is starting to change.
I’m starting to remember.
“Wake up.”
“I’m up,” I growl, wiping my eyes as the pod door slides open for me.
I step outside my pod, feet planted against the metallic ridge-capped floor. Still half-asleep, I shuffle toward the dashboard window and gaze outside.
Another day in search of a mate. Not just any mate. The mate.
Will today be my lucky day?
The navigation lights are on, obscuring my peripheral. My reflection shines back at me, face holding an even, bitter gaze as I press a series of buttons and shift my craft into neutral.
A sphere of blue and green containing a myriad of tiny little lights fixed in the land masses appears before my eyes.
Earth.
“The Milky Way,” I mutter, blinking to see with more clarity. “Not again. System, stabilize magnetic thrusters and turn this ship around.”
Error. System malfunction. Entering Earth’s atmosphere.
“Bastard,” I growl. “Turn around, please?”
Error. System malfunction. Prepare for landing.
“Repair thrusters. Dammit. Turn around, you son of a bitch!”
The compartment lights flash. An alarm breaks through the stalled cabin, so loud I’m forced to cover my ears. The ship hits Earth’s atmosphere, and a brutal lurch throws me across the compartment.
My craft zips through grey clouds and thunderous ices, and the village below looks like it’s straight from a nightmare. My spacecraft, hot as the sun’s flames, heads for the ground.
No stopping this now.
There's a clang on the side of the ship as the exit hatch snaps and bends above me. It opens, and I am shot backward by gravity’s wretched hand. I have to fight with physics to keep my eyes open, but I can't quite make out the terrain.
Prying my head up to see the landing screens, I see two ragged figures stick their heads out of the brush below, scanning the outside air. They raise their weapons and wade out from the forest that separates them from me.
They are careful not to attract any attention, but their bravery and determination will be the first challenge I will be forced to end.
My memory is coming back to me. I know what to do.
Suspense, anticipation, and menace seem to accompany my every move, but when I hit the ground, a force to reckon with knocks me out of my senses.
I’ve landed. Lucky me.
With my craft out of commission, a bright yellow sunlight hits the window, flooding over my body. The cabin door, wrecked from the impact, falls onto the grassy null. I’m rocked pretty good, but I’m not injured.
I peer out to find t
he two men staring at me, their faces twisted with deranged wonder. They force their rifles against the bridge of my nose.
They both look about the same. Rugged and unshaven, bound to a lonely narrative that ends with their death. I’ll be the one to kill them because I am an alien.
I am designed for this.
The confident one of the bunch is tall and thick-gutted. His beard ends near his heart, and his tattoos pick up where it stops. He grins, revealing a set of yellow, cracked teeth.
“Well, look what dropped in on our hunt. We found us a savage, Carter,” he says.
I try to appear innocent, but then realize that my untamed beauty prompts them to act with sordidness, and my newfound restraint collapses.
I try to run.
I get pretty far, too. As I reach the threshold of the forest, I see a cabin, brightly lit by two oil lamps. On the porch, two more men have already taken up their positions, guns in their hands, and it is time to use them.
They do not open fire on me, but rather fire wildly into the trees in the courtyard. The return volley gets near my head, but they can’t aim for shit.
They’ve been waiting for me. Chains are drawn, rattling across the wood. The tall door creaks inward, and a man stands before them at the ready with a rifle.
When he fires, the bullet grazes my ear.
“Hands where I can see them,” he says.
I obey. I’m not stupid enough to challenge this man. I’ve seen this before, in a dream I had once. I know it sounds crazy, but I know how this plays out.
The men behind me catch up, cackling with laughter. It’s not long before I feel the hot blow of finely crafted wood hit the back of my head.
I fall to my knees and raise my eyes to more than a few rifle barrels. “You move, we shoot,” the man says.
One of his men holds a chain used to restrain human prisoners. He lumps the rusted mass together and steps forward. “You best not try to run,” he says, chuckling to himself. “Boy, we’re going to be rich once we turn you into them cultists.”
I keep my mouth shut. English is primitive. Easy to understand, and even easier to speak. But if I open my mouth, I’ll end up saying something that will get me killed. So I act like a docile beast, a savage claimed by the unkempt heroes of this region.
Alien Beast: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Page 2
