“So evolution is still correct, it’s just a bit more complicated than we originally thought,” Rem said. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. Besides Rik, he was the only one taking this well.
“Exactly,” Flik said.
“So that’s why the Zahkx were looking at us like they were… disgusted,” Selene reasoned aloud. She pictured the scowling Zahkx in her head. They’d looked like they really hated Lairen, or humans, or whatever they were supposed to call themselves now.
Flik nodded grimly. “You might face a lot of that in the universe. It’s been a long time since most of us have seen Lairen.”
“Are there… many of us still out there?” Sav asked slowly.
“I don’t know, to be honest,” Flik said. “Before I came to Earth, no, there weren’t many. They’re mostly despised on all alien planets. There might be a few colonies still left standing, though.”
Selene nodded. Curiosity burned through her. She wanted to know if there were more humans out there, and where they might be. Maybe they weren’t the last of the human race after all.
After a dinner of strange pink noodles and slimy black fish, the smugglers and their friends were led to separate quarters to rest up. It seemed the Zahkx didn’t want them returning to their ship just yet. Selene understood, though it didn’t mean she liked it. If they all returned to their ship, that could give them time to mount an assault, fix their weapons, or create some sort of scheme to take over the Zahkx’s ship.
If their places were reversed, Selene would have done the same. So she didn’t question it when Navi told them about their sleeping arrangements and had several crewmembers guide them around the ship. They were all quickly separated, which should have made her nervous, but instead, she just felt tired.
The last few days weighed on her like an anvil sat on her back. Her mind was growing cloudy, and she couldn’t stop picturing the faces of every person she’d seen before they flew off world.
As she stepped into her room for the night, the faces of a young mother and her little girl flashed before Selene’s eyes. The little girl had been holding a teddy bear as the pair raced across the street in downtown New Manhattan. Selene had tried to warn them to get to safety, but humans had become so reliant on the Aldar Dominion. They didn’t know better anymore. Instead, they blindly listened to everything the aliens said.
Selene sighed heavily as the door closed behind her. She had hardly taken a few steps in when she felt Rikkard’s presence.
Of course he’d slipped inside. She couldn’t have even a moment’s rest.
“Selene,” Rikkard said softly.
“What do you want?” Selene snapped. She took in the small room, with a single bed on one side and a door to a small, shared bathroom on the other.
Rikkard’s fingers brushed her elbow, and she turned to look at him. “Are you okay?”
Her heartbeat sped up as she remembered Rikkard standing between her and saving the civilian ships trying to escape the Darri warship. She’d pointed her gun at Flik to get him out of her way, but she never would have hurt him. Only, Rikkard had agreed with Flik—they had to get out of there—and he’d pointed his gun at her. At her. Rikkard was the last person she’d thought would ever betray her.
They could have saved lives. They could have gotten more people out of there. Even if they were part of some alien species from millennia ago, the people they could have saved were the last of the human race as they knew it. And because Rikkard and Flik had forced her to abandon them, they could all be dead.
Her chest burned the longer she looked at Rikkard. All she could picture was him staring down the barrel of his gun at her, pity in his eyes.
“No, Rikkard, I’m not okay,” Selene said. Her fists shook. “You pointed your fucking gun at me. You stopped me from saving those people. They could all be dead because you and Flik were too afraid to give me a few more minutes.”
Rikkard winced and his hand fell from her arm. “We had to go. You must know that.”
“No, I don’t know that! We could have saved them! They were civilians for fucks sake! They didn’t deserve to die.”
“You don’t know they’re dead.”
Selene scoffed. “Without weapons and training they would have been eviscerated by the Darri, and you know it.”
Rikkard narrowed his eyes. “So, what? We should have risked our lives to save them? What kind of logic is that?”
“You didn’t have to risk yours,” Selene reasoned. “I told you I could do it alone. I could have gone back out there and faced them. No one else needed to risk themselves.”
“You know I couldn’t let you do that.”
Selene tilted her head back and groaned. “You don’t need to babysit me. I can take care of myself.”
Rikkard sighed and stepped closer. He took her chin in hand and gently tugged so she was forced to look at him. “I know you can take care of yourself, but the selfless part of you is too reckless to be left alone. You’d do anything to save one more life, including sacrifice yourself.”
Selene stiffened, and her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong with that?”
“What’s wrong with that?” He chuckled humorlessly. “Selene, if we had stayed one more minute, we would have died. Sure, you might have saved another ship or two, but the Darri had almost wiped out all Aldar forces. Who do you think they would have targeted next?”
Selene jerked her chin out of his grip. “I could have taken them. You know I could have.”
“Not that many. You’d be dead and so would I.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs. “No, we both would have made it.”
Rikkard shook his head, exasperated. “There’s never any getting through to you. Why do you have to be so stubborn?”
Selene took a step away from him. Cold wrapped around her and she crossed her arms to combat the sudden chill in her bones. “Because someone has to be selfless. Someone has to try and save people, or else we’ll all just end up like the Aldar—selfish and cruel.”
“At least we’d be safe if we acted more like them,” Rikkard said. “At least I wouldn’t have to worry about you every time you get a foolhardy idea stuck in your head.”
Selene scoffed. “Get out. I’ve had enough of this.”
Rikkard blinked at her, looking dumbfounded for only a split second before his mask went up. His lips pressed into a firm line and his gaze was colder than ice. “Fine, I’ll go.”
Selene tilted her chin up, challenging him to defy her. Rikkard didn’t look back as he turned on his heel and exited the room. As soon as the door whooshed closed behind him, she heard the rustling of his clothes as he sat outside the door.
She ground her teeth together. Was he seriously going to sit outside her door while she slept? She rolled her eyes. She began tearing off her weapons and her suit.
She was so tired, but she’d never be able to sleep with fire in her veins. Instead of trying, she went to the bathroom and keyed in a few codes to start up the shower. Steam filled the room, and the second she was naked she stepped under the water.
It felt like flames licking her skin, but she gritted her teeth and beared it until her skin grew accustomed to the heat. Selene breathed in deeply and leaned her forehead against the cool tile at the back of the small shower stall. She braced her arms on either side of her and closed her eyes.
How could Rikkard feel this way? How could he seriously think the best thing to do was to run away, and leave the people of earth behind? And how did others agree with him?
She tried to calm herself with her breathing, and eventually, that coupled with the hot water soothing her muscles tired her out.
By the time she dried off and slipped back into her suit, exhaustion was taking over. Selene crawled into bed, slipping under the thin sheet and tucking it up under her chin. She curled in on herself and clutched her hands to her chest.
She’d never admit it, but she missed having Rikkard beside her. He was always so warm, and worked to comba
t the nightly chill.
Selene squeezed her eyes shut and pushed her boss from her mind. Before she knew it, darkness pulled her into the pit of sleep.
Selene awoke with a gasp. Images of vats and blue gel flashed in her mind. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, trying to pull back wakefulness as fast as she could. When she was awake, she hardly had time to think about being tortured inside a lab. There was far too much going on.
As her breathing evened out, she felt the bed beside her. It had been awhile since she had these kinds of dreams. Most of them had stopped since she started sleeping with Rikkard beside her.
She squeezed the sheet in hand. She wanted to trust him with everything she had, but she couldn’t—not when he’d betrayed her when she needed him most.
Steeling herself, Selene slipped from bed. She couldn’t have been asleep long, as her body was still sore and tired. Still, she didn’t want to return to her nightmares.
Selene stood and strapped on her weapons. The weight of her guns was a comfort, even if she couldn’t use them. She kept her knives close and ready for action, just in case the Zahkx’s hospitality ran out.
Once she’d yanked on her boots and ran her fingers through her tangled hair, she swiped her hand over the scanner next to the door. It slid open, depositing Rikkard at her feet.
She blinked in surprise. She’d forgotten he was there.
“Selene,” Rikkard said, his voice gravelly from sleep.
Her heartbeat sped up, but she ignored it, and him. She stepped over him and turned down the hall.
Rikkard scrambled to his feet, but after a scathing look over her shoulder, he stilled, deciding not to follow.
“Get some sleep,” she called back. Hopefully he’d take the opportunity to get some rest in her room. She couldn’t imagine sleeping on the ground was much fun.
Before she could hear his answer, she walked around a bend in the hall and made her way to the cafeteria. Her room wasn’t far from it, but the halls were many. If it wasn’t for her keen ability to memorize maps and routes, she might have gotten lost.
The cafeteria doors slid open, and several sets of curious eyes landed on her. The Zahkx whispered to themselves. They were easily recognizable with their colorful skin, hair and almost bulbous eyes, but the two other alien species weren’t so familiar.
She hadn’t had the chance to really look at them before now, but now that she did, she was fascinated. One of the species had golden skin and hair. They were humanoid, but had small eyes and black eyelashes that fanned up to their eyebrows and down to their slim cheekbones. What were they for? To keep their eyes clear of the sun, or maybe they were to combat blowing winds and sand like a camel’s eyelashes?
Her mind raced with possibilities as she slowly made her way across the cafeteria to get some water from the dispenser on the far side. While she walked, her gaze slid over the other unfamiliar species. They had a body similar to an ant, but human sized. They had two sets of legs and arms with pointed ends. Their heads were round and ridged like a serrated blade, and they had four black eyes that sparkled like the universe outside. She tilted her head as the antenna atop one of their skull’s swivelled to the side. One of them chittered at the other, but her earpiece didn’t send her any words. It could be that she was too far and they were too quiet for her earpiece to process.
Before she reached the water dispenser, one of the ant-people stood and shifted before her eyes. Suddenly, its body looked totally humanoid with white, translucent skin and a tail sticking from the bottom of its spine.
“What the hell?” she whispered.
So the ants were shapeshifters? That was so fucking cool.
Selene forced her gaze away as the shapeshifter caught her staring. Her cheeks heated, and she hurried to the water dispenser. She grabbed a plastic cup and filled it quickly before retreating to the far edge of the cafeteria. She had so many questions, each of which she filed away to ask Flik later.
After observing the aliens for half an hour while she sipped on her water, boredom set in. There was only so much she could learn by watching, and the less interesting the aliens became, the more her thoughts about the future started to creep back in.
She shook her head and pushed away from her table in the corner. She didn’t want to think right now—she wanted action. But what could she do?
Selene made her way out of the cafeteria and down the hall. The only thing she could think to do was to check on their progress back to Earth. Anticipation clawed at her insides. She wanted to know if there were others who’d gotten away. There had to be, yet she assumed they hadn’t passed any more on their journey, or someone would have come to alert her.
With a sigh, Selene turned towards the control room and headed in that direction. She thanked her uncanny sense of direction for leading her the right way when she arrived at the large entry to the control room.
She swiped her hand across the sensor and stepped over the threshold. The click-clack of keys filled her ears, along with the low muttering of the aliens as they worked.
Her gaze swept the two levels. Most were still familiar faces, though a few must have changed shifts.
Captain Shard and Navi spoke in the center of the room, next to the captain’s chair. They didn’t seem to notice her entrance, so she took her time in observing the crew, as well as the debris flying past the ship.
Her heart squeezed as Earth came into view beyond the field of asteroids. She couldn’t make it out well between the rocks, but the once glowing atmosphere had dimmed with the dark grey haze that covered the planet’s surface.
How could this have happened? How could someone have destroyed her planet?
Her fists clenched as tears burned the back of her eyes. The Darri had to pay for what they’d done. They couldn’t get away with this. Millions of people were dead. Even though some had to have gotten free, the human race would take centuries to repair. And now that they were spread throughout the galaxy, who knew if Earth would ever become home to them again.
“Oh, hello,” Captain Shard said, startling her from her thoughts.
Selene looked over at the captain, realizing she hadn’t given him her name yet. “Selene,” she said.
“Selene,” Captain Shard added with a nod. “I hope you had a decent rest.”
She shrugged noncommittally as she crossed the control room to get a better look outside the large viewport. “Have you come upon any ships?” she asked instead. Her heart swelled with hope.
“Unfortunately, no.” He sighed. “We’ve been sending out a message to all vessels on every frequency to hail us for help, but no one has responded.”
“I even had it translated into English with Rem’s help,” Navi said. He motioned at the holopad-like device he held.
“They’re too afraid it’s a trap,” Selene said as she watched the asteroids outside fly by.
“That’s what I feared as well,” Captain Shard said. “Still, they could run out of food, or water, or fuel. It’d be safer to reach out.”
“They’ll know you’re not human,” Selene said. “It’s going to take a lot for them to ever trust another species again.”
Captain Shard raised the skin on his forehead. “You don’t seem to have trouble with it.”
Selene’s lips twisted ruefully. “That’s only because of Flik. If it hadn’t been for him, I’d have fought every one of your men until I was subdued or killed.” She leaned her hands against the railing surrounding the top floor. Her fingers squeezed the cold metal, needing something to hold onto.
“Were you part of your military then?” he asked.
This time, she laughed. “Not even close.”
Captain Shard exchanged a confused glance with Navi. “Then what were you?”
Selene appreciated his bluntness. It was a characteristic of an honest man. She didn’t know if she could trust him just yet, but that fact warmed her to him just a little bit. “A smuggler,” she said.
Navi gasped while Captain Shard’s
eyes went buggy.
“You’re a criminal?” the captain balked.
Selene rolled her eyes. “If you call rescuing animals from the abuse of the Aldar Dominion a crime, then yes, I’m a criminal and proud of it.”
Again, the aliens exchanged a look.
“The Aldar were… abusing animals?” A woman in the navigation cubby looked up at Selene from the first floor, her eyes wide and swelling with sadness.
Selene nodded. “Yes. They experimented on them just like they experimented on me and my friends.”
“What?” Captain Shard snapped. “Experimenting on sentient life is forbidden under the laws of the Universal Accord.”
Selene gave him a look like he was an ignorant child. “Because the Aldar have been such moral leaders as they brought the apocalypse upon Earth not once, but twice. Thrice, if you count the Darri.”
“Should I add this to our findings for the council, Captain?” Navi asked. His eyes were set with determination as he poised his fingers over his holopad, ready to type up what she hoped was a scathing message about the injustices of the Aldar’s practices.
The captain swallowed, his throat bobbing. “Before you do that, I have to ask… Selene, do you have any proof?”
Selene leaned away from the railing and motioned at herself. “I am living proof. You think night vision comes naturally to humans?”
Both aliens looked long and hard at her green eyes. They stared for so long that she began to shift uncomfortably.
“It didn’t for Lairen, either,” Captain Shard said at last. “But there are some species that have it.”
“Really?” Selene tilted her head. Curiosity burned through her. Maybe she wouldn’t need to wait for Flik to find out more about the alien species inhabiting the galaxy.
“Captain!” the woman in the navigation cubby spoke up, her voice high with surprise.
Selene looked out the viewport to find the asteroid belt had cleared. They were sailing just past the moon, directly into a minefield of destroyed ships. Her mouth dropped open and her heart stopped as bits of twisted metal hit the viewport, then drifted off to the side out of view.
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 29
