by Alma Nilsson
Jei reluctantly removed his hand as a waiter entered their private room. He asked her a question as if they had been talking the entire time politely. “You’ve been busy meeting many people these last two days,” he commented, knowing full well where she had been and who she had seen as his guards, Gio and Sra, had been reporting back to him details about her conversations and movements.
Jane was surprised by his sudden change of countenance when the waiter walked in but then reminded herself, she didn’t want to be in the gossip columns for fines, and obviously neither did he, “Yes, I’ve had quite a bit to do. One-thousand new human women is a lot.” Jane’s mind was racing though, and she wondered what kind of fine she would receive for kissing Jei or more now. Almost curious enough to try, and then she thought, I’m just as terrible as Babette! Is there something in the water on the planet that is making me crazy like a hormonal teenager that I just want to be defiant? And kiss random men?
“I’m assuming they are settling well, though. I’ve not read about any scandals.”
Not yet, Jane thought thinking of Babette again. “So far, they have been relatively calm compared to some of my old crewmates. But a few are struggling with the culture as it is so different. We don’t marry, and I don’t think all of them fully understood what it would really be like to live in a culture that had religion and marriage.”
“And how do you cope with it?”
Jane smiled, “The best I can.”
“But they chose to be here,” Jei said. He left off, And you didn’t.
Jane was charmed. He was the first man to hint at that they were taken by Admiral Tir, and she knew enough now to know it was not by Jei’s order either. Tir had been acting entirely on his own. “Yes, but just because you sign up for a job doesn’t mean you are not going to have some moments of doubt.”
“That’s very true. However, I’m sure you are a good role model and they will adjust in no time. Which is good as this endeavor is important for both of our civilizations.”
Jane was stunned as this was the second time, he separated humans and Alliance people. She couldn’t’ help herself and asked, “You don’t think we are the Lost People, do you?”
Jei hesitated and then answered honestly, “I don’t know. I’m waiting for more evidence. You might be or you might not be.”
And everything changed for Jane then. She saw Jei in a completely new light, and she liked it. If he didn’t think that they were the Lost People, then he held some kind of respect for her as a human and humanity for just allowing her to serve on his ship and even more so to single her out for lunch almost in a romantic way. “Isn’t that blasphemy?”
“Probably,” he said casually. “But I’d like to see the High Council fine me for saying it. I’ve seen enough species in the galaxy to know that although it’s unlikely we are genetically the same, it’s not an impossibility. And I know my gods. Alliance gods give many signs, I guess because we aren’t all paying attention as well as we ought to be,” he smiled, “But they have been reticent about humans.”
“What about the ancient Alliance records that were written by mortal hands?”
“Oh, you’ve been snooping around the High Council database?”
“Of course, as Head of House Human, I want to know everything about the relationship between the Alliance and humanity from the very beginning.”
“So, you know about all those experiments we did on humans for centuries, and you are still sitting with me here, now. I’m impressed, you are a brave woman.”
Jane knew he was referring to the monstrous abductions and medical experiments the Alliance had carried out on humans. In their records, in their defense, they were only checking to see if humans were genetically similar; however, they went to some sick lengths to prove that. “Thankfully, the last abductions on record were a few centuries ago, so I would say you all have gotten it out of your system to confirm we are genetically similar.”
Jei wanted to point out that she was also an abduction but that they had become more sophisticated about it because of the Galaxy Court, but he held back. “Have you found anything else you find of interest in the High Council records?”
“No, but I have a question. Why is it that the Empire only feels a need to help humans now when the Alliance also needs help? If you all have always known, we are the Lost People? Why did you leave us to muddle through life the way we have. Humanity has almost destroyed itself hundreds of times and you all were just going to let that happen? Let the Lost People go?”
Jei weighed the question in his mind, trying to decide how much information he should answer with. Of course, there was a man’s answer and a woman’s answer to this. “We’ve always watched over humanity. If you ever gain a high enough rank in the fleet, you will have access to those records and our standing orders to always protect humanity when we are able. Do you think it’s just luck that you have survived so long without becoming a colony of the Jahay?”
Jane looked at him in disbelief, “Yes.”
Jei shook his head, “No. Everyone in the galaxy knows we protect you, except you, I guess. So that is why humanity’s only threat has been to yourselves and many believe that if you were to commit suicide as civilization then it was your choice.”
Jane’s mind was spinning with this new information, and she was trying to remember a time when the Alliance had just destroyed a human ship, but he was right, in her memory, they never had. Severely damaged, yes, but not destroyed. “This is why the Jahay always put human inferior ships on the frontline during the war.”
Jei nodded, “I would have thought Captain Kara would have figured that out.”
“She might have, but she wouldn’t have necessarily told me about it. She keeps a lot to herself.”
“That’s what worries us all,” Jei said more to himself than Jane. Then he changed the subject, “And how do you find life on the Kzi?”
“Exciting. Too exciting at times,” she said referring to the incident with Nun.
“Hopefully, it will be the right kind of excitement from now on.” He wanted to apologize for Lieutenant Nun’s behavior, but didn’t want to bring that up again, and anyway it was over, she had gotten her justice. It still angered him that one of his own crew would act in such a way, and no one had noticed his serious mental problems before they had progressed to that level. He now had all his doctors on alert for mental changes in the crew. He never wanted something like this to happen to Jane or any other human woman in his fleet again. It was an act of barbarism and an embarrassment. “I must say, I’m impressed with how well you’ve integrated. I didn’t expect you to manage it so quickly.”
“What did you expect?”
“For you to be a disruption.”
“And I’m not?”
“To no one but me,” he said almost under his breath.
Jane looked him straight in the eyes and said nothing but reveled in hearing what she wanted to hear from him. Her heart beat faster and her pupils must have grown larger looking at him across the table. “Am I a good distraction?” she asked, and she wanted to follow it up with, ‘Or a bad distraction given you didn’t speak to me yesterday? As if you were embarrassed to be distracted by me.’ But she left that off because she didn’t want to sound desperate or nagging.
Before he could reply, waitstaff entered their private room with food. And just like that, their moment was gone again.
“I took the liberty of ordering our midday meal, I hope you don’t mind?” Jei asked.
“I don’t mind, I hardly know what to order myself,” Jane replied honestly. Alliance food was all so bland it never mattered to her, she thought it all tasted more or less the same.
“These are some new dishes for Leld,” Jei explained. “Apparently, one of your wards is thinking of opening a new restaurant, and the chef here was inspired. Now you humans cannot say that we don’t try to change.”
“I never thought I would hear those words. An Alliance person inspired by a human,�
�� she said more sarcastically than she meant to. Jane was actually very proud of Jade and pleased that the esteemed chef of Leld had met with Jade to discuss recipes. Jade had told Jane that she was going to reach out to different chefs, to try to gain momentum so that the High Council would grant her her wish of opening a restaurant. Apparently, it was working.
“Jane,” Jei said sincerely, “I’m sorry that in some ways, you have only seen the worst of us.”
Jane didn’t reply, she just watched the different dishes being placed before them and listened to the explanations from the waiter of how they had intermixed new human spices and traditional Alliance ingredients. Suddenly all of this felt so right. She caught Jei’s grey eyes and gave him a smile.
Jei urged Jane to try a meat dish with the human vegetable coriander. He had tried this before and thought it must be the food of the gods. It was so delicious.
“It’s still somewhat troublesome for me to eat too much meat,” Jane said declining the dish. The fact was she still couldn’t bear the thought of eating animal flesh.
Jei took a small spoonful of vegetables and put some on her plate. “Then try this first,” he said. It was polite in Alliance culture to eat the meat first and then the vegetables, but he was not going to hold her to those standards when they were alone.
Jane took a bite. She knew this Alliance vegetable was like a potato, but usually served as a plain potato, but now the chef had added salt and rosemary to it, and finally, it tasted right, no delicious actually. “It’s so good. Almost like home.”
Jei smiled. Pleased, he could at least do something right, “I’m glad you like it. We should both consider this our new homestyle food.”
“Maybe this is your sign from the gods that we really are the Lost People?” Jane goaded him.
“Oh, Jane, you know so little of our gods. They aren’t sublime. They let us know and they’ve said nothing of humans.”
Jane stopped eating and just looked at him in disbelief, “What do you mean? Can you give me an example?”
Jei put down his fork, “Yes, ten years ago, I was visited by the messenger goddess Raga. She told me not to pursue the current mission I was on as it was a trap.”
“How did you know she was a god?”
“Because she looked like the statue Raga, and she came to me on my ship in the middle of the galaxy and then disappeared again.”
“What did you do?” Jane was on the edge of her chair. She knew by the way he spoke, he believed this to be true.
“I abandoned the mission.”
“Did you ever find out if it really was a trap?”
“Yes, it was. Raga had visited all the other ships at the time, but it was only me, and a few others who had abandoned the plan. I tried to warn some of the other captains, but they called me a religious fool.” He took a deep breath, “So you see, the gods are forthcoming with their views.”
“Do you think they set the trap to see who was a true follower and who was not?” Jane thought for the first time that maybe the gods were a small group of superior beings who liked to play with the Alliance people. It was beyond her imagination to imagine there was such a real thing as deities, however, in the same way she could not imagine someone as serious and as honest as Jei lying or not being able to distinguish fantasy from reality.
“I don’t know. It is a possibility, of course. Are you a believer, Jane?”
Jane hated this question, “Of course I am. I’m an Alliance citizen now. I pray every day.”
“You will be. The longer you stay, the more you will see, and then even someone like you that needs strong evidence will be convinced. The gods are real.”
“I’d say it will require more than just strong evidence to make me as reverent as others,” Jane replied thinking of James and then changed the subject. “Please, if you don’t mind, will you tell me about your children?”
Jei smiled, and then they spent the rest of their lunch trying dishes that were a fusion of Alliance and human recipes discussing their families.
After lunch, they took a walk in the busy Promenade Ring, Jei was happy that Jane had agreed to it. In his mind, she was giving him the clear signal that she wanted to begin courting soon as the gossip columns would be writing about this within the hour. He felt especially confident as she did have other obligations with House Human today but took this time to show that she wanted to be seen with him. As they walked, he wondered if he should say the words that marked this as a meeting before courtship.
Jane had never walked on the Promenade Ring with a man before. She knew this was a popular place for couples who were courting to walk as well as friends, but she had only been here once before and she had been alone. Now she felt she was really living an Alliance life. She wondered if Jei had already said the words to signal he wanted to court, and she had missed it. She had been so cross with him about not speaking to her yesterday at the reception she hadn’t bothered to refresh her mind on courting protocol.
Jane and Jei walked together and received some looks. Jane assumed it was because he was an important man and Jei assumed it was because Jane was human. It didn’t bother either of them.
Jane was on the verge of asking him if this was their meeting before courting when his IC went off.
He didn’t apologize but just looked at it.
Jane watched him.
“It’s nothing urgent.”
“I should go anyway,” she said thinking of all she still had to do with House Human.
“Let me walk you to the transport.”
“Thank you for thinking of me and allowing me to use your House transport and guards.”
“After what happened to Doctor James and what happened on the Kzi, I didn’t want to take any chances.”
Jane had wanted him to say, ‘I love you that’s why I did this for you.’ Not the logical reasons he had just given her. But she knew Alliance people never spoke of love and the best she would ever get is, ‘you are my other half’. It was a myth that both Alliance and human people shared however, humans didn’t think much of it. “Thank you all the same.”
His guards trailed them as he walked her to the transport, “Thank you for joining me for the midday meal, Jane.”
Jane looked up into his grey eyes and thought, Thank me by kissing me you strong alien man. When he didn’t make a move even though she swore her eyes must have been screaming at him to kiss her, she said in what she hoped was a seductive way, “I’m curious. How much of a fine do you reckon we would get for kissing now?”
Very little surprised Jei, but Jane had just blown his mind. Without replying with words, he put both of his hands on either side of her soft, warm face and kissed her. Chastely at first, but then when she stepped close enough to him that their bodies touched, he instinctively moved his hands down to her waist and pulled her strongly against him while allowing his tongue to seek out hers.
Jane had never thought she had wanted a Tarzan, however being in Jei’s arms that is exactly what she felt like. He was physically large and strong. He kissed her like a man who had all the strength in the world but was holding back as to not hurt her. It was the most arousing thing she had ever experienced. She wanted nothing more than to drag this man into the transport and let him have his way with her. Jane couldn’t describe this feeling, but she wanted him to dominate her. His tongue was strongly exploring her mouth in a way that she imagined, he probably made love, and she loved it. Her hands found his long grey braid in the center of his back, and she grabbed it. As he kissed her neck, she whispered in his ear, “I really want to be fined, a lot.”
He continued kissing her, “I also want to be fined.” He ran his hands up and down her figure. It was driving him crazy the way she was pulling on his hair. It was so wrong to do so, but so human at the same time. He wanted to show her how to love like an Alliance woman, but at the same time, take pleasure in the slow education he would give her in that subject.
After many minutes of passionate kissing, Jei s
lowly and reluctantly backed away, “I think the fine we receive this evening will answer any questions you might have about UCs fined to widowers.”
Jane smiled, her body hot with desire for him, “I wish I could watch as they discuss what the fine will be given our circumstances.”
He couldn’t help it, he caressed her cheek with his thumb, “Your face is flushed pink.”
Jane looked down and then back up after a second, “And you know why.”
“Yes, I just want to drop everything and invite you home with me now. But we both have other plans.”
Jane looked at him in disbelief and thought he must have changed his mind because she could definitely change her plans for sex right now. But she was not going to say that because she didn’t want to be told that he really wasn’t interested. She hated how contradictory the Alliance was. “I’ll think of you when I receive my fines.”
“I will pay them.”
“No,” Jane said, shaking her head, “It was my idea.”
Jei laughed, “No, you only tempted me with what I’ve been fantasizing about for weeks now. Go with the gods, and I’ll see you back onboard the Kzi very soon and we will definitely resume this,” he touched his finger to his heart.
It was only when Jane was in the transport that she realized she never asked Jei why he’d not spoken to her at the reception. Clearly, by his behavior today, it was not because he was embarrassed by her.
Jane got out her IC and messaged Kara,
Me Jane, Him Tarzan. I’m going to have more fines than any of my wards. I might need to borrow some UCs. I think this is exactly what Doctor Ko meant when he said, ‘Be wary of being too positive.’
Jane’s IC chimed and she assumed it was Kara replying, but it was Doctor Anu of all people.
