Alien Bride, page 14
part #2 of The Alien Series
“Good evening, ladies. I apologize if I interrupted anything…” I give Khalil a charming smile. She actually growls at me in response. I take a small step back. “You know, there used to be a time when my smile could win over any woman,” I tell her conversationally.
“Your deteriorating love life is not why we are here, Kye. How are we only just hearing about this Loret business?” Anu interrupts.
“If it weren’t for my lovely wife we wouldn’t know about it at all,” I tell my Deputy. “I don’t know what to say, Anu. My focus has been elsewhere for weeks, and to be honest, I avoid Loret at all costs.” I rake my face in my hand.
“Loret claims the people coming can help bring an end to the slave trade,” Khalil states.
“You knew about this?” Anu questions, not with accusation but with surprise.
She shrugs. “It is not a secret. For days it has been discussed in the music room. Is Loret attempting to deceive us?”
“No,” Anu sighs. “Loret does want to help, it’s just that he is doing it without strategy,” she explains. “And it isn’t that we want to stop anyone from helping—we just want it done right.”
“I trust your judgment, wife,” Khalil says, wrapping Anu’s long hair around her hand. She hangs onto it, casually and intimately tethering the two of them together. My mind wanders back to Alessandra.
“Regardless, the plans have been made. Guests are already en route and likely have been informed of the situation. We can’t turn them away at this point,” I say. “Our motives would look suspicious.”
“So we do what we always do—spin it. We’ll make it ours. I’ll see if I can invite some of our people to rally the crowd, tilt the scales a bit. Maybe we can ask Serif to join us. Highlight the fact that it isn’t just the women here, but also the colonies that could be affected in the long term by the slave trade.”
“The Makaan are going to be raked across the coals,” I lament. “I don’t know how I can protect them at this point,” I say, before I suddenly remember that Khalil was recently imprisoned by the Makaan and perhaps my desire to protect them could be interpreted as offensive.
“Where is your council?” Khalil asks, seemingly unperturbed.
“My what?”
“Your council? Of elders, the wise, those with gifts of vision, or military strategists?”
“Our government does not function that way, Khalil. Ambassadors are elected and each have their own platforms. We set goals and direction for our planet, sometimes other Ambassadors oppose those goals and then it comes to a vote.” I explain our process in the most basic of terms.
“I see why you are failing then,” Khalil announces. “You are just two people amongst a throng of others. There is no cohesion. Your people can have no direction if you all take separate paths, but that can be a topic for another day. For now, I will be a part of your council,” she decides. I look nervously at Anu, who does not seem to see an issue with this.
“Thank you, Khalil, but I don’t know that you have the background knowledge to be productive in this situation,” I tell her delicately.
“You are a very ethnocentric man,” she comments without passion. “Luckily, I do not offer my help for your sake, but for my Anu. Tomorrow we will go to the surface of Ipoch. We will find answers there. For now, we are done.”
I look again to Anu but get no help from my Deputy. In seconds the women are gone and I have my orders from Khalil. I move to the window to reflect on my thoughts while gazing out at the stars.
During my first years as an Ambassador I had no aim or direction. I took advantage of the fame and the power. Indeed, there are many benefits to my profession, but slowly all the early shine of the job became banal and I struggled to find the same meaning in my work that my father had. I decided I needed a purpose—a mission. And thus, my hopes for an Islerian empire burgeoned. Khalil is correct to an extent, though… or perhaps she is entirely correct. I have my “mission,” but I often feel like I am a ship with no pilot.
In the past few weeks I have been particularly conscious of this lack of direction in my life. I have failed to find a solution for Serif. I have become painfully aware that I have no fellow Ambassadors eager to offer me favors. Even I can see it is only thanks to Anu that we keep afloat. I have no focus… no focus other than Alessandra, of course, and even there I am failing.
Perhaps a part of me is purposely ignoring my work. By doing so, I buy myself one more day to try and build something between Alessandra and me. Once we are back on Isleria she will make her statement to the courts and then be on course for home… out of my life forever.
Here, standing in my office and looking out into the vast and lonely universe, I finally admit to myself that I don’t want that to happen. It has been a long time since I ended my days of quick rotations between unions. A union without substance is like work without direction. I want more from life than that. I want Alessandra.
Chapter 19
Alessandra
It was a weird night. Of course, every night is weird, considering each one is spent in outer space, hanging out with a bunch of aliens. But tonight was especially weird between Kye and me. He was different, or maybe I was different. I don’t know, maybe everything is different. I don’t just mean since I have been spending time with the band and the other refugees, which has been amazing. I was so emotionally messed up when I first came here, but now that I’ve carved out a little life for myself and established some friendships, I feel like me again.
But honestly, it’s more than just that. Ever since Kye and I made our deal… I’ve felt… I don’t know… I don’t know what I feel. In the beginning Kye and I fought tooth and nail, but lately I really enjoy his friendship or whatever it is that’s going on between us. Don’t get me wrong, we still fight every chance we get, but it isn’t the same. It’s more like an intellectual game than a true argument, and we do more than just fight now. Like tonight, he was… well, tonight I almost thought for a second that he was going to kiss me. What’s worse is, I was actually going to let him.
I can’t believe I’m feeling this way over an alien. I can’t believe I’m feeling this way after being abducted by aliens. Not that I hold Kye responsible, I’m just surprised my brain has the room for a crush right now. Seems like pretty poor timing. I almost feel guilty for even feeling the way I do. It’s like a betrayal to the emotions I should be experiencing right now. Though I guess none of the other girls are struggling with it. As a matter of fact, it seems like everyone else is enjoying their husbands, or in Khalil’s case, her wife. Khalil and Anu actually announced that they are making their bond permanent. Khalil isn’t even going home after all this!
I can hardly imagine not going home and staying in space forever… I mean, we were all abducted. Isn’t the logical follow-up to our rescue an effort to get back to our homes, our own people? That’s where I belong, right? I try to let my mind puzzle these thoughts out, but I drift off to sleep and suddenly Kye is there, trying to wake me.
“Huh? Wha… what’s going on? Is everything okay?” I sit up quickly, surprise pushing my sleepiness away.
“Yes, everything is fine, Alessandra. It’s late. I’m shouldn’t have woken you. I was just…” Kye looks at me, unsure.
“Tell me,” I press.
“Tomorrow I am going down to the surface of Ipoch. Khalil is coming with me. I know you had hoped to practice your music, but I was wondering if you would be able to join me for a few hours instead?”
“Go down to an alien world? Uh yeah! That sounds awesome. I mean, how many chances am I going to get to go to different planets, right? Of course I’ll go!”
“Remember, this is a backwater colony, not Isleria. There won’t be any spectacular sights,” he says apologetically.
“I’m sure it’s amazing in its own right, and I promise to let you show me all the spectacular things on Isleria to make up for it,” I tease, but his expression softens.
“You have my promise of that, but for now go back to sleep, Alessandra. We leave early.” He stands and moves to leave the room.
“Where are you going? Shouldn’t you get some sleep, too?”
“I have some work to do, while it’s still fresh in my mind.”
“Is everything okay?”
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Okay. Thanks for inviting me, Kye. I can’t wait.”
“Save it, tomorrow you might not be thanking me.” He pauses by the door to smile at me. “Goodnight, Alessandra.”
“Goodnight,” I tell him, and he’s gone.
***
It’s the light settings that wake me in the morning. I can hear the water running in the bathroom. Kye’s showering. I jump out of bed and hurry to dress. I get to go to an alien planet! This is the most exciting thing that’s happened to me since I was abducted by aliens, I laugh to myself.
“Alessandra? Are you up?” Kye calls from the bathroom.
“Yeah! Just getting ready!” I yell back to him.
“It is hot on Ipoch—dress for it!” he says. “Don’t worry about breakfast, we can eat on the shuttle.”
“Okey dokey!”
“What’s that?”
“Never mind!” I laugh.
When we get to the shuttle bay I am in awe. I was aware on some level that Kye’s ship is huge, but the shuttle bay is just another reminder in case I needed one. There are multiple ships docked in the bay, but only one large shuttle belongs to the main ship. The others belong to Loret and some of the remaining guests from the last party. All of these vessels are giants in their own right.
Large passageways for the ships to fly through line the wall. They open out into space, and when I first see them I irrationally grab onto Kye, thinking for a moment that we might all be sucked out into the void. He smiles down at me, unaware of my terror, so I just pretend that the open doors to space are no big deal as my heart slowly stops beating like a jackrabbit in full sprint.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Kye suddenly huffs. I turn to see a group of people waiting by the shuttle. All the girls are there, along with Loret and Ohen.
“Khalil has asked me to join your little landing party,” Loret greets us with a smile. “How could I say no after I heard Alessandra and the others were going to see one of our colonies?” Loret tells Kye, but all the while his light lavender eyes stare at me.
Loret is always friendly towards me, but it seems like he has turned it up a notch now that Kye is here to bear witness. Boys.
Kye pushes past Loret, giving him a stiff shoulder when he does, and makes his way to Khalil. “What is the meaning of this, Khalil? I thought I was escorting only you down to the surface?”
“It is I who will be escorting you,” she tells him plainly before ordering everyone to board the shuttle. I linger at the rear of the group with Kye. His features look annoyed until he looks back and sees that I am still standing with him. Then he looks amused.
“I give it another week and she’ll have all my people conquered,” he jokes, and over the course of our two-hour journey he remains aloof. Loret attempts to speak to me a few times, but per the terms of my deal with Kye, I am nothing more than polite. I instead spend the majority of the trip eating breakfast and talking with my fellow refugees… and Ohen.
Ohen doesn’t waste his time sitting with Kye and Loret. Instead he makes himself at home with the girls—telling outrageous stories, some of which I believe to be blatant lies, but we all nearly die laughing just the same.
It’s strange to realize how much fun I’m having. Maybe I’m excited about seeing an alien world, or maybe I’m still thrown from last night, but something about today feels new and fresh. Hopeful almost. As Ohen entertains everyone I find that I keep becoming lost in thought. Every so often I look up and see Kye watching me.
Chapter 20
Alessandra
When we land I hurry to disembark from the shuttle after our guards, Ohen and Khalil. The others all follow, but none seem to share my exhilaration, except maybe Loret, but he’s been to tons of alien planets. This is all new to me. All sorts of science fiction-y things have been filling my imagination since Kye first invited me along last night. Would the sky be green and the water pink? How many moons will I be able to see from the sky, I wondered.
When I look eagerly around at the landscape, I see the dusty terrain looks mostly just like dirt does on Earth. The sky is blue and, in the distance, I can see farms whose crops grow green. It’s actually a little disappointing how Earthlike it all is—ironic since all I want is to get back to Earth. But the landing strip itself does not disappoint. It’s filled with all sorts of UFOs, straight from the movies. A weathered old Islerian man sits at a little depot station nearby. After a few terse words with Kye he waves us in past the gates and toward the city.
The dirt path never turns into a paved road, and as we get closer to the city we can hear the hum of a thousand lives going about their daily chores.
Soon we are engulfed in Islerians, but not the posh and elegant ones like those on Kye’s ship. These people, interestingly enough, remind me of cowboys… but instead of horse-drawn carriages there are hovering robotic pallets, whizzing to and fro. Instead of cows and horses there are these massive bird things that are like a cross between an alpaca, an ox, and an ostrich. Though they have wings, I’m pretty sure these ungainly beasts can’t fly to save their lives.
The whole city seems to be lined up against one long street. There are a variety of establishments: a bar, a grocer, a hotel, a hospital, and a marketplace among other things. Through the windows of the shops I can see what I imagine are locally made goods along with items likely brought here by traders or shipped from Isleria perhaps. All along the street there are stalls that almost remind me of a farmer’s market, where Islerians sell produce and more handmade items.
At the end of the bustling roadway, I see a fenced-in area with crude stadium seating around it. I wonder what it’s for… My mind is stuck on cowboys, so I presume it is an alien rodeo.
What stands out the most to me, though, are all the little Islerian children running around… well, I guess they aren’t actually Islerian since they were likely born here on Ipoch. They are… what did they tell me Kye’s species was called? Iredescan?
I watch the kids dart through the crowd, playing together as we walk. While most of the adults in the city have indeed cropped their hair, the children seem to still be carrying on the tradition of wearing it long, though they keep it tied back in braids.
Seeing these children running and playing, drawing pictures in the sand while their parents sell their wares or attend to errands, well, it’s absolutely mind-blowing. In all the ways that really matter, these people are so similar to humans on Earth. They have families, work, dreams, they raise their children… it’s just so completely awe-inspiring how civilizations thousands of light years apart can have so many similarities. No matter how big the galaxy is, no matter how far I am from home, it’s hard to feel alone after seeing this world.
I shake myself from my thoughts and hurry to keep up with Kye and Khalil, who seem to know exactly where we are headed.
“There.” Kye points out a building. “That’s where we are most likely to find him.”
“What is that? The local saloon?” I laugh at my own joke, but Kye and Khalil just stare at me. “Like a bar… that cowboys go to,” I mumble.
“It is indeed a bar and it is where we will find the governor, Serif.”
Loret and the others catch up at that moment.
“This is a remarkable colony!” Loret exclaims. “I have not seen one so well developed! I’d like to continue exploring, if that’s alright. I’ll go into some of the shops, maybe head over to the farmlands and make some inquiries.” His eyes skate over all the wonderful, everyday little things going on around us.
“Take Ohen and the women with you, find them some lunch and we will meet you in a few hours back at the shuttle,” Kye agrees.
“Sounds wonderful. Come along, ladies. Where shall we head first?” Loret asks, practically bursting with childlike wonder, which is silly juxtaposed with his masculine frame. I move to join his little tour group, but Kye catches me by my waist and pulls me back to him and Khalil.
“Not you, wife. You stay with me,” he says in such a casual way that it feels intimate. His hand lingers on my lower back as he and Khalil talk, and even though his pheromone producers aren’t touching me, I still feel butterflies fluttering in my belly. Kye and Khalil finish their discussion and we all start towards the bar with purpose.
“So, I take it this is more than just a field trip. What are we doing here?” I ask.
“My work for the colonies has become stagnant. I have no new ideas on how to move forward, so Anu and Khalil suggested we come to the surface to, I don’t know, gain some perspective, perhaps?” Kye explains, but I can hear the skepticism in his voice.
