Page 77 of Bred by the Alien Prince

"It's not far," he said, leading the way.

"As far as talks go, that wasn't so bad," Caspian breathed in deep once the temperate air hit us.

"It's hard to talk of anything when everyone mistrusts each other," I replied. "Are you worried about your people?"

"They're not my people. Not anymore," he scoffed as he watched the two humans approach the small crowd gathering near the landing pad. "They don't even want me here." He brushed his hood off and tucked his hair behind his smaller, pointed ear. "I have no idea what the hell I'm even gonna call myself now... Huslian... no, that doesn't sound right. Huralan? Ugh."

"I'm sure you would think of something beautiful."

They built the colony on open land close to the base of a nearby mountain, which almost formed a natural dome over the place. I saw the makeshift construction of what looked like a barrier. Not bad. No wonder it took a while to find a place on this planet. The land was vast enough to build a mega city if they kept at it while also hiding them, and with the natural formation of the rocks, they would build a dome over the entire city. The higher we climbed up the set of stairs carved into the stone, I saw the massive freshwater lake and river ahead, and above us were the makings of a defense tower.

"We've built the colony around the ship; it could provide the most efficient power grid. Far more advanced than our own. The courtyard itself opens to release the ship but not to disturb the humans above; it's better to go this way," Connor instructed.

"This is freaky," Cormac gasped once we reached a hidden door built into the rocks. Connor opened it with a set of codes, and inside the dark tunnels were reaver vines that glowed a bluish-green hue in the dark when near a power source.

"The ship still has power?" I asked as we came upon the massive black and greenish-hued ship, which was about the same size as my new ship.

"Yes, we were using it to power the factories and AI Core."

"More AI talk."

"It's okay," Caspian said, gently touching my back while looking at the ship.

"I've never seen a ship like this before."

"Stand back for a moment," Connor instructed. "I must open the ship by bypassing and overriding its systems."

"Then allow me to do it," I said, "I'm sure we don't need to override anything."

"Done."

CHAPTER 30

Theshippurredtolife, and the doors opened with a swish, exposing the soft white interior of the ship.

"There, the doors are open," Connor said, almost smugly. Like he had to show me that he was capable of bypassing our ship's security. Come to think of it, the machine had spoken my language perfectly and understood me from the beginning, and I hadn't even thought of it!

I entered the ship. There was too much to digest at the moment to stand around gawking at the damn thing, though I would keep that piece of information stored in my memory.

The inside looked clean and polished, not at all like it had been sitting here getting juiced for four years. It looked more like a passenger ship. The small bar still had alcohol in its oval-shaped glass decanters. I picked up one, swirled the greenish liquid around, removed the top, and gave it a long whiff, taking in the herbal and fruity notes. Ah yes. Xhuel Wine, a Valisian favorite, aged to perfection long before it was ever poured into the glass. I grabbed one of the fluted wine glasses from the stack, poured myself a drink, and without hesitation, I swallowed the sweet liquid. Still good, naturally!

Whoever owned this ship sure as hell had good taste. Now look at me, wanting to get to the bottom of this mysterious ship that attacked the human's AI, but now I was thinking of taking another drink. Oh, what the hell. I took another drink.

The sweet flavor delighted my tongue, and the heat washed over me.

"I can tell by the height this is a Valisian ship, but it is something I've never seen," I said to the others who were off exploring the ship. I noted that the weapons systems weren't very extravagant, but enough to do the job. We Valisians rarely traveled in ships that weren't armed to the teeth.

"It's beautiful," Caspian gasped, his eyes lighting up since we came here.

"Yes, it is," I agreed with him: the soft, clean seats and overall sleek design. Someone built the ship for comfort, and while even my new ship had its comfortable cabin it was still very much a warlike vessel. I couldn't remember the last time I flew around in a passenger ship. "But we need to find out who owned this ship. The database looks dated," I said, taking a seat at the helm beside Connor, who was already in the ship's systems.

"It's dated 950 sd."

"That's over two hundred years ago! And this ship attacked you only four years ago?"

"That is correct." Connor nodded.

"I'm not even picking up the name of its owner; it's like the data had been scrubbed." The owner was smart; they didn't want the ship traced back to them, but why? Did they have time to attack an alien ship and scrub their own system?

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