Page 97 of Stranded with the Alien

He rounded a corner and was gone.

She dropped her face into her hands and sobbed until the tears ran dry.

It was only when Rocky licked her arm that she found the energy to pull herself to her feet.

Vahn was right. They couldn’t stay here forever, as idyllic as that idea sounded. She had to get back to the real world.

She had to face her mother and persuade her to take the first steps towards making peace with Vraxos. It was the only hope she had of being with Vahn again.

She wiped her nose on her arm and looked down at Rocky.

“Just you and me now. Come on.”

She started for the camp.

Behind her, Vahn kept resolutely moving forward, even though it was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. It took everything he had to stop himself running back to her and tell her that yes, they should hide until her people had gone and live out their days together.

But that was just a selfish dream. Whatever she might think now, she needed to be among her own kind. She would understand that when she was home.

He marched uphill until his thigh muscles burned and his calves ached. When he heard the roar of the approaching spacecraft, he activated his natural camouflage ability and took cover among the rocks.

They were descending. It wouldn’t be long until their sensors picked up the human life form. And then she would be gone.

The noise of the engines rose to a shrill whine as the thrusters were engaged and he frowned. It sounded like a large vessel. Certainly larger than an ordinary human reconnaissance ship.

Perhaps they’d sent a cruiser? Not unlikely, if that was closest to the planet when the beacon was detected. But it didn’t sound like a cruiser. It sounded like…

A bad feeling came over him. He peered upwards, waiting for the craft to emerge from the cloud cover. As soon as the bottom edge appeared, gleaming like polished titanium, he started to run.

He covered the ground at speed, using his serpetri to help propel him over rocks at breakneck velocity.

“Kara!”

It seemed an age before he reached the camp. An age where his imagination threw up the most horrific scenarios.

When he finally saw her, she had changed back into her SDF uniform and was gathering her belongings. He bellowed her name and she span round.

“Vahn! What…?”

“Kara, stop. Wait.”

“What the hell’s going on? If the SDF see you…”

“It’s not the SDF. Not your people. It is mine. It’s Vraxos.”

Forty Six

Kara’s eyes widened.

“Fuck! What shall I do? Shall I go into the hills?”

“It is too late.”

In despair he glanced behind him. Her eyes followed and they watched the ship descend. It was half a kilometer away, landing in a spot relatively clear of trees. Too close for comfort.

A Vraxian warship. One of the largest in the fleet, with capacity for a full battalion of a thousand troops.

He should have known, Vahn thought hopelessly. He should have realized his father wouldn’t rest until his son had been found.

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