Page 33 of Stranded with the Alien

“I don’t need a break.”

“Your face is an unattractive shade of red.”

“And yours is an unattractive shade of blue,” she retorted. “So what?”

“Fine. Have it your way.” He strode off, but less quickly this time. She caught up and fell into step.

They journeyed for another hour before she spoke.

“I never thanked you for saving me from that spider thing,” she said grudgingly. “Why did you?”

“I thought it had caught something I could eat myself. I did not realize it was anedekhuman until I saw you.”

Nedek.Puny. Her jaw tightened.

“I’m not puny. I’m trained in hand-to-hand. I’ve taken down guys twice my size.”

“You have never faced a Vraxian warrior.”

“Yeah? You’re forgetting I knocked you out not so long ago.”

He was quiet for a moment and she flushed, cursing herself for bringing upthatparticular memory. Then a deep rumble emanated from his chest. He was laughing.

“You are right, tiny human. You did render me unconscious. In fact, I formally pay homage to your fearsome combat skill.”

He turned to her and swept into a low, exaggerated bow. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help feeling pleased.

“So no more of thisnedekshit, okay?”

“I concur. Indeed, you have bested me more than once. The first time you stayed my hand was by falsely offeringshaa’baara. How did you know about that?”

“We’re taught about Vraxian culture at military academy. So we can understand what makes you tick.”

“And do you? Understand us?”

“There’s not much to understand, is there? Vraxians only care about defeating Earth and taking its resources for yourselves. All your energies are directed at war. Instead of building your own technologies, you want to strip us of ours.”

He pinned her with his yellow gaze.

“I see. And what kind of technologies would that be?”

“We have advanced nuclear fusion generators which power our space ships as well as cities, countries, and entire continents.”

He snorted.

“Our power sources are cleaner and have far greater yields than nuclear energy. What else?”

“We have medical devices that detect and cure cancer before the patient suffers any symptoms.”

“We eradicated most tumor-based illnesses decades ago.”

“We have hand-held devices capable of translating any Earth language in a matter of…”

“And I have just given you engineered microbes that allow you to understand any extraterrestrial speech in the known galaxy. Including lesser dialects.”

Kara fell silent.

The Vraxians want our resources.That was the narrative she’d grown up with. The one all humans were taught. By their parents and teachers, and by their leaders. The same narrative that had been drummed into her by her mother and her military instructors.

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