Page 31 of Her Alien Savior
Beingtoldaboutstasis,and experiencing the odd sensation of being in one of those pods was like being drugged to accept the feeling of drowning as fluids filled my lungs, only to then wake up what felt like seconds later and be told that a month had passed. That and my skin was especially pruned. The exchange program didn’t advertise the pain associated with traveling in a stasis pod. If I had known, I might have thought differently about willingly climbing into one, but I guess that was better than spending months on a spaceship twiddling my thumbs.
Another unwelcomed needle plunged into my neck as I coughed up some more oxygenated fluid that looked like black sludge. A pleasant warming sensation traveled through my body, and I wondered why they waited to give me the good stuff to take the edge off the pain of my skin acting like it was going to fall off my bones.
All I could think was please do not show me a mirror, I probably looked to be over one-hundred years old. Had it only been a month in the stasis pod? Were we on Trillume now? How did no one talk about this part of space travel? I wiped goop from my eyes and choked some more.
Every inch of my body spasmed in the kind of pain that clawed for attention, digging deep into the bones. My brother’s voice echoed trying to wake me from my sleep, “Don’t give up on me, Lee.” He saw one old vid from a martial arts museum about a famous action star and ever since always called me Lee, but not even I could kick my leg up to my ear like that guy could.
His blonde hair whipped in the wind of a drone’s propellers, humming like a swarm of insects, quiet yet unnerving. His hand reached out for me as I shook my head not wanting him to go. It was too dangerous, and this was exactly why no aliens had ever attempted to reach out to Earth, aside from a few coded messages that were more like weird pictures that depicted what they may look like, copying our own messages out into the universe. they were playing with us then, and now that they’ve made contact, there was no going back.
I was ten when they were in negotiations for establishing a treaty of how their interactions with humans would be tolerated.
“I don’t care what the government says about the trill, until we have an independent account of what’s going on with the exchange, we are nothing but hostages in a large cage,” Nate used to say.
“You’re calling Earth a cage?” I asked him.
“I’m saying all of ‘our’ ships are owned by the trill to transport us to planets, approved and verified by aliens. We made our own ship, Lee, we can discover the universe ourselves without the influence of the trill. Come with me.” He was so earnest, pleading for me to leave Earth on an unsanctioned ship.
I knew what happened to all of our ships before the trill came along. They barely made it to Mars and back, and a majority of our resources were destroyed in the process. Literally destroying our planet to reach the stars. He would be lucky if this ship made it outside of our solar system, or what the trill called sector M-bac-loral-7-C of the Trillume Universe. There were no inhabitable planets in our sector, and he’d probably long be dead before reaching one without a stasis chamber.
“Lee,” he begged. “We’ve had ten years to reverse engineer the technology. It’s safe, and it’s on our terms. We’re being farmed and our government won’t do anything about it. They probably know as well as we do that the control we have here is an illusion that could crack at any moment.”
“I— I can’t, Nate...” I remembered denying him, and I’d give anything to say something different to him then.
“This isn’t real,” he said while shaking me by the shoulders, his silver-hazel eyes intense.
“But it can be,” I insisted. “I’m not dumb, Nate. I know the aliens could make us their lab rats, or sell us off like a commodity and what exactly could we do about it? But... but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Cooperation and showing them that we aren’t hostile can show the trill that they can get what they want without force and we can develop a working relationship that benefits both species. What you’re doing... can be seen as an attack on the treaty, a distrust in the fragile relationship that has been repaired after the bombings on the alien consulate buildings.”
Giving me a large hug that squeezed the very breath from my lungs, he smiled sadly at me. “That’s what I love about you. You believe that they will follow the right path, and make decisions that benefit both species, humans and trill.” He pulled away and sighed. “There is good and bad in every species, and I hope you never get to experience what can happen when the few make decisions for the whole, regardless of if most have the same light in their souls as you.”
“What are you planning?” I could tell this was something more than leaving Earth without authorization on their own secret ship.
I reached out to him, and tears prickled my eyes as his image evaporated between my fingers. Thrashing through the fog, I tried to find him again, screaming his name, “Nate! Nate... Nate.” I choked out a sob as I came to consciousness that his ship never made it past the moon.
It was my fault. I thought about that day for many years. If he didn’t take my words to heart, he would have been on a different ship. He’d be a criminal then, but at least he’d have been alive.
“Riley,” a soft, deep voice tried to sooth my sobs. Was I weak to believe in the good of all species? It was the reason why I was in the situation I was in now, wasn’t it? Trusting aliens and being betrayed by the one that accepted my application, knowing they were putting me in danger, and the ones that hijacked my transport in hopes of using me to get to her.
Was everyone so afraid in this universe that the only thing they could do was attack and betray?
I trembled, feeling the fear seep into my bones, morphing my sympathy and acceptance into mistrust and rage.
They’ve taken everything from me.
My brother, my purpose, and my freedom.
My hands lashed out, flailing and I screamed until I found purchase on something solid, and I squeezed. All I saw was red, and darkness until the sounds of gurgling echoed in my ears, a soft background like that of the bubbling brook on a calm summer day on Earth.
“Full of,” he choked out, my arm secured around his neck. “surprises.” I blinked, my haze clearing, as a hand lifted to brush away a tear traveling down my cheek.
“Direl?” I loosened my grip, my arm falling away as the tunnel of my vision widened to take in the surrounding room that appeared like an apartment back home. The information of seeing a room so much like an advertisement for a new staged condo with included furnishings from Earth juxtaposed with a hulking alien on the floor with my foot pressed to the back of his knee, and not a single one of his epul jutting out to stab me was confusing.
“Not one of my imaginings of your waking were anything like this,” he said without moving.
“Where are we?” Was this part of the ship somewhere? Were we back on Earth? Strange enough, not one of my questions were why was he here?
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he began.
“You didn’t,” I lied while slowly removing my arm from his neck. If he had meant me harm then he could have skewered me with his epul, but he didn’t. Guess there were still some nice aliens out there, not including me, since I woke up attacking him.
