Page 4 of Her Alien Savior
He had to be lying, how would he be able to know a plan I wasn’t even aware of. What exactly was in this sector that they cared enough about to invade? They already owned this star system. These planets already paid a tithe from their exports.
“I can see you’re having trouble digesting this information.” Sylve appeared thoughtful, and even sympathetic as he sighed. “I’m glad it’s you, brother. Perhaps I can talk some sense into you. The Trillume aren’t the reasonable warriors you think they are. They take what they want, and they’ve destroyed entire planets that didn’t bend to their will.”
“They are, by our own tribal laws, ruler of our tribes. They did not destroy our planet, and our warriors live as they have always lived. Our tribal laws are respected,” I tried to reason with someone I considered a friend once, family even.
“Direl... Do not be blind. They used our own laws to their benefit, and other planets that don’t submit willingly as we did were not so lucky. Entire species nearly extinct, even some by our own hands under the control of Trillume. Wake up. Or be forced to see them for what they are in a less than honorable way.”
I didn’t understand, there was no way he would best me at a duel... and I felt myself stumble across the causeway, the infinite darkness of space surrounding us with the only illumination beneath our feet lighting our way.
When?I thought with alarm.
Sylve turned to peel off some latex third skin from his hand.No...
“You’ll be fine in an hour. It was a steep trade to find the elder root from Necias Prime, but I’m not a monster like the one you currently follow. I wanted to do this in a civil manner. Don’t worry, I’ll regain both of our honor by dueling you properly when the time is right. See you in a few weeks, brother.”
“What did you do?” My voice gravelly from induced sleep. The elder root was a home remedy for warriors in rut without their mate. It was the only kindness we could give them to shut down the body before the chemicals took over our minds. But it only lasted an hour if not reapplied to a warrior not in the heat of rut, and Sylve had said weeks...
“I’m putting you in the stasis pod until we reach Earth. Don’t worry, I’ll explain more later. You’ll come to understand I did what was necessary.”
This didn’t explain how he had control of my vessel, I thought as my mind went foggy. The only explanation was betrayal. My second… Chuel followed our old king...
And I should have seen this coming after what we’d lost together.
Chapter three
Riley
“Guessthejokeison me,” Joel mumbled as he swiped to have my boarding authorization loaded to my implant, along with translator updates for communication with my host.
“We can’t be right all the time,” I teased him with a smile. My bag was packed with mementos of Earth, since everything else would be provided for me. This was it. I was going to Trillume!
I had to wait a couple weeks to leave because they weren’t going to send a whole transport to Trillume for one human, but the day was here. A shuttle would be sent up, and I would dock with the main Trillume ship with a bunch of other exchange recruits. I’d be the one to stay on Trillume, while others would transfer to different ships.
Abuzz with excitement and nerves, I got a good feeling about the trill scientist I met. She was beautiful, just as the posters and vid ads showed trill to be. The trill had no hair, but her skin was flawless, and had a twinkling sheen to it like the universe began and ended there. I couldn’t stop staring at her, and she was so friendly, even laughed at how I fumbled over my words.
She asked me, “Why did you sign up for the H.E.T.?”
And I quickly replied, uncaring of Joel’s prying ears, “I want to make a difference, and...” This part was more difficult to admit, “My family isn’t on Earth.”
“Did they join the exchange as well then?” she asked kindly, not knowing what I meant, but I didn’t think I could say anything more on the issue just then. I couldn’t choke now, I thought, this was my chance to give others the family I could never have.
I cleared my throat, “My brother didn’t believe in a world coexisting with aliens, and,” I stopped myself.
“Yes,” she replied quietly, “I see your history file here. No need to get into it.”
I nodded my thanks, and forced a smile to stop my tears, but she wouldn’t know my emotions were for more than the loss of my brother... but also the loss of the chance of ever rebuilding my family in the future, and that I would be the end of the Spearit line. My insemination files were not part of my application history, only the fact that I was infertile. I’d tried, regardless of whether I had someone to share it with. It was always the same, none of my eggs survived the process.
“There are many humans who have made a home on Trillume, would you consider a longer exchange than the typical Earth year?” she asked before adding, “We could use someone with your history to help our team, it’s unusual for female applicants to take every assessment during the recruiting phase. You’ve scored high on every training program, and even spent an entire year learning to speak Trillix, and Cial, the native tongue of the necia. Tell me, why did you learn Cial? All citizens of Trillume Empire learn Trillix, and those who don’t... have translators.”
“It’s your second largest population, and I found the language to be soothing to learn.” I didn’t include that I had to learn Trillix in order to learn Cial to begin with. It was the only way the A.I. would cooperate with teaching me the language. They didn’t make it easy, and it took me more than a year to learn, but I wasn’t about to correct her on that.
She laughed forming crinkles around her large eyes the color of her skies, vivid green. “I have never heard anyone describe the Cial language as soothing. Most find it to be abrasive and fear inducing. Many species struggle with getting the correct sounds to form in their throats.”
I shrugged, now feeling the weight of the previous conversation lifted from my chest as I replied in Trillix with a common proverb of theirs, “An ear for not is an eye for two.” It translated to something closer to the meaning of to each their own, what is unheard by some is seen by others.
Her green eyes glowed, and she smiled replying in kind with a common proverb of acknowledgement in the Trillix tongue, “Small is her sight when focused on but one instead of many. My name is Klemon of Lumar Trillume, Riley Spearit of Earth.”
Joel whispered to me from the side with a nudge, “She’s given you her name, quick—“
