The Alien’s Stowaway Page 3

  "Stand tall," Alice whispered to me once they’d left me whimpering in the sand. "If they see you're too hurt, they'll switch you to the day shift. You know they won't give you time to heal." She looked down at me, worry shining on her face.

  She was right, and for Alice, I’d do anything. I stood and finished the rest of my shift. Later, as we walked, Alice again gestured to me. Stand tall. I nodded and straightened my spine, ignoring the ache as I held out my arm to check out with the guard. He scanned my ident bracelet and shook his head at me. "Be smarter next time."

  I didn't look at him but nodded once. With my spine ramrod straight, I walked out of the cave and toward the barracks. There was an air of excitement in between the shimmering heat waves. Once a month, we got a night off. Not to let us rest, but for the scientists to measure our progress and determine if we needed to move to a new room in the mines. If we dug too far in any one direction, the strength of the mine's walls could've been compromised. It was a night we all looked forward to.

  Knowing there would be no bell to wake me at dusk, I cleaned myself up, cleaned my tools, gave Alice a smile, and buckled into my bunk for a long sleep. It was my favorite night of the month, and I definitely needed the extra time to heal.

  I sank into a deep, dreamless sleep, but the ache in my back woke me far earlier than I'd hoped. With a sigh, I scooted to the end of the bed. There wasn't enough room up on my top bunk to sit up, and laying, no matter how I tossed and turned, was too painful.

  Alice sat up when I climbed down. "You okay?" she whispered.

  "Yeah. Just couldn't sleep. You enjoy our night off." She nodded and laid her head on her pillow.

  I walked out the back door and discovered the sun was nearly set. I'd woken a few minutes earlier than I would've on a regular workday. Lovely. I'd have to wait another month for the chance to rest properly again. I felt a surge of sadness at my wasted night, wincing as my movements rubbed my injuries.

  I walked as far away from the barracks as I dared, still under the watchful eyes of the guards. I lowered until I was sitting, facing the last rays of the too-bright sun. I sighed as I stretched out my legs, cooling off slightly. I couldn’t believe this was my life. That day, when I’d learned I was going to be sent to Hydronia, was the best day of my life. The day I was sent to this wasteland was the worst. Every subsequent day since then had been my new worst day. I’d fucked up. I’d fucked up my happy future, and all over a silly boy. As the sun disappeared over the sand, something far more interesting than my pained memories caught my eye.

  It fell out of the sky like a star, catching the final glints of sunlight as it dropped. A ship. A ship was crashing into the desert. An actual ship. And it wasn't that far away. My heart shot into my throat, pounding heavily as ideas started to flood my mind. I glanced back, hoping beyond hope that I was the only one who had spotted it. The only two guards on duty were chatting with each other, completely oblivious to the miracle that had just come. Whipping back around, I tried to contain my emotions enough to stand up. As I did, I watched the vessel crash land way out in the desert.

  Shit. They had to have seen that, right? I peeked over my shoulder, but they were still chatting. I blew out a nervous breath, returning my gaze to the plume of sand that was slowly settling. If I could figure out how to pilot the ship, I could get Alice and me out of here. We could escape.

  My body immediately began quivering with excitement, alight with the possibilities. I could leave now. I could leave right now, and I wouldn't be missed until the following sunset when it was time to return to work. This was the chance of a lifetime. I had to act!

  I walked casually back, entering the barracks as quietly as I could. I put my finger on Alice's mouth and shook her awake. She jolted and looked up at me with furrowed brows. "What?" she mouthed. I motioned for her to follow me, then grabbed my little bag full of the things I'd managed to squirrel away.

  We went outside and I pointed to the dust cloud still slightly settling. "A ship just crashed there," I whispered. Alice looked up at me with wide eyes, her mouth falling open slightly. I nodded at her, locking gazes. Then I nodded to where the guards were still ignoring us, putting a finger over my own lips.

  Alice looked back at the ship, wonder on her face. Good, she understood what this meant for us. I turned her back to me, then whispered, "Go in and use your blankets to make it look like I'm asleep in my bunk. Tell anyone that asks that the beating got to me and I need the rest."

  She shook her head, whisper-yelling. "It's too risky."

  "Alice, if I don't try..." I stared desperately toward the cloud of sand. "I have to try."

  She must've seen the determination in my eyes because she stared at me for a long while, then slowly nodded and said, "I'll cover for you. Go." I gave her a quick hug, checking the guards one last time. They had turned even farther away now, and the quickly-darkening sky would help me. I ran away, turning quickly to wave to Alice. She lifted her hand, worry still written into the lines of her withered face.

  I can do this. For us I can do this.

  Turning back to the task, I began sprinting. At first it was easy. I was in fairly decent shape due to my labor-intensive lifestyle, and the night was cooling off to bearable temperatures. After a while of pretty steady running though, I began to lag. The ship was a lot farther out than I originally thought, and I wasn’t even sure I was heading in the right direction now. I thought I should have come across it. Worried, I picked up my pace. I had to get back before the sun set the next day. If I found shelter for the night, I'd have to set back before it set to get there in time. And I was already exhausted.

  Grinding my teeth, I carried on. The sky was clear and the moon full, which helped me stay on track. I measured time by counting my steps. When I'd gone half the night, I began to consider turning back, but then a whiff of ship oil tantalized my nose. I was close. Whirling in place, I looked for any indication of what direction to turn. I'd drifted a little—as I had guessed—but in the dark, I couldn't tell which direction.

  A small metal piece in the sand a few feet away told me to go right. I picked it up, hope resparking in my chest. I ran again when I saw another one a few feet away. By the time I reached the ship, my arms were full of random parts. The silver ship was almost perfectly round. It had a large window running around the entire circumference, and a single door, which looked like it had broken off its hinges in the crash. I sped up, ignoring the pain in my back.

  When I was close enough, I dumped the contents of my arms, peering around the ship in case anyone was going to attack me. Nothing moved. Slowly, I crept around the outside of the vehicle, until I was face-to-face with the open door.

  The alien in the pod moaned in pain. He was alive.

  My heart rate slowed after my run, picked back up to dangerous speeds. This could be dangerous. I took in the alien, assessing threat levels. He—I glanced down to his junk, definitely a ‘he’—was enormous, easily twice my size. I'd seen a few human men that were that much bigger than me, so he wasn't a giant or anything, but he looked to be close to seven feet tall. I was pretty small, even for a human, and I knew this alien could easily overpower me if he wanted.

  I tilted my head to the side as I gazed down at him. I would've thought he was a human, except for his long purple hair and the slight otherness of his facial features. His eyes were a tiny bit too big, his nose a bit too low, his lips... his lips were perfectly plump, actually.

  And shit, he was gorgeous. Briefly, I allowed myself to get swept up in the look of the alien. I was surprised at how badly I wanted to touch him. I’d been attracted to several of the Hydronians during my time there, but I hadn’t been interested in male companionship in years. I took a few steps closer, drinking in his long, sculpted muscles. The hair that was splayed around him in the crash, easily as long as his torso. I imagined running my hands through that hair…

  Fuck. Now is not the time.

  What was I supposed to do with him? I sat down, putting my
head in my hands. This was going to be a lot harder if I had to fight a giant alien for my escape vehicle. It might've been kindest to kill him. Save him the suffering of a long, slow death in the desert. Or the even longer suffering of being captured by the TerraLink Program and sent to a work camp. As I sat in the cooling sand, I heard a movement behind me.

  I whirled around, standing in one smooth motion. I peeked back into the ship, but the alien was still. Then he let out a long, involuntary groan, since he was still unconscious. The sound made me worry. The crash should've killed him, but he seemed fairly intact. Except for the stain on his abdomen. Deep, crimson blood had spread across his shirt. I tiptoed into the pod and bent over his body. When he didn't move, I tugged his stiff, gray shirt up to reveal a small gash in his side. I chose to ignore the taught muscles beneath the shirt.

  He cried out when I pressed my finger near the wound, trying to gauge how deep it was. It was pretty deep. He'd need some healing. I looked around the pod, which had a small light in the back putting off a glow. The soft light was enough to let me see there was an emergency kit and a first aid kit.

  Damn it. I should kill him. Remove the threat, and be on my way. I had Alice to think of, and what was one, random alien to me? Squatting next to him though, seeing the softened expression as he lay unconscious, I had to try to help him. We had only hours until dawn, so I’d have to act quickly.

  Maybe if I got him healed enough, he could pilot this thing and get us out of here. Or at least that’s what I told myself as I prepared to take such a huge risk. Not letting myself get too caught up in my thoughts, I dropped my bag and plopped down next to the alien. It was cool enough in the dark and in the ship, so I figured maybe it was better to treat him here than out in the open. Pulling out the first aid kit, I began working, starting by disinfecting the wound. The alien didn’t react again to my touch, and I mostly was too focused on my task at hand to see how he was handling it. I stitched the wound closed and covered it with a bandage, then moved his arms and legs, searching for more injuries. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the alien seemed to be breathing more steadily now, so I was grateful.

  I stood up, taking stock of the rest of the ship. I’d only ever been inside the ships that had taken me to and from Hydronia, so I didn’t know what any of the buttons and lights meant. I looked down at the sleeping alien, then whispered, “You had better be worth it.”

  Suddenly, I realized the sky had lightened. It wasn't quite so dark. Oh, no! I'd miscalculated the dawn and been out here much longer than I'd thought. Running out of the ship, I turned in a circle and cried out in frustration. What would we do out here? It would take too long to get back to the barracks, and in the heat of the day, staying in the ship would be impossible.

  I raked my eyes across the sand, searching for something. Anything. Finally, there. In the distance was a big mound. Alice had told me about these, or at least I hoped this was what she had told me about. If I was right, it was an entrance to a series of caves. When the TerraLink Program had found them empty of minerals and metals, they’d left them empty. I didn’t know if they went very deep, were cool enough, or even if this was an entrance.

  I had to try. For both our sakes.

  Running back inside the beaten-up ship, I stuffed the first aid kit in the bigger emergency kit and stuck my arms through the handles to wear it like a backpack. There was nothing else useful in the tiny ship, so I squatted next to the big alien and looped my arms under his armpits. I had to use all of my strength, but after some scooting and finagling, I dragged him out of the pod.

  Tears coursed down my cheeks as I slowly pulled him toward the caves. My muscles burned and screamed their protests, but I just growled and continued. This was not something I thought I’d ever have to endure, but there was no turning back now.

  The rays of the sun burst over the edges of the horizon and slammed into me just as I was taking a breather. It was already hot, but with the sun beating directly on me now, it was nearly too hot to breathe. Within an hour it would be hot enough to blister my skin. Redoubling my efforts, I looked back to see I'd made it most of the way. Sobbing in relief, I pulled and yanked the huge alien toward the closest cave opening. As soon as we were under the shadowed entrance, I dropped him and fell to the ground. I lay there, panting, and rubbed my tired arms.

  I'd done it. But I couldn't rest long. We had to get as deep inside as possible or the heat would get us anyway. Groaning, I picked him up again under his shoulders and began again. He was easier to drag over the smooth stone. As soon as we were about forty feet back, the temperature dropped noticeably.

  "Oh, wow," I whispered.

  We kept going until the cave was so dark I had to stop. It was so cool back here. I didn't understand how the salt mines could stay so stuffy and hot when these caves were cool and comfortable. I almost screamed at the unfairness of it all, but didn’t want to wake the alien. I still wasn’t sure what to do with him. Would he attack me when he woke, or would he be grateful?

  I eyed his huge, limp body, unsure what to do. Chewing my cheek, I decided to explore the rest of the cave. Maybe this could be a safe place to hide for a while. Rustling through the emergency bag, I smiled when I found a light. I put the bag on my shoulders again and gripped the light in one hand.

  As I walked, carefully avoiding any holes or jutting stones, I thought about the choice I’d just made. It was a big one. One that would affect Alice too. I couldn’t know the outcome of this little endeavor, but I believed that I had to try to make it work. The ship was too good of an opportunity to waste, and I knew I’d be willing to fight for it should the alien prove to be a problem.

  Suddenly, the sound of running water greeted my ears and I halted. Tinkling, trickling. The beautiful sound of running water. Shining the light eagerly all around me, I quickly found the source. There was a crack in the back wall, and a tiny stream ran from it toward another crack. It was barely enough to slurp up, but as soon as I found it, I dropped to my knees with a cry. Water was not something I got a lot of, and the cool clean taste had me practically crying there on the cave floor. I drank quickly, worried at first I’d drink it all. That worry went away when I saw that what I’d drank was replaced with more and more, streaming from the tiny crack steadily. I smiled, then drank until my belly was uncomfortably full.

  Once I’d had my fill, I stood drunkenly, and returned to the alien. He lay exactly as I’d left him, which was in a giant, golden-skinned heap. Even in the very dim light of the cave, he was beautiful. I sat back, resting for a moment. Enjoying the quiet cave, I laid back and closed my eyes.

  Now what?

  4

  Jarix

  The crash landing played through my mind over and over. When I'd entered the atmosphere, the pod's information screen had told me what the planet was called. Earth. Whoa. I'd heard horror stories about this planet. Briefly, I wondered if I’d made a huge mistake in stealing the pod, but I didn’t have time to think it over before the entire thing was shaking so badly it rattled my brain.

  The pod shouldn't have had any trouble entering the atmosphere, but as we broke through, it had caught on fire. There was nothing I could do to stop it. From the time the gloves had slipped off of my hands, I'd been going on adrenaline, and now it was too late to consider a better plan. As my ship barreled toward an enormous brown swathe of ground, I told the pod to perform an emergency landing, but it was too late. This little pod didn't have thrusters strong enough to slow such a fast descent. I couldn't do a damn thing but brace myself as flames roared past me out the window.

  As the memory of the landing rushed through my mind over and over, the one thing I couldn't remember was the impact. After it was over, everything was smoky. Hazy. I couldn't get out of the seat, but kept waking up long enough to look around me and see dirt floating in the air. But that didn't make sense. I'd crashed in a desert. It had to be sand.

  I knew if I didn't get up and move, someone would find me, and I'd end up ba
ck on that prison ship. Now that I’d done it, I realized one factor I hadn’t considered: the prison ship would know exactly where I was. The pod I’d taken was programmed to toss its passenger at the nearest habitable planet. Because this was the only habitable—barely—planet nearby, they’d be able to locate me pretty quickly. I kept telling myself to hurry, to move, but consciousness slipped away from me, to my disappointment. Now was not the time for laying about, now was the time for getting the hell out of here. I cursed my weak body.

  That was where I was when I finally woke. In the pod, broken and unmoving. I could feel the heat of my Pryori blast wound. After several rounds of waking and then falling back unconscious, I woke again to see a creature wrapped in rags standing over me. I tried to scream and fight, but it was like my body was paralyzed. The creature approached me, muttering in a language I didn’t understand, and it was infuriating that I couldn’t stand. Couldn’t fight. Couldn’t even react. When the rag-monster yanked up my shirt and probed at my wound, I screamed with all my might, but all that came out of my mouth was a moan.

  Before long, the creature hefted me out of the pod and dragged me across the hot sand. I was barely aware of what was happening, but the sand burned my back where my shirt had ridden up. I whimpered and tried to fight, but my arms and legs wouldn't move. Why couldn't I move my limbs? Had the impact actually paralyzed me? If I had made my grand escape, only to be rendered immobile and useless on this barren planet, at the whims of a creature I couldn’t comprehend, I might as well just die right now.

  However, I wasn’t yet dead, and I was still at the mercy of the thing yanking me along. I didn't know what sort of creature had me, but my first instinct told me it was one of the monsters from the lore on my planet. I was too delirious to remember the name of it, but I knew that they sucked all the blood out of their victim's bodies and left the carcasses to rot in the sun. How one of the creatures from stories we told our children had ended up on Earth was beyond my addled mind, so I simply waited until it decided to eat me. If I was paralyzed, that was a better fate than withering to death in the heat.