Chapter 3
Dr. Alice Tanner
I studied the Raither man, disbelief heavy in my chest. His handsome, chiseled features were contorted in an expression of serious concern, and I found myself feeling more contemptuous toward him than ever.
“What do you mean a prison planet?” I demanded.
Night had begun to fall, and the Raither had quickly and expertly carved out a small, comfortable shelter for the two of us to share. He kept getting up and pacing around, making sure that there was nobody within the proximity of the camp. It was making me nervous. And now that he had informed me that there was such a thing as a prison planet, and that we were on one, I was having a hard time swallowing the situation.
The alien’s sky-blue skin on his face darkened, and I pursed my lips, knowing instinctively that I wasn’t going to like what came out if his mouth next.
“A prison planet…this one specifically…is highly dangerous. It is where the most fearsome and bloodthirsty criminals in the universe are deposited. There is a universal code of sorts: a contract. If we should encounter people of another species, particularly if we are part of the Resha Federation, as most planets with a positive alignment tend to be, we do not simply dispose of those who seek to dominate or destroy us. Instead, we bring them to Hexa, or her sister planets, Jexa and Texa.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you’re a criminal?” I asked, shocked that a ridiculously handsome alien like this might be considered armed and dangerous, especially after trying to protect me from the giant red creature that I had been so bizarrely drawn to. It was almost as if it gave off some kind of scent that lured prey closer to it.
“Oh, for gred’s sake no!” he said, and I was startled by the flashing of his multicolored eyes. He ran his hand through his silky, deep blue hair, and then startled me with a broad smile. “I am the commander of my fleet, and our ship crash-landed on this planet. I have been looking for the rest of my crew, and our ship.”
“You have a ship?” I exclaimed, standing up quickly and running toward him. “If you have a ship, then maybe we can all get out of here…”
“Hold it, human,” he said, putting his hand up to keep me from coming any closer to him. “First of all, there is no reason for my men to put themselves at risk to help you and the rest of the humans on this planet. If you are here, you are here for a reason.”
“Well, yeah…because that one girl killed the Petchuvian when he tried to mate with her. But it was an accident!”
“So in the minds of the Petchuvians, your race is dangerous and deserves to be punished for murder. It would be even more dangerous for my people to break you out of this planet. I cannot put my men at the risk of persecution in the face of the Intergalactic Council. It would be a death sentence.”
“It wouldn’t put you in a position you aren’t already in,” I pointed out. “They would just put you guys back on this planet.”
“No,” the alien said, his expression stern. “They would eliminate us. For we had a sworn duty to remain bound to the contract of the alliance, and should we violate that agreement, we could find ourselves risking the penalty of death.”
“You can’t just leave us here!” I exclaimed, overwhelmed with a sudden dread. If I was left on this planet for the rest of my life, I didn’t know what I would do. I needed to go home. I needed Earth. The thought of being stuck here was absolutely unacceptable.
“Human!” the alien man said, his multicolored eyes suddenly fierce. “I do not even know where my ship is. I do not know whether my crew is alive or dead, or whether the ship is even in working order. Do you understand me? I need to find them. And I need you to cooperate so that I can do so without having to worry that you are going off becoming the next meal for a gredding Jorgan! Do you understand me?”
“All right,” I said quietly, looking down at my hands. I had been tagging along behind him all day, mostly silent, and realized suddenly that in all the time we had spent together, we hadn’t introduced ourselves. “So what’s your name, anyway?”
He seemed caught off guard by the change of subject and stared at me for a moment, his mouth slightly ajar as if he were going to say something else about how I was an idiot to get lured into the trap of the gigantic beast that had nearly devoured me alive.
“I am Commander Kecha Thornax. What do you go by, Earthling?”
“Alice,” I said simply. For as handsome as he was, he could sure be an asshole. And yet there was something about him that made me want to know more about him. He had saved my life. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
“That’s it?” he asked, his handsome brow sloping incredulously. “Just Alice?”
“Well I’m a scientist, so technically my full name is Dr. Alice Monroe. But I don’t need to be called the whole thing all the time, you know. Just Alice is fine.”
He seemed to consider this, though he made no move to acknowledge my words, and moved to the other side of the shelter to make sure that there were no unwanted creatures roaming nearby.
“You should sleep human…Alice. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I am not going to stop moving until I find my crew, and I must be alert on this planet. There are many unsavory characters here from all stretches of the universe. It would be foolish to go unprepared.”
I nodded and tried to get comfortable on the huge palm leaf that Kecha had brought in for me to lay on. It was surprisingly soft, though the ground beneath me was hard. Still, it was a lot more comfortable than the floor of the ship that I had been stuck on for far too long with the other women in my research team.
I glanced around the shelter, concerned that Kecha might have been intending to sleep near me. For some reason, the thought filled me with trepidation, and I sat up and looked at him levelly.
“Aren’t you going to sleep too?” I asked him.
“I may doze off, but I cannot leave the shelter unattended. There is no telling what might be lurking out there. There are many nasty beasts out in the universe, Dr. Alice. The kinds of monsters confined to a planet like this are the most fearsome you could possibly imagine. You just sleep for now. I am going to see to it that we make it through to the morning.”
I laid back down, my eyes lingering on the tall, no-nonsense commander. As much as I wanted to trust him, maybe even to like him, there was just something about him that made me uneasy. Whether it was just the fear of being in a new situation or feeling as if he was going to feel like I owed him something for offering me his protection, I wasn’t sure. But whatever it was, it would have to wait until morning.
I hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a week or more at that point, and my body welcomed sleep whenever it could as a means to escape the painful rumbling in my stomach and to conserve energy.
Before I knew it, the scene of the small shelter disappeared, and I was tugged into the blackness of sleep.
***
“Human, we must leave now!”
“My name is Alice,” I grumbled, opening my eyes and glaring at Kecha.
“Not a morning person, are you?” Kecha asked, flashing me an annoyingly charming grin.
I sat up, grumpy and ravenously hungry. Nothing was fun on an empty stomach—least of all waking up to greet a new day.
“Here,” Kecha said, thrusting one of the fronds from the fruit tree at me. On it was a small collection of fruits and berries. I looked at him, bewildered.
“What is this?” I asked. “You were so freaked out about everything yesterday.”
Kecha let his handsome face relax into a smile, and I found myself mesmerized by his strange but pleasing features. His cheekbones were rather high, and his eyes were slightly larger than human eyes and very expressive, but because of it, he seemed even more handsome. It made it easy to pinpoint the different flecks of color within them—greens and blues and violets—and vibrant golds. It was almost like watching a rainbow’s reflection on the ocean, rippling and changing, depending on his thoughts and feelings. I had never seen anything so beautiful.
“I did some exploring in the early morning light,” he said. “Apparently there are orchards on this planet full of foods that are accessible to all races throughout the galaxy. There would have to be, considering this is a dumping ground. The Council is not cruel; they wouldn’t put criminals here to starve. Rather, it is more meant as a punishment whereupon they either learn to work together or annihilate themselves and each other.”
“So you know these are safe?” I asked, picking up what looked like an oversized blueberry. “I can eat all of this myself?”
“I had my fill this morning in the orchard. I presume these would be safe for humans as well; I had plenty and I feel great.”
“Thank you,” I said, stunned by the gesture.
Soon I was devouring the meal, thrilled by the ability to finally fill the gnawing void in my stomach. The fruit the night before had been great, but eating foods that were designed to truly nourish a body with my biological makeup gave me a sense of satisfaction I hadn’t had since my last meal on Earth.
“All right,” Kecha said when he saw that I had finished the meal. “We really need to get going now. I need to find my crew. And if the ship is still salvageable, even if none of the crew survived, the last thing we need is some of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy finding it and figuring out a way to get off this planet.”
I nodded and followed Kecha outside the shelter. He swiftly destroyed it, kicking down all the branches and fronds he had so carefully constructed the night before to make it look as if they had never been there. Soon they were walking through the dense canopy, quietly taking in the scenery.
“I want to go back with my group,” I said quietly. Although it was true, I felt safe under the watchful eye of the strange Raither alien, whose muscular body seemed to tease the confines of his clothing and give me a tantalizing impression of what might lie beneath. But I belonged with the other humans.
“That isn’t an option. Maybe if I find my ship, and my crew, then we can get you back to them. But right now, this is more important.”
“I don’t see why I have to tag along with you if you aren’t even going to take me back to Earth with you!” I exclaimed. “I just need to go home. I don’t think you understand.”
The Raither turned to me, fixing a sidelong look at my eyes that was a little bit chilling. No matter how well he provided for me, I didn’t trust him. He scared me. I wanted to like him, and knew he was extremely handsome, but I just couldn’t.
“If you have no value for your life, then please, by all means, go off on your own. It would do me a favor not to have to look after anyone. I don’t want anything slowing me down; this is more important than you realize.”
“I get it. You don’t want the bad guys to steal your ship. I just…”
I sighed. How was I going to be able to convey to this alien the complex range of human emotion? I was stricken again and again by just how analytical and calculating he was. The nuances of my feelings seemed to baffle him. He acted perplexed if I showed anything beyond the general range of emotion that he himself was capable of displaying outwardly. Smiles or anger or sadness. But when it came to the idea of trying to truly explain what it was that I was experiencing, the concept left me cold. I knew he just wouldn’t get it. And even if he did, he wouldn’t care. The only thing that mattered to him was his mission. But it was a mission that wasn’t even going to do me any good, so why did I have to tag along like this?
“I already told you how it is going to be,” he said, turning to face me, his strong features dark and menacing. This was clearly someone who was used to being in control, and although in a way that meant that I was safe with him, it was also infuriating.
“Why do I have to answer to you?” I exclaimed.
“Can you fight off the beasts in this world on your own? You have my blessing to try! I have no investment in you or your happiness. I am here to try to find my crew, and to salvage what can be salvaged of my ship. Unlike your group of murderous humans, my crew has done nothing to warrant being on this planet. Nothing! Except going on a mission with a leader who let them down.”
His eyes clouded over and Kecha turned away from me. I had to fight the bewildering urge to touch his shoulder, but there was nothing I could have done to console him. Even if I didn’t like the guy, it was kind of hard not to feel a little sorry for him. He was in a shitty position, and he felt responsible for the men who had crashed onto Hexa with him. The women I had been dumped onto the planet with would probably be fine. We were the smartest people on Earth, according to a vast majority. I would just have to sit back and relax and hope that everything was going to work out for the best.
***
“How big is this planet anyway?” I asked, sighing miserably as we sat down to take a break. We had located a stream running along an orchard, and I drank my fill. “This might be a good place to settle down, you know? I mean, if we end up being stuck here for a while.”
Kecha nodded, bringing his broad, pale-blue hand to his lips and drinking deeply of the water contained inside. I watched for a moment, mesmerized by the small stream of trickling liquid, brought to life and sparkling by the light of the huge orange suns that had risen in the sky. When Krecha was finished drinking, he answered.
“The planet is about three times the size of Earth,” he said, running his hand through his hair and leaving little beads of water glimmering in the silky blue locks. “It might take a while to locate the ship. Especially if someone else got to it before we did.”
“Um…how do you know if the ship landed on the planet at all?”
It was a question I had dreaded asking, knowing just how determined Kecha was to locate the vessel and any of his crew members, whether dead or alive. He needed that closure much like I needed to know that one day, I would be able to return back to my home planet.
He looked at me, his expression heavy and the light in his multicolored eyes dim. “The truth is, human, that I don’t know anything right now. I know that I am here. And that because I am here, in all likelihood, that means that the others are here as well. And I must find them. I am their commander. Nothing is more important to me than fulfilling my duty to my men.”
I felt a small sting at the words: a silly, inconsequential sting at the implication that my being there meant less to him than his duty to his men. It was selfish and bizarre, and I knew it. I had to attribute it to the stress of the situation. It was hard to be left out, and frankly, that was something that had happened to me far more frequently than I cared to admit.
“I’m sure you’re going to find them,” I said, unsure of what else to say. The Raither simply wasn’t going to quit until he found his people. I found myself wondering, very briefly and very secretly, whether or not there truly was a crew and a ship for him to return to. What if he was simply an alien prisoner on the planet for far too long who had deluded himself with fantasies of a crew and a ship that was just waiting around for him so he could get taken off of this hellish planet once and for all?
Well, hellish might have been a bit of an exaggeration. Sure, there were dangers here, at least according to the random alien I had encountered during one such dangerous moment, but that didn’t necessarily mean that the planet itself was awful. Actually, it was astonishingly beautiful as far as natural resources and greenery were concerned. I was astonished every time we continued on and saw some new variety of plant life I had never encountered before. Hexa was a biological dream come true and seemed untarnished by the dark energy of the beings that were said to inhabit it.
“Well, we will find them a lot faster if we stop taking so many breaks.”
I prickled. The only breaks we had taken that day were so I could relieve myself, something which he seemed horrified by (and frankly made me wonder just what his species did to eliminate waste from their bodies) and the break we were taking right that moment, to sit down and eat and drink so that we could be fueled for the rest of the day.
“We’ve only been resting for like five minutes. And you know what? I can’t help it if I need to pee, man. I don’t know what you do on your planet, but on Earth, people need to get the toxins out of their bodies somehow!”
Kecha grimaced and turned away from me, an expression that nearly made me laugh.
“Human, I have had enough with your words for the time being. Let us continue on in peace. I have many things on my mind, and they are troubling me greatly.”
He pulled a small round ball, about the size of a bb, out of his pocket, and touched it against the water. To my surprise, it burst open into a rather large canteen, one that was immediately filled with the life-sustaining liquid.
“You know, I’d die without this stuff,” I told Kecha. “So if you get pissed off enough at me, the easy way to get rid of me is to withhold water for a few days. I probably wouldn’t pee much either.”
He scoffed and shook his head as if my sense of humor wasn’t quite up his alley.
“I am not going to dispose of you, human. It is immoral. And I am a man of ethics. I will abide by the code of my kind, and the oath I took to honor the ideals of the Resha Federation.”
I wasn’t convinced that the Resha Federation was a real thing at this point. For all I knew, I was being led on a wild goose chase by an insane prisoner of a planet that had been intended to torture criminals and prevent them from hurting those who would not commit such deeds. Still, I held my tongue on the subject, my suspicion and paranoia seeming like something of a taboo topic.
“Well don’t do me any favors,” is all I mumbled as we continued on our journey.
We walked and walked until nightfall, with no trace of any life on the planet except ourselves. It was kind of eerie in a way. Either we were moving out of range of the more populated area, or we were in a place where we stuck out like sore thumbs, being watched from a vantage point by creatures and beasts who knew the terrain like the back of their hands. Because of the ideal location of the river and the orchard, I was sure somebody must live nearby. But if they had seen us passing through, they didn’t show it.
I almost would have preferred a straight-out attack over the unnerving suspense of feeling like we were being watched. I wanted to bring up my fear to Kecha, but he seemed lost in thought, and the idea of speaking my fears out loud seemed even worse. Almost as if I would be inviting them to come true.
Besides, it was easier to avoid an ambush if the people ambushing you weren’t on to the fact that you suspected an ambush, right?
“This will do,” Kecha said with a sigh, sitting down on a fallen tree and putting his head in his hands. “Rest now, human. I will set up a shelter for the night.”
A wave of fear chilled me, but still, I could not bring myself to speak. There was something eerie about this area, the way the third moon, hanging high in the sky directly on top of us, made the gigantic trees look like menacing warriors ready to strike.
Kecha disappeared into the woods, and I heard him shuffling around as he began to collect the supplies for our shelter. I wanted to go after him, but I was frozen in fear. I knew it was unfounded. I had just worked myself up being paranoid about the ideal location of the orchard. Just because I would want to live there didn’t mean that other more barbaric creatures would want to do the same.
I was left alone on that fallen tree for a few minutes too long. I began to shift nervously, looking about to try to catch a glimpse of anything that might have malicious intent.
The only thing I saw, however, were small, fire-fly like creatures who flashed a small beam of orange and golden light in the air, only to disappear and reappear elsewhere. I tried to relax and enjoy the light show, but there was too much pressure built up in my chest, to the point that when Kecha finally came back, I ran up to him and nearly embraced him. The sight of him brought me untold comfort, and he looked at me with a tolerant curiosity when I approached.
“Will you help to build the shelter tonight?” he asked. “I would like to show you the proper way to do it so that when we part ways, you will be prepared.”
“Okay,” I said, grateful to have something to focus on to take my mind off of my fears. “I would appreciate the lesson.”
Kecha nodded, and I sighed up into the sky, surprised by just how similar the night sky on the planet Hexa looked compared to the night sky on Earth. The stars that were visible were extremely different, but the general look and feel were still the same.
I felt my chest tighten with grief. All I wanted to do was to go home. I would do anything to return to my home planet. Even if that meant facing this dangerous new world alone.