Chapter 1

 

 

A scream pierced his unconscious state, startling him awake, but it took a few moments for Zander to recognize where he was. He was in the Kiljorn quarters he and his sister had been assigned when they had come to Kiljor a few months before. His sister was getting special counselling here to help her deal with the trauma she suffered, but he didn’t think that the counselling was helping her at all. Another scream rent through the air, spurring him to action.

Zander stood up a little too fast, forgetting to let his artificial leg accommodate his weight. His leg began to buckle a bit making him reach out to grab hold of the table next to his bed to help him keep his balance. It was still an adjustment working with artificial limbs. He had lost his arm and leg after his home world of Norad was attacked by aliens called Morins. His people had been almost annihilated, and his home world was destroyed to the point it wouldn’t support life. Only thirty of his people survived. He barely survived, however, even with everything he had gone through, it was nothing compared to the gut-wrenching feeling he had knowing what happened to his younger sister, Lizetta.

The first pair of artificial limbs he received was right after the attack and they were more mechanical and hard to use. This was his third pair. He didn’t have to remove them unless they were being serviced. The nanos the Katierans implanted in him were helping his cells to regenerate the muscle and tissue but it was being done slowly to avoid pain. These new pair were made to blend in with his skin flawlessly.

Opening his bedroom door, he walked down the hallway to his sister’s room. He opened the door and turned the lights on. His sister was still in the midst of a nightmare. Her breathing was heavy, her legs kicked at the sheets and her head moved from side to side. Seeing her like that ripped his heart out.

“No! No! Leave me alone! Mama? Help me, someone help me!” his sister called out, thrashing against the bed. He approached her slowly not wanting to startle her awake.

“Lizetta…wake little one.” He kept his voice soft and gentle. Sometimes if he was a little too forceful, it frightened her even further. He sat on the edge of her bed but didn’t reach for her like he wanted to. When she was having these nightmares, a sudden touch could quickly make things even worse.

“No! No!”

“Easy, Sxrala, open your eyes. You’re safe.” He used the Norad endearment for sister.

Her eyes fluttered open and stared up at him. “Zander?”

“Yes Sxrala, it’s me. You are safe. It was just a bad dream.” Only once she recognized him did he attempt to pull her into a comforting hug. She tolerated the contact for a few seconds before pulling away from him. He hated when she did that. She had always been such a loving and expressive child.

“I’m sorry for waking you.”

“You never have to apologize, little one. Do you want to talk about it?” He knew what her answer would be.

She shook her head and her long dark hair cascaded down her shoulders and back. “No, I just want to get a glass of water then go back to bed.”

“Are you sure? We could play a board game.” His friend Ava had introduced them to the games from Earth while they were traveling on the transport. Ava claimed it was fun and made the time go by. He still didn’t understand how it was fun, but his sister had taken to the games. He played them for her.

“I’m not really up for a game right now. Maybe later.”

“Very well. I’ll get you a glass of water.”

“Thanks Zan, you’re too good to me.”

It warmed his heart to hear her call him by the nickname. When she had been a toddler, she hadn’t been able to say his full name—only managing to say Zan. It stuck as a thing that only she said, their special thing. “I’ll remind you that you said that the next time I make you angry.”

She didn’t laugh, but only gave him a small smile. He stood up and walked out of the room and down the hall. It hurt to see his once full-of-life sister so stoic and quiet. It felt like she was trying to disappear within herself.

He walked through the main living space over to the kitchenette area. Opening a cabinet, he pulled out a glass then headed to the wall dispenser. The water was pure and always cool coming out of the dispenser. This technology was a far cry from his home world of Norad. His home was what the Kiljorns and Katierans considered primitive.

The Norads had lived in villages of huts, hunted for their food, and got their water from the waterfalls. It was a simple life, but one well lived. Everyone knew one another and was always willing to lend a hand to those in need.

They lived in ignorance that there was life outside of their small world—and they were happier for it. The day their knowledge expanded was the end of their peaceful lives. The aliens called the Morins—with their bald heads and sickly gray skin—had come down from the sky in a blaze of fire, killing and destroying everything in their path. They had left nothing untouched. The planet was left in devastation and was uninhabitable. If it hadn’t been for the Colonial Commander AshOR, there would have been survivors left. AshOR and Ava took in his people saving their lives—what was left of it.

His people had been taken aboard the alien transport ship, treated for their injuries, and offered a home of their choosing on one of the three nations: Katiera, Kiljor, or the Colony. He had first chosen to live on Katiera with his sister while the medics worked on his artificial limbs. It took quite a few months and while that was taking place, his sister began therapy sessions.

Then he and Lizetta traveled to Kiljor to visit with his friend Ava and her mate, the Colonial Commander AshOR. On Kiljor, he began warrior training in order to help build up the strength in his artificial arm and leg. The medics had offered a new procedure to speed up the nanos in reconstructing his limbs. Instead of years to complete, the new procedure could take a matter of months. The down side was that there was no guarantee and he would have to go into what is called a coma while he was being worked on. The coma was a state of unconsciousness. He didn’t want to leave his sister unprotected while he was going through the procedure. Also, it would delay his ultimate goal of seeking justice for his people, he needed to act now. His honor demanded it.

He entered his sister’s room again and felt like something kicked him in the stomach at the sight of her pale figure sitting up in the bed. Their skin was naturally a pale blue, but she was so thin and pale, her blue coloring faded to almost white. She wasn’t eating well and even the nanos could only do so much. The nanos had to be replaced multiple times. The medics insisted that she come for fortified injections to ensure that her body was receiving all the nutrients she needed. Something needed to be done or he could lose his sister, the last of his family.

“Here’s your water. Would you like me to make you some soup?” He handed her the glass.

“I’m not hungry.”

Zander felt helpless, standing there watching her sip the water. If his mother had been there, she would do something. Zana had been a very caring female and always seemed to know exactly what people needed. She also knew every time he and his friends were up to no good, and she asserted her authority on him. Goddess, he missed her.

“What can I do for you, Lizetta?”

“You do plenty for me, Zan. I don’t know any brother who would do more for their little sister. I just don’t want to be a burden on you.”

“You are not a burden!”

She looked up at him with doubt in her eyes. “If it weren’t for me, you would have left to seek out justice for our people by now.”

“I will seek justice when it’s time.”

“You could leave me here on Kiljor.”

“I won’t leave you, especially not on a planet where you don’t know anyone.”

“Ava’s here.”

“She will be leaving to go to The Colony soon and possibly won’t be back. Commander AshOR’s home is on the colonial planet.”

“Then I can go to The Colony with them and you can go out—”

“AshOR also goes on missions and takes Ava with him.”

“But I…”

“No! I’m not leaving you with someone else.”

“Zan, I’ll be sixteen in a few months. Did you know that on Earth, there are some places that consider sixteen to be adult enough to take care of themselves?”

“Maybe that’s why Ava and the other females from Earth moved to Katiera. Their governments would allow children to fend for themselves. The Earth males don’t know how to take care of their females or those who are weaker.”

“That’s not true of Katierans and Kiljorns,” she commented.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Have you spoken with Warrior MalEEk lately?”

The young male was nineteen years old, a warrior in training, and had taken an interest in his sister. Zander had made a point to let him know that his sister was too young, and that he would not be allowed near her without an escort. The warrior had blushed and promised that he would give his life to protect Lizetta. Zander didn’t like the male, but he had to admire his honorable—if naive—attitude. One day he would have to confront the male again but for now, Lizetta was safe from his attentions.

Lizetta looked sad. “No, he’s too busy training. I wish I could see him more often. He’s close to my age and I’m bored without friends to spend time with.”

“Good, he should be concentrating on his training and you need to stay away from him. If you’re bored, you could attend the cooking classes the Earth females are giving. That is a more appropriate activity for a young female to attend to.”

She shook her head but instead of yelling at him, she smiled. “You have caveman views.”

“Caveman? What in Kitana is that?”

“It means a primitive being, one who thinks females should cook, clean, and have babies.”

“Females are the only ones that can have babies.”

She snorted. “A male has to help make those babies. That sounds like an appropriate activity for you to do brother.”

“I have no time for that activity.”

Lizetta suddenly looked serious. “Don’t you want a family of your own?”

He walked closer and rubbed his hand over her head pushing her thick hair back out of her face like he used to when she was younger. “You are my family.”

“I mean, don’t you want to find a mate and have babies?”

“Of course I want that, but I don’t know what I can offer a female. I’m just an alien male with artificial limbs.”

“You’re strong and attractive, smart and funny. I don’t know any other male as kind as you. You have the biggest heart. Any female would be lucky to have you. You just need a little push in that direction.”

He frowned down at her. “Is this why Ava has been introducing me to every available Earth female she knows?”

His sister turned to look away but she had a guilty expression on her face.

“Lizetta?”

“Okay, I may have asked Ava to help find you a mate.”

“You did what?”

“You will never settle down in one place if you don’t have a reason to.”

“Settle down?”

“Do you really want us to go from one place to the next, and never have a real home? I enjoy traveling but…it would be nice to have a home that is ours. I thought that if you found a mate, it would encourage you to pick a planet to settle down on.”

“Has it been that bad for you, coming from Katiera to Kiljor?”

“No, it’s kind of like an adventure in a way, but traveling on a transport sometimes brings back bad memories.”

“Do you want us to remain here on Kiljor…or go back to Katiera? Wherever you chose, I’ll be happy to make that our home.”

“Even if I choose a place—which should be both our decision to make—you will still be bound to watch over me. What are you going to do? Wait until I am an adult before you finally seek your revenge on the Morins?”

“Lizetta, I don’t know what to say except that I won’t just leave you alone.”

“Okay, how about we go with Ava and AshOR to the Colony?”

“I don’t know…our people on still on Katiera.”

“I hear that the Colony is considered to be more primitive, with jungles everywhere. It’s probably the closest to Norad out of all the planets in this part of the galaxy. I can help with the Morinians, to give me something to do, and I’ll be around someone I know—Ava. Plus, it will give you a chance to interrogate the Morinians to see if they have any new information on the Morins.”

From what Ava had told him, the Morinians had once been part of the Morin nation. The people rebelled against what the leaders were doing, attacking other nations using virus technology. There had been an uprising and quite of few of the resistance had been killed. Those remaining escaped on a transport. It was hard for him to separate the two from one another. He had a lot of questions for the Morinians and the only way he would get those answers were if he traveled to the Colony.

He considered what she was saying. Guilt filled him at knowing he had been dragging her around from place to place. She deserved a real home, somewhere she could make friends and feel safe. There wasn’t another female her own age on Katiera or Kiljor but there might be on the Colony. One of the reasons there were so few children and especially few females born to the Katierans and Kiljorns was caused by the Morins.

Many decades ago, when the three nations were one, the Morins had attacked Katiera with a virus meant to kill their people. They had almost succeeded. The Katierans who lived suffered mutations, which led to the Katieran people splitting into three nations. One of the mutations had affected the capability of Katierans, Kiljorns, and even the Colonists to reproduce. On Katiera and Kiljor, there were more males than females. However, he didn’t know if the Colonists suffered the same problem. He needed to ask AshOR about it.

“Maybe I’ll talk to Ava and AshOR about going to the Colony.”

She gave him a smile and placed her still-full glass of water on the nightstand. “I guess I should try to go back to sleep.”

Zander hesitated, not wanting to leave her. He knew that she would most likely stay awake the rest of the night. “Will you promise to talk to the therapist tomorrow about your nightmares?”

“I will, but only if you promise to agree to go to the Colony.”

He frowned down at her. “I believe that is called blackmail.”

She shrugged and giggled. “If it works, it works.”

Smiling, he turned to leave her bedroom. “Good night. Lizetta.”

“Good night. Zan.”