He opened his mouth and started speaking in a deep masculine voice that thundered through my trembling body. The sounds were distinctly alien, but the authority in it was clear.

I swallowed hard and held my breath as I watched him speak this unintelligible language, but as he continued to talk, the earpiece in my suit sparked to life.

“That’s enough playing with the Alaki,” the AI voice chirped. “They’re dangerous. They’ll kill you.”

I had thought the AI in my suit was smashed to bits, but apparently some pieces were still working — pieces that we hadn’t been told during orientation were implemented, since no alien languages were even known to exist. Was this another high tech alien gadget that had been attached to my spacesuit without the agents being told?

I stared at the man, err ... alien, unsure of what to say. I felt awkward and exposed beneath his gaze. The turquoise from the glowing moss reflected in his dark eyes, and the blue twinkle against the black backdrop was mesmerizing. It was almost as though I were staring into a galaxy, comprised of a thousand turquoise stars and planets. His eyes were breathtakingly stunning and I couldn’t take my own boring eyes off of them.

Finally, I managed to pry my eyes from his and check out the rest of his gorgeous body. It was thick, hard, and muscular. This was the first time I had seen a man’s body that I was certain could hold me down and give me the kind of fucking I desired. The heat built in my core as I glanced at the loincloth that draped between his legs. The ends reached nearly to his knees. If the paintings were true, then ... well, that piece of fabric was barely covering his full length.

My weight shifted in my boots, and my toes felt a familiar soft squish. A piece of Captain Clark’s brains was still stuck beneath my shoe. My stomach twisted at the thought. I couldn’t believe I’d been staring at this alien like he was a slab of succulent sausage while I had my coworker’s frontal lobe still attached to my foot.

It served as another reminder as to why I had decided to forgo men. They distracted me from the real issues at hand. They were an unneeded nuisance that couldn’t last longer than five minutes in bed — a task they supposedly had been solely constructed for. Men liked to claim their entire biological purpose in life was to fuck as many women as possible and sow their seed, but they were shit at it. Disappointing at best.

The only thing that gave me a thrilling rush of pleasure anymore was science and discovery. That breathtaking moment of uncovering something that nobody knows or seeing something that nobody else had ever noticed before. It was better than sex.

The human-like alien before me opened his mouth again and started speaking in his deep sexy voice. My AI spoke in my ear once more, barking his commands. “Come. We must get back to the village. Now.”

These weren’t questions or offers of help. They were very gruff demands. He pushed himself from the wall and began walking away as though the possibility of me refusing his command hadn’t even crossed his mind. The option didn’t exist in that thick skull of his.

Unfortunately for him, I was never one for submission. “No. I need to go back to my ship. Take me to the surface.”

The AI in my suit quickly reiterated my words into his foreign language.

His strut stopped immediately, and he wheeled around to face me. “It’s not safe for you at the surface.” He crossed the cave, coming toward me. But I stood my ground, pretending I wasn’t about to pee my space suit. “I said you will come with me, and you will do as I say.”

He made a grab for my arm once again. Muscle memory took over, and I slapped his hand away. It was hard enough to move him but not strong enough to do any real damage. And it certainly got his attention because his eyes widened, revealing their deep black depths.

A part of me couldn’t believe what I had done. I had no idea how this intelligent life form would react to my aggressive action. He was easily more than twice my size. I should be fearing for my life, but for some reason, being around him didn’t elicit the same sense of danger that I had felt around those giant centipede monsters. He didn’t feel like a threat. He was an intelligent caveman alien life, and I was the first to encounter it.

I needed to report back to PENUS as soon as possible. This would make me one of the most famous astronauts in history. My mind imagined the slew of media that would feature my face and name: scientific journals, textbooks, movies. Maybe I could find an artist to paint my portrait, so that when I died, I could be hung up in a museum alongside Newton and Einstein. I would become the most famous female scientist ever, overshadowing Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin. Those old bats would have nothing on me.

“I need to return to the surface,” I repeated. My voice was strong and stern. I hoped the AI could convey my determination.

He shook his head. “No. It’s not safe.”

“What do you mean? Why isn’t it safe?” I folded my arms across my chest. “Is it because of those creepy crawly thingies?”

“Alaki,” he corrected me. “We call them Alaki. And no, that’s not why.”

I didn’t have time to stand here and argue or plead with him. My oxygen was getting low, my stomach was gurgling, and I needed to piss like mad. Not to mention, my suit was broken, and I needed to report back to PENUS and relay Captain Clark and Andrew’s passing.

I shuddered at the thought of having to send that message. We had been sent up here to find the other agents of PENUS and instead, I had managed to get my two coworkers slain.

My report to base would be a mixed bag. Everyone’s dead, but I found intelligent alien life.

I hoped to God that they already knew. Our suits emitted our vitals back to base on Earth every hour. When the signal ceased to send, I’m sure they would piece things together. After all, that’s how they found out the original five agents of PENUS were dead.

“If you can’t help me, then I’ll do it on my own,” I said as I turned on my heel to leave. Not that I really could do it on my own. The light on my head had been smashed, and he had cut my emergency flashlight in half. The bronze glow from my visor remained, but it was soft and cloudy now.

“Stop,” he ordered. “You’re walking into certain death.”

I wheeled around. “No, staying down here is certain death.”

“You’ll die on the surface. We all die on the surface.”

I pointed to my helmet. “The surface can’t kill me. This protects me.”

He just stared at me blankly, not comprehending. “The surface is death,” he simply repeated. “You’ll come back to my village.” He extended his arm toward me with his hand opened wide, inviting me to take it.

I opened my mouth to rebuke him once more, but the familiar vibrations tickled my feet. At first, I thought it was in my head like a horrible nightmare replaying in my muscles, but when it continued to grow, I knew I wasn’t dreaming.

The freight train centipedes were coming.

Their hisses echoed throughout the tunnels, getting closer with each passing second.

“Okay.” I placed my hand in his. “Let’s get out of here.”