Zander paced around his small quarters. The captain of the ship was lucky enough to have private accommodations, but because theirs was a stealth mission, it wasn’t much to brag about. That was all right though. Zander had always been a modest man. He didn’t need a hundred billion people from every alien race in the universe knowing who he was or how he was going to help them, or a giant bedroom on his ship to make him feel better about being the boss. It was an intimidating thought, really.
His mother had always called him sensitive, and his soulful eyes had gripped many a female in their clutches. But Zander wanted more than just the gratification of copulation. He wanted something deeper, that would transcend time and space. He wasn’t really concerned about it anyway. There was no time for love when you were busy trying to save the universe. It seemed selfish.
But he couldn’t deny his animalistic temptations. It was just the way that his body would react. And right now it had been reacting in a raw, physical way to Pria. He had even entered the realm of dreams and found her there, as eager for his body as he was for hers. He had woken up with the hard-on from hell as he thought about her exotic, human body entwined around his. It took all of his self-control to avoid going into her room right that moment and seeing if his dream had led him astray. Or if, perhaps, she might be willing to push the boundaries with him.
Zander sighed. He’d only had a few sexual encounters before, and found women of his own species baffling, let alone a woman from another planet. He didn’t consider himself to be very close-minded, but he did feel concerned that maybe he wouldn’t live up to the expectations of an Earth woman. They all had a different idea of what was good in a man of their own species, and if he was lacking any of those qualities, didn’t that mean that Pria would reject him?
Truth be told, he was terrified about the way she might react to his body, even if she did turn out to be attracted to him. They were so different. He had seen human anatomy before. There were some marked differences, especially in the reproduction department.
It was basically the same, but his race had larger sex organs and he knew that might be intimidating for someone as slight as she was. She was a fighter, and a survivor, he could tell it from the way she carried herself, but she was still a human. Her physical limitations were just that. What if he hurt her? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself, and he couldn’t risk damaging one of the most important women in the universe just to fulfill his base and carnal needs.
That wasn’t why Kane had assigned him to be captain of the Legend. He had been promoted because he was sensitive and highly attuned to his environment. He was the ideal candidate for stealth missions and supposedly an expert on humans. He didn’t feel that way though, not anymore. Meeting an actual human was a great reminder of just how much he didn’t know. But what he was good at was moving sneakily through space in a ship so small that nobody would ever suspect he was carrying the most precious cargo in the universe on board, tucked safely away.
***
Pria’s heart thudded when the door to her room opened. She thought it would be Zander, but she was disappointed to find that it was a Driad she had never seen before. He approached her cautiously, hunched over as if he were afraid she might attack at any moment.
“What’s wrong?” Pria asked, a small grin creasing her face.
“I – nothing. It’s just that I’ve read that humans are one of the more, uh, aggressive races on the planet…”
“Aggressive?” Pria laughed. “More aggressive than a guy who wants to wipe out the universe for domination?”
“I…”
“It’s all right,” she said, softening her voice as much as she could. He seemed older and it made her feel kind of bad to see him cowering like that. “I won’t hurt anybody. In fact, the opposite might be true.”
“Might it?” he asked, shakily pushing a tray of food toward her.
“I don’t know. This whole thing is so confusing. Like how am I even talking to you right now when there are a billion different languages on Earth that have all come to be in different ways? None of this is making sense to me. You shouldn’t make sense to me. I feel like I’m trapped in a really weird dream that’s been going on too long.”
“Um. Well I don’t think it’s a dream, but I can’t really be sure. The nature of the universe is very mysterious. But I can answer your question about language. We have implanted a device in your body that allows you to understand and translate everything that we say. And not just the Driads. All the peoples of the universe whose languages and dialects are known. We sometimes have glitches when we encounter a new race, but after a while the technology adapts. Everybody who has one contributes to the pool of known language, and eventually it figures itself out.”
“You implanted something in me? Does that mean I can go back home and understand French overnight?”
“Oh yes, we have had many scholars stationed on Earth for a long time, studying the evolution of language and the different dialects. Everything they know goes straight to these devices.”
“Does everybody have them?”
“No, many races are not very bright and haven’t developed much of their own technology. If they’re not interested in a trade, they can’t access it. But there is a downside to that. Often times we will allow them access to the technology if they allow one of our linguists to study their language and add it to the device. It tends to be mutually beneficial, but there will always be those who refuse to have anything to do with races that are not of their kind.”
“Did people on Earth agree to this trade?” Pria asked, surprised at the thought that anyone on Earth would know of the alien races and their agendas.
“Oh, absolutely. We’ve gathered many types of intelligence. Your government is highly aware of our existence. They don’t always agree with our methods but they are terrified of all unknown races.”
“You can say that again,” Pria laughed. “They’re even afraid of other humans with different skin colors.”
“Yes,” he said with a small exhale of a laugh. “This is odd. But collectively, your world has agreed to have its languages studied.”
“Does that mean our leaders have these devices?”
“Oh no, they can’t be trusted with them…as I mentioned, they are far too violent. Instead, we offered peace.”
“Peace or what?” Pria said, raising her eyebrows. “Did you threaten them?”
“Erm. Only because they want to believe the worst in everybody. If they assume we have the upper hand, being a fearsome race with superior technology, it is easier to play into these expectations. We don’t need to leave our technology in the hands of an inferior race that could ultimately turn into another batch of Codans.”
“I see,” Pria said, her mind spinning.
“Anyway, please enjoy your breakfast. Captain Zander insists on giving you the widest selection available on the ship.”
And with that, the little man bowed and backed away slowly, not turning his back on Pria. He reached behind himself, patting the wall in an attempt to find the switch for the door.
“What’s your name?” Pria asked him, keeping her eyes on his. He was watching her fretfully, and she hoped that maybe she would be able to ease his mind and help him stop feeling so fearful about her.
“My name is Shef,” he said, glancing nervously to the ground. He finally found the button and visibly relaxed as the door whirred open. “Captain Zander will be in to see you later. He is hoping for an answer. We can’t make you do something against your will, but there will be further tests done either way, if you agree, to help our kind fight an evil you can only imagine.”
And with that, Shef found his way out the door and scrambled away as quickly as he could, leaving Pria alone as the doors hissed closed behind him.