three
Molly
As it often did when Molly was creating and pondering, the world faded away and time passed quickly. Molly looked up confused when the chime sounded out and reality crashed back in, sending a chill through her.
How rude would it be to eat in her room? Surely they would understand?
Hmm.
…Better face it.
Molly slid up from her seat slowly and approached the door. She wasn't ready for dinner yet. Maybe she never would be.
“I’m here,” she called as she swiped at the door console. The doors slid open, and she did a quick double-take.
Oz had changed into a more formal-looking dress uniform. The crisp gray looked excellent with his green skin coloring. Not that she was looking, but hard to miss.
“Come in. …I just need a minute.”
He raised his brows at her and took a step inside the room, the door sliding shut behind him.
“I'll just change. I have something…” She rooted around in her dresser for her white skirt with tiny blue flowers with hints of green in stem and leaves. She grabbed her matching light blue blouse and strappy sandals. “I didn't really know what to pack, but hopefully this will do.”
“You don't have to change. I thought you might be more comfortable if I didn't come in my grease-stained uniform. I figured the least I could do is clean up a bit.”
Molly swallowed her nerves and tried to smile. “I suppose, if I'm to meet the rest of the crew, I should at least try to be presentable.” She ducked out to the bathroom and changed.
“You like the endless-water's edge?” Oz called from her room.
Molly pulled a brush through her hair and tried another smile at the mirror. It looked too much like a nervous grimace. She opened the door before she lost her courage completely. He was inspecting the wall view of the ocean. Oh, that Endless-water’s edge.
“It reminds me of Earth; places I've never been.”
Molly froze again, tentatively hovering in the door frame. The alien was so big. Especially standing in front of the ocean scene behind him, his alien-ness filled the room: green skin, tail flicking back and forth restlessly like a cat. She stared at the floor.
“You are of pleasant eyefulness.”
This caused her to glance over again surprised.
“You will make a good mate for me. The crew will approve of the match. They would certainly want to verlok with you, if not for our curse.” Verlok? The translator supplied the words quickly: Family tree grouping. Start a family.
“Uh…” Molly's face warmed. “…Thank you…?”
He nodded with a wide smile, obviously pleased by his compliment of her. He went to stand by the door.
As she reluctantly moved toward him, he swiped the console, so it slid open for her. The hallway beyond was silent. She drew to a stop beside him, not wanting to leave the familiarity of her room.
“They are certainly at dinner now and will be waiting.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“No trouble. They know you are settling in.” He turned and flicked off her wall viewer, so it settled back to the blank, gray wall of the ship.
Molly took a deep breath and stepped outside. Oz followed behind.
Oz led her to the ladder and made a move to go up, but paused as Molly hesitated and took a step back. Apparently the guy had really good hearing.
“Right. The ladder,” he said.
Molly flushed. She hadn't thought her outfit through. She smoothed her skirt and looked down the ladder but couldn't see anyone coming up. “Eh. Okay.” She took a step forward to grab the ladder railing with one hand, waiting for Oz to clear the way.
Instead, Oz took a step down to land on the floor next to her, the movement bringing him just a bit too close. She smelled leaves and nature, a lush forest. For a second, she stayed where she was, inhaling peace and comfort.
His eyes met hers, and he cocked his head to the side in question. “You seem uncomfortable. I thought I might show you our service elevator. It's a tail-crick but still… Unless you wished—” Oz gestured up the ladder.
“Elevator? Yes.” Molly cleared her head and took a step back.
They went back to a break between the rooms, and Oz pressed the call button with his tail. “Don't mind the creaking. It is safe but mostly used for cargo.”
Oz squeezed into the small elevator, hunching over. Molly was forced to stand uncomfortably close to him. He was solid, with hard muscle, and she breathed in his woodsy scent again. His tail flicked at her heel a couple times as he pressed the up button. He glanced down, and his tail swished quick to the other side of the elevator and pressed against the wall. “Sorry.” He leaned away awkwardly but still towered over her head. “Tail-crick,” he repeated with a shy smile.
A moment later the door slid to the side, and Molly extricated herself carefully, standing to the side so that Oz could duck out as well.
Molly heard boisterous, male laughter through the doors in front of her, and her heart tripped. More of them.
“It’s just through here,” Oz said as he opened the door.
~
Oz
As they approached the doors, Oz’s heart clenched up. He couldn’t be sure what he was worried about: Molly not liking the boys; the crew judging his mate poorly; the crew judging his mate too well? It was weird to see a girl with no tail to grab, no tail at all.
At home, a seeking mate would wrap her tail about her chosen’s leg to show her approval and openness to mate. Not that his kind, the Mahdfel, could ever take part, but in the youngling days, the girls would show their appreciation anyway, a bit of flirting practice for their later times. Oz’s kind was off limits to general mating, and it made the girls flick their tails at them all the more fondly.
The danger to mate. Girls knew not to take it too far, but the tail expressed enough of a promise to make all the Mahdfel his age a bit on the edge of sanity, and it was why most left for the cold comfort of space. No taking part in the communions of his planet for the Mahdfel-bred. They were set apart from the community, for always.
Oz held the door for Molly, and his eyes flicked to her skirt. No tail but much to appreciate anyway: round hips to grab and pull to himself; a waist to wrap his tail around and possess.
The crew were in the middle of a story as they entered. The room fell silent, all except Haze who continued to laugh as he finished his sentence: “…and that’s why they don’t have tails…” Haze glanced over and ran his eyes over Molly’s form.
Oz hurried forward to stand between Molly and Haze’s gaze. Haze laughed and reached to pop a chip in his mouth, his eyes sliding away. Oz guided her toward the head of the table where the captain sat.
The captain rose. “Captain Keto Vren. It is nice to have the connection, Molly.” The captain held out his hand to Molly.
Molly stepped forward and clasped the captain’s hand in an odd up-and-down motion. She smiled, and the dimples that awoke upon her cheeks brought a smile to Oz’s face as well.
The girl was very cute, even with her sad lacking of a tail.
Oz felt his tail twitch toward her, and his wrists warmed again.
Haze, missing nothing, clicked his tongue loudly in code, Looker Code.
Oz steeled himself to bring himself back under control, before Haze could get any more obvious.
The captain for his part showed nothing to Molly. “Molly, please let me introduce you to our crew. This is our First Officer of Rank, Fyn Toraves. Next to him is Valo Hazryn, although we all call him Haze. He’s our Weapon’s Officer. Seban, you’ve met, is our Medic and Culturalist. Xain is our Pilot. Oz, here, is our Engineer. We do hope you will be in comfort here.”
As the captain named them, the crew stood and nodded to Molly. Obviously nervous again, Molly took a step back and slightly toward Oz. Oz felt himself swell a bit with pride. She was showing signs of her alliance and trust to him.
If she had a tail, he expected she would tilt it back toward him. Since she had no way to show her consideration, he could only assume her approval of him as a good mate. Things were going well.
“Molly, if you’re hungry, Seban has provided items that he has assured us are of a good dietary compliment to your own.”
Seban dipped his head. “You may find the flavors are somewhat different, but they should be of little trouble to your digestion.”
Again Molly pressed away from the table and toward Oz as they walked to the other end, next to his seat. It clicked for Oz with a disappointing suddenness: the same as she’d been with the window, obviously.
At least Oz had been upgraded to the solid wall and not the dangerous windows the crew still represented. It seemed small comfort.
~
Molly
Dinner was a nightmare of epic proportions. Molly did her best to swallow politely and listen to the crew banter. It reminded her ever such a tiny bit of home, with all her brothers around the table.
Seban did his best to explain the food and Earth’s approximate equivalents. Certainly there was no cook amidst the crew as there were some flavors here but no polished delivery. Possibly the food was just in a style that did not match any Earth region she had tried… or certainly ever wanted to try. But she was stuck for now.
Although maybe the captain would let her cook her own food, if she didn’t get in the way? It would take some doing to learn a whole new set of flavor and texture profiles, but it’d be interesting to try. What an interesting idea for an Earth restaurant, assuming these foods were safe as imports. At least she could pretend — for as long as she stayed — that she could still further her goals even while real life was temporarily paused. Assuming she survived. …Which would mean she had a son…
Quickly she brought her thoughts back. Best not to borrow tomorrow’s troubles, especially when there was nothing she could do about it. She was both excited about having a little person to care for and love, and overwhelmed and afraid of the responsibility. Not that she hadn’t helped raise her brothers well enough — she’d been the little hen of her family — but this would be much, much different. A son bred for war, the very war the draft helped end for Earth.
Her own war child would be the next sacrifice, after her own. Apparently Earth’s sacrifices would never truly end, thanks to the Suhlik and what they forced the Mahdfel to require.
In the midst of her thoughts, she was also trying to pay attention to the conversation that swirled around her and the rapid fire questions. Seban assisted most with an easy answer or two, but the crew seemed most intrigued by Kansas. Its open fields of grass for miles and the scant appearance of open water didn’t match anything from their birth planet.
“No wonder your kind is so fragile. How do you expect to be strong with no tree to climb or water to swim?” The man sat on Molly’s opposite side, and he leaned back, one arm over his chair and popping a handful of seeds in his mouth. She couldn’t place his name.
“There’s plenty of trees,” she explained, “just not as much in my little part of Earth. There are places on Earth with miles of sand and the sun beating down. You can die if you are left without supplies for too long. Other places are near the ocean which is miles of water. Earth isn’t just one thing.”
The man nodded in approval. “Good. Oz, your son has hope. Although it is good you will raise him in a better place than that. Speaking of… Oz, this new deposit you found… Captain, shouldn’t we be getting back there, so we can get out there first thing tomorrow?”
The Captain glanced at his first mate, Fyn, and back at the one sitting beside Molly. “We’re working on it, Haze. Just need to go over the charts to make sure the spot’s still secure.”
Haze leaned forward and tapped the table. “I’ll keep it secure, you know that, Cap’.”
Molly pictured him cocking a gun over his head and letting loose a spray of bullets. She could tell he was a ‘shoot first, questions later’ kind of guy.
At first Molly couldn’t quite place who Haze reminded her of, then it hit her: her eldest brother Joe, who’d died in the war, the one they set out flowers for every Friday that was a ‘draft dinner’ as they called it.
Haze had the same awkward way of laughing at his own words/jokes and leaning too far forward. Instantly Molly felt drawn to him, even if only in sympathy for her lost brother. Joe had had such a good heart. He’d died too young, almost all the details of his final mission classified, beyond that there was no body to return to them, only an empty box. It was every family’s nightmare which couldn’t be quite put to rest as the uncertainty and futile hope gnawed at them.
The one sitting next to Oz — Xain the pilot — spoke up. “Sure, Haze. You against a Suhlik warship. Why not?”
“You doubt it?” Haze’s voice dropped in challenge, with a hint of a war smile.
“Never.” Xain chuckled. “Assuming they all come out on the asteroid, ten at a time, to fight you.” He chuckled. “It’s only the ship shields and weaps that have me concerned.”
Haze jutted his chin at Oz. “Nah. Oz’ll take care of that for me, won’t you?”
“Course.” Oz raised his eyebrows. “Up to the captain though whether he wants to re-start another war tomorrow, out here on the wrong end of the universe.”
“Tthat’s enough, all of you,” the first mate, Fyn, interjected. “The Captain will let you know his decision before curfew. In the meantime, why don’t you all put that energy to work in The Pit. Oz, we’ll just need a few additional readings on the council’s latest reports, with highest discretion.”
“Certainly, sir.”
The Captain and Fyn wished her a good night and left for the Command Center. A few seconds later Seban headed for his quarters, saying he wanted to make a few more readings of a sample that Haze had collected that day.
It was only Molly, Oz, Haze, and Xain.
Molly shifted uncomfortably. War ships and asteroids and… It made her head spin. They talked so casually about staying where the Suhlik might come at any minute. What had she been dropped into? “I should get back to my… um…” Molly finished the thought in her head: back to my room to freak out…
Haze turned to her, leaning forward again in that goofy, friendly way of his. “Stay. It’ll be fun. We’re going to the Pit. We’ll make a warrior out of you yet. And Oz won’t be long before he’s done.”
“Oh? Okay…” Molly glanced to Oz uncertainly.
Oz had his hands on the table, and she noticed his wrists glowed slightly. Oz’s eyes met hers, and she felt her breath whoosh out at the sudden intensity of his gaze. He held her gaze a moment longer before standing up carefully.
“You won’t mind, will you, Oz?” Haze asked, “if Xain and I take her for a spin, right?”
Molly felt a quick blush come to her cheeks. “Um…”
Oz’s eyes slid away, and he turned to Xain. “Xain, you’ll keep her in one piece, yes?”
“Course, brother,” Xain said, standing up.
Oz turned back to Molly, his wrists glowing brighter and spreading up his arms, bringing out some tribal markings tattooed on his arms. “I’ll see you later, Molly.”
~
Molly changed first as they waited in the hall, regretting the word ‘okay’ had ever left her mouth. What had she been thinking?
The two warriors had been too large to fit in the elevator with her, so at least she was spared that discomfort. Instead, they only met her in the hall and walked with her back to her room.
Crap. Crap.
Once changed, she took a deep breath and opened the door back to the crew hall. Haze and Xain were there, leaning against the wall, chatting easily.
“Ready?” Haze asked, smiling down at her.
“…No…” Molly grinned.
The Pit turned out to be a training room off the dining area. It had a mat area for sparring and various training equipment to the side.
Xain handed her a staff, calling it a warng and tried to show her how to hold it.
In the end, Molly only lasted a few minutes. It was heavy. Hard enough just to pick up the fighting staff, let alone try to swing it with any accuracy.
Xain laughed and sort of steered her around to the dummy. “Here, just aim for this to build up your strength.”
She swung a few times, half-heartedly, then just stood with the top half of the staff resting against the dummy. The warriors swung and dodged in acrobatic wheels through the air as they darted in and out to tap each other.
Haze glanced over, saw her staring at them, and did a leap into the air. He swung his staff across Xain’s chest, easily getting away from Xain with a grace and speed Molly didn’t think existed for humans.
“Yours,” Xain managed, his hands to his knees to draw in a few, deep breaths.
Haze smiled and bowed his head to Molly.
Molly looked away and began tapping the dummy again. Crap. The guy was not subtle. What the hell, Molly?
The doors slid open, and it was Oz. Thank all the stars. He was dressed in black training sweats, same as the others, and the dark color looked great against his skin.
She put down the staff carefully and walked over to Oz. “You’re here!” she said brightly.
Oz’s face lit up, and he smiled. Molly felt guilty. She didn’t want to mislead him but, man, was she glad he was here.
“Yes, there wasn’t much to do actually.” He smiled down at her. She felt herself relax, and it warmed her heart a little. He seemed so sweet.
He walked with her to the dummy, picking up the staff easily. He balanced it in his hand, swooping it back and forth, his eyes never leaving her face. He swiped the dummy front and back and did a little turn, hitting it from behind, then swooped it back and forth in front of him again.
He looked at her appraisingly. “I think this might be a bit heavy for you to start. Perhaps you’d like to try something like…” He walked over to the stands and picked out a thin, long stick, similar to the warng she’d been using. “We use this with the cubs, so it’s practically unused on the ship. Here—” He held it out to her gently.
She took it, surprised at its light feeling. “Yes.” She smiled at him. “Much better.”
He swooped his staff again up and down, slowly, demonstrating for her as she tried to copy. As they synched up, he raised his arms and lowered them, repeating the swoop high and low. She grinned as they swooped in synch.
His eyes never left her face as he smiled encouragingly. “Good, now you just want to—” He demonstrated a few timed jabs at the dummy with more swoops between.
She copied with a giggle. It felt awkward and unbalanced, unlike his smooth movements.
“It gets easier,” Oz reassured her.
And again she glanced over to him and was rewarded with his warm smile.
“Want to go, little brother?” Haze called over to him from the sparring mat.