Chapter 13
General Rai Razook
I had that feeling of euphoria again. Damn, it felt good. Being inside Hannah was the best thing I have ever experienced in my long alien life. I never wanted to let it go. But I would soon have to. I had promised that I would take her home to her sister. Now that I had learned that Willow Springs was not the hostile human colony that we had come across, I hoped that I would be able to stay with Hannah. If all went well and the humans accepted us the way we had been accepted at Haven Brook. But would she want me? After I left her at Willow Springs, would she want me to stay after I had given them the virus? Would she want me to stay at her side? I didn't know if she had bonded with me the way I had bonded with her. I guessed only time would tell, but I was hopeful that she cared for me. I wanted to be with her. I wanted to be the one to protect her forever. I wanted her to be at my side as we helped the humans fight these machines and get control of the Earth again. But I also wanted to make my king proud and do my mission. I was supposed to spread the human virus far and wide. That meant that after I gave it to a human colony and helped to protect the colony, I was supposed to move onto another colony. If Hannah did not want to go with me, then I would have to leave her; it was my responsibility to my king. I didn't want to think about it. It made me sick to think about it, and I just wanted to enjoy the feeling of euphoria.
After an intense session of lovemaking, we needed to get dressed.
“It’s time to get dressed. I want to stay naked with you forever, but I can’t. We need to stay on guard. We don’t know what is out in this area,” I said as I sat up. She got up to her feet.
“I know. I don’t feel like getting dressed either. I want to stay laying on top of you. It is so warm there,” she said as she began to look for her clothes scattered everywhere.
“It is the dragon fire within me. That is where it comes from,” I said.
“It is wonderful,” she said pulling on her pants. I was sad to see her naked body get covered up, but it was necessary.
I grabbed my pants and boots and began to get dressed. I looked around at our surroundings.
“Maybe I should do a quick fly around this area just to make sure that we are truly alone,” I said.
"No. I don't think that is a good idea. I don't want you to leave my side. Bad things happen when we separated,” she said as she pulled on her shirt and then sat down on the ground to put her boots on.
"You have a point,” I said, but it would be good to know what is surrounding us.
“Well, I am hungry. Maybe we could eat something,” she said.
“Did all of my lovemaking make you hungry?” I said to her playfully as I walked over to the pile of food.
“Yes, that and of course running away from you, being abducted by a crazy Veruka, and crashing: all of that would make me hungry,” she said.
“Yes, you have been through a lot. But you are strong. You are resilient,” I said as I open some packages of food that were dehydrated. I poured water into the packages in hand one to her.
“It is good. Try it. It is perfectly safe for humans,” I said.
She looked at it and smelled it. She smiled. She was about to dig into it when she looked up. The package fell out of her hands. I follow the direction of her gaze. The bushes across from us were moving. Suddenly a cyborg crawled out. It was only half of one from the waist up. I grabbed my blaster gun and aimed at it. Boom! I shot it. But it kept moving toward us.
“Rai…” She said.
I shot it again and again. Finally, it stopped moving and the glow in its eyes died.
“Where did it come from?” she said.
“I don't know. It looks like a stray. Like it was wounded in battle somewhere near here and has been crawling.”
“It's like it was fried from its circuits and just going and going,” she said.
“Yes, that may be the case. Still, we have to react as though there are more., We need to get out of here; come,” I said.
“But what about the beacon?” she said.
“That is a good point. Then let's at least get off the ground,” I said looking up into the high trees. “We can wait up there,” I said. I scooped her up into my arms before she could answer. I flew straight up into a tree and put her down on a branch. “Sit down right here and hold on. I will be right back,” I said.
“What? Where are we going?” she said. I flew back down to the ground and grabbed a few packages of food and a jug of water. Then I flew back up into the tree. I set the water and the packages down on a very wide section of the tree that was like a cradle. “There, we could stay here for a couple of hours at least,” I said.
“That was very scary. I'm glad it didn't have a gun aimed at us,” she said.
“So am I,” I said.
We sat up in the tree quietly talking to each other. I kept a watch out for any movement. From up in the tree we could see for a long distance. It was a good vantage point.
Then something caught my attention. “There! I don't believe it. It is a ship; a Veruka ship,” I said pointing in the direction of a ship coming toward us.
“What? I don't believe it. They found us. Your fleet has found us,” she said. But as it got closer, I realized that it was not mine.
“No, that is not my ship,” I said.
“What? What do you mean?” she said.
“It is a Veruka ship, but not mine. Still, I am happy to see it,” I said.
“Well, I am not. Not after the way Qon treated me. How do you know that these Veruka will not be the same as him?” she said. “We should hide,” she said.
“No, I am going to flag them. They are Veruka, and Veruka stick together,” I said.
Before she could answer, I flew off of the tree straight up into the sky. I flew high directly in the line of sight of the ship. I spread my emerald wings wide and moved my body so that the sun could glisten off my skin. They flashed lights, and I knew that they had seen me.
This was good. We were going to be rescued, and I was happy for it, even if it wasn't by my own fleet. But this ship would have a radio with a long-range transmission that I could contact my fleet with. This was going to work out well, and I was going to keep my promise to Hannah. I was going to get her back to her sister no matter what. It was the most important thing to me at the moment. I wanted her to believe in me because I loved her.
I flew back down to the tree and grabbed Hannah. Then I flew down to the wreckage of my ship.
“I am going to hide in the brush, just in case. I need to know that you know these Veruka before I feel safe exposing myself,” Hannah said.
“Alright. If it makes you feel better,” I said. She walked away from me and hid in the brush. I looked up into the sky. Finally, the ship came into view. It landed a few yards away from me. The door opened and out stepped Captain Jex Kailen. I knew him. We didn’t get along too well. Something that went back to training on Tivoso a long time ago. But it wasn’t like the way Qon and I didn’t like each other. This was different: more of a friendly challenge.
“General Razook! What the hell are you doing out here? Where is your army? You are supposed to be south, no?” he asked.
I walked over to him, extremely happy to see him for the first time since I met him.
“Jex, it is good to see you. It is a long story. We went south, but the human colony was already destroyed. King Karik told us to come north to find colonies here and disperse the virus. Things did not go as planned and we came across a human colony that was hostile. They did not want our help, and a small battle erupted,” I said.
“I am looking for a human female named Hannah. Have you seen her? I am helping her sister find her,” he said.
“Helen? You know Helen?” Hannah said coming out of the brush.
“Hannah! It is you. You are the mirror image of her,” Jex said.
I was confused. How did Captain Kailen know about Hannah’s sister?
“Where is my sister? Is she safe?” she asked.
“She is at Willow Springs. I have come to find you to take you to her,” Captain Kailen said.
“I am so glad that she is safe,” Hannah said with a big smile. She bounced and clapped her hands together. I was glad to see her happy.
“What are you doing out here? Where is your army?” Captain Kailen asked me.
“We got separated in a battle. I was in a small ship that crashed here, and I engineered an emergency beacon out of the remains of the radio, what is left that is. I have not been able to contact the rest of my army. We did not have a stationary camp, so I cannot fly to find them,” I said.
“You will come with us to Willow Springs. It is a human colony that is hospitable to having us as guests. We will find the army and transmit your location,” Captain Kailen said. “Pilot, get on the airwaves and see if you can find a fleet within range of here. We were not in range at Willow Springs,” he said to me. “Give them the coordinates to Willow Springs.”
“Yes, Captain,” a soldier said to Jex.
“Come onto the ship. You look like hell,” he said to me.
“Thank you. I have been through hell, especially with this one… Stubborn human female,” I said gesturing toward Hannah.
“I know what you mean all too well,” Jex said with a smile.
I wondered what he meant by that, but something told me that it was because he knew Hannah’s sister Helen. They were twins after all.