Chapter 13
Bridget Thomas
“What is it?” the lieutenant said as we both got up and moved to the front of the ship.
“It looks like wreckage,” Nippara said.
“That's my ship! Take us down,” Vnor said.
“Oh my god! Do you think there are any humans?” I said looking at the ship. I was so happy to see another part of the ship. It was a very large chunk, with several chunks scattered along the ground. We were in the middle of the desert as I looked around. There was nothing.
“Only one way to tell. Set us down over there,” Vnor said to Nippara. “This is unbelievable. The ship is all over the place. It must have broken up in the atmosphere, and the ship took an arc path as it came down. That is why we and other survived. It was a slow fall.”
I ran to the door of the ship. “I have to see if there are any humans.”
“Whoa wait. You are staying here until we check it out,” Vnor said grabbing his gun.
“But—”
“Listen to me for once,” he said.
“Fine!” I said crossing my arms. I could hear a laugh come from Nippara as he set the ship down in the sand. I sat at the windshield looking out. The door of the ship opened, and Vnor gave me one last look. Then he and Nippara walked off the ship with guns in their hands.
“If there is a human female, they are going to frighten the hell out of the girl,” I mumbled under my breath as I watched.
I wished that Vnor had completed his sentence. What was he going to say? Was he going to say that he loved me? Was he going to at least say that he would give it a chance? Was he going to explain why, after having sex with me, he became completely cold again? I guessed I would have to wait and see. But there was a big possibility that he would suddenly become cold again. It was a small window in which he became warm and open. I knew it was because he had lost his lover, and I had to be open to understanding that. It was a lot to deal with. But for some reason, the fact that he saw K6R taking me away made him open up again. How long before that window closed? Would it be closed when he boarded the ship again? I was glad that we had come upon some of the wreckage, but it was very bad timing.
I stood up and looked down. I watched them look around the wreckage very slowly. Then I watched as Vnor slowly entered one open side as the chunk of metal. Then he came out and looked towards the ship. “Bridget! Come out here!”
I jumped over to the door and ran down the ramp of the ship. I was excited that he was allowing me to come outside. I ran over to him. “What is it?” I said.
“Hello?” I heard a soft voice say.
“Yes, it's me, Bridget. I am human,” I said looking at Vnor with wide eyes. He gestured for me to go in. I walked into the chunk of metal and found a human female that I recognized squatting underneath a shelf with a blanket on top of her. She threw the blanket off and crawled out. She ran into my arms.
“Oh my God! Another human! I can't believe it. I never thought I would see anyone ever again!” she said as she began to cry.
I hugged her. “It is all right. You are safe now. You are with me. These aliens with me are friends. They will not harm you. What is your name? I remember you from the yoga retreat, but I don't think we met,” I said patting her hair as she hugged me.
“Gloria. My name is Gloria,” she said.
“Gloria, yes, I remember. Are you the only one here, Gloria? Are there any more with you?” I asked.
“No, I am the only one. When I woke up, I looked around, and I was in this chunk of metal in a seat. I looked around; there is no one. I have walked in various directions but not too far. There are food and water in this part of the ship, and it is warm at night. I did not want to end up dying in the desert. So I always came back to it. I have been alone,” she said.
“You poor thing. Come, we are going to take you with us. Get what you need but we have food and drink, and we are going to a safe place: a home where you can rest. But take whatever you want from here,” I said. “I am never going to leave you alone. You will always be with me. We have been searching for the others,” I said.
“I am just so glad to see you,” she said hugging me again.
I hugged her and then slowly helped her walk out of the chunk of metal. “This is Lieutenant Vnor Gin, and this is Nippara. Come on; let's get you onto the ship,” I said to her. She nodded her head yes.
Once I got her on the ship, I gave her food and water and set her on the bench. She didn't have much of a story to tell because she had just been alone, practically camping alone in the desert ever since we crashed. I didn't know what would be worse: being alone in the desert not knowing if you would ever see anyone again, or what I had been through with the cyborgs. It was hard to tell.
“Let's get out of here. I left a note inside the wreckage in my native language in case another crew member comes across it so they can find us,” Vnor said.
“Let's keep going to the outpost,” Nippara said. Soon we were in the air again traveling toward our new home. I held Gloria close to me. She was still in shock and feeling relief over being found by another human. I looked at Vnor. He nodded in approval of me taking care of Gloria. I gave him a little smile. He smiled in return. Good, he had not closed down yet.
“Thank you for stopping. I don't know how much longer I could have lasted there,” Gloria said.
“I am so glad that we found you. It is so good to see another human,” I said.
“Where are we? Is this where the blue aliens were taking us?” she said.
“No, it is not. We crashed on the way to their destination. We are on a planet full of cyborgs, if you can believe that. I believe it is called X003.”
“Cyborgs? Seriously?”
“Yes, they are very dangerous. Gloria, if you see one, you need to run and hide. They are vile, awful things. They want humans; trust me, you do not want to come across one,” I said.
“I understand. Now, where are we going?” she asked.
“Our friend that is flying the ship knows of a compound that we can stay at. There are others like him there, a family, a farm. We are going to stay there while the lieutenant tries to get in touch with the rest of the crew. We were in a very large village; it was unbelievable. Gloria, there are so many different types of aliens all over the place. But the cyborgs came and invaded, and it is not safe for us to be there. So we are going out into the deserted areas of the planet over the mountains where the cyborgs cannot get to us. We will be safe there, and you can rest,” I said.
“Rest; that sounds heavenly. I have not slept a full night sleep since we crashed. I only sleep an hour and then wake up, fearful that someone will find me. It has been awful,” she said.
“That is awful. You can sleep now. There is a bench in the back. Come, we will be there in…” I said looking at Vnor.
“Two more hours,” he said.
“Two hours. You can get two solid hours of sleep, and when we arrive, you can sleep a full night. For now, you can rest easy knowing that you are safe. I will be right here, and we are not landing this ship until we get there.”
“Really? Are you sure? I am so tired,” she said.
“Yes, I will show you,” I said standing up and opening and cabinet. I pulled out a blanket. Then I walked with her to the back of the ship. There was a very long bench with a padded top. It wasn't exactly a bed, but it would do for now. She sat down and then laid down. I covered her with the blanket and brushed her brown hair to the side. She closed her eyes, and within seconds, she was asleep.
I walked back to the front of the ship and looked at Vnor. He smiled. Was he still open? Would he ever tell me what he was going to say before we spotted the wreckage? I wanted to ask him, but I knew it wasn't the time. I couldn't force him to talk about these things, especially when I knew the talk of his lost loved one was painful. For now, I was just happy that he was smiling at me and that I had another human companion. It was enough to get me through the rest of the trip.