Janar: A Sci-FI Alien Romance (Jorathian Warriors Book 1) Page 4

  “So I-i’m the reason he killed all of those people?” I asked him and he only pauses.

  “Yes and no. His main motivation was getting his kicks out of raiding the human base in general. You were a focal point of his leisure, however. He did want you more than anything else there so that much is true.....i’m sorry.” he muttered and I quiver. I was going to breakdown once again but I find that I couldn’t even scream, I was too tired for anguish.

  “But you’re going to stop him right? How long will this journey take?” I asked him and he frowned.

  “Approximately 6 months in terms of Earth time.” he said and my eyes widened. I suppose I should have expected it. The journey to get from Earth to Arasin took a couple years so it was believable that such a point would only be a couple of months away in terms of space travel.

  “Can’t you just inform the governments of what had happened? Surely someone from Earth would care that an entire colony disappeared.” I said to him.

  “The Jorathain government has taken this matter into their own hands. This is an operation that has taken extensive planning, if one of his scouts catches wind of this by me switching the plan then the whole thing goes out the window. The only way we get this done is through my way, anything else will either take too much time or one of his men may find out.” he explained. So if we tried to change plans and go somewhere a bit closer...say Earth. Then he might be alerted through one of his contacts....I suppose that made enough sense.

  “Do you agree to these terms?” he asked me and I glanced over my hands, looking aimlessly around the room before nodding.

  “Yeah....sure. I guess I don’t really have much of a choice in the matter anyways.” I muttered. He said not another word and got up from his chair before walking out of the room, leaving me there.

  I would have thought that he would have had more to say but I suppose that this was it.

  He didn’t care about how I was doing? He didn’t care about what I needed? Where I come from empathy was a bit more common than whatever he did here. His manner of speaking was cold, his stare stoic yet....I sensed to malevolence, no disgust, no hatred behind those green orbs. If anything I sensed sorrow when in his presence, I sensed some amount of regret.

  “I’m sorry....he’s not really good at dealing with people in your situation.” said Fi over the intercom.

  “He doesn’t have anything else to ask me? Am I going to be kept in this cell forever?” I asked, not wanting to have to sit in this small room as a prisoner. If I was cooperating, then I could at least get some better living conditions.

  “Oh don’t worry. This is just a front, he’ll turn nice soon enough. He’s a big softie.” said Fi and I giggled at the thought of that intimidating warrior that had just shown his face being a soft hearted man.

  For a while longer I sit there, doing nothing in particular but mulling over the details of my capture and the assault of Arasin. I did feel a bit parched and hungry so I asked Fi if I could have something to eat. Moments later a small portion of the glass wall opens and Fi hovers in, two mechanical arms stretching out from her cubic body, they were holding a plate of....I don’t really know what it was.

  “What is it?” I asked, pointing at the plate. There was a pile of a grain like substance as well as some small green pellets, kind of like rice and peas only if the rice was clear and the peas were the size of my thumb.

  “It’s a traditional Jorathian dish. Please.” she said and I shrugged, grabbing the plate and pulling it in along with a small canister of water that she had granted me.

  I sit on the cold steel floor and spoon the meal into my mouth. Luckily enough, it was delicious. I had tried Jorathian food before but not this, it tasted almost like spanish rice and beans and filled me up rather quickly. I lift the canister of water and pressed a button on the top of it, causing the lid of the can to decompose so I could unscrew it.

  “Jorathians. Are they nice?” I asked FI.

  “Oh yes. Quite a playful bunch. I’m sure you’ve met some haven’t you?” she asked me, she was still in her cubic form, that smiling pixel face flickering on her screen.

  “No, I haven’t actually. I’ve only met a Kasorian once, never a Jorathian.” I admitted, spooning another bite of the food up to my mouth.

  “Oh they weren’t really ones for much interstellar travel. They come from a planet with trees as tall as mountains, making them excellent climbers. They usually are a pretty jovial bunch.” she explained.

  “So why is he so....stoic?” I asked.

  “Give him time, i’m sure he’s only putting on that front to seem professional.” she said and I frowned, gazing back down at my metal plate.

  “Well he could at least give me some freedom.” I groaned, gazing around the room and staring at the glass walls. This wasn’t really how they treated people that they needed to help them did they? If it was then it was a wonder if they ever did catch anyone.

  “He’ll back down soon enough. I’ve known him for quite a while, he’ll come around.” she said and I shrugged.

  “I sure hope so.” I bemoaned.

  Days past and I am still not granted any degree of freedom. I wake up in the cell, pace around the small floor that I was given and converse with Fi. She keeps on telling me to have patience and to wait it out but slowly my resolve is withered and I find myself babbling like a fool. He didn’t even come to see me for heaven’s sake! I thought at least he would have more questions for me but....this was horrid. I couldn’t live in this kind of solitude, even if I had Fi to keep me company.

  I find myself sitting there, eating more of that Jorathian rice and hoping that he would trust me enough to let me go free. I didn’t know what he was keeping me in there for. Was it to test for diseases that his immune system wasn’t used to? Was it to see if I was working for Khor? What was it goddamnit?

  “Something wrong Lauren?” she asks me.

  “Is it really necessary to keep me in here any longer?” I asked her and she repeated that same mantra of “wait for him.”

  Perhaps this man wasn’t as decent as I thought he was. Perhaps he wasn’t the fair and just man that my dreams gave the impression of him being. Every time I fell asleep I had that same vision, of that horrid darkness that washed out from Khor washing over me before he appeared with that light and saved me. Before he clutched me in his powerful arms, before he pressed me against his powerful body, before he saved me. But maybe that’s all that was, some false idolization fostered once he first captured me. He was a soldier, cold and ruthless, I shouldn’t have expected anything more.

  #

  Janar

  It was the 14th day of travel, I had grown tired of pacing around the ship and doing the usual repairs. More wealthy ships would have had cryosleep but here all we had was sleeping pills and some sedatives that were unreliable at best. I had Fi give Lauren some pills to prolong her slumber, she probably thought only days had passed when in reality it's been two weeks already. I had to be careful not to overuse the sedatives as it would cause health complications in the case that it was. I was sitting in one of the back rooms where I usually ate. The kitchen was to my front, a small plasma-wave with a cold box full of enough meals to last a good portion of the trip, at least I thought they would. I sat at a small table with two chairs directly across from one another, to my left was the doorway out to the hallway of the ship and to my right was the wall.

  And now I was preoccupying myself by watching her.

  She was crying while munching on her meal, I thought I could steel myself and ignore her. I thought that I could treat her in such a cold manner and leave her in that cell but I couldn't. The way her eyes glazed over in that morose manner, the way the tears welled and her body shook as she sat there in all of her lonesome even with Fi....I could bear it no longer.

  I had originally planned to simply be cold to her in order to dissuade her from looking around the ship or growing closer to me but the feeling o
f watching her suffer like this was even worse. I wanted to help her, I cared, perhaps due to some small amount of guilt that still lingered in the pit of my veins. I set my plate of green Jorathian vine salad down and walk over to her cell. Her crying growing louder as I approached.

  "I want to go home." she croaked out, I frowned, the psychological toll of keeping her in there for so long was taking its toll. The assessment to see if she had any foreign viruses only took a few days so there was no real reason to keep her in there at this point besides the fact that I wanted to restrict her access to both the rest of the ship and I. I was standing right outside the doorway, right before my foot would appear in the light beaming out, that neat rectangular box of light only darkened by her shadow and the small box in front of her.

  "I'm sorry Lauren. This is a necessity. If this man isn't stopped then many more will suffer at his hands." said Fi. It was true....But did I really need to be so cruel to her? That sweet robotic voice bounces off the walls, necessity, necessity, it rings through my consciousness as I hear her cry out once more.

  "I'm not a tool....Just let me out. I swear i'm not working for him, I swear I won't cause any harm. Please." she croaked.

  The thought of that beautiful girl with her long blond hair falling over her smooth pale face and her bright green eyes tormented me. Her soft hands falling on her lap, her curves shifting as she looked up at me and repeated those words that she had just uttered. That vision forced my foot forward, I glanced her over and sighed. She stared at me in a shocked manner for a moment, the spoon of food directly beneath her lips with her eyes glancing me over.

  "Didn't expect you to come along, Janar." said Fi.

  "Set her free. You can come join me in the mess hall human......Fi will show you." I muttered.

  The ship was small but it had enough freedom for the two of us I suppose. As soon as those words are uttered I hear the door open and feel her footsteps pick up. I turn on my heel and walk away, shaking my head and wondering if the benevolence taking ahold on me was really the best that could happen. This softness was what I wanted back, this good nature. But did I really need it to fight Khor? Or did I need to let the darkness take over? Did I really need to treat Lauren as the instrument for my plans that she really was?

  My brain was telling me that there wasn't an answer....but my heart was telling me there was.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lauren

  I could scarcely believe he had finally agreed to let me go.

  I don't really know the reasons that he kept me in there for. I tried to think up a variety of hypotheses such as it being a cultural practice or him checking for any foreign diseases but one thing was for sure...I was glad that he was letting me go. I slipped on my loafers and followed him down the hallway, the way the ship was structured was a large rotunda in the middle of it with hallways leading to each of the rooms from the center. I tried to think of a shape for the ship but Fi informed me that it was an isosceles triangle, two long sides and one short one, the short one being where the thrusters were.

  The rooms were mostly empty and used for storage, the symbols on the wall were completely foreign to me but I could gather what most of them were from their contexts. I passed a small medical office, what seemed like a lab, and an armory before seeing the cockpit to my right. Soon after that I saw a couple of bedrooms before arriving at a room with a small table at which he was sitting. I set my plate down across from him and take a seat, we eat in silence for a while before I finally gather the courage to speak. Oddly enough he wasn't intimidating, his face was expressionless, I think as soon as I arrived he tried to eat his food a bit more quickly or something like that.

  "Are you from Jorath?" I asked him. He slowly looks up from his plate of food, what seemed like a collection of greens covered in some sort of sauce. He looks me over and nods slowly, only now do I really get a good look at his face.

  His blue skin glows in the darkness of the room, his lips pressed together with his bare chest tensing. The muscles of his neck strain and I looked into those wistful green eyes, those eyes that held elements of shame, regret, yet still an element of hope.

  "Yes." he said.

  "Is it nice? What's it like?" I asked him.

  ".....It's....shouldn't you be a bit more distraught human? Why waste your time with small talk?" he asked me in a slightly aggressive tone and I inched away from him before he sighed and shook his head.

  "I'm sorry.....yes my home is quite beautiful, though I haven't been there in quite some time." he said with that familiar hint of sorrow tainting his voice.

  "Why not?" I asked.

  "The organization I work for requires me to be on the move constantly. No breaks." he muttered and I nodded, looking back down at my plate of food and sighing. He didn't seem to be the type to say much so I merely kept quiet, I didn't want to mess this up and get thrown into that same cell once more.

  He finishes his meal and waits for me to finish mine as well. I can feel his gaze on me, it was so ominous, so heavy, I look up at him a couple of times and lock my green eyes with his and every time he only grunts lowly. I get the impression that he wanted me to fear him but for some reason I couldn't...or perhaps I wouldn't. In his presence I felt a great deal safer than before, in his gaze I didn't feel as if he was judging me but more or less just neutrally observing, simply staring without any aim at all. Once I was finished with my meal he tosses the trays into the cleaner and leads me out of the room.

  "Is there a place to wash up? I'm getting kind of....well nasty." I muttered, it's been a couple of days in that room. I had used the pump of water every so often but I never bathed yet. I felt disgusting. He glances me over and sniffs before turning away. I giggled gently at his slight display of levity but he doesn't respond and leads me down the hallway, further in the direction that I was traveling before.

  "Here. You may bathe here." he said.

  I stepped inside and looked around, there was a sink to my left along with a mirror and a cabinet of what I assumed were toiletries. To my right was a large empty glass canister, I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

  "What?" he asked me.

  "What is that?" I asked regarding the large canister.

  "That's the bathing tube." he explained.

  "....How does it work?" I asked him and he scoffed in an exasperated manner before calling out for Fi.

  "Yes master?" she asked over the intercom.

  "Show her how to use.....that." explained Janar who backed out of the room. Why was he being so rude? Had I done something wrong?

  "Master I really do think it would be better if you took control. You can only operate the bathing tube manually you know?" she asked him and he grimaced, scowling and cursing under his breath as he walked over to the tube and waited with his feet directly outside of it. He takes off his boots and stepped inside the tube, slipping a mask over his face and gripping two knobs.

  "You turn the knobs to activate the cleaning fluid. You have to come in here with no clothing or jewelry at all. The tube will fill with liquid and clean you through the action of small nanites in the fluid. Then it will drain and the door will unlock for you to get out." he explained to me and I nodded slowly. He steps out and slips his boots back on, walking back over to the doorway where I was standing.

  "Ask Fi if you need anything." he said.

  "What are you going to be doing?" I asked him but he only walked out without another word, the door automatically shutting behind him. What a jerk.

  I slipped off my lab coat and my dress, they were pretty gross after days of being in them so I just tossed them to the side before I realized that I would be needing garments. Just then I felt a knock on the door and opened it, it was Fi in her floating cube state. There was a pile of clothing on top of the cube that I gripped and pulled away.

  "Thank you....Fi." I muttered.

  "You're quite welcome mistress Redcliff." she said to me. It was almost like being in a ca
stle only with one servant and a massive prick for a king,

  I set my clothes down on a table close to the cleaning tube and stepped inside. I slipped the mask on as he instructed and gripped the knobs, turning them gently as the warm water began to bubble near my feet. The door locks in front of me and I shut my eyes as this purple fluid filled the tube. I feel a wave of calmness rush over me as the fluid runs its way up my body. It felt so comforting, almost like I could sleep in here if I wanted to.

  "Everything alright?" asked FI.

  "Yes, yes, i'm fine. Oh god this is wonderful." I muttered.

  I shut my eyes and stretched out my arms, the tube was about 9 feet high and 5 feet wide, so I could situate myself in there with perfect comfort. The tube fills up completely and I take deep breaths through the face mask. There are slight pockets of warmth forming on my skin and then disappearing, I suppose that was the nanites doing their job. I shut my eyes and relax only to fall asleep moments later.

  When I awoke the tank was clearing and a little chiptune was playing over the speakers.

  "Well that's all there is to it. I'll show you to your room once you're done." said Fi as I stepped out and slipped the towel over my face, sliding it over my body and wiping myself clean before grabbing my clothes.

  I had been given a white t-shirt of some kind and some sort of black sweatpants, both of them were quite loose which I liked as it kept me cool enough. I slipped on the blue sandals that I had been given and stepped out of the bathroom, looking around and taking note of the silence of the halls.

  "Your room will be the second to your right when you turn right." she said and I took my right, looking around as I made my way to my room. I stopped outside of what I presumed to be Janar's quarters. He was lying on the bed, shaking and quivering, rolling over his sheets again and again. I told myself to stay outside and not investigate but....my curiosity got the better of me.