Ark: A Scifi Alien Romance (16 page)

Melissa looked pensive. “So it’s possible that it gets so bad that a power source could be just beyond the edge of our scanners, and we’d never know about it?”

“That is…possible.”

“Could it be that a power source is creating all that interference?”

“That is also possible, however, we know that a certain amount of it comes from the atmosphere itself.”
 

“That doesn’t explain why it gets worse the further from us we go. We can’t have been that lucky to just randomly land on the part of the planet with the least interference.”

Melissa had a good point, one I hadn’t considered. “You are correct in that assumption.” I looked down at the panel and the previous scans we had from orbit. “We do not have much information on this planet. Previous survey missions did not attempt to land a probe or investigate the interference.” I tapped the panel some more. “It was determined to occur naturally and warrant further study, but-“ I tapped some more. “A full survey team’s arrival is still pending.”

“There’s government bureaucracy for you,” Melissa said, and I even I knew she was being sarcastic.

“The Kreossian Empire is vast, Melissa. Administering it is not easy.”

“I’m sure it is, and I have no doubt it’s not easy. I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit!”

“I understand your point. It was well taken.”

“What do we do in the meantime while we wait for the survey to complete or find something?”

I tried winking at her again, and she smiled. “I have at least one idea.”

Melissa nodded. “OK, but this time we do it inside the shuttle. The ground outside is a little too tough.”

“Humans,” I said, a smile on my face as I stood up. “So afraid of a little hardship.”

I picked up Melissa and she threw her arms around my neck, squealing. “My huge alien man,” she whispered, running her hands over my shoulders.

“My…smaller, human woman,” I added, and she balled her hand up into a fist and punched me.

We went to the rear of the shuttle and to the bed, each of us tearing off the other’s clothing as we went. By the time I set her down, neither of us had anything on, and with very little fanfare I pressed myself inside her.

I loved watching Melissa’s eyes widen as she took my length inside of her, and when she clung to me, pulling me deeper, I marveled at how sexy and perfect my mate was, and how well we fit together.

Of course, I could not use all of my strength during our lovemaking, but I only held back as much as I had to not to hurt her. Once I found what that point was, I pounded into her, and she gave back in kind. It was sensual, loving, as tender as it needed to be, and as animalistic as we both could make it.

It was perfect.

When we were done, she lay there in my arms as we collected ourselves from the exertion. I was in no hurry - the computer would let us know when it had found something. Until then we were in a holding pattern, with nothing important to do or anywhere to go.

We had enough supplies to last us for weeks, and it was clear that this planet could sustain our lives indefinitely, as long as we were able to hunt. I knew there was a significant chance that we would be stuck here, and barring a rescue from the Kreossian Empire, that could end up being a long term stay.

In truth, despite how much I wanted to get back to forwarding the Empire’s goals around the galaxy, the fact that I had found my mate had quelled that desire significantly, and replaced it with the desire to be with Melissa and keep her safe. Beyond that, I found myself remarkably content.

As we lay there, still intertwined from the furies of lovemaking, I realized that even if we were stuck on this planet for the rest of our lives, as long as that time we had together was measured in decades as opposed to days, I would be satisfied, both with what I had done up until the moment I met Melissa and with all the time we would be able to spend together afterward.

Several times while we lay there I tried to say those things to her, to make it clear to her just how content I was in that moment, but each time when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. Melissa, for her part, dozed quietly in my arms, a small smile on her face that grew bigger each time she turned and snuggled closer into my chest.

I didn’t disturb her any further, and I would have been content to lie there with her the rest of the day and all night, but right at that moment, the computer chose to send out a fresh set of alarms. Melissa’s eyes opened immediately as the alarms grew louder, and we both looked at each other. I could see the panic starting to register on her face, but I shook my head slowly, and kissed her on the forehead. “I will check on it, Melissa. You stay here.”

Melissa nodded, and rolled off of me onto the surface of the bed, and I stood up, not bothering to put any clothing on - the shuttle interior was climate controlled and Melissa and I were beyond the need for clothing around each other, as it should be between mates. Melissa curled up into a ball for a moment, as if to protect herself from what was about to come, but almost as soon as she got into the position she straightened out, and looked at me as she got out of bed.
 

That was my mate - good or bad, she wanted to get the news at the same time as me. Her hand slipped into mine as we walked barefoot into the shuttle cockpit, and I knew right away that this was not as dire as the first time the alarms sounded. I smiled at Melissa and she looked relieved.

I sat back down in the pilot’s chair. This time, Melissa sat on my lap, and before I did anything else, she turned her head around, looking at me over her shoulder, and we kissed. When we disengaged I asked the computer for a status update.

Melissa stared at me, not the panel, while the computer showed me data, readings, and telemetry. “What is it, Ark? Give it to me straight.”

“The scan was successful. The computer has located a power source strong enough to allow us to break atmosphere.”

“For real? You’re not shining me on?”

“My skin is naturally shiny in this form, Melissa.”

She shoved me, a smile on her face. “That’s not what I meant, you big lug. You’re telling me the truth?”

“I would not lie to you. Not only is that wrong in principle, between mates it is unconscionable. You are mine, Melissa, and I am yours. I will never hide the truth from you.”

Melissa’s eyes welled up with tears and she kissed me longer and stronger than she ever had before. “You…you have a way of saying the hottest things, Ark, and I can tell you don’t even know it….” She trailed off while wiping the tears away and sniffling.

“And you have a habit of attacking me at inappropriate times.”

“I know,” she sniffed. “I do! I’m sorry.”

“I am not wounded by your attacks.”

“Well, that’s certainly good to hear! I’ll try and, you know, not do that anymore.” Before I could reply, she turned to face the panel in front of me. “OK, so what’s the deal with this power source? Where is it? How far away? When do we leave?”

I focused back on the panel. “It looks to be near the mountains we can see from the crash site. If the forest is as dense as it was when I tracked the beast, it should take us about 3 days to get there, about 1 or 2 to get back.”

Melissa clapped her hands with glee. “That’s not so bad! We have plenty of supplies, we can be off this rock and back in space in less than a week!” Suddenly she stopped, and a pensive look came over her face. She turned to face me again. “Power sources don’t just, you know, sit there out in the open, Ark. It’s gotta be guarded, right?”

“We do not know the nature of the power source, that is correct. The readings are incomplete, and the computer warns me it will not be able to increase its accuracy or its depth of data. The power source is on the outer edge of the scanner’s effective range.”

Melissa nodded, taking that in. “Well, it’s definitely the best lead we’ve got. The scanner doesn’t think there are any other sources within range?”

I shook my head. “It looks like that is our best lead, in fact.”

“What do you think we should do?”

“I think we should go take a look,” I said. “It is better than staying here.”

Melissa smiled devilishly. “Getting sick of making love to me already, eh, Ark?”

I pulled her close, and she squirmed underneath me. I could tell she could feel how hard I was starting to get. “Never, my mate. As long as I live, I will never grow tired of being inside you.”

“I will hold you to that, you know.”

“I expect nothing less from the mate of a Kreossian warrior.”

“We should probably rest up, though, before our trip, right? We don’t want to spend all our energy back there.”

“We do have plenty of rations, Melissa. We will not run out of energy.”

We ended up having sex right there in the cockpit of the shuttle, Melissa just adjusting slightly to allow my hardening length inside her. She turned around and wrapped her arms around my neck as I lifted her up and down around my cock, and she cried out my name each time she came, and finally I bellowed out loud as I filled her with my seed.

It was a long time before we left the cockpit and prepared for the journey to come. It was going to be the longest either of us had been away from the shuttle and I wanted to make sure that we left things secure here, but also packed enough to make sure that we had everything we need, no matter what crises came up along the way.

On a foreign and unexplored planet, to do anything less was folly. We ate again, more of the beast from earlier, and then packed away portions of it for travel. I gathered more nutritional supplement containers than we would need, just in case we were away from the shuttle for longer than we expected.

All that’s left was to prepare the portable shelter and gather the weapons we would need. I brought a complement of blades in various sizes as well as one portable blaster. It only had a capacity of 5 shots before it required time to recharge, so we had to use it sparingly - it was only for emergencies.

I divided the supplies into two packs, one much larger than the other. Melissa tried to take more and more supplies onto her pack, but each time I stopped her, and explained that I needed her to be more mobile, and that there was no reason for us to equally distribute the load when I was used to carrying several times her bodyweight all around worlds much less hospitable than this tone.

Melissa didn’t want to hear it, but when I started to explain to her what I had experienced during the Death March of the Grand Fields of Levitor XI, she quieted down and consent to carrying a lighter load than I. It was good to learn that once in a while she listened to the voice of military experience and reason.

Night approached as we finished our preparations, and Melissa and retired to the bed for one more night on the shuttle before we left for the power source. This time our lovemaking was much more gentle as we tried to conserve energy for the long journey ahead.

The next morning we rose early and dressed, donning our survival suits for the first time in more than a day. Now, whenever I looked at Melissa clothed, and thought about her sleek and sexy body underneath, I had the experience of a man who had undressed her, who had touched her, enveloped her, and been inside her.

That knowledge made seeing her in the skin-hugging survival suit a welcome combination of tantalizing and frustrating. I could tell Melissa thought the same thing, because I was sure she moved around in a more exaggerated style, swaying her hips back and forth, and giving me naughty grins throughout the morning while we prepared to leave.

As a last step, after we had hoisted our packs and made sure they were securely attached, I told the computer to engage its automatic defenses, and that we would be leaving for a few days.

The ship acknowledged as Melissa looked at me. “The ship has defenses? Shouldn’t we, you know, have been using those all this time?”
 

“They are not what you think. This ship has no weapons. But the hull itself can be charged to repel attackers. Energy-wise, it is a very expensive operation, and given how we have been on a budget, I did not think it wise to engage the systems before now.”

Melissa thought about that for a second, before nodding. “That makes sense. Plus you handled the beast alright.”

“I did.”

“Ready to go?”

“Yes, let us go.”

I opened the door to the shuttle and the morning heat came rushing in. It took a minute to get used to the muggy weather, but soon we were off and headed toward the source of the energy.

I walked in front, and before long I felt Melissa touch me on the hand and pull on me. I stopped, turning around. “What is wrong?”

“Look,” Melissa said, turning back toward the shuttle. “We’re leaving home.”

I almost laughed that she called it home after such a short time staying there. “It will be here when we return.”

“I know,” Melissa agreed, looking up at me. “I just hope we come back soon.”

“We will return soon. And when we do, it will be with the power source.”

We kept walking in silence, away from the shuttle, deeper into the jungle.

“You know what, Ark? I sure hope we can carry whatever it is back. Wouldn’t it suck if it was too big? Too heavy?”

CHAPTER 09 - MELISSA

Trekking through the jungle with Ark was the toughest thing I had ever done in my life, and that was no joke. It was a nonstop hike that went on for days. We took turns hacking through the dense forests with our knives - Ark would take the lead for a few hours, then I would do maybe an hour in front before I couldn’t go any further, and by then Ark would be rested enough again to get back in front.

It was an interesting system we worked out over the first day. The jungle stretched out before us, but at the same time, it felt almost claustrophobic - just so much to either side and above. At times it felt like it was regrowing so fast all around us that when I turned around I swore I saw plants I had just cut through already back in place.

I wouldn’t want to get lost in a place like this - if I did, I might just sit down and cry myself to death, and not end up going anywhere. Of course, with Ark around, that wasn’t likely. He was almost like a machine at times, pressing on through the thick brush, his arms swinging back and forth carrying those huge blades of his, clearing the plants of the way and creating a path for us.