Ark: A Scifi Alien Romance (21 page)

We neared the clearing where the crash site was, and Ark slowed down, barring me from moving any faster with his arm. I looked up, and he shook his head. “Be careful. We do not know if anything has been here since we left.”

I nodded, and we approached the shuttle carefully, taking small steps and trying to make as little noise as possible. The ship it self looked better than it had when we left, and I idly wondered if the repair program included a cleaning cycle as well, which made me smile to myself.

Before we entered the shuttle, Ark made sure that we did a complete circuit of the perimeter to check for any incursions while we were gone. The sky rumbled above us as we finished the trip, and neither of us had noticed anything out of place. I looked at Ark, and he nodded, giving me the all clear to get in the shuttle and begin loading the energy crystals.

We were this close to getting off this planet and going back home…once we figured out whose home to go to.

And that was when the shit really hit the fan.

As soon as we had taken one step closer to the shuttle, the loudest, most deafening sound I had ever heard reverberated throughout the canyon that contained the crash site, and just as I clapped my hands over my ears to try and save myself from hearing damage, I felt Ark pull me closer and drape himself over me.

I knew that roar. I would never forget that roar as long as I lived, but right now it was still fresh in my mind, because I had heard it for the first time only a day ago.

The king of the ghost wolves had found us.

“You must get to the shuttle, Melissa,” Ark hissed to me from above, still looking around and tracking the beast. The roar had ceased, and with it all sound that it had made, even though I still heard the ringing in my ears. “You must load the energy crystals while I fight the creature off.”

“No, Ark, no!” I shouted back above the din that still echoed through my head. “You can’t fight it alone! I won’t let you.”

“I must, my mate. You must get off this planet and warn the others what is going on here. Neither of our species can ignore Garamond if what Makora says is true, it is too valuable.”

“I won’t let you die here, Ark! I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself for me!” This wasn’t fair, and I wasn’t going to let him do it. I knew the big lug would just love to be a martyr to both his people and his mate, but I wasn’t going to let him leave me alone forever, not after we had finally found each other.

Ark sighed, then pushed his head down and kissed me. “We do not have a choice, Melissa, and this is not a discussion.”

“It is too a discussion! I will not let you do this! You’re not going to leave me alone, we just met!”

“I will always be with you, Melissa Crane of Earth. You know that.”

I felt the tears welling up, and I brushed them away. Ark picked me up and I threw my arms around him, kissing him savagely, like I thought there was a chance it would be for the last time, even though I desperately hoped that it wouldn’t.

I felt his body stiffen and I knew a moment later that he was changing into his natural form, and I felt the air pressed by the beating of his wings as they came back out.

And then, Ark did something that I knew must have hurt him dearly. We both turned to see the king of the ghost wolves charge out of the brush and straight toward us, and before I knew it, Ark had slung his pack off his shoulder, and in one clean motion, pulled me off him by the neck of my survival suit.

I saw the look of sadness and love in his face as he threw me, and then his backpack with the energy crystals, toward the shuttle, just as the ghost wolf crashed into him, I felt our hands separate and the gap between us get wider and wider.

I flew through the air in what felt like slow motion as Ark was thrown backwards by the force of the huge ghost wolf colliding with him. The sound of the hit reverberated through my bones as I flew, and again when I slammed into the wall of the shuttle, right in front of the access door, knocking the wind out of me, a gasp flying out of my mouth when the pack with the crystals in it hit me just a moment later.

I tried to sit up after a second, but I just couldn’t. Ark had done exactly what I didn’t want him to do - he had sacrificed himself. Now what was I going to do? I was all alone here, and Ark’s sacrifice would be for nothing as soon as the ghost wolf got up and found me sitting here, too hurt and sad to get up.

No. I wasn’t going to let the story end this way. Not like this - not without a fight.

I pulled myself up, bracing myself against the side of the shuttle and the backpack at my feet, slowly adding weight to my legs as I got them under me. All I could see was haze around me, but as I tried to clear my eyes all I looked for was Ark.

I saw him, yards away, getting up from the hit, dazed, and instantly getting low into a combat crouch. I wanted to call out to him, but I knew that despite the terror I felt with every fiber of my being, I had a job to do, and Ark had thrown me and the energy crystals toward the shuttle rather than telling me what that job was.

I had to get the shuttle refueled and ready to fly. I turned around to face the ship, not wanting to break contact with Ark, but needing to find the access panel. I found it after a few moments of searching and pressed the large purple button inside, and the door to the shuttle slid open, the cool air from inside rushing out as it unsealed.

I pulled the backpack in by the strap, needing all my strength do it. Ark could throw me and this bag around like it was nothing, which caused me no end of satisfaction when we were alone and having sex, but when I had to lug them around, they were super heavy.

I looked out the window and saw that Ark and the ghost wolf had reengaged, and were dueling close, the ghost wolf attempting to overpower Ark by sheer size and mass, but Ark had pressed his hands against the creatures massive front paws, holding it at bay while Ark dug in his heels. I could see the look of grim determination on Ark’s face as the sweat poured off him, mixing with the semi-liquid glowing material that cascaded off the shining yet ebony-dark body of the ghost wolves.

I struggled with the flaps of the bag, trying to get them open as the salt of my tears and sweat mixed together and threatened to blind me. I had to pause every few moments and wipe my face, but finally I got the bag open and pulled out one of the glowing energy crystals, reflecting light over the shiny surfaces of the interior of the shuttle.

Where the fuck do I put it? I had no idea. I looked around and nothing seemed to make any sense, there were no signs, no images of energy crystals anywhere! I rushed to the door after dropping the crystal on the floor.

“Ark!” I shouted, needing him but not wanting him to lose his concentration. Ark was still wrestling with the ghost wolf, deftly avoiding the beast’s menacing teeth as they rolled over and over in the dirt outside of the shuttle. “I don’t know where to put the crystal!”

“I am….a little…busy…my mate,” Ark said through gritted teeth. He must have finally processed my words, because he suddenly rolled over, bringing himself closer to the shuttle and getting on top of the ghost wolf for the first time in a while. He began to shout toward the ship in a language I didn’t understand and the machinery inside began to come to life.

I looked around inside the shuttle and found a container that had extended itself from the wall. Ark had done it! That must be the place for the crystals. Over the next 3 minutes I alternated between watching Ark tussle with the ghost wolf while I rested, and loading the crystals into the container, snapping it shut when the third one was in, knowing that the fourth was going to be used by the Kreossians for research.

“All done!” I shouted out the door. “Come on, Ark, let’s go!”

“Get in the cockpit, Melissa! Press the large green button on the panel twice! I have already programmed the launch sequence!”

“I won’t do it until you get in the shuttle! I’m not leaving you behind!”

Ark turned to look at me, and his crazed face, full of consternation briefly became peaceful. “I will be with you, Melissa. Go and push the button. You will not leave me behin-“

And just as he said it, the king of the ghost wolves roared, and I clapped my ears over my head, still looking at Ark. He grimly nodded toward me and I knew what I had to do.

As much as I hated to do it, I had to do as Ark said. I dashed to the cockpit as quickly as I could and jumped into the pilot’s seat. There were a mass of buttons under the glowing panel, and I reached for the green one and pressed it twice in rapid succession.

The shuttle came to life immediately, and I could hear warning sirens as it prepared for takeoff. I rushed back to the aft section to get Ark but saw to my horror that the doors were beginning to close. I ran to the panel on the inside and tried to press the buttons to stop it, but it didn’t listen, continuing to shut.

“Ark!” I shouted. “The door is closing! Come on!” I pleaded.

Ark looked at me, still locked in mortal combat with the ghost wolf. He rolled over, away from me, and I feared the worst, but just as I thought he would continue, Ark switched directions and rolled back with such force that he flew away from the ghost wolf, who clawed after him, just missing.

And Ark flew threw the air, his wings flapped in constant motion, pulling him along at speed, perfectly angled. Just before he hit the door to the shuttle, Ark changed back, his wings pulling in and disappearing, propelling him through the door of the shuttle just as it closed behind him. He kept going and landed on the opposite wall of the shuttle before sliding down, silent and quiet.

I rushed over to him as the shuttle lifted off, throwing myself on top of him and hugging him with all my might, showering his head with kisses. Ark opened his eyes and looked at me. “I told you I would be with you, Melissa Crane of Earth. For the rest of our lives, I will be with you.”

I lay against him and cried, hearing the angry roar of the king of the ghost wolves beneath us as he tried in vain to reach us.

The shuttle reoriented itself in the air and we were headed back to space.

And home.

CHAPTER 12 - ARK

It felt good to be back in space. It felt even better to be back in space with my mate next to me, even if Melissa could not stop kissing me or clutching at me. She must have thought I was going to die down there, but she had never seen a Kreossian warrior in true combat before we had met.

She had much to learn about us - I had not even needed to shift into my other form. As single combats that I had participated in ranked, this was not in the best ten.

We lay like that against the wall of the shuttle for a while, collecting ourselves. I had programmed the launch sequence to take us toward the Kreossian fleet once we had gotten free of the planet Garamond’s atmosphere and into deep space. We would not be needed in the cockpit for some time now.

We did not have enough fuel to get all the way there, but given how quickly we had left the planet, it was a good bet that the Kreossian fleet would still be looking for us. If so, the beacon the shuttle was automatically set to emit would reveal our position and they would be along shortly. Of course there was a chance the fleet was gone by now, but that was remote - for someone of Admiral Kaalax’ stature, they would still be searching for a few more solar days.

Therefore, I had a little time on my hands, and a very relieved, very stressed out mate in my arms. I began to return Melissa’s kisses one for one, and soon our embraces became more amorous.

As the shuttle made its way toward the dense atmosphere of what had been our temporary home planet of Garamond, Melissa and I made love with the force of two lovers who had begun to think they would never get another chance, only to find that because of their strength and faith in one another, they would have many, many more chances to come together and become one.

We savored the moment.

Afterward, when I lay on the floor of the aft section of the shuttle, my arm draped around Melissa, holding her close to me, I looked down at my mate and marveled at what we had just accomplished. We had crashed on a remote planet after having survived a sabotage attempt by unknown parties and the destruction of our space station, only to find ourselves searching for energy, finding it and stealing it from a race of ghost wolves, only to escape the planet at the last moment while the leader of the ghost wolves was attacking us.

And somewhere in there my mate and I had found each other and now we were together.

It had been an…interesting few solar days for me.

Melissa stirred, lazily opening her eyes and smiling up at me. I motioned for her to go back to sleep - there was nothing for us to do now, except-

The warning sirens went off all over the small shuttle, loud and obnoxious, shaking both of us awake and forcing us to quickly rub the sleep and relaxation from our eyes.

“What the fuck is that?” Melissa said, still lying down, and covering her ears.
 

“It is the alarm system.”

“You’re a master of understatement, among other things, Ark,” Melissa whispered between clenched teeth as she sat up. “I meant, what’s the problem? Did we make it out of the atmosphere?”

“By now we must have,” I shouted over the din of the alarms as I stood up, not bothering to put my survival suit back on. Melissa got up after me, but she had the sense to cover herself up at least a little bit, pulling her suit over her. “I will investigate.”

“I’m coming too,” she said. “Nothing really exciting going on back here.”

I nodded, and took her hand, and we went to the cockpit, where I slid into the pilot’s chair and keyed the main panel on. It lit up, showing a tactical display, localized system scans, and a defense grid.

“There is another ship out there.”

“What? Another ship? That’s great news! Your fleet found us!” Melissa cried, hitting me on the shoulder. “Your ship has showers, right? I could use a good shower. Or maybe even a bath! Yeah, a bath sounds perfect.” She paused. “Your species does take baths, right? Cause otherwise, that could be a deal breaker on this whole ‘mate’ thing.”