Ark: A Scifi Alien Romance (7 page)

I sighed as I turned to look back at the bare and drab room. Until this mission was over and I could make my way to those battles, I would have to settle for the excitement that came from peaceful negotiations. I laughed again to the empty room, but the laughter rang hollow.

Of course, Melissa Crane of Earth did offer a different kind of excitement. But as soon as the thought came to mind, I tried to banish it - it would do no good to indulge these fantasies. Melissa was not my mate and would never be. I would not let myself be consumed by her.

I swung my feet off the slab and stood up, raising my arms and moving them about while squatting down as low as I could go, beginning the traditional Kreossian warrior’s morning calisthenics routine. Some warriors in the empire thought themselves too advanced and powerful for such rituals, but I had learned through experience that relying on the old ways took the guesswork out of things - routines like this became routines for a reason.

I completed the ritual, feeling the muscles that coursed all over my body stretch and wake up, ready for whatever the day would bring. Even if all I would do was sit and listen to Ambassador Fuller and Admiral Kaalax talk while trying not to stare at Melissa Crane, it felt good to have the muscles move around a little bit, keep them on edge for the future. A warrior was only as good as he kept his body lean and ready.

I looked at the chronometer on the wall, the only adornment in the entire room. It was early - the day’s meeting was not scheduled to begin for a while. I liked to wake up early; I liked to think it gave me an advantage over the rest of the day.

I hadn’t been on one of these stations before. The Kreossians had many designs for them, based on the biology of the species they were interacting with, but this was the first time I had been assigned for a first contact mission. It was bare and functional - the way all things created by the Kreossians were - the way I liked it.

I had time before the conference was set to resume for the day, and now that morning calisthenics were done, I might as well explore the station. I knew it wasn’t large, but there were probably some interesting rooms I hadn’t yet seen.

Just as I finished getting dressed, my stomach began to rumble. It had been hours since I had eaten - not since I had been with Melissa.

Just thinking back to that meal brought a rush of feelings back to wash over me. I knew that I needed to resist her, no matter what my body was telling me, but at the same time I recognized the futility of doing so. Whether I accepted it or not, Melissa Crane of Earth was my mate, and I had to deal with that.

I sighed and finished getting dressed in my customary dress uniform, not nearly as comfortable as my well-worn battle fatigues, but necessary when dealing with diplomatic situations. The word ‘diplomatic’ rolled through my mind as I shook my head.

I didn’t like it one bit, and I couldn’t wait till this mission was over. As I left my quarters and walked down the low-lit corridor toward the dining room, I wondered where the Kreossian empire would send me next. Hopefully somewhere far, far away.

I expected the dining room to be empty, the lights down low as they were by default when no one was around. The lights were indeed dim, but my deep eyes, well adjusted after years of low-light battles, could easily tell when I walked in that the room wasn’t empty.

Melissa Crane sat at the same table we had used for dinner a few hours earlier. Her back was to me, but I knew it was her from the curves of her body, barely hidden under her uniform. My breath caught in my lungs; I didn’t expect to see her here, alone, not this early. What defenses I had were down.

I had half a mind to turn and leave the room before she noticed me, but as I stood there, silent as I could be, momentarily trying to decide, Melissa turned and looked back at me with those large eyes of hers, almost glowing in the stark light.
 

“Oh!” She exclaimed, putting her hand to her mouth in surprise. “Ark! I didn’t notice you there.”

“I just got here.” Now I had no choice, so I stepped into the room. “Do not let me disturb you.”

I walked around the room, avoiding her at the center, trying to look out the portholes instead of focusing on her. I did glance over to see her as I crossed the circular room and saw that Melissa had a plate of half-eaten food in front of her.

On the opposite side of the room were the food generation machines. I stood in front of them, mulling over which nutritional supplement to choose from the ones I enjoyed early in the morning.

Then it hit me. I tapped on the screen till the last request showed up and I ordered that. The machine whirred for a few seconds and then I removed the plate from the dispenser, holding it up, my back turned to Melissa so she couldn’t see.

According to the readout, this was…scrambled eggs, sausage, and hash browns, whatever those were. I was happy to see the machine had used the traditional first meal nutritional supplements - even if the taste didn’t appeal to me I knew I would get the right sustenance.

I gathered utensils then turned around and walked to the table. Melissa was focused on her plate and I didn’t make a sound till I sat down. She started again, surprised I was so close, and I smiled at my stealthy capabilities.

Melissa looked down at my plate as I set it on the table and her eyes grew wide before she smiled at me. “I didn’t know you went in for such traditional farmer’s breakfasts.”

I glanced back at her. “I decided to sample the local breakfast cuisine and see for myself. I thought it might give me some insight as to why Admiral Kaalax is so fond of Earth.”

“Is he?”

“Yes, he is. He has been looking forward to this mission for years. He is very fond of your Ambassador Fuller.”

Melissa smiled, and I could see the deep reverence she held for her boss. “Ambassador Fuller is the same way. He’s been talking my ear off about Kaalax since I first started working for him. Last year he was ill and it looked like he wouldn’t be able to go on this mission, but I swear Fuller willed himself to get better just so he could be here.”

Her words hung in the sterile air of the station for a few moments. It hadn’t occurred to me that the races the Kreossians introduced to the galaxy would be so excited by the idea.

My food still sat in front of me. I lifted the utensil and looked down at it, suddenly ravenously hungry but unsure how to approach it. I didn’t know what anything was.

Melissa must have been watching me, because she laughed out loud. “Having a little trouble there?” She said while covering her mouth, the laughter coming in waves.

“I do not see what is so funny. Your food is too complicated.” One part was yellow and almost gelatinous, another flaky, and the third in long curved tubes. None of it made any sense.

“I agree,” Melissa said, nodding her head sagely, which was difficult to pull off because she was still laughing. “Much too complicated. We should start serving it in powdered cube form.”

I opened my mouth to agree and begin telling her all the reasons why that was a good idea when I realized that the look on her face suggested she didn’t mean quite what she said. “You are making fun of me.”

“What? Me? Noooooo,” she began. “Perish the thought, Ark. I would never think of such a thing.”

“And well you should not,” I said, assuming she was being genuine as I looked back at my plate. “I am not a man to be trifled with.”

“Clearly, given the way you’re attacking that food.”

“I have not yet taken a bite, Melissa Crane of Earth.”

“I can see that, Ark of Kreoss. Your reputation as a culinary strategist clearly has gone unappreciated till now.”

I narrowed my gaze at her. She was incredibly beautiful, but what most attracted me to her was the spark behind her eyes. She would challenge me in ways that I had not yet considered, and I found myself intrigued by the possibilities of mating with her.

Melissa must have caught my change in tone because she grew quiet and stopped laughing, pulling her hair back away from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

“You are unafraid of me.”

“On the contrary, I’m petrified of you.”

“You do not show it.”

“And that’s taking all the courage I can muster.” She looked around. “Plus, it’s 5am, and I have a rule about being scared.”

“What rule is that?”

“I never get scared between the hours of 4am and 12pm.”

The way she said it so matter-of-factly made me bellow with laughter, and soon she broke out laughing with me too. “I can tell, Melissa, that you would be a formidable opponent at any hour of the day.”

“Not just an opponent,” Melissa whispered before turning bright red and looking down, picking at the remnants of her food.

My stomach took the opportunity to remind the that I was getting hungrier by the moment, most likely because a steaming plate of food sat in front of me yet I refused to eat any of it, because a human woman sitting in front of me had captivated me so.

I picked up the utensil again and randomly stuck it into the yellow gelatinous substance, gathering part of it and taking a bite. The texture was pleasing, but the flavor lacked bite.
 

Melissa must have read my mind, because she piped up. “The eggs by themselves need seasoning. But you don’t want too much, so try eating them with the hash browns.”
 

When I did not move, she reached over and pointed out the flakey brown filings on the right side. “Try both of those at the same time.” I did, and the two foods worked together very well.

“Why not just eat the…hash browns, then, since they contain all the flavor?”

Melissa leaned back and waved at the food generators. “Given that we’re eating the same stuff no matter what we order, there’s not reason not to, but back on Earth, we have made cooking into an art.”

My mouth dropped open. “An art? It is just food. You eat it and you move on. It is nothing more than fuel.”

Melissa sighed and shook her head. “Not to us, it’s not. But that’s a long story for another time. To answer your question more directly, sometimes we add things to our meals not for the flavor or the nutrition they add, but for the texture they bring to the meal.”

I thought about this. “That seems…highly inefficient. What happens when battle comes?”

Melissa blinked. “Humans typically don’t fight during mealtimes, Ark.”

I shook my head, taking a bite of the sausage, and enjoying the flavor inside immensely. “We have learned that attacking during a meal is a very good way of getting the upper hand.”

“That’s what everything’s about with you Kreossians, isn’t it? Getting the upper hand, getting the advantage, attacking when you can. Don’t you ever, you know…not fight?”

I furrowed my brow, taking another bite while I chose my words carefully. “The galaxy is not a welcoming place, Melissa Crane of Earth. It is cold and unfeeling, and it will swallow you whole without a second thought. My people have found that constant vigilance is nothing short of necessary.”

“That seems like a really sad way to live.”

“Without arguing the truth of what you say, I will suggest that even if you are right, it is better than being dead.”

The conversation slowed down after that, and I focused on my food. The smells and tastes of this relatively simple meal assaulted me at every single turn and I found myself looking forward to trying more Earth food.

Melissa glanced up at the chronometer on the wall every few minutes, and when it hit 6am Earth time, she pushed her plate toward the center of the table and looked around. “I have to go attend to Ambassador Fuller.”

I nodded. “Admiral Kaalax will expect me soon as well.” I had just finished eating my own meal.

Melissa smiled as she stood up. “What did you think of the farmer’s breakfast?”

I stood up as well. “Your farmers must be great warriors.”

Melissa laughed. “Not quite warriors, but close.” She blinked just one of her eyes at me.

“That is the second time you’ve made that gesture, Melissa Crane of Earth. What does it mean?”

“Oh! Winking?” She flushed red with embarrassment. “It’s, uh, it’s a sign of affection on Earth.”

This pleased me greatly, despite the inner turmoil I went through each time I was in her presence, and again this morning when I tried to comprehend how this frail creature could be my mate.

I tried to replicate the gesture back at her, but despite my great control over my body, I was unable to do so, and Melissa shook her head, again fighting back the laughter. “It takes a little bit of practice, Ark,” she whispered, then took her plate to the recycling bin.

I followed quickly after, watching the curves of her body just under the tight uniform. She made me hard, this woman, and my body desired her greatly, such as I had never felt for another woman, despite how the rest of me may think or resist.

“Then I shall practice it at every opportunity.”

“Just make sure you’re not winking at Admiral Kaalax or Ambassador Fuller. Or any other girls you might meet, OK?”

“That would be difficult. You are the only woman on this station.” I stood up straighter and lowered my voice. “Unless you have smuggled someone aboard the station without us knowing. Is that it?”

Melissa held up her hands. “No, no, nothing of the sort. It was a joke, really, it was.”

I was still suspicious. “I will be on the lookout for other women all the same.”

Melissa sighed as she headed toward the door that led to Ambassador Fuller’s quarters. “You really know how to make a girl feel special, Ark.”

“I do not understand.”

“You’re supposed to say that I’m the only girl you’d ever dream of winking at.”

“I have not yet met all the women in the galaxy, Melissa Crane of Earth, so I cannot say that in good conscience.”

Melissa sighed again. “You’re hopeless, Ark. A lost cause.”

I nodded. “I have said the same thing to Admiral Kaalax about Earth.” I saw Melissa grimace. “But,” I added quickly, “I am beginning to change my mind on that.”

Melissa thought about that for a second before she nodded, a small smile creasing its way across her face. “I’ll see you later.”