Extinction (10 page)

“How do you do that?” I asked drowsily.

“Magic,” Chai whispered, his arm snaked around,
pulling me closer. I inhaled his scent and closed my eyes, feeling very safe
for the first time in a long while.

      It was hard to tell
if it was morning yet, with us being underground inside a mountain. There were
no windows or rising sun to tell me the time. Far-of voices echoed through the
corridors and I reluctantly opened my eyes. I wanted to stretch but something
heavy was on top of me, pinning me to the bed. Chai lay next to me on his
stomach, an arm and leg thrown casually across my body. My stomach fluttered
with excitement. Sometime during the night he got undressed and was only
wearing a pair of navy blue boxer shorts, showing his lean well-defined legs.

 My eyes wandered over his perfect body.  He looked
so peaceful as he slept and my hand itched to touch him and to run my fingers
through the waves of chestnut hair that fell carelessly across his face. It was
hard to imagine him as the same person that could be so deadly if he needed to
be. He was full of contradictions. He was funny, teased me mercilessly, but was
also caring and tender. There was also a side to him that was a hardened
soldier and I knew I never wanted to see the iciness again I saw in his eyes yesterday
when he fought the soldiers. 

“Stop staring at me.” Chai peeked at me through thick
eyelashes. He smiled lazily, rolling onto his back and pulled me closer to him.
“I could get use to waking up next to a wood nymph every morning.”

I gave a shy giggle and snuggled closer to him,
resting my cheek on his chest to hide the rising heat in my face from him. I
inhaled his minty scent. Last night was fresh in my mind and I clearly
remembered the way I pushed all inhibitions aside and practically begged him
not to stop. Who knows what would have happened if he didn’t keep a clear head.
I lifted my head and gazed at him.

 “I was making sure you haven’t grown antennas yet,”
I said and pushed my fingers teasingly through the waves of his hair. I
suppressed the urge to start purring like a kitten as I touched him. Chai
opened his eyes wider and grinned at me. The next moment his arm hardened and
he pulled me on top of him. He held me in a steel grip and I couldn’t move, not
that I wanted to. I liked feeling the length of his body pressed against mine.
He was as hard as I was soft. His warm eyes scanned my face and I felt happy
and contented.

“How’re you feeling today?” he asked and his eyes
wandered to my lips and I licked them self-consciously.

“I’m fine.” I really was fine today. I felt much calmer
and relaxed with him so close to me. A lot of other feelings stirred inside me,
but I wouldn’t dare to mention them to him.

“Good.” He sighed deeply. “I would love staying like
this the whole day, but I have to take a shower. I need to see Bill and I have
a few other things I need to attend to.” His fingers drew little patterns on my
back and it was driving me crazy.

“Then you must go and do your duty,” I said, though it
was hard to concentrate on anything at that moment.

“Arianna brought you clothes last night and I’ll ask
her to escort you to the mess hall for breakfast.” He rolled me back on my side
and stood. His muscles rippled across his body as he stretched and I couldn’t
help but stare in awe at his glorious body. He was absolutely perfect and I
grinned devilishly as I took my time and gawked at every inch of him. This gorgeous
alien boy was far better to look at than little bug eyed green men or the pasty
lizard- resembling Vandelrizi. If there were more aliens like him, there was
certainly hope for the human race. Chai caught me staring at him and I blushed,
hoping my face didn’t show what I was thinking. He smiled and disappeared into
the bathroom, not before he popped his head around the corner and said
mischievously:  “You can join me.” My aim wasn’t very good and the cushion
missed his head by inches hitting the wall and falling harmlessly to the
floor. 

     
After
Chai left
, I stretched languorously out on the bed and tried
in vain to steady my breathing.  Chai drove me crazy, just the mere presence of
him set my body on fire and I lost all capability of thinking rationally. I was
either going insane or I liked him far more than I should. I had never even had
a boyfriend – it wasn’t like the boys in Palasium lined up to date the
Minister’s daughter.

I pushed myself from the bed and got dressed in the
clothes Arianna brought. The jeans fit perfectly, though the green sweat shirt
was a bit big and I tucked at the sleeves covering my hands. She even got me a
pair of black lace-up boots. I was busy brushing my hair when there was a knock
on the door. Arianna stood in the corridor looking exceptionally beautiful,
painfully reminding me of what a mess I was with the ugly bruises on my face
and neck. Raven hair fell like a shimmering waterfall over her shoulders. She
had flawless olive skin and the most perfect full mouth. She was dressed in the
same black t-shirt and combat pants Chai wore, the Epsilon uniform, but her
pants were tight fitting and accentuated every curve of her slim body. Her
sapphire blue eyes inspected me and she cocked her head to the side.

“You clean up very nice, not bad at all,” she said
as she looked me over with narrowed eyes. “I see the clothes fit. You don’t
know how difficult it was to find clothes small enough to fit you.”

I glared at her. “I’m not that small.  Not all of us
can be alien giants.”

She threw her head back and laughed and threw her
hands up in mock surrender. “I’m joking!” she said and punched me in the arm
and I nearly toppled backward by the force of it. I grimaced and wondered if I
had to remind her I was only a puny human and not a super strong alien.

“Are you ready to go? We better get breakfast before
there’s nothing left.” I dropped the brush on the bed and pulled my hair back
in a ponytail on my head.

“I’m ready.” I followed Arianna through the countless
corridors and this time I paid close attention and memorized as much as I
could. If this was going to be my home, I should learn to navigate my own way
around here.

      The mess hall
was a large room filled with shiny metal chairs and matching tables and it was
nearly filled to the brim. The lights were dimmed and gave the room a more
intimate atmosphere – Arianna explained that it was so that you couldn’t see
what you’re eating. I stared in astonishment at the amount of people seated at
the tables eating breakfast. There must be a few hundred humans on the ship and
my heart raced with excitement to know so many had survived.  It was beyond my
expectations. Together with the slaves in Palasium and Cyrius there were at
least a couple of thousand humans left on earth. It was sad if you considered
that there were once 6, 5 billion people scattered across the globe and now we
were a couple of thousand short of extinction. We were the last of our race.

A hush fell across the room as we entered and people
stared at me with looks of curiosity and others with open hostility. The news
spread quickly that the Minister’s daughter was on the ship. I was used to
being stared at in Palasium as Robert Miller’s daughter, but this was different
and I felt uncomfortable as I followed Arianna to the counter dividing the mess
hall from the kitchen.  I was handed a plate of scrambled eggs and a thick slice
of bread by an old woman who looked entirely normal until I noticed a second
pair of arms extending from her body. Another alien. I tried hard not to stare
at the way she could move all four her arms at the same time, spooning food
onto plates and handing them to people waiting in the row. I stayed close to
Arianna, but the whole time I was intensely aware of people whispering behind
my back.

“Don’t let them get to you. In a couple of days you’ll
be old news and they will not care if you stroll around naked,” Arianna said and
sat down at an empty table. She spooned a huge heap of egg into her mouth.

I pushed the egg around on my plate with my fork. I
was hungry, but I never could get used to the taste of the eggs. They came from
a white bird like creature, called Pale Zinnia that were as big as an ostrich
and had razor sharp teeth in its beak. It was an animal originating from Vargon.
The eggs had a bitter taste and a sharp pungent smell. I longed for ordinary
chicken eggs but as far as I knew chickens was extinct along with most other
earth animals. We had to make do with what we could find on this new and
peculiar planet we lived on now. I took a bite of the bitter eggs, not wanting
to seem ungrateful, but I preferred the bread. At least it still tasted like
bread.

“Shouldn’t she be locked up?” a shrill voice said
behind me and I stiffened in my chair. I glanced over my shoulder at the girl. I
barely recognized Emily. Bronzed legs stretched endlessly beneath an incredibly
short denim skirt and her tight fitting white shirt showed more cleavage than
was socially acceptable. She looked like she belonged on the beach wearing a
bikini instead of inside a mountain.

“And why would we do that?” Arianna asked annoyed
and gave her a look that could wilt a plant. Emily looked unperturbed and
glared at me down her nose. 

“I’m just saying she doesn’t belong here.”

“Emily…I’m sorry. I didn’t know they would…I didn’t
know.”  Tears stung my eyes. She was furious with me. It was my fault she was
here. It was my fault the Vandelrizi thought she was a traitor. 

“It’s too late to be sorry now.” She spun around and
stomped off to a table in the corner.

“Ignore her,” Arianna said and gave me a little
smile. 

“She has every right to be angry at me. I got her
into this.”

“Give her time. She’ll get over it. Half the girls
here are jealous of you.”

“Jealous of me? Why?” I racked my brain, but
couldn’t come up with any reasons why anyone would be jealous of me.

“Chai.” Arianna looked at me as if I was slow. “Of
the time you’re spending with him.”

Oh.  Oh…… “Does he have a girlfriend?” I tried my
best to sound casual but it hurt like hell to think of him with someone else. Until
know I didn’t even consider that he probably had a girlfriend, not if I thought
of the way he kissed me. He had spent a lot of time with me; no wonder a
girlfriend would be angry. I pushed a huge forkful of egg in my mouth and I
nearly gagged. It tasted terrible.

“No.” I was relieved that Chai and some other girl
weren’t together. Arianna leant back in her chair and I noticed that a few male
admirers watched her with keen interest from other tables.  They drooled every
time she moved. Arianna looked totally oblivious to the effect she had on the
opposite sex. “Apparently he likes puny little girls,” said wickedly. She
laughed loudly as I blushed furiously. 

“Is she torturing you?” Gaios said as he pushed back
a folding chair and dropped a plate, filled to the maximum with eggs, on the
table. He swung his long legs under the table and gave me a boyish grin,
showing a hint of dimples. What was it with these aliens? Were they given
steroids at birth? All of them were built like Greek gods. 

“Nah, she doesn’t scare me.” I replied and grinned
back at him. He had one of those faces that made you immediately feel at ease. 

“Where’s Chai?” Arianna asked and my fork stopped in
mid-air. The mere mention of his name left me breathless.

“He’s still with Bill,” Gaios answered with a mouth
full of eggs. Table manners wasn’t apparently on the list of things they were
taught. “He’ll be here soon.”

I tried to focus on my food and made a pyramid with
my eggs. I had to get a grip on myself. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to
join the list of girls that had a crush on Chai - if it wasn’t too late
already.  

“I haven’t thanked you yet,” I said and cleared my
throat. 

“Thank us for what?” Arianna asked confused and
wrinkled her perfect symmetrical nose. 

“For rescuing me yesterday. You didn’t have to help
me…and yet you risked your lives to save me. I’ll never forget what you did for
me.” I unfolded and refolded my napkin on the table.  “Thank you.”

For once Arianna was quiet and I swore her eyes were
misty, but I must have imagined it, because she gave me a kick with the tip of her
boot under the table. I yelped and rubbed my ankle.

“Don’t mention it,” she said and grinned at me. Gaios
shook his head and stole a piece of bread from Arianna’s plate. He leant back
in his chair and took a bite from the bread, staring speculatively at me.

“Chai’s in so much trouble,” he said after a couple
of seconds. I didn’t understand what he meant, but both he and Arianna laughed
loudly. 

“I don’t get it,” I said at a loss. I didn’t
understand what was so funny to them.

“You’re his
prijatelj
,”
Arianna said and I felt even more confused. I didn’t get the chance to ask her
what that meant as Chai plopped down on a chair next to me. 

“Why do you look so serious?” he asked me and Arianna
giggled uncontrollably. 

“We’re just telling Lexie that she’s your
prijatelj
,” Gaios answered and grinned at Chai.

“Yes, she is,” Chai said and gave a sheepish smile. 

“What does it mean?” I didn’t like being left in the
dark.

“It means that you are very special, little one,”
Chai said and Gaios choked on a piece of bread, trying hard not to laugh. I had
the distinct feeling Chai wasn’t telling me the whole truth. It was a pity I
didn’t have a microchip in my head that could teach me how to speak Epsilon. For
now I would let it go, but I was determined to find out what
prijatelj
means.