Extinction (9 page)

Chai helped me off the bed and took my hand and I was
glad for the warmth of it. There were no windows and I had no idea what time of
day it was. I felt cold, the material of the tunic too thin to keep me warm.

“I’ll find you something to wear,” Arianna said
excitedly, but then she cocked her head to one side. “But it may be difficult
to find clothes for such a puny little thing.” I pulled a face at her and she
laughed loudly. Gaios shook his head and followed her as she left, still
laughing.

Chai led me
through a myriad of corridors, giving me a detailed description of the rooms we
passed, but I didn’t listen to a word he was saying. My body ached for a bed
and I was near collapsing of exhaustion. I felt like I could sleep for days.

He pressed a button on a silver console next to a
door and it silently slid open leading into a tiny room. A double bed nearly
took up all the space, leaving little room for the small table in the corner. I
ran my fingers over the shiny white wall, not sure anymore if it was made from
metal or a kind of plastic material. The ceiling of the room was covered with
the same material and in the middle was a circular light. It was a very sterile
windowless room. A door next to the right hand side of the bed led to a small
bathroom. I stood next to the bed nervously. Chai watched me and frowned.

“I know its small and not what you’re used to, but
you’re safe here.”

“It’s not that. The room is fine.”  I smiled weakly.

I felt ashamed that I seemed ungrateful. I wasn’t. My
room in Palasium was bigger and more luxurious, but I didn’t care about stuff
like that.  I never want to return to that house. It was the first time I was
alone with Chai since last night and I felt nervous. So much had happened. 
Yesterday I didn’t know he was an alien from a far off planet. Not that it made
a difference. He was still a very gorgeous boy and that was what unnerved me. My
gaze dropped down at my filthy and torn tunic. 

“Where’s Emily?” I was surprised that she wasn’t in
the infirmary.

“She’s in her room. I’ll take you to her later after
you rested. Everything you need is inside the bathroom. Why don’t you take a
shower and I will find you something to eat.” I nodded. My stomach rumbled at
the thought of food. I stepped inside the small bathroom as Chai left.

It was a tiny cubicle with a shower, toilet and
basin, with no room to spare. The entire bathroom was white – sparkling white
tiles lined the walls with matching white tiles on the floor. The only color
was from a blue fluffy towel neatly folded and placed on the edge of the basin.
I peeled off my clothes and stepped inside the shower. It took me several
minutes to find the right button to push, but finally warm water engulfed me
and I went through the automatic motions of washing myself and shampooing my
hair. Chai was right and everything I needed was right there. I watched the
blood and grime swirl down the drain and I felt human again. I finished and
wrapped my body in the soft blue towel, hoping that I didn’t finish all the
warm water on the ship. Chai wasn’t back yet and I stared at the empty room,
uncertain of what I was supposed to do in the meantime. His room was
immaculate. Not one thing suggested that he even lived here. I sat down on the
edge of the bed and waited.

I thought about the people I left behind in
Palasium. Rosa would now be busy dishing out bowls of soup to the slaves. She
probably thought we were dead. Emily was the only family she had left and now
she was all alone in Palasium. I rubbed the welts on my wrists. A single tear
ran down my cheek.

That’s how Chai found me when he came back and he
swiftly deposited his parcel on the table.

“You want to talk about it?” he asked gently and I
shook my head. The last thing I wanted to do was to share the horror of last
night with him.

He lifted my face with his thumb and wiped away the
last remnants of the tear from my face with his fingertips. The gesture was so
intimate and heart rendering that I nearly started crying again. He frowned and
ran a finger gently across the finger marks on my throat. I gasped at his
touch. 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he said gruffly. “I
should’ve protected you.”

“It’s not your job to protect me.” My father was
supposed to protect me and instead he let this happen to me. I felt cold inside
and I pressed the palm of my hand against Chai’s chest where the tattoo of the
sun would be underneath his shirt. I needed his warmth and strength. 

Chai looked down and took my hand in his, slowly
lifting my arm and pressing his lips on the angry welt on my wrist. He then did
the same with my other arm. Heat spread through my cold body. I raised my head
and looked into his eyes. They were so sincere and tender and without thinking
I leant forward and pressed my lips against his. Chai made a small sound in the
back of his throat and lowered me on the bed, kissing me. His lips were soft
and gentle as he tenderly moved them against mine. His body pressed down on
mine and his hands swept over my bare shoulders. His lips moved from mine and
he pressed small kisses on my brow, moving down to my bruised cheek and then my
neck. Fire spread through my limbs and my fingers crept up his shirt. His lips
moved back to mine and this time his kiss was hungrier and more intense and I
molded myself to him. He lifted his face and his breathing was as uneven as
mine. He trailed a finger down my shoulder, sending shivers down my spine.

“We must stop now,” he said gruffly and
disappointment filled me. I didn’t want to him to stop. Not yet. I wanted to
lose myself in him, to forget all the ugliness of the hours before.   

“Don’t stop.” Chai groaned and turned his head and
buried his face in the cushion for a moment.

“We have to stop, little one,” he said and grinned
at me. “The doctor said you must rest and this isn’t resting.” He rolled off me
and stood. 

He pressed his hand against the wall and a drawer
glided open. He lifted a t-shirt from the drawer. “Arianna promised to find you
proper clothes, and in the meantime you will have to make do with one of my
shirts.”

He tossed me the black t-shirt. I realized I was
still wrapped in only a towel and blushed. He gave me a wicked smile. 

“Aren’t you going to put it on?” he asked. I became
even redder and I was sure I resembled a fire truck.

“Turn around,” I said and Chai winked at me as he
turned obediently with his back to me. I stood and pulled the shirt over my
head and let the towel drop. The shirt was far too big for me and the hem
reached my knees. I looked very respectable even if I was wearing only his shirt
and nothing else.

“You can turn around now.”

Chai turned and smiled broadly. “You look like a
wood nymph.” He cocked his head to one side. “My little wood nymph I found in
the jungle.” I pulled a face at him.

“I grabbed us something to eat,” Chai picked up a
plate of sandwiches off the table. He placed it on the bed between us. I was
starving and I tried to remember the last time I ate – it was yesterday morning
when I grabbed a piece of Maria’s freshly baked bread. A lump was in my throat
as I stared at the sandwiches and my appetite vanished completely. Maria was
now all alone in that big house to bear the brunt of my father’s unpredictable
moods. I picked up a sandwich and toyed with it between my fingers.

“You must eat, Lexie,” Chai said as he watched me
disintegrate the sandwich into little pieces. 

“Are you always this bossy?” I took a piece of bread
and popped it into my mouth. It had a smooth sweet jam on and contrary to my
expectations tasted great.

“Yes I am. I’m all-knowing, so you better listen to
me.” Chai grinned at me.

“You are exceedingly fast and super strong. What
other superpowers do you have?” I asked as I took another sandwich.

Chai laughed. “I’m super good-looking and
exceedingly fabulous. I’m Wonder boy.”  I tossed a pillow at him and it bounced
off his chest.

“Seriously, do you have other abilities like…oh my
g…you don’t have x-ray vision, do you?” I asked and wondered if I should cover
myself with titanium or some other impenetrable metal.

“Except the strength and speed, our race, the
Epsilon, have some telepathic abilities. We call it Akai.” That was even worse
than x-ray vision if he could read my thoughts and I flushed.

“What kind of telepathic abilities?” I asked
cautiously.

“It’s easier to show you.” Chai pushed the plate aside
and moved forward, closing the gap between us. He placed the palm of his hand
on my cheek.

Hi beautiful.
I
inhaled sharply. I heard the words loud and clear, but his mouth wasn’t moving.

“I wasn’t wrong. Earlier, in the desert, I thought I
heard you speaking inside my head.”

“If we connect to someone we can project our
thoughts to them. It’s like opening a communication channel between us,” Chai
explained.

“You have to touch me for me to hear you?”

“Not necessarily. Once a channel is created, it is
possible to communicate without me touching you.” To prove his point Chai removed
his hand from my cheek.
Why don’t you try it?

Me? I wasn’t the alien.
Give it a try.
Clear
your mind
.
Think only of me and then talk to me.

I closed my eyes and brought up Chai’s image in my
mind.  I wrinkled my nose and tried to think of something to say to him. This
is stupid. I will…

It’s not stupid.

My eyes flew open and I gawked at Chai. “You heard
me?” I was practically shouting at him, but it came out as a hoarse whisper.

“Loud and clear.” Chai laughed at the shock on my
face.

“That’s awesome.” I felt like a child who got a new
toy. “You can’t read my thoughts?”

“Not your thoughts. I can access your memories,
through a mind meld, but that’s something we don’t often do. It’s a very invasive
and painful process.” I watched Chai as if it was the first time I saw him. He
was an alien and not the creepy kind like the Vandelrizi. He was from another
planet somewhere out there in the galaxy and yet he seemed so normal. My mind
was in overload. I had so many questions to ask him.

“What do you want to know?” Chai asked. “Don’t look
so surprised, it’s written all over your face. That’s one of the things I like
about you – I can see exactly what you’re thinking. Your face is like an open book.”
I didn’t exactly like that my feelings were so clearly visible to him.

“How long have you been on earth and why can you
speak our language. Why…”  Chai threw back his head and laughed loudly.

“Only one question at a time.” He held up one finger
to emphasize this. “We’ve been on earth for seven months.”

“Why can you speak our language?” I asked. 

Chai took my hand and placed it on the nape of his
neck. “What do you feel?” I let my fingers wander over his skin and ignored the
sudden ache in my belly. I didn’t want him to see what it did to my insides to
touch him. 

“There’s a lump underneath the skin. What is it?” I
dropped my hand to my lap.

“It’s a computer chip implanted under the skin and
connected to the brain. It’s uploaded with vital information on the planet we’re
sent to, like for instance language, politics and culture. It makes things easier
once we get to the planet.” Wow. I wished I had a microchip in my brain for all
the times I had to sit and struggle with algebra when we still used to go to
school. It would’ve made my life much easier.

 “Next question?” Chai asked. I stretched out on the
bed and rested my head on a pillow. 

“Why do you look so normal? You look human and not
like an alien.”

Chai dropped his head into his hands. “Why do you
humans think aliens must be red with horns on their head?”

I laughed and it felt good.  I hadn’t laughed like
that in a long time. It made me feel alive again.

“It’s green with antennas on your head. Demons are
red with horns.” I explained when I finally stopped laughing. 

“I don’t know. On every planet everyone looks
different. My planet has the same atmosphere as earth and basically the same
gravity, maybe it plays a role in every living creature’s evolution, but I’ve
never seen a green race with antennas.”

I yawned. “You’re anatomically the same as we are?” Chai
grinned and I knew his mind wandered somewhere very dirty. “I mean you have all
the same body parts that I do?” I tried my best to make the question seem less
sinful. 

“I don’t have the same body parts as you do, Lexie.
You’re a girl, but anatomically I’m the same as every other male on this
planet.” Chai grinned wickedly at me. “I could show you.”

I covered my burning face with a pillow. He had this
way to make me blush all the time. I felt Chai’s weight shift on the bed and I
lifted the pillow. He was stretched out on the bed, next to me and the plate of
sandwiches had disappeared. 

“I think that’s enough questions for today. You need
to rest. Close your eyes, little one.” He placed his fingertips on my cheek and
warmth spread through my body. The warm caressing smoke was back and I felt
very contented as it spiraled through my body.