Starport: Zeta Prime (Alt) (16 page)

Camil and
Charin both agreed, after watching for some time they saw no signs
of the invaders having entered the forest, they only seemed focused
on their task of re-building.

Fully satisfied
—
for now, Faron
instructed them to go hunt, and they pounced majestically from tree
to tree in search of the giant birds.

* * * *

By late afternoon,
Jillian was sweaty and covered in dirt as she plucked the
crops from the fields.

“
Some of us are going to the pool to cool off.”
Shana invited her. She gratefully
accepted, needing to get clean and happy to finish the tiring day’s
work.

A small troupe of them traipsed back
to the village and down to the woodland path
where Jillian had been taken the day of the ceremony. The lake that
she had been washed in before looked even more delicious than it
had done before, the water clear under that shade of the hanging
trees.

The aliens
stripped down naked right away, they were definitely not a shy
race, and dove into the pool like seals. Jillian followed suit, and
walked to the edge–looking in. She jumped back as she saw a dark
shadow swim underneath. It had been long and big, and her heart
started to race at the thought of what peculiar creatures could be
lurking at the bottom.

“
Come on then.” Shana called from the centre, swimming
around happily. Jillian hesitated as she peered down. She had no
knowledge of the water creatures that may be, or how safe they were
and she had to admit to feeling scared. The group of females all
stood and stared at her, baffled by her reluctance. She though she
must look stupid to them–they were all enjoying the water with no
thought to potential monsters–and so should she. With an almighty
splash, she jumped in.

The water
was so refreshing, she was glad she had. They swam around for a
while, before floating comfortably on their backs in companionable
silence–listening to the rush of the tree tendrils in the
breeze.

The smallest female, Cara, swam up beside
Jillian.

“
Do your people have a
pool,” she asked?

“
Sort of. But we have it inside and mostly only go in it one
at a time.” Jillian described the tub she used to have at the
colony.

“
Weird.” Cara
frowned.

“
Do you eat the same food as us?” She continued after
consideration. Jillian laughed softly and answered all of Cara’s
many questions about the humans. She’d been talking for some time
when she realized all the other females had gathered around her,
just as interested.

“
Why did you come and live on our world?” Shana plucked up
the courage to ask. Jillian explained about the overcrowding on
Earth and the human’s move to many colonies on many planets as best
she could. As she was explaining, she noticed how arrogant and
selfish her people sounded–destroying their own planet and simply
taking over others to potentially do the same. With no permission
from the natives, no invite. Just an over-developed sense of
entitlement and brute force. Jillian was ashamed to call herself
human
. S
he had been just as arrogant and expectant. This
was not the human’s world to conquer and rule–Zeta Prime belonged
to the cat-people. The humans were the aliens here.

Chapter
Eighteen

Jillian
kept her
concentration sharp as she talked
—
stopping every now
and then to clarify the translations of certain words through mime,
but the conversation was a revelation to her. The cat-people were
so interested about her kind, and rightfully worried about the
human’s invasion upon their world. She omitted the part about the
gateway, about how the building of it would enable ever more humans
to come, to take over. She felt that the reconstruction of it was
so many years away that she would have plenty of time to warn them
when the time came.

She had been just the same as the others, assuming her
right to take residence on another’s planet, just because they had
the technological advancement to travel there.
Jillian was grateful for the chance to have had
her mind set correctly.

As the
questions died down, Jillian flipped to float on her back once
again–arms and legs spread like a starfish. She lazily waved
goodbye to a couple of the females who said that they were heading
back and relished the gentle lapping against her skin, closing her
eyes from the small pinpoints of light that beamed like lasers
through the treetops.

“
Jillian. Are you coming with us?” It was Cara that spoke
after some time. Jillian had been aware of movement around her, but
was far too relaxed to move from her position and look
up.

“
I’m going to stay a few more minutes. I’ll catch you up.”
She called to her new friends. The peace at the lake was like
nothing she had ever known, a glorious hush of nature and calm. The
creature that swam beneath her was no longer of concern. Indeed,
the females had laughed at her initial worries–Shana even picking
up one of the snake-like fish and poking her finger inside its
mouth to reveal a toothless gummy hole. She figured that being
gummed to death was highly unlikely and thought no more about
them.

The sun was starting to lower, the
jigsaw of patches of sky above the woven branches beginning to
flush pastel pinks and lavender as it set.

“
I guess we’d better go and help with the meal for when the
men return,” Jillian said aloud, still making no attempt to move
from the water. She was met with silence. Frowning, she dipped her
legs below the surface to bring herself upright and that was when
she realized that she was all alone. The other females had all
left. Cara must have been the last to go, and hence why she had
called to her.

She did not
feel afraid, but she sure as hell didn’t want to be stuck in the
forest when the sun finally dropped below the horizon. Being in the
wilderness in the dark was just asking for trouble, and she cursed
herself for getting so carried away in daydreams.

Swimming over to the edge, she lifted herself out and began
dressing quickly,
not
bothering to dry her damp skin
—
eager to be on her
way back to the village while she could still see the
path.

A loud crack made her heart st
op and she froze for a second–a myriad of bad
scenarios running through her imagination. Pulling on her skirt in
double-time, she got ready to run.

“
Leaving so soon? I thought we could get to know each
other.”
Jillian spun round to
see Misha emerging from the darkness of the trees. She stood at the
opposite side of the lake and put one hand on her hip. The way she
had just appeared felt sinister to Jillian, who almost wished that
the noise had been a beast or bird–anyone but her.

“
It’s getting dark. Perhaps we could talk on the way back to
the village?” Jillian suggested, not wanting to sound unfriendly
but feeling apprehensive about being alone with her. Misha slunk
her way around the pool to where Jillian was waiting without
speaking.

“
There’s nothing wrong with being out here. My vision is
better than yours
.
I’ll be able to see the path back if
darkness falls,” she said once she was in front of her.

Yes, you
might be able to see the pathway, Jillian thought, but will you
show me where it is? Ignoring her fears, she didn’t want to show
Misha any signs of weakness and folded her arms across her chest
defiantly.

“
What do you want to talk about,” she asked, keeping her
voice steady and confident?

“
Why don’t we talk about
Faron, and how you stole him from me?” Misha spoke slowly
and started to circle Jillian, like a lion stalking prey. Not about
to be intimidated, Jillian stepped backwards so that the water was
licking her heels to stop Misha’s pacing.

“
I think you’ll find that Faron picked me to be his mate. He
wasn’t stolen from you–he made his choice and you weren’t it.” She
hit back.

“
Faron used to be mine. Don’t think you know everything
about him, bitch.” Misha hissed at her angrily and turned her back
to continue talking. Jillian could have run in that instant, she
could have gotten a fairly decent head start if she was quiet
enough, but there was no way she was going to give Misha the
satisfaction of having spooked her, so she continued
listening.

“
When we were younger, Faron and I were sweethearts. He
promised me I would be his forever. You are just novelty to him, do
you know that? A new toy he will soon get bored with and discard.
Why don’t you just save us all the hassle and go back to your own
kind? Faron can have an unbinding ritual and come back to me–the
person he truly wants to be with.”

“
So how come he didn’t make you his mate before I came along
then, Misha? It seems he had plenty of time to do it if he’d have
wanted. You’re just going to have to accept that he didn’t want you
and he wants me. He has yet to show signs of being bored, the exact
opposite when we are in bed together, in fact.”
Jillian knew it was a cheap shot but wanted
Misha off her case–and her man
—
once and for
all.

“
He was biding
his
time. He doesn’t want you–how could he, look at you. You are short
and small-eyed. You are not one of us, Jillian. It’s time you
realized that and left us all alone.”

Jillian
had heard
enough. At one point, she had been inclined to feel pity for Misha,
she knew how hard unrequited love could be. But
,
boy, was
she handling it badly.

“
You’re embarrassing yourself.
He doesn’t want you, and who could blame him with the
poison that comes out of your mouth. You need to deal with it and
move on. I am here to stay, and while I don’t expect us to become
friends, you need to accept that.” Jillian started to walk towards
where she hoped the path started, wanting to get back to the
village and into the arms of her husband.

With relief, she found the path
easily, although the dusk was quickly moving into night, walking
quickly, she weaved her way onto it.

“
Go back to your people,
alien. We don’t want you.” Misha sprang out in front of her,
blocking the path.

“
Give it up, Misha. You lost. Time to step down gracefully,
before it’s too late.” Jillian made to barge past her.

“
No. You lose.” Misha snarled and leapt on top of Jillian,
knocking her to the floor and then pinning her down.

“
Silly alien. Staying out
past dark in the wilderness. They will think a beast has ravaged
you – and you would have deserved it, not going back with the
others.”

Jillian
tried to
twist and struggle underneath her, but Misha was too strong. Did
she intend to kill her, here in the woods?

“
Don’t do this
, Misha.
Think of how upset Faron will be. Think of what it’d do to him.”
She didn’t want to, but Jillian found herself pleading, not wanting
to die alone in the woods at the hands of a jealous bitch. After
all she’d been through, this was not how she wanted it to end up.
It was true, the others probably would think she’d been ambushed by
creatures, and Misha would get everything she wished.

“
He will not be upset when I start comforting him, he’ll be
glad
you’re gone.”

Jillian
knew this
wasn’t true. She knew that Faron really cared for her, she was
secure about their love and he’d be furious if he knew she’d been
trapped here in this way. Misha would be in line for serious
punishment, and with cold dread, Jillian knew that she was aware of
that. Her only option now would be to kill her. Leaving her alive
would mean she’d be banished from the tribe when they found out,
she just couldn’t risk it.

Knowing that
her only way out was to fight and get back to the village, Jillian
abandoned any further discussions. Misha was not here to bargain
and she needed to save her oxygen for getting away, not wasting it
on useless words.

Her wrists were held tightly to the floor by Misha’s grip,
and her body being slowly crushed by the weight of her straddling
her.
Jillian tried to raise
her hips in an effort to throw her off, but it was no good–she was
too strong.

In one fluid move, Misha jumped to her feet, still holding
on to
Jillian and pulling her
upwards with her. She released a wrist and drew her hand back.
Jillian seized the opportunity to lift her arm and yank at a
fistful of hair, just as Misha’s sharp nails made contact with her
cheek. She felt it open and tasted the hot, sticky blood as it
began to trickle to her mouth. It stung, but she clenched her jaw
against the pain, keeping her fingers tightly around the hair she
had pulled from her scalp. If Misha was going to kill her, she was
going to make damn sure that she got the appropriate blame and
punishment for it.

Yelping,
Misha clutched her head with one hand as she growled and took
another swipe with the other. This time the slash was on Jillian’s
navel, and she stumbled back with the momentum of the hit.
Regaining her balance, Jillian launched a kick. She was aiming for
Misha’s face, thinking a few bruises may alert the tribe to foul
play–Misha was not going to get away with this if she could help
it. But she was too quick for her, and the kick landed on her
shoulder. It didn’t stop her in her tracks as she stormed at
Jillian, face contorted with rage.