War Games (Alien Instincts) (3 page)

The room they had been talking in was surprisingly homey. The walls were a strange material that gave off a soft white glow, and the furniture in the room was plush and large. There were even carpets scattered across the floor. In fact, from what Rae had seen so far, Markar’s whole ship was not what she had expected. It seemed awfully large, and, dare she think it- humanized. It was in the small touches of comfort throughout the rooms.

It was on that thought that she started to doze off, and as she did, the white glow from the walls dimmed.

-

Rae awoke feeling surprisingly rested for being in outer space. Stretching, she refused to get up, and instead thought about Markar’s strange reaction yesterday. Rae didn’t know quite what to make of it. That was the problem: they knew so little about Markar and his race, and everyone had so much trouble prying the information out of him. He looked so human, that it was hard to imagine his species being much different, but apparently, they must be.

He had thought she was a man! Rae became indignant at that. She worked hard to be the equal to any man, but she didn’t want to be seen as one. Frowning, she realized it bothered her especially because it was Markar specifically who had thought that. He was so very male, himself, that it had made her very aware of her femininity when she was around him. She couldn’t deny that he was very attractive, in an alien sort of way.

He was obviously disgusted with the idea of sex. He could hardly even stand to hear Rae’s explanation of it, although, she probably didn’t explain it that well. He was the one who demanded she continue with that awkward topic in the first place!

Well, Rae had some topics of her own she wanted to go over with him, and just because he was too disgusted to even look at her, didn’t mean he was getting out of it. She had some reconnaissance to do.

Getting up out of her makeshift bed, she did some further stretching to wake up her stiff muscles. Walking towards the exit of the room, Rae peered both ways down the hallway suspiciously. Even if she couldn’t find the man himself, she could still do some investigation into his spacecraft. Markar hadn’t said she wasn’t free to roam, and she wasn’t above taking advantage of his omission.

She knew the med bay, where she had woken up, was down the hallway on the right. To the left, there were a series of closed doors, and one room that the hallway seemed to lead to without a door. As she walked decisively down the hall, she tested each door on her way, but each one didn’t have any way to open it that she could find. Walking into the only room that didn’t have a door, she found that it was obviously the kitchen.

Rae searched through the cabinets, taking out anything that looked like it might be edible. As she was putting another item in her growing pile of possible food, Markar walked through the doorway. At the sight of Rae, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Rae looked at her large pile guiltily. “I was hungry.”

Markar glanced at her suspiciously as he side stepped around her to get to the food. Still obvious in his attempt to avoid getting anywhere near her, Markar picked up two of the packets and placed them in a box high up on the wall that resembled a microwave. As he waited for the box to complete whatever it was doing, he tried to subtly glance at Rae out of the corner of his eye.

When the food was done, he set both meals on the table and sat down. Rae uncertainly sat across from him. She watched as Markar began to silently eat, pretending she didn’t exist. This wasn’t like their time together yesterday at all. This time Markar seemed almost afraid of her. No doubt he was still disgusted by her explanation of how humans reproduced.

Well that was too bad! He was the one that dragged her ass onto his spaceship, and he could live with the consequences. But if he thought he was going to be the only one getting any Intel from this situation, he couldn’t be more wrong! Rae stirred the meal in front of her absentmindedly, as she thought of which topic she should bring up first. It was as she was staring at Markar, thinking up possible conversations, that she finally noticed he didn’t look too well. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he was a little flushed.

“Are you ok, Markar? You don’t look so good.” she asked warily.

He grunted noncommittally in response and continued to eat his food, never even looking at Rae. “I’ll take that as a yes. In that case, since we talked about me yesterday, I think we should talk about you today.” she said brightly. That got his attention. Markar glowered at her over his food.

The question uppermost in Rae’s mind was Morian mating and reproduction practices, but she had a feeling that would be a bad subject to touch on. “Let’s start with an easy one. Are you the only one piloting this ship? Don’t you need a crew?”

“I do not need a crew.”

Rae waited for him to explain. He didn’t. Narrowing her eyes at him in frustration, she asked “What if you get injured?”

“I will not get injured.”

She once again waited patiently for Markar to continue with his statement. Nothing came. “What if?” she provoked.

“I would heal.”

This was really getting frustrating. But if there was one thing Rae was good at it was badgering people. “How would you heal?”

“With time.”

“Look, Markar, like you said yesterday, we only seem to have time on our hands. I can be one annoying woman when I want to be, so don’t you dare expect me to back down. This interview goes both ways.” When she finished her tirade, Markar stared directly at her for the first time that morning, and the look in his golden eyes seared Rae to her core.

She froze as her eyes widened in fear at the look of barely leashed intent she saw in him. If she wouldn’t of known better, she would have said there was so much sexual tension in that gaze it could have flat lined her. But that couldn’t be right, could it?

“I guess you’re not a morning person.” Rae said awkwardly as she got up and left him. She could feel his unwavering attention long after she left the kitchen.

Once she retreated to her familiar couch, she sat down in shock. She had no idea how to react to what had just happened. Markar had looked as if every muscle of his body was strained, like a predator poised on the fine line of inaction and the kill. From the first moment she had truly seen Markar when she awoke in the med bay, she had instinctually assumed she had nothing to fear from him.

Could he be less civilized than all the reports had claimed? Did Rae actually have something to fear? For the first time on Markar’s ship, the whole experience felt less like an extension of her main mission of intelligence gathering, to a hostage situation in the heart of enemy territory.

The First Directive

It was the day after that horrible encounter with Rae in the galley, and Markar was feeling a million times better. He had finally mastered the blundering art of masturbation. It had taken him a while to firstly, figure out exactly what he wanted, and secondly, to accomplish the goal. The first night after Rae informed him of how humans reproduced was one of the worst nights in his life, and that was counting all the wars and vicious fights he had managed to live through. Markar had spent fruitless hours in agony not even knowing what he was yearning for, yet after he had finally figured out what his body was craving, it had taken him another couple hours to finally satiate the hunger.

Perhaps the hunger wasn’t completely satisfied, but he was at least feeling somewhat normal now. He hadn’t left his room in over 12 hours, and he was worried about Rae. He was also worried about what Rae had gotten into when left to her own devices.

Leaving his bedroom, Markar headed for the main gathering area, which Rae seemed to have claimed for herself. Upon entering the room, he noticed that her unique scent clung to every inch of the space. At that revelation, Markar’s dick once again arose from the dead. The damn thing should have had the life choked out of it by now!

Adjusting himself, Markar realized the infernal woman wasn’t even in the room. It was only the faint trace of her that he was reacting to. Stomping angrily into the hallway, he checked the galley and found that Rae was not in there either. There was only one room left for her to be in, and that made Markar hesitate in trepidation. The only other area of his ship she should have access to was the bathing facilities. He knew for certain he could not handle that.

While pausing to debate on his next course of action, he heard noises coming from a room that should definitely not have any noises coming from it: the War Room. This was the place he kept all his weapons if he should need them, and any pertinent information about the Morian’s military strategies. Rushing down the hallway, he saw that the door had been completely dismantled, and was left sparking on the floor. “What have you done?” he bellowed.

At his loud entrance Rae turned in shock. Markar took a few long strides toward her and plucked the radioactive gun from her hands. “You should not be here.” he said with less malice and more fear than he would have liked.

“I was bored.” Rae said in her defense.

Markar frowned down at her. “That is no excuse. This is a dangerous room for you. You might have hurt yourself.”

Rae scoffed in indignation at that. “I know how to handle myself around weapons.”

Markar glanced down in amusement at Rae as he replaced the gun to its rightful place on the wall. “Apparently you do not, because the safety was off on this piece.” Rae bit her lip in embarrassment. However much of a master she was at human weapons, she knew that claiming she understood Markar’s was just bravado.

“Come, Rae. We will continue our interview now, and I will answer your questions.” Markar turned thoughtfully toward her and grabbed her wrist. “You are not allowed in here anymore.”

Stepping gingerly over the door that Rae had dismantled, he led her back to the main room. Rae sat down on her usual couch, and to her surprise, Markar sat down right next to her. Scooting as far away from him as possible, Rae watched Markar warily. He seemed to be in a much better mood than the other day, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

While Rae was trying to decide on what she wanted to ask him next, she noticed that Markar’s attention seemed to be riveted to her breasts. “You know, in human society it is rude to stare.” She watched as Markar looked up at her and actually blushed. Glaring at him, she crossed her arms over her chest.

Rae took a moment to consider what her mission actually was. She was sent in to interview the alien, and she was given a list a mile long she had to memorize containing all the information they hoped to one day pry out of Markar. The most important issues were the obvious ones: why the hell the Morian race wanted to set up diplomatic relations with humanity, and if Markar and his people were any sort of threat to them. Rae was personally under the impression that, with the Morian’s superior technology, if they wanted something, they would already have taken it, and humans wouldn’t have any say in the matter.

That being said, traveling across the universe seemed like a long way to go to start up a conversation with a few earthlings. Markar seemed inquisitive enough that he actually enjoyed their conversations, but why the hell would a lone man travel so far to, for lack of any other answer, talk to humans! In fact, it didn’t seem like a good idea for anyone’s mental health to travel in space that long. A loner investigating other civilizations: that sounded like a scout to Rae. And apparently her superiors thought so too.

“So, Markar, why were you sent by yourself to Earth? Surely the trip here must have been lonely?” Rae watched Markar closely for any signs of deception. She didn’t detect any signs of dishonesty, but she did see his reluctance to answer.

“I did not find it lonely.”

Rae waited for him to add on to his statement. With Markar’s habit of ridiculously short answers, she decided a small threat wouldn’t hurt her cause. “I didn’t have to answer any of your questions the other day. It’s only right that you answer all of mine.” If Rae had any doubts that he wouldn’t pick up on the veiled threat, they were proved wrong at the look on Markar’s face. It was almost comical the mix of emotions that passed through him: first indignation, worry, anger, and finally, petulance. Rae had to hide her smile at such a large man looking like a spoiled child.

“I was not lonely on the trip because I have many things to occupy my time.” At that statement Markar paused reluctantly. “As for your first question, I was not sent to Earth exactly, just your general galaxy. Your planet happened to be the first to have an intelligent species living on it.”

Rae sat up straighter at that. “Have you found many other intelligent species?”

Markar looked at her warily. He was not sure if any of this was information he was allowed to give out. In fact, he was quite certain it was not, but he had so many more questions to ask Rae that he did not dare to not answer any of hers.

“Yes, I have found many other intelligent life forms in my travels.” He was rewarded for his reluctant answer with a large smile from Rae. It completely transformed her face and demeanor to one of pure joy, and Markar unconsciously leaned closer to her. If this was the reaction he would get for revealing Morian information, he would not mind telling a little more. “There are a few other solar systems in your galaxy that I have marked off for investigation. If you would like, you could accompany me in my visits.”

The wonder he saw in her eyes was beautiful. The fact that he had caused her happiness made him slowly smile, and for a time he forgot that bringing another species on a diplomatic mission was strictly forbidden. He only thought of Rae.

Rae would be the first human to explore beyond their solar system. It was too much for her to resist. Even at countless possible death scenarios on strange planets, it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to even travel past Pluto.

“I would love that.” she said honestly. Rae hadn’t joined the military because she was easily frightened. The adventure of a lifetime was what Markar was offering her. That he gave her the offer made her trust Markar that much more. She turned more towards him and waited with baited breath at what wonders he would tell her about next. “So why do your people travel around the universe trying to find intelligent life?”