Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,16

routes anywhere near. I can’t identify the Sun or Earth.

Zaroc studies the map for a long time, zooming in and out as if looking for something.

Finally, he slams his fist on the console and sits down in a seat. It creaks under his weight.

He mutters something, and the small metallic thing I saw before answers. It must be some kind of communications device. I can’t understand a word they’re saying, though.

“Zaroc,” I try. “This all makes me afraid. I want to go back to Earth.”

He sends me a blue flash of a glance. Even that makes my heart freeze. It’s like he’s hard-wired to the danger sense in me. The reptilian brain, maybe. Which I guess makes sense if he’s a reptile.

He growls something else, then pulls a lever. The map of the galaxy vanishes, and the swirling pattern gives way to an ordinary starry view of space.

I gasp at the sheer mass of stars. There are millions of them, each one a tiny point of light.

And there, above the ship, a thin blue crescent that kind of looks like the Earth.

Maybe he’s doing what I asked and taking me back home—

An alarm starts blaring, there’s a loud bang, and the ship judders as if hit by something.

The sucking feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me that if I hadn’t been strapped down, I would have hit the ceiling with that jolt.

Zaroc throws himself at the console, spitting a vicious-sounding curse.

The stars outside start spinning – first slow, then faster and faster until I have to take my eyes off them.

Zaroc is fighting with the controls, but even I can tell he’s losing that fight. The ship shakes harder and harder, and we’re plainly out of control.

Searing white streaks shoot past the windshield, Zaroc curses again, there’s another hard bang and the room suddenly goes completely dark.

Then it becomes bright again as the blue planet fills the view. We’re not spinning too bad anymore, so I can just about make out that it’s definitely not Earth. There are blue oceans and white clouds, but the continents here are much bigger and totally green, with not a speck of the brown tones that are so obvious on satellite images of my home planet.

And, I can’t help noticing, it’s coming closer very, very fast.

“Are we going to crash?” I ask for clarification.

Zaroc keeps fighting to keep the ship steady, and also to change course to get away from that planet. But the ship is no longer humming, and I suspect it’s all too late.

He probably realizes the same thing. He lets go of the controls and turns to look at me. “Yes.”

A howl is starting to penetrate the ship, and then it gets louder and louder. We’ve hit the planet’s atmosphere.

Zaroc stands up, puts the talking metal case into his pants pocket, and comes over to me. He grabs the webbing around me and pulls at it as if to test the strength. It snaps off in his hands, and he snorts derisively as he tosses it away.

I hurriedly place my phone back in its holder, right before the poacher grabs me, lifts me out of the seat like I’m a Barbie doll, and then lies down with me on the floor.

What the hell?

“This is not the time!” I yell, squirming to get loose.

But the alien doesn’t rip my panties off the way I’m half expecting. Instead, he curls up with me on the inside, bent double with my head between my knees. His body is warm, and the scales just feel like skin. And his scent is intense, but not bad at all.

His muscles tighten around me. Surely, no harm can come to this powerful creature, and I’m on the inside.

“Hang on to me,” he grunts, as if all this is just an annoying inconvenience.

Against all reason, I suddenly feel safe.

The howl outside has become a roar of air as we plummet to the ground.

The last thing I see before I close my eyes is the planet outside so close I can make out the waves on the oceans. But the landmasses have no details except pure, shimmering green.

I close my eyes and do my best to relax.

Then we crash.

8

- Zaroc -

As I expected, the ship holds together. The unique peculiarities of this planet help dampen the first impact enough to keep us from being smashed to pieces.

I hold on to Averie while at the same time using one leg and one arm to keep us in place on