Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,69

It’s a lot less busy than usual. There’s nobody around.

Except…

Someone is walking towards the ship along the walkway. A small figure with shiny, shoulder-length hair.

“That’s a human,” I exclaim. “A woman!”

Zaroc stares out the windshield, too. “So it is. Here?”

As the woman comes closer, I realize there’s something familiar about her. That walk, those studied movements that were made for presenting fake news on television… that looks a lot like…

The bottom falls out of my mind. “Donna?!”

26

- Zaroc -

Averie unsnaps the safety harness and runs to the elevator squares.

I stand up, too. That’s plainly an Earth woman outside. And I can’t imagine that’s a good sign.

Following Averie out of the ship, I catch up with her on the walkway.

The other woman is coming towards us, small and pale.

I hoist my Elder gun and scan our surroundings. Cromp Station has been safe until now, but things can change.

The other woman stops a couple of paces away, then lifts an elegant hand in greeting. She has some of the same beauty that I see in Averie, but this one is less natural, more carefully designed.

Averie talks to her in their own language, and they have a short conversation before I break in.

“Why is she here?” I ask, a little gruffly because this sets all my internal alarms blaring.

“She was harvested by the Bululg,” Averie sums up. “And sold to an alien. But the alien regretted the purchase and let her go.”

“Her owner let her go?” I ask, incredulous. “Just like that?”

“That’s what she says.”

“Do you believe it?”

She shrugs. “She’s standing here. No chains.”

“And no weapons, either,” I observe.

They talk again. If I’m any judge, that other woman is not being sincere. But she is an alien and harder to read than Averie.

“She doesn’t know how to get a weapon,” Averie says. “Her owner just let her go an hour ago. She says we can talk to him to confirm her story. He has something important to say to us, too.”

I don’t move, liking this less and less. “Such as?”

They converse a little more.

“It’s about your species, the Lancefers,” Averie says, frowning. “She says her owner is one of your kind. And there are more of them.”

Those words take me by surprise. Could it be true? Of course, I’ve hoped that one or two pockets of my species would have survived in secret. It would be possible, of only barely. It speaks to something deep in my soul, a profound, desperate need to not be alone after all.

“Do you trust this woman?” I ask, my voice thick with sudden emotion, hoping the answer is ‘yes’. “You knew her from before?”

“I knew her on Earth. She was harvested right before you came. I don’t know how trustworthy she is—”

All the lights on my ship suddenly start flashing, on and off, very fast. Grandmother is alerting me about something important.

I spin around.

Nobody.

Then…

I look up. There’s movement in the dark.

“Zaroc!” Averie yells urgently.

A fresk comes falling down from the ceiling, hits the walkway, and rolls to lose its momentum before it rears up and bares its horrifically messy teeth.

Then the air is full of falling aliens, some with weapons, some without. A few of them land hard and stay down, while most of them shake it off and start coming closer from all sides.

At the other end of the walkway, there are several Bululg, coming out of the main area of the station.

I grab Averie and aim my gun at the Bululg. I’m not letting them get her.

She draws her own gun and aims it at the other woman, saying something that sounds vicious.

The other woman shrugs and smiles, then sashays away.

“Cursed Fate,” I seethe. This could get ugly. We’ll soon be surrounded. There’s nowhere for us to go except into the station, towards the Bululg.

I see no reason to hold back. I aim the Elder gun at the closest enemies and fire, burning some of them to smoke on the spot. But the ray from the gun doesn’t stop there – it goes right through the enemies and continues out the bulkhead of the station itself, puncturing it.

Air rushes out of the docking bay, alarms blare, and airtight doors slam shut all around.

I grab Averie’s hand. “Come on!”

We run along the walkway, passing the other woman. I aim my gun at the Bululg, and they duck – they can’t know I won’t fire again. It’s far too powerful, it would destroy the whole space station.

“Don’t let them get me, Zaroc!” Averie yells as we run.