Caught Between Two Blue Aliens - Celia Kyle Page 0,79

now wholly ready and prepared to spend her future with them on their planet.

The elevator doors opened, and Hiren led the group down the hall to a pair of doors on opposite sides of the private corridor. He stopped, turned, and beamed down at the children, extending a hand to both doors. “I hope you do not mind,” he said to the humans, “but we have taken the liberty of having two rooms renovated for the children here on the officers’ deck.”

Bea and Noah’s jaws dropped, and Jenna looked surprised, blinking at both doors in confusion. “That fast?” she said.

“Drokten ships must be adaptable, and our engineers are highly suited to that kind of design,” Hiren explained with a smile on his face. Impressing humans never got old. “That said, we only did what we could with a military vessel to accommodate for something human children might find pleasant. If you do not find it suitable, we can make adjustments. On the right are Beatrice’s quarters, and on the left are Noah’s. Here, let me show you how to calibrate the locks to your handprints.”

Hiren guided them through the process, and within moments, each door slid open.

“It’s as big as a hotel,” Bea gasped.

“It is decorated with some of the finest Drokten art.”

A small window showed the darkened surface of the earth dotted with artificial lights. Under it was a large desk beside a small couch.

“These are human books,” Sevith explained excitedly as Bea walked in. “All of various subjects because I was told by Hiren that human adolescents often like a variety of intellectual pursuits. I had them brought to the ship in a hurry, but the human consultants claimed it would be difficult to read through them all during your time here on the battleship, and during the trip to Drokt. On the off chance that you do, your tablet is connected not only to Drokten digital libraries but also to Earth’s internet database, allowing you to stay in touch with your acquaintances on Earth.”

“Oh my god,” Bea breathed, running her hand over the bookshelf before moving to the window and staring down at the vastness of the planet below. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I can’t believe…”

“I also had Drokten officer training materials installed,” Sevith added casually. “There are a number of tactical simulation exercises to test yourself on, if—”

“Maybe we should wait a little while before trying to turn her into a warrior, yeah?” Jenna chimed in, and Hiren tried not to chuckle at the anxiety he felt radiating off her.

“We didn’t know what they liked,” Hiren whispered to Jenna under his breath, “so we cast a wide net.”

“This is perfect,” Jenna breathed, blushing at him. “She’s at her ‘hates everything’ age right now, but when our parents were around, it was impossible to get her out of the library. I just never had time to try to encourage that more. Good instincts.”

“No way!” came a voice from across the hall, and all four of their group looked around and realized they had let Noah slip out from their sight in the few moments they had taken their eyes off him. Hiren wheeled around to see the door to his quarters open, and Sevith laughed as he followed the boy inside and saw him marveling at what he found.

Noah’s room was similar to Bea’s, except that it was clearly designed with a younger person in mind, with a somewhat more bright and vivid design. There was what looked like a small platform that almost looked like a big pod to sit in.

“This is like a virtual tutor,” Sevith explained, crouching down beside Noah. “Anything you want to learn about Drokten history or culture, you can hear it told by a Drokten narrator the program ‘makes’ in the computer. You can even see it acted out and see what daily life is like among Drokten your age while learning.”

“For example,” Hiren quietly explained, “you can upgrade to an interactive setting. If he were to ask about the Zignill War on Earth, the program would summon up a holographic Drokten warrior dressed like the warriors you’ve been seeing to walk him through the lesson. We thought something more interactive would be more appropriate for a younger boy. Sevith wanted to give both of them that technology, but I thought Bea might find it condescending.”

“Very good call,” Jenna said.

Sevith went on to show Noah how to work the pod to let him see what some of the massive