Trian's Spark Page 3

  “Hihf hfiah gowand shaoisd,” one of the males said with a questioning look. He stepped toward the women.

  Amelia’s heart thundered inside her chest. She could feel her skin turn clammy.

  “Hihf hfiah gowand shaoisd.” The male repeated himself as he stepped forward again.

  Amelia wondered if he was expecting them to understand him. Couldn’t he see that they didn’t know what he was saying? Not to mention that they were plain scared?

  “Hihf hfiah gowand shaoisd,” the alien said again, only louder and with a tone like he was becoming impatient.

  Some of the women shrieked and curled into themselves or each other. Amelia looked from the women to the men. Her ire built to boiling point. First, she and these women had been kidnapped. Then she’d woken in a bloody laser cage of sorts, and now she and the other women were practically being shouted at because they couldn’t understand his language.

  “Can’t you see they’re scared?” she yelled at the male who again had stepped forward. She grimaced as he stared at her with purple, fast-swirling eyes. Her anger got the better of her. Standing, she stepped between the women and the men and stood her ground. “What do you want with us? Because if you think we’re going back in those cages, you can think again.” She was glad her words came out strong, because really, she was scared shitless to the point her whole body trembled.

  The alien’s purple eyes twirled like a storm, but his face changed to one of understanding.

  She frowned and asked, “Can you understand me?”

  The male nodded. His comrades moved to stand closer behind him, some of them placing their daggers and guns in pouches on their belts.

  “Friend or foe?” she asked, hoping it wasn’t the latter.

  “Delasj,” the male replied.

  Amelia closed her eyes for a second before opening them and blowing out a breath as her frustration built. She wished she could understand these aliens. As the first male squatted in front of the group of women, she had an inkling that these men weren’t foe. But still, she needed an answer.

  “Okay, if you can understand me, let’s try yes and no answers.”

  The male nodded.

  “Are you going to take us home?” she asked.

  He glanced around their small group and shrugged. Amelia couldn’t help but growl under her breath. She had so many questions and was unsure which ones to ask. She settled on a few he might be able to answer.

  “Are we at least near home? Near Earth?”

  The male nodded and shrugged. Was that a yes or a no? Or maybe it was an ‘I don’t know’. Stupid language difficulties!

  Perhaps they weren’t near a planet? Or they were, but just not Earth. Maybe the male didn’t know where she and the other women came from.

  “Are we near a blue and green planet with one moon?”

  The male nodded.

  “Then that could be Earth. You could just take us home?”

  Again, he shrugged.

  “Do you have someone who knows if you will take us home?”

  The male nodded and stood. Damn, he was tall. He turned to his men. It sounded like he was barking orders out as he walked toward the door. He stood staring at the wall and seemed to be talking to himself. Amelia watched closely. No, he wasn’t talking to himself, he was speaking into the thick, gold band on his wrist.

  This whole experience was totally blowing Amelia’s mind. Being a midwife, she’d dealt with her fair share of anxious fathers-to-be when their wives or girlfriends were in labor. Men could get so annoyed and upset, angry even, when they or the staff couldn’t do anything to stop their partner’s pain. She was very good at calming them down and explaining what was going on, but now, here? She had no idea how to calm herself down and deal with everything going on, let alone reassure the other women.

  What would happen if their little group was taken home? Would they tell of their experience? Would these aliens want the Earth people to know about them? Amelia rubbed her forehead where a small headache was beginning to grow. So many questions.

  “You could have asked him other stuff. Like what are they planning on doing with us,” Jane hissed.

  “And how was he supposed to tell us that with only yes and no answers?” Amelia replied sharply, turning to the redhead.

  Jane’s eyes welled up with tears. Amelia had seen young women like this in her time. Ones who had no idea what really went on around them. Young females who went through life like a knife through butter—easily.

  Amelia reached for Jane and pulled her in for a hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  Gasps sounded from the women when one of the aliens with four arms suddenly entered the room. He glanced around with an angry face and then gestured to the group of women as he shouted toward the five other men. A couple of the larger, human-looking aliens replied, shrugging their shoulders and looking around the room.

  The blue-skinned alien took a few angry, stomping steps toward the group of women. Three of the human-looking men quickly moved, standing in front of the women in a protective stance and growling low at the blue male.

  Chapter 3

  If Amelia had been watching something like this on television, she would have laughed. The four-armed alien suddenly started shouting and animatedly waving his arms. She shied back against the machines along with the other women. Eventually, after a few warning growls and what sounded like threats from the handsome aliens, the blue-skinned male pressed a button and all the see-through walls disappeared before he stomped out of the large room.

  Jane stood and stepped toward the men “Excuse me, I want to go home. Please, can you take me there?”

  All five men turned toward the young woman.

  “Jane, come and sit down,” Amelia urged her.

  Jane turned toward Amelia. “But I want to go home.” Tears spilled down her cheeks.

  Amelia’s heart flowed watching Jane’s sorrow. Standing, Amelia reached out to touch her, but one of the handsome aliens reached for her first and pulled her close to him. A gasp left Jane before she went limp in his arms. Was that a spark? Did that male just electrocute her?

  Amelia stepped forward and shouted, “What did you do to her?”

  Anger pulsed in Amelia’s veins, making her forget for a moment these men were twice as big as she was and could snap her in half. Seeing Jane limp in the male’s arms, Amelia was instantly taken back to a night in university. She and her best friend Flo had been walking home after a party. They were both tipsy and rather merry. Giggling, they walked as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

  A few yards from their dorm, a scruffy male in tatty clothing accosted them. He drew a long, silver knife from his belt, and without a word or warning, he lunged at them. It happened so fast it wasn’t until Flo was slumped in Amelia’s arms with the male running off that Amelia realized her friend had stepped in front of her and been stabbed.

  Although the male was caught by the police an hour later, raving that the devil had spawned and his daughters were roaming the Earth, it did nothing to heal the pain he had caused. Flo died bleeding out while trying to fight to live in Amelia’s arms before help could arrive. Still to this day, when Amelia thought of Flo and that night, she had conflicted emotions. Pain because she couldn’t save her friend, but thanks that she was alive to help those she had in her life.

  Amelia’s protective instincts kicked in, and she reached for Jane. The male pulled Jane further into his chest and backed away as Amelia advanced to try and get to the redhead. The males crowded around the alien holding Jane, leaving Amelia unable to reach the young woman. They all had surprise looks on their faces.

  “Shfpkdf kdflf sahfk hfdfi,” one of the aliens said to the one holding Jane. His tone indicated that he might be asking a question.

  “What did he do?” one woman cried out.

  “Oh God, what are they going to do with us?” another asked.

  “We’re all going to die,” another woman wailed.r />
  Amelia studied what she could see of Jane and was relieved to see her chest raise and drop. She was breathing. Suddenly, the purple-eyed alien ran toward the doorway, Jane still in his arms. It whooshed open and he was gone.

  “Hey!” Amelia said, grabbing hold of one of the male’s arms. “Where is he? Where did he take her?” she demanded to know.

  He stared at her before strolling off to the side of the room where he spoke quite animatedly again to the band on his wrist. Is that a communicator? Amelia assumed he had some kind of device that he could talk to the others on. Was he asking the male to bring Jane back?

  “Hey you!” she shouted toward him. The male turned, glancing at her. “Where did your man take Jane?”

  Instead of answering her, he barked out an order to the other three men. They nodded and started toward the group of women. Screams began filling the air.

  * * * *

  Trian and his bridge crew waited in silence for any reports. A time went past before Iryano’s communication broke the silence.

  “Trian, they have a whole cargo area here filled with females. I estimate about twenty of them. They were kept in single cells, but somehow they escaped and are all huddled together in a group now. The Lesh darted them with a hefty sedative, but some of the females are currently aware, and not surprisingly, they’re frightened. They are very much humanoid like us. No extra appendages or anything. They don’t understand us, and when they saw the Lesh they screamed in fear. I don’t think they know of different species yet.”

  Trian dragged a hand through his hair. If the aware females had seen the Kopla brothers and their extra set of arms, then to return them back to their planet could cause some problems for them if the planet had no idea of other species.

  “Hold on, I need more information before we know what to do with them.” He ended the communication, then looked at his navigation officer and asked, “Basup, does this planet have contact with other species?”

  Basup’s fingers roamed over his console. “I don’t think so, sir. They have various debris in their airspace to suggest they might have at some point traveled into space. I only see several satellites and a single space station, which isn’t being used at this time. Otherwise, nothing much registers that they know they have been visited. I would have to do a deeper look in their information.” Basup turned in his seat to look at Trian.

  “Find out what you can about the planet, then compose a report and put it on a chrono screen for me. Find out if we have been detected or not. But first, get me Iryano,” Trian ordered. Before Basup could press a button placing Iryano through on communication, Iryano’s voice came through the bridge’s speakers.

  “Trian, I need a private channel now!” Iryano’s tone had urgency in it.

  “Put him through to my office,” he ordered Basup.

  Trian stood and visualized his office, then zapped himself off the bridge. His room was big enough to fit about twenty men inside. There was a large window on one wall, which was currently showing the green and blue planet below, as well as the moon. Walking over to his console, he sat in his chair and pressed the communication button.

  “Trian here. What’s the need for privacy, Iryano?” Trian didn’t hide the irritation that was obvious in his voice. He didn’t keep secrets from his bridge crew. They were his top officers, the ones he trusted his life and the rest of his crew to.

  “Hold your annoyance,” Iryano replied. “I know what you’re thinking, but believe me, the crew will find out soon enough.”

  Trian inhaled deeply and released it before replying. “Go ahead. What have you found?”

  “One of the females is Sharpie’s spark.”

  “What!” Sharpie was one of the crew’s security officers. He was coming up on his first century cycle. He had found his eternal mate amongst the females? Trian had to swallow down the hope that he suddenly felt.

  “The females could be our sparks, Trian,” Iryano specified, his tone demanding some kind of answer from Trian.

  “By the gods. Could this planet really be the Gracian’s savior?” Trian voiced. “How many females are aboard the Cof? Hold that. Never mind, no matter the number, we will accommodate them. Bring them home, Iryano. Get them off the Cof and on the Gemorph. First thing is first, get the frinxing Lesh out of this space, then we will sort things out from there. This planet is now under our protection.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Iryano replied. Trian could hear the hope and excitement in his friend’s voice. “Trian,” Iryano said, suddenly serious.

  “Yes?”

  “I hope your spark is here, my friend.”

  Trian breathed deeply, some of the tension in his shoulders disappearing. “I hope so too. Bring them home, Iryano.”

  Trian hit the button on his console to end their communication and spun his chair around to gaze at the planet. Could the hope for all Gracians be on that planet? What did he do now? He couldn’t rush in and send the message out to other Gracian ships, it was still too early. What if Sharpie’s spark was the only one on the planet? So many questions and so much hope spanned in Trian’s mind. What if his savior, his heart, his own spark, was there on that planet?

  Spinning back around to his console, Trian decided to at least make sure the females being brought to his ship were made comfortable and were looked after. He had no idea what would happen if they were to be returned to their planet after seeing their species and the Lesh.

  Pressing the communication button for medical, he asked for his chief officer. “Hover, report in.”

  “Hover here.”

  “We’re bringing about twenty females aboard the ship. I want them examined for injuries and such. They’re all frightened, they weren’t taken willingly. They will also need to be fitted with translators.”

  “Sharpie is already here with his spark. I understand though and have called in extra crew.”

  “He zapped her there?” Trian asked. Gracians were able to zap here and there because of their body energy and chemistry, but they couldn’t zap another species without causing injury to the person they were zapping with.

  “Yes, and before you ask, there was only a minor side effect.”

  “Is she really Sharpie’s eternal mate?” Trian asked.

  “From what he has told me happened when he touched her, and all the medical reports I’ve just completed, I’d say yes. I can even confirm that, although our biology is different, she has the beginnings of an iungo forming at the nape of her neck.”

  Trian was astonished at the news. An iungo was a connector Gracians had to aid the transfer of energy from male to female, or from parent to child. Trian ran his thumb over his iungo on his middle fingers—the one he’d had as a child at the base of his neck had long ago disintegrated back into his body, as it did for all males. He’d hoped one day he would get to use his, but with his growing energy, it would seem his time was running out.

  “Thank you, Hover. Trian out.” He stood and walked out of his office with an iota of hope for his people’s existence blooming in his chest.

  Standing at the back of the bridge, Trian barked out orders. “Basup, keep me informed as to what’s going on. I already know Sharpie is back. Fic, keep weapons trained on the Cof until our men have departed and are back in the hanger. When the Kopla brothers leave, cloak and follow their exhaust until we know they’re out of the system, then return to this spot. Alert Shift Two crew and have them waiting on the bridge when I get back.”

  Trian was about to zap to medical when he caught the look on some of his bridge crew’s faces. He sighed, knowing he couldn’t keep a secret from these men. They were the ones who needed to know any information first.

  “What I’m about to tell you is to remain confidential. It is not to be spread as of yet. Not even when the gossip starts,” he added firmly. “I will inform the rest of the crew when the time is right.”

  His officers nodded, knowing full well, as Trian did, that gossip traveled fast amongst the men. It was go
ing to be spread a whole lot faster this time, being it was news that a spark had been found.

  “As you just heard, Sharpie is already back on the ship. What hasn’t been released is the news that he has brought back a female who might be his spark.”

  A collective gasp filled the bridge. His crew looked toward each other in astonishment. Hope appeared in each man’s eyes.

  Trian held up his hand to stop the questions that he could see were about to be asked, and carried on. “We aren’t sure yet,” he lied, not wanting to hand out too much hope if this went tits up. “I’m about to go visit medical to find out if it’s true. But!” He looked sternly in the eyes of each man on the bridge. “If this is true, then it would seem we might have found what we’ve been seeking all these years. I ask you not to inform any of your friends and family just yet.”

  Trian didn’t wait for his crew’s reaction; he knew the loyalty each man had for their captain. Walking back into his office, he read the brief report that Basup had already compiled.

  It wasn’t long before Basup’s voice came through his communicator.

  “Trian here.”

  “Sir, Orb One has docked and is clear. We are currently following the Cof in cloak.”

  “Thanks. Trian out.”

  He finished reading the report on the chrono screen, giving his men time to get the females to medical. Finishing, he stood and visualized a small room in medical that was used for safe transport and zapped himself there.

  Medical was in chaos. Women were talking, shouting, crying, and one was screaming at the top of her lungs. The medical staff was milling around, seemingly trying to do their jobs, while the females kept stopping them, not allowing them to. Sharpie was sitting on a medical bed in a corner, holding an unconscious female in his arms. He looked to be cooing to her softly. The look in his eyes when he raised his head to scan the room held possessiveness in them.