Page 6 of Warrior Enchanted

His face wasn’t so alien. He had a nose, a pair of eyes, and a normal-looking mouth. It was just a strange shade of orange and ocher, kind of pretty actually. His mouth tilted into an amused smile, his weirdly white-speckled eyes going wide as if this surprised him. Then he spoke in English, with a deeply cultured tone to his voice. “I was about to ask you that, Miss Kocchar,” he said.

Uh, what now? Since when did the aliens around here speak English? Since when did they sound so freaking posh? He must have seen the confusion on my face because that surprised smile came back. “I thought I might assist you with the collar, here, where it is quiet. The noise in the med bay is interfering my processing ability.”

The collar again. I touched it with a finger, recalling only too well what it had felt like when it was activated. Yeah, I really did want it off. I would be much safer when it was gone. Did I trust this weird guy to do it? He seemed unable to walk well, if he tried anything, I could probably outrun him. Heck, with my knife, I could probably take him. The thought soured in my stomach but I didn’t dwell on it. Right now, I needed to be strong like that, even if I hated it. This was about survival.

When I nodded, he shuffled carefully closer, shoulder pressed against the wall. The two tentacles that sprouted from his head like weird hair, writhing and moving; almost as if he had no control over them. As he got closer, I made myself stand up, not pressing away. I couldn’t do that if he was going to remove the band around my neck.

Close enough to almost reach me if he lifted a hand. The stranger suddenly started sinking to the floor until he was kneeling. “I apologize. I do not have sufficient control of this body to remain standing if I am to remove the collar.” He had a very odd way of talking. Control of this body? What was he on about? That didn’t exactly fill me with confidence when he was about to cut something from my neck.

His hands were steady, however when he opened the bag in his lap and pulled out what looked like tiny pliers and a weird-looking screwdriver. That filled me with more confidence than the scalpel that Noa had been holding, even though I’d seen her calmly remove pain collars from some of the other humans with it.

Sinking to my knees next to him and lifting my chin, I silently gave this guy the permission he needed to get to work. My eyes were on him like I was a freaking hawk the entire time but that didn’t seem to bother him in the least. I barely felt a single thing, but I heard a popping noise and then a small black square, like the lid of something fell into my own lap. His eyes were really intense, the pinpricks of white almost seemed to twinkle like real stars.

The collar just suddenly loosened around my neck, sliding down my front until I caught it with one hand. Immediately, I felt like there was a weight lifted from my shoulders. I felt better. I also felt like an idiot for running from the med bay, as this weird alien had called it. The people in there were only trying to help; they didn’t mean anything bad. I also shouldn’t let it bother me that the other woman who’d been dressed like me seemed to be acting so boldly, while I was a shivering mess.

“Thank you,” I said politely, rotating my head now that I could do that without feeling the constant reminder of my ordeal. Okay, this was good. Now they couldn’t use a remote on me to harm me. If anyone got close, I still had the knife.

“You are most welcome, Miss Kocchar,” the alien responded. He was tucking away his small tools into the pouch in his lap, his hands moving calmly, confidently, not at all like a man who could barely control the rest of his body to walk. Maybe he’d been paralyzed or suffered some kind of brain damage and his hands were the first part of him he’d regained control over. That seemed to make sense. If so, he’d probably suffered something traumatic as well.

“Oh, please, just call me Meena,” I responded, finally withdrawing my hand from the pocket with the knife. A little self-conscious about my state of dress, and the streaks of dirt and blood that still covered me, I tugged on the lapels of my coat. His eyes focused for a brief moment on the coat pocket with the knife, but he didn’t comment on it.

“Very well, Meena. I will escort you to your assigned quarters so you can wash up and rest,” he said. With a groan, he pressed himself up against the wall until he stood on swaying legs. They were braced wide apart, a bit like a newborn foal might. I had to struggle to hide a sudden smile at the comparison. He really looked like he was just learning to walk.

A room, a bed, a shower, all those things sounded great. I just wasn’t quite sure if I was ready to undress, or to make myself that vulnerable by trying to sleep. “I have keyed the room to your bio-signature only,” the strange male said, his back to me as he started his awkward shuffle along the wall, away from me. “You will be safe, alone. No one can come in. That is your preference right now, correct?”

Did this dude read my mind or what? Yeah, that was exactly what I wanted, even if it was hard to believe that I’d be getting my way. That this didn’t mean they couldn’t just override the lock if they wanted to. I didn’t complain however.

“Thank you. What’s your name?” I asked, and what’s your story? But I didn’t ask that. I didn’t want anyone to ask me about my story right now, so I could hardly probe into his. I did however, follow his careful shuffle, daring to walk at his side instead of behind him so I could make eye contact. Yeah, this guy wasn’t a threat. I felt safe around him, he was too uncoordinated to pose a risk. That helped, even if I felt bad for him.

“My designation is Akri,” he responded. “I used to be the ship,” he added, confusing me even more. “Now, I am contained in this body. I am still learning.” He didn’t expand further, didn’t seem to notice the utter confusion on my face, just kept on shuffling on his weird, three-toed feet.

It was only a couple of turns to reach the desired hallway, but Akri didn’t go very fast. I was worried the entire time that we’d run into someone, but everything stayed peacefully quiet. Then we were in one hallway lined with doors, though none of these were decorated like the ones I’d seen on the way into the ship. He pointed at one door, seemingly at random, and when I palmed the little screen next to it as my guide indicated, the door quietly slid open.

“Abigail said I should remind you that you are safe, that this room is yours for now, your safe space,” Akri said, gesturing with one hand gracefully into the space I’d just opened up. He swayed, seeming to lose his balance, before he caught himself again with a hand against the wall, dropping his little bag with tools to do it.

I wasn’t sure if I remembered who Abigail was, but it was a human name, so it had to be one of the women living on this ship. “Thank you,” I said to the strange alien, dipping down quickly to pick up what he’d dropped and offering it to him. He was going to great lengths to try to help me, to reassure me, but it didn’t seem to come naturally to him. Someone had been thoughtful enough to give him advice about it.

He reached out with one hand to take his bag, his eyes focused on my hand. He seemed to be struggling with his balance when coordinating more than one limb at a time and taking pity on him. I shook out the bag’s strap. “Here, hang this around your neck,” I offered, and he obliged by ducking his head, bracing his feet apart like he expected to topple over if he did that.

His two head tentacles stilled as I passed the strap over them, and then I considered that it might not feel nice to have the strap pinning them to the back of his neck. Daringly, I picked up the heavy weight of one and carefully pulled it free. It twisted in my hand, curling around my wrist for a moment and Akri gasped, “My apologies, Meena. I have no control over them yet.”

Using my other hand to push the tentacle off my wrist, I repeated my actions with the second one, patting the pouch into place in the center of his chest. “It’s fine, I didn’t mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go into my room.”

I ducked through the doorway before he could reply, and I hoped he wouldn’t take my kindness for anything but what it was. A thank you for how he’d patiently helped me. Akri didn’t answer but as the door swished closed, I heard his awkward shuffling gait as he started to leave.

Alone again, I took a moment to appraise the room that I was in. A bunk room with four beds, two on each wall. The wall furthest away from me, across the door, held eight tall cabinet doors, a bit like a row of high school lockers. A door in one corner was open and I could see a tiny bathroom inside it, a luxury I hadn’t expected. Then my eyes landed on the neatly folded pile of clothing on one of the bottom bunk beds.

When I unfolded them, I was holding a pair of leggings, underwear, and a simple t-shirt. Plain clothing, but it meant the world to me. Finally, something to change into that would cover me up completely. There was even a pair of socks and a soft pair of slippers, which meant I wouldn’t have to walk around barefoot.

Did I feel safe enough in here to undress completely and try out the shower? The desire to get clean won out over my worry that maybe someone would try to come inside. Rationally, I knew it was unlikely anyone would. They were going to far too great lengths to be nice to turn on me now. I wasn’t even their priority; they had a dozen others to care for alongside me.

Placing the knife on a ledge inside the shower stall, I undressed in a hurry. Hanging the stolen coat on a peg in one of the eight lockers but tossing the torn remains of the lingerie they had forced me to wear into the trash. They were ruined by that blue blood and it wasn’t like I wanted to ever wear them again. Under the warm water, I closed my eyes and just stood for a while, imagining that the water washed away not just the filth, but the bad memories too.

What would I be doing right now if I were home? Get dressed for my job as a paralegal at the office? Sit down for dinner with my family? Would I be asleep in my bed? I couldn’t possibly know because I didn’t even know the time. Besides, how long had I already been gone? They’d pulled me out of something that looked like a glass coffin, a stasis pod I imagined. There had been wires, electrodes or something attached to my chest. Those had to have been to monitor my vitals. So how long had I been stuck in that pod?

A desolate feeling washed over me. What if everyone I knew on Earth was dead? What if I’d traveled through space for years, unaware, asleep? There was nothing to return to, was there? Was that why none of my rescuers had mentioned returning me home? Because there was no home to return to?

The crying was a release, but with my thoughts spiraling down the drain along with the water, I had to get a grip. Focusing on the here and now, I located a nozzle in one of the shower walls, holding my hand beneath it landed me a dollop of what had to be soap. I scrubbed at my skin, washed my hair with it, and when my tan skin was gleaming and clean again, I got out of the shower and dried myself with the single towel provided.