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Chapter 1 – Aidro
I tried everything to shake Himari: being an asshole, being intimidating, being too handsome for someone like her to talk to. That last one came naturally to me, of course. But no matter what I did, she still kept popping up. She came to me with every tiny little piece of news about her field of scientific study, which was botany. Did I look like the kind of person who was interested in plants? No. I was interested in getting my crash-landed spaceship back into space, where it belonged.
Still, there she was, so excited that she was practically skipping across the field towards me.I tried to break eye contact, but I couldn’t. It was like her strange dark brown eyes were a homing beacon, forcing my attention her way. Perhaps it was some sort of human magic. She had a plant in her hand and a big smile on her face, though she always had a big smile on her face these days. Exploring the plants of an unknown planet must have been like sex to her. Briefly, I wondered if she would smile like that after I was done railing her, but shook that thought away, because… no.
“Hi! I wanted to show you something!” She waved the plant like I wouldn’t have noticed she was carrying a freaking bush around.
“I’m busy.” Not that she ever listened.
She looked around, nibbling on her lip in a way that gave me ideas. “Busy doing what? You’re the captain of a ship that’s sort of… smooshed right now.”
I glanced at the ship, which was looking better every day, and frowned. “It’s not smooshed. It’s undergoing structural repairs.”
“Right. That sounds very optimistic,” she said, winking. What the hell was she winking about? The ship was undergoing structural repairs. We had only crash-landed on this planet two weeks ago, and salvaging useful parts and materials from what was left of a destroyed civilization was an ongoing challenge. But it wasn’t a pipe dream. We were making progress.
“That wasn’t optimistic. It was the truth. Besides, being your leader is difficult work.” I crossed my arms over my chest, going for intimidating, flexing my muscles in case that added to the effect. She blinked at my abs for a moment, and I thought I might have won.
“You’re not doing anything but standing there in that ridiculous jacket.”
“Standing here being the leader.” I looked down at my jacket, which was my favorite and not at all ridiculous. “Wait. It’s universally acknowledged that this jacket is awesome.”
“You look like you just stepped off the set of the Matrix 12, the straight to VR reboot.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It’s a movie, with a guy in a long black jacket.”
“Is the guy really cool and handsome, and the black jacket only accentuates it?”
She cleared her throat, her eyes darting to the side. “You know what, never mind.”
“He is, isn’t he?” I grinned, shifting on my the balls of my feet.She shivered a little, and I wondered if she needed a jacket herself, at least for the chilly mornings in our camp. I considered finding her one and leaving it somewhere she’d find it without knowing it had come from me.
“Whatever, Aidro. A leader should be concerned about how his people are going to be fed, which is why I’m sharing the attempts at farming with you. Besides, you’re only the leader because you were the first of your random crew of outlaws to scrounge together enough money to buy a ship. I’d prefer a more democratic process.” She tapped her chin and pursed her lips, looking thoughtful. Great, now she was going to call for a damn election.I stepped forward, towering over her.
Humans weren’t very tall, and this one was barely even up to my chest. She was pretty and curvy, with big tits and round hips and this glossy black hair that I wanted to wrap around my hand.
No, I was not picturing myself fucking her. Not that often, anyway. I’d bet she’d ride my dicks for hours, though, her soft little body surrounding me in pleasure. Her left eyebrow shot up as she waited for a reply, but I kept her waiting, turning and gazing out at the beautiful mountain lake that sat near where we’d crashed. Not for the scenery, but because I really needed to stop thinking about fucking Himari. She cleared her throat.
“No,” I said firmly. “We’re in a survival situation. I’m the leader. End of story.”
“Maybe someone with some scientific experience would make a better leader in a survival situation.” She moved to stand beside me, elbowing me, and I growled softly. “Or someone with experience living outdoors on a planet similar to this.”The planet we were stuck on—Merax 9—supposedly had startling similarities to Himari’s home planet, Earth. But I’d never been to the human planet, so I didn’t know that for sure. Merax had once been as densely populated as my own planet of Thol, but no more. After a global disaster, nature had taken over. Now only plants and insects were abundant. Well, and the Guardians.
“None of the people with scientific experience have any chance of fighting the Guardians. We have a food printer and a stockpile of powdered food, so starvation isn’t our biggest worry. Getting killed by giant invisible drones is.”
“Why don’t you wear a shirt? I get that the jacket makes you feel cool, but the no shirt thing just makes you look like a douchebag.”This was a startling change of subject.
“A douchebag?” My translator wasn’t giving me a good Tholkon equivalent for that word, at least not one that made sense. Why would you spray water up there, and what did it have to do with me? I frowned down at Himari, confused.
“It’s an insult. It means you look like a cocky poser. Maybe you can’t fight the killer drones, either. You just stand around pretending.”
“Pretending what?” I asked, my voice lowering to a deadly calm.
“Pretending you can fight? I don’t know. You tell me.”
That was it.I was going to murder her. I had murdered before. It wasn’t a big deal. I’d just wrap my hands around her little throat, and— “Aidro.” Uli’s sharp voice broke my concentration on murder, and I glanced towards him. He grinned. “Don’t kill our botanist. She’s very useful. Have you tried the berries she found? So delicious. Elae said he was going to make a dessert with them.”
I did like dessert so I dropped my hands. Uli grabbed Himari’s arm and dragged her off. “But I didn’t even show him the plant!” she protested, clearly unaware that he had just saved her life.
