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"We will see. You will have to train hard though, alright?"
Kevin nodded eagerly and a flutter went through my chest. There was no doubt I was sexually attracted to Garth and had probably developed my own hero worship for him, but what he just did endeared him to me in a way that made me fear for my heart.
No way could I afford to lose myself to an alien. Could I?
"I'm sorry, I heard you say we aren't going back to Earth?" a young woman approached us, followed by the other three humans—two men and an older woman.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to for the foreseeable future, but I assure you the empire will work hard on bringing you home," Garth said, rising to his full height after having been hunched over to speak to Kevin.
"I'm Lord Protector Garth of Astrionis. I was on a mission at Colynth, the planet where you were held, and will take you to the Pandraxian Empire, where you'll be safe for the time being, until we can figure out how to establish contact with Earth."
Sensing a thousand questions coming, I took Garth's arm. "We should go take this wherever the others are so you don't have to repeat yourself."
"Excellent idea. This, by the way, is Silla. She will be your liaison between you and me."
I swallowed hard at his words, but it made sense, even though this wasn't a role I had ever seen myself play.
"Come on, sweetheart. I'll take care of you," said the younger woman who had approached us first, to Kevin. It didn't escape me how Kevin recoiled and edged closer to Garth at her sidling up to him, neither did the assessing look the woman gave Garth escape me, and an unsettling feeling spread through my stomach.
I tried to assure myself that I was wrong, surely we were in too dire of a situation to play cat games, but my inner alarm was on DEFCON 1.
"I am Susan by the way, everybody calls me Suz," she told Garth in a sultry voice, batting her eyelashes at him.
"Pleasure." Garth nodded at her, oblivious to her flirting.
Could that really be?
Susan was a very attractive young woman, not to mention in possession of pink, glowing skin, unlike the zombie color I was sporting atthe moment. Her flirting with Garth was more than obvious, and yet, he didn't appear as if he noticed.
"If you can spare the humans for now, Meloch, it's time I addressed them all." Garth turned to the senior medtech.
"As you wish, Lord Protector. We can continue our research tomorrow."
With that decided, we walked the short distance to where the other humans were housed. They were staying in a large, hangar-like area, where the walls were filled with built-in bunkbeds that were larger than any bunkbeds that I had ever seen, but given how large the Pandraxians were, not that surprising. For us much smaller humans, they offered a nice space to rest and sleep.
Small barriers could be pulled up or pushed down at the sides, ensuring nobody would fall out, which was a good thing, because some were five rows high, while also offering the occupants privacy.
Small tables and chairs filled the center of the room. On the tables I noticed pitchers, cups, and what appeared to be the alien equivalent of wrapped snack bars. The only wall not filled with bunkbeds offered shelves, filled with clothing, hygiene articles, and other odds and ends.
Everybody appeared clean and dressed in what I was becoming to recognize as a Pandraxian uniform—black pants and shirts. With a quick glance I estimated there tobe about seventy-five humans, most wearing shell-shocked expressions on their faces, and appearing to be in some kind of daze. Something I could absolutely relate to. I had been in the same kind of fugue until recently, until Garth had given me a purpose. Garth! I ventured a surreptitious glance at him, the more time I spent with him the more he grew on me. He brought out qualities in me I hadn't even known I possessed.
"Humans," Garth thundered as if we hadn't already gotten everybody's attention the moment we walked in.
Quickly Garth introduced himself and me to the assembled humans and I felt their glances assessing me and my zombie-like skin. Heat rushed over my face again as well as shame for what had been done to me.
Susan's mouth quirked, but instead of more embarrassment, this time anger rolled through my stomach. I had nothing to be ashamed of. This had been donetome, I didn't ask for it and none of them could possibly know that the Cryons gave me an aphrodisiac that made me basically throw myself at Garth.
That was his and my secret and I was certain he would never betray my trust.
"It will take four SPs—space days—before we reach our destination, the home world of my species, Pandrax, and the seat of the Pandraxian Empire, where you will meet ouremperor, Daryus," Garth laid his plan out. I only noticed a few puzzled faces, the rest seemed to understand him just fine, which made me realize not all of us had been given translator chips. I made myself a quick mental note to address this with Garth later to see if the ones without translators could receive one.
"If I may," I interrupted him, realizing he was overwhelming my fellow humans.
"By all means." Garth gave me one of his rare smiles and waved his hand. I noticed Kevin stepping up next to him, away from Susan, who placed a hand around his shoulders.
"Hey." I gave a weak smile at my assembled, fellow humans. "We've all been through hell and all we want is to go home." I began my impromptu speech with a nervous fluttering in my belly. I wasn't used to addressing so many, but Garth's words came back to me about representing my species in front of the emperor and possibly others, and I told myself to put my big girl panties on.
"Unfortunately, the species who took us, the Cryons, have not divulged Earth's location to the Pandraxians, who have rescued us." I nodded at Garth and gave him a warm smile. "The only thing we can do right now is accept the Pandraxians' hospitality and plead our case to Emperor Daryus once we reach Pandrax."
