Page 16

Lumina

Holy shit, my head is killing me. And my left arm. I try to open my eyes, but the light is so damn bright.

It takes me a moment to acclimate myself, but soon everything comes blasting back, starting with the crash, and immediately switching to thoughts of the Draalian. The handsome Draalian who was the male of my dreams. The ecstasy of our physical connection, the agony of his rejection.

Then a smile lights my face as I remember that moment as we were climbing up the canyon when everything changed. Dear God, the look in his eyes was so full of appreciation and apology.

“Zoriss?”

I force my eyes open to look for him. What I see is a sterile hospital room, well, two of them. I have double vision.

“Zoriss?”

A nurse comes running in. “May I help you?”

“Where’s Zoriss?”

“The Draalian? He’s gone.”

My chest physically hurts. I understand the term “heartache” for the first time in my life.

“He . . . left?” Please God, tell me he left, and he’s not dead.

She relays information from the chart and tells me how he convinced a stranger to bring us in, then how we were both medically treated.

“You have a concussion, I’m afraid.”

That would explain the light sensitivity and double vision. She tells me they got him into a heated bed, fed him, and the doctor made certain the gash on his leg was properly treated.

“She made it a point of saying you did a great job considering you did it by firelight in a cave.”

With an angry, uncooperative naked Draalian , I think, but don’t say it out loud.

“You said he left?”

“Soldiers came to retrieve him. It sounds as if he was brought here to be sold on the black market. They’re re-homing him and planning to give him the VIP treatment so he’ll decide to stay.” Her eyebrow raises, not once, but twice in an age-old expression of sexual interest.

“Tell me,” her voice lowers to a conspiratorial whisper, “what was it like to be in close quarters with a hunk like that?”

Yeah, he’s a hunk. Maybe that moment climbing up the crevasse was just that—a moment. Now that he realizes he can have any woman on the planet, maybe he’ll be happy he has more choices than a female he hated for ninety-nine percent of our time together.

“He . . . just left? Just like that?”

“Oh, hell no. From what the grapevine says, they had to handcuff him and march him out of here at gunpoint. Five gunpoints to be exact. I wish I had been on shift to see that. They said he looked magnificent.” She sighs dreamily.

“At shift change, I was told he demanded to see you and wouldn’t cooperate until they let him come in here. ”

“Really?”

“That’s what I’m told. Blake was on duty. She said he came in, put his mouth to your ear and talked to you. She didn’t catch a word of it, but she said it was the most romantic thing she’d ever witnessed.”

“Really?”

Good. I wasn’t just imagining our connection.

“So which re-homing facility did they take him to?”

“No idea.”

“Can I see my chart?”

“That’s against the rules, but you can speak with a doctor.”

An hour later I’ve had not one but two breakfasts and am speaking with a doctor. I have a concussion, and she’s suggesting I stay here another day, then convalesce at home on light duty.

“You’ll probably have trouble concentrating for a while.

Maybe dizziness and headaches. Post-concussive syndrome can last a few months to a year or longer if you don’t treat it properly.

You will need at least half an hour in a medtube every day for seven to ten days or until all the symptoms are gone. ”

“That male was certainly fond of you,” she says.

“Those peacekeepers had to drag him out of here to keep him away from you. He made me promise to tell you, and I quote, ‘Tell her how much I care about her. I fucked up and didn’t tell her. Tell her I’m coming back for her’.

” She spears me with a curious look. I guess she’s waiting for my response.

“I’d like to go home now.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed and fight the dizziness that’s so intense it makes me nauseous.

“I wouldn’t advise it.”

“I’ll be fine,” I say, even though I have yet to place my feet on the floor.

She tries to dissuade me from leaving for a few more minutes, but eventually gives up.

After she leaves, I take my time getting dressed in my filthy, ragged clothes, then pay a security guard just getting off duty to take me back to my hover-car at the River of No Return Wilderness.

After she drives away, I sit in the car and breathe.

“You can do this, Lumina. You are going to find Zoriss. Just keep taking deep breaths and fight through it.”

Which is exactly what I do.

I stop at the store on the way home to buy a top-of-the-line translator. I walk up and down the aisles to grab enough food and drinks to last a week. I have a moment where I lose my balance and have to hold onto a sturdy shelving unit. Eventually the dizziness passes, and I carry on.

The first time I feel alive and truly believe I’ll be able to find Zoriss is in my shower.

I have to wash my hair four times before it’s clean of pebbles, dirt, and grass.

There are scrapes and abrasions all over my body, but I assume they’ve been sprayed with antibiotics and decide not to worry about them.

I lie down in my in-home medtube, glad it has taken care of all my medical needs up until now. I’d be happy to never have to darken the doors of a hospital again. It takes less than ten minutes for the AI bot to remove my old translator and insert the new one.

Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I turn on my computer to Draalian speech and nod my head when it translates perfectly.

I research where the nearest Newcomer facilities are. The closest one by far is near Beautiful View, a large city five hours from here. I take a chance this is where Zoriss will be, grab a few changes of clothes, and start my journey.

Zoriss

“Who is the supreme official of this planet?” I ask as we make our way to the facility. They were kind enough to untie my wrists from behind my back and retie them in front of me. All of this was accomplished with several lasers pointed at me. There was no way for me to make an escape.

Now we’re driving through valleys nestled between mountains. I’ve seen few people, just grass, trees, and bovines.

“Planet President Farraday.”

“I’d like to speak with her.” I spear the captain in the front passenger seat with my most sincere look.

She has the audacity to stifle a smile. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“You promised you would provide all the comforts. It would comfort me to speak with her to plead my case.”

She takes a long breath as she appears deep in thought.

“I have no more access to President Faraday than I could flap my arms and fly to the moon. That’s way above my paygrade, Sir.

What I can do, though, is have the Directrix of the facility speak with you as soon as you’re settled into your dormitory. Would that be acceptable?”

“Does she have the authority to allow me to see Lumina?”

“I don’t know.”

Her eyes slide up and to the right. In my experience that indicates she’s telling a lie, although I don’t know if it’s the same for humans as Draalians. The look on her face, though, reveals how uncomfortable she is.

“You’re lying,” I say quietly, but loud enough for her to hear. She doesn’t deny it.

I close my eyes and pretend to sleep. I must be doing a good job of it because after a while the females begin to whisper.

“Whoever gets this one will be lucky.”

“Shh. That’s disrespectful. But . . . yeah.”

“He certainly seems to want the woman in the hospital bed.”

“Too bad for him that’s not going to happen. The captain ran a search; she’s not even on a list. He’ll be scooped up by some lucky girl long before she has time to apply . . . and that assumes she even has the money.”

“These reptilians were on the bottom of my list until a couple of hours ago. After seeing this one, they’ve moved to the top.”

“When he was whispering in her ear? That was the single most romantic thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Dreamy.”

“I’m a sentient being, you know,” I hiss as I open my eyes. “I have feelings, emotions. All females are not interchangeable. I’ve picked one already. Certainly exceptions can be made in cases like this.”

They all have the decency to look embarrassed and contrite.

“I beg your pardon, Sir,” the one sitting next to me says sincerely.

“We shouldn’t have spoken that way about you.

None of us can help you, though. If we broke the rules about how females can obtain males, all hell would break loose across the planet.

There are so many females and so few males.

Everyone has to at least believe the rules are fair. ”

“And what about me? Is it fair to me that I’m to be torn from my female?”

She shakes her head, her lips clamped closed

Several hours later, I notice more traffic, then more buildings, and soon we arrive at the facility. It’s a walled compound topped with spiked wire. I’m not sure whether it’s to keep the valuable males protected or to keep them from escaping.

The barbed-wire gates close as soon as our vehicle’s rear bumper clears the entrance. It appears there’s a welcoming committee. Three Earth females are standing in front of the impressive facility, alongside them are two Draalian males. Something about seeing males from my homeworld comforts me.

“Mr. Krine?” one of the females says as she steps forward and nods.

“ Captain Krine,” I correct.

“My apologies, Captain. I’m Dylan Winters, Directrix here. This is Aidan Cane, your house manager, and Pat Cooper, her assistant. We thought you might want to meet a few other Draals. This is Pfall and Laang. They’ve been here awhile and will help get you acclimated.