Starport: Zeta Prime (Alt) (3 page)

Faron
instructed his
men to keep them there, without harming them, and then raced back
into the trees to find the female.

Jillian
carried on
sprinting until her knees gave way. By this point, she was deep
into the woods. The spiky, scarlet trees of planet Zeta Prime
surrounded her on all sides. Leaning against one of their twisted
cord-like trunks, she sucked in air as quietly as her desperation
for oxygen would allow, and tilted her head to listen. The long,
elegant tendrils hanging from the branches hushed in the breeze of
the cool night, but their swaying was the only sound Jillian heard,
and her heart rate finally started to slow–confident that they
hadn’t been able to follow her out here.

Out
here. All alone.
In the dark, red woods of a planet she had called home for just a
year. Jillian moved forward into the thicket, much more tentatively
than she entered it. Cautious now, she thought of the natives that
inhabited the strange-colored wilderness. Since arriving from
Earth, she had come across Zeta Prime natives just a couple of
times, but that had been at a distance, whilst she had plenty of
other humans around her. They had sleek, feline qualities–ears
small, slightly pointed and high on either side of their heads, and
large, almond-shaped eyes that glowed amber.

They generally stayed clear of the colonies of humans,
keeping to their own areas and their primitive lives. However,
there had been talk of a few who had been opposed to the permanent
visitors to th
eir planet, and
confronted Jillian’s people. They were strong–all muscle and lithe
sinew, and those that had attacked had been vicious and brutal in
doing so. She pushed the memory of the horror stories to the back
of her mind.

Not entirely s
ure
where she was headed, she supposed she ought to search around for
somewhere to stop for the night, she might as well attempt some
rest before trying to figure out her next plan of action. On the
lookout for a tree large enough to provide shelter, she stopped
abruptly at an unfamiliar sound. The whispers of the tree tendrils
were rhythmic and soft–the noise that had just alerted her was much
sharper, like a tree branch snapping.

She held her breath nervously, worried about what may be
out there and fervently
hoping it was an animal or one of the peculiar green winged
bird-like creatures indigenous to the world. Without further
warning, a tall, muscular native sprang into her path. He landed
gently on the balls of his feet and stood slowly, unfurling his
body to reveal rippling muscles beneath velvet brown skin. He was
at least three feet taller than Jillian and his thighs were as
thick as one of the trunks of the trees he stood in the midst
of.

He stared at her for a moment, his huge eyes shining a
spectrum of yellow and orange, and in that
instant, she kicked off with her back foot and
attempted to flee. He pounced before she landed one step, and with
deft movements, he knotted a rough material around her wrists,
binding her hands together tightly. As soon as she was captured,
Jillian knew that a struggle would be pointless, he had so much
power–all she could do was accept her fate for now. Although inside
she was screaming in terror, she refused to show this creature her
fear.

The native
stood with
his back to her then looped her arms over his neck and she was
lifted from the ground. Lifting her ankles, he wrapped her slender
legs around his waist, tying her ankles in front of him with the
same rope-like material and just as tightly as her hands. She was
completely unable to move, bound now to her captor like a koala
bear. She screwed her eyes up as he jumped, scaling the tree with
ease. Climbing nearly to the top, he then leapt onto one of the
hanging tendrils, swinging gracefully and latching onto one on the
next tree. The movements were smooth and should have felt quite
exhilarating to her, almost like flying–if it weren’t for a cold,
debilitating dread pulsing through her. She had no idea what to
expect from this–no way of assuming a possible outcome. She spoke
the language–it was a requirement of all colonists, and had some
study on the natives before moving from Earth, so she knew that the
natives had little to no technologies and very basic lifestyles,
but she had also learnt of their strength and agility, and thusly
their potential danger. Without meaning to but unable to help it,
she began to reflect on her life. Realistically she doubted whether
she would survive this experience and the morose thought
highlighted every past happiness and regret.

She had felt certain that
Zeta Prime would hold a positive future for her. After
moving quickly through military ranks in the army on Earth, she had
been headhunted for a private security firm shortly after making
lieutenant. The excitement of a new job had lured her in, and she’d
accepted the job offer with a firm whose main contractor employed
security for star port construction on many other worlds. Jillian
had been sure that this would be a great new Chapter for her–the
money was good, the work steady. She nearly laughed at reminiscing
over her romantic notions of finding a partner, settling down. Now
she was soaring through trees, a prisoner for the second time that
day, possibly to provide food for a bunch of hostile inhabitants on
a planet she was not welcome on.

Ricocheting off of the bony spine of the native as he
glided through the trees, the pain from her bound limbs started to
burn and
brought her mind
back to the present. They must have been travelling for nearly an
hour and her need to be able to stretch out was almost unbearable.
She had no clue as to where they were. It was too dark to see
anything, and she had no concept of whether they had been
travelling North or South. There was no way even advanced tracking
technology could find her out here.

Chapter
Three

Suddenly, she felt
the sensation of descent as they made their way toward the
ground at alarming speed. He landed low, knees bent and hands on
the floor as her body crushed uncomfortably against his back for
the last time. He whipped off the ties holding her to him and she
crumpled to the dusty floor once she was released–her legs cramped
and knotted from being in such an awkward position for so long.
Despite being too weak to do anything more than lie helplessly in
the dirt, she looked him right in the eye, maintaining her
determination to show no weaknesses. Her look turned to surprise as
the male ran his silken hands over her sore legs and penetrated the
aching muscles, massaging them to delicious relief.

He looked at her intently as he probed her with his healing
long fingers. Flecks of green sparked in his
gian
t irises as he absorbed
her coiled raven hair and delicate curved nose, but no emotion
showed on his face. He knew instinctively when the feeling had
returned to her limbs, and as he stretched up from his crouched
stance, he pulled her to her feet. Those helpful hands now on her
elbow–pinning her to the spot.

Jillian
tore her eyes
from him to take in her surroundings. The place was bizarre–like a
photo of a medieval village she had once seen at school when she
was still on Earth–many, many centuries before the migration of
humans to other planets or even space travel. Crude wooden poles
with old-fashioned flames atop of them spread orbs of warm light
onto the space. There was a smattering of small, hut-like
dwellings, sporadically dotted around in the small clearing. The
light made the red dirt look as if the floor were molten lava. The
whole scene was pre-historic and foreign to her.

She was led to the nearest hut. It was made from lumpy
rocks and crumbling red mud
–a
far cry from the pristine, smooth chrome of her usual living
quarters. The alien led her inside and she was pleasantly surprised
at its coziness. It smelt slightly earthy, the floor being
compacted dirt, but was neat and well kept.

The room was a circular shape with a rectangle
door and a few piles of fur lying on
the ground. In the middle, a small fire lit up the hut with a warm
flicker, smoke twisting up to the hole in the roof that fashioned
as a chimney. The warmth washed over her and she suddenly felt
tired, drained from her exhausting day. He picked up her wrist and
attached it to a cuff on a length of chain which was attached to
the wall. Her wrist was limp as he lifted it, all spark gone from
her–she was spent. The cuff was not tight and the chain was long,
allowing her relatively wide freedom of movement.

For the first time, her captor opened his mouth to
communicate with her. The language seemed to match the physique of
t
he creatures. Rounded tones
and high-pitched vowel sounds flowed from his lips.

“
You will come to no harm here, with us. We just need to be
cautious, for now,” he said, referring to the chains.

Jillian
hadn’t spoken
or heard the Zeta Prime language for a long time—not since she’d
studied the language before leaving Earth—but she had been a good
student, and remembered much of what she’d learnt. She looked at
those eyes again, so huge and colorful, but she wasn’t sure whether
she could trust him, despite his assurances. He had been kind so
far, but being uncertain as to why she’d been brought here, she
decided not to let on that she understood his words. This way, she
thought she may be able to secretly glean honest
information.

Faron
waited
patiently for her to respond. He knew she would understand his
language. Faron and his tribe were watchers, and they had seen many
of her kind speak the native tongue when they first arrived. Some
of the new arrivals had practiced conversation with another tribe,
which he and his men had found amusing at first. In exchange, they
had also taught that tribe some of their language–odd, pointy
sounds. Purely through this monitoring, he had learnt that all the
visitors on his planet had been taught how to communicate with
them, and he was perturbed by her silence.

He was
confused by her ways, not getting why she was not grateful for
being rescued and started to verge on irritated. Deciding that
maybe she needed to rest, he slunk out of the hut to give her some
time.

Jillian
dropped to
the floor, sitting on one of the fur piles which proved gloriously
soft on her bruised body. She could not believe the day she had
just had. Moving to Zeta Prime was going to be the turning point in
her life, the time when she’d finally settle. Being settled had
always been her long term goal. Having grown up in various foster
homes as a child, all she’d ever dreamed was for stability,
security and stillness. She had truly believed that she was moving
close to her dream and now look at her. She was a fugitive,
believed to be a criminal amongst her own people and a prisoner to
an alien species.

Leaning over,
Jillian
could see the clearing through the open doorway. Although they were
vague shadows, she saw movements from inside a couple of the other
huts–shadows moving across the walls. The way the aliens moved was
really incredible to watch, it was clear to her now why the humans
had nicknamed them ‘Cat Men.’ They stalked rather than moved,
stealthy and liquid. In the furthest corner from her dwelling, she
saw a hut that was larger than all the others.

Her eyelids grew heavy as her body relaxed, she was
comfortable at least. As she stared trance-like into the hypnotic
flames, her imposing
captor’s
unusual face appeared in her mind’s eye. It was sort of, majestic
in a way–like a lion. Strong and captivating.

Across the wind, that unique language floated. She could
not make out the words, but could hear the urgency of many natives
talking all at
once. Whatever
the topic, it sounded like an important one, and she wondered if
they may have been arguing about her presence.

In the communal hut
,
Faron consulted with some of the others in the tribe. Some of the
men were in an uproar at the new arrival.

“
How could you bring her
here?”

“
What if they followed
you?”

“
Will
they attack our
homes?”

Faron
stood at the
head of a carved wooden table and the males stopped talking as
their leader raised his arms.

“
There is no way that I was followed. We have watched these
invaders for many years and I have become familiar with some of
their ways. This woman was in trouble–of that I am certain. I am
also certain that she is of good heart. I’ve seen it with my own
eyes. Their weapons would have taken her life if we hadn’t
intervened.”

“
So
, why have you
chained her in the prison hut? Is she a threat?” One of the clan
members demanded.

“
I have chained her so she doesn’t flee. She is not familiar
with us and may be scared. I’ve seen how instinctive she is. Her
escaping without her knowing us may mean that she leads them here,
yes, though that’s not my greatest fear. The chances are, if she
runs, she will come across the many dangers in our wilderness and
not survive.” He spoke authoritatively.

The men appeared appeased and trusted
Faron’s words. He had chosen to omit the fact
that he found her strangely beautiful. The delightful way her body
curved. Her petite stature. He did not want to disclose that he had
a desire to learn about her, to be close to her unusual scent. All
this, he kept to himself for the time being.