Alien Romance: The Alien's Bliss: A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance (38 page)

“I haven’t tried,” Emily replied. “I wasn’t sure if I should.”

“Try it,” Aria told her. “Your pelvis is all healed up now, and we used the rotational compensator to stop the wasting of your muscles. You’ll recover fast, so the sooner you get started, the better.”

Emily swung her legs over the side of the bed. They ached from long disuse, but they didn’t hurt when she set her feet on the floor. She hesitated to put her weight on them, though. She glanced toward the door. “Who was that man that just left? He said he was a medic with the border patrol that brought me in.”

“Do you mean Faruk?” Aria asked. “Yes, he’s the best we have. The medical board has been trying for years to get him to work here in the city, but he won’t give up the border patrol. He loves the mountains too much. You were lucky it was him that found you. He saved your life.”

Emily nodded. “I tried to thank him, but he wouldn’t hear it.”

Aria walked across the room and started organizing the shelves. “That’s just like him. He’s humble. He doesn’t think he’s got the expertise to work in the city, but he knows more than most of the doctors. He trains all the medics in the corps, and the men love him.”

“What city is this?” Emily asked.

Aria spun around and stared at her. Then she smiled. “I keep forgetting you don’t know anything. You’re in the Ursidrean capital city. It’s called Harbeiz. That’s Angondran for the number one. All the cities are named after numbers according to how far away they are from Harbeiz.”

Emily gazed toward the door. “It’s hard to believe there’s another planet outside that door.”

“There’s one more thing I better tell you before you go any further,” Aria went on. “Then I’ll take you out for a walk.”

“What’s that?” Emily asked.

“The Ursidrean cities are underground,” Aria replied. “The Ursidrean territory covers huge mountain ranges, and the Ursidreans live in caves underground—like bears.”

Emily stared at her. “Bears?”

Aria nodded, and a knowing smile crept over her face. “The Ursidreans are a lot like bears. If you remember that, it’s much easier to understand them.”

At that moment, a rowdy bunch of boys rushed into the room. They upset a rolling table with a pitcher of water on it. The water splashed all over Emily’s bedding. The boys yelled and punched and attacked each other until Aria pulled them apart. “How many times have I told you not to come into the infirmary? Don’t you have enough space to run around in the South Corridor?”

One big boy pointed to another, smaller one. “Rekti stole my catapult when I wasn’t looking and he broke it. Now I have to start all over and make a new firing mechanism.” To make his point, he pulled back his fist and slung it at the smaller boy. He would have punched him in the eye if Aria hadn’t dragged him away at the last second.

“I don’t care what Rekti did,” Aria snapped. “Don’t bring it into the infirmary. This is your last warning, Mirin. If I catch you or any other boys in here, I’ll report you to Donen, and you know what that means.”

At the mention of Donen, both boys froze and fell silent. They glared at each other, but all hostilities ceased in an instant. They had the same ruff of hair around their heads and necks and the same heavy ridge of brow over their eyes. Other than that, they were exactly like any other human boys.

“Now go back to the South Corridor,” Aria told them. “And Rekti, you keep your hands off your brother’s things. You wouldn’t like it if he stole your micro-magnifier and broke it, would you?”

Aria let them go. They stood opposite each other and glared.

“Are these....?” Emily asked. “Are these your children?”

Aria set her fist on her hip. “Yes, they are. I only wish I could get them to play with their friends instead of each other so I wouldn’t have to mop up the blood every day. They fight like cats and dogs.”

Mirin frowned at his mother. “What’s cats and dogs?”

“But he’s.....” Emily pointed to Mirin. “He’s only two years old. And this one is only....”

“Rekti and his twin brother are nine months old.” She shoved the boys toward the door. “Now off you go.” They disappeared. “Ursidrean cubs mature in five years. It’s a far cry from twenty like human children.”

Emily stared after them with wide eyes. “It’s amazing. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but it’s amazing.”

“Where are your other two…..cubs?” Emily asked.

“Mirin’s twin Vashet doesn’t spend much time with his brothers,” Aria replied. “He spends almost all of his time with his friends. And Rekti’s twin Avi has some unique issues. He’s in the Academy.”

“I’m sorry,” Emily told her. “I shouldn’t pry into your personal life.”

“Do you have children?” Aria asked.

“I don’t have any of my own,” Emily replied. “My husband had two teenage sons, and I helped raise them. But when my husband died, they went to live with their uncle, so I guess my job is done. I was trying to conceive when my husband died.”

Aria sat down on the bed again. “I’m sorry to be the one to bring up painful memories.”

“Please don’t apologize,” Emily exclaimed. “I’m just grateful not to be on the Romarie ship anymore. Anything is better than that, and I was casting around for a new purpose in life when they abducted me and my sisters and....”

“And your cousin,” Aria added. “You told me.”

“Is there any way I can find out about them?” Emily asked.

“The person to ask is Faruk,” Aria replied. “His unit patrols the Lycaon border. If anyone can find out, he can.”

1. Chapter 2
   

Emily shuffled down a long corridor with her hospital robe trailing. Every step took enormous effort, but she’d traveled beyond the infirmary into the residential part of the underground Ursidrean city. She squinted up at the lights above her head. “How do you generate electricity?”

“The mountains contain a unique combination of metals and crystalline structures that set up a flow of electrons through the rock matrix,” Aria told her. “They channel energy from the atmosphere into the mountains, and we harvest it with electromagnetic coils buried in these caves. That’s why the power only works during the day. The rest of the time we’re in darkness, but that doesn’t bother the Ursidreans. We spend the time in our homes with our families, and we use our other senses like hearing and touch and smell.”

Emily shook her head. “That’s fascinating. You have such an advanced civilization, and yet it’s so simple. I’m impressed.”

Aria pointed up at the lights. “Those aren’t electric lights, though. They’re light tubes that conduct light into the city from the outside.”

Emily stared up at them. “They’re so bright. I would never have guessed.”

Aria strolled down the corridor at her side. “The other Angondrans think the Ursidreans are brutish and stupid, but we have the most advanced technology on the planet. None of the other factions have our technology. I don’t think they want it. I know the Lycaon don’t even have electricity. They live in huts made out of sticks in the forest.”

Emily took another step. “I hope my sisters are okay.”

“I’m sure they are.” Aria waved toward a door. “Step in here.”

“What is this place?” Emily asked.

“This is my house.” Aria held the door open, and Emily stepped into a fresh, bright living room with floor to ceiling windows looking down on a gigantic cavern. A light as bright as day shone down from above and lit up the floor far below teeming with people moving in all directions. Emily peered toward the light. “Is that a light tube, too?”

Aria didn’t even look. “It’s the same technology as the light tubes, but much bigger. It’s a shaft cut in the rock and lined with reflective stone. It conducts the light down into the Main Bay.”

Emily studied the tiny figures below her. They followed walkways and paths through the cavern, in and out of doors into other chambers, and between trickling fountains and waterways set between plantings of trees and shrubs. “This is amazing. I still can’t believe all of this is underground.”

“The Ursidreans might be like bears in a lot of ways,” Aria replied. “But they’re still people. All the Angondrans belong to the same species, and they all basically look and act the same. They aren’t that much different from humans. They started on the planet’s surface, so the Ursidreans couldn’t give up light and trees and water completely when they moved underground. So they found ways to bring it with them.”

“It’s beautiful,” Emily exclaimed. “It looks like a mountain dell.”

“Have a seat,” Aria told her. “You must be starving. You haven’t eaten actual food in six months.”

Emily turned her back to the cavern. Aria prepared some kind of fruit at a counter across the room. She set a plate of colorful slices on a table, and Emily sat down across from her. “I am starving, but it isn’t because I’ve been asleep for six months. That walk I just took is the hardest exercise I’ve had in my life. I could go back to sleep right now.”

Aria leaned back in her chair and watched Emily eat. “You’re weak, but the compensator will make you recover a lot faster than if you hadn’t had it. You need to work your muscles, and you’ll be back to normal soon.”

“Will you show me around the rest of the city?” Emily asked.

“I’ll do as much as I can,” Aria replied. “But I’m pretty busy with the boys right now. I’ll ask Donen to assign someone to show you around and get you settled in.”

“Who’s Donen?” Emily asked.

“He’s my mate, and he’s Alpha of the Ursidrean faction.” Before she finished speaking, the door opened, and a man even bigger than Faruk entered. He glanced at the two women and sat down at the table with them. “Here he is. This is Donen.” Aria gasped. “I just realized I don’t know your name.”

Emily smiled. “It’s Emily Allen. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Donen nodded. “The pleasure is all mine. We’ve all been waiting for you to come out of your coma. The whole city is talking about you.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “They are?”

Donen took a slice of the fruit. “It isn’t every day someone falls into our laps from space, let alone from a Romarie transport. I hope you didn’t have too rough a time with them.”

Emily ate one last piece of the fruit and sat back in her chair. “Not as rough as some of the other women. I got lucky. There were so many of other women on the ship the Romarie couldn’t harass all of us. They ignored me right up until we crashed.”

“You did get lucky,” Aria told her.

“You don’t have to worry about the Romarie anymore,” Donen told her. “They don’t come to this planet, and you won’t be going back into space. You’ll never see a Romarie again as long as you live.”

“Why won’t I be going back into space?” Emily asked. “Isn’t there any way I can go back to Earth?”

Aria exchanged glances with Donen, who shook his head. “We don’t have space flight capability. None of the Angondran factions do. I’m sorry, but you’re stuck here.”

Emily stared down at her hands.

“I’m sorry,” Aria murmured. “I wish there was something we could do, but the rest of us are stuck here, too. Some of the women take a long time to get over the grief of never seeing their families and their homes again. Most of us who have been here a while have built new lives here, like me. Life goes on, and you get new families and new homes.”

Emily shook her bangs out of her eyes. “Never mind, I have more important things to worry about right now. If I’m stuck here, that means my sisters and my cousin are here, too.”

Aria jumped up. “That’s right. Donen, Emily wants to find her sisters and her cousin. They were on the Romarie ship with her, so they must be with the Lycaon. I suggested we ask Faruk to contact them along the border to find out where they are and if they’re okay.”

Donen frowned. “You know the border patrol doesn’t contact the Lycaon over the border. That’s the most dangerous thing they could do. You should know better than to suggest it.”

“Couldn’t you make an exception this once?” Aria waved toward Emily. “This woman just lost everything, and the three relatives she still has are somewhere on this planet. The least we can do is find out where they are. She won’t be comfortable here until she knows they’re safe.”

“If they’re with the Lycaon,” Donen replied, “they are safe. The Lycaon take good care of strangers. All Angondrans do.”

Aria walked over next to his chair and laid her hand on his shoulder. She dropped her voice to a soft murmur. “Won’t you do it just this once? Do it for me. Don’t you remember how hard it was for me and my friends when we first landed here? Imagine how I would have felt if I had sisters and cousins lost somewhere on the planet. You would have done anything to find them for me, wouldn’t you?”

Donen stared down at the tabletop. Then he folded his arms on the table and let his head drop onto them. He groaned. “You don’t understand. This has been the single worst day of my life.”

Aria’s eyes popped open. “What’s the matter?”

“Okay, it’s the second worst day of my life,” Donen replied. “No wait. It’s the third worst day of my life.”

Aria glanced at Emily, but neither could say anything.

“The worst day of my life,” Donen went on, “was when that trigger-happy idiot Bianti shot that Felsite woman and children along our northern border. I still can’t believe he and the other patrollers would make a mistake like that after all the training they've gotten.”

Aria turned to Emily. “Donen’s uncle made a terrible mistake in the woods along our border with the Felsite faction. He saw a group of figures moving through the trees, and he thought they were commandos coming to invade our territory.”

“He didn’t even stop to check first,” Donen added. “He didn’t check where he was in relation to the border. He thought they were on our side of the border, when in fact they were well within their own territory, and it was our patrol that invaded
their
land.”

Aria clucked her tongue and petted his furry head.

“The second worst day of my life,” Donen went on, “was when Renier drove us away from the Felsite city.”

“Renier is Alpha of the Felsite faction,” Aria told Emily. “Donen attacked his city, but the attack failed. The Felsite defended their territory, and the Ursidreans had to withdraw.”