Theron's Hope (Brides of Theron) (17 page)

“I told you it wasn’t going to hurt.”  Zane gave her a smug look of satisfaction. He proceeded to turn her head the opposite way to repeat the process. Just like the previous night he checked to see if the device was working and said in his own language, “Can you understand me?” 

Avery’s eyes lit up. “I sure can. Is that all that I have to do?”

Zane looked at
an astonished Avery in the eyes and said, “Next time, maybe you will believe me when I say it will not hurt.”

“Sorry for not being a good patient.” She saw that Avery looked embarrassed and her face began to turn red.

“Don’t worry little earthling. It is understandable that you would be frightened about anything you were not familiar with.” Zane said a bit amused at her reaction today.

With that all said and done, Zeb and Avery excused themselves.  As they walked out of the clinic, Zane asked Zeb, “Any word about that council meeting?”

Zeb stopped in the doorway and turned to Zane and said, “The meeting is at noon, tomorrow in conference room 2.  I will meet you there.”  Looking to Grace he added, “Good Luck!”

Now, it was just Grace and Zane.  It was a bit awkward being alone with him, especially with the events of last night weighing heavy on her.  It seemed like he was willing to let it go so she decided she would do so as well.  It never made anything easier when one would dwell in the past.  It was better to just look to the future, something she was completely willing to do.

Zane looked at her and asked, “Where would you like to go?  We will see Brylon tomorrow so we can ask him about charging your electric batteries then.  Gods willing, I am all yours for the day after I go and check on my patient which should take only a few moments.”  Zane prayed that the Gods would keep anyone from getting hurt today.  He really wanted to be able to stay with his new mate for the whole day take her to see as much of the ship as possible.

“Avery said something about a park on the ship and she also mentioned some kind of food that they got from the food court she called an alien pizza.  Do you think we could do that?”  Grace said with a shy smile.

Zane was happy to see her like this.  She already looked happier than she did this morning.  “That sounds like a plan.  While we are out, we can also prepare for the council meeting.  Now, let me go and check my patient and we can be on our way.”  She stayed glued to her spot while he left the room to check on his patient.  He was gone for about 5 minutes and just as promised he returned.

“What did you want to do first?  Did you want to go to the park or try to find the alien pizza?”  Zane chuckled as he said that last bit.  “By the way, do you think you could describe what a pizza looks like?  That way I might be able to figure out what Avery was talking about.  If I can’t, I might have to call Zeb and ask what they ordered last night.”

As they walked out the clinic Grace did something that she was even surprised about.  She reached for his hand weaving her fingers through his.  She just wanted to see how it would feel to hold his hand like couples did. He looked down at her with sincere approval not expecting this from her. When Grace noticed he was looking at her, she just looked into his eyes and smiled back, not saying a word.  They continued to walk down the hall until they reached the transportation tubes.  “Are we going to have to use the tubes to get to the park?” She asked trying to contain her excitement.

“Yes, we will.”  He entered the tube first and pulled Grace in front of him.  “Starlight Gardens” he announced and they were off.  Grace kept her eyes wide open and watched as the clear tube darted this way and that. She held on to him to keep herself from losing orientation.  It would be easy to succumb to vertigo in something that moved like this. About 5 seconds later she noticed that their speed was slowing.  When the tube came to a stop, they lingered there for a moment, her not willing to let him go so quickly.  He resumed holding her hand as he led her out of the tube and towards an archway. 

Grace was amazed at what she saw as she passed under the arch.  You could smell the rich soil under the grass and hear the birds singing in the trees.  The colors were amazing as well.  Flowers of all sizes and colors were mixed in with the grass and you could smell the sweet fragrance of their perfume in the air.  She heard the sound of water and started pulling Zane toward it.  Just next to her feet was a stream several feet wide and deep.  Swimming in it were beautiful fish with rainbow colored scales.  She looked to him for a name and he seemed to know what she wanted.  “That is the food you tried last night, fouson.”

“It is a beautiful fish.  Too bad it doesn’t taste as good as it looks when it is alive.”  Grace said shyly.

Zane brought her over to a bench near the stream, “Would you like to sit for a few minutes?  We can relax a bit if you want.”

As she sat on the bench she said, “This place is beautiful Zane.  Is this what Theron looks like?”

“Some of Theron still looks like this.  We had cities on our planet much like the one you lived in.  They had many tall buildings and transportation similar to your trains as far as the eye could see.  The Drylons came in and started bombing the cities, making them what they are now, wastelands.  The people that survived moved into the forests.  We made our homes among the trees.  The trees on our planet are so much larger than the ones on this ship.  These are babies compared to the ones we live among.”  She could tell that he was envisioning his planet just by the faraway look in his eyes.

“What made them stop attacking?”  She asked.

“They never really stopped.  I guess with the aid of our allies, we beat them back pretty hard in our last battle.  Now, they seem to be rebuilding their bases and troops.  We are still at war with them, but we have other ships that are assigned to dealing with the Drylons and protecting the planet.  Right now, Theron is pretty well fortified.  We have many ships stationed around the solar system as well as a large space station in orbit around the planet.  The only way they can attack now is to do it when we are far away from our home.  They just have not been lucky enough to find us while we are away.”

“How long has this war been going on?”  Gracie asked pulling a long piece of lavender colored grass that was growing near the bench and feeling its texture against the skin of her fingers.

“Our planet was always a peaceful planet.  We had all the natural resources that we needed to survive.  We could grow our own food and we still can.  You see, we trade with many civilizations in many galaxies as well as have many allies all over the universe.  Our biggest asset is the cavementon we mine on the adjacent planet in our solar system.  I believe the cavementon is what attracted the Drylons to our planet.  Ten years ago we started trading with the Drylons and it was a big mistake.  When the Drylon’s elected a new leader, Gatton, we saw aggression between the Drylons and many of our allies start to increase.  Under Gatton’s leadership, the Drylons broke peace treaties that had been in place for hundreds of years and started a war.  Together with our allies we continue to fight them and will continue to do so until the peace is restored to the universe.”

“You said that you fear that the people of your planet will go extinct if you do not find suitable mates.  What happened to your people?”

“The Drylons main focus has been to force us off our planet.  How better to do that, than make our civilization extinct.   They started focusing on capturing or killing our females and children.  Without the females, we cannot have babies.  Thus, this ends the circle of life.  We left two years ago on our current mission.  Now that we have found your planet, you and your fellow earth women may be Theron’s greatest hope for survival.”

“That is really a humbling notion.  I really hope that we can help you.  I can see that you and your warriors are a very proud race and if your fellow warriors are anything like you, honorable as well.”  They sat a few minutes contemplating this. “Not to change the subject, but I am a bit hungry now.  Do you think we could go and find that alien pizza?” She said to Zane.  His planet had been through hell the last few years.  She could identify with him.  Her planet had seen more war, death, and cruelty in the last 15 years than it had since the cold war.  It was terrorist that took her family away.

“Sure, follow me.”  Zane led her back to the transport tubes and they got in.  She placed her hands on his chest and waited for the tube to take off.  “Level 32”, he said to the personal transport system and just like that, they took off.  They reached the food court and he took her around to look among the vendors to see if she could recognize anything that resembled an “alien pizza”.  She described to him what a pizza on Earth was and instantly he figured out what would be the closest food resembling the description.  He took her to the vendor he suspected would have what she was looking for and asked the attendant, “Did commander Zeb order something from your stand last night?”

“Yessss, Dr. Zane,” was the reply from a weird creature.  His mouth resembled that of a snake with his long slithering tongue waving between his scaly lips. 

“Can you make me the same thing you made him?”  Zane asked him as the vendor nodded yes.  Then he glanced in Grace’s direction.  He noticed she was puzzled, “Is everything alright Gracie?”

“Yes, I am alright.  I know you mentioned that there are other races of traders on board.  Is he one of those?”  He looked kind of odd, reptilian to be specific. 

“Yes.  He was from a planet that used to have dense rainforests and ice on the poles similar to yours.  However, the Drylons came in and stripped it of all its natural resources, set up a base there, and now it is a virtual wasteland.  It is dry and desert like and the atmosphere has weakened so much that it can no longer support life independently.  We recently declared the planet a “dead planet”.  It has an unpronounceable name so we call it UV-49.  When the people of their planet could no longer survive the conditions there, most of them left to planets that were like the one they knew, and some went on to sell themselves as slaves to other passing ships.”

“Dr. Zzzzane.  Your food issssss ready.” The creature handed it over the counter to him. 

Zane asked the vendor, “Can we get some leppa juice as well?”

“Ssssure.”  The creature said as he handed two glasses out to Gracie.  She took the glasses from him reluctantly not knowing what she was dealing with. Dealing with odd looking aliens was new to her.  Zane brought the pizza to the nearest table.  It was not very crowded in the food court at this hour.  They only saw isolated groups of workers on the various tables around them. 

“Are you ready to address the council tomorrow?”  Zane asked as Grace was taking a bite of the pizza.  She had to agree with Avery, this was quite tasty.  Actually, she had not given much thought about the meeting with the council. She was grateful that she would still get the chance to meet with them even though her behavior was atrocious yesterday. 

"To tell you the truth, I really didn't think I would get the chance after the way I behaved yesterday.  I thought for sure that you would have changed your mind about letting me present my ideas at the meeting."  Gracie shook her head in disappointment, looking away.  She was really ashamed that she acted the way she did.

"Grace, what you have chosen to do with your wealth is important for the future of your people on board this ship.  I admire your generosity and fully support your idea.  These women are lucky to have you represent them.  I would still be very happy to accompany you if you want me to."  He said as he looked intently into her eyes.  Hoping she would still want him to go with her.

"Zane, I don't deserve a guy like you.  I am glad you are on my side.  I am really sorry about yesterday."