Alien Barbarian’s Little Human

2. Micah

CHAPTER 2

MICAH

M y friends told me not to join the Fleet. Now I’m starting to think they were right.

One of the things behind me roars. I don’t know the sapient species. These things aren’t known members of the Coalition or the Alliance. They’re not even part of the League. This is obviously an uncontacted species.

I suppose it’s fitting for an anthropologist like myself to spend her last moments pondering the origins of the monsters about to devour her. I don’t dare slow down enough to look back, but I know they’re getting closer, because they're getting louder.

I thought maybe if I got off the open sand, and into the canyons ahead, I might have a chance. But now I know, I’ll never make it. When I made it to the escape pod, I thought I at least had a chance to survive.

But the planet is even more dangerous than the exploding ship I jettisoned from. The land burns, there’s no water for miles, and the natives are decidedly hostile.

I enter the cool shadow of the canyons. It looks like there are many branching paths. I might survive, after all. I cut around a corner, hoping to lose them…

Only to run right into a sheer wall fifty feet high. My palms slap against the smooth stone, then push back. Spinning around, I prepare to run anew but one of the monstrosities blocks my path.

Its face sort of resembles a Vakutan, but more bestial. Primitive. Those sharp teeth are definitely for eating meat. Its thick limbs support a body the size of an Earth cow.

The spear it wields looks crude, but I’m certain of its lethality. The other two of its party join it, flanking it to either side.

I try the universal greeting. Not likely they’ve heard it, but you never know.

“Ba weep, gra na weep, ninni bon.”

The things widen their eyes, and look shocked. They recognized the phrase! But just when i think I’m safe, their eyes become angry slits and their teeth gnash like rabid animals. My universal greeting has made them very angry for some reason.

The one in the middle, the one who initially cornered me, raises its spear up over its head. The tip is pointed right at my heart. I can’t watch my own impending death. I close my eyes, whispering an apology to my friends. She was right. I never should have joined the fleet.

One of the monsters bellows, but it doesn’t sound like rage. My eyes snap open and I see that the spear-wielding creature now has a piece of wood sticking out of its chest. Ir reaches up with a clawed hand as if to pull the stick out, its head suddenly snaps back.

The creature stumbles a few feet away while the other two look on in shock. Its head lolls up, and then lowers back down. My mouth flies open when I see a recognizable arrowhead sticking out of the gory red hole where its eye used to be.

The thing pitches over in the dirt, raising a cloud of dust. The other two howl and charge back the way they came. I hear more of their snarls and growls.

Then something roars, like a lion. I can feel it in my gut, it’s so loud, like a bass drum. It sounds like the monsters have run into something else. Something bigger than them.

I look down at the monster’s discarded spear, laying next to its still twitching hand. Crouching down, I pick up the spear, wondering if I’ll even be able to wield it. It’s damn heavy, but I hold it crosswise in front of me and then thrust the tip toward the deep shadows.

One of the monsters screams in agony. Something akin to a shout of triumph echoes through the canyons. I hear rapidly retreating footsteps, and then a low, thrumming hum followed by a scream and a heavy thud.

Then, silence.

Footsteps approach. I hold the spear out in front of me, shaking like a leaf in the wind. I can barely even keep the tip pointed upward. Something moves out of the shadows, something huge.

A seven-foot humanoid steps out into a shaft of golden sunlight. His dun-hued flesh covers a rippling musculature which would be the envy of any top tier athlete. I think he’s naked for a moment, but a leather loincloth covers him from waist to mid thigh. Ram like horns curl back on his massive head.

Then my gaze rises up to his eyes. Deep purple eyes, like the furthest reaches of space.

My gaze locks onto his. Everything falls away except for his eyes. It’s as if they swallow me. Images start flashing through my mind, strange alien faces, a tree bigger than a Novarian skyscraper, and many of the monsters who chased me down here, most of them dead.

I see gorgeous sunsets, feel the heat of desert winds, and taste the flesh of strange yet familiar prey. Overlaying it all, a pervading sadness which makes me want to weep.

Then it’s over, and I’m staring into the face of a seven foot humanoid alien. A very handsome alien. His square jaw and broad features are symmetrical and appealing. If he were a human, I would call him hyper masculine. I have no idea if this is just what his people look like, though.

An entire race of hunky alien men sounds too good to be true. I should be worried this stranger is going to hurt me, but there’s something in his eyes that tells me he’d never do any such thing.

Irrational and crazy. I force my skepticism back to the surface and hold the spear forth with more aggression.

He holds both his hands out in front of him, palms facing me.

“Ba weep, gra na weep, ninni bon.”

My mouth falls open. He knows the universal greeting. But then again, so did the other guys, and they wanted to stick me with pointy objects.

“Do you speak Galactic Standard?” I ask, speaking slowly.

He tilts his horned head to the side. Then his hand drops to his side, quite close to a sheathed knife the size of my forearm. I jump back against the wall, shoving the spear out in front of me.

The alien pauses. His violet gaze travels to the knife at his side. He pointedly moves the pouch on his belt to the other side, sliding it along the leather strap, before opening it.

The alien removes a pale crystal about the size of an arrowhead and holds it in his palm. It’s strange, yet familiar. I think I saw something similar during the weird hallucination I suffered when I first looked into his eyes.

He takes the crystal in thumb and forefinger, and thrusts it toward my face. I scream and attack with the spear. Without even breathing hard, he slaps the spear right out of my hands. It clatters on the hard packed dirt ten feet away, leaving me defenseless.

“Don’t you dare touch me!”

A look passes through his eyes, and then he reaches for me. I strike out with my fists with a flurry of wild, uncontrolled blows. It’s like hitting stone. He manhandles me into his grasp with little effort.

I scream as he pushes the crystal into my ear canal. Oh god, he’s trying to bore my brains out. He only saved me so he could kill me himself. That hallucination must have been some kind of telepathic attack to soften me up for the killing blow.

I squirm but can’t break free. With no other recourse, I bite him on the ear.

He cries out in pain--I’ve found a vulnerable spot, it seems--and drops me. HIs hand claps to the side of his head and he looks…betrayed?

“Why in the name of the Elders did you do that?” he sputters.

My eyes widen.

“You speak English? Not even Galactic Standard, but English? How?”

He scowls at me and touches his ear, then checks his fingers. I guess he’s looking to see if he’s bleeding. Seeing nothing, he returns his gaze to me.

“The Loq crystal helps us understand each other, even if we speak different languages. To me, it is as if you are speaking Drokan.”

“Speaking what, now? I’ve traveled over half the galaxy, and I’ve never even heard of one of your species. Are you with the League of Non Aligned Races?”

“Planet? What’s a planet?”

I tilt my head to the side.

“Are you shitting me right now?”

He sh akes his head.

“No, I am not being deliberately obtuse. I do not know this concept. It does not translate.”

“Oh shit.”

I lean against the wall and shake my head.

“Uncontacted. We crashed on an Unconcacted world. I’m violating so many regulations just standing here, let alone speaking with you.”

He cocks an eyebrow under his horn.

“What regulations?”

I go off on a nervous rant, unable to stop the words spilling from my throat.

“Oh, only about a million. Good grief, I’m influencing your culture. Because of me your people may never reach your full potential.”

I gasp and cover my mouth and nose.

“I haven’t had any vaccinations to be on this planet! I’m going to get War of the Worlds’d!”

“Please, be calm, Miss…you are a female, yes?”

“Um, what has that got to do with anything?” I sputter. “I’m still going to be dead? Oh god, I think my nose is filling up with mucous as we speak.”

I put a finger to my neck.

“My pulse is racing, I probably have an infection in my adrenal glands. This is it. No wonder I had that hallucination when we met. I’ve clearly got a brain amoeba! I think I can feel it munching away at my cerebral cortex. Just do me a favor and kill me quick. I’d rather not suffer.”

“Please, be calm. I do not think you are ill,” he replies in a deep, resonant voice. No woman in history has ever calmed down because some random man vasked us to. But for some reason, I do feel calmer. Something inside of me really wants to trust this man.

Which, of course, sets off a whole new set of alarms.

“How would you know? Are you a doctor or something?”

“No, I am not a Learned Scholar,” he says. I guess doctor doesn’t quite translate. “However, I’ve had training in Medicine, and you show no signs of any illness I have ever heard of. The desert is not a place where the Unseen can thrive.”

“The unseen?”

He holds his finger and thumb a brief span apart.

“Tiny plants and animals, if you will, that exist in such a state as to be invisible to us. They can sometimes enter our bodies and breed out of control, which leads to side effects like illness.”

I decide I have to revise my opinion of his culture. He looks like a caveman, but he has knowledge of concepts like microorganisms. Not to mention that amazing crystal…wait, where did the crystal go?

I reach up and stick a finger in my ear.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to dig this thing out! It’s probably covered in germs.”

“What thing? Did you get a desert earwig?”

I gasp.

“Those are a thing? Oh god, I’m going to die on this planet.”

“Not if I can help it.” His eyes widen. “Wait, are you trying to dig out the crystal?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I have good news, the crystal is no longer in your ear.”

“Oh, it’s not?” I sigh heavily. “That’s a relief.”

“Because it has already worked its way into your brain.”

“My…brain?”

I slap my hands on either side of my head.

“I’m a dead woman. Dead.”