Trapped with the Alien Transporter (Ragrim Explorations #1)

Chapter 1

Ophelia hitched her bag a little higher and stared up at the destination screens above the window. The sight through the window below them was a far cry from what she remembered from her childhood; instead of the shining, fancy transports only available for carefully selected human women in the Lukrimian bridal program, she couldn’t spot even a single Lukrimian ship out there.

As a little girl, she’d dreamed of entering the program when she was of age, of going off-world straight to Lukrim and marrying two or more blue alien mates. That had been before the war.

Now there were a plethora of options on the landing pads visible in front of her and on the board above her. They ranged from a huge transport ship to take both passengers and goods to Itensas, the capital city of the Republic of Free Planets, any of the mixed-species worlds, or even on a pleasure cruise out in space, if you had the money. A human could view the rings of Saturn or the strange, cloud-covered surface of Venus for a price and still never leave their home system.

Again, if you had money. Which Ophelia most definitely did not. No, her destination was a straight shot from Earth to the moon she planned to live the rest of her life on. Accountants who avoided socialization at the cost of promotions didn’t make much money, and they absolutely did not get the kinds of jobs that let them book pleasure cruises.

There would be no adventures in space for Ophelia, despite the view screens everywhere that displayed images of real worlds, however fanciful the landscapes looked. And her ride would be a quickhop freighter, designed for speed and the ability to haul things over passenger comfort. That was the only thing that had made it affordable, and with her bank account being as tight as it was, she’d had to be happy with that.

Colorado Spaceport was laid out like a stylized sea urchin, with spikes that extended to the landing pads for the bigger ships and smaller extendable ramps that meant you could step directly from the terminal into the ship you were boarding. She’d never been inside of any spaceport before and likely wouldn’t be again after this, so she took her time looking around, especially at all the destinations on the board.

Itensas was a huge city-world, too loud and chaotic for someone like Ophelia. The ocean world of Madriim sounded nice in an abstract way, if she compared it to old pictures of the Caribbean and Bali. Twenty years of alien aid and science had done a lot to bring the blue back to the waters there, but they would never be as they once were.

She’d never been into history, for a very good reason. Humans had destroyed Earth. What was there to look back on? No, Ophelia preferred to look ahead. Far ahead, and that meant having a plan in place all the time and a place to look forward to.

She ignored the glances she got that raked up and down her body. At least she knew it wasn’t for her figure; no, most people looked askance at the old accordion-patterned clothing she was wearing.

Ophelia had first gotten into wearing the one-size-fits-all clothing that the Republic gave out on its emergency response ships because she’d found a few sets for cheap at the local trade- all. When she’d discovered the inherent comfort of clothing that was unrestrictive, soft, and durable, it had become the one thing she would wear. They also scrunched down into the most easily packable clothes she’d ever owned, meaning she hadn’t had to sacrifice anything from her wardrobe during this move.

She rubbed her fingers over the fan folds on her arm, trying to quell her nervousness.

The one world absent from the public board above her, at least today, was Ysenys-IV-G, Ophelia’s destination. She looked past the board and made her way towards the end of the short terminal and the meeting rooms there. The doors for all of them were green. It was a deliberate change from the blue doors that had been everywhere on anything to do with the bridal program, including the one way off Earth. Back then, blue meant freedom. It meant safety.

Now blue wasn’t quite a taboo color, but there were no Lukrimians on Earth outside of the Embassies, and if Ophelia were to see any now, it would be on Ysenys, where the Lukrimian-hybrid children from the bride program and resulting war had gone. If their mothers had had good relationships with their alien fathers, they had brought them. If they hadn’t, there were plenty of options open at that time on a fresh colony world, and a woman could make her own way. Just like Ophelia was now.

Ophelia pushed open the door labeled Eight in both English and Galactic Common, only to find the room already occupied.

“Sorry,” she said, avoiding the intense gaze of the gold-skinned alien male inside. “I must be in the wrong place.”

“Are you going to the human colony?”

The words followed her out the door and made her freeze.

The terminal behind her was busy, almost upsettingly so. Different kinds of aliens and a large number of humans filled the space, and with the unexpected interruption to her schedule, it suddenly became too much. She let the noise chase her back into the comparable quiet of the room.

“Yes,” she said reluctantly. “Do you know where I can find the private transports?”

The Geshallan in the room snorted. “These are them. Are you Ophelia Platt?”

Ophelia tried not to let the color drain from her face. “I ah– I requested a female captain.”

“That would be my sister Hasila,” he said. “She’s been detained off-world and requested I handle this in her place.”

Okay. Fuck. Okay.

Start with what you should say, say what you want to say, close with what you should say again. Ophelia closed her eyes and counted to ten. “Okay,” she said finally. “When can we leave?”

The sooner she got this over with, the better. Home to the spaceport, spaceport to the ship, ship to the port city New Gaia on Ysenys-IV-G, and then there would be someone to pick her up at the spaceport there and take her to her new office. She could handle that much mystery ahead of her.

She opened her eyes and caught the curious gaze of the alien in the room. The LED lights overhead caused every scale on his bald head to pick up its own little gleam, and she caught herself counting them, starting with the subtle stripes that ran back from the corners of his eyes.

Nope. Look at the wide mouth, look for any recognizable expression.

It quirked and she moved her gaze back up to his dark eyes.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked, looking at the bag on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Ophelia said, trying not to feel judged at the way his eyes caught on the patches. She’d wanted to bring something of Earth with her, and grandma had left her a patch collection from her own childhood traveling around the country. Ophelia had sewn them to her bag to remind herself of where she’d come from, and if all of her belongings fit inside it now that she was leaving, why shouldn’t she use it?

“Then now,” he said, surprising her.

“What, you don’t have to refuel or anything?” Ophelia asked. She’d expected to spend at least a little time in the room waiting for him, not the other way around. It would have given her time to center herself, to say a private little goodbye to Earth and take in the last few hours or however long she had on its surface.

“Already done,” he said. “Now, I know who you are, but you don’t know who I am.”

“Not Hasila, that’s for sure,” she said, thinking of the friendly gold face from her original transport captain’s profile page on the discount transports directory. Being mad that Hasila wasn’t here seemed petty, but Ophelia didn’t like surprises. She’d expected a female captain and read Hasila’s profile endlessly and prepared for that captain and any quirks that might pop up with her listed interests, not this stranger!

“My name is Hsinth,” he said. Ophelia’s hands itched with the need to pull out her datapad and read up on him. She wanted to know everything about this stranger and his likes and dislikes, everything she’d memorized about Hasila and now wasn’t getting . “You may notice my sister and I are both Geshallan.”

“I did notice that, yes,” Ophelia said. A fractional part of her relaxed. Geshallan. That was a box she could mentally put him in, the same as his sister. She’d read up on them when she’d selected Hasila as her transporter. Geshallans were hairless aliens, always yellow-hued, and they had the same number of arms as humans did, unlike the similarly gold-skinned Tremallins and their four arms. She didn’t know much about them personality-wise, but the few conversations she’d had with Hasila had been friendly enough.

“I’ve never been to Ysenys-IV-G before, but I hope to make your flight pleasant,” Hsinth said as he stood up. “Follow me and I’ll show you to the ship we’ll be hopping in.”

“Hopping?” Ophelia asked. “It’s not a straight flight? I know it always was before.”

“Not in my ship,” he said. “The interstellar tunnel between Lukrim and Earth was a curiosity that only worked because of a lack of large stars between the two systems that would have disrupted it. That’s not available for most routes, so we have to work around that. Larger ships have drives that can jump-curve around systems, but mine can’t, so we have to do multiple jumps between known systems. Like highways. I know you have those here.”

“We do,” Ophelia said. Hasila hadn’t mentioned her ship needing multiple jumps.

He pushed past her and out the conference room door, then back the way Ophelia had come. She relaxed a little; this was at least familiar to her.

At least this way, she wouldn’t be going through the standard bag-checks for passengers on commercial transports. That was good.

She shouldered her bag and its precious cargo again and set off after him, trying to keep up with the long strides of his legs.

“You’re a little old to be going off-world for the first time,” Hsinth said as he led her down through a maintenance door and a back way into the guts of the building.

Hasila had told her that most beings didn’t go this way unless they were working for transport companies and directly shipping items or had a reason to be down here. Ophelia had appreciated that Hasila had been willing to walk her through getting through the spaceport for the first time and then the route that the Geshallan woman preferred to take to get to her ship. She didn’t appreciate Hsinth.

Ophelia stiffened her spine. “Not all of us had the means to leave until the last few years,” she said as she met his gaze. “I’ve been perfectly happy here and didn’t see the need to leave. And I’ll caution you to keep the “old” comments to yourself.”

Hsinth’s hands shot up. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. Most of my clients tend to be a bit less astonished by everything around them, and if they are, they’re young.”

He ducked under a pipe in the hallway that was sized for the humans that kept the spaceport’s inner workings running.

Ophelia didn’t have to avoid it, and she tried to move past the petty thought that it would have been nice for him to knock himself out on the pipe.

They began to climb a set of stairs that led up and out at a long angle, and she knew he was taking her to one of the lifted landing pads that could support a small ship. That was okay, then. Same pad Hasila had been going to use. She must have transferred everything over to Hsinth.

Ophelia just had to mentally transition Hsinth into Hasila’s place in her plans.

And then they emerged into the sunlight that left her blinking.

There was a trash heap on the ship pad.

“What is that?” she asked weakly.

“My ship,” he said. “ Engsth . She’s nice, right?”

“It’s ah… a spaceship,” she admitted. It had engines, didn’t it? And it had to be sealed against leaks. Somewhere in that mess that decorated the hull. There was a hull under there, right?

This was not Hasila’s sleek, green-tinted, mirror-hulled ship that looked like it could get Ophelia anywhere she wanted in the galaxy, as fast as she wanted to go.

Hsinth’s eyes narrowed. “I know it’s not Hasila’s pretty new Armin transport, but this goes just as fast and it’s just as safe.”

“You call that safe?” Ophelia asked.

“I do,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Come on.”

He tapped something on his wristcomm and a hatch with a boarding ramp lowered from one side of the ship. She followed him up, only to be met by hallways that looked barely bigger than the ones they’d just come out of.

The inside of the ship was marginally better than the outside, but it was still small and cramped, and the winding passages around the inside didn’t look promising. Stacks of boxes loomed everywhere with labels in alien languages she could barely parse. Safety straps were clearly not a thing here, and she decided right then and there that she’d need to avoid being near those piles on any kind of rough landing or jumping, whatever that turned out to be like. Some of the boxes looked like they’d been here for years; did Hsinth even know what was in them?

She could only imagine what the guest quarters looked like.

And from what Hsinth had said, there were multiple jumps ahead of them on what was probably going to be a several-day journey.

Great.