Maru's Surrender Read online

  Maru’s Surrender

  by

  Alyssa Hope

  Text copyright 2017

  Alyssa Hope

  All Rights Reserved

  Is it necessary to say that any resemblance between aliens (blue or otherwise) and any living people (real or otherwise) is purely coincidental?

  All beings engaged in sexual acts are over the legal age of consent in their own particular universes.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1.

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3.

  Chapter 4.

  Chapter 5.

  Chapter 6.

  Chapter 7.

  Chapter 1.

  The talk round the table was the usual mix of tall tales, insults, and speculation about future missions. Inevitably it turned, as it always did, to finding the true loves of a triad.

  ‘No way! I’ve seen too many of you fall victim to the emotional meteor-wreck of triads. Even Atu, that mighty warrior, and where is he now? Back home taking care of a hundred children, all of them other peoples.’

  ‘I think there’s only sixty, Maru, and I’ve heard that he and his triad are all very happy, and all bearing, so they’ll have three of their own soon as well.’

  ‘That just proves my point. His life is over! That isn’t what I signed up for, a lifetime of chasing small children around …’

  ‘But you were able to nurse Tari’s beloveds when we rescued them, Maru, so you must already have a triad of your own somewhere not too far away. That first stage of morphing …’

  ‘Nonsense. It was only because Tari is my friend, and I was helping him out. And look what happened to him! Another one gone back to our home planet to be a nurse maid, instead of being out here in the stars with us having adventures!’

  Maru fully intended to have many adventures and promotions, and an illustrious career, followed by finding a pair of beautiful triad partners who would look elegant sweeping into society events at his side. He thought it was a good plan.

  Nevi laughed at him. ‘No offence, my friend, but to find my two triad lovers and be rolling around in bed with them instead of sitting here looking at you across this table, that would be a better adventure …’

  They all laughed, including Maru.

  The call over the intercom brought them to their feet.

  “Nevi, Maru, bring your teams to Medical right away.”

  The eight of them assembled in Medical, and stared at Karo, the Chief Medical Officer, and his staff. They all looked baffled, and then the Captain and Second Officer Kaji joined them.

  “Do you all remember that slave ship that we took out of commission not too long ago, in that joint operation with the ship from the earth humans? There was an escape pod missing, and we’ve since been able to track it, and apparently just in time. It landed on a planet with no atmosphere, and the life support within the pod seems to be failing. We’ve locked onto the two beings within the pod and are transporting them directly here, but we have no idea who or what they are, other than they seem to be barely alive. That could be an illusion, though. Be prepared for anything.”

  He touched his comm. “Transport now.”

  What appeared was almost beyond belief, and maybe it would have been better if it had been an illusion. Maru couldn’t sort out the bony tangle of arms and legs, two different colors, two beings hanging onto each other, locked together as one even as they sank into death.

  Then he was swamped by the emotions of meeting his triad, nearly knocked off his feet by the sensations. Surely these two half-dead things couldn’t be his predestined lovers? That wasn’t possible!

  “No …”

  The two naked creatures gulped air, and seemed astonished that they were still alive. They touched each other cautiously, and then held on tighter, rocking back and forth, apparently oblivious to the world around them.

  Maru backed up until he hit the wall, and stared in revulsion. These two were only skeletons covered with skin, and that skin was covered in scars both old and new. These were not his beloveds, they couldn’t be. His beloveds, if he ever found them, would be beautiful.

  Karo glared at Maru and moved forward to offer comfort to the two, but both of the poor abused creatures managed to find just enough energy to scuttle away from him on the floor. As Maru sorted out the body parts he realized that one was of their own people, of the muddy purple-blue color that indicated extremely poor health, and the other appeared to be an earth human, with light tan skin between the many injuries, and odd light brown hair on top of his head.

  Karo spoke gently to them, trying to sooth them and offering the nutrition drink that gave energy and life. He didn’t even bother with the mindtalk, as that would need too much focus from them.

  “It’s alright, you’re with friends now, and you’re safe. You’re going to be alright. Here, please, have some of this to drink, it’s good for you, it’ll help you to build strength …”

  Need seemed to overcome fear, and a blue arm reached out to take one of the containers. A thin blue arm that was covered with barely healing wounds. Maru gagged in horror and disgust, shocked beyond belief that these two scrawny naked beings could even be alive, let alone be his triad lovers.

  The two creatures shared the one drink, and they seemed to be spending more time offering it to each other than drinking themselves. Karo tried to give them another bottle so they could each have one, but they didn’t take it or even make eye contact with him. Their whole world seemed to consist of each other.

  The Captain looked at the two, then at Maru and shook his head in disgust.

  ‘Nevi, thank you, you and you team can leave. And Maru’s team, but Maru, I think you had better stay.’

  As the others turned to leave Medical, Oki suddenly looked up at them. ‘Let’s keep this to ourselves. No-one needs to know we’ve rescued anyone.’

  ‘And Kaji, lock onto that escape pod, get it up here. I want it in the smaller transport bay, but quietly, and under wraps. If anyone asks, there was no-one in it. But I want to know if anyone asks.’

  Kaji nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’

  When the door was secure behind them, Oki glared at Maru. ‘These are yours, are they not? They are your triad partners?’

  ‘No, no, they can’t be. Gods, they’re half dead …’

  Oki gave him a look of disgust, and then turned back to the two huddled together on the floor. He knelt beside them, and spoke to them gently.

  “He’ll be fine, once he gets his brains back. Would you two sit on the bed, please? It’s softer there, and you’ll be more comfortable. Karo here is our Chief Medical Officer, and he just needs to examine you, to see how we can help you heal. No-one is going to hurt you again, I promise.”

  The two stayed where they were, frozen together. Karo moved towards them, and they moved away from that gentlest of people, almost falling over. Oki caught them and boosted them up onto the bed together. They were still holding onto each other, and Maru wondered if they were ever going to let go. He felt waves of pain and despair emanating from them, and began to feel some sympathy. Not love, but at least sympathy. He had never expected this. But had they?

  Oki spoke softly. “Can you tell us what happened? We tracked the escape pod from the slave ship …”

  Maru heard the voices in his head, ever so softly, and then realized that he was the only one who could hear them. He spoke for them, choking over the words. ‘They say: Slave ship, yes. Slaves. We were given to the crew to ... to play with because we are different. They think it is ... funny that we are only for each other, and that we are bonded, and they can hurt both of us by hurting one of us. They, they ... everything ...’

  “They seem to think they may still be on that sh
ip, sir. They’re confused.”

  He didn’t want to even try to describe the mental pictures he was getting from them, of what that crew had done to them in the name of ‘play’, that had been mostly torture. He gave up on interpreting, and moved forward to hold onto them. He thought he would take them into his arms, but they shied away from him and backed into a corner of the bed. The human one wrapped himself around the blue one and actually managed to glare at Maru. Was he trying to protect his partner from their third? Was Maru really being that stupid?

  “Maru, can you ask them how they came to be in the escape pod?”

  There was silence as they processed that.

  ‘They say: The crew taunted us that we would never be rescued, never live to testify. Then there was fighting, explosions, we got away from the one who came to kill us, we went to the pod, but then it failed. And ... the other slaves on that ship, were they killed?’

  Karo sat down and cried. ‘Poor sweet ones.’

  Oki shook his head. “It’s alright, little ones. We had two ships attacking, and the slavers were distracted and didn’t have time to kill anyone, although none were as abused as you, so that would explain why they targeted you. We didn’t even know there was this kind of torture … We rescued over fifty people that day, half of them just children. All the others were kept in some big bays, like cargo, and taken care of like cattle, given enough food and water that they would be alive to be sold. No wonder those monsters wanted to get rid of the evidence of this abuse of you. We would have killed whoever did this. We’ll still kill them when we find them.”

  Oki moved towards the two, but stopped when they cringed away from him.

  ‘Karo, maybe Jevan can help us out here, as he is small, and was a slave too. Maru clearly has his head up his ….’

  ‘No! Sir, I’m sorry, I’m just shocked. I’ll be alright. I’ll take care of these ones, I swear I will.’ He wasn’t sure that they were his, but he didn’t want anyone else taking care of them either.

  ‘Fine, Karo and Maru stay, everyone else out and give us some privacy.’

  The Medical staff left, and it was just the five of them left, in the silence.

  Finally, when the two who had been rescued seemed to have settled down and relaxed a bit, Oki asked, ‘What are your names, little ones?’

  They didn’t even look at him.

  ‘Maru?’

  Maru reached out but got nothing but fear from the two. His two?

  ‘Sorry, sir.’

  ‘Don’t be sorry. Maru. They’ve been traumatized. It’s a miracle they’re alive, that they can communicate at all.’ He hesitated. ‘How much do you know about the earth humans?’

  ‘A little bit …’

  ‘Well, you’d better learn a lot more. This one will need much care from you, as will ours. We are just beginning to learn about healing the earth human body. It is different from ours in some crucial ways.’

  All Maru could hear was Nevi laughing at him in his head.

  ‘You challenged the gods, my friend. What did you think would happen?’

  ‘Sir? Why are you worried that anyone will find about them being on the ship?’

  ‘If you had been paying attention, Maru, you would have known that we offered help to some who were freed from that ship, who wished transit to other planets. There were some among those who didn’t seem to be in as bad a shape as the others. Maybe they were just stronger to start with, or enslaved later, but ...’ Oki shook his head. ‘I should have been more suspicious. They may have wanted to know if we found these two, if they were still alive.’

  The warrior within Maru rose up, and the thought of them being hurt again or dead wrenched something in his guts. ‘Some of the ones who did this might be on our ship, might try to hurt these two again? No, I won’t let them.’

  ‘Just be watchful. My own beloved was almost killed by a traitor in our midst when we didn’t expect it. Once Karo is satisfied that these two are stable we’ll move them to the quarters next to mine, and no one will think to question extra food going in there. We’re in the middle of turning it into a nursery for all the babies anyway.’ He smiled and patted his own swollen belly.

  ‘Sir? I am – was – a bit shocked, but I’ll defend these two with my life.’

  ‘I know you will, Maru. You are a warrior, even if you’re a bit stupid sometimes.’

  Maru choked again, but couldn’t find an argument for that.

  ‘Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll get Kaji to clear the halls for some training exercise or another, and you and Karo can move them down there, maybe on a hospital bed. I doubt they can walk, and they probably don’t want to be held, to be carried in anyone’s arms.’ He glared at Maru. ‘Although the sooner they can nurse on you the sooner they’ll heal.’

  ‘My triad and Karo’s can help you with them once they’re moved, as we both have beloveds who are earth humans and will understand this sweet little brown one a little bit better than you will. No-one else needs to know the two of them are here. Other than those two cooks, who probably know already and are preparing some delicacies for them.’

  ‘Dasu and Suna are fine people, sir, and great cooks.’

  ‘Yes, I know, but they also seem to know everything that goes on around here before anyone else does.’

  ‘That’s a lot of people to know about a secret, sir.’

  ‘I know. Two teams, two triads, the Medical staff, the cooks, everyone sworn to secrecy, but too many know already. The lives of your beloveds may depend on you.’

  ‘Yes, sir. They can depend on me.’ He stared blankly at them, glad that they were hanging onto each other and couldn’t see his face right then. It was going to be alright. He tried to convince himself of that.

  Chapter 2.

  Karo managed to persuade the two to let him touch them enough to examine them, and he checked them over gently with scanners and soft hands. At one point he pulled a curtain around their bed and shooed Maru away, and it took everything that Maru had not to push his way back in when he heard both of them whimper once, and then again.

  ‘Stay out, Maru. I have to check this.'

  That done, the curtain was pulled back and Maru could watch them again, even if he couldn’t touch them. Karo took blood from the one who was of their people for a DNA sample, to send back home to Cerulea for identification, and then proclaimed himself finished, at least for now.

  ‘I’ve done what I can, now what they need is just time and love. I’ve knitted the broken bones together, but the joined sections will be fragile for a while. And soft tissue damage, such as the bruising, is always slower to mend.’ Karo glared at Maru. ‘Love, that’s what they need the most. Food and rest, but love. And love doesn’t mean …’

  ‘I know it doesn’t, and I’ll take care of them, dammit. Why does everyone think I won’t?’

  ‘Because you are behaving like a fool?’

  Those were harsh words from the soft-spoken doctor, and Maru had no response.

  Once the halls had been cleared Karo and he moved the two little ones down to the quarters next to the Captain’s, and it was easy enough to transfer them over to the big soft bed there. The two moved fearfully away from him and that took them right over to the bed. Once again the human was protecting the other one from Maru, and he tried not to be offended. The human must have been protecting their third for a long time, and he should be grateful for that habit.

  The hospital bed went back to Medical again right away so that no-one would see that it was missing. He couldn’t have done it better if he had planned it that way, even if they hadn’t been terrified of him and of being touched.

  Maru wasn’t so sure about having a triad, but he knew all about security. He managed to set up and maintain a secure perimeter, right up until he was run over by Suki, of the Captain’s triad.

  ‘The poor little ones, I have to see them, what do they need?’

  ‘They need privacy, and security, so no-one knows they’re here.’
/>
  ‘Yes, yes’, Suki laughed up at him. ‘And they need soft warm things to comfort them, and nutritious food, and hugs, and the best of everything ...’

  ‘You’re been talking to the cooks, to Dasu and Suna, haven’t you?’

  ‘No, they’re been talking to me. Seeing as I’m so close to giving birth now, we’ve all agreed that I should stay in our quarters and eat here. Look, a convenient door between our quarters already! And Caleb will be with us, too, although he’s not as close to giving birth, we think. It’s hard to tell with the humans. We’ll be blessed with four babies, Maru, with our adopted one! A richness of babies! Jevan is bearing, too, so he’ll be spending time with us, too, resting, you know …’

  ‘Soft silky robes that don’t rub on those scars, and warm blankets, and sweet drinks and fresh fruit from the arboretum ...’

  ‘Jevan! Suki! Don’t make me shoot you!’

  But the two beings huddled together on the bed raised their heads and stared in astonishment at the happy commotion, so he decided not to shoot anybody right then.

  ‘I do understand’, Suki assured him privately. ‘That was our beloved Caleb that the traitor Kasu tried to kill, remember. We’ll be careful.’

  Maru’s two charges sat up a little bit on the bed, still hanging onto each other, and they let Jevan and Suki tuck some soft blankets over their legs.

  ‘There are some robes here if you want to put them on, very silky, they’ll feel nice against your skin ...’

  Jevan reached out to pull a robe around one of their shoulders, and that one cried out and backed away from his touch, and the other one flinched as well.

  ‘When you are ready, sweet ones. They are here when you want them.’

  ‘They are very closely bonded’, Suki said privately to Maru. ‘What one feels the other feels. Do you feel that as well?’

  Maru had felt it, and he was shaken to his core, but he shook his head. ‘I’m not even sure they’re mine, but I am going to take care of them. I promised the Captain.’