Alienne Mine: A Prequel to Dragon Dawn Read online

  She laughed again, and the sound bubbled on the air.

  “I understand, Ed. I will not press you for anything more than a meal and conversation until the time is right. For both of us.”

  Holy crap. She’d read his mind. He forced his gaze away from her captivating face and looked out of the window. The golden-orange world of Titan beckoned, the itch to explore it intense. He glanced at the sky and realized the haze had cleared enough to admit a view of Saturn. The graceful arc of its rings stunned him. A jewel of the Solar System. He never thought he’d see any of this with his own eyes.

  His mind veered, and he visualized traveling throughout the cosmos at Alienne’s side. If he stayed with her, what kind of life would he have? Where would they go? How many things could he learn, unimaginable scientific discoveries?

  He’d never meet anyone like her again. Time spent with her would be extraordinary.

  Even if it meant never seeing her again, he couldn’t suppress the urge to protect her. If he left with her, especially now that Gus and the others had seen her ship, he realized he could probably never go back to Earth, for in doing so, he would raise too many unanswerable questions.

  He needed to return to the station and then, ultimately, travel back to Earth. He had responsibilities, a life.

  But did he? Did he really?

  He thought back to his messy divorce – she’d cheated, and they couldn’t rewind. His parents were dead, and he had no siblings. Even his dog was gone, dying of old age last year. There was no one left on Earth he deeply cared about, but he could not just disappear. There were friends, colleagues who would wonder what happened to him.

  Go or stay? The consequences of the two paths open to him demanded careful consideration. Either way, the complications to his life were mind-boggling.

  “I hope you’ll understand,” he said, “but I need some time to think. For now, I must go back.”

  “Yes, I understand, Edward. Do you wish to see me again?”

  He nodded. “Of course. Is that a possibility?”

  “Yes, I think so,” she said, “but I need to formulate a plan.”

  “So do I.”

  Alienne smiled. “We will leave it at that. Goodbye for now. I will contact you soon. I promise.”

  And, with that, darkness filled his vision, and he felt himself falling into nothingness, a deep, black, peaceful sleep.

  Chapter 3

  As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

  ~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden

  Ed woke in his bunk at the station. He stayed still and listened. No sound except for the hum of equipment. No one else around. He was alone.

  He’d made it back before the others returned, but he guessed he and Alienne had cut it close. He looked at his watch. 0:1643. Jeez, yes, the crew could return at any moment.

  With a yawn, he rose and walked to the com. He felt exhausted – and famished. Images of the last few hours crowded his skull, but he shoved them aside. First thing, he needed to check for messages.

  There was one from Gus, which had come in around ten minutes ago. He listened to it. The commander reported they were twenty minutes away from the station.

  Glancing at his watch again, Ed calculated that meant he should be able to see his crewmates from the window soon. He looked outside, the stark gray landscape and the blackness of space so different from the whirling yellows and oranges of dynamic Titan.

  Raking his hand through his hair, he pondered all he’d experienced in the last few hours, unable to truly comprehend how he was going to reconcile his feelings now that he knew what he knew – that she existed. He’d met an alien, a beautiful, wise, amazing being, different from anyone he’d ever known. He had the crazy notion of abandoning everything and taking off with her.

  Absolutely crazy, but who’d blame me for considering it? With a frown, he waited for his fellow astronauts to appear over the rise of the nearest crater.

  And, with a pang of longing, he realized he missed Alienne already. He looked at the stars and knew at this moment she could be anywhere, even on the other side of the universe.

  And he wondered when he would see her again.

  Or if...

  * * *

  Alienne moved her ship to a hidden spot in the shadow of a crater on the small Martian moon called Deimos. Until now, she’d stayed away from the red planet and its two moons, because humans had an active presence there with their robotic explorers. Right now, there were five rovers on the surface of Mars and seven unmanned spacecraft in orbit, including one studying the moon Phobos. Deimos was a safe haven at the moment, but it was only a matter of time before both Martian moons were thoroughly explored.

  In the past, she’d felt it best to hide her ship in an orbit between the Earth and Sun, the glare of light acting as an effective shield against prying humanity. And if she felt threatened with imminent discovery, Saturn’s Titan or even distant planetoids like Sedna, one of the small, frozen, dwarf worlds in the vast Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune’s orbit. But now, since she wished to be as close to Edward as possible, she thought Deimos was the best solution. After all, it would only take an instant to fold space and travel to him, perhaps teleport him to her side. In the meantime, she would watch and wait to see what happened next. She was sure Ed wouldn’t reveal her existence, but the other astronauts might talk about what they’d seen. Her ship had been spotted, after all.

  Would anyone believe it was anything more than space junk? She guessed the astronauts would be debriefed, but the official conclusion would be the same as always: unidentified flying object, the case closed for lack of concrete evidence.

  She nestled into her bed and closed her eyes. She touched her lips, wondering what it would feel like to kiss Edward. She knew about kissing, of course, from humanity’s television and films. It was an act unfamiliar to her species, but she had lips with sensitive nerve endings and it might be...pleasant.

  She let her mind drift back. She remembered his scent, the hint of salt in his blood harkening back to the ancestral jawed fishes from which all earthly vertebrates evolved, humans included. She saw Ed’s eyes, too, blue, beautiful, and strange, with their round pupils. He was different from her, yet he held a degree of similarity that enthralled her. Her own kind, on a faraway planet called Da’ash, had also evolved from denizens of the sea, similar in appearance to the jawed fishes of ancient Earth.

  Suddenly, the loneliness plaguing her for so long enveloped her.

  As tears spilled from her eyes, she tasted her kindred salt. “Edward,” she whispered to the air. “Edward.”

  * * *

  Alienne awakened with a start, her twin hearts racing. What had woken her? Groggy, she stared at her surroundings but the ship was quiet except for the normal sounds of a resting spacecraft.

  She went to the mirror-like panel of her controls. Dark, smooth liquid crystal. Everything looked the same as always, nothing unusual. Although she normally issued orders to her ship via the wet-ware implants in her brain, it was still a good idea to have manual controls in case an implant failed. Every so often, she would test the control panel to make certain it worked, doing something mundane like changing the air flow inside her ship or dimming the lights.

  So, why had she awakened to confusion, with the sense that something was different? She went over to the window and gazed down at Mars. The planet was shrouded in rusty-orange clouds, the result of a planet-wide dust storm. Only the giant volcano Olympus Mons was visible, its upper slopes sticking high above the whirling, ruddy turmoil.

  And then she saw it. A flash from the highest reaches of the great volcano. She narrowed her eyes, staring hard. Another flash, then one more. She held her breath and waited. More, in quick succession. Flash, flash, flash.

  A laser? She searched her memory as the triple flashes continued. Lasers had been used by sentient beings before, the pulses sent into the cosmos as a method of communication. Even humans tried it as part of their Search for Extraterrestri
al Intelligence, or SETI, program, in the hope ET would see it and respond. But the experiments originated from Earth, not Mars.

  It’s not human-made. It’s from another source, something else.

  She leaned closer to the viewport and studied the volcano. A chill swept over her as she pondered the implications.

  I’m not the only one watching Earth.

  * * *

  Three days had passed since Ed met Alienne, three days since that life-changing event.

  Almost immediately after he returned to the asteroid station, the laser beacon began broadcasting from Mars. It was the talk of the Solar System, hailed by many as the most significant event in human history. First contact with aliens. Scientists ruled out anything else, determining the laser was technological and emanating from the red planet.

  Ed initially wondered if Alienne had something to do with it, but then dismissed the thought given how she’d stressed her desire to stay hidden. As amazing as the laser was, he held an even greater secret, knowing full well he’d been the first. The beacon on Mars was second contact.

  Because of the laser, there was renewed interest in a manned mission to Mars. Several of Ed’s crewmates were gung-ho about going there, especially Gus Granberg, who admitted to having a lifelong dream of exploring the red planet. Ed could very well see Gus being chosen for the Mars mission, given his first-rate record in outer space.

  Ed, on the other hand, was starting to question his own fitness for space duty of any kind. In contrast to this, Gus told him he should apply for Mars, too, saying Ed would be a shoo-in.

  But Gus doesn’t know what I know. He has no idea what happened to me.

  Or did it happen? The strange feeling that he was going psycho crept back into his thoughts.

  Shaking his head, he rubbed his face and suddenly smelled cinnamon and cloves. Alienne had taken hold of his hand before she teleported him to her ship. Even after bathing, he could still smell her: a hint of Christmas.

  I am going nuts. Then again, how could I conjure up something like that? Ed was a mechanical engineer, not a storyteller or poet. He wasn’t a dreamer. He just didn’t have that in him.

  Alienne, why did you choose me? And why the hell now? He shook his head in confusion. What would it be like to ditch everything and go off with her? It was insane even to contemplate it, let alone consider it a real possibility, but the itch to travel by her side and see what else was out there ruled his thoughts. His heart, too.

  The realization that she was starting to mean more to him than anyone had in a long time hit him right between the eyes.

  Alienne would give me so much more than Mars. I’d have the entire universe to explore, with her by my side.

  He rested in his bunk that night, the station quiet, everyone else asleep. Where was she right now? Did she even know about the laser beacon from Mars? What would she think about it?

  He must’ve drifted off, because he suddenly found himself gazing out a window at Mars. He was in orbit around the planet...

  Ugh. Vertigo seized him, and he swayed. Hands grabbed him from behind, steadying him before swiftly withdrawing.

  “Ed?”

  He turned. Alienne stood there. He was on her ship. Teleportation. It had happened again.

  Or was he dreaming?

  Her eyes sparkled with tears. Reality hit. This was no dream. What was wrong with her?

  Holy shit. His stomach lurched, the dizziness suddenly much worse, and he feared he would vomit.

  She must have sensed this, because she gave him a bag. Ed took it, but then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then another, the dizziness easing. “I’m okay.”

  She put her arms around him.

  Ed pulled her close and held her for a moment, reveling in her sweet scent. Her body felt warm – not cold and reptilian – and soft against him, nice, like she belonged there.

  “Just rest against me,” she whispered to him. “Your vertigo will soon pass. I’m surprised it didn’t happen the first time you teleported. It isn’t unusual to have this reaction. You’ll be okay.”

  “I feel a lot better,” he said as he recalled her tears. “I saw... There were tears in your eyes. Are you all right?”

  “Yes... no.” She drew apart from him and then gave him a little smile, like she was hiding a secret. “I...I’ve missed you very much, Edward.”

  “I missed you, too.”

  She touched his face with her hands, then withdrew, placing them on both sides of her chest. “From my hearts, I thank you.”

  That startled him. She had two hearts? But then he realized the differences between them paled compared to their similarities, the feelings they shared.

  He looked into her beautiful eyes, now clear and bright. “Why do you thank me?”

  “For being you.”

  “I’m not so special, Alienne.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  She told him about his unusual aura, how it indicated a wonderful spirit. He was intrigued by her description of her vision, but at the same time embarrassed as he listened to her glowing commentary about him.

  His sense of unease must have been apparent, because she studied his expression, then gently smiled and changed the subject. “I wanted... I needed to see you today, to talk to you about what’s going on.” She pointed toward the window. “Look down there. I’ve been trying to study the laser.”

  He gazed at Mars again. He was in orbit, so close. Closer than any human had ever been. First Titan and now this. Amazing.

  “Yes, we know about it, Alienne. I guessed it wasn’t something you did.”

  She nodded. “You are correct. It wasn’t me. It’s strange, for I detected the thing that must have sent it, some kind of presence on Mars. It is not alive in the sense of having a body, but I have ascertained it may be conscious, as if the essence of a mind is trapped in hardware. I think it is located deep inside the planet. It may be what is known as a pa-Keer, an Ancient One, a possessor of wormholes, but I know of only one remaining pa-Keer in this universe, and it lives in another galaxy. Or it could also be some kind of interloper assuming the identity of a pa-Keer. Traveling through time might be the goal of such a being.”

  “You realize this is sounding weirder by the minute.”

  She sighed. “I will explain this to you when I learn more. I must go home and speak to someone who knows of such things.”

  “Where is home?”

  “In a distant place. Have you heard of a place humans refer to as Hoag’s Object?”

  “No, can’t say that I have.”

  “It is a ring galaxy, Edward, one of two in that region of space. Both are visible in your constellation called Serpens Caput. They are artificial constructs, built by the Ancient Ones several billion years ago.”

  “They engineered entire galaxies?”

  “Yes. The ring galaxies were not their only achievements. They constructed wormholes, too, for traveling through space and time. It has been a battle to keep such things out of the grip of evil. It’s one of the reasons I left my home world. I was young, and I fought in what you would call a galactic war. My species allied with other beings, who fought an evil lord with plans to use the wormholes for his own miserable ends. But when he was vanquished, our so-called allies turned on us...defeated us. Another lordly being took control of my world. Our civilization was destroyed and many died. I...I’ve seen enough pain for a lifetime.”

  He listened to her story about galactic wars and aliens with wormholes, and as unbelievable as it sounded, he was not surprised. It reminded him of human fiction, even actual history. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  “I must go home, Edward. It is the only path left open to me. I need information.”

  He searched her face and recognized a weariness beyond anything he’d seen before. What had she been through? What was waiting for her out there?

  “Will you put yourself in danger by going back?” he asked.

  She gave him a sad smile. “No. As I told
you, the war is over and we lost. I must journey to a place of no consequence, one miserable spot out of a billion such worlds. The victors live in their star palaces in the ring of the galaxy, many of the vanquished on poor planets scattered throughout the core. My trip will be virtually instantaneous and not arduous in the least, but I fear I will have a lot to contend with once I am home, for I have not been there in a long while, and I must find the one who provided me with this ship – if he is still alive. He might give me information...answers to what I seek. I will try to come back to you swiftly, Edward.”

  * * *

  As she readied her mind to send him back to his world, she realized she had not told him about things like the wet-ware in her brain or her ability to communicate telepathically, if she chose to do so.

  There was still much to share, the many things he could learn from her and she from him, but there was no time for that now. “I must say goodbye, Edward.”

  He drew her close and whispered, “With a kiss.”

  He touched his lips to hers, and her twin hearts leapt in wonder. A gentle caress, the soft, shared breath of two living beings. A mark of his world, alien to her but entrancingly familiar given how long she’d watched humans loving one another.

  “Alienne.” He groaned her name just as his embrace deepened, but she had sent the thought command to the teleportation device in the instant he leaned down to kiss her. Before another breath was spent, he was gone.

  She leaned back against the wall of her ship, the cold metal as much a shock to her senses as the warmth she’d experienced in his arms. They’d touched briefly, for a moment in time, yet she knew the thrill of being alive would not return until he held her again.

  I must go. She studied the planet Mars and realized she could not delay. Whatever was down there might find her. This hiding place on Deimos offered no real protection. If her instincts were correct, she needed to leave orbit – and fast.

  The risks were too great, her sense of danger overwhelming. A pa-Keer impostor had the potential to be one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe, for it might have found wormholes to use in time traveling to the past, something that held unimaginable risks in the wrong hands. Even the Ancient Ones forswore time travel. Whether small or vast, a change in any past event could have unforeseen and devastating consequences.