I looked down at my arm and stared at my virtually unmarred skin. I vividly remembered my radius sticking out of my flesh and a deep, jagged slice in my skin surrounding it that pooled with blood. I touched my skin carefully and pressed gently. There was no pain. There was no anything. Not even a mark.
“How?” I asked, my voice raspy. “It was broken, and the bone poked through—”
“I healed it,” Surkah cut in. “That is what I do. I am one of the healers aboard that is assigned to humans.”
Healer?
“So … you’re like a doctor?”
“I do not understand.” Surkah frowned, her forehead creasing. “The word ‘doctor’ does not translate into Maji language.”
“Um, a doctor is a person who cares for the injured and sick.”
Surkah considered this. “That is what I am, but we use the term healer.”
“Well … I … Thank you for … healing me.”
I didn’t understand how she did it, but I was grateful nonetheless.
Surkah smiled, and I was pleased to see she didn’t have sharp canines like Mikoh. They were more defined than mine were, but they weren’t scary or something I’d stop and stare at. I silently thanked Almighty for that.
“It is an honour to tend to you, tiny one,” she said, and she sounded very … excited. “You are the first human I have healed, and I am very happy there were no complications. While you were resting, I scanned you with my lissa because I feared your biology would differ greatly from Maji and that our medicines, or my ability, would have no effect on you, but to my delight, I discovered we’re one hundred percent compatible. I cannot believe the results; it is truly a gift from Thanas that we came here. My shipmaster and my people will celebrate greatly with the news.”
What in the fresh hell is she talking about?
I had a whole bunch of similar questions floating around in my mind, and I didn’t know which one to ask first. Instead of voicing them, I kept flicking my eyes from Surkah to the section of the wall that opened before. I heard a noise outside, and I tensed. I was so scared Mikoh would re-enter the room.
I really need to get free and get a weapon.
“Why are you fearful?” Surkah asked, gaining my attention. “I scent it on you.”
Excuse me?
“What did you just say?” I asked, baffled. “You smell my fear?”
“Yes,” she replied, sniffing the air. “Fear has a sickly-sweet scent, and you reek of it.”
These aliens can smell fear?
“Well …” I swallowed. “It’s just … I was kidnapped.”
“By who?” Surkah growled. “I will break their bones in places they won’t mend correctly.”
The animalistic noises she made silenced me.
“Speak, tiny one,” she pressed. “Who kidnapped you?”
I blinked. “Your people did.”
Surkah gasped and placed her hand over her chest as if I’d physically wounded her.
“We did not abduct you,” she stressed. “My people saved you.”
I looked down at the straps that bound me to the bed and then back up at Surkah. She winced.
“Those bindings are for your protection as well as mine. We weren’t sure how you would react when you awoke. The shipmaster ordered the restraints.”
The shipmaster?
“Okay,” I said, trying to understand her point of view.
“Surely, I would not have healed you if we meant you harm?”
I bit my lip. “Well, other species have kidnapped men, women, and children from trading posts and sold them into slavery on other planets, and they didn’t harm them as to not… devalue them. I guess I’m just worried about something like that happening.”
And about you eating my flesh.
I had heard all sorts of horror stories over the years about the aliens, and the worst one was that some aliens enjoyed eating human flesh while blood still flowed through their veins. The thought terrified me. I really needed a fucking weapon.
Surkah’s pink eyes blazed with anger. “No one will kidnap or harm a human whilst Maji take hu—I mean rebuild Earth.”
Her slip of tongue didn’t go unnoticed by me, and it only made me even more wary of her. She was lying to me, but I didn’t know why. To avoid drawing attention to the fact that I knew she was lying, I played dumb.
“Rebuild the Earth?” I repeated, tilting my head to the side. “I’m sorry, but what do you mea—”
“Surkah!” Mikoh’s voice shouted from outside the room, gaining both our attention. A second later, the wall opened, and Mikoh stood in the doorway but didn’t enter the room. “The shipmaster requests an update on your scan of the human, the other healers are too busy with healing injuries to get accurate readings. You know he disapproves of you unlinking your comm from the System and so do I. I told you I need to be able to contact you at all times when I am not in talking distance. Our comms provide that, so why must you disconnect?”
“Because I don’t like having male voices inside my head twenty-six intervals a day!”
Twenty-six intervals a day? Comms? What on Earth are they talking about?
“We aren’t just any males, though,” Mikoh said, his eyes focused solely on Surkah. “Just give me the update, and I’ll pass it onto him since you won’t reconnect. He is giving me a sore head.”
Surkah did something that surprised me then; she squealed.
“It is a positive result, Mikoh.”
Mikoh’s jaw dropped open. “Truly?”
“Truly,” Surkah gushed. “Humans will be our salvation.”
“That’s earned a huge what from me,” I cut in, feeling great unease about the conversation happening before me.
Mikoh locked eyes on me, and I tensed when he leisurely ran his eyes over my form. I didn’t like how he looked at me; it reminded me of a wolf and how they would stare at their prey before they gobbled them up.
“Are you sure we’re compatible?” he asked Surkah without looking away from me. “She is very small.”
What the fuck does that mean?
“My lissa does not lie; human female internal organs are virtually identical to our females in function. They’ll benefit from our medicine, and the essence of a mating bond would even extend their lifespan. I’m positive.”
“I’m going to throw out another what here if anyone is interested?” I said, my eyes wide with confusion. “A big ‘ol what?”
Mikoh switched his attention from Surkah to me then back to Surkah, and he stared at her with disbelief. “I’m not convinced.”
I might as well be invisible.
“What else would you have me do?” Surkah demanded of Mikoh. “My lissa does not lie. You know this.”
What the hell is a lissa?
Mikoh closed his eyes for a moment, and when he reopened them, he said, “I’ve sent for the shipmaster. He will be here momentarily; we will await his decision on the results.”
“As you wish,” Surkah said through gritted teeth.
Mikoh backed out of the room then the doors began to close, but before they shut completely, his electric red eyes flicked in my direction, and he winked. A second later, the doors closed, sealing him from the room.