They, more than anyone, deserved it.
The spacecraft that the aliens arrived in was still sitting at the dock, so I focused on that and sprinted towards it. I could no longer see Nicah or the blue alien who had run to her, but I did spot two large Maji dressed in those black armoured suits jogging towards the ramp of the craft. I screamed like a banshee until they heard me. Both of them stopped and turned to face me.
“Wait!” I shouted, stumbling after them. “Please, take me with you!”
Chapter One
Levi
Present day on Ealra …
I jerked awake, shooting into an upright position. My heart slammed against my chest as it rose and fell rapidly. I tried to catch my breath. My mother’s haunting screams mixed with my memories and ran like wildfire through my mind. Suddenly feeling suffocated, I pushed my blanket from my body and turned, letting my legs hang over the side of my bed. I heard a creak come from somewhere close by, and I froze.
Master.
A sensation of dread washed over me for a few seconds until I gathered my thoughts and remembered where I was. I wasn’t on The Farm back on Earth. I wasn’t with Master or Mama anymore. They were both dead, and I was on Ealra with the Maji now. I listened intently for minutes, and when no other sounds could be heard, I relaxed.
Master is dead. Mama is dead.
I repeated the words over and over in my mind until I remembered them to be true. The former made me feel elated, yet the latter cut me like a blade. I missed my mama so much that the very thought of her caused my chest to ache as misery cut deep into my bones. I had been with her every day of my life up until she took her last breath in my arms. Living without her made my existence feel lonely and pointless, but I continued to survive because of her. She wanted me to live free and be happy. The former came true when the Maji freed me. They were truly on a rescue mission when they came to Earth. They had saved many human women, myself included.
There were terms, of course, to be rescued, but their terms seemed like a dream. In order for human women to be accepted into Maji society and granted a place amongst their people, we had to agree to eventually take a Maji husband and produce children. The Maji species was critically endangered, and their discovery of reproduction capability between them and humans was a prayer answered for them and, in turn, us.
I didn’t know what other women thought of the terms, but they personally scared me.
I had been assured there was no time limit on finding a Maji man, or male, as they liked to be addressed. I didn’t have to jump blindly into a relationship if I didn’t want to, and I definitely didn’t want to. The only men I had ever known were traffickers, and I found it difficult to separate the good Maji males from the evil human men I once knew. I figured it was my brain protecting me. Men had always been the biggest threat to women back on Earth, and I knew it would take time for me to believe that wasn’t the case on Ealra with the Maji males.
They were our saviours. Deep down, I knew that.
It’d been four months, or moon cycles as they called it on Ealra, since we had been rescued by the Maji. Four long months since I last saw my beloved mother. At the very thought of her, my eyes stung. I balled my hands into fists, pressed them against my sockets, and willed the tears away. I had cried more in the past four months than I ever had in my entire life. Losing my mother had devastated me in a way that I didn’t know was possible. I was never on my own until the moment she stopped breathing, and without her, I felt alone even when I was surrounded by dozens of people.
The thought of always feeling this much pain scared me.
Knowing I would never get back to sleep, I got to my feet and slipped them into my ultra-thin but incredibly strong fabric sandals. They didn’t look like much other than flimsy footwear, but looks were deceiving on Ealra. The sandals were made and padded with soft-to-the-touch fabric. The underside plating was from the hide of a dangerous animal, and though harder than steel, it was flexible and moved with a person as they walked. It was bizarre, but that was a constant feeling while being on a foreign planet.
I was careful to keep my footsteps quiet as I exited my room and headed downstairs to the cookery. I drank ice-cold water from the spout, then I tiptoed outside into the yard behind Homestead 1231, the home where I was assigned to live. I walked down a short pathway, then turned right. I slipped off my sandals, and my skin tingled when my feet made contact with the cool, damp grass of the garden.
The air smelled so fresh that I couldn’t resist inhaling a deep breath.
I relaxed as I exhaled and looked up into the night sky. It was the most magnificent and magical sight I had ever set my eyes upon. The twin silver and gold moons glowed in the distance with splashes and dots of twinkling stars all around them. Two other planets just a little smaller than the moons were visible, and I could see the reds, creams, silvers, and blues that coated them. On Earth, the permanent smog from decades upon decades of pollution made it impossible to see the sky.
I had always wanted to see a night sky coated in stars, and now I got to gaze at one every evening when the sun went down.
When I awoke from a nightmare or thought of my mother and felt so sad that I wanted to sleep forever, I came outside, no matter the time, and looked up at the sky. It quickly became my centre, something that could reach me when no one and nothing else could. My body relaxed more and more the longer I stood in place. Apart from a few animal noises now and again, it was silent ... until the bushes at the end of the yard began to rustle and shake. I didn’t have time to panic because out of the vegetation came a creature.
I knew right away that it was a kit.
The tiny bear-like wild creatures were frequent visitors in the area and also kept as domesticated pets. This one had fluffy fur as white as snow, and its huge eyes glowed blue. It was beautiful, even if it did have a lot of sharp teeth when it opened its mouth. The little being observed me quietly, then inched closer until it was a metre or two away. I held my breath.
It tilted its head to the side, then the animal rolled onto its back, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it wanted me to scratch its belly. I surprised myself and the kit when I laughed. When I didn’t do its bidding, it rolled back onto all fours, gave me what I guessed to be a glare of disgust, then ran off back into the bushes and disappeared from sight.
“Goodbye!” I hollered after it. “I’ll give you tummy scratches the next time.”
There was a bang followed by loud cursing behind me.
“Levi, is that you?” a voice shouted from inside my home. “Would it kill you to keep it down? You know I’m a light sleeper!”
I spun around and stared at my homestead, and my heart stopped at the sound of Hilah’s voice. She was a really nice lady, but only during the daytime. She hated anyone messing with her sleep cycle. Anyone. Especially her homemates. I hurried back into my homestead and paused inside the cookery when the outline of Nuni, my other homemate, walked into the room yawning. She switched on the light.
I’d woken her up too.
“I’m so sorry.” I dropped to my knees and locked my eyes on the floor. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Tensing, I waited for hate-filled words and a beating.
“Oh, Levi. It’s okay, honey,” Nuni said softly as she approached me slowly. She kneeled on the floor in front of me and covered my hands with hers. “You don’t have to kneel to anyone anymore … remember?”