Alien's Bride: Lisette (3 page)

Boxy robots came for her. She went
where they directed with her sack of belongings over her
shoulder.

She wanted to bury herself in a
computer with all the Dak-Hiliah’s scientific texts. If she just
had a few days to do that—then she’d know she could cope. Her mind
was so keen in this area she’d been diagnosed with a form of
autism. Teachers early on said she was an unnaturally gifted savant
when it came to math and science. Math was just too easy. Science,
where there was so much to extrapolate and discover, that’s what
she was drawn to. Her talent made up for all her social defects.
The military snatched her out of college before she could graduate.
She was put on every high profile project. It was easy work, but
slow and tedious. She was always limited by the speed of the
equipment. As the war grew more intense her department received
less funding. She felt like she was spinning her wheels.

Lisette had no expectations for her new
job. Either she’d be dazzled by the advanced resources, or bogged
down even further than before by inept bureaucracy. No matter what
some science was sure to be done. It wouldn’t take much to make her
happy.

The robots put her in the hover car and
took off. She looked at the alien city below them as she had during
her first ride. Now she could read all the names on the mismatched
rectangular buildings with rounded corners. They looked to be made
out of plastic, some metal, and some from colored glass. Some were
tall skyscrapers, but not many.

There was no traffic in what she
presumed were roads between the buildings. She saw no people. The
only movement on the ground was that of an occasional robot
whizzing along on its casters. As they flew further she saw fallen
in roofs and shattered windows. Vegetation broke through the
pavement in blue-green clumps. She even saw a full grown tree in
the middle of a crumbling road.

They landed before a building that was
obviously still well maintained. It had an impressive crystal
façade encasing the front of both floors. Above the ornate eight
door entrance was a sign that read ‘Paggellatin Institute of Health
and Science.’ Lisette felt an electric shiver as she climbed out of
the vehicle.

A blond Dak-Hiliah man who looked to be
in his early twenties emerged from the entrance with a smile of
gleaming white teeth. His skin was blue and had markings, like
Elentinus’, but he was no where near as filled out. He wore a loose
dark suit with a red belt, flowing scarf, and a coat long enough to
drag behind him. He reminded Lisette of a car salesman on
pre-Instajant Earth. His smile looked disingenuous.

He went to her and took both her hands
in his. (Her fingers were clammy and she didn’t have a chance to
rub them on her dress before he snatched them).

“
Hello, my dear,” he said
through is omnipresent smile. “I’ve so longed to meet you. I’m
Jorenkis, from the house of—well, never mind titles. You’re an
Earthling, that’s not going to mean anything to you yet.” He
laughed while his eyes drilled into her. “I’m actually your boss. I
run the lab.”

She swallowed in the silence that
followed. His constant stare made her lower her head and stare at
his shoes. They looked like some kind of natural purple
leather.

“
She got our languages,
didn’t she?” Jorenkis said to the robot behind her.

Lisette pursed her lips at the twinge
of irritation in his voice.

“
Yes, my lord,” the robot
said.

“
DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. WHAT.
I’M. SAYING?”

Lisette nodded resolutely so he’d stop
shouting.

“
What was that? What does
that mean?”

She felt her face grow hot. Apparently
nodding wasn’t universal. “Um…I understand you,” she said in the
Dak-Hiliah language.

His smile returned, though it looked
even more forced than before. “All right, marvelous. Speak up, my
dear. I want to hear all about you.”

Lisette’s stomach began to tense. He
led her by her hand inside. There was an inclination to take in the
architecture of the alien building, but she’d grown too
intimidated. She couldn’t help but huddle down into herself with
her eyes lowered. She did catch a glimpse of someone else to the
side. Lisette looked.

There stood the Dak-Hiliah who had to
be Hor-Denay’s brother. He was taller, not as fat, and had black
hair slicked back loosely between his horns. His face was as
handsome as Elentinus’ and just as severe. His auburn eyes looked
to be judging her with great prejudice. He wore a long simple white
jacket that appeared to be made out of the same paper as the dress
she’d woken up in. Lisette assumed it was the alien equivalent to a
lab jacket. Seeing that familiar hallmark gave her a longing ache.
She wanted to hurry up and start work.

Jorenkis saw the other man and sneered.
“Oh, this is Prax-Denay, your lab partner. I’ll introduce you to
him later.”

Prax-Denay fumed.

She gave him a forlorn look as Jorenkis
dragged her into his office. It was easier to meet his eyes than
those of her young boss. Prax-Denay looked mean, but his meanness
was sincere, just as with Hor-Denay. There wasn’t the subterfuge
she sensed from Jorenkis.

“
Sit, my dear, sit! You want
something to drink? Water? Peanut butter milk?”

Lisette sat at the chair before his
desk and shook her head.

Jorenkis’ expression became one of full
annoyance. “Okay. By the gods, why are you swinging your head
around every time I ask you a damned question? What does that even
mean?”

Lisette’s heart began to race. She
squeezed one hand into a fist to prevent her trembling from being
visible. “Um…this is yes…and this…means no.”

He gestured with both hands in
exasperation. “Why are you teaching me Earth gestures? This isn’t
Earth. Do you get that? You do get that don’t you? You’re supposed
to be a genius scientist, obviously you can tell the difference
between Earth and Paggellatin.”

The door behind them banged all the way
open.

“
That’s enough, Jorenkis,”
Prax-Denay said.

Jorenkis clutched his horns. “Oh,
great. Great. Now things officially can’t get worse.”

“
Why are you chiding her for
communicating non-verbally? She’s meek. That’s how our slaves are
supposed to be.”

“
Would you get out of here
so I can try to salvage this!”

“
No.” He walked to Lisette’s
chair. “Follow me to the lab. Hurry up.”

She bolted up to obey. Once they got
into the corridor Jorenkis ran after her and caught her
arm.

“
Wait, wait.”

Both she and Prax-Denay halted. Neither
of them looked at Jorenkis.

“
I’m sorry, dearheart, okay?
I didn’t mean to yell at you. We’ve been so busy here, gods, I
haven’t had a wink of sleep for days.”

Prax-Denay both scoffed and
groaned.

“
Let’s have a fresh start
tonight. I’ll take you out for a fine dinner. Okay?”

Lisette resisted the urge to nod.
“Okay.”

“
Great. See? We’re going to
get on just fine.”

He released her and she ran to catch up
with Prax-Denay. The scientist spoke without turning back to
her.

“
He may need a chatterbox to
reflect his ego off of. Be assured that I’m not the same. You’re an
Earth slave, here to work. I expect you to be obedient and
productive. I’m perfectly fine with you keeping your mouth
shut.”

None of this was off-putting to her.
Prax-Denay was going to get exactly what he wanted. At least she
knew he preferred her natural demeanor. Her only anxiety was
whether she could learn to be as capable as he required.

When they entered the lab she almost
swooned with rapture. Sure, the way things were molded to the
floors and the strange colored plastics were alien, but this was an
honest to goodness laboratory. She was home! And not just any home.
This was thrice the size of the military lab she’d worked in. Over
a dozen robots were whizzing around engaging the mammoth equipment.
There were numerous terminals blinking data and images of slides
from different experiments. God—it even had a trace of that caustic
chemical smell her old lab reeked of. Tears began to fog her
glasses. She snuffled.

Prax-Denay spun on her. “What’s the
matter with you?”

Lisette cringed back. She wanted to
avoid the question, but Prax-Denay kept his cruel stare fixed on
her.

“
It’s a…beautiful
lab.”

His face softened by scant degrees. He
looked around as though seeing the place for the first time. Then
he lifted his nose.

“
Yes, I suppose it is. This
is far better than what you’re used to on Earth, isn’t
it?”

She nodded.

Something close to a smile touched his
face. It was faint and short-lived. He turned his back to her and
continued to a terminal.

“
Have a seat
here.”

She obeyed.

“
Let’s see if you have even
the minimal competency I require.”

He tapped a button. A DNA sequence
scrolled vertically across the screen.

“
What’s this?”

Lisette fixed on it. The dormant cogs
in her brain began to spin with euphoric vigor.

“
Alien DNA,” she
said.

“
Hmph,” Prax-Denay said.
“That’s…somewhat more specific than what I was looking for. How
about this one.” He tapped a few buttons and a different sequence
scrolled.

“
Human,” she said at once.
“Human DNA.”

“
Correct.” He tapped the
buttons to change the sequence once more.

Lisette squinted at it. “This…this must
be hybrid.”

“
Correct. All right, you’ve
passed the first test. I’ve an easy project you can begin with.” He
leaned forward to turn off the terminal. “You’ll obviously have to
prove yourself a great deal more before I can entrust you
to—“

“
Um.”

“
What?”

“
The hybrid DNA…”

He tapped the screen back on for her.
In any other situation she would have kept silent, but this was her
passion. She knew she saw something. It would have burned her
insides not to show him.

The sequence reached a certain area and
she pointed to it.

“
Yes. This is caused by the
Instajant vaccine. This is what keeps those parasites from
infecting people. Look.” He split the screen three ways so the same
area of the sequence could be seen for the human and Dak-Hiliah
DNA. “Everyone vaccinated has that alteration.” He snorted. “I’m
impressed you noticed it.”

“
Um…I think…” She pointed to
one area in the hybrid DNA that had been altered by the vaccine.
“This isn’t good.”

Prax-Denay went silent. He leaned
closer to the screen.

“
Get up. Get up!”

She darted out of his way. He sat at
the terminal and looked closer still. After several minutes he
rubbed his hand over his face. “It could be nothing.” He looked at
her for confirmation.

Lisette pursed her lips. “Are the
hybrids…okay?”

He put his hand on his chin. “Who
knows? The oldest one is a toddler.” He grumbled and then stood.
“We need to work on this. This is the priority. Everything else is
on hold.” He strode across the room.

“
I can start on seeing how
the RNA is expressed,” Lisette said.

“
I’ll need to order more
tissue samples. We’ve got some already—not near enough. Go work at
that corner station. The robots will teach you the
procedure.”

Lisette ran to obey him. There was a
slight skip to her step…nothing too noticeable.

“
Lisette!”

She halted and turned around slowly.
Why did she get so cocky? She let joy make her careless.

Prax-Denay locked eyes with her. She
swallowed.

“
Good work,” he
said.

She had to fight back a smile. He said
it to her softly—and praise from hard men like him was pulling
tusks from a boar. Here she’d gotten it on the very first
day.

She couldn’t remember the last time she
was this happy.

***

There was absolutely no reason for
Prax-Denay to be so happy. The possible defect his vaccine was
causing to hybrids could be catastrophic. This was the entire
future generation of his people. Somehow he’d missed this and
allowed thousands of his people to get damaged. Jorenkis would have
a planet-wide celebration if he knew. Prax-Denay’s precious vaccine
wasn’t perfect after all.

And yet, for the first time he had the
support of a fellow scientist. She had no desire to shame him, as
Jorenkis did. It was fine for her to discover his mistake. She’d
done him a great service. Now he could fix it before any damage was
done.

Lisette was the perfect subordinate to
him. She appeared to be passionate, knowledgeable, humble, and
obedient. He found himself easily calling to her across the lab
about nuanced changes in the RNA proteins. Lisette was incredibly
keen. Her mind could go ten steps ahead to give him insights that
were not only plausible, but easily proven. Sure she mumbled and
hesitated when she spoke, but his mind was keen also. He could
usually figure out what she was trying to say before she managed to
get it all out.