Faer’s Command: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Science Fiction Alien Romance) (Survival Wars Book 3) (3 page)

            “Mind if I take a seat next to you? I would love
to look at the stars like this.” They nodded, and she slid into the crystalline
chair beside them, surprised at how the seat itself was oddly soft in contrast
to how it seemed to be made of a hard mineral. “What is this material?” She
asked, pressing a hand into the seat and giving it a little press. “It looks
like the same stuff that your ship was made out of, but it's...soft? I don't
understand.”

            “It is a polymer that was created by my people,”
Faer explained. “It is malleable, and responds to outside stimuli to form
whatever it needs to be to adapt.” Anne Claire nodded silently, and figured
that was probably the best explanation that she could get while still grasping
the concept, however vaguely she had managed to do so. “I do have a question
for you, Anne Claire.” She turned her head to look at them. They walked over to
the other side of the ship's interior, opening a storage closet and pulling out
a familiar red plaid blanket. “What is all of this for?” Faer asked as they'd
laid out the blanket, exposing her kettle, thermos, telescope, and journal
bundled within.

            “Ah.” Anne Claire flushed. “Remember the hill
near where you landed?” They nodded. “I like to go out there and look at the
stars from time to time,” she explained. “It's nice to get out and get away from
everything and just sort of...I dunno, relax and take in the universe, you
know? It's peaceful.” She shrugged, trying not to let her face flush too deeply
and failing spectacularly.

            “I do something similar with my observatory at
my home,” Faer spoke up quietly after a moment of contemplating her words.

            “Oh?” She tilted her head. Faer nodded as they
gently pressed a few buttons on the pilot console. The buttons were not
physical, rather a holographic display that did not come to life until Faer's
hand hovered over the panel.

            “Yes. The stars have always calmed me, even when
I was very little. Travel is usually heavily restricted for me with the job
that I have, but I travel to different planets and systems whenever I am able
to.” they explained, fingers sliding and flicking along the display to look at
different things that Anne Claire couldn't decipher. “I have witnessed
countless beings come and go on several planets, your Earth included,” they
hesitated after a moment, hands stilling from their graceful movements. “You
are the first from your planet that I have truly spoken to.”

            “Truly?” Anne Claire said, surprised. “So you've
just kind of...what, been a silent observer or something while you traveled to
different places?” Faer quirked their head in thought, eyes shifting into a
deep violet color.

            “Not...not intentionally,” they finally said
after a pause. “Ordinarily, I land somewhere isolated and sufficiently
distanced from a major settlement to keep suspicion low. By the time I would
encounter a local that I could converse with, I was already blended in with the
crowd.” Faer hummed thoughtfully, and the noise sounded akin to their native
language to Anne Claire's untrained ears, but no less soothing. “I have spoken
to others many times, but none cared to know what to call me. They were
normally too distracted with their own lives or something else than the
stranger in front of them. It is the one thing that has been a constant, no
matter what planet I travel to, no matter what system that planet is in.” They
looked away uncertainly. “This is...new to me. I am uncertain as to how I am
supposed to behave.”

            “Just be yourself,” Anne Claire said with a
shrug. “That's all anyone should ever be,” she grinned. “If it's any comfort to
you, this is the first time I've ever spoken to a stranger that's whisked me
off of my planet, so this is new to me, too.” Faer laughed, the sound melodious
and smooth and it warmed her heart in a foreign and unfamiliar way that she
couldn't explain. “Why...why
did
you take me, anyway? Why do you keep
saying that I'm, 'needed?' What is it that I'm needed for, anyway?” She asked
with a tilt of her head. She vaguely wondered if they would even tell her yet.

            “I will not lie to you, Anne Claire,” they said
after another contemplative pause. “My people may be highly intelligent,
incredibly advanced, and capable of traveling greater distances than most other
races, but we are in grave danger,” they stared ahead, into the stars whizzing
past their observation panel. “Within the last lunar cycle, an illness has
swept through my people. Many have developed it, but it is not contagious, and
it has baffled even our best doctors.”

            “What could I possibly do for them, then?” She
countered, a deep frown marring her features. “I've only studied how to help
humans. I can't even help another species from
my
planet, let alone a
different one.”

            “There is a phrase that your species has that I
have taken a liking to as time goes on,” they replied easily. “that it is
beneficial to, 'get a fresh pair of eyes on the problem,' to find a solution,”
if they were going to elaborate further on what they meant, they shifted and
wrapped their hands around the pilot controls. “Ah, we are nearing my home,”
Faer noted, tapping on the holo-screen in a few more places. “I will take the
ship out of warp speed, and we will land soon.” She wanted to press them on
what they were referring to with the crisis of their people, but figured that
it would be better to hold her questions until she was able to have something
in front of her to study; the more information she could get at one time, the
better.

            “So should I just...buckle in?” Anne Claire
asked, mentally and physically bracing herself as best as she could given that
there was no seat belt built into the ship. Faer tilted their head.

            “I am not sure what that means,” they admitted,
and she did her absolute best not to panic. “But it is as I promised you: you
will not be harmed, Anne Claire.” She opened her mouth to inquire further, to
ask what they meant by her not being hurt when there was nothing to stop her
from being hurdled forward when the ship's speed shifted, when she saw the
stars that had been streaking past them suddenly return to their singular dots
that pierced the blackness of space, and a large planet looming ahead of them.
She blinked in surprise; the shift, to her, had been little more force than
someone accidentally nudging past her in a crowded space. Astrophysics might
not be her strong suit, but she knew that it shouldn't have felt that way.

            Faer took manual control of the ship, guiding it
toward the planet and entering its atmosphere. As they neared, Anne Claire took
in the planet itself, its purple sky and lilac clouds lazily circling in its
atmosphere, and found herself in awe of the strange parallels it had to Earth;
where Earth had blue skies, blue water, and greens and browns swathing the
world, this planet's water was so deep a purple it resembled an amethyst, its
land masses filled with blues and silvers, and she wondered how it looked up
close.

            The ship zipped into the atmosphere with little
difficulty, and soon they were coasting over a wide expanse of the deep mauve
waters. Anne Claire silently took in the view in awe, resisting the urge to
press herself against the clear window of the ship. They neared a coastal cliff
consisting of sapphire stone, and perched at the highest point was a humble
building that she had to guess was Faer's home. The structure was a soft orange
and popped against the contrasting colors of its surroundings.

            As they drew closer, she noticed that it had a
flat area for the ship to dock beside it, and Faer skillfully parked the ship
in the center of this, 'parking space,' for lack of a better way to put it in
Anne Claire's mind. She stood once the ship was completely stationary and
walked over to where her, 'stargazing kit,' was still laid out on the floor and
bundled everything in her blanket, the same way that Faer had collected
everything.

            “We have arrived,” Faer said, rising from their
seat. “Come, I must make accommodations for you inside.” Anne Claire nodded,
and together they exited the ship. She wondered how the ship was protected from
the elements here, but a glance up at just the right angle revealed the hexagon
patterned shield that encased the landing pad, answering her unasked question.

            Faer led her inside of the home, and she found
herself breathless once more. The humble little building hid a deep expanse of
a home, with several floors, almost as many hallways, and more rooms than she
could probably count in one evening.

            “You have spacial anomaly technology?” She
asked, her eyes wide as saucers. Faer looking approvingly at her.

            “I am impressed that you grasp the concept,”
they complimented her. “Now, you must be incredibly tired, so I will help you
get settled into a room.”

            “But,” this was probably the worst time to
mention anything from her life that she was plucked from, but she
did
have responsibilities that she couldn't just abandon. “What about my cat? My
house? What will happen to them? I don't-” ah, there was all that panic that
she should have been feeling. It all hit her at once, the idea that she was
innumerable kilometers from home, where everything she ever knew was, and the
weight of it all nearly made her sink to her knees. The only thing that held
her up was Faer's long, gentle fingers lightly stroking her cheek. She looked
up at them, their comforting smile, and felt some of the fear that gripped her
heart lighten.

            “I assure you, it has been handled.” They let
their hand drop and motioned for her to follow them. “When I ventured into your
mind to learn your language, I saw other things, things from your life.”

            “Like what?” She asked hesitantly. She wasn't
sure how she would take Faer finding something embarrassing out about her past.

            “Nothing overtly private – just things that you
had been idly thinking about. Your cat, Momo, your home, your vehicle. While
you were sleeping, I made sure that your vehicle was returned to your home, and
that there was a way for you to tend to your feline friend.”

            “Oh?” She asked as they came to a stop in front
of the door at the end of the first hallway that she had seen walking into the
house.

            “Open the door,” they gestured to the
holo-screen that acted as a door control. She hesitated a moment before lightly
tapping the display. The hydraulic hiss of the door opening was so quiet she
almost didn't hear it, but that detail was largely lost on her in light of the
sight in front of her.

It was her house, exactly as she had left it.

            Every detail, down to the mail that she had
brought in and tossed onto her kitchen table was exactly as she had remembered
it. She slowly stepped into the space, eyes darting around to desperately try
and find that one little detail, that one missed thing that would shatter the
illusion but was unable to find it. She nearly jumped out of her skin when
Momo, her little tuxedo cat, hopped onto the table and meowed at her. Slowly,
she inched closer to her faithful companion and reached a hand out to pet him,
expecting him to not be real. But her fingers settled into his soft fur the
same way that they always did, and he purred just as loudly and leaned into her
touch the same way he had done since he was a kitten.

            “I brought Momo here,” Faer explained. “I
ascertained that he would require care in your absence, and that his presence
would ease your transition here.” Silently, she pressed her face into Momo's
soft fur and sighed, the familiarity of his warmth comforting to her. “The
remainder of the space is an exact replica of your home, constructed by the
memories I saw in your mind. Everything here is physical, and everything is as
you remember it, even if it is not out in the open.”

            “I have another question,” she said, looking up
at them without pulling away from Momo. “How am I breathing right now?”

            “Our atmospheres are comparable,” they said
simply. “It is the same reason that I could breathe without assistance on
Earth.” She nodded.

            “Well.” She smiled sheepishly as she
straightened herself. “Welcome to my humble abode,” she said with a sweep of
her arm. “It's not much, I know, but it's a good enough place to keep my books
and rest my head,” She set her bundle of things down on the table, watching as
Momo took to batting a single white paw at one of the corners of her blanket.
As she set aside her thermos and kettle, she took in the way the Faer moved
around her, 'home,' transfixed as they reverently stepped around the, 'house,'
as if they were taking in a lost ruin of a civilization they didn't understand.
When her cat let out an inquisitive meow from his perch on the kitchen table,
Faer practically floated toward the handsome tuxedo cat with a grace that was
literally otherworldly to Anne Claire, and she drank it in. “I know you already
know his name, but I suppose a formal introduction is in order.” She giggled.
“This is Momo, my trusty cat. He's friendly, I promise-” her usual warning of
her cat's usually skittish nature died on her tongue as Faer brush Momo's nose
with a finger, and then, seemingly satisfied, bent to his level on the table,
emitting a low purr almost exactly akin to a cat's. Momo, having evidently
registered Faer as, 'fellow feline and therefore acceptable company,' he
nuzzled Faer's face with the gusto and enthusiasm normally reserved for when
she would offer him wet food.

            “Momo is nice. I quite like him,” Faer said as
they straightened with a decisive nod. “He is afraid of loud noises. When the
other humans come in, they can be loud at first. He hides from the noise. If
they were quieter, however, he would be more social with them.” Faer smiled at
her, pleased to have translated for her pet.

            “Huh.” Anne Claire blinked stupidly, wondering
how she had not connected the dots herself sooner. “That makes so much more
sense.” She shook her head. “Even though this is your house technically, I
should still be a good hostess around here. Can I get you anything?”

            “I am alright. Perhaps you should rest. We can
show you everything in the morning.” She nodded in agreement when she realized
how physically
tired
she was. After she walked down the hallway of, 'her
house,' to where her bedroom would be, she found herself pleased that it was
also the same, cozy place that she had left. Silently, she crawled into her
bed, nearly sobbing at the way that it felt just as soft and lived in as her
real mattress, and wrapped her familiar feeling covers around her. Faer sat on
the edge of the bed with such a light touch that she genuinely wondered if they
were just floating above the mattress. Momo trotted in after a few moment,
hopping onto the bed and curling around her feet the same way that he did every
night.

            “I must confess, this is the closest that I have
felt to another being,” Faer smiled affectionately, eyes shimmering sapphires.
“You are very adaptable, and you have been kinder than most have been to me. It
is refreshing,” they rested a hand on hers, peeking out from the blanket.

            “Ah, I'm usually too shy to really talk to
strangers, to be honest, but you...” she shrugged lamely when she couldn't find
the words to explain how she felt. “You seem to be able to read me very well-
mind reading powers notwithstanding,” they both laughed at her lame joke. “I'm
not used to being understood so easily by a complete stranger. I,” she
scrunched her face up in thought. “I don't think I've ever felt this way about
anyone.” She paused a moment, debating on whether it was considered polite to
ask about abilities that are beyond her comprehension before finally deciding
that it was worth the risk; Faer had been accommodating, if nothing else. “I'm
wondering something,” she said, pulling the blankets back from her face enough
to properly face Faer without having to peek at them from over the edge of the
blankets. “Can you learn how to communicate with any species just by touching
them? Is that all it takes? How does that work?” Faer tilted their head as they
pondered how to answer.

            “It is...not that different from what you
described, admittedly.” They started, and Anne Claire nodded, eager to
understand all she could about this new world she had been introduced to. “I
learn how to speak to you, in the way that you understand best, by telepathic
touch. It is how my kind can communicate safely with anyone we encounter, no
matter where we go.”

            “That sounds so useful,” Anne Claire sighed. “I
can speak a couple of languages, but it look me years to learn. To think that
you can understand an entire language in an instant...” Faer nodded.

            “It has helped me navigate places and cultures
much easier than I would have without the ability. Like I said- I have never
spoken to another at length, and never about my species or that I am from
another world, not even on other planets where interplanetary travel is
commonplace. No one ever bothered to try and understand me before. This
is...nice,” something akin to sadness tinged Faer's smile, and she felt the
undeniable urge to try and chase it away with something less somber, to try and
make Faer feel happy again. Now that she felt so much more familiarity with
Faer, she felt desperate to see them smile without that melancholy that she had
been so used to experiencing for so many years as she stared up at the stars.

            “It's nice for me, too,” Anne Claire added,
perhaps a little too quickly. “I've been so used to having to put on a face for
so long, having to deal with the public and act like this person that I'm not,
it's taken a lot of time away from being able to be with people that I can just
be myself around.” She curled into herself from under the blankets. “To be
honest, I had almost forgotten what it was like to just be myself in front of
someone else. To confide in someone like this,” she swallowed her tears. “It's
nice to have a friend that makes my heart feel so light.”

            “A...friend,” Faer said, testing the word on
their tongue before nodding slowly. “...Yes. A friend. Someone to confide
in...perhaps find something deeper with,” they reached forward and took her
small hands in theirs. Warmth, both internal and external flooded her being,
and even without that contact between them, Anne Claire felt something stronger
than friendship in that moment- affection, solidarity, curiosity,
want
all rushed through her veins with every hammering of her heart, and it didn't
take long to realize that the feelings were intensified because they were
reciprocated by Faer; the connection between them was like a completed circuit,
feeding into itself. “I, too, know how it feels to be alone among those like
myself because of my career and the expectations that come with it. I have
always relished in traveling and meeting new people,” they sighed. “Travel is
not forbidden, but it is heavily restricted from scientists and doctors because
of how desperately we are needed. I can travel only so often, and only for so
long for each trip but I try to make the most of my time wherever I land.” Anne
Claire squeezed their hand as a show of comfort. “This...this is the first time
that I have felt so understood in a very long time.”

            “I can sympathize,” she winced at the way her
voice cracked with raw emotion. “I've always wanted to travel to places that
humans haven't gone yet, but it was always a hobby, a pipe dream compared to my
work as a doctor. I've always felt like I was meant to travel the stars someday...”
she trailed off with a pathetic sniffle. She stifled a hushed gasp when Faer
raised a slender hand to tenderly brush away a tear that had managed to escape
from the corner of her eye. She blinked in surprise; she hadn't even realized
that she was crying until that moment.

            “You feel tired,” Faer said. Although it wasn't
a question, Anne Claire still nodded, vaguely guessing that, because they were
holding hands, Faer could feel what she was feeling to at least some degree.
The days events, as exciting as they may have been, wore her out physically,
and the sensation of finding someone who
understood
her on a very deep
level was so overwhelming her soul just begged for her to sleep and recuperate
from remembering what it felt like to be cherished. “Rest,” Faer gently lifted
the blankets and tucked them around her. “Tomorrow is a new day, and with it,
we start helping my people.”