United: An Alienated Novel (2 page)

Two cups of
h’ali
later, they stood in the docking station with their duffel bags planted at their feet. The shuttle was late, so they linked arms and let the hiss of recycled air through the vents fill the silence. Soon the sound of boots against metal turned their attention to the doorway, where Aelyx’s best friend, Syrine, strode into view, dragging her own duffel behind her.

Syrine offered a smile, but it didn’t touch her eyes, which were bloodshot and puffy from weeks of crying. A sympathy pain needled at Cara’s sternum. Syrine had lost her
l’ihan,
a young soldier named David, who’d served as her bodyguard and died protecting Aelyx during the attempted coup. They’d brought David’s body with them to bury on the colony. L’eihrs typically cremated their dead, but Cara had intervened for an exception in this case.

It was the least she could do.

“Shuttling to the continent?” Cara asked, because she didn’t know what else to say. She already knew the answer. Syrine was an emotional healer and more fragile than the other clones. She needed the kind of help they couldn’t provide on the colony.

The girl gave a slight nod and tugged on her ponytail in a nervous habit she’d recently picked up. “I won’t be gone long. Will you wait until I’m back before burying David? I want to be at his memor—” Her words cut off with a hitched breath.

Aelyx jogged to meet Syrine and took her pretty, heart-shaped face between his hands. There was a time when something like that would’ve made Cara jealous, but not anymore. Syrine needed a friend, and no one knew her better than Aelyx. The two exchanged a few quiet murmurs before Cara turned away to give them some privacy.

She chewed her bottom lip and stared at the cargo hold, where a cryogenic box held David’s remains. His was another senseless murder, just like Syrine’s first love, a young L’eihr exchange student who’d died in China.

So many losses. It wasn’t fair.

But despite that, Cara had hope—both for herself and Syrine—that they could put the past behind them and move forward together, stronger than before. Joining the colony was the first step to a brighter future.

And the future began today.

Chapter Two

S
ometimes after waking from a nightmare, a cloud of fear and sorrow followed Aelyx into the realm of consciousness, and he’d have to keep reminding himself that the negative emotions weren’t real. They were nothing more than a mental mirage—a trick of his psyche.

He felt that way now.

Today was the first time Syrine had spoken openly to him about David’s death, and even though they’d parted an hour ago, her grief had bled into Aelyx’s heart and lingered there like a shadow. No matter how tightly he held to Cara’s hand, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she might vanish if he took his gaze away from her. The experience had left him more than a little shaken.

It had also put his problems into perspective.

Had he really wasted one moment of his time with Cara brooding because of sex? What right did he have to complain about waiting a little longer when Cara was living and breathing, strapped into the seat beside him as they sped to their new home?

To hell with the ache in his gut. He was the luckiest L’eihr alive.

“Look at me,” he said to Cara while lifting their linked hands to his lips. When she turned her gaze away from the window, he told her, “I love you.”

Her face broke into a smile, enlivening her electric blue eyes and dimpling one freckled cheek. Her look of pure happiness intensified the pain in his belly. At times like these, she was too beautiful to bear.

“Love you more.” She nodded at the window and gave a little bounce of excitement, causing her safety restraints to squeak. “We’re almost there. Can you believe it
now
?”

Her enthusiasm prompted him to peer past her through the glass, though there wasn’t much to see. The morning sun hadn’t yet burned away the thick layer of fog clinging to L’eihr’s ocean waters, so the view resembled roiling tendrils of smoke trapped beneath glass. Still, a thrill tickled his chest when the shuttle descended into the mist. Regardless of whether he could see the colony, it was down there, and he would stand on its sandy shores within minutes.

“Funny how this is my home planet,” he said, “but you’re the one who’s been to the colony.” Aside from his visits to Earth, he’d never travelled beyond the continent’s third precinct. “Seems backward.”

Cara sniffed a humorless laugh and slanted him a glance. “Since when has anything between Earth and L’eihr been normal?”

“Point taken.”

“But don’t worry,” she said. “I think you’ll like the setup. The panel tried to blend both cultures so it won’t feel too foreign to anyone. There’s even a—” She stopped with a gasp and pressed her forehead to the window. “What’s that?”

Aelyx leaned in, following the direction of her gaze. The mist had cleared enough to reveal a shadow gliding beneath the surface of the water. As it was twice the size of their shuttle, Aelyx understood why the creature had drawn Cara’s attention. He recognized the rounded form at once, even though he’d never before seen one in the flesh.

“It’s a
priva
. They feed on microorganisms through slits in their skin. They’re very gentle, like a cross between a manta ray and a humpback whale.”

Cara breathed out in awe, and then the animal was gone as the shuttle sped onward.

Before long, something even more thrilling than an oceanic mammoth came into view: a cluster of beige islands, the largest of which showed signs of civilization in the form of tall multistory structures constructed from the same gray stone used at the capital. Aelyx pressed nearer to the glass, squashing Cara in the process.

She groaned, but there was laughter in her voice. “Guess I should’ve given you the window seat.”

“Is that it?”

“Yep.” She sat straighter, beaming with pride. And for good reason. The community was charming, at least from a hundred meters above the ground.

Dozens of paved paths wound around the buildings in a linked trail. Upon closer inspection, he realized the paths were roads with a few compact vehicles parked along the shoulder. He identified the main dormitory by its position at the center of the community, bordering an expansive park and what appeared to be a swimming pool. But that couldn’t be the case. Recreation wasn’t a priority for L’eihrs, only duty.

“Is that what I think it is?” he asked.

“If you think it’s a solar-heated pool, then yes.” She delivered a light elbow nudge. “I negotiated one full day a week for leisure time.”

“Impressive.”

Cara pointed at the barracks. “That’s called the living center. Our unit will have a bedroom and a small lounge, but no bathroom or kitchen.” She heaved a sigh. “I fought for more privacy, but the panel insisted on having communal washrooms and a dining hall because it’ll force everyone to interact.”

That made sense to Aelyx. His upbringing in the Aegis had offered him very little privacy, but resulted in close relationships between the students. “Sounds like a good compromise.”

“I’ll remind you of that at two in the morning, when you have to trek down the hallway to pee.”

Laughing, he scanned the tiny settlement and continued north to a flat expanse of unoccupied land that stretched across half the island. The soil had been disturbed in tidy rows, which indicated vegetation had recently been planted.

“Crops?” he asked.

“Mmm-hmm. The goal is to be self-sufficient.”

As the shuttle prepared to touch down on the beach, Aelyx spotted a family of
mahlay
guarding their collective nest of eggs buried in the sand. The small creatures darted nervous glances at the craft, then used their talon-spiked flippers to drag themselves into the safety of the nearby underbrush. It made him think of Vero, his house pet at the Aegis, particularly all the places the animal had buried scraps of food. Vero had once hidden a full serving of
l’ina
beneath Aelyx’s mattress. The stench had lingered for days, driving his roommates to sleep in the lobby. A pang of wistfulness tugged at Aelyx’s stomach. He wished he could bring Vero to the colony, but the animal belonged to all the students.

When the shuttle landed, Aelyx unfastened his harness in record time and rushed to the door. He jumped to the ground, grinning as the sand shifted beneath his boots, and then he immediately lifted his face to the sun. The gentle caress of warmth made him groan. He’d missed this. Manhattan in winter had been his own personal hell.

Right away, he noticed the air was different here than on L’eihr’s first precinct—humid and thick with the slightly bitter scents of salt and sea. The island trees bore a light curve, and their oversize beige leaves fanned out directly from each trunk to absorb nutrients from the air. The effect made them resemble tall shrubs instead of trees, but he supposed they were attractive in their own way. In his absence during the exchange, he’d nearly forgotten that the colors of Cara’s world didn’t exist on his home planet. It had taken him a year to grow accustomed to the vibrant greens of Earth’s trees, and now he almost missed them.

But not enough to go back.

He turned to find Cara standing behind him, watching him with a cautious expression. Clearly his opinion mattered a great deal to her.

Does it feel like home?
she asked him privately.

Truthfully, no, it didn’t. But after being away from L’eihr for so long, it felt good to stand beneath a familiar sky. That was enough. And since he couldn’t lie through Silent Speech, he told her
I’m sure it will
.

The shuttle pilot startled them by abruptly lifting off, and in the blink of an eye, the craft was gone. That’s when it occurred to Aelyx they were alone on a balmy island.

A tempting idea came to mind.

“Come on,” he said while kicking off his boots. “I’ll bet the water’s as warm as it looks.” He toed off both socks and tugged his tunic over his head, but Cara just stood there biting her lip. She was probably afraid to remove her clothes. Humans had such prudish views regarding the naked form. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” he assured her. “Besides, we’re alone.”

“Actually …” She gulped when he dropped his pants. “We’re not.”

Aelyx glanced past the shoreline to the settlement in the distance. He didn’t see any signs of life, not that it mattered. “The clones have showered together since childhood. Your nudity won’t shock anyone.” And to prove it, he shed his undergarments.

Cara’s eyes went round while her face flushed. After blinking a few times, she dropped her gaze to the sand. “I … uh … have to find Devinder so we can go over some colony business, remember?”

“Oh.” Aelyx had forgotten. It kept slipping his mind that Cara was part of The Way. Her appointment to the government had been so abrupt, and, quite frankly, bizarre. It also meant he had to obey her every command, but he refused to dwell on that small detail. “Go ahead, then.” He thumbed at the gently crashing waves. “I can find ways to occupy myself.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” she said as she backed away. “Promise.”

Aelyx waded into the water, discovering it
was
as warm as it looked. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “We have all the time in the world.”

Chapter Three

R
esisting the urge to jut out her bottom lip, Cara watched Aelyx’s glistening body slice through the waves with the same lithe movements as a dolphin in pursuit of mackerel. He made it past the breakers within seconds and set off down the shoreline to explore the northern tip of the island, where silky sand gave way to uneven slabs of stone. Clearly the Aegis had taught him to swim—quite well—but he looked more like an Olympic athlete than a vacationer frolicking in the water.

Cara wished she could join him and show him how to have fun … and maybe have some fun of her own. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt the pull of an ocean tide, and she’d never been skinny-dipping, not even in the murky lake back home.

Aelyx, the workaholic, had beaten her to it. How ironic was that?

When she finally turned away and crossed the dunes, she caught a glimpse of the ancient ruins crumbling at the southern end of the beach, and her footsteps came to a gradual halt. The piles of sand-colored blocks held her gaze, mocking her with reminders of Jaxen and Aisly, who were cloned in a L’eihr laboratory with exhumed remains from the old tomb.

Not just cloned
, she reminded herself.
Supercharged
.

Jaxen and Aisly had been enhanced with DNA from an advanced, secretive race of aliens called the Aribol, which gave them mind control, and the hybrids weren’t Cara’s only concern. The Aribol had been showering L’eihr with mechanical probes for months. Nobody knew what the aliens wanted, but one thing was clear: Even with a strong alliance, humans and L’eihrs were outmatched.

She mused that back in Midtown, her friends were getting ready for prom—browsing magazines for trendy updos and the perfect strappy pumps. She was launching a colony and worrying about an alien invasion.

Never a dull moment.

Determined to stay positive, she made her way past the dunes to the paved sidewalk and set off to find Devinder. She strode into the fringes of their vacant community and scanned the storefront signs, which were engraved with symbols for those who didn’t speak L’eihr. One shop displayed a stick figure with a needle in its arm—the medic—that was obvious enough. But the adjacent building wasn’t as simple to identify. Its sign revealed a tablet with a few lines of nondescript writing on the screen. She hadn’t seen anything like it during her time at the Aegis, so she made a mental note to request a guided tour before the first colonists arrived. Humans would look to her for guidance, and she needed to know how to direct them.

A few minutes later, she found Devinder seated on a park bench outside the living center, one arm resting on the seatback as he gazed out at the ocean. He spotted her and stood, then strode to meet her in the sluggish, labored steps unique to his generation. His gray-streaked hair was gathered at the nape of his neck in a low ponytail, and his chrome irises had lost some of their gleam, but Cara knew better than to underestimate him. He was like the Jell-O fruit salad her mom used to make—soft on the outside with a surprisingly tart interior.