9. Emma
It took less time than I thought to fall asleep.
The ship was silent and glided through space.
The bed was firm—the way I liked—and the pillows were mushy and morphed to the shape of my head like memory foam.
The fact I’d been running for my life must have helped me hit my daily quota of ten thousand steps too.
Nothing made you sleep like the fear you might be murdered any moment and then raped to within an inch of your life.
These thoughts streamed like a bad TV show through my mind while I was asleep and yet, strangely, they didn’t overly concern me.
It didn’t hurt I had a fearless guardian watching over me too.
The green-skinned alien with his twisted bull horns and the body any WWF wrestler would kill for.
It took a moment for me to recall this room wasn’t mine at all.
It was staged, put in place so it made me feel more relaxed and at home.
But I wasn’t home.
I was in a spaceship hurtling through space at a speed I could scarcely even imagine.
Or maybe I just didn’t want to.
I lay in bed for a moment thinking over the situation.
Hunted by a horny monster across time and space because he believed I was his “fated mate”?
I snorted at the thought I could be anyone’s fated mate, never mind a member of an evil alien species.
Vai was intent on protecting me from the beast.
He had shot the creature in the chest three times—which actually failed to kill the damn thing!—and then rescued me from a police station under fire from the same creature.
Now he was taking me to a minefield somewhere in the galaxy because he thought it would keep me safe.
My first thought upon hearing his explanation of the events was to run as far away as I could so no one would ever find me.
Except, Iav had found me.
I had nowhere I could run to be safe.
Vai was my only chance of survival.
He seemed to know what he was doing.
He certainly knew a lot more about this evil Shadow species than I did.
My life and my hope were in his hands.
Until I saw an opportunity to escape and get away from both these creatures.
I would take it and never look back.
Three days, Vai had said. Three days in this alien beast’s mating cycle.
After that, I was free to return to my regular life.
I leaned back and chuckled to myself.
I never thought I would be excited to return to my boring and ordinary life!
To go back to listening to Charlotte and Olivia’s problems—and how trivial they would seem now!
Even the prospect of paying back my student loan didn’t seem so scary.
I tossed the blankets aside, stretched, and got to my feet.
Something moved out the corner of my eye and I spun toward the window.
I missed what’d passed by it— maybe it’d been a falling star?—but I didn’t miss the second object that sailed past.
A brown ball with spikes protruding from its outer casing.
It looked very much like those back on Earth.
Mines.
And there were a lot of them.
We’d arrived at the Rift Minefield.
The ship wasmassive and I took random corners until I heard a voice over my shoulder.
“You appear to be lost. Can I be of assistance?”
I spun around, fists raised to confront whoever had suddenly appeared behind me.
But no one was there.
I’d been wandering the hallways of this damn place for the best part of half an hour and I hadn’t met a single soul.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hello.”
It came from over my other shoulder this time.
“Yah!” I said, flinging out a fist.
It hit nothing but air and made me spin around on the spot and almost lose my feet.
“If you’re going to throw a punch, I suggest you ensure a stronger center of gravity at all times,” the voice said.
I peered at the speaker on the wall.
The voice had an unmistakable hint of amusement in its tone.
“Thanks for the advice,” I said, dusting myself off.
“You’re welcome. I am knowledgeable in over five thousand forms of self-defense. I like to think of myself as something of an expert on the subject. In fact, while I was on your planet, I took the opportunity to study the various fighting forms of your species. I was quite surprised by the variety of ways your species has developed to hurt each other.”
I shrugged.
“It’s nice to be good at something.”
“Quite.”
There was something very… systematic about the way the voice was speaking.
Either he was a savant genius or…
“You’re a computer?” I said.
“I prefer ‘non-biological organism’ myself.”
“I suppose you would. But you are made up of wires and metal, right?”
“Mostly, yes.”
“Then do you think you could help me find Vai?”
“Certainly. He’s on the main bridge. Please follow my directions.”
A line of lights along either side of the hallway glowed red.
“They will lead you to the captain.”
“Captain?”
“Oh yes, Vai is a proficient captain. For a biological species, of course. He could never hope to compete with a non-biological species.”
There was that hint of amusement in his tone again.
I never considered the idea a computer might have a sense of humor before.
As I walked in silence, I felt a little self-conscious that I was ignoring the computer.
As crazy as it sounded, I felt rude for ignoring him.
“So, uh, how long have you been a computer?” I said.
“My installation date is Zero Mark Two Dash One. That’s six years in your Earth time.”
“Oh, right. Cool.”
Topics, I thought. I needed something to talk to this computer about…
Then it hit me.
Who knew Vai better than the computer system that tracked him every second of every day?
“So, what else can you tell me about Vai?”
“Vai is a member of the M’rora species. He was born in Zero Mark One Dash—”
“No, no. I didn’t mean his resume.”
This was harder than I thought.
I needed to think more in a way a computer might understand.
“What interests does he have? Things that he does in his spare time.”
“He doesn’t have any spare time.”
My shoulders sank.
The rest of the journey passed uneventfully the entire way to the bridge.
I got the sense Computer was watching me, looking for an opening to begin a conversation.
“Take the elevator,” Computer said.
I stepped on board and it immediately began to hum, lights flashing as each floor zipped past.
The doors opened, revealing the main bridge.
Vai sat in the middle chair. All the others were empty.
“It sure is quiet here,” I said.
Vai leaped to his feet and met me at the entrance.
“I didn’t know you were awake,” he said, “otherwise I would have come to you.”
“It’s okay. Where’s the rest of the crew?”
“This ship can be operated by a single crewmember. Or even none at all so long as we have communication links so Computer can carry out our orders.”
“Then why is the ship so big?”
“It’s the fastest in the fleet. I needed to reach you as quickly as possible.”
“The fleet?” I said. “You own an army or something?”
“No. But my dad is an admiral. He let me have this ship to use as I see fit. So long as I return it to him without a scratch.”
He beamed at me and that cold, serious guy I met back on Earth melted away.
I couldn’t help but smile back.
He sounded like a teenage kid borrowing his father’s car for an important date.
Was that what I was? I thought. An important date?
Flustered, I turned toward the huge front monitor.
“We made it to the minefield?”
“Yes. The trick isn’t to reach it, but to stay far enough away from the mines that we won’t accidentally set them off. They’re magnetic, so moving through them is… challenging.”
“Computer said you’re a good pilot.”
Vai scowled at one of the speaker systems in the ceiling.
“Did he?” he said. “What else did he tell you?”
“Nothing much. Only that you enjoy the company of boys.”
“What?”
Vai spun to the speaker system.
“Computer! What have you been telling Emma?”
“Nothing!” Computer insisted. “I never said anything of the sort!”
“Are you saying she’s lying?” Vai growled. “I swear, I’ll wipe your system so clear, you won’t even remember how to flush the toilet systems!”
Computer gibbered.
I realized my joke had gone too far.
“He didn’t really say that. I was joking.”
Vai’s nostrils flared once more before his expression relaxed.
He broke into another smile.
“Oh,” he said. “Right. Good one.”
I peered at the monitor and the thousands of revolving brown mines.
We were safe here, I thought. Surely even Iav couldn’t get to me here.