I Married Amreth (Prime Mating Agency)

Chapter 5

Ciara

U nlike the previous time, I didn’t wake up with a sudden jolt of panic. Instead, I comfortably emerged from what felt like the best, most restful sleep I’ve had in ages. That didn’t prevent a brutal wave of confusion from crashing over me once I took in my new surroundings. Despite the fog that now wrapped my memory of recent events, I knew beyond any doubt that I had fallen asleep in a completely different environment. I vaguely remembered a ship, but not which one it had been.

I was now lying on an insanely comfortable bed inside what looked like a decent sized mud house. Wooden shutters covered a set of large windows. I removed the plush comforter covering me and carefully got out of bed. That movement brought back the fact that I had been immobilized previously. It was odd that I would remember that detail but not the actual place I had been held in. I made my way to the window to open the shutters. Daylight immediately flooded the room. At a glance, it appeared to be mid-morning.

Exposed wooden beams and clay walls gave the space a warm feeling. The furniture, which included a queen-sized bed, a dresser and two nightstands, was all carved in the same pale wood. Although beige, it had a slightly greenish tinge to it, like dry bamboo.

Unfortunately, the window looked out onto what I presumed to be a private garden, preventing me from getting a better idea of what was happening outside. Although still slightly worried, I didn’t feel afraid. The strangest sense of determination filled me.

It suddenly struck me that I was wearing some kind of light but demure nightgown. The fabric felt unfamiliar to me, as did its design. In the corner of the sparsely, but tastefully decorated room, a chair sat near the window with a set of clothes properly folded on top. At the foot of the chair, a pair of comfortable shoes just the perfect size for me also awaited. My cheeks heated upon realizing they added fresh undies to the pile.

I wanted to believe one of the Kreelar females provided these for me. It felt awkward that Aku might have handled it.

And yet, even as that thought flashed through my mind, with a certainty I couldn’t explain, I believed someone else, not of their species, got these for me. For a moment, I considered donning those garments right away then decided to explore the rest of the dwelling before taking any action.

I exited the bedroom to be greeted by a rather nice living area. A large couch and a chair, both made of wood with some very comfy looking beige cushions sat straight ahead from the bedroom door. To the left, a table with six chairs faced another large window on one side, and a small counter with a sink and cupboards on the other. Although this clearly served as the dining area, I couldn’t see anything that even remotely resembled a stove or cooling unit. But then, I didn’t recall seeing any type of night lamps or anything that hinted that they possessed electricity.

And yet, a part of me believed that someone had mentioned that the Kreelars were sufficiently advanced to harness electrical power. It suddenly struck me that, if they didn’t, helping them without the comfort of the advanced technology that had always been at my disposal would prove extremely challenging.

Still, I strolled over to the table upon which they left a few covered plates. I lifted the lid off the first one to find dry breads, jam, what I assumed to be cheese, cured meats, fruits, and some kind of clear juice. To my shock, right next to the plate that contained the fruits, I spotted my bracer.

My heart leapt as I greedily reached for it. Although I expected it, I couldn’t help a sliver of disappointment at the absence of any connectivity. But that didn’t make it unusable. As a member of the Interstellar Doctors Organization, I had been vaccinated against pretty much everything and anything under the sun. I also received a variety of intelligent nanobots that could detect most toxins and do quite a number on them should I find myself stranded somewhere without access to medicine.

Nonetheless, I scanned the food for any potential risk. It wasn’t wise to think that, because I had protection, I should recklessly expose myself to unnecessary bacteria. Even if my system could fight almost anything, there was nothing to be gained by putting myself through the discomfort—and maybe even the agony—of a random illness.

The green light on the interface of my bracer signaled the all clear. I took a bite of the cured meat. It tasted like a mild version of chorizo. The yellowish white slices indeed turned out to be some kind of cheese, which strongly tasted like Swiss cheese—my favorite. It paired perfectly with a bit of jam on the bread that could have been some multigrain cracker. Although slightly hungry, I didn’t settle down to eat and decided to complete the tour first.

The door near the dining area was locked. I presumed it was the main entrance. Saying it didn’t bother me to be locked in would be a lie. But under the circumstances, I could see Aku not wanting a random human to traipse around his village. For all I knew, his people hated my kind for what had befallen them.

I backtracked to the door on the other side of the living area. It turned out to be a second bedroom. The bed was a little smaller than the one I had slept in. The dresser was also smaller, leaving plenty of room for a large work desk which would be perfect for me to use as my office. The door on the back wall of the living area opened onto the backyard. It was small and cozy with tall fences for privacy. It only took me a second to realize the reason for it. They didn’t have a traditional bathroom, but an outdoor shower next to an outhouse.

To my delight, the outhouse wasn’t as rudimentary as I expected. As a field doctor, I had experienced my fair share of latrines and chemical bathrooms along the way. This one actually appeared to be linked to some sort of sewer system, which suited me just fine. It was clean, with the strangest toilet paper, almost like napkins, and a small sink likely hooked to a well system. I quickly relieved my bladder and then took a shower. A recessed shelf contained a set of towels. I grabbed one, dried myself off, and wrapped it around my body before returning inside the house. I put on the clothes that were left for me. It disturbed me what a perfect fit they turned out to be. They were comfortable, the type of durable outfit that we often wore on these kinds of missions.

I returned to the dining area and ate while assessing my current situation. The gaping holes in my memory seriously pissed me off. I should be worried about it, but a part of me felt like that loss had been expected. It was as if I had been warned beforehand, even though it didn’t really make sense.

The main question was who else had been brought here? I clearly remembered Brett Dunham and knew beyond any doubt that he would not be here. I also recalled seeing Mehreen. Having her here would be wonderful. I just wished I could contact someone off this planet to let them know that I was fine. My parents would be freaking out as they undoubtedly had been warned of my abduction by now.

Unsure what to do, I neatly packed the leftovers on a single plate which I covered and took the empty ones to the sink. Just as I was about to start washing them, a knock on the door startled the living daylights out of me.

“Come in,” I called out, my palm pressed to my chest.

The lock clicked, and then the door opened. I clasped my hands in front of me, feeling suddenly nervous when Aku’s broad frame filled the doorway. His eyes quickly glided over me before flicking towards the table.

“Good, you are ready,” he said in an approving tone. “Do not fret with the dishes. Someone will take care of cleaning up. Come.”

He gestured for me to follow and immediately exited the house without waiting for my response. I hastened after him, fascinated by the slow movement of his long, fluffy tail. It surprised me that he should have one. More advanced primates like humans and apes didn’t have tails, unlike monkeys. And this Kreelar clearly possessed an intelligence and sentience level on par with a human.

I stepped out of the house and into a rather charming inner courtyard. Within, eight other dwellings similar to mine lined the edges of the circular area. To my utter delight, a deployable field lab with solar panels sat next to the last dwelling across from my own home. Packed dirt served as pavement, although a series of flowers and small bushes adorned the front-end edges of each small residence. To our right, a tall gate restricted our access to the rest of the village. A single guard stood watch in front of it.

Like Aku, he was wearing some poofy long pants, an adorned belt, and a decorative loincloth on top. His bare chest hid nothing of his well-defined abs. Leather bracers around his wrist boasted the same dark green shade as his leader’s. The main difference between them was the intricately carved circlet on Aku’s forehead, which I assumed served to mark him as the Chieftain, or Kald , if I had properly interpreted my translator.

As we approached the lab, I recognized it as being the official property of the Interstellar Doctors Organization. Did they steal it?

“How did you get your hands on this lab?” I found myself blurting out.

“We got creative,” Aku replied in a noncommittal fashion.

“How creative?” I insisted.

A single glance from him sufficed to make it clear I was to drop the topic. Although it didn’t really matter under the circumstances, I hated working in the dark and having so many unanswered questions. It also worried me to the extent that having top notch and reliable equipment was essential in my line of work. Faulty gear meant results that couldn’t be trusted. Which in turn translated as cures that could in fact be even more harmful than the disease we were trying to combat to begin with.

But all such wandering thoughts flew right out of my head when the door parted to reveal the presence of two familiar faces.

“Mehreen! Ernst!” I exclaimed, my face lighting up as both scientists rose from the workstations they had each been sitting at.

“There she is!” Mehreen said.

While we were on friendly terms, I wouldn’t call either of them close friends. And yet I immediately rushed to her and gave her a big hug, which she happily returned. At forty-eight, the petite woman of Lebanese descent barely looked a day over thirty. She had perfect, luminous skin, long, dark-brown hair, pale-brown eyes, and obscenely long natural lashes that had me drooling with envy. She had earned the respect of the scientific community with her impressive work in immunology.

After releasing Mehreen, I turned to Ernst Wagner. Tall and lanky, he towered over me by a good head. The warmth of his embrace slightly took me aback. I knew him even less than Mehreen. From my limited interactions with him, while I wouldn’t call him cold and distant, he’d never seemed the demonstrative type. As if realizing it, he dropped his arm, and straightened before running his fingers through his short, light-brown hair. The glimmer of embarrassment in his blue eyes would be adorable if not so odd from the usually very stoic fifty-four-year-old man.

As a cell and molecular biologist, he specialized in researching the physiological health ramifications of plant chemical interactions on living tissues in animal species with a specialization in xenobiology.

“I’m pleased to see that you already know each other,” Aku said, reclaiming our attention. “It will make things easier for everyone. Please,” he added, gesturing at the meeting table in the center of the front room.

The space had four workstations on the left and right side. A large door at the back gave access to the actual lab split into three sections. One was only accessible after going through a decontamination space. Another section had two isolation suites for patients, and the last offered a variety of cages and cells where we could keep animals.

We took our seats around the table, Mehreen and I on the left, Ernst across from us, and Aku settling at the head.

“The three of you were chosen because you have the skills and right moral compass to fix the tragedy that Elias caused,” he said in a calm voice before turning to me. “As Mehreen and Ernst will be able to tell you, these devices contain all the information that you require.”

He was pointing at the computers on each workstation. Without connectivity, we would still be limited in some of the tasks we could perform and information we could access. However, these labs had been specifically designed to operate in remote areas, often for primitive species that also didn’t own this type of technology. Therefore, the local drives possessed an extensive database with almost anything we could need for cross-reference and analysis.

“If you have any questions, my people and I will be happy to answer them. You can examine Yekka, the latest member of our tribe to present symptoms,” he continued. “We have settled her in the first house right next to the lab.”

“We found a file about her in the system,” Ernst said with a slight frown. “Did you enter that data there?”

Aku shook his head. “Our friends did.”

“Are your friends the ones who taught you Universal as well?” I asked.

He gave me a strange look before nodding. “Yes, they did. But enough about them,” he added when I opened my mouth to further pry about them. “They are not the reason for your presence here.”

“You said you would answer our questions,” Ernst challenged.

“I said I would answer questions regarding the illness plaguing us, nothing else,” he retorted, his tone hardening.

Mehreen gave Ernst a look that implied that he should drop it. I also wanted to press the issue, but I realized that they had been in this lab for a while now. God only knew what had transpired in the meantime. Making waves until I had a better understanding of what was going on didn’t seem wise.

She turned to Aku. “Based on the issues your people are facing, if we had more help—”

“No one else comes,” he interrupted sharply. “The three of you is already too much, not to mention her mate. Off-worlders are a scourge to this world. We only brought you here because we had no other choice. Rest assured that we want you gone as much as you want to leave.”

“Her mate?” Ernst repeated, confused.

Aku waved a dismissive hand, clearly uninterested in deepening the matter. A part of me wished he would have answered while another really didn’t want to discuss the improbable state of my personal life with the others.

“You are free to move around this courtyard,” he continued. “We initially built it to keep the sick isolated from the rest of the tribe. Do not try to escape. We do not wish you harm, but we expect you to do everything in your power to fix what your people wrought. If you need to exit the courtyard, ask one of the guards. Note that the forest beyond is not safe. Should you venture there unaccompanied, you will not survive. Understand that this is not a game or empty threats. Any questions?”

I had a million of them. Judging by my companions’ expressions, they also had plenty they wanted to drill him about. However, a silent communication passed between us as we exchanged glances. We needed to discuss a few things among ourselves before giving him a full inquisition.

“Good!” he said, getting on his feet when we all nodded in response. “Meals will be served in the green house at 1:00 and then at 6:00. If you require sustenance earlier, simply warn the guard. His name is Enre. There will always be things to munch on in that same dwelling. May your day be productive.”

With that, he got up and walked out of the deployable building.

“What the fuck was that?!” I whispered as I watched the door close behind him.

“That was our grumpy host, Kald Aku Ebaki,” Mehreen said with a long-suffering sigh. “But it was about time you stopped napping and joined the fun.”

“How long was I out? And how long have you guys been here?” I asked.

“We all arrived here two days ago,” Ernst replied. “Mehreen and I started going through the files yesterday. This entire thing is an epic clusterfuck.”

“Yesterday?! Why was I not awakened?” I exclaimed.

“You sustained some grievous injuries on the Gladius,” Mehreen explained. “Your nanobots have been working overtime getting you back to 100%.”

“But I was fine when I first woke up before arriving here,” I argued.

She shook her head. “You were only partially mended and enjoying the effects of some pretty incredible painkillers. You would have hated being up and about yesterday.”

“I see. But what of you two? Are you okay?”

They both nodded.

“We’ve been treated very well,” Ernst said. “No one has threatened or tried to harm us. Our dwellings are clean and comfortable, and they provide us with plenty of food.”

“That’s good to hear. But are you suffering from any type of memory loss?” I asked.

Once again, they both nodded.

“They wiped our memories,” Mehreen said firmly. “There was someone with Aku on that ship, but I can’t remember who they were, what they looked like, or even what type of vessel we traveled in.”

“Same,” I replied with a sliver of frustration.

“But why?” Ernst asked.

“For the same reason that they won’t tell us where they got this lab. Whoever is helping them would get in deep trouble,” I said pensively. “As much as I wish he would open up about them, Aku is right that this is not relevant to our current purpose. But those accusations against Elias are wild.”

“Wild but true,” Ernst said with an air of disgust.

“What?!” I asked, stunned by the depth of contempt I could read on his features.

“I’ve worked with Jacobs. That man is as foul as he is ruthless. Based on my experience with Elias, everything that Aku said sounds probable. That’s why I left his team. That wretch is a leech. He passes off his interns’ work as his own. What most people fail to realize is that SS12 saved his career. He was about to lose his funding. And with so many people refusing to work with him, he was getting desperate.”

“What are you saying? You think this entire tragedy was caused deliberately? Are you accusing him of foul play?”

My stomach dropped when he hesitated. It struck me hard to see someone I held in such high esteem turn out to be nothing like the idealized image I built up in my head.

“No,” he said at last. “I doubt he would have provoked something like this on purpose. For all his faults, Jacobs is an opportunist, not an evil mastermind. He has just grown increasingly lazy with protocols, and that has trickled down to the members of his team. When we leave this planet after resolving this crisis, you realize that we’re going to walk into a major shitshow, right?”

“ When we leave, or if we leave?” Mehreen countered.

I frowned as I studied her face. “Why do you say that? You think they will harm us once they’ve gotten what they wanted?”

She shook her head. “I have sensed no malice from these people. So I don’t think they will try to hurt us, but I believe they will want to keep us.”

“Whatever for? You heard him clearly expressed that he cannot wait for us to be gone,” I argued.

“He did,” she conceded. “But they’ve also seen how the disease came back two years after Jacobs initially cured it. Their people are on the verge of extinction. In their shoes, I wouldn’t be too swift about allowing the only people able to fix it to leave, especially since they have no direct way of communicating with us if anything else happens.

I waved a dismissive hand. “The Prime Directive has already been violated where they are concerned. Following this incident, we are compelled to do regular checkups with them.”

“The three of us know that. But they don’t. And even if we tell them that we will come back to make sure everything is still fine, they have no reason to trust us.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but I’m convinced they will want us gone so that they can forget we ever existed. Time will tell. For now, we need to get back to work. I would appreciate it if you both could update me as to what you have discovered so far.”

And with this, we began our race against the clock.