Sixteen
Kara staggered backwards in shock, the needle still sticking out of her neck. The alien followed, spouting his gibberish, and she swung a fist at him. He ducked out of reach but weirdly, he didn’t look angry. More exasperated.
She went to draw her blaster and he grabbed her wrist, spinning her round and twisting her arm up her back.
“Get your filthy hands off me!”
She struggled violently and the syringe fell from her neck. The spot where the needle had entered was itching like crazy. What the fuck had he just injected her with?
She clawed at his arm with her free hand and snapped her head backwards, catching him on the chin.
He roared a string of words she could only assume were expletives. The itch in her neck expanded to fill her whole head. The pain was blinding. It was as if a swarm of hornets had taken nest there.
Spots danced in front of her eyes. Her mouth filled with saliva and she retched, drool running down her chin. Her stomach was too empty to do any more.
Using what strength she had left, she drove her free elbow into what she hoped were his ribs. His tirade stepped up a notch.
“ Zalah vaneish drek, halakt tai, fhitnil mada gar some of the most advanced technology we have so stop fighting me, you ungrateful Terran.”
Kara stilled.
“ What did you just say?”
“I said this microbial translation compound is some of the most… wait. Can you understand me now?”
The alien released her from his grip and Kara spun round to confront him.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“The compound is working.”
“The stuff you injected me with… that helps me understand you?”
“You have been infected with modified micro-organisms that have migrated to your temporal lobe where they will thrive indefinitely and…”
“You infected my brain with bacteria ?”
The alien frowned. The human seemed angry again. Perhaps this was her default setting.
“The microbes convert speech vibrations from your auditory senses into language which your brain can comprehend.”
“So basically, they’re translating what you say.”
“Yes.”
Kara narrowed her eyes.
“And you have them too?”
“All Vraxian combatants are given the compound. How else are they to understand the enemy?”
“So you’ve been able to understand me all this time?”
“Naturally.”
Damn. So all the times she’d called him snake-boy or threatened to kill him…
A more important thought struck her.
No-one knew the Vraxians had technology like this. Earth didn’t have technology like this.
Did that mean Vraxians could listen in to their military communications? Could the microbes be used to decipher coded messages? This was highly sensitive information. The SDF had to be told.
Except they were light years away.
She tilted her chin to meet the alien’s gaze.
“What’s your name?”
He hesitated.
“Vraxian names are long. They denote family heritage and status.”
“Give me the short version.”
“You can call me Vahn.”
“I’m Kara.”
The Vraxian nodded gravely.
“Kara.”
The word rumbled from his lips and somehow resonated in her bones. Just like the word he’d used when he’d… her mind shied away but it lingered like a whisper.
Kalehsha.
The memory brought warmth to her cheeks and she turned away abruptly to hide her confusion.
“So, Vahn, we need to make some decisions. I think it best if you stay here, since your ship is right outside. I’ll go find another part of the planet to live on.”
“You are suggesting we split up?”
“We can’t stay in the same place, can we? We’re at war.”
“Interesting. You believe we can’t put aside hostilities and yet you treated my wounds.”
Kara shrugged.
“Only because you saved me from those dog creatures. On Earth we repay our debts. So now we’re even and we can go our separate ways.”
“This is a desolate planet. Our chances of survival would increase if we stuck together.”
“We can’t,” she snapped. “You’re an enemy of my people. It’s treason to help each other.”
“And yet we already have,” he said mildly.
She had no answer to that. Suddenly exhausted, Kara sank down onto a boulder. Her head was still throbbing and the back of her neck ached. It was hard to think.
A canister of water appeared in her vision.
“Drink,” said Vahn. “You are dehydrated.”
“We need to ration these.”
“I require far less fluid than you. Drink.”
Kara raised the canister to her mouth and took a gulp. It was only half full.
“How many left?”
“Just that and one full one.”
“And the rations?”
“The disgusting mulch you call food? Four packs.”
Kara’s heart sank.
“Shit. We’ll run out in two days.”
Vahn squatted so his face was more on a level with Kara’s, though she still had to look up at him.
“I think we need to acknowledge that in order to survive, we must, for the time being at least, go against the laws of our respective planets.”
“What do you mean?”
“That we put aside our combatant status and declare a truce.”
“Impossible.”
“Just until we are rescued.”
“ If we’re rescued.”
“Indeed,” he said gravely. “ If we are rescued. Until then, a truce. Between a Terran and a Vraxian. The first one in two decades.”
Kara hesitated. Her mother would not approve. Hell, her mother would probably be the first one to insist on a court martial. But what choice did she have? Vahn was right. They had few supplies and even fewer options.
On the plus side, he was big and strong. He might come in useful against some of the dangers on this shitty planet.
And if she found she no longer had any use for him, she’d end the arrangement.
With extreme prejudice.
She held out her hand. Vahn looked at it, as if wondering what she was doing, and she took hold of his fingers.
“On Earth, we shake hands when we make an agreement,” she told him. His yellow gaze bored into her.
“I see. So we are agreed?”
“Yes. A truce.”
For now, she added under her breath.