Dante’s Command: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Science Fiction Alien Romance) (Survival Wars Book 1) Page 4

  “What part?” Mariella shrugged, feeling at a loss to explain. “I guess it’s the same question I’d ask an American astronaut.” He looked as though he still didn’t understand, so she was as quick as she could to expound upon it. “You’re in the same place constantly. You don’t get to eat or drink real food.” She shuddered. Partaking of their liquid nutrient system, a device which injected vitamins and minerals directly into the bloodstream, was decidedly not her favorite part of all this. “How do you keep from going crazy?”

  “How do you?” he replied in kind, but then shrugged quickly as he saw she wasn’t going to go for the bait. She sensed that, and appreciated his tact.

  Dante looked away, and then sighed. He looked down at his hands, seeming defeated. “Quite honestly, I hold on because this is all I ever wanted. Even though this is one of the lowliest positions for a male, I lowered myself willingly. I have always dreamed of this life, of defending my planet. And now I fear I will not be able to conquer my enemies as I swore to when I took my captain’s oath.

  “I know my men all feel the same way. It is our ambitions which drive us so steadily to our goal.”

  Mariella blinked at the unexpected sentiment, quite honestly taken aback. Reaching out, she patted at the back of his hand to reassure him but he flinched as though she stung him.

  That part of him still mystified her. All he spoke of as far as societal roles seemed to be decidedly backwards. A military man, and an accomplished one, yet the lowest of the low for a “male.” A Queen, with no mention of her king. And now, even though she honestly found him to be attractive despite that ridiculous outfit, he seemed hardly to recognize that she was even a woman.

  His eyes never strayed.

  His touches were always gentlemanly.

  Yet, in her half-drunken state of delirium, she often found herself wishing he would simply do something –a mile or a rejection, either one would be serviceable.

  However, for now, nothing happened.

  He left her then, standing up. “I must go check our coordinates,” he explained uncomfortably. “I will return.”

  Just as he was walking away, and she was studying his butt through these strange overalls, she suddenly realized something and called him back. “Dante?”

  He nearly flew back, and sat in his same seat as before. “Yes?” he panted, clearly exhausted just from that bit of running. A warm glow of admiration bubbled up inside her. If she tried to move like that in here, she suspected she just might die.

  “Just how exactly am I going to get off the ship?”

  Worry overtook her, more powerful than it should have been. I’m so exhausted, she thought, and resisted the urge to slip into unconsciousness.

  “I mentioned special suits before,” he explained gently. “I will show you how they work, so do not fear. And you will be able to adjust it however you wish.”

  She only stared back at him dully, not quite understanding. Gently, he smiled and then stood. “Fear not. I will protect you.”

  He strode back to his control panel like a cowboy on a mission, and she examined his butt again. Such a fine man, a shining example of a man, and for a moment she regretted just how inexperienced she was with her own sexuality.

  That must be the reason he wasn’t accepting her advances. In her addled state, she didn’t consider that it might be there was simply no way to initiate any physically demanding behaviors. And she considered nothing else beyond that.

  Leaning back against the wall, she let her eyes slip closed and nodded off as she so often did now.

  Chapter Six

  It came all at once, a brilliant flare of sunlight that slashed across space and slanted right into her eyes. Groaning in pain, Mariella put up her hand to shield her eyes and turned her head away to hide, but the light continued to hit her no matter where she looked.

  “Damn,” she grumbled, and opened her eyes. Had she fallen asleep at her desk or something? Was that why her back was so sore? However, when she looked around, the strange reality came rushing back in and she remembered exactly where she was and why, and that this wasn’t just a matter of the morning sun shining in through her window at the perfect angle.

  Still shielding her eyes, she looked out at the screen and saw that its entirety was ablaze with frothing sunlight, as brilliant white as fresh-fallen snow. And somewhere in the midst of it all was a tannish discus of shadow, which could only be Venus.

  Wait, she realized. Sunlight. And it’s so bright, so we have to be even closer.

  Light meant that at least for one moment, she could see all that which she missed before. And so she took a look around now to take in all the details which had been unavailable mere minutes before. The ship was no longer simply shifting patterns of dark and light. The keyboard buttons, though not lit up internally as they might previously have been due to Dante cutting power to save on fuel for this last leg of the journey, were various shades of orange and green. And she saw now that there actually was very little color, and most of that was with the men themselves. Their clothes, she saw now, were matte and purple, with more accents of orange and green. Truthfully, the outfits were hideous.

  But the men themselves?

  Their skin was darker than she previously thought, bordering on dusky, and their dark hair ranged from rich brown all the way to black. And their eyes were all golden as honey, though some were nearer to liquid sunlight and the others held the feel of old nectar left at the edge of the hive. Nevertheless, they were all beautiful in a way she hadn’t had a chance to appreciate until now.

  And the sight of Dante, truly the most beautiful of them all, made her loins ache.

  He approached her shortly after her awakening. “We will be home in a matter of an hour,” he informed her, and then hummed a little worriedly.

  “Is something bothering you?” she asked, rubbing her tired eyes.

  Dante glanced around at his working men, who all seemed to be revived by the fresh light, and then he nodded. “We have but only a drop or two of fuel left. I pray it gets us beneath the atmosphere, or else we will not survive the friction of the descent.”

  Part of her wanted to be worried too, but she couldn’t really manage the trouble. At best, she felt sympathy for his predicament and nothing more. Just too tired…

  As it was, she just barely managed to nod in the hopes that he would get the message. He frowned a little, thoughtfully. “Perhaps we should get you in the suit now,” he suggested. “The rest of us are very capable of dressing quickly but I feel you may need some lengthy adjustments.”

  Not knowing what else to do or if protesting was even an option –did this mean he would see her naked?- she just shrugged and then let him lead her out of the command room and down through the darkened halls. By now, she knew her way around merely by the amount of steps it took to get somewhere, and she followed him easily to a room she hadn’t quite found a use for yet.

  Looking a little grudgingly at the ceiling, she watched as Dante reached out and flipped a knob on the wall at just the slightest degree so the lights came on dimly. After the power of the sun she had to struggle to adjust again.

  He approached one section of the wall and it opened for him, far wider than the automatic door by the command room had. The entire wall slid in on itself, and Mariella saw at least two dozen hanging suits.

  To her surprise, they resembled the old scuba diving gear, with bulbous helmets and clunky exterior. “Does this stuff actually work?” she asked, brushing past him with a bit of her old curiosity. Their hips touched and he stiffened, shuffling away a little.

  “Of course it does,” he replied, sounding a little offended. “Of course, it is never wise to linger in an unfriendly atmosphere, but these are serviceable enough for short jaunts across the surface. Each is equipped with a miniature reactor,” he tapped a bulky panel placed directly over the heart, “and is entirely rechargeable once that fuel drains. But, we don’t often go to the surface anymore. We’ve not a lot of fuel left t
o replace what is lost.”

  “Of course,” she replied, and then stepped back as he reaching in and pulled one of the suits off the hook. It was made from the same gaudy, shimmering material as the Drones’ clothes, and every bit as painful on the eyes.

  Dante began to undo the various hooks and straps which held the suit together. Her eyes widened as she realized its true complexity and how many layers there actually were. As he seemed to completely unfold and disassemble the entire thing, she caught sight of wires and tubes and little mechanical parts the purpose of which she couldn’t fathom.

  When he was done and the suit in his hands was completely unrecognizable, he held it up to her. “This is the smallest we have, I am afraid. It may not quite fit you but it shall suffice.”

  “If I’m wearing one, what happens to the original wearer?” she asked.

  Dante laughed a little, seeming glad to be able to put her at ease. “He waits on the ship until we send his suit back for him.”

  “Right,” she muttered, turning her head a little to hide her embarrassment at being so slow on the uptake.

  However, Dante just grinned encouragingly. “You will feel much better after you put this on, I promise you.” He paused and then tilted his head. “May I assist?”

  “If you didn’t, I’d be here forever,” she said quickly, and truthfully.

  But, perhaps even more than that, she just wanted to feel taken care of.

  Dante nodded understandingly and then draped part of the suit around her shoulders. Very carefully and respectfully, he lifted her arms out to the side. “Keep them there, please,” he requested, and then set to work folding the suit back around her body while rehooking all the hooks and securing all the straps. The material was heavier than she thought it would be, like being dragged down by the weight of wet clothes while swimming, and she could hardly feel his hands through it. That was disappointing. She found herself craving his touch, and the distorted pressure just barely on her skin didn’t really satisfy.

  It was better than nothing she supposed, and his breath on her skin at times was even better. She shivered several times. Each time, he asked what was wrong but she only shook her head and said it was excitement.

  It’s excitement alright, she thought, fighting to keep herself under control. This would be a very bad time to get horny, especially if this thing was going to monitor her vitals like she thought it would.

  After that, she was just in a hurry for him to back off.

  Eventually he did, and then he glanced down at the helmet by his feet. “Does that feel okay?” he asked shyly.

  Taking a few experimental steps, she decided it would do. Still heavy and cumbersome, and no matter how tightly Dante adjusted the straps, it was just obviously meant for a bigger guy, but it would do. “I guess so. How does it work?”

  “The helmet has to be on,” he said apologetically. “It will feel strange and unpleasant but I assure you that as soon as it is secured, I will give you more air. You need it, and I apologize for having withheld it.”

  You should be, she thought, but deep inside she understood. He was only thinking of the remnants of his entire civilization. Soon, she would be too. Comfort was very low on the list in order of importance.

  Dante’s smiling face was the last thing she saw as he settled the helmet over her head, and the first thing she saw through the blurry front visor. He still smiled, encouragingly, and she held onto it as her breath started misting up the glass. It quickly grew hot in the helmet, her breath souring what little air was trapped within, and short jabs of panic started to jump up and down the base of her spine. The urge to start gasping was almost unbearable. What if she ran out of air in here? She couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t hear anything. What if all of this had been a trap all along and he was killing her? What if…

  Suddenly, a pure hit of oxygen filtered in her lungs. The relief was so immense and euphoric that she started gasping anyway, almost on the verge of passing out. The taste of the air was canned and metallic, and so, so sweet.

  Dante was speaking to her and she could hear him now but she was lost on a high, no longer starved of air, no longer needing anything but this brilliant moment of pleasure.

  Very gradually however, the high lessened.

  In the back of her mind, she figured that Dante was adjusting her personal atmosphere to a mixture more resembling Earth’s air, but she just closed her eyes and breathed. At intervals, her lungs and throat ached. Other times, she could hardly feel anything over the tingling numbness of her adjusting body.

  Distantly, he said, “There. How do you feel?”

  Experimentally, trying to focus now, she inhaled. Still canned and metallic, but now the mere act of breathing didn’t send her into hallucinations. In fact, she might have mistaken this air for being from Earth if not for the knowledge otherwise, and a bit of heaviness.

  “Much better,” she sighed. “Thank you so much. But if I wear it like this now, won’t it drain the power too fast?”

  “That will be a risk we have to take,” he said simply. “It should be fine. And if we must, we can hook you up to the computer for a bit of charging before venturing out.”

  Like I’m nothing more than a tool, she thought, and then sighed again. Of course she was a tool, and not really a woman. That was the whole point of this, after all.

  “If you think you will be able to make it back, I must get my men in their suits as well. Landing is going to be tricky, as I have explained, and I want everyone prepared in case of an emergency.”

  “Of course,” she replied, listening to the tinny sound of her own voice filtering through the helmet. The alien buzzed appreciatively at her, and then back away to leave her alone with the wall of suits.

  There was nothing left for her to do but to follow him back. Progress was slower now, the addition of the suit throwing off her balance and sense of placement, but she was being constantly passed by the other aliens as they headed away from the command room to receive their own protection. All she had to do was follow where they came from, and sure enough she found herself back in the control room.

  Dante was watching, waiting for her. “Come over here,” he said, laughing a little.

  Glaring as best as she could, but delighting in the sight of his smile anyway, Mariella trudged over to him. His smile only grew wider, and he reached out his hand to help her up the last few steps of the ramp.

  “Perhaps I forgot the differences in our strength,” he said, still smiling. “Are you okay?”

  “It’s cumbersome,” she admitted, but his amusement was worth it. She didn’t say that part out loud, however.

  His eyebrows drew together thoughtfully. “We do not have any extra seats in here. Each ship is built to very exact specifications.”

  “Does that mean I’ve been sleeping in someone else’s bed?” she interrupted.

  “Well, yes,” he confessed. “Mine. But that is not the issue here. Landing is not a very good time to be standing up.”

  Looking out the screen at the scene before them, she had to agree. Venus loomed large, covered with an infamous layer of poison cloud. “So, what should I do?”

  “Sit up here with me,” he instructed, and slid over slightly on his seat. It was hardly enough room for her hip to rest on, and their butts would be touching. She leapt into the chance, and cuddled herself as close to his side as she could without bonking him on the head with this huge helmet. “When we land, I will be able to hold onto you secure.”

  “What about your suit? Should I get up so you can go get it?”

  Looking around, she noticed that all the other men were dressed now and returning to their computers. The realization hit that he meant to be the suitless man chilled her a little, but she knew he wouldn’t let her argue about it. They were just strangers after all.

  “I will be fine,” he said simply. “It will delay our walk through the colony together, as I must be there to present you to the Queen, but it should be a wait well w
orth it.”

  I hope so, she thought, but very quickly there was no more time for conversation. She watched with uncomprehending admiration as Dante began to work, reaching around in front of her to tap at some buttons, so his arm brushed over the material on her chest. His fingers flew with purpose, always adept and ready.

  Clacking could be heard from the rows of men as they kept up with their captain, and very gradually the ship began to descend. It was smooth at first, with a bit of that tickling sensation in the pit of her stomach that comes when driving over the edge of a particularly steep hill.

  They entered the poison cloud, thick and strewn with debris. The clouds obscured the screen, blotting out all else.

  And the ship dropped abruptly.

  Mariella cried out in alarm but Dante had his arm around her shoulders in an instant. “Careful,” he hummed. And now his other arm flew twice as fast, as he arched his body around hers to accommodate for the sudden lack of his mobility.