Page 7 of My Alien Pirate

6

Prisoner

The smaller alien - who I thought might be a female due to her smaller size and more graceful movements - led me through a maze of corridors. Every surface seemed alive with a soft, pulsating bioluminescence that responded to our presence. It was beautiful, in an eerie sort of way. I tried to memorize our path, but each turn looked identical to the last, and I soon lost all sense of direction.

As we walked, I couldn't help but study the alien. Her intriguing crystalline eyes darted back and forth, and her bioluminescent ridges flashed in patterns I couldn't begin to decipher. Was she communicating with the ship? Or was it just a natural biological process, like breathing? The scientist in me yearned to ask questions; to learn more about these fascinating creatures. But the language barrier stood between us like an invisible wall.

Finally, Grixxa stopped in front of a circular portal the size of a door with a small window toward the top. She pressed her handagainst a glowing panel, and the door spiraled open with a soft hiss. She gestured for me to enter; her movements were alien but clear. I was supposed to go in first.

I stepped inside, my eyes widening as I took in my new surroundings. The room was... organic. That was the only word I could think of to describe it. The walls pulsed with the same bioluminescence I'd seen in the corridors, casting a soft, otherworldly glow over everything. Instead of the rigid, utilitarian furniture I was used to on Earth ships, everything here seemed to grow out of the walls and floor.

What I assumed was the bed looked like a large, smooth cocoon, its surface rippling slightly as if it were breathing. A desk-like protrusion emerged seamlessly from one wall, its surface dotted with strange, glowing symbols. Grixxa gave me a little push toward the chair in front of the desk while making more of the clicking, whistling noises.

"No need to get pushy. I get it," I responded, marching the few steps toward the seat. As I sat, the chair seemed to be alive, adjusting its shape as I cautiously sat down.

I startled and jerked a little as the seat formed around me, but I didn't want to show any more weakness than I already had in front of these aliens, so I forced myself to relax back into the strange material.

I tried to glance around nonchalantly. It was so different from the cramped, sterile quarters I'd shared with three other crew members on our ship. There, everything had been designed for maximum efficiency—every inch of space utilized, every item serving multiple purposes. It had been functional, familiar... human.

This room, while larger and in some ways more comfortable, felt utterly alien. I reached out and ran my hand along the wall, half expecting it to react to my touch. It didn't, but the texturewas unlike anything I'd ever felt before—smooth yet slightly yielding, like living tissue.

A moment later, I heard the alien woman's voice making noises then a whooshing sound. I whipped my head around and watched as the door spiraled shut followed by a distinct click. Locked in.

I may be free to move around and not strapped to a table, but I was just as much a prisoner. Anger flared in my chest, hot and sudden. I was a respected scientist, damn it, not some specimen or a criminal!

Jumping up from the remarkably comfortable chair, I paced the room, my mind racing. How had I ended up here? The last thing I remembered clearly was being thrown across the lab, sirens wailing, and the black void showing on my viewscreen on the Phoenix.

Captain Rodriguez had just given the order to initiate the sequence that would activate the Alcubierre Drive in order to get us to what we had dubbed New Earth. The FTL (faster than light) technology had finally been cracked in 2175 and was allowing us to travel so far without being in stasis. When we had gone through simulations during our training, the sensation had been disconcerting, but it wasn't jarring. Something obviously went terribly wrong.

What had happened to the others? To the ship? To our mission? We were supposed to be the vanguard, the first wave of colonists to settle New Earth. Thousands of lives depended on us succeeding. And now... now I was alone, locked in an alien room on an alien ship, with no idea where I was or what had happened to my crew.

I slumped onto the bed-cocoon, burying my face in my hands. The magnitude of my situation crashed over me like a tidal wave. I was lost. Truly, utterly lost. In all my years of training for thismission, in all the scenarios we'd run, we'd never prepared for anything like this.

But as the initial wave of despair passed, I felt something else rising within me. Curiosity. Wonder. I was a xenobiologist, for crying out loud. How many times had I dreamed of encountering alien life? And now here I was, surrounded by it.

I thought about the two aliens I'd interacted with so far. Grixxa, with her crystalline eyes and flashing ridges. And the other one... the big male. Zharrox. Despite my fear and anger, I couldn't help but be fascinated by him. The way his skin changed color, the bioluminescent patterns that danced across his ridges, those four thick tentacles that had caught me when I stumbled...

I felt my cheeks heat up at the memory. Get it together, Nova, I chided myself. You're a scientist, not some starry-eyed schoolgirl. But still... there had been something in his eyes. Something almost... human. Well, except for the suddenly elongating pupils. But when he'd reached out to steady me, I'd felt a gentleness that belied his gruff sounds and alien appearance.

Shaking my head to clear it of such thoughts, I stood up and began a methodical exploration of my new quarters. The anger at being locked up still simmered beneath the surface, but my scientific curiosity was winning out. This was a unique opportunity, after all. How many humans had ever been in an alien spaceship before?

I examined every inch of the room, making mental notes. The bioluminescence seemed to respond to proximity, brightening as I approached and dimming as I moved away. The bed-cocoon, upon closer inspection, appeared to be regulating its temperature to match my body heat. And the desk... I spent a good hour trying to decipher the glowing symbols, wondering if they were some kind of alien language or simply decorative.

As I explored, my mind kept drifting back to Zharrox and Grixxa. Despite the language barrier, it was clear they were highly intelligent. Their ship alone was testament to that—the level of technology I'd seen so far surpassed anything we had on Earth by leaps and bounds.

But more than that, they seemed to have distinct personalities. Grixxa's amusement, Zharrox's embarrassment... these were emotions I recognized, even if they were expressed in alien ways. It made me wonder about their society, their culture. Did they have families? Art? Music? What kind of world did they come from?

And what did they make of me? I was probably just as alien to them as they were to me. Did they find my lack of bioluminescence strange? My five fingers instead of their four? The hair on my head that Zharrox had seemed so fascinated by?

The thought of the big pirate captain studying me so intently brought another blush to my cheeks.Stop it, Nova!Focus on the science, not on the way his ridges pulsed when he looked at you...

I groaned and flopped back onto the bed-cocoon, which obligingly molded itself to my body. This was ridiculous. I was trapped on an alien ship, possibly the sole survivor of my mission, and here I was thinking about the alien captain's ridges?

But maybe that was just my brain's way of coping with the enormity of my situation. Focusing on inconsequential details, small things I could understand, rather than the vast unknowns that threatened to overwhelm me.

I sat up, determination setting in. I was a scientist, an explorer. This might not have been the mission I'd signed up for, but by God, I was going to make the most of it. I'd study these aliens, learn their language if I could. Maybe if I couldcommunicate with them, I could convince them to help me find out what happened to my ship, to my crew.

Rifling in my pockets, I finally found a pen. I'd never been so thankful for my weird obsession with the old-fashioned writing instruments. I went back to the desk and began sketching on my palm and my forearm, lacking any other writing surface. I drew Zharrox and Grixxa as best I could remember, noting their physical characteristics, the patterns of their bioluminescence, anything I could recall about their behavior and interactions.