Allies (Warriors of Karal Book 5) (6 page)

But to go to bed, might invite other, more intimate, actions, which she wasn’t ready for. All of the information she had received throughout the day swarmed around her brain like angry bees, and she needed time to process it.

“Are you hungry?” Niko asked and headed towards the kitchen. He turned on the tap and filled a type of kettle with water, which he then placed on the stove top. “I could prepare us a light meal. It’s late afternoon now, so we can eat a light snack, then I can then cook a proper meal later.”

“I’m starving,” she said, walking into the small kitchen and watching him as he opened cupboards and took out what looked like cookies, and some kind of fruit. It looked like a weird combination, but he set to work, filling two plates with cookies and a mountain of the fruit, which he peeled and diced. It looked a little like a melon, but it was harder and bright orange in colour. She’d never seen anything so brightly coloured that did not also contain loads of artificial colours and flavours.

He fetched something from what she figured was a fridge. And placed it on the table too. Then he went to the stove and took the boiling water, pouring it into two mugs, into which he then added two heaped spoonfuls of the red powder. She wrinkled her nose as the powder turned the water red, making it look almost like blood. However, the smell coming from it was wonderful, like freshly ground coffee. The type that her mother treated herself to every morning.

“There, why don’t you sit down?” He indicated one of the chairs and she did as he asked, her stomach growling in response to the sight of food. Taking one of the cookies, he placed some of the fruit on it, and using a knife, he cut what turned out to be a cheeselike substance, and placed that onto it too. He looked up at her and smiled, encouraging her to do the same.

Tentatively she took a cookie, some fruit and cheese, then took a bite of it. It was like an explosion of flavours in her mouth. The fruit looked quite bland, but it was spicy with a sweetness that made her taste buds tingle.

“I didn’t expect it to taste like that,” she said. But then she hadn’t expected it to taste like anything much. Most of the food on Earth was bland, or else tasted so artificial it was hard to trick yourself into thinking it was actually good for you. Her taste buds had been totally unprepared.

“The fruit grows abundantly where I live. So I hope you like it, because it is a staple of our diet down there. I have a friend who comes this way once a week, and he always brings me enough to last me for a few days. It stops me getting homesick.”

She smiled at him shyly. “I never expected a man like you to get homesick. I thought if you were a warrior, used to going into deep space, that your home would be wherever you were at the time.”

“No, I love my house, it’s where I’ve lived all of my life. My father owned it before me, and his father before that. It’s how we live here on Karal: we follow our fathers in where we live and what we do, what we name our children.”

“So your father was a warrior too, he went into deep space just like you do?” Petra asked, picking up another cookie.

“Yes. He spent most of my childhood at home with me; there wasn’t so much of a need to search deep into space during that time. They had found the females they needed for their generation to breed with, they were still living in the breeding house, so there was a lot of work on Karal that needed doing. The only missions for the warriors were to monitor what went on in the universe, and to find any new resources we might need. New technology, minerals that we need to manufacture our cruisers and weapons.”

“What kind of weapons do you have?” She had never seen anything on the cruiser. But she suspected, since they went into deep space, where they were bound to come across aliens who were not friendly, they must have come some kind of defence.

“The weapons are kept sealed under the tower. We have a limited amount on board each cruiser. But it is very rare that we use them. If a situation arises where we are in danger, we often run. It is much better to return to Karal with information, than to die needlessly.”

Petra considered what he said. They could almost be described as cowards, running instead of fighting. However, the more she thought about it, the more she understood that it was the most sensible idea. He was right: a dead warrior was a dead warrior, and of no use to his species.

They finished eating, and she helped him tidy away the plates, wondering what they would do now. While they worked together, she took the time to study him, to try to work out what kind of man he was. As a warrior she had expected him to be hard, but he had a softness, a gentleness about him, that did not detract from his masculinity, but it also made her feel safer.

She smiled.
Safe
was not something she would ever feel here. She had to stop thinking about him as if he was her friend, because in reality, the Karal held all the cards. They knew how to get rid of the human race; if they really wanted to, they could develop the tag in such a way that they killed off everybody except the females they needed to breed with.

While she had come here thinking that with the President gone, there would be a deeper understanding and cooperation between human and Karalian, it now became apparent that humans had nothing left to bargain with.

Yet still, when he turned to her and smiled, her stomach fluttered in anticipation. And she struggled to believe that a man such as this would ever go out of his way to destroy something. Especially something as important as a whole species.

But then, humans had always thought of themselves as being more important than they actually were.

Before he had arrived here with Petra, he was confident he could bring her straight to his home and mate with her. He didn’t think it would make any difference how willing she was; after all, that was how his father had claimed his female in order to father a child. The last generation had never made deals with other species, they had simply taken what they wanted.

And he had thought he could do the same. Certainly Petra was what he wanted. After visiting the sim, he knew exactly how to please a woman, and how good it felt to be inside one. But the sim had not prepared him for the feelings and emotions being here, with a real live woman, would evoke in him.

She made him feel weak, and yet strong, because she brought out the protective side in him. Making him remember the way his father used to watch over him and make sure he was safe, a thing he had forgotten, but would need to remember when he was a father himself.

Which would never happen if he didn’t take her to his bed.

But she looked so nervous, and he had no idea how he was supposed to put her at her ease. As he put the last of the dishes away, his thoughts once again returned to his father and their walks on the beach. His father had made him feel at ease, so naturally, as if he could read the young Niko’s mind. He looked at Petra, trying to figure out what exactly must be going through her mind.

She was on a new planet, surrounded by aliens, and not by choice, but because the Hier Ruler or the council had decided that this was the best course of action, to keep her mother under their control. He knew that was how the Karal worked, and he did not judge the council for it. The only reason that the Karal had become such a dominant force in the universe was through single-mindedness. They took what they wanted—no, that was wrong, they took what they needed. The Karal never stole for the sake of it, only through necessity.

He wanted to put her at her ease, and that would not happen here. “Would you like to go and see some of Karal now? We could take some supplies and head to the beach. It’s been a long time since I’ve camped there, we could stay the night and see the stars.” He watched the tension fall away from her. She looked at him and smiled. A smile that made his colours flow across his skin, and he found himself smiling widely too. A rare event here amongst the warriors.

“That would be amazing. If you’re sure, of course.”

Nervousness flitted across her face and once more, he wondered what she was thinking. Whether she thought he was trying to trap her, by offering her something as simple as a trip to the beach.

“I’m sure. It would be good to get out of here. Get some fresh air. After all, we are about to depart into deep space, and we could be gone for weeks. If the planet that we are heading for does not support life, we will not be experiencing any fresh air for the duration of our journey.” It sounded like an excuse as it came out of his mouth, but he found he could not simply say that he wanted to take her to the beach to make her happy. That would be giving her power over him, and he was not ready to do that.

“May I freshen up first?” she asked. Confusion crossed his face. “You know. Use the bathroom?” She indicated the door leading to the bathroom but she didn’t move that way, not until he nodded in agreement.

“Of course. Help yourself. While we’re here, I want you to think of this as your home too.” He shook his head.

Did he really mean that?
he asked himself.
Wasn’t he in charge?

“Thanks,” she said smiling brightly, and once again he mirrored her expression, his lips curling upwards, and his teeth showing, while faint slivers of silver spread across his skin.

“You’re welcome. I will pack what we need while you are … freshening up.”

He watched her walk to the bathroom, and then set about finding what food he had in the cupboards and packing it into a backpack. Then he made sure they had enough water for them to drink. He hoped if they saw the ocean and shared a picnic, it might help her relax. Because his intention was still for them to consummate their relationship today. He knew that the journey into space would be much easier if that part of their relationship had been dealt with.

She only took a few minutes in the bathroom and when she reappeared, she looked happier. He picked up the pack and shouldered it, heading towards the door. “We will travel in the same cruiser that we came here in.”

“I find it extraordinary that you can go into space, and also drive wherever you want in the same vehicle.”

“It’s a good job that we can, because to get the beach we have to clear the mountains. It’s not something that we can drive over, so we will fly.” He opened the door and left his room, with Petra following.

“So you can go wherever you want on the planet in your cruiser?”

“Yes.” They were walking along the corridor. They did not go back the way that they come in; instead, he chose the nearest exit, which took them back out into the courtyard. The cruiser was where they had left it, and he quickly lowered the ramp and they went in. He closed it and then they headed for the control deck.

They sat down in their seats, and he started the engine driving out the gates, leaving the breeding house behind and heading along the road, then out across the grassy plains. As they drove they passed a variety of animals, and Petra marvelled at them.

“I have never seen such an abundance of life.” She was watching as the
arunda
trailed across the grassland in their big herds. While above them birds flew, heading for the great lake.

“You will love the ocean too. If we are lucky, tonight you may see some
naru
; they lay their eggs on the beaches.” They were heading towards the mountain now, so he had the throttle pushed forward hard. He wanted to get to the beach in time to watch the dual suns set over the oceans. It was a sight he had not watched for so long, and one he particularly wanted to share with Petra.

There were so many memories that had flooded back to him since he had picked her up. So many memories he had shared with his father, wondrous things his father had shown him and taught him. He had returned to several times different places that had been magical when he was small enough to be picked up by the strong arms of his father.

But when you were alone, it always felt as if there was something missing. Now he had the prospect of sharing these special places with Petra, and then, when they returned from their mission, and she had a child, he would be able to share everything with his son.

It wasn’t long before they reached the lower hills of the mountain, and he pulled the throttle back, easing the cruiser off the ground. At first it hovered, but then he pulled it back further, and they rose higher in the sky until they crested the mountain peaks. Before them, in the distance, the suns were low, their rays reflecting off the vast ocean, and he saw her face light up at the sight of it.

“That’s amazing, I’ve never seen such a sight. The two suns, they circle each other, without colliding.” She leaned forward but the brightness of it was too much, and he pressed a button on the control panel. The window in front of them went darker, shading the glare of the sun.

“It’s dangerous to look at it them too closely. As they get lower, we will be able to see them reflected on the water. But for now this is the best way to look: it will save us damaging our eyes.”

“I guess our sun would be as bright as that, but the air pollution dulls it so much. I can’t imagine what it must have been like, long ago, when the skies were clear. I’ve seen pictures of it, but pictures don’t do anything justice, do they?”

He looked at her, and he realised one thing more: his views of humans, before he met Petra, had not done her justice either.

Nothing could have prepared her for this new world. Karal was vibrant, filled with so much life, so much diverse life. Because of course Earth was filled with life, but only one kind … humans. She had seen so many things in picture books, so many wonderful things that had gone from the Earth. And in some ways she had often wondered if they were just fantasies, myths and legends, not real. But seeing the animals on Karal, she began to understand exactly what they had lost.

Ahead of them the suns were setting, getting lower and lower, just as their cruiser was getting lower, heading towards the beach. The suns’ rays, although partly blocked by the shades across the windows, were casting long shadows in front of them. As Niko turned the cruiser so they were no longer directly heading for the suns, he lifted the shades, and she could see the golden expanse of sand, made red by the suns’ rays. It stretched out in front of them, pure, clean, and inviting.