Page 44 of Across The Stars
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I was more preoccupied with the fact that we’re on an alien ship.”
“Right. About that. I don’t want to get probed.”
“Do you even know what that means?”
Before Sam could answer, the ship seemed to undulate around us and my vision stretched and rippled like a slinky until I felt like I had been spinning for hours. I had never been prone to motion sickness, but even someone with a stomach made of iron would have gotten a little disoriented after so much commotion in one day. Sam immediately rolled toward the waste disposal and heaved, but her stomach was past empty at that point.
“What the fuuuu... fuck,” she grumbled into the hollow space.
I stood up, fighting the dizziness, and found myself gripping the edge of a table.
“I think I’m starting to understand how you feel,” I said. “I think we’re in a jump.”
“I hate it! Tell them to knock me out.”
“It’s only in the beginning and then it will…”
My voice trailed away when the weird sense of dizziness started to taper off, only now my body felt like it was rolling around in a crashing wave. I pressed my palms to my head and in doing so, let go of the table and curled to the floor. I closed my eyes, trying not to let my moving vision get me sick. There was only one waste bin (actually, I think it was just a bin that Samhad deemed her waste bin) and if two girls were puking into it, things were going to get even more messy.
Adventure and change were what I was looking for when I decided to go to space, but I never imagined myself on an alien craft with a giant gash in my leg crushing on ET.
21: Innifer
I opened my eyes and found myself looking up into a dim panel of light. I blinked a few times before I realized I was awake and then remembered everything that had happened. The gek. The freighter. The incredibly sexy alien that mended my leg. None of it felt real. And then the sound of a door sliding open drew my attention and reality crashed right into me. I turned my head and there he was standing in the doorway. Tall, practically glowing, and dressed in all black, only there were no glowing veins now. I pushed myself up onto my hands, finding that I was on a much more comfortable bed than the one in the ship’s med bay.
Vahko didn’t have the tight spacesuit on. I was on a comfortable bed. The ground didn’t feel like it was moving. So… did that mean we weren’t in space anymore?
He looked at me, hesitating briefly when he realized I was awake, and immediately I felt self-conscious. I wasn’t used to feeling self-conscious. Hell, my Earth job was dancing half-naked in front of drooling onlookers, but with this guy—this alien—I felt out of my mind nervous.
“Um... hi,” I said in a rough, dry tone.
My head tilted to the side as I examined him until a cool brush of air hit my neck. I lifted the blankets over my chest. I wasn’t naked, though. I was wearing a thin, white nightgown of sorts, but something about it made me feel exposed and vulnerable. Vahko just continued to watch me.
“What?” I asked.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, stepping further into the room.
I stiffened, shifting to put my feet on the floor in case I needed to make a run for it.
“I’m fine,” I answered, lying a little. I felt a bit faint like we were on a swaying boat. Rubbing my head, I said, “Where are we?”
“Sylos.”
“I’m on Sylos?” I whipped my head from side to side as if I could see the whole planet from that bedroom.
Bedroom? I was in someone’s personal quarters and scanned the slick, silver walls with haste. There were lavender lights in every corner, the bed, a work desk with a digital display in sleep mode on its surface, and some shelves that sat at strange but appealing angles.
“I’m in a bedroom,” I said aloud, standing.
I wavered on my feet, my vision wobbling. I felt like I was a hundred pounds heavier and clutched my chest, unsure what was going on. Then, I felt myself falling and gasped with surprise when a strong pair of arms wrapped around me. I wanted to jump out of Vahko’s grip, but I was woozy and completely disoriented. Without him, I was going to topple to the ground, so I reached up and gripped his arms for dear life.
His very firm, strong arms…
“Whoa,” I breathed, closing my eyes for a second to catch my balance. Opening them again, I found myself looking up into his pale, blue gaze. My vision cleared and I sunk into those strange pools, my heart leaping with excitement. “Sorry,” I whispered. “I don’t know why I’m dizzy. I don’t get motion sick.”
“You’re not motion sick,” Vahko said. “Gravity is 0.3% greater here than it is on Earth and the oxygen is thinner. Itwould be equivalent to higher altitude locations on your home planet. It may take you a few days to adjust.”
“Higher gravity, huh? So, I shouldn’t be obsessing over the number on the scale, then?”
