Page 2 of My Big Scaly Alien Naga
Only one female was important right now.Mine.
Her pod was positioned at the back, buried behind two others that had been shoved in haphazardly.Typical.These game makers didn’t see value in their victims.Just product.Entertainment.
Very few workers ever came down here.A shiver ran over my scales.I wouldn't be able to stay for very long before my muscles turned sluggish and my brain fogged up.I hated the cold.Hated the thought that my mate was kept in such an inhospitable place.
My hearts beat faster the closer I got.I didn't really know what I'd do when I got there.I'd come up with a hundred different plans and then discarded them again.Freeing her from the pod was easy.The problem was what to do after.There was no way of getting her off the station, at least not right now.I could smuggle her into the next transport ship by changing their inventory system, but I couldn't come with her.Not until I'd completed my task here.As much as I craved being with my mate, my duty couldn't be ignored.
Despite the urgency, I approached slowly.This was a special moment.Of all the ways I'd imagined meeting my mate, this wasn't it.She had no idea I was even here.It felt wrong that I was able to see her, yet she was frozen in time, so deeply unconscious that she wasn't even dreaming.At least that's what I had been told about cryosleep.There were no pods suited for nagas, so I had never experienced it myself.
I brushed a speck of dust from the glass window above my mate.
She was so tiny.
The pod was made for aliens of all shapes and sizes, and she looked like barely a child in that metal monstrosity.They hadn't even put a sheet beneath her.Her frail body was lying on nothing but cold titanium.
I focused on her face first.So unlike my own.Her skin had no scales, fur or even hair, except for a few strands of curls the colour of the night sky that were almost entirely hidden under the straps that held her head in place.
Her two eyes were closed, hidden beneath silky lids.A cute little nose stood above voluptuous lips that I craved to touch.Her colouring reminded me of the mala trees on my home world.In the fire season, they bloomed a fierce red that stood in sharp contrast to the soothing browns of their trunks and leaves.The flowers exuded a slightly euphoric scent, which is why you'd often find young nagas curled around these trees, enjoying a natural high.
I leaned closer.
“Hello, mate,” I whispered.
Her lips didn’t move, but I thought I saw her eyelids twitch.Still under.She wouldn’t wake for a while yet.The pod was keeping her in stasis.
I ran a scan.No major injuries.Cryo-burn at minimal levels.Metabolism intact.Whoever handled her prep had done it right.Rare.
Gently, I rested my hand on the glass above her chest.
“I’ll get you out,” I said.“Not just from this pod.From everything.I promise.”
Her body didn’t stir.But I imagined she heard me anyway.
A strong shiver ran all along my body, reminding me that it was time to go.I'd be back as soon as I could.And I would come up with a plan to save my mate.We'd be together, somewhere far away from Kalumbu, somewhere safe.
I ran a fingertip along the curve of the pod, then forced myself to leave.
I had work to do.
One rotation ago
I watched her every day.She always looked the same, preserved in a single moment by the cryopod.Her hair didn’t grow, her scale-less skin never changed.She seemed peaceful, the ghost of a smile playing around her pale lips.Sometimes I saw the tiniest twitch at the edges of her eyes.Was she dreaming?I'd been told it was impossible, but she was a rare species.It might be different for her.
Peritans.That's what her kind was called.
I had not found much intel on them.A barely developed species on a backwater planet in a little explored part of the galaxy.Every time I looked at her, I wondered how she got here.Peritans had space travel, but they'd barely made it out of their own solar system.Not far enough to encounter space pirates.Maybe she'd been abducted from her planet.It happened.Slavers, crazy scientists, organ traders, other criminals who didn't care about intergalactic law.
On Kalumbu Station, I was surrounded by them.My mate, innocent and beautiful in her eternal sleep, was who kept me going.
I kept my tail extended further around my workstation than I usually would.If anyone got too close, I’d feel it.But even with that precaution, I forced myself to only look at her every few clicks.I had work to do, trying to finish the job as fast as possible.No matter that my bosses refused to listen to me when I told them that I wanted out.I wasn’t known for listening to authority.
But not much longer and I would have gathered enough evidence.I’d complete the assignment as agreed, free my mate, and then it was up to them if they wanted to sack me or not.I had siphoned off enough credits to hidden accounts for my mate and I to live in relative prosperity on some faraway moon where property was still cheap.But first, I had to free her.I still hadn’t figured out the best way to do so.
My latest idea was to blackmail my employer into helping both of us escape.Right now, the exit strategy only included me, but if I withheld crucial data from them, they might budge into creating a way for both of us to leave.But for that to happen, I had to continue to work in the shadows, keeping my head down and staying focused.If I got distracted, it would take longer for us to escape.Yet I couldn't help but visit her as often as I dared.And always, always, she was on my mind, burned into my soul.
One month ago
I stared at the instructions, my hearts beating furiously.The next season of the Trials would include Peritan women as damsels in distress.
