Aeon War Read online

  “Yes.” she said, trying to put a sense of finality into her words, but surprising herself when her voice was as soft and unsure as his had been. “I have to go home. Right? I have to… go home.”

  “Right,” Gar said, nodding softly, and suddenly it didn’t matter that she was in her underwear, it didn’t matter that he could see the dark shade of her nipples. There was nothing sexy there, nothing teasing, no awkwardness. It was just loss; heavy and awful, hanging in the air between them. They had loved, and whatever was happening now, they were still in love, but she didn’t belong there, not on that planet, and he surely didn’t belong on hers.

  They stood for some time in silence, just inside the front door, neither willing to be the first to speak, mostly because neither knew what else could be said in that moment. It had run its course, hadn’t it? They were going to train her, she would learn how to kill, or at least how to survive, and then, if she was lucky, she would win and she would be sent home. She wasn’t meant for the stars.

  It was Sarah who finally broke the silence.

  “Will you be there? At training?”

  “Yes,” Gar said.

  “Good,” she said, and smiled. He returned it, but neither of their smiles had much warmth or happiness in them. Slowly, he reached up, placing his hat atop his head, and turned to pull open the door.

  “I’ll come by in the morning,” he said. “Can you read the clocks here?”

  The numbers looked different, of course, and Sarah was pretty sure they had eighteen hours in the day instead of twenty-four, but she was confident she had figured out the basics.

  “I think so,” she replied with a slight smirk. Gar laughed softly, and for a moment it almost felt like it had been for the past couple of months.

  “Six,” he said. “In the morning.”

  Of course, he hadn’t actually said six, that was what the earpiece had translated, and Sarah nodded.

  “I’ll be ready,” she said, and then added with a wink. “Hopefully.”

  “All right,” Gar said and sighed slightly. He turned and stepped through the open door, pulling it shut behind him.

  Sarah stared at the closed door for a long time, trying to fight back tears.

  Chapter Five

  Sarah was ready long before Gar came to collect her at six, a long silver vehicle parked in front of her door.

  She had been unable to sleep much the night before, a mixture of nerves and sadness keeping her tossing and turning, and she gave up trying before the gold sun had even risen, turning the black sky purple. She bathed and dressed in the clothes that had been provided, thankful the Zaytarian’s shared the same basic physiology as humans. She had taken a piece of the pink fruit to a window and watched the sky lighten. Soon there was a general bustle outside, she was in a rather large city after all, with some aliens walking, and more driving, and she saw the car; she had come to think of them as cars, even though they looked rather different from anything she was used to on Earth, pull up. She was up and opening the door even as Gar was out of the car and knocking.

  “Are you ready?” he asked, looking her over.

  “Is this okay?” she asked, holding her arms out. She had dressed in a long sleeve shirt that had a hood attached, and long pants made from a heavy but soft material she was unfamiliar with. On her feet thick socks and boots that looked remarkably similar to a pair she owned when out in the field with her father.

  “Great,” Gar said, nodding. “Very practical.”

  He was wearing his uniform once more, and he looked great as he turned and led her to the car. He climbed into the back with her, another of his species already behind the wheel. They pulled out into the slow moving traffic and Sarah could tell they were heading back toward the base where they had first landed.

  When they pulled in through the gate Sarah was shocked to see a throng of what looked like Zaytarian civilians, and maybe even reporters and cameramen gathered nearby. When the car pulled in, they ran up and peered into the car.

  “You're the first human we’ve ever had here,” Gar said, unable to conceal a grin. “Big shit,” he added.

  Sarah laughed. “Big shit indeed,” she said as she offered the crowd a short wave, and then the car was in through the gate, which closed behind them, separating them from the throng of aliens eager to get a look at her.

  They drove to the edge of the base, opposite the landing strip, where there was a low gray building alongside a field of yellow and green grass. The car pulled to a stop outside the building and Gar got out, offering his hand to Sarah, who took it as she climbed out as well. An alien in a much more elaborate uniform than Gar’s was there, and he took his hat off his head and bowed slightly, while flexing his right arm into a hook shape.

  “What a pleasure to meet you, I am admiral Hawkel,” the alien said. He was tall and thin, in contrast to Gar’s stockier frame, his skin green; there were so many skin colors among the Zaytarian’s, his hair a dark black.

  “Hello,” Sarah said. There were other aliens there, as well, and when Hawkel motioned to one he came forward; a Zaytarian built more like Gar with dark brown skin.

  “This is Captain Silas,” Hawkel said. “He and Gar will be walking you through your training.”

  “Are you familiar with firearms?” Silas asked in a surprisingly high-pitched voice that betrayed his body type.

  “Not really,” Sarah said truthfully. Her father had never been one to hunt or shoot, and they’d never had guns in the house when she was growing up. “Gar and I got into some trouble a while ago, he gave me a gun, but I’m not sure I did any good with it.”

  “She did all right,” Gar said truthfully, placing a hand on her shoulder as he looked at Silas. “She kept herself alive, at least.”

  “Well, that’s what we’re hoping for here,” Silas said, and he turned and led the way into the gray building. Hawkel went along with them, as well, apparently keen on seeing some of the human’s progress.

  The building turned out to be an armory of sorts, with rows of weapons, each of them recognizable as a firearm, but none of them looking quite like anything that could be found on Earth.

  “We’re going to teach you how to handle a few different weapons over the next few days,” Silas said, and then turned to the higher ranking alien. “Admiral, will you be joining us?”

  “At least today,” Hawkel replied with a slight smile and Silas handed out a small handgun to each of them, including the admiral. The guns were double barreled, and a small blue light glowed on the side of the gun just above the trigger. Silas took a moment to show Sarah where the safety was, and then instructed her not to release it until they had arrived at the shooting field. Then he led the way outside, to the grassy field next to the building.

  Sarah could see now that targets were set up at the far end of the field, and there was a cement block about waist high where they all lined up. Silas stood on one side of her and Gar on the other, but her lover; or was that estranged lover, seemed content to defer to the weapons expert, and it was Silas who taught her the grip she should use, and the stance she should take. Then it was time to shoot.

  Green bolts of energy erupted from the end of the double barrels, which surprised Sarah, for though she had seen energy-based weapons Gar’s own rifle had fired metal slugs.

  The targets at the end of the field were metal and shaped roughly human shaped; or Zaytarian and even Aeon, and they seemed impossibly far away. As the male aliens around her began to fire Sarah took a deep breath, held her pistol up, and squeezed the trigger.

  Her first shot went wide, sizzling through the air a foot off her target, losing altitude as it finally hit the ground near the end of the field, splashing against the grass and lighting it ablaze momentarily.

  Gar must have seen her panicked stricken face, because he laughed and leaned over.

  “Don’t worry, it burns out quickly,” he told her.

  She looked at his target, saw that he had hit it almost directly in the c
enter, a black scorch mark smoldering. It made her even more determined, and she took aim again. She grit her teeth and fired once more, and her green bolt of pure energy slapped against her target, a little low, a little left, but on the target, and she had her own smoldering mark, even as Gar added another one to his.

  They fired for some time before Silas called out for them to stop. They walked out to study their targets, with the three male aliens spending a lot of time looking at Sarah’s. They nodded to one another, and Gar turned with a smile.

  “Not too bad,” he said.

  Next, they went inside the squat gray building once more, and through a door Sarah hadn’t noticed before, near the back. She found herself in a smaller room, but with only Gar and Silas, the admiral having excused himself after their shooting. The room was furnished sparsely, with a cushioned bench along one wall and a thick white mat on the floor in the center of the room.

  “Hopefully you kill any Aeon before he gets close enough to touch you, but we think it best if we teach you some hand-to-hand combat as well,” Silas told her.

  Gar walked away and took a seat on the bench, once again deferring to the other Zaytarian. “Do you have any experience with martial arts?” Silas asked her.

  “No,” Sarah replied truthfully.

  “That’s all right. You have such a thing on your planet? Hand-to-hand combat?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Sarah said. “But I’ve never fought anyone in my life. I slapped an ex-boyfriend once, when he wouldn’t leave my house…” Sarah said, trailing off as she looked to Gar, who smirked as he watched her and her words were translated in his ear.

  Silas seemed amused, as well. He nodded his head and stepped forward.

  Over the next two hours Silas showed Sarah various sparring techniques, and reversals and holds if she was accosted. When they were done she was drenched in sweat, as was Silas, and Gar, who had helped later in the lesson, teaching Sarah what to do if she was challenged by two beings.

  “There’s a shower through here,” Silas said, pointing at another door which opened up into a small locker room, with an open space in the corner where four showerheads sat, two in each corner wall.

  If the Zaytarian males were shy, they didn’t show it, stepping into the room and stripping down. Sarah was determined to act as though she belonged, having gained a feeling of general toughness and badassery from the shooting and sparring.

  She kept her eyes down, aware that both her lover and the other alien, who was so similar in build to Gar were nude and joking with one another as they moved to the shower area. They took two of the showerheads on the same wall, leaving the other side for Sarah, whether on purpose or without even thinking about it, Sarah didn’t know.

  She undressed, pushing her sweaty clothes into a chrome box on the wall. She had learned from staying at the home in the city was a washing machine which worked much more quickly than any washer and dryer on Earth. By the time she was done showering her clothes would be cleaned and dried, and ready to be pulled from the box. She shut the door and pressed a green button on the front, and the box began to hum.

  She walked to the shower, unable to keep from looking the two aliens over as they washed, facing away from her. Their backs were muscular, their butts tight. Each had long hair which fell a bit past their shoulders. Sarah looked away and stood under a shower head. There was a small dial beneath the head and she turned it, pressed it so that hot water sprayed out. There was a small jug of soap she upended into her hand, and began to wash herself.

  She was standing directly under the falling water when she felt hands on her hips, making her jump. She turned to find Gar there, Silas having showered and left the tiled area, already dressing.

  “What are you doing?” Sarah breathed.

  “I love you,” Gar said. “I’m not sorry about that. I saw you here, and I just, I wanted to come tell you. You’re beautiful and I love you, and I’ll come to Earth with you.

  “You can’t,” Sarah said, shaking her head. She glanced over Gar’s shoulder and saw that Silas was dressed and leaving the room, smirking as he glanced over to them. The water was beating down against Sarah’s back, steam filling the room so it was almost hard to see Gar even though he was less than a foot in front of her.

  “I could,” Gar said.

  “No one on Earth knows about… life on other planets. The government. Someone. They would take you.”

  “Then stay here with me. Help me end this. Help us all. And then stay with me. Be my wife.”

  “Wife?” Sarah asked, unable to keep her mouth from hanging open. “Gar. I have a family. And friends. My father.”

  “We could get him. Bring him here, too. He’s a geologist, yes? He would love to study a planet he didn’t even know existed. Sarah, I cannot live without you. I understand that now. I’m sorry that this has all… You have had your fill. I understand that. But I can’t let you leave me.”

  His hands were still on her hips, and his body was close, and the hot water running down over her backside, sliding between her legs was contributing to her arousal. She did love Gar, she knew that. He had saved her time and time again, he had done everything he could to keep her alive. He had come to save her when all hope seemed lost when she was held captive by the Aeon’s.

  And god, he got her going. She stepped closer to him, so their bodies touched, both wet and hot. His erection was throbbing as it pressed against the bottom of her tight tummy. His chest was hard and muscular as she let her slick fingers run across it. His own thick, large hands found her chest, pinching her nipples making them hard and sensitive.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Sarah said breathlessly, and when he opened his mouth to answer she shut him up by pressing her lips against his. She let her tongue slide into his mouth, and he responded enthusiastically, sending electric shocks of passion through their bodies.

  By the time they left the shower the steam filled the room, even by the changing benches. They were satisfied, sexually at least, and neither was willing to ruin that feeling by bringing up what was going to happen after they stopped the Aeon’s. Sarah retrieved her clothes from the chrome box and pulled them on, watching Gar do the same from another box against the opposite wall.

  They left together, arm in arm, Gar dressed in his uniform once more, her in workout clothes.

  “I can stay with you tonight,” Gar said as they climbed into the back of a waiting vehicle, different from the one which had brought them here.

  “Okay,” Sarah said, and then she couldn’t help but smile.

  Chapter Six

  Gar spent not just one night, but every night with Sarah after that first training day. They made love each night, sometimes more than once, but they never spoke about the future again.

  Sarah’s training continued, learning new guns in the morning, and new hand-to-hand techniques after. She learned to fight with a staff, and a sword. It was rudimentary of course, only five days total of training, but it really might be enough to keep her alive if she couldn’t depend on Gar for any reason. They could be separated, or he could be injured. She didn’t want to think it but her brain snuck it in anyways. Or killed. This was a war, she had to be honest about such things. She could even be the one to die. If it came down to that, she needed to make sure she stopped the Aeon’s first. She had to destroy their weapon. She wanted to save Gar and his people.

  And she hated the Aeon’s. She thought about Henry nearly every day, about how he had used her, how he had influenced her mind to take advantage of her. She had made love to him, all because it was what he had wanted, and whatever an Aeon wanted, they got. He had violated her mind in order to violate her body.

  It was nice having Gar around, but they were both obviously tip-toeing around the future. There could be no future, they were both very sure of that, and so the whole time they were together they had an air of bittersweet hanging over them.

  And even with Gar there, Sarah could not keep from worrying about what the next few
days would hold. She would be taken to space once more. This time straight to the Aeon home planet. Where she would… do what exactly? Use her crystal to stop them? That was all she knew. She was sure they would fill her in long before she ever found herself on a ship, but she wished they would hurry. Not knowing and letting her brain fill in the blanks by itself was worse than just knowing what was expected of her. She could think of all the horrible things that could go wrong, and all she could do was hope the real job wasn’t as bad as the one in her head.

  Four days after Gar began to live with her; though he was gone for most of the day, having stopped coming to her training sessions in favor of his own work, whatever that may be, instead of heading straight to the armory and firing field, Sarah was driven to the other side of the military base, near the landing field. Gar had left early that morning, before she had even woken. She was surprised to see him standing near the door of a silver and blue dome-shaped building.

  “Come on,” he said, when she looked to him with an eyebrow raised, and without another word he stepped inside, leaving her to follow. They entered a massive room that was built somewhat like a few of the lecture halls she had gotten to know from her brief time in college; circular, raised along the outside with a series of benches facing a central point. At floor level was a long table with ten chairs, eight of them currently taken. A handful of other Zaytarian’s sat on the raised benches. Every one of the aliens were looking at her as Gar led her to the table.

  Admiral Hawkel sat at the head of the able, and the only open chairs were directly to his right and left. Gar took the chair on the right, waiting for Sarah to sit in the one on the left before he himself sat down.

  “Now, we may get to work,” Hawkel said, smiling at the Earthling.

  “I’m ready to be done with this,” Sarah said, stopping herself before she could finish the sentence and looking to Gar. She was going to say that she was ready to be done with this all. But she felt as though that would hurt her lover, and even thinking the word, as homesick as she was, she wasn’t sure. She needed Gar. She had pushed him away, but it had been the wrong thing to do. She needed him, and she wanted him. He would help her get through this.