A Soldier in Love (18 page)

Michelle inhaled the
sweet scent of what Serik was cooking. The scent reminded her of fresh baked
blueberry muffins. The homemade ones that mom, Amy, and her would bake on
weekend mornings. Its aroma brought back such a strong memory. She took a sip
of prasna savoring the sweet taste and the relaxing effects. Serik had told her
it was a lot stronger than her Earth alcohol but it didn’t have the hangover
effects. You could drink as much as you wanted but past a certain point it
wouldn’t do you any good. She needed a drink after everything she had been
through.

Abruptly the room spun
and she stepped backwards grabbing on to a chair. A shooting pain filled her
head. It pierced between her eyes. She groaned in pain and then just as
suddenly as the pain came it left.

It was as though
everything were the way it always was in her mind. Just like that, everything
seemed clear. The pieces all came back together. The mild headache that had
been lingering was gone. The fuzziness became something sharp and focused. Michelle
looked up to Serik who had put the skillet-like device down and was hovering
over her with a concerned look on his face.

“Are you feeling OK?”
he said coming closer to her.

“I used to be a teacher
on my home world,” Michelle blurted out, surprised by her own words.

“But you are a
solider?” Serik replied.

“I, well, before the Cabaka
came into play. I was an elementary school teacher,” she continued.

“Are you OK? Maybe you
shouldn’t be having any prasna yet,” he asked taking her small delicate hands
into his large rough ones. The concerned look didn’t leave his face.

“It’s back, my memory.
I think
it’s
all back. I mean it was back… but now
it’s really back. I don’t know to explain it. It was fuzzy but now all of
sudden, everything is clear again. The headache is gone,” she said giving his
large hand a gentle squeeze.

He smiled. “That’s
good, baby. I knew you’d get over the memory fog fast. You’re a fighter.”

He made his way closer
to the stove and he continued cooking. She sat herself on a stool and watched
him meticulously prepare their dinner.

“So, teacher?
I could see you being real good with kids,” he
called from the stove as he turned it off and finished preparing the dish.

She nodded.
“Yeah.”

“Will you tell me
more?” he said making his way over to the table.

“You really want to
hear?” she said trying to hide her surprise as she followed him to the table. She
was a bit shocked he would want to hear about her teaching days filled with
tying shoes and reading stories.

“I want to know all
about your life. I want to know everything about you,” he said as he sat the
food on the table and served them both a slice.

Michelle sat down, she
still couldn’t get over the fact that furniture on the ship made her feel like
a dwarf.

I wonder if everyone is this big on
Baat?

“You know, I want to hear
about the good and the bad too,” he said before taking a bite of his food. The
truth was he wanted to know everything about the little female that caused his
heart to skip beats. Her presence did something to him; something that he could
not explain.

Michelle took a bite of
hers as well.

“This is delicious,”
she said as she took another bite. She savored the flavors in her mouth. The
dish tasted like the most amazing blueberry cobbler she had ever had. It was
kind of strange to be having something sweet for dinner but she was getting
used to the Baat meals.

“I keep telling you,
you were starving on Redex and that’s why you think everything I make tastes
good,” he grinned.

She shook her head,
“No, that’s not why.”

“I’m waiting on the
story.”

“What story?” she
questioned.

“Your life story,” he
responded.

“If I tell you about my
life, you have to tell me more about yours,” she shot back.

“OK,” he agreed with a
smirk.

“Well, let’s start with
the good,” she replied.

She thought for a
moment before beginning. “I grew up… on Earth, I’m sure you probably guessed as
much. I grew up in the United States in a state called Utah. It got hot sometimes
but never as hot as Redex.”

He poured her another
glass of prasna and then put a piece of what looked like bread on her plate. She
paused and took a bite of the bread. It was spongy and flavorful in her mouth.
“This is so good.”

“I’ll win you over yet
with my cooking,” Serik smiled and took another drink of his prasna.

Michelle wasn’t sure if
he had to really win her, most of the time it felt as though he had already
won.

“Thank you again for
cooking,” she said warmly.

“Of course, it is a
great pleasure to cook for you. I want to hear more. Tell me more,” he
encouraged.

Michelle wasn’t sure if
she had too much prasna but she could swear his blue and golden eyes twinkled. She
shook her head.
“Really?
No one has ever been that
interested. My life was pretty boring until the Earth invasions. Not that I
mind boring anymore.”

Michelle thought back
unsure where to start. She paused for a moment then began again, “I grew up in
Utah, like I said. It was a nice place. I had two loving parents. They were
real good to me,”

“Did they have hair
your color?” he questioned.

Michelle grinned. “No,
no they didn’t but my grandfather did. I had a sister too. All of them were
light, like my squad mate, Aaron, I told you about. I was always dark compared
to them. I was always different.”

“I know about being
different,” he offered.

Michelle looked at him.
She expected him to say more but he didn’t.

“Tell me more,” he said
breaking the silence.

“I had a dog growing
up.
A pet.
Did you have those on Baat?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I had
a pet walafano.”

“What’s a walafano?”

Serik sat for a moment
with a pensive look on his face. “A very loyal creature who was not concerned
with looks.”

“That sounds a lot like
a dog,” Michelle smiled.

“Tell me more about
your life,” Serik encouraged.

“Well, my life was
pretty normal and uneventful until the Cabaka attacks. My parents and sister
loved me, so did my dog.”

“Did you have to leave
your dog on Earth?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Where
I lived dogs weren’t allowed any more. They were all rounded up and caged. Most
were either euthanized or given an injection that made them aggressive and
vicious so that they could be used in the Earth Army.”

“What do you mean?” Serik
replied with a horrified look on his face.

Michelle bit her lip
and frowned. “It depended on their
size,
most of the
smaller ones were euthanized. Things…” Michelle paused for a moment breaking
his gaze. “Things are different when there is a war. People become afraid and
take it out on others. People try to control others and control things out of
fear. Thankfully Gus had died of old age before all of that happened. I don’t
know if I could endure the thought of him being chemically altered into
something he was not.”

“But you didn’t have
weapons? Why do that to the creatures? From what I remember Earth had weapons
and resources?” Serik asked.

“We did but we used a
lot of them. I’m not sure if you know what a car is?”

“Yes, Earth cars now are
very popular on other planets,” he replied before taking another drink of his
prasna.

“Most everyone’s car
got taken away from them. Many people on Earth had much money invested into
them but money became meaningless as well. I guess a few of the cars were
shipped off to different planets in exchange for weapons. Some were taken for
use by the Earth Army. Then, the
majority were
melted
down for materials to use to build space shuttles.”

“A lot had happened on Earth.
 
A lot more than I knew of,” Serik said
quietly.

“What did you hear of?”
Michelle inquired.

“Ah, I knew it was a
place preparing for war but I didn’t know your people had gone as far as doing
all of that. I wish they would have called to the other planets for help.”

“I think Earth had a
bad experience with other planets,” Michelle replied.
 

“My people will always
fight for a good cause. That is what we do, we are natural warriors,” he offered.

She shook her head. “It
is the past.”

“You’re right, tell me
more about your life,” Serik replied a bit uneasy.

“Well, I was happy and
my parents and my sister loved me very much. I had a normal life until the wars
began.”
 

“What do you mean?” Serik
asked gently.

“Well, the Earth Army
drafted my parents. They were both killed on their missions. Amy, well, she’s
older than me. She had already gotten married… err mated as you say, to Eric.
He was a high ranking official in the army. She was in New Shanghai, across the
globe from me. I was sent to foster care.”

Michelle stopped there
feeling anxious.

“What’s foster care?” Serik
questioned.

“Never mind,” she said
coolly.

Serik raised an
eyebrow. “What happened? You know you can tell me.” He desperately wanted to
know what upset her. If he knew, then maybe he could somehow make it right.

Michelle shook her
head. “It’s not important.”

“Everything that has
happened to you in your life is important to me.”

Michelle became quiet
and took another sip of her prasna.

“OK, I won’t push,” he
said quietly. He knew not to push her. She often shut down and got quiet on
him. He knew it was part of how she dealt with things.

“Bad things happened
there and I was already angry. I was angry I had lost my parents. I finally got
a hold of Amy. She came and got me and I went to live in New Shanghai with her
and her husband. ”

“Husband?”
Serik questioned.

“Uh, her mate,” Michelle
offered.

“Sorry, my translations
are not always correct. I think it will get clearer over time,” he said lightly
tapping the small silver bulb in his ear.
“Then what?”

“Then that life was
gone and this soldier’s life began. I was angry and I didn’t want my parents’
death to be in vain so I learned to fight. Well, at that time Eric taught me.
He was high ranking in the Earth Army and he knew a lot about hand to hand
combat. He also sent me to take martial arts,” she paused. “I ran, I ran a lot,
almost as much as I did on Redex,” she finished.

Serik nodded as he
listened intently. He wanted to know everything and he felt as though he just
got a mere glimpse of her life.
 

“I got enlisted, I
taught school,
I
went to basic training at night and
on the weekend like most everyone else around me. Then Earth got attacked, I
still don’t really know what is going on with that you know? I got called in
and then for some unknown reason I got sent to Redex. Now, I’m here with you, Chef,”
she grinned.

“So…” he tried to begin
but was interrupted, “So, your turn,” she smiled.

“I don’t know if you
want to hear my story,” he said quietly.