Forbidden Love (6 page)

The stars help him. He did not want to leave her.

Without warning, a sudden and dangerous noise yanked T’Kon from his sexual stupor. He sensed peril approaching. In a rapid-fire move, he raised his palm. A copper arch flashed and shimmered before them revealing the entryway to his concealed spacecraft. He dragged her inside. Tapping a pad the opening closed leaving them hidden behind an undetectable shield.

Chapter Six

“What’s happening?” Maya questioned and then trembled.

He could hear the confusion tainting her words and sense her alarm as she followed him. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth gaped open as she took in the interior of his spacecraft.

“I apologize, Maya. I sensed danger. I had no choice.”

T’Kon placed his hand on the console and opened the view screen to see the outside surroundings.

She gazed at the monitor and her eyes grew wider still as she witnessed military aircraft from her world flying low overhead. “How did you know they were coming? I didn’t hear anything.”

“I can hear sub-sonic sound before it arrives.”

“Well, that’s handy.” She almost smiled. But then she said, “Can they detect us? Will they find us?”

He shook his head and deliberately omitted part of the truth, thinking it best not to send her into a panic. “Your militia’s sensing devices only showed an unknown anomaly, a glitch. We appear invisible. But,” he said, his voice full of concern, “if I do not repair this vessel soon, the cloak will fail and without the necessary repairs I cannot attain liftoff.”

He did not tell her when he opened the hatch the cloak was down for a split-second. According to his sensors, detection had occurred. The reconnaissance jets indeed contacted their base and from what he knew about Terrain, their militia would be upon them in full force, and soon. “I must make haste,” he said.

“What are you going to do?” she asked her voice shaky.

“Fix it.”

After sliding his body into a compression suit and grabbing a
Phase Fuser
from the tool wall, he bent down and removed a vent cover exposing the crawlspace. He peered inside. As he had suspected, the Particulate Eradicator had disengaged from its fitting. This caused a propulsion system misfire, rendering the stabilizers offline and pushing him into the Terrain atmosphere.

Moments before he fell from the sky, he had encountered a cloud of dust-ridden debris. This fossil fuel residue had caused the Eradicator to break. Unbelievably, pollution from the Terrain world triggered the malfunction. It should not have happened. The debris should have sifted properly without damaging the system.

T’Kon stood up and turned toward Maya, who watched him with intense eyes. There was no time to reflect on his next decision.

“Listen to me Maya, I need your help. It will make the repairs go faster.”

“Of course. Anything.” She walked toward the crawlspace. “What is it you want me to do?”

“I am going to enter here.” He pointed to the opening. “And you are going to come in behind me.”

“Okay...” She sounded hesitant.

“I will show you what I need you to do. The little piece of metal prized by you and your father is going help me return home.” He paused to look at her. “Are you all right?”

She nodded.

He slid in, feet first. “Just stay close and crawl forward.”

Breathing rapidly, Maya entered the vent space, following T’Kon. Everything seemed surreal, as if she were in a floating dizzying dream. “Titanium—the metal is called titanium.”

He glanced at her from his prone position and smiled. “If you say so.” He continued edging further inside.

Looking up he said, “We are here.” He rolled onto his back and released a mechanism on a square panel over his head. A conglomeration of strange looking wires and tubes in various colors dropped down landing near his chest. He probed the tangle.

“Ah, here is the culprit.” He took two broken ends, “I need you to hold these while I fuse them together.”

She did as he asked, taking the tubes in hand. He placed the pendant between the two ends. Using a tool that looked like a screwdriver, he pointed it at the pendant. A thin, blue laser-like light blasted the titanium. It quickly changed shape. The words stretched then disappeared as the titanium fused itself onto both tubes and then locked in place. “Is it hot?” she said, “Can I touch it?”

“No, it is not. You can touch it if you like.”

She ran her fingers over the smooth metal that had once been hers, now secured solidly around the tube. “That’s remarkable,” she said. “Who would have ever thought a simple piece of jewelry could fix an advanced alien spaceship?”

“It is most often the simplest things that solve complex problems.” He tilted his head back and looked at her. “Thank you, Maya.”

Once they were in the main compartment, he faced her saying, “It is time for you to leave. I have scanned the perimeter outside the craft and all is clear. But you must depart quickly. Your window of opportunity is diminishing.”

“I’m not leaving.” She shook her head with a vigorous motion. “I am not getting off this ship.”

He took a step closer. Lifting his hand, he lightly touched her. “Yes you must.”

“No,” she said, her voice cracking.

He sighed and a rumble rose in his throat. “As I have said, I cannot take you with me.”

She left his side and stared at the external viewer. “I know too much about you, T’Kon.” She blew out a long breath and shuddered. “When my government finds out I’ve been in contact with an alien they will hold me in confinement and interrogate me to no end. We can’t even get past fighting amongst ourselves and killing each other. Did you not know that? Of course, you do. You’ve scanned us quite thoroughly, I suspect.”

In a soft tone, he said, “There is beauty here as well. And yes, my first impression of your world was of a paranoid and warring species. But you changed that.”

“They won’t leave me alone,” she continued. “I carry a trace of your DNA inside me now. Did you forget about our lovemaking?”

“How could I ever forget?”

She turned to him. “You’re as much to blame for this as me. We engaged in unprotected interspecies sex. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“You are correct. It should not have happened, but it did. Know this—there is no way I could have harmed you. I have a proactive immune system. That means my species is antimicrobial. My body killed any parasites or harmful bacterium on both of us.” He paused, squinting through his slanted eyes. “Implantation could not have occurred because of our different evolutionary paths.”

“Oh for god’s sake, T’Kon.” She glared at him. “I’m not worried about being pregnant. I know that’s impossible. And I’m not concerned about any bugs you might have transferred to me either.” She quieted to let her anger subside. “Quit pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “This is a difficult situation. You do not understand what is out there. And again I say you would perish on Asconage.”

“Don’t you roll those icy eyes at me, damn it. What makes you think I couldn’t survive on your world? I live in a desert. I’m a reptilian specialist. And I guess you know I’m not exactly accepted on my world either.”

He said nothing, only stared at her his arms hugging his body.

She searched his astonishing face. “You—you have changed everything in my life.” She stood mere inches from him. Her hands caressed his chest. “I’ve changed you, too. I can feel it. You are just too stubborn to admit it.”

“Do not do this, Maya—” Before he could finish, warning alarms blared and glowing green lights circled in a thin line around the whole interior of his ship.

T’Kon raced toward the control panel and frantically pushed on pads and switches as she stood by watching.

“What’s happening?” she squealed, her pulse pumping and fear overtaking her.

He didn’t answer but continued to push on the controls. He gave her a quick, worried glance.

“What is it, T’Kon. I have a right to know.” She strode toward him and peered over his shoulder as if she could figure out what the hell he was doing.

“A number of systems are failing,” he growled. “I can only guess at what is wrong.”

“Does that mean we’re not invisible anymore?”

“Yes, Maya. We are visible and I cannot achieve liftoff. As you would phrase it, there is still something wrong with my
damned
ship.”

“Are you saying we are sitting ducks?” She lurched forward feeling nausea invade her stomach. “Fuck! What are we going to do now?” she screamed.

“First of all, we are not going to panic,” he roared, as he walked to a far wall and yanked off a panel throwing it aside. T’Kon had found himself in tough situations in the past but never with an alien female onboard his vessel. Tension rose in him as he calculated probable solutions. The screen’s sensors revealed troops just visible over the horizon. They were in fact, how did she say—
sitting ducks
.