Dinosaur World 6 Chapter 7

“Adhara?” I asked. “You saved Joey?”

“You bet your arse she did.” Debbie nodded, and she looked smugly over at the alien. “She was next to Joey when it happened, and she just swung around and kicked the dinosaur in the head. Honest. Stupid little bastard didn’t stand a chance, the dinosaur that is, not Joey.”

The locals looked uneasily over at Adhara, but a smile crept over my face as her green eyes only managed to hold my gaze for about three seconds before she looked at the corner instead.

Then Gerald ran in with a pair of rubber gloves on, and a litter picker and trash bag clasped in each hand.

“The hardwood,” he groaned as he hurried over to the pile of dino bodies. “My God, the scratch marks from these bloody things will never come off, and don’t even speak to me about the blood on the tablecloths.”

“We won’t.” Becka rolled her eyes as the Raven Hall worker started to grab bits of dino and fling them in the bag.

“Thank you all,” I said to the group. “Coming together to fight these things takes guts, and clearly, you’re willing to stand up for yourselves.”

“We need to fix the pantry door,” Hae-won said. “Are there any of the metal sheets left?”

“Yeah,” Mikey said. “We’ve got some smaller ones, too. We could fix them onto the door so the dinos can’t bite their way through, I reckon that’s how these little fuckers did it.”

“Sounds good.” I nodded. “Let’s get that done as soon as we can, I imagine it won’t be long until we get more visitors, and it looks like these fuckers come prepared.”

“We’ll do it,” Mikey volunteered, and he smacked the shoulders of two other young men beside him. The guys nodded, and the three of them hurried toward the lobby.

“I need a shower,” Debbie sighed as she looked down at her blood splattered dress. “I’ve got dino guts on my high heels.”

“A shower sounds good.” Hae-won nodded as she wiped dirt from her arms. “Is anyone else coming up to the room?”

“Me.” Becka raised a hand. “I’m sweating like a pig.”

“I think I might round up some folks for another lesson, actually,” Kat said as she looked at the remaining locals. “Who knows when another attack might happen, and I want everyone to feel confident enough to shoot a gun like Debbie and Mikey did.”

“Or kick a dino in the face.” I grinned as I looked over at Adhara.

“So, she’s getting locked back up now, right?” one of the older women of the group asked.

“Are you fucking serious?” I snorted.

“Hey, just because she killed a dino doesn’t mean--” another man piped up, but I handily cut him off.

“Doesn’t mean what?” I demanded. “She didn’t just kill a dino, she saved Joey’s life.”

“Probably a trick to get us to like her,” the man huffed. “Then she cuts our throats while we sleep.”

I sighed as part of the group grumbled into agreement, and more people voiced their support of keeping Adhara locked away in a room.

The alien woman side-stepped away from the locals, and she pressed herself up against the wall as she watched them carry on for a moment.

“That’s enough,” I barked, and the group went silent. “Adhara saved Joey’s life, I’m sure Harris doesn’t want her locked up.”

The red-haired doctor didn’t say anything, he just glanced over at the alien and gripped his son tightly.

“Un-fucking-believable,” I scoffed.

“Yeah, shame on all of you,” Debbie snapped as she propped her hands on her hips. “That’s not how we treat folks in this town. The girl has done nothing but help in here! Piss off with your moaning!”

Some of the group looked awkwardly at their feet, and I hoped they’d take the scolding to heart. Several of them still stared anxiously at the alien with deep distrust etched on their faces, and I decided to take Adhara somewhere less hostile.

“Adhara, come with me,” I said. “Let’s go on a walk.”

The lilac-skinned woman stared at me, and she looked unsure of what to do, but another glance at the angry crowd seemed to be all the encouragement she needed. She strode along the wall and toward the doorway, and then she hovered at the entrance to wait for me.

“What are you going to do?” Kat asked as she glanced at the crowd. “Try to talk to her?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She probably didn’t have to save Joey, but she did, so I’m thinking she might not be here to hurt us. I want to talk to her before this lot makes her all hostile again.”

“We won’t be long,” Hae-won said. “We can come back down and help with defenses after we shower.”

“Let’s shower together to save time, and be back in a quick bit,” Becka said.

The blonde grabbed Hae-won and linked arms with her before they strolled out of the dining hall, and I tried to resist the urge to stumble right after them. They’d probably be sudsing each other up real slow and giggling nonstop, and I immediately decided we all needed to take more group showers from now on.

“Who’s up for another lesson?” Kat asked the group, and I forced myself to refocus. “You can’t moan about Adhara protecting you if you don’t know how to protect yourselves.”

The group mumbled among themselves, but some of the younger ones stepped forward to talk to Kat. They seemed more focused now that all hell had broken loose for a while there, and I was relieved to see they were dedicated to defending this place, even if they were irritating me where Adhara was concerned.

I turned away from the group to leave the hall, and Debbie left with me while her heels clicked along right at my side.

“You keep an eye on that girl,” Debbie said in a hushed tone. “These bloody idiots can say what they want, but I saw it myself. Her very first instinct was to help that little boy, and she didn’t hesitate for a moment. I don’t think she’s here for anything malicious, I’ll tell you that much.”

“I agree,” I muttered as we approached Adhara. “I just want answers, anything that might be some use to us in figuring out how to stop this thing.”

“You’re doing amazing.” Debbie smiled over at me. “Just go with your instincts, love. I certainly wouldn’t want anyone else taking care of my daughter, and that says quite a lot coming from me.”

“Thank you,” I chuckled. “But I’m counting on you to take care of yourself as well as I take care of Becka. I can’t have her sprinting through shattered doors in a panic over saving you.”

“Saving me,” the older blonde scoffed. “Honey, I save myself. You just put that girl on a leash if you have to. Tell her that her mum has things figured out, and she needs to worry about her man. Okay?”

The blonde woman nudged me in the side, and I snickered at the wink she sent me before she gave Adhara a friendly smile.

“Here you are dear,” Becka’s mum sighed. “Jason will keep you better company than this lot will.”

The alien didn’t get a chance to respond before Becka’s mum headed for the stairs, and her heels clacked all the way through the lobby until she reached the carpeted steps.

“Hey,” I said to the alien. “You up for a walk?”

Adhara looked at me warily, and I heard the tutting of a few locals behind me. I didn’t bother glancing back at them, though, and I offered the alien a reassuring smile.

“Never mind them.” I shrugged. “You’re probably tired of sitting in that room. Come on, let’s go.”

I led the alien woman out into the lobby, and we started to wander up the stairs. She kept a safe distance from me as we went, and her body language seemed rigid and closed off. Her silver hair had blood dotting the ends, and she kept slowly wringing her lilac hands in front of her.

Then I thought I heard her whisper my name, and I snuck a peak at her from the corner of my eye.

The lilac woman had a focused look on her face, and she seemed to be practicing the pronunciation of my name. She said it so quietly, I could hardly hear her, but it was kind of cute to see her trying it out finally.

“That’s right,” I assured her, and her green eyes shot to mine. “You said it right.”

“Jason,” Adhara repeated a little more audibly.

“Perfect.” I smiled at the way my name sounded in her strange accent.

Then she didn’t say another word for a while, and after a long moment of silence and about three hallways, I cleared my throat.

“Thank you for saving Joey,” I said. “Even though the people here haven’t been the most welcoming, you saved that little guy. That was really great of you. He’s a good kid.”

Adhara looked over at me, and our eyes briefly met before she faced forward again.

“Can I ask…” I glanced over again to gauge her expression. “Why did you do it? Was it just because he’s a kid?”

“I did not want the young one to be dead,” Adhara said, and she showed next to no emotion when she spoke. “He is still a new life and probably does not know how to use weapons.”

“That’s true,” I agreed as we turned another corner that brought us right back to the stairs. “Do you want to head up to the attic? It’s a change of scenery from your room and the halls, and there’s an awesome view up there.”

“Attic,” Adhara said slowly, and I could tell she wasn’t familiar with the word.

“Yeah,” I replied. “The room at the very top of buildings. That’s called an attic.”

The alien repeated the word to herself quietly as we walked up the second staircase, and I couldn’t help smiling as she said it just once more like she wanted it to stick in her memory.

“How’s your leg?” I asked. “It doesn’t look like you’re limping.”

“My leg is almost healed,” Adhara replied. “It does not hurt now. We are better at healing than you alakerik.”

“We actually call ourselves humans,” I clarified. “It’s interesting to think our kind have another name to the rest of the galaxy, though.”

“This is your sector,” she said with a shrug. “You call yourselves what you like, but it is not convenient. The Alakerenician Sector is vast enough without alakerik deciding to call themselves a new name.”

“Well, I can’t change history,” I chuckled. “‘Human’ is the name we’ve kind of decided on. Are you… are you saying there’s more humans around our galaxy?”

Adhara narrowed her eyes and stared at me, and she suddenly seemed like she did not want to talk to me about this anymore.

“We are better at healing than you,” the alien stated decidedly.

“Okay,” I said and offered her a grin. “No need to brag, though, I kind of guessed that already. You did crash from another planet without a helmet on and live to tell the tale.”

“I have not told you any tale.” Adhara scowled.

“It’s just a phrase we say here,” I explained. “Never mind.”

The beautiful alien watched me with a wrinkled brow as we reached the second floor, and I couldn’t help noticing she was even cuter when she looked furiously confused. Her sharp cheekbones and green eyes were too beautiful to look away from for long, and her lilac skin had stopped seeming so strange to me. It looked incredibly soft with a powdery finish, but I was about ninety-nine percent sure she wasn’t wearing any alien makeup.

We started to make our way down the hall of the next floor and head to the last staircase, and Adhara suddenly looked apprehensive as she slowed down. I pulled open the door that revealed the narrow steps, and she held back as her eyes darted around the opening.

“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “It’s safe. There’s nothing up there, other than some junk and a few guns we left.”

“Guns?” Adhara asked. “You are taking me to the weapons room? Why?”

“I mean, that’s not the attic’s main purpose,” I said. “We’re just working to set up a decent vantage point up there. We’re securing our defenses by keeping some weapons on hand, but we’ll have someone stationed up there real soon to keep watch on the grounds. That group of… ommati almost snuck up on us today.”

Adhara didn’t say anything, and she looked almost as scared as she had been when she first woke up and saw us.

Apparently, I was making less and less progress, but just her few words about our “sector” made me determined to keep trying. If this alien knew of the existence of our species elsewhere, that was something I definitely wanted to fucking hear about, and for a minute there, she seemed to have let her guard down.

“I’ll go first,” I offered. “You can come up whenever you’re ready. But if you really don’t trust me, then we can go and hang out in your room or somewhere else. I just thought you’d like a nicer view. And some company, I guess”

The lilac-skinned woman wiggled her fingers by her sides, and I decided this nervous twitch of hers was kind of adorable.

“Hang out,” Adhara parroted. “That is what you do with the females? Look at the views?”

“Sometimes.” I smiled. “We don’t have a lot of spare time lately, but we always like spending time with each other, whatever we’re doing.”

I turned to start heading up the steps, and I kept a steady, but slow pace. When I was halfway up, I heard the boards behind me creak, and I grinned at the sound of Adhara repeating the word “attic” to herself again as she followed me.

I felt like I had made tiny breakthroughs with the alien since we all went out to her ship with her, and I wanted to keep earning her trust day by day. There was so much that we could probably learn from her, and I wanted to know everything about where she came from. Hell, I wanted to know anything about whatever she would talk to me about, even if she was just explaining what a certain dial on her control panel looked like.

I also wanted to know about the terms she used, like “alakerik” and “ommati,” and how her language programming thing worked, and whether this root language of our “sector” really was where English originated from.

Because our history books definitely suggested otherwise.

I forced myself to bite my tongue for now, though, and I reminded myself to ask questions slowly. She might get more hostile if I grilled her right away on all things alien, or even start doing that strange snarling and humming thing like she did before, and I just hoped she would open up naturally during a conversation if I didn’t pressure her too much.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I made my way over to one of the front facing windows and peered out onto the countryside. I tried to appear like I was admiring the area, but this wasn’t entirely true.

The same feeling of impending governmental doom hadn’t left my stomach, and it had been a couple days since Adhara crashed her spacecraft here. If anyone was on their way to investigate, it surely couldn’t be much longer until they got here, and I half-expected to see a parade of government vehicles creep from the woodland road any minute.

“Attic,” Adhara announced, and I spun around to see her at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed.

“This is it.” I grinned. “Maybe it’s not the most exciting thing, but come and look at the view.”

The alien didn’t move immediately, and when she did, she picked the window to my right rather than joining me at mine. She was tall enough that she could see out of the small glass pane no problem, and her silver hair fell over her cheek as she leaned forward and inspected the view. The way she pursed her lips and tipped her chin up while her head craned side to side only made me smile again.

Then I looked out at the green fields and woodlands as well, and I wondered if any of it was similar to her home planet.

“The trees are small here,” Adhara eventually said. “Earth trees are short.”

“Oh, really?” I asked. “We do have bigger ones in other countries. If you ever go for a walk in a Canadian forest, you’d be blown away by how big they get.”

The alien arched an eyebrow without replying, and her sharp eyes darted up to the cloudy sky as if she heard something above us.

“So, how are you feeling?” I asked, and Adhara finally looked at me. “About everything that’s going on? I can’t even begin to imagine how terrifying it would be to wake up in a strange room with a different species.”

The alien woman studied my face before she answered. Her intense gaze caught me off guard for a moment, but then my attention went to the strange slanting shape of her pupils, and the metallic specks that glistened in her green eyes. I found myself wondering if she had enhanced sight, similar to her language acquisition, but I couldn’t even begin to guess what she was thinking about. Too much was going on at once behind her striking green eyes for me to imagine.

After a minute, she spoke again and seemed to be choosing her words carefully.

“I do not like being trapped here,” Adhara said quietly. “I want to be back within my sector. I want my ship to not be broken.”

“You can fix it though, right?” I asked. “You just said it’ll take time.”

“I can fix it.” She nodded. “But I do not want to wait a long time in this place. The alakerik don’t like me. They had anger in their eyes and voices when they spoke about me, I know their hatred.”

“Not all the humans here are angry with you,” I said. “I like you.”

Adhara’s expression softened ever so slightly, and she glanced toward the stairs for a moment. Then she looked into my eyes again, and the faintest hint of a smile crossed her lips.

“You like me?” Adhara asked. “I expected you… humans… would assume I am the enemy. That I am evil.”

“If you are, you’re hiding it well.” I grinned. “And it’s not just me. The girls and Debbie think you’re nice, too. The others will come around, eventually, I don’t want you to think you’re in danger around them. They’re just not used to stuff like this happening. I don’t even think they’re used to the ommati, yet. Small town living.”

Adhara didn’t reply, but she peeled her eyes away from mine and slowly started to wander around the attic. She gingerly picked up the random objects that lay around and inspected them closely, and after she looked at an old candle holder, she carefully picked up a top hat that lay on one of the old tables.

“This is not an adequate helmet,” she said as she placed it on her head.

I couldn’t help chuckling at the sight at the stoic and beautiful alien wearing an oversized, velvet top hat. She looked ridiculous, but still beautiful as she sent me a stoney-faced look.

“It’s not a helmet,” I snorted. “It’s a top hat, for weddings. Men wear it to look good.”

“Then you wear it.” Adhara took the top hat off and held it out to me. “To show me how it will look good.”

“I’m not really a top hat guy,” I laughed. “I guess I should have said some men wear them to look good.”

I placed the hat down on my head to humor the beautiful alien, and she immediately cocked her head to the side.

“This looks good?” Adhara asked. “This is how you will look important on Earth?”

“You tell me,” I snickered.

I popped my finger against the brim to tilt the top hat a bit. Then I flashed her my most gentlemanly grin, and the alien’s soft-purple lips actually curled upward in a tiny smile.

“Damn,” I laughed. “So, the top hat works, then?”

“I do not know how it is meant to work,” Adhara said and kept smiling. “But I see how it looks good on you.”

“A sophisticated woman with taste,” I said with a wink, and I took the hat off and threw it back on the table. “It looked good on you, too, by the way.”

Adhara’s expression instantly went back to a stone-faced scowl, but when I laughed, I noticed her lips tense like she was trying her damndest not to smile again. Then she strolled off to the other side of the attic, and she bent down to look at the machine gun which Kat had left, and she ran a finger over the metal.

“I can’t wait to have a look at your weapons,” I said as I watched her. “From what you’ve said, I get the impression they’re way more advanced than ours. Although, that particular style of weapon that you’re looking at now is pretty fucking lethal.”

“Yes, mine are better,” Adhara said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I did not know how primitive your weapons would be. It does not make sense much.”

“Why do you say that?” I furrowed my brow. “Did you expect our guns to be more like yours?”

“I expected…” Adhara said hesitantly and straightened up. “I am not sure. I expected your planet to be able to fight much bigger.”

“Why?” I pressed as my heart began to pound heavier with anticipation as I slowly came closer to the alien. “Because if you had expectations of our planet, that means you came here on purpose. Your crash may have been an accident, but your arrival here was planned.”

Adhara didn’t answer, and she looked away from me as she continued to wander around the attic.

“I don’t know anything about your planet,” I continued. “Where exactly is your home?”

The alien remained silent, and I tried to hide my frustration, but I couldn’t let the topic slide. Not now that I was so close to reaching the answers I was after.

I ran a hand through my hair as Adhara continued to silently examine the room, and I fought the frustration building in my chest while I tried to decide on another angle. I strolled past the windows and kept half an eye on the lilac woman who was examining one of our rifles, and her expression was completely unreadable.

She didn’t seem hostile, though. She looked over the muzzle and magazine chamber of a SA-80 as if it was genuinely interesting to her, but there was a hint of something like concern that kept flickering across her glistening green eyes.

“You seem good, Jason.” Adhara finally said in a quiet tone. “I do not understand why you are good to me.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked. “Have you… have you come here to do something bad to our planet?”

“You think I came to do bad?” the alien asked, and her eyes were narrowed when they snapped to mine. “No, I am not the one who started the bad.”

“What does that mean?” I demanded and took a step closer to the pretty alien. “Why did you come here--”

“You know why,” she snapped, and she folded her arms and took a step back as she glared at me.

“I honestly don’t,” I insisted. “If you just talk to me, then I’m sure we can work this out, and maybe, you could even help Earth in the process.”

“I am not here to help the alakerik.” Adhara said through gritted teeth. “It is my duty to protect my people from those who seek to devour them. I protect them at any cost.”

“Who is seeking to devour your people?” I demanded, and I stepped close enough to feel her breath on my face. “Is it the dinosau… the ommati? Is that why they’re all showing up here? Were they starting to attack your planet, too?”

“The ommati are not attacking my planet,” Adhara growled. “The alakerik are.”

I stared into her emerald eyes while my heart continued to hammer in my chest, and Adhara looked livid now, but I mostly felt completely confused.

“What?” I scoffed. “Adhara, humans have not attacked your planet, that’s impossible. We’ve never visited anywhere other than our own moon.”

“You are lying,” Adhara said, and she took another step back from me. “The war signal has been sent, and the message has been clearly received.”

I opened my mouth but no words came out. I couldn’t form a sentence as I processed what I had just heard. There was virtually no way our planet had secretly contacted aliens to start a war. We could barely keep up with our own damn wars.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “Are you sure about all this?”

“Of course, we are sure,” Adhara said and squared her stance. “The signal of your weapon activating cannot be misinterpreted.”

“What signal?” I asked, but I felt like I understood less and less the more Adhara answered my questions. “Who sent it exactly? What weapon? Do you at least know what country?”

“It is a signal from the matter maker,” Adhara said with a frustrated glare. “You know the one. The weapon you intend to use against us.”

“The matter maker?” I repeated. “What is ‘the matter maker?’ Some kind of secret military weapon?”

“It is not a secret,” Adhara scoffed. “You all began this yet again, and now you act as if you are innocent.”

“That’s because I seriously don’t understand,” I growled and ran a hand through my hair again. “I don’t know what sent this signal, but I promise you none of us want a war with you. Alien warfare is just not something our planet is capable of enacting right now. Where… where exactly did this signal come from? Even that much information will help me sort out what the hell is going on.”

“The matter maker is stationed in between the France and Switzerland cities on your map,” Adhara snarled as she crossed her arms again and glared at me. “Do not pretend to be unclear. We know of your planet, and we know of your plans. We told you that you could not build the weapon again, but you did. It is war. We will not forgive you this time. We will beat you again.”

“France and Switzerland cities?” I stared in bewilderment. “Which of their cities? You mean countries? Because those are two completely different countries here, and I can’t imagine how they’re connected in this ca--”

My lips froze mid sentence, and I stared into the alien’s glistening emerald eyes as a wave of dawning crashed over me like a Tsunami.

Matter maker.

Near France and Switzerland.

She was talking about the fucking Hadron Collider.