Dinosaur World 6 Chapter 5

The lilac woman was already out of bed, and she sat with her back against the wall by the window. Her emerald green eyes glistened from the metallic flecks in the irises, and she tilted her head a little to the side.

She was twice as galactically beautiful as I remembered, and I swallowed hard, closed the door behind me, and reminded myself to behave very calmly.

“Good morning,” I said in a gentle tone.

Adhara only blinked, but then she seemed to perk up when she noticed the food.

“Breakfast.” I held out the plate of food toward her.

To my surprise, the alien woman stood up, and her long legs unfolded to show the stitches on her wound had held up well. She still hadn’t put her pants back on, though, and I forced myself not to look at her silver panties as she stepped toward me. Then she slowly reached out her hands, and I held my breath as she took the plate from me.

I smiled in what I hoped was a friendly way, and Adhara nodded once before she picked up a bit of toast and made her way over to the bed to sit down.

This was going incredibly well.

“So,” I said and leaned against the wall. “I was thinking about it earlier this morning, and it’d be best if we did something about your ship.”

“Ship,” the alien repeated.

“Yeah, your spacecraft,” I offered and then pointed to the window. “We need to move it, or else it’s either going to get taken away or destroyed.”

“Why will the ship be destroyed?” Adhara asked, and I tried to hide my excitement at hearing her first question.

“Well,” I hummed. “The dinosaurs might step on it, or someone from our government might come and take it away.”

“Your government are cruel,” Adhara said as she picked up her second slice of toast. “Do not take my ship. It is mine.”

I couldn’t help but grin at how cute her accent was, but she frowned when she saw me smile.

“I want to help,” I tried to explain. “That’s all. How can I make sure your ship is protected? Is there any way to guard it better? Or even move it? I know it looks pretty banged up, but any way of hiding it would be a good idea. Trust me on that.”

The alien stared at me as she chewed, and her silver freckles shone under the bright hotel light. Then she swallowed and licked her soft purple lips.

“My ship has the hereia shield,” Adhara said. “I activate it. Will be safe.”

I took a minute to process what she was trying to say.

“Hereia shield… you mean like a forcefield?” I asked. “You can activate that to protect the ship?”

“Yaaah,” Adhara said. “Activate the forcefield and there will be no destroying. The moving, I do not know. I must study it. Probably no move.”

“Okay.” I nodded and grinned with relief. “Then let’s do it. Let’s get that forcefield up today and check things out.”

Adhara looked caught off guard by my offer, and she furrowed her brow severely as she stared at me.

“Maybe you can finish up your breakfast first?” I offered. “You should take a shower, clean that wound up, and then we can go out and have a look.”

“Shower,” she repeated.

“Yeah, the water that washes you,” I explained. “It’s in the next room, and we usually--”

“Yes, shower,” Adhara interrupted, and she nodded like she suddenly understood the term. “You will help me with the ship? Why?”

“I guess because that’s what we do here.” I shrugged. “We help each other out.”

Adhara pursed her lips and went back to nibbling on her toast, and since she didn’t look at my face anymore, I figured I would give her a moment to eat.

But I wanted to ask about the dinosaurs, and the portals, and why she had come to Earth. There were so many questions in my mind, but I didn’t want her to think I had only offered to help in exchange for information. I wanted to ease her into the topic, and so far, the conversation seemed to be going really well.

“Where are the females?” The alien asked after a few minutes, and she glanced at the door.

“Kat’s downstairs,” I said. “She’s a soldier, so she’s showing people how to shoot guns, in case any dinosaurs try to break in. I don’t know if Hae-won and Becka are up yet. They were sleeping when I--”

“They all wish to mate with you?” Adhara interrupted, and she seemed more curious than confused. “They seek your attention. They smell of you.”

“Oh, uh…” I awkwardly shoved my hands in my pockets. “Well, I guess you could put it that way. We’re a family, so we really love each other. I… seek their attention, too, and we all enjoy being with each other.”

There was a knock at the door to save me from the uncomfortable stare of the alien, and then Hae-won and Becka appeared with their rifles swung over their shoulders. Both girls looked fresh faced and well-rested, and their hair was wet from their shower.

“Morning,” Becka said in a light tone. “How are we doing?”

“We’re good.” I grinned. “Adhara was just telling me that she has a forefield on her ship that she can activate.”

“Good.” Hae-won nodded calmly. “We can protect it from being stepped on.”

“You would help the ship also?” The alien asked as she looked the girls up and down. “Because all you are family all together?”

“Something like that,” Becka said with a friendly smile. “So, you like the name we came up with?”

“Adhara,” the alien said, and she seemed almost proud as she spoke.

“I think it suits you,” I said. “It’s pretty.”

I didn’t know if aliens blushed, but I could have swore her skin turned a darker purple as she looked back down at her food. It was good to see her at ease, and not flinging herself up against a wall every time I moved, and another little burst of excitement popped off in my brain.

“Kat’s lesson is still going,” Becka suddenly told me. “But we’re trying to put more defenses up today, right?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’m not exactly sure what to do, but I think we should start by putting a proper barricade at the front entrance. It’s locked, but that won’t stop a massive tail or flying dino from crashing through.”

“We should make a schedule for look outs, too,” Hae-won added. “To take shifts in the attic.”

“Let’s get to work.” I nodded. “Then afterwards, we can help Adhara get her forcefield put up.”

“Sounds good,” Becka said, and she sent a quick wave to the alien. “Enjoy breakfast, we’ll see you in a bit.”

I was impressed by how calm the girls were considering how excited I was to finally communicate with the alien babe, but they made their way back into the hall at a completely normal pace, and I smiled at Adhara before I followed them.

The second we were in the hall and the door was locked again, though, Becka suddenly gripped my arm so tight, I hissed in pain.

“Holy shit, you’re doing so well with her!” the blonde Brit whisper-squealed.

“Yeah, I can’t believe how much more calm she seemed,” Hae-won said through a huge grin.

“I mean, I’m not surprised,” Becka clarified. “You’re the most likeable man I’ve ever met, but holy fucking shit!”

“Yesssss,” Hae-won agreed, and I narrowed my eyes at both girls.

“Hold on,” I whispered. “You mean I’m not the only one flipping out about this? Because you both seemed shockingly calm in there.”

“Yeah, we’re girls,” Becka snorted.

“We can pretend to be fine,” Hae-won chuckled.

“Damn.” I glanced between the two. “That was impressive.”

“Thanks!” Becka smiled and grabbed my hand so we could head downstairs. “So, she has a forcefield for her U.F.O? That’s awesome.”

“That technology must be amazing,” Hae-won groaned. “I want to look at it.”

“Me, too.” I grinned. “If we can build her trust enough that we get to fly in it, then I can die happy.”

“Preferably when we’re not being abducted, though,” Hae-won laughed.

“We’d probably all fly right into the mouth of a t-rex,” Becka snorted. “Unless the forefield thing works whilst it’s moving, I suppose.”

When we reached the lobby, the smell of morning coffee still hung in the air. I could hear Kat’s voice as she carried on with her lesson, and I looked down the hall at the double-door main entrance that was locked.

“So, we need something big and heavy,” I said. “Or at least a bunch of stuff that we can build up. There wasn’t really much in the attic, was there?”

“Nothing big enough.” Hae-won shook her head. “What about in the kitchen?”

“We could get some of the appliances,” I said with a shrug. “Something we’re not using. Maybe some of those freezers in the pantry that we use to block the staff door.”

“Those need to stay plugged in,” Becka said. “They’re full of wedding cake. What if something goes wrong, and all we have to survive is that cake?”

“Can I assist you?” Gerald asked as he came out of one of the cleaning cupboards holding an iron.

“You don’t need to speak like that.” Becka smirked. “You’re not on duty anymore, mate.”

The Raven Hall worker wrinkled his nose and looked slightly offended by the remark.

“We’re going to make a barricade for the main entrance,” I quickly explained before Becka could accidentally piss him off any further. “Do you know anything we could use to do that?”

“Hm,” Gerald sniffed. “There may be something of use in the basement. We were due to have some refurbishments done before all hell broke loose, so there is rather a lot of builders’ supplies stored down there. Some steel sheets and whatnot.”

“Amazing.” I grinned. “How do we get to this basement?”

“Head down past the kitchen,” Gerald replied and somberly gestured to the opposite hallway. “The door on the right will take you down to the basement, but please, do be careful not to scuff any of the paint while you cart things about. The walls are a very particular shade which is hard to find.”

“Probably a lot harder now,” Becka giggled. “I don’t think B&Q is open at the moment.”

“Thanks so much,” I said as I grabbed Becka’s wrist and pulled her away from the scowling man.

“Hmm,” the butler muttered behind our backs.

I waited until we were out of earshot to speak again, but I kept my hand on Becka as I tugged her along. Then I snuck a peek over my shoulder, and I leaned closer to her soft blonde hair.

“You’re a nightmare,” I whispered with a grin. “Stop torturing the poor dude.”

“But it’s so easy,” the blonde snorted. “A very particular shade…can you fucking belive that? We’re in an apocalypse!”

Hae-won giggled as we hurried past the kitchen, and I pushed open the next door to our right.

There was no light on, but I could just see the staircase that led down into the basement. I reached in and found the switch on the wall, and as the light buzzed on, I could see that the room below was huge.

“Spooky,” Becka said.

“This is so cool,” Hae-won whispered. “It’s like a haunted house. I wish I was wearing black for this.”

“You adorable little goth,” Becka sighed, and she bent down and kissed her friend on the cheek. “Okay, let’s go see what treasure is down here.”

The staircase was narrow, and I led us down into the basement to see that the large room was piled high with an assortment of goods. It wasn’t dusty or moldy, and I imagined that Gerald had made sure that even the basement was up to protocol.

I immediately spotted the building supplies propped against the back wall, and it looked like we had hit the jackpot for our makeshift barricade.

“Nice.” I whistled as I stepped past old tables toward the huge sheets of metal that were propped against the wall.

“This would be great as a hide out,” Becka said. “If the castle was ever under attack, people who couldn’t fight could come down here. Like all the old folks and kids.”

“That’s true.” I nodded. “Maybe we should get a freezer with some emergency food down here in case that ever has to happen.”

The sheets of steel must have been about eight foot wide, and I examined the pile to see there were ten of them. Beside them there were a few power tools, and a chainsaw sat on one of the tabletops.

“This could be a cool weapon for close up attacks,” Hae-won said as she picked up the chainsaw. “You could saw a dino’s head off in seconds with this.”

“There’s also a power drill,” Becka noted. “I wonder what else is down here, this is so cool.”

I looked around and noticed a couple of old ovens beside a wardrobe, and there was definitely enough to make a start on a solid barricade.

“Oh my god,” Becka gasped as she flipped open the lid of a large, plastic storage box. “Look at this.”

Then the blonde pulled out a glitzy wedding dress and held it up against her body dramatically.

“I wish to marry you both,” she declared. “Also Kat. I’m not sure I should be wearing white considering Jason was balls deep inside me a few hours ago, and I’m probably super preggo from the other hundred times he pumped his baby-batter in me, but I will wear it anyway.”

I snorted with laughter as the blonde picked out another dress and threw it over to Hae-won. The Korean held it up, and it was the ugliest thing I had ever seen.

“Why does it have so many gems?” Hae-won asked with a wrinkled nose. “It’s so heavy.”

“Here’s your outfit, Jason,” Becka said, and she threw a ball of fabric at me. I shook it out to see the most hideous, green velvet jacket imaginable.

“Holy shit,” I said. “Did somebody actually get married in this?”

“How confused would Kat be if we walked into the hall wearing these?” Becka laughed. “I love her so much, but she would probably go to a wedding in combat boots and ripped jeans.”

“You say that like it’s not completely perfect,” I muttered and tossed the jacket down on a table. Then I smirked and watched the two girls spin around and laugh at the wedding dresses, but eventually, they noticed me standing there with my arms crossed and an eyebrow cocked.

“Okay,” Becka mumbled. “So, dressing up can wait. Let’s build that barricade.”

“Good idea,” I chuckled, and I gestured to the metal sheets. “We could drill these on to the doors so they’re less likely to splinter and break apart. We can probably take up some of these old tables and ovens, too.”

“That seems like a good start.” Hae-won nodded. “Let’s start taking stuff up, and hopefully, Kat’s lesson will finish soon so people can help us out.”

We grabbed a first metal sheet and started to carry it up the narrow staircase. It wasn’t too heavy, but it was slightly awkward to maneuver it up the steps without it smashing against the banister. When we finally reached the top of the stairs, I kicked the door fully open and hauled it up into the lobby, and it looked like Kat’s lesson had just ended. A group of locals spilled out of the dining hall and into the lobby, and I grunted while I tried not to scrape Gerald’s walls with the metal sheet.

“Hey,” I called. “Anyone free to help us get some defense set up?”

The group hurried toward us, and Kat appeared behind them deep in conversation with Mikey the shopkeeper. They all made their way over in a clump, and we leaned the metal sheet against the wall as carefully as possible so we could explain our plan.

“But how many bullets do you have?” Mikey asked Kat as they reached us. “What if we need more? And will I get my own gun when I’m trained?”

Kat grinned at me as the shopkeeper continued to ask questions, and I looked at the eager locals who seemed in high spirits.

“Okay,” I said. “We need to tighten the defenses of this place. Having you all trained is awesome, but we need to secure the entryways, too. These walls are solid, but the windows and doors could be entrance points for nasty shit to come in.”

“What can we do to help?” Debbie asked. “I’m all fired up and ready to fuck up some dinos, but lifting shit up the stairs will do for now.”

“Well, we do actually have something else we need to go take care of,” I admitted. “So, if you guys can bring all the metal sheets upstairs, then we can get back to our other thing, and everything will be accomplished in the same amount of time.”

“What other thing?” Mikey asked. “What’s more important than this?”

“We need to help Adhara,” I said.

“Who?” one of the young men asked.

“The alien,” I explained. “She needs to get her ship’s forcefield up as quickly as possible so nothing damages it. I’m going to bring her downstairs and help her get it working.”

Silence fell over the lobby, and the locals’ faces turned from excitement to sour frowns. I shifted uncomfortably at first, but as I looked out at the sea of angry expressions, I realized no one but me and my girls had warmed up to the idea of the alien yet.

Five seconds later, an explosion of arguments and objections rang out through the lobby as the locals began to voice their opinions.

“She’s a fucking alien!”

“It will kill us in our sleep if we let it roam among us!”

“How is she any different to the dinosaurs?”

“Woah,” I said and raised my hands up to try and quieten down the group. “We’re not going to be putting anyone in any kind of danger, okay?”

“You don’t know what she’s capable of,” a young woman with freckles insisted. “If she managed to fly to Earth, that means her technology is more than we could have dreamed of. What if she kills us all the second we let her out of her room?”

“She’s had plenty of chances to hurt me already,” I countered. “I’ve been alone with her, and she hasn’t done anything to harm me.”

“But we will be armed,” Kat added. “And trust me when I say, one wrong move, and I will bring her purple ass down in seconds flat.”

“Not to mention, we risked our lives multiple times to get here,” I informed the group. “We aren’t going to throw everything away over an alien, but she could have answers for us that would help us survive. She might know something about how to stop this, or how to close the portals. We won’t know unless we give her a chance.”

“That’s right,” Debbie chimed in. “All you moany aresholes need to remember what Jason has done for us. We owe it to him to trust his judgement.”

The locals exchanged glances, and I knew it would be an uphill battle to convince them.

In reality, I wasn’t even sure myself that Adhara wouldn’t try to mow us all down with some secret alien weapon the second we let her walk freely. Even though I had been alone with her, there could be something in her craft that she could use to kill us all the second she stepped inside. I didn’t know anything for sure, but I knew we had to at least try and work with her if we wanted to gain any answers about the recent dino plague ravaging our planet.

An alien falling into our laps did seem like the most direct way to do so.

“I’ll go and get her,” Hae-won offered. “I’ll check she can walk okay with her leg.”

“I’ll go with you.” Becka nodded. “We’ll stay alert and bring her down as soon as she pulls her little alien pants on.”

I handed Hae-won the key and tried to ignore the glares from the group as the girls hurried off up the stairs.

“So, the barricade,” I loudly announced, and I clapped my hands together to draw everyone’s attention to the other tasks at hand. “Can we count on you guys to help with that? There’s a power drill down next to the metal sheets, if we can get the front door secure first, we can start to work on the windows.”

“Right you are.” Debbie nodded. “Let’s get this show on the road, come on you lot.”

The blonde started to usher the locals down into the basement, and I was thrown a few sour glances as people begrudgingly complied.

“Thanks Debbie,” I muttered. “I’ll count on you to make sure things run smoothly here while we head out.”

“Don’t you worry,” the blonde woman whispered and nudged me with an elbow. “You’ve taken care of my baby all this time, I’m going to take care of you.”

I grinned as Debbie shooed the stragglers of the group downstairs and started shouting orders about what to bring up first.

“Let’s go,” I said, and we spun around to head towards the pantry.

“What do you really think?” Kat asked quietly as we waited for the other girls. “In all honesty, do you think the alien came here to kill us?”

“I want to say no,” I said under my breath. “When we’ve been alone together, she seemed on edge and scared more than anything. I don’t know, though. If she was going to hurt us, wouldn’t she have tried something by now? I knock on the door before I enter every time I go to see her. She could have clocked me over the head with some blunt object at any time.”

“I know you want answers,” the pretty soldier sighed. “I do, too, but we need to make sure we don’t get too swept up in how exciting it is.”

“I know,” I chuckled and leaned against the wall. “It just feels like we’re so close to having a whole new understanding of what’s going on, and I don’t want to risk fucking that up.”

We watched the locals start to carry the metal sheets from the basement and rest them against the wall before they disappeared back downstairs. After a few minutes, we heard footsteps approaching from the staircase, and the girls appeared with a wary looking Adhara between them. The alien had put her pants back on, and I was surprised to see the bloody hole that had been torn through the fabric during her crash was gone.

“She’s got magical clothes,” Becka gushed as she bounced down into the lobby. “Isn’t that wild? She says they self-clean, too.”

“Damn,” I mused. “That’s--”

There was a loud clatter behind us, and I turned to see one of the local men had dropped his side of the metal sheet to stare open-mouthed at the alien. He couldn’t seem to decide where to look between her lithe, humanoid body or her silver-freckled and lilac face, but Adhara let out a low snarl after he gawked for too long.

“Let’s go,” I said, and we hurried off to the pantry with Adhara in the middle of the group.

Kat stayed at the back with me and had her rifle held close to her chest the whole way, and her eyes never left the alien as we stepped into the small room.

“How is your leg?” I asked, and the alien glanced back at me with her sparkling emerald eyes.

“My wound is not as painful,” she announced. “The fixing you did made it improved.”

“That was all Kat,” I said.

The alien looked nervously at the soldier, but then she peered around the pantry and wrinkled her forehead at the large freezers. She didn’t look like she was preparing for an attack, she almost looked frightened, like she was the one expecting to be ambushed. Her green-eyed gaze darted between all of us and the door, and her fingers wiggled at her sides now and then like a nervous tic.

“We checked outside the window before we came down,” Hae-won told me. “It didn’t look like there were any dinos nearby, but we did see a flying one off in the distance.”

“How distant?” Kat checked.

“Beyond the woodlands,” the Korean answered. “Probably about a five minute drive from here.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “We make our way down into the ship as quickly as possible, and we head back in the second we see any signs of a dino. I don’t want us to get trapped out there in a broken U.F.O.”

“U.F.O?” Adhara repeated and furrowed her brow.

“Your ship,” I corrected myself.

“Unless she gets the forcefield working right away,” Becka pointed out. “Then it could be the safest possible place to be?”

“That’s true,” I agreed. “Hopefully, she can get it working before we get any scaly visitors to test out how effective this forcefield really is.”

“Do you know exactly what to do when we get there?” Kat asked, and Adhara looked uneasy at the question, but that may have been because the Corporal had a rifle clenched in her grip.

“I know how to make the forcefield activate,” the alien said as she leaned away from Kat. “It maybe need one of you to help.”

“We can help.” I nodded. “Let’s get going.”

Kat and Becka shoved the freezer away from the doorway, and I kept my eyes on the alien every second.

Despite the little progress I had made with her, I knew there was a huge possibility that the second we opened the door, she would disappear off into the countryside. I was also wary of getting into the spaceship which was completely her territory. We had only been inside when she was unconscious, and I tried to suppress the thought of her suddenly turning on the engine and blasting us off out of our atmosphere and into another one where we couldn’t breathe.

Or pulling some crazy alien blade on us.

Or obliterating all of Raven Hall with a fucking plasma gun or any of the futuristic weapons I’d seen in every sci-fi movie ever.

“Looks clear,” Hae-won said as she peeked through the cracked open door.

I took a deep breath and looked Adhara in the eye, and her emerald irises sparkled as the sunlight hit her lilac face through the doorway.

“Stay with us,” I warned. “We can’t protect you if you run off at the sight of a dino.”

I could have sworn Adhara cocked an eyebrow by a fraction of a centimeter, but then she nodded.

“Let’s go,” Hae-won hissed, and we leapt out onto the gravel of the courtyard.

It was warmer than it had been in days, and the sun poked out behind wispy clouds above us. The castle grounds looked dino-free, and as our feet crunched over the gravel, no huge creatures appeared to confront us.

We made our way around to the front of the castle, and Adhara walked in front of me and Kat so we could keep our weapons fixed on her. Becka and Hae-won led the way out of the courtyard and down toward the spaceship, and the strange metal reflected the sunlight until it was almost blinding the closer we got.

I made sure to check the skies and road below as we descended the hill, and I tried not to think about the fact it was almost suspiciously quiet. The thought of a hidden herd watching sent a shiver down my neck, but I pushed the idea out of my mind as we reached the U.F.O.

“All aboard the alien spacecraft.” Becka grinned as we reached the entrance, and I noticed more intricate carvings around the doorway that I hadn’t seen in the darkness.

Adhara looked over to where half the craft was wedged deep into the dirt, and she seemed anxious at the sight.

“Let’s go,” I said with a final glance over my shoulder. “Before anything catches our scent.”

Hae-won clambered into the warped, metal door first, followed by Becka and then Adhara. Kat’s hazel eyes never left the back of the alien’s head, and my tension mounted as we made our way into the sleek metal corridor of the craft.

Suddenly, it felt like we weren’t completely in charge anymore.

We had no idea what the ship was capable of or what was hidden inside. For all we knew, there could be more aliens hidden behind the locked doors we never looked into, but we continued through the small corridor and into the control room where we had found Adhara.

The beautiful alien woman’s eyes lit up as she walked over to the complex control panel, and she stretched out her lilac fingers as she examined the dials, buttons, and switches.

“Not many damages,” she said. “Forcefield will go up without problem.”

“What’s behind all those doors?” I asked as I glanced at the back wall. “Is there anyone else in here?”

“No others,” Adhara said. “One door is weapon room, one is wire box, and one is storage.”

“Weapons?” Kat asked and stepped a few inches closer to the alien. “What kind of stuff do you have in there?”

“Not like yours,” Adhara said flatly, and I almost thought she smirked. “Very different. But it cannot open until the ship is back to working.”

“And will it be working any minute?” the Corporal asked more firmly.

“I do not know,” the alien woman tensely replied. “I study the damages.”

Kat nodded once and remained right beside the alien, and I noticed Becka smirking at the Corporal’s all-business postre.

Then I looked out of the blue-tinted front window, and I realized the glare of the sun was gone. The countryside still looked clear and crisp, but the light wasn’t blinding.

“So… is this the steering column?” Becka asked as she ran a hand over the square bar in front of the pilot chair.

“Yes.” Adhara nodded. “But that is not how forcefield will activate.”

“Is everything working?” I asked. “The ship didn’t get damaged in the crash?”

“Everything may not work,” the alien said as she bent down to examine a silver-blue dial. “But forcefield is different energy source from flying. It should work.”

Adhara suddenly grabbed one of the larger dials near the steering column, and then she reached over to flick a series of switches which lit up with small orange lights. A light humming sound echoed around the control room, and the alien frowned at her panel before she flipped four more switches, turned off two, and then played with the dial for another moment.

“I might have to use backup energy,” the alien muttered. “The engine seems to be sad.”

I glanced at the girls, and they all stared at the alien with a mix of amusement and awe. Adhara didn’t seem frightened or meek as she maneuvered the many unlabeled controls, she seemed skilled and confident in her ship’s hull, almost like she had forgotten about anything except her ship.

Kat still had her rifle pointed at the alien’s back, and I had to remind myself of how dangerous the situation could still be. It was just hard to think about anything other than how complex the technology of the ship seemed, and Adhara hit the buttons so quickly, I was amazed she could remember whatever sequence she was working on.

“Do you need us to do anything?” Hae-won asked, and she edged closer as she craned her neck to get a better look at the control panel.

Adhara gave her a skeptical glance, but she didn’t step aside to get farther from the Korean.

“Maybe,” the alien said. “If I need to use backup power. I will try more first.”

We watched as the lilac woman’s hands moved like lightning over the many controls, and she proceeded to press and flick in a complicated sequence that almost thought I was starting to remember the pattern of. The frequency of the humming that echoed around us changed a few times during the process, but Adhara didn’t seem satisfied with this. After a few minutes, she sighed and folded her arms as he glared down at the control board.

“Which of you does flight control?” Adhara asked.

No one responded at first, so I cleared my throat.

“None of us, but I know a thing or two about… vehicles in general,” I offered. “What do you need?”

“Can you go over there?” Adhara pointed to the far end of the control panel. “Do not touch anything until I say. You not knowing the flight control.”

“Okay,” I agreed, and I stepped to the side and looked down at the hundreds of tiny levers and buttons with wide eyes.

“Do you see the big orange round?” Adhara asked, and she spoke slowly like she expected me to accidentally break her fancy control panel. “Look close. Only the big orange round. Do not touch while you look.”

I tried not to smirk and looked down at the large tube which stuck out of the side of the panel.

“This?” I asked, and the alien nodded.

“Press it when I say.” Adhara said. “But only--”

“When you say,” I chuckled. “I understand. I’ll wait for your signal.”

The alien nodded with some relief, and then she started another ridiculously fast dance of button pressing. I hovered my hand over the orange tube and watched the alien’s lilac hands as they shot over the controls, but I also noticed her intelligent eyes looked twice as focused as a human’s would in the same circumstances. They seemed to be doing crazy mathematical algorithms while she tapped, flipped, and turned the many dials and switches, and I had to admit, seeing her process the mechanics of the ship so quickly was pretty hot.

I was equally blown away by the technology itself, though, and the constant change in the humming frequency made goosebumps rise on my arms.

Then Adhara pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

“Press now,” she ordered, and I slammed my palm down onto the tube.

The cylinder lit up a neon orange, and a light whirled around inside it as the ship suddenly sprang to life. We all jumped back as the windscreen started to hum twice as loud, and the control panel lit up with dozens more lights in various shades of green and pink.

I secured my hold on my rifle again, and briefly I wondered if we were about to shoot up into the air and be ejected out of the craft from some hidden compartment.

Still, I couldn’t help the huge grin on my face as I felt the ship vibrating slightly through the soles of my boots, and suddenly, a mist-like substance appeared outside the front window.

It was clear enough to see through, but there was a slight haze to it that made everything seem like it was moving ever so slightly, like being underwater.

“Holy shit,” Becka whispered.

“Woah,” Hae-won gasped. “Is that the forcefield?”

“Yes.” Adhara put her hands on her hips as she looked out at the countryside with a proud nod. “Nobody can destroying my ship.”

“That’s so fucking cool.” I grinned even more. “So, what happens if a t-rex tries to stand on it?”

The alien cocked her head to one side at my question, and I remembered that she had different names for the dinos.

“A big dinosaur,” I clarified. “Big lizard, monster, thing? Big sharp back.”

“Ah.” The alien shrugged. “They cannot step here. The feet will come down and not go any further than top of craft. Same with weapons, although I do not believe the weapons you use would be a problem.”

“What kind of weapons do you have?” Kat asked, and I could tell the soldier was more curious than hostile at the moment.

“Many,” the alien said as she waved a hand in the air. “I can show when I can open compartment.”

Her tone sounded completely conversational, and I wondered if she really would just show us her weapons because we were interested, rather than try to kill us all.

“Really?” I asked with some surprise. “That would be cool to see.”

“Yes, I like weapons.” Adhara nodded. “You like weapons?”

“We like weapons,” I chuckled.

“Can I have a go in the chair?” Becka asked.

“Yes,” Adhara replied. “But do not press anything.”

The blonde jumped onto the sleek, metal pilot’s seat at once, and she reached her hands out to grab the steering column.

“Can I touch this?” Becka asked after already grabbing the strange, square bar.

“Yes.” Adhara nodded again.

“This makes our motorbikes seem less impressive,” Hae-won laughed as Becka pretended to pilot the spacecraft.

“So, does the forcefield make the craft invisible?” I asked and glanced out of the front window.

“Not invisible,” Adhara replied. “Just protected. Can still be seen.”

“Ah,” I said. “See, I think we need to get it hidden as quickly as possible. I just have a strong suspicion that someone is going to come snooping soon.”

“Snooping?” Adhara asked. “What is snooping?”

“Coming to look for the ship,” I explained. “Like I said earlier, probably someone from the government, and they won't leave again without the spacecraft. A vehicle like this would be a pretty big deal around here, so it’d be hauled away, maybe cut up for shipping convenience, I’m not sure. But once it’s gone, there’s really no stealing it back from the government.”

The alien looked furious as if I was the one who was going to take her ship away, and then she turned back to the control panel with a tense set to her jaw.

“Obviously we don’t want that to happen,” I said hurriedly. “So, we need to get this thing moving as soon as possible. Even just… hovering to another location?”

“Take much time,” Adhara said as she crouched down to examine a flickering green light. “This is a new model. Complicated to make work.”

“So, it’s not functionable right now?” I asked, and the alien shook her head. “Okay, well the sooner we can make it fly, the sooner we can get it somewhere safe. That should be addressed very soon.”

“I can’t believe we’re in an alien spacecraft plotting how to fix it and make it fly,” Becka laughed and bounced in the pilot chair. “Who would have thought we would end up here after starting out fighting those raptors at uni?”

“Uni?” Adhara asked, and she crinkled her forehead. “What is a uni?”

“University,” I explained. “It’s where we go to gain education. To learn.”

“Why did you not learn the flight control?” Adhara seemed genuinely interested as her emerald eyes watched me in the light of her control panel. “This is important skill, and a male who gathers females to mate is of age to pilot the ships.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said and grinned. “They didn’t offer any instruction on… the flight control there, though.”

“And you did not live here always?” the alien asked next.

“No,” I replied. “We came from cambridge, which is down south, to come and be with Becka’s mother.”

“Not your mother?” she checked.

“No, just for Becka’s mother.” I shrugged. “We love each other, and we’re a family, so we all came together.”

“You do anything for your family.” Hae-won nodded, and Adhara bit her lip like she was trying to process this information.

I smiled a little as I realized this was the most we’d gotten the alien to say to us since she’d arrived, and when I looked over at Kat, the soldier still had her rifle ready, but her expression had softened. She seemed to be picking up on the same lack of hostility from the alien that I’d been getting, and I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one.

“How did you get here without the flight control skill?” the alien asked next. The silver freckles sparkled on her high cheekbones, and it was hard not to notice how attractive she looked as she grew in confidence.

“We have vehicles called motorcycles,” I explained. “And Kat has a Jeep. You probably saw us ride in our vehicles when we fought off the sharp back earlier.”

“You came here on those slow things?” Adhara asked, and her eyebrows jumped up high as she spoke. “And with only these weapons to fight the ommati?”

“Is that your planet’s word for dinosaur?” Becka asked and turned sideways in her pilot chair. “Ommati?”

“No, it Alekerinician word for the creatures you fought,” the alien replied without looking over. “You really have used no better weapons against the ommati?”

“That’s right,” I laughed.

“You can be impressed,” Becka chimed in. “Several people are.”

“Your Ala… kreel… ian… speaking seems to be getting better by the minute,” I pointed out.

“Alakerinician,” Adhara corrected.

“Exactly,” I agreed. “How did you even learn to speak our language in the first place?”

“I can do all the root languages and build from this,” Adhara replied, and her expression showed that she found my question ridiculous. “Same way I breathe in all the atmospheres. It is programmed inside me to adapt.”

“Programmed?” Becka asked with a gaping grin.

“That is so fucking cool,” Hae-won sighed and stared at the lilac woman. “So, your gills can process air from any atmosphere?”

“I only grew these for this green and blue planet,” Adhara replied as she traced her fingers over the gills on her neck.

“We call our planet Earth,” Hae-won offered.

“Earth,” Adhara repeated with a furrowed brow. “This is true? You call the whole planet that?”

She looked unimpressed by the name, and I laughed at her raised eyebrow as she repeated it to herself again in a quieter tone.

It felt like some bizarre show and tell as we exchanged stories about ourselves with the Adhara, and I could tell the girls had started to warm up to her too as they gasped at her answers to their questions.

Every time the alien spoke in her native tongue, the girls’ eyes widened at the sound. It was incredible to hear her speak, and just as impressive when she used English. Her pronunciation seemed to improve by the minute, and I wondered if her intelligence really was so advanced that she could absorb the nuances of our language just by listening for a short time. She certainly did seem to be programmed to adapt quickly.

Whenever Adhara practiced a new phrase and picked it up within seconds, the girls clapped with pride, and the alien seemed pleased at the positive reaction her conversation had. She looked the most relaxed I had seen her since she woke up, and I couldn’t help watching her sparkling eyes as a hundred things seemed to be computing in them at once.

“So, what do we need to do to make this thing fly?” Becka asked as she flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder and sat back in the silver pilot chair.

“I will need to look in the wire room,” Adhara said.

“But the doors don’t work, right?” I checked.

“Wire room door needs no power,” the alien replied. “For emergencies.”

“Smart.” I nodded. “Will the craft be able to get out of the hillside when it is up and running? It looks pretty wedged in there.”

“Yes.” The alien nodded. “The engine is powerful, it will have no problem.”

I was about to ask about the complex dials and lights when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye outside the window of the ship. I spun around and looked down the hillside to see three dinosaurs slowly make their way up the hillside to the right.

“Ommati,” Adhara said in a completely matter-of-fact tone.

The girls leapt over to the window to scope out the situation.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Becka whispered and narrowed her eyes.

“They’re going so slowly,” Hae-won said in a skeptical tone.

“There’s more.” Kat pointed over to the other side of the hill.

I followed her gaze and saw that another four lumbering, scaly figures had started the same slow walk on the opposite side of the castle. They were almost out of sight, but I could just make out their backs and tails. It was hard to see exactly what species they were, but my stomach dropped as I realized exactly what they were doing.

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “They’re ambushing us.”