Kate
“Ineed air,” I blurt out. I know it’s pretty much impossible up here in this metal can, but I feel like this low dark ceiling is a crushing weight on my chest and each word in this little time-warp discussion is making it worse.
“I could open one of the airlocks—”
I let out a small gasp before realizing Rune is playing with me.
“Come, Kate,” Rune says as he stands, chuckling. “I might be able to alleviate some of your claustrophobia.” He holds out a hand to me, which I am reluctant to take. He sighs, “After all we’ve been through so far, you truly believe I would shove you out of an airlock?”
He might have saved me a few times, but hedidwant me to seduce Pious.That would have gotten me dead quick.
“Jex? Would you excuse us for a moment?”
Jex nods, yet he looks at the both of us as if we’ve sprouted a few new heads.
I climb up to my feet, but I don’t accept his hand. Not right now, this is all too confusing.What’s the difference between him and Pious?To my world they’re both the bad guys.
He slides another panel over to reveal a narrow walkway, one we haven’t been through yet. And once inside, I realize it’s a spiraling metal stairwell. Something at the top, just out of view, casts a soft gleam over each step. “Watch your step.”
Rune leads me to the first step and helps me up, his fingers lingering on the bare skin of my arm longer than necessary. When we reach the top of the circular climb, I see the source of the glow and I stumble; his other hand grips at my waist and tightens. I feel it through the suit, hot and strong, but my mind is too preoccupied with what lay ahead of me to think much of the touch.
It’s a long rectangular window.
Stars are everywhere. Millions of them, twinkling white diamonds in the ink black sky. Streaks of color slash through the blackness—reds and yellows, greens and blues. Planets and galaxies wink at me. There’s not much room up here to stand, and instantly his hard chest is against my back. His breath fanning out warm on my neck.
“Oh my God, Rune. It’s—It’s breathtaking,” I whisper.
“Breathtaking,” he repeats, angling his body forward and staring down at me. “That saying—I’ve not heard it used before, but it is quite fitting right now.”
I quickly glance up at him, but bring my eyes right back down to the window. It’s too hard to look away from the view.
“Looking out into the cosmos was always calming to me, but I never felt the taking of my breath until I came to Earth.”
“What? Really?” Well, I guess that is understandable, I mean did he ever see a tree or a flower before?
“Not until my faceplate was off. Not until I saw you.”
“Uh, um. Jesus, I need a drink.” Smooth, Earth girl. “What I mean is…okay, I don’t know what I mean. But what I do know is these suits are doing something to us physically, right? I mean, you said so yourself. Pious has us controlled and he’s programed everyone to what? Be attracted to one another? Maybe he’s forcing the repopulation of your kind?”
He looks away from me, “Yes, that may be true, however—”
I breathe out a loud sigh. “Okay, then. It’s settled,” I said, curtly. “I’m not breathtaking.”
“Yes. Yes, I agree. That’s fine.”
Again, I have the sudden urge to smack him.
“Okay, so let’s get back to what’s happening.” I need to change the subject, being this close to him is making my head spin. Whatever is going on with the suit shouldn’t matter, if the alien finds me breathtaking is irrelevant, we need to figure out how to get me off this flying disk. “You somehow went back in time and tried to destroy my planet. But Pious took your spot.”And do I take your breath away? Nope, stop thinking about it. Focus on the situation.
“Kate, that isn’t true. While yes, I did want to extract a few of the women from your planet. I didn’t plan for the rest of what’s happened to occur.” He reaches up and touches a hand to my chin. “You must believe me. I wanted no more than a hundred women. My people needed them to survive.”
Still a kidnapper.
“So if you stop Pious and take back your General…ness, would everything on my planet go back to being normal?” I realize how dumb the question is as soon as it’s out of my mouth. “I mean, what if you go back in time again and not come here or you land back on Earth and hold a contest or something. Believe me when I tell you a ton of women, although bat-shit crazy, would volunteer to be egg donors to a bunch of —" extremely attractive alien men.
“You’re under the impression I believe in this time travel idea,” he says.
“You don’t?”
