Caged With The Alien Warrior

06.

Ronan

My brain was short-circuiting.

The bundle in her arms was a baby? A female baby?

And her fiery protection of the baby. Lani, she had called her. So many questions filled my skull. Was this Lani her offspring? Who sired Lani? What did the Szenists want with them?

And her fiery protection of Lani. My memories flashed back to how she raised her dainty little nose in defiance of the Szenists. Lani must be her offspring.

The Szenists words replayed on a loop.

"He has no information. Now that Specimen 23 and Specimen 56 have expired, we are in need of a new pair."

"He is compatible with Specimen 124."

"We will find out if you're lying, Specimen 124."

The Szenists called the small female Specimen 124. We were compatible, then? What in Rhodin did that mean?

Her dark hair pooled under her as she laid on the cot. I couldn't help but take her in, from her golden brown skin to her secretive dark brown eyes to the tantalizing rounded curve of her hips.

"... well? Are you going to answer me?" she asked with an expectant look.

"Apologies." I focussed back on her words. "What was your inquiry?" My gaze lingered on the lush sweetness of her mouth.

"You've really never seen a baby before?" she asked, voice as melodic as ever.

My gut tightened. "No."

"What do you mean, no?" She stared up at the ceiling, expression quizzical. "Like you've never been walking on the street; oh, there's a baby?"

"No, never. Young are very rare on Rhodin, treasured. They would not merely be out on the street, as you say."

She scoffed. "Weird."

I frowned, looking down. "Birth rates, especially in females, have declined rapidly in the past thirty years, and our scientists can't figure out why. Now males outnumber females thirty to one on Rhodin, and a female hasn't been born in... I don't know how long."

"Huh." She crossed her arms. "We have the opposite problem. Big overpopulation, especially after World War XI."

My body tensed. "You've seen eleven wars?"

"No, no, not in my lifetime." She shook her head. "The last one ended before I was born, but my grandparents lived through it."

I shook out my hands as the initial shock passed. A species with eleven wars– clearly a warring people. But she was so soft, not a warrior. Were all her people so soft? How did they fight battles?

We lapsed into silence. This woman was an enigma. The more she told me, the more confused I became. My mind replayed everything I'd learned about her so far.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, breaking the silence.

I turned to the wall so the vidcam couldn't read my lips. "I'm here to–

"Wait!" she cut in, voice urgent.

"Can they see us?" she whispered, lips barely moving. "Hear us? Should we even be talking?"

"There is one vidcam over there." I inclined my head to the corner. "There is no audio feed, though. So if you don't want them to know what you're saying, face away from it."