The Human Pet: A Sci-Fi Romance

Part 1

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Even though it stings like hell, I crawl back into the navigator's seat.

I pull up the ship map, and now my injury seems mild compared to the dozens of red dots the map shows me. "Captain, fires have broken out. The integrity of the starport passenger cabins A through D is compromised."

"Seal off and jettison," replies the captain.

I must have misheard the captain. "Sir, people live in those cabins."

"We can't allocate the resources. It's the best chance we have before the fire spreads."

Surely, there are other options.

"Kayla, do it, now!"

I feel like a rat caught in a trap.

Many life forms do some version of this in the face of danger. Rats chew off their tails. Even cells initiate programmed cell death if they gain too many deleterious mutations.

Not giving the people in that part of the ship any type of warning feels wrong. My finger hovers over the button.

My back is to the crew, and I silently wipe away a few stray tears. I'm crying for all of us, and I press the button.

For the millionth time since I've been on the Phoenix Borealis, I think about how we don't belong here, in a little ship among the stars. We should never have left our homes.

"Initiate escape maneuver!"

I slam my fist against the control panel. The ship shakes.

"Why aren't we moving?!"

I check the viewport. Any hope I had sinks. Even if we attempt all the escape maneuvers in the world, none will get us out of this situation. Like a hawk holding a sparrow in its clutches, metal talons from the scourge ship wrap around our hull.

One last desperate idea occurs to me. I punch a few buttons, sending every bit of power to the thrusters.

The engines scream, the ship trembles, and-

"Stop! We're going to be torn apart," shouts the engineer.

I cut the power. Our ship is still in the talons of the menacing ship.

Settlers crowd into the bridge.

"Seal the entrance to the helm," yells the captain.

I hold my finger over the button, but I hesitate. First, I scan the settlers crowded along the helm's perimeter. Only when I spot the small body and dark hair of the boy, Dylan, do I press the button,

The metal gate slams down. For better or for worse, we are locked into the helm together.

I see flickering orange on the panel. "We're being boarded!"

From the metal door come scratching and scraping sounds. Banging. Pounding.

The metal door crumples.

***

A snarling scourge steps into our navigation bridge. The scourge has the same general shape and form as humans, but it towers over us-by their height and girth alone-they are easily twice as large as the biggest men. The scourge growls and stomps toward the captain. His tail whips out, sending the captain sprawling onto the floor.

"I... I can't get up," rasps the captain, still laying on the floor, his leg at an unnatural angle.

The settlers are fast, dragging the captain away.

Our warning signals continue, with red lights flashing and the siren wailing, not that it helps us as scourges storm the helm and spread out amongst us.