Waiting Shapeless

Chapter 39. One year ago

Natilliea and I were on the sixth, so I quickly and quietly made my way up the slopes to our room.

When I arrived, I quietly unlocked the door and stepped inside.

The door led directly to the small kitchen area, which opened up to a larger room that doubled as our dining room and bedless bedroom.

Natilliea was oddly sitting in a chair facing away from the door, staring at the wall.

I closed the door behind me.

"Natilliea?" I called tenderly.

She didn't turn to look at me. I couldn't see her face but I could tell she had been crying. Something was wrong.

"Natilliea what is wrong?" I asked, walking towards her.

A large white being stepped out from a hidden corner and shot something into my arm.

A jolt of incapacitating pain shook through my body and I fell to the floor, my lungs gasping for air.

I pushed myself up off the ground with a growl, turning towards the intruder.

Another jolt shook through me and I fell to the ground again. Then another shot went into my neck, doubling the pain coursing through me.

I yelled in pain.

The being stepped towards me and secured something mechanical around both my arms and my legs.

I struggled to free myself from the machinery, but the struggling sent more jolts through my body.

I roared in pain and frustration as I lay floundering on the floor.

"You might as well stop struggling." Said the being with a grin.

I stopped, resting my body from the pain. I twisted my body to get a look at who had broken into my house.

There stood a very large alien with pale, sickly white, wrinkled skin and thick curing horns protruding from it's head.

The being's body was segmented into three sections that tapered upwards. The top was the smallest segment, and imbedded in it's center were two vicious-looking, beady, black eyes. Thick clawed arms hung from the middle section and a monstrous mouth with small pointed teeth and sickening red gums occupied the lowest and largest segment. The being was standing with two thick and stubby legs that were also clawed.

I knew the species. I had always been told to avoid them.

It was a Rhaa.

I could hear Natilliea cry quietly from her chair at the far side of the other room. Suddenly I noticed that she had been bound up as well.

"You and this Human are playing a dangerous game, Pardos." Grinned the Rhaa hideously.

I watched as a second Rhaa emerged from outside of my vision and approached Natilliea.

"NO!" I yelled, straining my muscles against the mechanisms that bound me.

Pain once again coursed through my body and I gasped.

The Rhaa forced Natilliea up out of the chair and turned her to face me.

Tears were flowing down her face. I looked at her and her beautifully enlarged abdomen. That was to be my child.

Panic filled my mind as I lay helplessly on the floor.

"The penalty for sexually reproducing with another species is death, Pardos." Grinned the Rhaa closest to him.