Ajos: The Restitution - A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 1, стр. 10
After all, he wasn’t keeping away from her. If she reached out, she could easily touch him.
As her gaze reached his face, the alien’s golden eyes held on to hers.
They were captivating, and it was incredibly difficult to look away.
They were reptilian, yet not. Humanlike, yet not.
As she stared, it took her more than a few moments to realize that he wasn’t looking away.
Why was he looking at her so…so intensely?
Her mouth fell open as she finally pulled her gaze away.
Slipping off the other side of the gurney and away from him, she adjusted her dress and tried not to glance behind her. However, thanks to her peripheral vision, she could see the blurry outline of the alien as he leaned off the wall at her movement.
Maybe he thought she was going to fall again and was just making sure she didn’t introduce her face to the floor.
With a deep breath, she tried to ignore him and moved over to one of the cryogenic pods.
Her hand trembled slightly as she touched the pod’s surface.
“So, this is a cryogenic chamber…” she murmured, more to herself than to anyone else in the room. It felt strange touching the thing.
It felt even stranger that she had been inside one.
The craftsmanship was impeccable, the curves a little too smooth. She didn’t know what it was, but something about the way they made the device caused it to look unearthly. Alien.
A few companies back on Earth were experimenting with such pods, with the first person being put to sleep way back in 1967. There were even people who paid to be frozen and preserved, but as far as she knew, the thawing process was still a work in progress.
This technology, however, was already leagues above Earth’s.
After all, if all this was true and she wasn’t on some prank show, they’d frozen and thawed her with no complications—she hoped!
With another few steps, she reached a large group of the rescued women huddled together on the floor. Athena's voice rang out in the chamber.
“Now, that everyone is settled enough to listen, we’re going to answer your questions. You’ve taken this all pretty well so far and I have to say, I’m surprised. This isn’t easy to digest.” She took a breath. “However, outside, there are many more than, Xul, Yce, Ajos, and V’Alen here.” She jerked her head toward the aliens and the robot.
A bout of murmuring ensued and Kerena looked toward the three aliens who stood together.
Was it just her or did they seem…tense?
Possibly, the humans weren’t the only ones who were under stress.
“The Restitution has instructed that all non-humans clear out this section of the base. However, I’m pretty sure you will see more than a few other beings as we transition from this room and you take your first steps on alien soil,” Athena continued.
“Sounds like a frickin’ vacation ad,” someone murmured and Kerena almost chuckled.
“You mean there are more aliens out there?” A woman with short curly hair spoke up. Her eyes shone as if the prospect excited her, to which some of the females around her looked positively disturbed.
Athena nodded. “Yes…there are several other species of aliens out there.”
Of course, there were. Kerena had expected as much. In this room alone there were three different species of alien, maybe four if she counted the robot guy.
She wasn’t quite sure if he was a robot or a man in a suit.
A string of questions rang out as the women began murmuring and anxiety grew thick in the air.
“How did we get here?”
“And how do we get back home?”
“Are the aliens dangerous?”
The questions kept coming and Athena raised a hand to quiet the group.
“I will try to answer as many of your questions as possible. But for now, I will give you a quick breakdown of what has happened to you…to us.” She motioned to the other three women wearing the same type of clothes as her.
They all stood at the front of the chamber now, close to what looked like a hole in the wall.
Athena continued. “A few months ago, I and four other women woke up on an alien ship.” There was dead silence. The woman suddenly had everyone’s attention. “Five members of the Restitution rescued us. Two members of that team are here today. Xul…” she motioned to the alien with horns, “…and Yce.” She motioned to the alien with long white hair and frickin’ glowing eyes.
“We destroyed the alien ship. We didn’t know there were more of us, but the guys had a hunch. So they went back looking for any signs of a stasis hold in the wreckage, and that’s when they found you.” There were a few gasps and more murmuring. “The stasis hold, this hold,” she motioned around them, “was built to survive such crashes and we knew you were safe. We only had to try to get you out, which we managed to do today without any repercussions.”
The aliens glanced at each other and, once again, Kerena got the feeling that they were tense—or hiding something.
She hoped it wasn’t the latter.
Kerena moved her gaze to the group of women around her.
Most were young or looked of similar age as her. There were only a few women who looked more mature. There was nothing that was distinctly similar between them.
Except…
“Why are there only women?” The question spilled out of Kerena’s mouth almost immediately. When some of the women turned to look her way, she gathered her composure and continued. “Is there a cryogenic hold containing men as well?”
Athena’s gaze darted to the alien with horns that she’d referred to as Xul, and when the woman’s shoulders stiffened a little, Kerena knew she would not like the answer.
“Elelix elix neg ji.” A deep voice spoke from so close to her, she jumped.
She hadn’t realized the minty-teal alien had moved to stand by her or that he’d been so close.
Either she didn’t feel threatened by