Arkvar Read online

  “The circle of light has grown so big that it’s the only thing you can see,” Ark continued. “The next step is to refocus on the same spot as before, and this time imagine a small circle of electric blue light growing and expanding until it’s forming a round gate that is big enough for you to step through. Can you see it?”

  “Yes,” Allie whispered.

  She wanted to describe it to him, but changed her mind. She was too busy staring at the electric blue gate behind her closed eyes to make the effort of putting it into words. The new circle soon developed a sort of wave effect, as if it was not made only of light, but also of a dense liquid that rippled invitingly. An unexpected thought popped into her mind: if she stepped through it, then it would feel like cool water against her skin, but wouldn’t get her wet in the least.

  “Allie, that is your personal stargate,” said Ark. “Now, imagine yourself standing in front of it. When you’re ready, step through it and then open your eyes.”

  She gulped loudly. So far, she had been completely relaxed and had followed Ark’s guidance with trust and confidence. Seeing herself in front of the stargate she had created seemingly out of nowhere, she felt a wave of apprehension course through her body. At the same time, she was curious to find out what was beyond it. She had come this far, so there was no way she was backing down and passing on the chance to visit planet Lyra. So, Alison took a deep breath and pushed her right foot through the rippling electric blue waves. As expected, it felt cool and refreshing, so the next thing she did was to push her right hand through it as well. She sighed at how nice it felt. It was as if she was diving into a clear pool on a hot summer day, and the water was just the right temperature.

  Now one hundred percent convinced nothing bad would happen, she went through the stargate in one single step. When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t on The Hesperia anymore.

  “Oh. My. God.”

  She let go of Ark’s hand and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. Goosebumps rose on her skin as her wide, curious eyes took in the landscape. The entire team was there, which meant they had used their own stargates.

  When she realized she had let go of Ark’s hand, she instinctively wanted to grab on to him for dear life, afraid the reality she had so suddenly found herself in would disappear if the connection between them was broken.

  Ark’s whole body tensed when Allie practically jumped him, both her arms wrapping around his strong biceps. She leaned some of her weight on him, and the feel of her soft, warm curves pressed against his side made him so hard that he doubted he could hide his growing erection from her and the others. He silently cursed the tight uniform pants.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” said Allie when she realized her closeness made him feel uncomfortable. “I thought… I don’t know what to do. If I let go of you, will all this still be here?”

  He laughed at her naivety. “Of course it will. We’re already on Lyra. This is a real place. See?” He plucked a leaf from the nearest tree and gave it to her.

  Allie accepted it reluctantly.

  “Everything is perfectly solid. Nothing is made up by any of us. You can let go if you want. You won’t be transported back to the ship. But if you feel safer this way, I don’t mind it either.” He gave her a cocky smile.

  Allie disentangled herself from around his arm and put some space between them. Usually, she would have come up with a clever retort by this time, but she was too fascinated with the leaf in her hand.

  “I’ve never seen this shade of green before,” she whispered in awe.

  The leaf was of the most vibrant emerald the human eye could perceive. It was soft at the touch, as if it was made of velvet.

  “I don’t know why I thought all habitable planets would look like Earth… Everything is so vibrant and beautiful here! Just look at these insane colors!”

  Ark watched her with a gentle smile on his lips as she knelt down to press her palms on the ground to feel the rich texture of the soil. She closed her eyes and let out a soft moan, which sent a jolt of electricity right to his groin. Then, she stood up, took a couple of steps around the clearing, and reverently touched the bark of every tree within her reach. They were in a forest, and if they paid attention, they could hear a spring of clear mountain water murmur nearby.

  Shirin was already leading the rest of the team there. She had figured Allie would need time to adjust to her new surroundings, and it was enough that Ark was there to keep an eye on her.

  “Do you hear that?” Allie stretched her neck and glanced around, frantically looking for the source of the sound. “Water.”

  “Yes, it’s what we came here for. Shirin and the rest are already headed in that direction. Want to join them?”

  Allie nodded eagerly. She quickly gathered a couple of more velvety leaves, then ran after Ark.

  “Is it okay if I take these with me?”

  “Sure. Feel free to get as many souvenirs as you want. It’s perfectly safe. After all, it’s not every day you get to visit an alien planet.”

  Allie jumped in excitement, then stopped to study a pale green bush which was covered in small purple flowers. They smelled divine, and she took her time to pluck a couple, then realized she had nothing to carry her souvenirs in. The pockets of her jeans were too tight, and when she tried to manifest a basket, it didn’t work.

  “Let me guess,” she said breathlessly as she tried to catch up with Ark, “Lyra is not inhabited.”

  “Not the way you understand it,” he said. “It used to be inhabited some eons ago, physically, and it still is in some way.”

  “Wait. Does that mean…?”

  “The Lyrans are still here, yes, but as transcended beings. Can’t you feel them?”

  Just as Allie was thinking the surprises were over, Ark was, apparently, suggesting they were surrounded by invisible spirits. She studied the forest carefully.

  “Should I?”

  “If you pay attention and you allow yourself to connect with the planet itself, you will feel them everywhere around you. In the trees, in the soft wrestle of the leaves, in the air that you breathe, and even the grass you’re walking on.”

  Allie stopped and stared at her feet, then made it a point to walk on the tips of her toes.

  “You’re not stepping over them, silly,” Ark laughed. “Knock it off and walk normally.”

  “But you said…”

  “They don’t have a physical form anymore, so you can’t hurt them. They are one with their planet, if you will, but able to separate themselves from it at the same time.”

  “I see…”

  In truth, Allie didn’t understand half of what he was saying. All she could do was listen, nod, and fill her lungs with the incredibly rich and crisp air of the forest and mountains, even though she couldn’t help wondering whether she was breathing in invisible Lyrans and flushing them back out when she exhaled. Her attention was distracted when she found a bunch of pretty rocks she decided she absolutely needed to have. When her hands became too full to carry anything else, the Kidem came to the rescue and positioned itself around her hips as if to form a pouch where Allie could drop all of her little treasures.

  Because Alison was constantly stopping to gather flowers, leaves, twigs and rocks in various colors, she and Ark reached the rest of the team only to see they had already done half of the job.

  “How exactly are you refilling the water tanks on The Hesperia? You haven’t brought anything with you.”

  Allie forgot all about gathering souvenirs and stopped to stare at Shirin and six Unxendi in red uniforms. They were gathered in a circle on the shore of the stream, holding hands, with their eyes closed, as if they were in deep meditation.

  “We don’t need any tools to transport the water from Lyra on board of the ship,” Ark explained while watching his people work. When we need to replenish one of our resources, we just have to find said resource, then use our inner stargates to reach its location and simply man
ifest it right on The Hesperia. It’s not exactly an easy feat, so we need more people to use their manifesting abilities at the same time and make it work. It also helps a lot if we’re as close as possible to the resource we need.”

  “Incredible,” Allie whispered.

  “Isn’t it? Even though we’ve been doing this for as long as we can remember, sometimes it’s fascinating even to me to see just how much we can do with the power of our mind.”

  They watched in silence as Shirin and the others worked, both feeling so much reverence that they barely dared to breathe, let alone speak. This was all new to Allie, so it made sense that she was entranced, but she couldn’t believe even Ark was so moved by the experience. The only indication something was, indeed, happening was the level of clear, sparkling water in the stream decreasing with every passing minute.

  At some point, the ones in the circle opened their eyes and let go of each other’s hands. Allie noticed they looked kind of tired. Some sat on the ground, while others stretched their long, strong limbs.

  “This is it? It’s done?” Allie asked.

  “Seems like it.” Ark took a few steps toward the group. “Shirin?”

  The Second Officer turned to them, a tired smile on her lips. “Yes, Captain. The Hesperia, The Kephri, and The Zorya now have full water tanks.”

  Allie’s blue eyes grew wide with curiosity and confusion.

  “What? You guys refilled two other ships? I thought we came down here only for The Hesperia. Shouldn’t the crews of the other two ships have refilled their own water tanks?”

  “Well, there’s been a change of plans,” said Ark. “We volunteered to help them this time.”

  “Why?” Allie crossed her arms over her generous chest. “Was it because of me?”

  Ark shook his head, while Shirin started nodding.

  Allie’s gaze skipped between the two of them, unsure whom to believe. She decided on Shirin.

  “It was because of me.”

  Ark sighed and crossed his hands behind his back. Apparently, it was a gesture he always made when he was looking for the right words.

  “Yes, Alison, but there’s nothing to be worried about. I haven’t told the other Captains about your presence on The Hesperia. Yet. Thivo, Shirin and I are still debating whether it’s safe. Personally, I think it might be better to keep it a secret until we reach the Council. So far, it seems I’m the only one who dared to question the mission we’ve just carried out, but I don’t want the others to concern themselves with it. What’s done is done, and we can only look toward the future. Right now, our main objective is to reach the Council as soon as possible, and letting the others know about you might cause delays.”

  “I see.” Allie pouted.

  In truth, she saw the logic behind Ark’s argument, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t curious about the other spaceships in the fleet and the other six alien races they were traveling with. What was the color of their skin? Were they all blue like the Unxendi? Were they able to manifest things just as easily? So many questions, so many things she had yet to discover… She made a mental note to take Shirin by storm and make her tell her as much as possible when the Second Officer had some spare time.

  “Captain, we’re ready to go,” Shirin announced after she checked in with the team.

  “Marvelous! Let’s not waste any more time.”

  Ark motioned for everyone to gather around him, but when he reached for Allie’s hand to help her access her own stargate, she wasn’t there anymore.

  “Allie? What are you doing? It’s time to go.”

  Alison furrowed her brows and shushed him. She was leaning over a purple bush at the edge of the clearing, her hands gently parting the leaves as if she was looking for something.

  “I thought I heard something move,” she whispered.

  Shirin chuckled, while Ark sighed in annoyance and crossed his huge arms over his bulky chest.

  “We don’t have time for this,” he whispered through gritted teeth.

  “Just one second. I… I got it.”

  Allie knelt and disappeared between the purple leaves and orange flowers. When she reemerged, she was holding a small ball of fluff with short brown ears and big, almond eyes.

  “Oh my God! Isn’t he cute?” She stood up, not even bothering to dust her knees off, or remove the leaves stuck in her blonde hair. She walked toward the group and showed them what she had caught. “What is it? Can I keep it?”

  Ark cocked an eyebrow and stared at the fluffy thing nestled in her hands.

  “Honestly, I have no idea, Allie. We’re on a planet we’ve never been to before. It looks like some sort of animal.”

  “Look at its tiny teeth,” she cooed and pulled at the fluff ball’s lips with her finger.

  “Be careful,” Shirin gasped. “It might bite you.”

  Allie ignored her. “What do you think it eats?”

  They all shrugged. Apparently, no one had any idea what it could be, but they all agreed it was the most adorable thing they had ever seen.

  “Look! It likes me!” Allie squealed when she felt its little tongue gently lick her fingers. “Can I keep it? Please, can I keep it?”

  “Alright,” Ark conceded. “You can keep it. Now, let’s go.”

  “So cute. Yes, you are. You look like a bunny. Can you hop? If you can hop, I’ll call you Skippy.”

  They all laughed at Allie’s enthusiasm, but then the Captain’s eyes threw daggers at them, and they fell silent.

  Since Allie was too busy holding on to her new pet, Ark had to place his hands on her arms to establish the telepathic connection he needed to guide her back to The Hesperia.

  “Will you focus for a second,” he grumbled.

  “Yes, okay. I’ll focus, I’ll focus. You have all my attention, Sir.”

  Her blue eyes rose to hold his gaze. There was so much joy and innocence dancing inside her irises that Ark found himself out of breath. She was the most beautiful, interesting female he had ever met. The purple leaves tangled in her blonde locks, the rosy blush on her cheeks, the cheerful smile which lit up her entire face… she looked nothing short of a goddess of joy and beauty. As an Unxendi, Ark didn’t believe in gods, but right then and there, as he lost himself in this human’s eyes, he had a vague feeling that might change.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  When the Captain sent them the telepathic call to join him in his quarters for an urgent meeting, Shirin was in the common room, playing cards with the pilots, and Thivo was on the Bridge. While the First Officer was glad to take a break, Shirin reluctantly left the table. Ten more minutes, and she’d have won. Lately, she hadn’t found the time to goof around with the pilots, and the poor guys were bored out of their minds. Out of the whole crew, they seemed to be the only ones who didn’t quite have a job. In times of peace, their skills weren’t as needed as in time of turmoil. The only thing they could hope for was a quick reconnaissance mission when The Hesperia dropped out of hyperspace for one reason or another. Unfortunately, the stop on Lyra the other day had been too short for them to get to really stretch the wings of their aircrafts.

  Thivo and Shirin met in front of Ark’s door.

  “What’s this meeting about?” she asked telepathically.

  “No idea.”

  “Not in the conference room, but in his quarters?”

  “Must be important.”

  “Come in,” Ark invited them impatiently.

  His booming voice made Thivo and Shirin jump a bit. They exchanged a glance, then opened the door and stepped over the threshold into the large apartment-like space Ark had decorated to his own taste. He was waiting for them in the living room, which was dimly lit by fancy lamps strategically placed in every corner and on each small table, next to pots of blue plants with purple flowers. For a tough and serious Unxendi ship Captain, Arkvar could sometimes prove to be quite the romantic.

  “Sir, you wanted to see us,” Thivo nodded r
espectfully.

  “Yes. Please, sit down.”

  When they did, Ark took his time to study them for a moment. He rubbed his square jaw in deep thought, then shook his head and ran his hand through his neatly combed black hair. Finally, he straightened his back and smoothed down his uniform jacket.

  “What I’m about to ask of you will remain between us,” he began in a low, calculated voice. “I would do it myself, but the report for the Council has kept me up all night and it doesn’t look like it will be done anytime soon. I’ve been having trouble with the other Captains. I’m sure we’ll reach common ground eventually, but until then, it’s clear to me that I won’t have time to work on… other projects, so to speak.”

  “Other projects?” Shirin tilted her head in confusion. “I didn’t know we had other projects.”

  Ark cleared his throat and averted his gaze for a second.

  “All right, maybe I didn’t phrase it like I should have. It’s personal.”

  “A personal project?” Thivo was just as intrigued as Shirin.

  “Look, you’re the people I trust most. Still, you first have to give me your word this will stay between the three of us.”

  “Absolutely, Sir,” said Shirin.

  “You can count on us, Captain,” Thivo confirmed.

  “Good… good…”

  Ark stood up and started pacing the room. Although he’d gone over his speech at least a dozen times before summoning his two Officers, now he felt like the words kept slipping through his fingers stubbornly. This was the first time he was doing something like this, and he was nervous beyond belief. The strong, mighty warrior and Captain Arkvar was nervous! However, it was better for him to be nervous now, when he was in the company of the two people he could trust his life, than when the time came to act on his feelings.