“Only I know English,” Azdrei’in responded idly to the male human’s question as he soothed the wounded child. He noticed that the adolescent had used a different inflection when he spoke than their kind usually did when asking about something, but he didn’t understand what it meant, so he dismissed it. At the moment, his focus was better applied to helping Artemis’s patient relax while she treated her leg. He curled his fingers around her small ankle while the physician set the bones in place and used tubes as a splint to hold them still, waiting until after she was done before he finally let go again.

Rising to his full height, he watched as Artemis gave the male her food and a container of what he could only guess was a medicine of some sort. The way they interacted reminded him of his own people, and he marveled again at how similar their species were. The sight also made him wonder, though, why the Earthlings were supposed to be a violent race. Everything he’d seen so far had told him the opposite. Artemis had only attacked him when she’d feared for her life, and the young humans had behaved the same way. They only seemed to resort to fighting if they believed their lives depended on it, just like the Lunvalgans did. How could his leaders say, then, that they were savages who needed to die before his kind could inhabit the planet?

Perplexed by the thought, he glanced at the youngest one in her bed one more time before he followed Artemis back out into the open. “How many humans are good?” he asked with a frown when she told him she wanted to help the good ones. The more of them he encountered, the more unsettled he felt about the Eilix’s decision to wipe them all out with a virus. If they had all been brutes like he’d initially been led to believe, it would have been easy to brush off their extinction as a necessary evil. However, if most humans were like Artemis and the two children, he wasn’t certain that he could ignore the genocide so carelessly.

He didn’t have time to ponder over it before she suddenly told him to trust her and wrapped her arms around his midriff in an embrace. The unexpected touch made him stiffen in surprise, and he looked down at her bemusedly. He didn’t know why she’d decided to hug him, but it wasn’t the act itself that caught him off guard. He was even more startled by his own reaction to it. His hearts beat quicker, and his breath hitched the same way it would have if he’d been touched by a female of his own species. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. Objectively, he’d thought that Artemis was aesthetically appealing, with her exotic light skin, red hair and brightly colored eyes, but they belonged to two different races. He couldn’t look at her the same way he would a Lunvalgan female. It was illogical.

Distracted by his own inner turmoil, it took a moment before her question registered in his head. As he snapped out of his brief trance, Azdrei’in tore his gaze away from her to look at the woods around them. He needed to fix his attention on something besides the feeling of her warm body pressed against his. “Not there,” he replied with a gesture toward the tall buildings of the ruins he’d passed through the day before. Knowing there were infected humans in that area, he wanted to stay far away from it to keep her out of danger. “Other places are fine. I don’t care where we go.”

'How many humans are good?' Azdrei'in had asked and it was hard for her to form an answer to that question. "I do not know that Drei, I'll try to answer it later. I need to think about my answer." Artemis told him as she understood the boy and his adverse reaction to him speaking English. Telling the children once more that she promised to check on them and that she had a place where they would be safe if they wanted it all.

When she hugged him, she felt her body respond, it was like a current of electricity that moved over her skin, just because it had been so long since she last had touched another person. Making sure to hold onto him until he started to relax, hearing his heartbeat. Or were that two hearts? She couldn't tell as she realized his heartbeat was just faster than that of her kind. When he answered her question, she could feel his chest vibrating and she tore herself away from the warmth. Her heart was beating faster and she wondered why her body was responding as if he was some handsome man. He wasn't even of her own species, yet to her, he was a handsome man. Even as a teen she felt the same way when she saw Klingons, she just liked strong men who looked like they were dangerous. Like Wolverine and Aquaman, she just couldn't see herself falling for a tall and lanky guy.

Only to pull back and look at the forest as she felt her cheeks heating up, her body feeling warmer than before as she took a deep breath through her nose. *Focus Artemis... He's a bloody alien, he sees you like humans see apes.* she told herself. Only to walk towards the woods, she didn't know what else they were going to see and she hoped that they would not encounter any aggressive humans. "Humans are all different, the more power humans have, it seems they are more aggressive. When cornered, some humans fight while others freeze. There are bad humans and good humans. Almost every child is born good. They become aggressive because the parents are like that." she said as she wondered how she was going to explain it to him.

"Some just want to fight, while others want to make friends. Humans are very different. But mostly it is the ones that have a lot of power that is eviler." She told Azdrei'in as she took a deep breath. "Men are more aggressive than females. They are made to protect women, we were to carry babies. They needed to hunt and protect women. How do I explain it... humans have leaders... and their leaders have leaders.. the higher the leader, they often are eviler." she said as she sighed. "One human is mostly not evil. The more humans are together, the more aggressive they are," she said as she hoped her way of explaining made sense to him.

"It was nice to help the humans thank you again Drei, I miss... Touching and talking," she said as she tried to explain that she had been missing that most of all. "Can we save the good humans?" she asked as she actually wondered if they could. Her heart beating faster as she feared that one day they would walk into the more crazy part of the humans. She knew there had to be terrible ones as well, she had seen that before and she really didn't want to be caught by men like that.

Only when Artemis finally released him did Azdrei’in start to relax again. He let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, trying to calm the frantic racing of his hearts. All she’d done was close the distance between them to express her gratitude for his help. He shouldn’t have responded as if it had been an intimate gesture by a female of his own species. She was a human, a member of the race that his people had all but eliminated from the planet. She wasn’t an option.

Walking with her toward the woods, he wondered if any of the other Yihai were exploring the area nearby. He needed an outlet to get rid of his strange attraction to the human at his side, and some of the warriors who had come to the Earth with him were females. Maybe he would run into one who would be interested in laying with him. None of them had mates, so they were free to sleep together if they wanted to. If he relieved his carnal desires with a member of his own kind, then hopefully his interest in Artemis would be stymied.

Unfortunately, that idea required tracking down another Lunvalgan, and he couldn’t easily do that when Zalla had ordered him to keep watch over the Earthling he’d found.

As they trekked toward the trees, he kept a little more distance between them than usual while she explained the nature of humans to him. Her description of the fight or flight response was familiar to him, since many creatures on Ashad’te had the same instinct, including his own people. It was also the reason why he’d tested her the day before by wrapping his claws around her throat. He’d wanted to find out if she even had enough of a violent streak to fight back when he threatened her.

However, he found it interesting that humans learned to become bad when they were given power, nurtured that way by their parents, or gathered together in large groups. His people tended to behave the opposite way. Perhaps it was because of their close encounter with total extinction, but the Eilix put their collective wellbeing before anything else, and they all did what they could to ensure that their society thrived as best as it could under less than ideal circumstances. If they didn’t take care of each other, dying out was a very real possibility.

“You are welcome,” he replied when she thanked him again, dodging her comment about how she’d missed talking and touching someone else. He was happy to oblige the first desire, but the second reminded him of his unnatural draw to her, so he was reluctant to indulge it. Since they belonged to separate species, it seemed wise to avoid physical contact that might tempt him to get closer to her than he should.

At her question, he shook his head. “I am not sure. I can ask Zalla, but my orders… the warriors’ orders are to kill all humans. I don’t know if we will get new orders if some humans are good.” After running into the young Earthlings, he had quite a bit that he wanted to interrogate his commander about. He was also willing to suggest that the Yihai shouldn’t end the lives of every human who’d survived Strizin. Based on his experiences, he didn’t believe they all needed to die. He just hoped Zalla would be willing to hear him out if he talked to her about it.

“When I talk to Zalla about you next, I will do what I can to make her see that some humans are good,” he promised, sidestepping a low-hanging tree branch.

"Thank you Drei, that means a lot," Artemis said as she then walked silently through the woods, loving the fact that it all was sp peaceful now that there were no humans that spoiled the whole ordeal. Wondering why he was taking more of a distance between them, was the hug that strange to him? She made a mental note not to touch him from now on, she missed him being near and she really needed to get a grip. Who even crushed on a bloody alien? He was beautiful, exotic, smart, and very caring. He had not killed her and actually learned her language, he listened and heard every word she said. if this was a rom-com, he was the perfect man.

After a few hours, she knew they had to get back, and so the silent trek back home had started. All they saw were animals. She stopped at one point to look at a stag that stood tall. Snorting as it spotted them and then ran off again. It was strange how they instantly seemed to know that his kind were predators. "That was a male deer or buck," she told him as she then smiled. "Prey animal," she said as she found it beautiful.

The birds singing as she realized there also were birds that could mimic a tune. And so she started to whistle a simple tune. It started with one bird singing it and soon multiple of them started to play with the notes. Those birds were a mix of two species and she loved them. Only to smile as she saw her home, opening the doors and quickly taking off her shoes.

When the device made a sound, she looked at Azdrei'in his voice speaking softly as his language was one she could listen to for hours. It was beautiful and she just sat in the room waiting for him to finish the talk with Zallah. She wondered what they were saying and so she just decided to go to her room and looking at herself in the mirror. Only to go back to put on the blue dress, if she were to go to the spaceship, she wanted to be dressed into something that actually made her look like a woman. Braiding her hair and then walking back out."What did she say?" she asked with a sweet smile.

The rest of their walk through the woods was more peaceful than the first hour had been. Azdrei’in enjoyed exploring the area, discovering new and interesting plants that he’d never seen before and encountering more animals on occasion. Even in the small section of forest that they covered, he was impressed with the diversity. He saw small creatures with hair and bushy tails that darted up trees, long, slender things with no limbs that slithered under bushes, and even feathered animals that took off into the air when they drew near. As a predator, he was naturally curious about which ones would make good prey, but he had plenty of time to figure that out later, so he didn’t pursue any of the creatures they came across. For now, he just marveled over the beauty of the planet that his people had found and chosen to make into their new home.

When they saw the buck, he watched with interest as the massive beast loped away from them. It reminded him of a species on Ashad’te, only without the bioluminescent skin. Its sweeping antlers were imposing, but the dichotomy between predator and prey was still apparent in the way it fled from him at first sight. Apparently the creatures on the Earth could tell where he stood on the food chain even though his people weren’t part of the ecosystem yet.

He continued to walk with Artemis back to her hideout, fascinated once more by the trills of the winged animals they passed on their way there. When they arrived, he stretched his back languidly and migrated to the sofa to rest. Just as he sat down, however, his communication device chirped, signaling that he was receiving a transmission from someone else. He slipped it from his hip and attached the piece to his ear, glancing at Artemis as she left the room. “This is Azdrei’in, reporting.”

“Azdrei’in, how has your assignment been going?” the caller, Zalla, asked him.

“Smoothly so far,” he replied, kicking his feet up on the table in front of him to recline more comfortably. “The Earthling has made no attempts to escape, and I have kept her safe when I have needed to. She is very interested in our people. I do not think it will take much effort for me to convince her to come to the ship if the Om’phaers wish to speak with her… Speaking of which, has a decision been made as to what I should do with her?”

“That is why I called you,” Zalla confirmed. “I shared what you told me with General Thraczol, and he instructed me to pass word along to the Om’phaers. They are hesitant but interested in hearing more from this Earthling you found, since there is a chance that her knowledge could be useful to our people. Bring her on board as soon as you are able to, Azdrei’in. She is the first glimmer of hope we have had in many years.”

“I will make her aware of my orders right away,” he said obediently. “However, I also have a suggestion, if I may.”

“What is it?”

“Well,” he started slowly, choosing his words carefully as he posed his thoughts to her. “This Earthling is not the only one I have encountered now. There are others who seem to have survived Strizin with little to no detriment to their wellbeing. Those I have found have not been violent either. If they are potentially useful to us, I believe it could be wise for us to abstain from killing them unless they expose themselves as threats individually. I am unsure how many of them survived, but if there are not many of them left, we should not finish them off before we know if we need them or not.”

There was a pause before Zalla responded, “Perhaps. I will speak with Thraczol again on the matter. For now, focus on bringing that Earthling of yours on board our ship. You have been doing well, Azdrei’in. Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you, commander,” he said, a proud smile arching on his lip. He ended the call and reattached the device to his waistband just as Artemis returned to the room. Right away, he noticed that she had changed clothes again, and he looked up at her, his pale eyes sweeping over her dress. “Zalla told me to take you to the spaceship,” he answered her question in English, his accent slightly thicker than usual as he was distracted by the way the fabric flattered her figure. Catching himself, he shook free of the unwanted thought and stood up. “Our specialist doctors want to talk to you about the things you told me. Take what you need now. I don’t know how long we will be there, and what we have on the spaceship is not for human comfort.”

Artemis felt safe with Azdrei’in close to her, she knew he would protect her and when he spoke about taking her to the ship. She smiled widely “Is it up in space?” she asked as she seemed really eager to see it. She had seen the ship in his mind, but she wanted to see it for herself. She could already picture herself looking down at the earth and being with Azdrei’in as he would translate for her. Quickly moving to gather some things that would be more than enough for a few weeks. Making sure to take the food with her. Looking at the bunny and moving to pick it up. “I need to release the bunny, I don’t want it to die. I’ll be right back.” She said as she then went to the outside to find a place to release the bunny once more.

She then went back in, packing food, clothes and obviously a tablet with quite a few drives. Only to be faced with the fact of a charger. She figured they would be able to help and she would do her best to take all she could need. The spaceship had energy and maybe it wouldn’t be a problem. Making sure to pack some food as well, the food that wouldn’t go bad and that didn’t taste too bad either.

Still wearing the dress as she the then walked out and smiled at him. “I’m ready.” She told him as she had her bags packed. It was all fitted in a large suitcase and she made sure to turn off her home as well as possible before they went towards the spaceship. She was eager for the hike, to see the spaceship and making sure that she was ready for any trouble. She wasn’t looking forwards to encounter the humans that were aggressive.

“How do you say hello? I’m Artemis in your language?” she asked as she did want to show that she wanted to learn their language. She wanted to show that her kind was intelligent and she hoped they would see her as more than just a monkey. She knew the different clothes were strange to Azdrei’in, he only wore the same things and she had seen how his eyes always moved over her when she was wearing a dress. She figured it was because his kind only seemed to wear simple things and she figured they didn’t even have fashion.

She was mostly silent, repeating those words to try and get tha accent right if he had told her what so say. Only to gasp at the sight of the large spaceship. Nearly running over as she moved her hand to touch the outside of the smooth metal. Her eyes wide in wonder as it seemed to vibrate with energy. “This is so cool.” She told herself as she looked at the ship. Wondering how the hell they were going to get inside.

“It is,” Azdrei’in answered. “The spaceship will not come down until it is safe for my people. We will go up to it.” It was fortunate for him that the Earthling he’d found wasn’t afraid of leaving her planet. Knowing that humans had been bound to the earth before they’d been wiped out, he might have been concerned about being unable to convince her to travel up into space with him, but the smile on her face told him that she would join him happily. All he had to do was lead her to the private craft that he’d flown down when he’d been given his first assignment.

He waited for her to prepare herself for the trip, packing belongings and freeing the animal she had kept inside her home. It didn’t take long, and when she was finally done, he joined her at the door to head out, returning to the ruins where he had left his ship. On the way to it, he rested one hand idly on his weapon and kept watch over their surroundings to make sure there were no infected humans around to attack them. He’d originally planned to avoid bringing Artemis into the area since he’d deemed it unsafe, but it was the quickest way to their destination, so he just kept his guard up while they walked.

At her question, he glanced down at her, “You would say: S’dei dra jina Artemis. We have more than one ‘hello,’ but for you, ‘S’dei’ should be enough.” In truth, there was far more nuance to the Lunvalgan language than he told her, but he didn’t know nearly enough English to explain it properly. There were different greetings for different times of day, for interactions between people of different ranks, and even for different social circumstances such as mourning or celebration. He would need to become more fluent in her tongue before he could even begin to try to teach her how his worked.

When they finally reached his ship—thankfully without running into any infected humans—Azdrei’in smiled amusedly at Artemis’s reaction to the vehicle. She was like a child who had just discovered a fascinating new toy. “If you like this, you will like the home spaceship even more,” he told her as he strode after her. It was more fun than he’d expected to introduce her to his people’s technology, and he enjoyed the way she seemed to light up with delight at the sight of it.

Stepping up beside her, he placed an open palm against the built-in reader, which flashed white in recognition of his touch just before the door eased open, folding downward from the top to become a ramp that they could walk up. “There will not be much space,” he warned her, sauntering inside the craft first and beckoning her to follow. “This was made for only one person.”

The interior was comprised mainly of a cockpit in the front and a storage space toward the rear. The ceiling was tall enough that Azdrei’in could stand almost fully upright without hitting his head, so there was plenty of room for Artemis to walk about freely. The floor and walls were made of black and dark silver metal, peppered with various odd controls for the pilot to operate in the event that the bioscanner that he mainly used stopped working. All of the controls to command the craft were located at the very front on a wide, crescent-shaped panel that bowed outward toward the nose of the vehicle.

Since the ship was only meant for one individual at a time, there was only one proper seat positioned next to the control panel. It was cushioned for comfort and placed low to the floor, so its occupant would be seated with his or her legs outstretched to reach another set of levers underneath the main band of controls.

“This is my spaceship because I am a warrior,” he explained, stepping over to the pilot’s chair and sitting down. “All warriors have to learn to use them, and we all have our own.” He strapped himself into the seat and peered over his shoulder at Artemis, considering how to make the flight easier for her when there wasn’t a second chair available. “Come,” he called her to him after a moment. “Leaving this place will be rough. If you stand, you will fall. When we are in space, you can walk around, but until then, sit.” And he gestured for her to sit on his lap.

It took all of her willpower not to jump up and down and clap like a child when she realized she was going up in space, granted it would just be outside of the earth but it was like a dream come true. She was going to go where she never thought she would go and she was eager. Even if it meant going to the ruined city. She didn't want to see the other humans and she certainly didn't want to watch as one got killed, she knew they were feral and her mind told her to stay clear of those.

"Oh, like Hello, good morning, good evening, good night," she said with a smile as she tried to understand what he was trying to tell her. Deciding to try the foreign words on her lips. "S’dei dra jina Artemis" she said as she tried her best to mimic it. Her voice wasn't used to the throatier sounds of his language, so it sounded a lot softer than how he made it sound. Smiling the whole way towards the ship.

When the ship had come into view, she was mesmerized, her hand over the smooth surface as she then looked back at him with the joy even evident in her eyes. Before, there had been worry and fear, since she had been surviving for so long. Now she was just enjoying the moment, only to feel him move behind her. The spaceship making sounds that were far softer than what she had expected and gasping as she walked inside. "You were looking at the birds and the trees like that. I always thought space travel was a dream," she said as she looked at all the dials and lights. Only to look around the small vessel "You know, this is more like a pod, a smaller one that is part of a larger ship. For scouting." she said as she smirked. "At least humans got that idea in movies," she said before she realized she would have to sit on his lap.

She made sure her dress was pulled down, her suitcase had been sucked to the ship itself and so she gently moved to get on his lap. Making her realize that he was much taller than she had in her head. His body was warm and smooth as if his skin was more that of leather like a snake. Though she avoided touching his bare skin and tried her hardest not to let her skin turn red. Making sure to make herself comfortable while trying not to get in his way.

Her eyes looking in front of her as she realized she would be able to see the ship take off. Turning in his lap so she was facing the window. "I'm going to space," she said as she was smiling widely, her heart beating faster as she wondered what it was like. Only then to wonder how bad the G-forces were going to be. "Can I get sick? Like from the ship moving," she said as she tried to ask if she could get motion-sick. She was terrible with boats, but even then she was excited.

"You know, I know this beautiful place called the grand canyon. I think you might like it, or the Amazon forest," she said as she could see all the possibilities of the ship. She could show him so many things. "Or the pyramids. Earth has a lot of beautiful places."

“I think it was made for that,” Azdrei’in mused when Artemis compared his ship to something called a ‘pod.’ He didn’t understand every word she used, but it sounded like she had just described the purpose of the Yihai, of which he was a member. To clear up the communication barrier, he telepathically showed her his memory of the day before, when he’d flown his ship down to the Earth with the rest of the vanguard. All of them piloted individual crafts that they had flown to different parts of the planet to explore and scout out threats that they would need to eradicate before the rest of their people landed.

As Artemis obliged his request and sat in his lap, he had to take a slow breath to keep his composure. He’d planned to keep some distance between them to curb the odd attraction he was starting to notice he had toward her, but that was impossible to do when there was only one seat in the spaceship, and he needed to sit in it to pilot the vehicle. She had never left the earth before, so he wasn’t cruel enough to tell her to sit on the floor either. For a first flight, it was better for her to be secured in place, so she wouldn’t accidentally injure herself when the ship punched through the atmosphere.

Still, despite the logic of it, he couldn’t help but notice the warmth and pressure of her body against his, the softness of her skin and even her faint earthy but feminine scent. The sensations were almost distracting, and it took a moment for him to regain his focus enough to realize that she had asked him a question. “Maybe,” he replied, trying to ignore the resonation of her rapidly beating heart—it seemed that humans only had one—and the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. “But try not to. You are sitting on me, and I will not like it if you get sick here.” A slight smile played on his lip, and he reached out to operate the controls that powered on the ship. It was more difficult to express humor in a language that he barely had a basic grasp of, but he tried anyway, if only for the sake of thinking about something over than the fact that she was in his lap.

With a few deft movements, he threw the craft into drive, and the dull hum that had permeated the space grew louder. “Earth is beautiful,” he agreed as she told him about some more places on the planet. “My people are excited to live here. It is like our home, Ashad’te, only… there is less light at night.” Lacking the word to explain bioluminescence, he substituted the thought by showing her another mental image of the Lunvalgans’ planet at night and raised one of his arms in a tactile explanation. The swirling patterns on his skin also glowed a dim white in the darkness of his ship. “It is not easy for me to hunt here. Prey animals see me before I can get close to them.” He’d found that out the night before when he’d realized that the plants and animals on the Earth didn’t luminesce in the dark. Fortunately, there was a simple solution to the problem though. He could just wear clothes that covered more of his skin the next time he attempted to catch his own food.

Monitoring the gauges on the control panel, he waited until the craft stabilized and then steadily eased it into a low hover above the ground. When he was alone, he took off faster, but since Artemis had never experienced this before, he took each step one by one to make it easier for her to adjust to the sensations. First, the ship rose smoothly, just enough for the landing gear to tuck away in its compartment of the belly of the craft. Once that was done, he steered it higher at a forward diagonal until they rose above the tallest buildings around them. The window in the front was slightly tinted against the light but was fully translucent, so they could both see outside as they climbed higher.

“We will go up to space next,” he warned her as the ship hovered over the ruins, adjusting dials and buttons and other controls to ready the ship for the task of pushing through the atmosphere. “How are you feeling now? Are you ready to go on?” He glanced at her, wanting to make sure that she could handle the jump first. She had been excited to leave the earth not long ago, but if she was starting to lose confidence, it was better to know up front rather than find out when they went up into space and she passed out under the force of the pressure and the panic.

Artemis was glad that he was honest about the idea of her getting sick. Only to laugh at his attempt at a joke. “Did you just tell a joke?” she asked with a beautiful smile as she looked back at his face. Only to quickly turn to look back outside of the window. Why was it that she felt an attraction to him, was she really deprived of touch so much that her body mistook it for something more? It made no sense to her. “I’ll try not to throw up.” She said with a smile before she watched the spaceship take off.

“Most predators hunt at dusk or twilight. Lions hunt during the day, making sure to hide in grass and such.” She said as she smiled at him. Always loving the images in his head “Actually your planets looks a lot like a movie we made. I’ll show it to you.. it’s a story. Showing how evil humans are.” She said as she always had loved that movie. “Deer.. if you shine a light in their eyes they freeze.” She said as she wanted to tell him about the fact that predators had different ways of hunting.

Her eyes moving to the light on his skin as she almost went to touch it, only to keep herself from doing it at the last moment. “Your planet is beautiful. A lot of trees.” Only to gasp at how fast they were moving up in the air. Her eyes showing her excitement as she then leaned forward a bit to try and look at the ground. “This is amazing.” She said as it was clear it was a wonder to her.

“It is so silent. Human spacecrafts are very loud.” She said as the craft stopped. Somehow she wasn’t even sick, she just had felt the push of G-forces like it would be in the space mountain at Disney land. But without being pushed back.

“Yes, I’m ready” she said as she turned to look up at him, she barely had seen him when his skin was glowing, and it made him look even more beautiful. A smile on her lips as she then moved so she wouldn’t fall off as the craft would move again. Making sure to tighten her core muscles as her breath was taken away when he let her go in space.

Instantly the pressure on her body was gone, barely even thinking as she stood up and moved to the side as she looked at the earth. “Oh, my.. God.” She said as she looked at her planet from the window. Her eyes then moving around as she started laughing. Looking at the starts as she then realized she could even see Mars. “That’s Mars…” she said as she smiled back at him. It was then that the craft moved, and her eyes widened at the mere size of his spaceship. Moving as close to the window as she could.

It was the same metal as his craft, only many times larger. How was it that she hadn’t seen it from the earth itself? Her mouth agape as she stared at the thing. Tears forming as she was mesmerized. Goosebumps rising on her skin as she watched the craft move closer. Only to realize then that she was going to be the only human on a ship filled with aliens that were sent to kill her species.

Her heart was beating fast in excitement as she then looked at him confused. “Why aren’t we floating?” she asked as she was in space. “We should float in space. No gravity.” She said as she realized she could still stand on her own two legs. She felt a lot lighter, but she still was standing. Had they found a way to harness gravity?

“I tell jokes,” Azdrei’in confirmed amusedly. “It is just not easy to do in a language I don’t know well.” After making her laugh, he suddenly found himself with another reason to master English though. He thought the sound of it was beautiful in spite of himself. Her laughter was lighter than that of his own people, melodic and almost contagious. It made him want to bring it out of her again. When they were on the mothership, he would have to spend some more time learning her language, both to translate effectively when she met with the Om’phaers and for his own selfish reason of talking to her and finding out if he could make her laugh again.

When she went on to tell him about a story that her people had created, he found it interesting that they would paint themselves in a villainous light. In Lunvalgan stories that were passed down between generations, their people were always described in a positive manner. There were a few rare occasions in which different groups would fight amongst each other, but it was even rarer for those fights to turn as bloody as the ones his leaders had seen in just a few short years of observing the human race. At least they are self-aware, I suppose, he mused. Earthlings may have been more violent than his kind was, but they seemed to know that they weren’t as peaceful as they should have been.

“I would not like loud spaceships,” he shook his head at her comment about how quiet his craft was. The ship wasn’t totally silent, but the steady thrum of the engine was reminiscent of white noise, monotonous and easy to forget when one wasn’t paying direct attention to it. He needed to be able to hear the internal parts working, so he could tell if something was wrong with the vehicle, but he also needed to be aware of his surroundings. If the ship had been loud, it would have cost him one of his six senses, which was potentially dangerous if he needed to hear a threat in the area.

Once Artemis affirmed that she was ready, Azdrei’in nodded and adjusted one last dial on the panel. The ship change course from gliding over the ruins to easing upward once more, carrying them toward the upper atmosphere. As it moved, it slowly gained speed, and he wrapped one arm over her lap to hold her steady while they breached the invisible barrier. The familiar sense of pressure made his stomach drop and pressed him into his seat, and he glanced at her to make sure that she was handling the increased force alright. He wasn’t sure if her kind was more sensitive to the sensation than his was.

Fortunately, she neither vomited nor fell unconscious, and in just a moment, they had passed into outer space. The ship’s artificial gravity had switched on at the same time, and he checked idly over the autopilot settings while she got up to walk about the cockpit. Once he felt sure that everything was functioning correctly, he unstrapped himself from his chair and stood up as well to stretch his legs, noticing that she was staring at the mothership that they were headed toward.

The ship that housed the rest of the colony was massive, reflecting the same smooth exterior as his private craft. It was made from dark metals from Ashad’te too, and every shape was reminiscent of organic life, even though it was made from inanimate material. It cruised just beyond the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, utilizing the planet’s gravitational pull to hover close without burning energy.

“That is where we are going,” he told her, stepping over to stand behind her while she looked out the window. Her question was difficult for him to understand since he didn’t grasp the word ‘float,’ but he took a guess at what she was referring to anyway. “You mean why are we not off the floor?” he rephrased it using words he’d memorized. “My spaceship pulls us down, just like Earth does. The home spaceship will too when we arrive.”

Leaving her to take in the sights of her planet and the mothership, he ambled back over to the controls and bent down to activate the ship’s communication system, waiting until the signal was received by the colony’s ship before he spoke in his own tongue, “This is Azdrei’in. I received an order to bring the earthling I discovered to the Om’phaers. I have her with me now, and I am on my way to the mothership. How long do I need to wait before I can board?”

“You may board at any time, Azdrei’in,” the warrior on the other end of the line permitted. “We were made aware that you would be returning, so the landing station is open.”

“Thank you. I will be there shortly then.” Ending the brief transmission, he turned back to Artemis, switching to English once more, “They are ready for us, so I will take us to the home spaceship now.” With that, he sat down in the pilot’s seat again to take over the controls and fly the craft the rest of the way to the mothership.

Artemis couldn't believe all this was happening and that she really was up in space, she felt joy and safety now that she wasn't on her own planet anymore. Those years of survival had made it hard to relax and so she was happy it had happened once more. That she could just enjoy the moment without worry of what would happen. Truth to be told, she soon would meet the rest of his kind and that made her very nervous. She didn't know what they were like and she was terrified that they would change her mind about her.

"Humans are smart and aware of our aggression. One very smart human called Stephen Hawking once said that space exploration was the future for humanity if we were able to control our aggression. If not that said aggression would be our downfall. And he was right." she simply said as she had seen the way he responded about the movie. She wondered if she could ever show their kind what the problem was for the humans, that they could make sure it wouldn't be their downfall. She wanted her species to become better, to be surviving, and thriving like his kind.

"The pulling down is a force called gravity. At least that is what we call it," she said with a smile. "We don't know how to control it so we fought against it to make our ships go into space. With huge controlled explosions. Elon Musk was a man that made electric cars and he made the first rockets that went to space and actually landed back on earth." She said as she then chuckled. "Must look like a silly thing to you now," she said as she then watched as they moved towards the hatch. The ship opening itself up as he went through some barrier, one of his kind stood there, he looked tiny at first as he moved his hands to make it clear where he should land.

Her eyes wide with wonder as she made sure to hold on to his chair as she wondered how bad the landing would be. Somehow it all was calmer as she then looked at him with a smile. not thinking about how much air would be on the ship, they seemed to be alike in that way after all. She didn't even think about the sicknesses they would have on the ship, it was something she was aware of, but she figured it all was controlled. Only to feel nervous as the ship landed, realizing that there was far less sound than she expected. Only the barking of commands as she moved to grab her suitcase.

As the door to the pod opened, she looked into the spaceship, as a leaner looking male of his kind was standing close to the ship. He was the one that was just shifting boxes and he couldn't help but look at the human that was on the pod. Artemis then gave him a small smile and a wave as she tried to be nice, only to have him look away and get back to the working. It was only a few moments before another came out, it seemed he was closer to a warrior as he was broader like Azdrei'in. She then moved to get behind him, as she didn't know what he would do.

Most of what Artemis was saying went over Azdrei’in’s head, since his English vocabulary wasn’t robust enough to catch every word she spoke. However, he was distracted anyway as he took over the controls of the ship to bring it down to land. Switching off the auto-pilot mode, he guided the craft past the oxygen barrier and into the loading bay, a large room filled with other ships of different shapes and sizes. Most were almost identical to his vehicle, with crescent shaped wings and teardrop-shaped bodies. Since they had come to colonize the planet, scouting ships were the most useful kinds to them by far. However, there were also larger cargo transports and a few vessels that could bus groups of individuals all at once.

He eased his ship lower to the dock, where another warrior stood and directed him to one of the empty spaces where he could land. He followed the gesticulated orders and brought his craft down in a slot between two other private ships, powering down the engine once the vehicle’s feet were firmly planted. As he got up from his seat, a flurry of mixed emotions struck him at once. There was some relief in being among his people again, since he felt comfortable in their presence, but he was also a little disappointed to be on the mothership when he could have been exploring the earth.

Reminding himself that he was here to serve a purpose, he unlatched the door and waited for it to open. The sound of voices beyond the craft drifted to his ears, a familiar hum of Lunvalgan language. When the hatch touched the floor, he waited for a moment until another warrior approached the opening. They exchanged a brief gesture in greeting, crossing their left arms over their midriffs, and the other male turned to Artemis. “This is the earthling?” he asked curiously, waving to beckon them out of the ship.

“Yes,” he confirmed, glancing down at her as well. Switching to English, he told her, “You are safe. Come.” Then, he pressed a hand to her back to usher her down the ramp as he stepped out with her. Already, he could feel the eyes of the other Lunvalgans on them. Those who were loading cargo onto the larger ships craned their necks to get a glimpse of the human, fascinated by the strange and foreign being in their midst.

“You learned its language?” the other warrior studied him with intrigue.

“I am still learning it, but yes,” Azdrei’in nodded. “She has valuable knowledge to share with our people, so it was a necessity. I plan to translate when she speaks with the Om’phaers.”

“I see,” the warrior mused, turning to her again in quiet interest. “Well, it is late, so the Om’phaers will see her tomorrow morning. I am here to escort both of you to your assigned quarters for the night.” He beckoned them again and strode toward a door at the edge of the loading bay that would carry them into the inner part of the mothership, where the rest of the colony lived.

Azdrei’in followed him, explaining the situation to Artemis in a quiet tone, “Because of the time, you will talk to our specialist doctors tomorrow. Now, he is showing us where we will sleep at night.”

Artemis didn't even move at first as the other male gave her a command and then moved his finger. She knew that they weren't going to hurt her, but she wasn't going to let them take her away from Drei, she felt safe with him and he put her at ease. Only to feel his hand on her back, instantly her body responded by raising the hairs on her neck. This wasn't in fear, but a whole other emotion. Her heard was beating faster as she looked at the others of his race. They didn't look all that different, but enough to see that each one was different.

Looking back at Azdrei'in and giving him a sweet smile. "I think I'm more safe here then I ever was on earth," she said as she then moved to follow the other male that clearly was another male warrior. Making sure to stay silent as she didn't want them to think that she knew his language. Only to look to the side and her eyes opening wide as she could see the ship look out upon space. She stopped moving as she started at the nebula that was in the distance. Only to see the other planets as a smile formed on her lips.

It was clear that she was distracted by everything that was happening. Only to hear him speak again and starting to walk again. Looking around the halls that were of the same metal of the rest of the ship. Everywhere where she walked, she could see the looks of his kind, trying her hardest to look as innocent as possible. Noticing that she only ever saw adults. "Are there no children?" she asked as she then noticed a woman that stood in the hallway, she was elegant and she could see that they were much taller than her.

She couln't help but stare, she was tiny and shapeless compared to those women and she realized that she was caught looking. Instantly she wanted to hide, but instead she tried to say the words that he had learned her. "S’dei dra jina Artemis" she said as she stumbled a bit on those words. Only to look back at Drei. "I probably said something else Azdrei'in?" she asked as she felt so out of place. What was she doing on that bloody spaceship?

She had noticed the looks that her saying those words had gotten quite a few stares and she just wanted to hide. But she didn't, she just moved her eyes to look around at the ship as she realized they were walking for a while in what seemed like a long hallway. Only to follow the other warrior.

“I think you are,” Azdrei’in agreed when Artemis said she was safer on the mothership than she had been on her own planet. His people wouldn’t hurt her. Most likely, there were varying opinions among the Lunvalgans that were watching her in the loading bay. Before he’d left to scout out the earth, he had heard quite a few different thoughts and theories about the human race among the others. Some believed that earthlings were a scourge that needed to be eradicated and that killing them off was good thing; some were more neutral and simply believed that the Eilix knew what they were doing when they’d decided to release the virus on them; and some, including himself, wondered if there was anything that could be gained by studying the humans and learning about how they had lived and functioned on their planet.

It wasn’t hard to tell which camp each onlooker belonged to as they stared at Artemis. The more hostile Lunvalgans regarded her with cautious, unfriendly gazes while the rest observed her with intrigue. She was safe among all of them though. Since she was here to speak with their fertility specialists, she was a guest on the mothership, and that meant that no one would be allowed to lay so much as a claw on her without facing repercussions. Even the disgruntled people would have to tolerate her presence as long as she was under their leaders’ protection.

Following the other warrior through the long, silver-white halls of the ship, he glanced down at the human when she asked about children. “There are not many,” he told her, letting his translucent eyes wander over the other Lunvalgans that they passed. Occasionally he nodded a passive acknowledgement when he caught the eye of someone he knew. “The youngest children stay with their parents, and then they are moved when they don’t need them anymore. They stay in groups to play and learn together in a different place here… Some people watch them who are not their parents.”

It was difficult to explain that adolescent Lunvalgans were raised communally. Because pregnancies failed so often, it was more important for mated couples to keep trying to have more children than it was for them to take the time to raise the ones they did have. There were more males than females among them too, so many of the males who were not paired up with a mate were assigned to be caretakers for the children between the time period where they left their parents and the moment they were old enough to be assigned to jobs of their own.

When Artemis attempted to speak to one of the nearby females, Azdrei’in cracked a smile. “You said it right,” he assured her as they rounded a corner that led to the individual rooms they assigned for sleeping. The other warrior stopped next to an open doorway and gestured with one hand at the space on the other side. It was mostly bare, with a few built-in shelves in one wall for storage and a bed fit for one person that hung from four cords that were attached to the ceiling. Soft, white lights illuminated the room from the corners where the walls met the ceiling as well, and there was an adjacent room attached to the side with a waste receptacle built into the floor.

“The earthling will stay here,” the warrior directed. “Azdrei’in, you may return to your personal quarters in the northern wing until you are summoned tomorrow.”

Azdrei’in glanced into the chamber. Before he’d left for the earth, he’d shared a room with three other male warriors, but it was located in another part of the mothership far from the space that had been designated for Artemis. Knowing that she had been opposed to separating from him, he turned back to the other male, “I will stay in this room as well. The earthling does not speak our language and has made it clear that she will be opposed to it if I leave her alone here.”

“Are you sure?” the other warrior asked bemusedly.

“I am,” he confirmed. “Have someone bring my bed and perhaps some of my clothes from my quarters to this room. It is my duty to make sure the earthling is looked after, so I will stay with her while she is here.”

The other warrior looked amused with his answer, “You take this assignment very seriously, hm? Very well. I will have your belongings moved into this room for you.”

“Thank you,” Azdrei’in said appreciatively.

The other male turned and walked off, leaving them alone, and he turned to Artemis. “This is your room now,” he told her in English, stepping inside and beckoning her to follow. “This is your bed. Mine will be here soon, and I will stay here with you.”

To Artemis it all had been very strange, a week ago she had been alone, thinking she was going to die of being alone or killed by other humans. That she would have taken her life or slowly would have turned mad from being on her own the whole time. And now, she stood in a room that had a bed hanging from the ceiling, far larger than what she was used to seeing and she was floating in space. It was all so strange and she barely could wrap her head around it all, she was in a spaceship surrounded with aliens and she never had felt so safe.

Even when there was clear dislike from some, they never once had a murderous glare, most were curious about the human that was with them. They all gave her the benefit of the doubt and when they were led to the room. She tried to understand what they were talking about. Wanting to ask him why there was only one bed. The said warrior had a bigger thing on his forehead and to her he seemed far more dangerous because of it.

Only to let out a sigh of relief that he wasn’t leaving her, only to notice that there wasn’t really a room where she could change. She looked at him and gave him a small smile. “Too bad there is no window to look outside. I barely had time to look at space.” She said as she then looked back at the door. There were many noises and to her it seemed really strange, she wasn’t used to it all and it made her feel uncertain.

“It is strange to me, your kind is nonviolent. Almost nothing on earth is nonviolent.” She said as she then looked at him. “And then there is your kind. Even when they do not trust me, they… allow me in here… give me a room.” She said as she moved her hand through her own hair. “Just for a bit of peace and food, I think a lot of humans would be willing to see the good. But still I don’t trust my kind to keep peace.” She said as she then moved to grab her tablet. Deciding to show him the video that her kind had made. Avatar, the one with the aliens that were more kind that her kind could ever be.

She then moved to him as she smiled, knowing that she had a powerbank and that it would easily last a week even when showing him a bit of a movie. “I could show you the movie I talked about. How I see humans. To show what they would do if they ever got into space.” She said as it was clear it made her sad. She wasn’t proud of her kind and she felt more at home when she was with aliens in a ship. Still there were so many things that she didn’t know and it made her feel like she was out of place, how would she ever think she could have a place among them?

His kind was all that she wished humanity was like and she didn’t know what she could do to make herself feel better. “I want to learn your language. I won’t be as fast as you. But it would be nice to understand what they are saying.” She said as she then wondered if he even would want to see the movie, would he even want to be near her.

Azdrei’in leaned against the wall and folded his arms loosely across his chest while Artemis walked about the room. Even though he had volunteered to share her quarters with her, there was a part of him that was uncomfortable with the knowledge that they would be sleeping in the same space. It wasn’t that he believed he was in danger. He trusted that she wouldn’t suddenly attack him while he slept, but he felt strange because she was a female. They didn’t belong to the same species—this was something he reminded himself of consistently—but for some reason, it was impossible for him to look at her like he had the other animals on her planet. She was undeniably similar to a Lunvalgan female, and because of that, he had an attraction to her that made their temporary living situation feel more intimate than it should have.

“You will see more of space,” he assured her, letting his gaze wander to the windowless walls. “There are places to look out in the spaceship. They are just not here.” A thought made him brighten slightly and he turned back to her. “Seeing Earth is good.” Beautiful, breathtaking, or incredible would have been better words, but he didn’t know them in English, so instead, he projected the emotions that those words elicited as a substitute. “You will like it,” he assured her confidently. They had already seen part of her planet on their way to the mothership, but they had been too close to the surface to get a good look at it. From the larger craft, drifting at a distance, they could see far more, and he was eager to see her reaction to looking down on the planet she called home.

When Artemis spoke about how his kind was nonviolent, Azdrei’in said nothing. He wouldn’t have called his people nonviolent, personally. They were predators by nature and equipped with all the biological tools to hunt and kill. However, their violence was directed more properly than the human race’s was. Instead of using their weapons to fight each other, they mostly spilled blood to survive. They ate other creatures when they were hungry and defended themselves from threats. When it came to interpersonal squabbles, their leaders were quick to mediate and shut down conflicts before they could escalate to the point of physical violence. The heavy-handed leadership combined with the hive-like mentality of their people was what kept the peace among them. Perhaps when he became more fluent in her language, he would explain it to her more thoroughly.

He looked down at the video playing on the human’s device when she showed it to him. “I can teach you,” he told her idly in response to her request to learn his language. “We might be here for a long time. When we are in this room, I will give you more words to learn.” That would be a perfect distraction for him too, so he would have something to think about other than the fact that he was sleeping in the same room as a female human that he found inexplicably attractive.

In the next moment, the pocket door slid open as two male Lunvalgans entered the room carting his bed from his old quarters. Azdrei’in looked up and stepped away from the wall he’d been lounging against. “Bring it over here, thank you,” he instructed them with a gesture toward the side of the space opposite of where Artemis’s bed hung.

The two nodded and placed the mat on the floor. They took the furled cords that were attached to the edges and unwound them, lifting them up to the ceiling to hang the bed magnetically to the metal canopy over their heads. Since they shuffled rooms around so often, it was easier to make the furniture as portable as possible, so it wasn’t a hassle to move it from one space to another. Suspending it was an easy solution to meet the need.

Once they were done, he thanked the two again, and they left, leaving him alone with Artemis once more. Azdrei’in stepped over to his newly added bed and sat on the edge. The mat bowed slightly under his weight and swung backwards by its cords, but it supported him just as well as the bed in her hideout had. “Do you need food?” he asked, beckoning her to come closer. “You brought food from Earth, yes? I don’t know if the food here is good for you.”

Artemis was happy to hear that she was going to see more of space, even more so when he showed her how the earth had looked to him. It was strangely intimate for her to feel his joy and it made her wonder how he would feel about her. What he felt when he looked at her, certainly it wasn't the same as how she saw him and how she felt towards him. It was idiotic to even consider it, it wasn't like she was even of the same species as him. She didn't even know if their DNA was even alike, and she wondered how his kind was different from hers.

She didn't even know how she was supposed to feel to be in the same quarters as him, wondering if she was still talking in her sleep and what she would tell him. "I know I'll like space and I really would love to learn your language. So thank you. You make me happy." Artemis said as she then looked at him with a smile. Only to quickly move away from him as the other two walked in, her eyes moving over them in curiosity as she tried her hardest to make sense of it all. In height, there barely was a difference and she instantly was thinking about what part of the DNA made that happen. Humans were different in heights and there were very large differences, his kind was more alike. More like zebras, but instead of different stripes, they had their faces that looked different. The body of warriors was all alike and she couldn't help but stare as they were setting up the bed.

One of them had even longer fangs that Azdrei'in, but she figured he would be seen as handsome by his kind. She then looked away, trying to make some mental notes before they left once more. Only to hear him ask about food, she hadn't even noticed how hungry she had been. A rumble sounding in her stomach as she smiled. "I'm not eating raw meat," she said as she actually was disgusted by the thought of eating raw meat. Handing him the tablet as she smiled. Wondering if he was going to start learning a bit more of her language as she then had an idea. "We have these things called synonyms," she said as she then looked at him. "Like Good," she said as she then smiled. "There are different ways of saying good," she said as she then wanted to explain it. "Little good is okay," she said as she tried to explain it. "Very much good is amazing. But like... Tree is pretty." she said as she then looked at him. "Space is breathtaking. All that are words for good." she said as she then moved to her own bags and sighed. Pulling out some beans in tomato sauce and grabbing the spoon.

Putting it aside and then pulling out a camping fire. "Fire inside okay? It is small," she said as she pointed at the little thing before her. "I need to warm food," she said as she then shook the closed can. Hoping to have him understand that she preferred warm meals. His kind preferred fresh meat and that had a bit of heat, but she knew that they weren’t the ones to cook their food. Was it purely because of their evolution? Because cooked food was more easily to digest for most animals, not that all preferred it.

If he would say it was okay, she would warm up the beans in the can and then eat them with a spoon. She did feel like some comfort food was better, she just liked the taste of it and it reminded her of camping with her father. If it wasn’t okay, she would go for a can of fruit and some apple that she had found while they were walking. It had been ages since she tasted an apple, she just wondered how she would explain it all. How earth could be rebuilt and what her life would be like now that his kind had come down to earth. It all just seemed so strange.

She had made sure to sit away from him, being too close only had her distracted and she didn’t want him to think that she became too comfortable with him. She didn’t want him to smell that she felt an attraction towards him, she had figured he had a stronger sense of smell and she just didn’t want to embarrass herself. She just wondered what was going to happen the next day and it brought on the jitters, she just hoped she would be able to sleep.

“I really hope I can help.” Artemis then said while she was eating. Showing that she worried that her information wouldn’t even be enough to save his kind. She hoped that she could at least make sure that his kind didn’t die out.

Azdrei’in noticed that Artemis was very observant of each and every Lunvalgan that crossed her path. When the other warriors had stopped by to bring his bed, she watched them closely, and he watched her in return. He was interested in knowing what she thought of everything so far. She had been displaced from her home and surrounded by an environment that was entirely foreign to her. When he’d come down to the earth, he’d been fascinated by everything he’d found. All the new sights and smells and other sensations that he’d never experienced before had been mindboggling. Now, their roles had been reversed, except she was essentially at the mercy of his people. He wondered if she was excited or frightened or both.

After the others left, he smiled amusedly at the human’s comment. “We don’t have meat,” he told her, folding his arms over his chest while his suspended bed swung lightly underneath him. “We have something else. I don’t know how to say it… It is good for us like meat, but it was made on the spaceship.” The substitute was synthesized in a lab, created by scientists to replicate the nutrition that they would have gotten from consuming raw meat. However, now that he’d tasted the real thing, he found the alternative to be bland. It had hardly any flavor, and the texture was unnaturally spongey. It was passable, since it was their only option when they were in space, but it was a disappointing food source compared to fresh, warm, flavorful meat from the hides of real animals. His mouth watered at the thought of it, and he swallowed reflexively.

When Artemis handed him the device, he murmured a word of thanks and ran a quick history search to open the sources he’d found to study English. “I think I know,” he nodded at her explanation of something she called ‘synonyms.’ “I will learn more words soon. It just takes time.” He shifted his weight on his bed to swing his legs up on the mat, making himself more comfortable. Now that he’d made himself familiar with the English alphabet and collected a basic vocabulary, he expected that he would master the language quickly. The hardest part had been getting started. From here, it was just a memory game. He would continue to perfect his grammar and memorize as many words as he could, and hopefully by the time morning came, he would be able to communicate far more effectively than he could today.

He glanced up from the screen when she asked him about her food. Understanding that she had brought along a tool to heat up her meals, he nodded and indicated a smoke detector in the ceiling. “I think it is fine if you are smart about it. Just keep it far away from that because it will call other people here. They will think we are not safe.”

While she cooked her dinner, he laid back on his bed with one knee up and his other leg crossed perpendicular across it. With a pillow tucked comfortably under his head, he skimmed through the virtual page he’d pulled up on Artemis’s device, reading new sentences in English and quietly reciting unfamiliar words. They would be meeting with the Om’phaers tomorrow, so he needed to learn as much as he could before that time. He paid particular attention to vocabulary he came across that had to do with medicine and science, since that was going to be the focus of their discussion. Even by his own people’s standards, he was a rapid learner, so he was confident that he would be prepared. He just needed to put in the work to reach his goal.

He focused on studying the language until the human’s voice distracted him, and he turned his head to look at her. “I hope you can help too,” he said idly, taking notice of her tension. “But don’t worry. Even if your help is not enough, we will soon have the whole planet to use. I think we will find something there that will also help. We will not let the problem kill us.”

"That sounds horribly bad," Artemis said as she remembered the drinks that were there to substitute food for the sick. The bland and tasteless food that was just to fill your stomach. Granted, really sick people wouldn't be able to eat anything else and so she knew it was the best way to keep going. But if you were healthy, she didn't really see the point in all of that. She liked food and she knew that canned food was better than what they probably were eating. Only to pull out a box that she had with him, smiling as she had figured he probably was stuck here just like her.

"Shh, I smuggled some real meat," she said as she then pushed the box towards him, it was held cold my elements from the freeze and she really hoped that he would appreciate the whole thing. Only to get up and moving to get on the bed that was there for her and her alone. Lifting herself in it as she looked at him for the last time before bed. Wondering what was going to happen the next day. "Good night Drei," she told him before she moved into the bed and then closed her eyes. She didn't even know what to say, she cared about him, more than she should. He was an alien race that took over the world, she was just a means to save his kind nothing more and nothing less.

It was idiotic to think that he even looked at her differently than how humans looked at a gorilla. She was just interesting and once his kind knew her language, she knew he would be gone. Why was it that it made her sad? That the thought of him leaving pained her as much as she had been in pain with the loss of her parents. Those thoughts were the ones that were with her as she slept, making it so she was dreaming about living with his kind. Assigned to sleep with some random male and it hadn't been pretty. Her sleeping had betrayed nothing, but she had woken really early.

She woke up and lifted herself from the bed, looking at Azdrei'in as he slept, at least he didn't have any nightmares. Getting up and just deciding to eat something that wouldn't require heating. Unwrapping the protein bars as she then started eating and moved to look at her tablet. Trying to find the information that was useful to them and making sure to write some things down, it was nice to just be working again. Not to worry about survival and actually feeling useful. As she heard Azdrei'in stir, she barely looked up at him, still sitting on the ground as she then looked back at him. "Good morning," she said as she hoped he had learned a few more words.