Prey

Chapter 8 - The S.S. Enterprise

It was nighttime at last. The storm clouds had cleared giving me a clear view of the stars. Those twinkling dots in the night sky were my comfort, a distraction from the giant Yautja across the fire from me busy cleaning his weapons. Every now and then I saw him look at me out of the corner of my eye. His eye shields glowed red when he did; the sight didn't put fear in me surprisingly.

Drogaxe was a quiet creature. He said very little. He sat so still that I mistook him for a statue sometimes. If not for the strong rise and fall of his heavily muscled wide chest then I wouldn't have thought he was real.

It was unnerving being this close to him. Just days ago I had been running for my life. Now we sat opposite each other with unspoken words and a level of awkward sexual tension.

For hours he had carried me like a sack of potatoes on his beefy shoulder, his skin blazing hot against mine. The feeling was...weird. His skin wasn't what I expected. It was similar to rubber with little give and much like velvet steel. Drogaxe's skin is unlike anything I've ever felt. Even his dreads felt so...alien. I had mistook them for hair but they weren't, instead they felt squishy like squid tentacles.

Speaking of alien, I focused back on the stars above.

They looked so beautiful, more so than before. I couldn't help the contented sigh that escaped my lips. Right at that moment a shooting star shot streaked across the sky, the sight leaving me breathless.

It was when I made a wish that I felt like I was being watched. Glancing across the fire I saw Drogaxe silently watching me, at least I thought, it's hard to tell with him always wearing that evil high sloping mask. I met his gaze in acknowledgment before returning to the glory above us.

"Space: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before." I quoted the lines from my favorite old television show with perfect memory.

Drogaxe once again focused a silent stare at me as I moved on my makeshift pallet to get comfortable. I had layered a few field blankets I stole from the field kits the soldiers had to make a bed on the ground.

"I have never heard of this Enterprise you speak of." His deep rough voice made his words sound like a rumbling growl from his wide chest. He paused in his cleaning to cock his head as I giggled.

"That's because she's not real. It's a quote from a television show about a group of explorers part of a fictional organization called Starfleet. It's similar to a military but with many offshoots and this particular one was a group who explored the stars." Sitting up I stretched my sore limbs, the firelight reflecting off the scales on my skin. "My upbringing was harsh and unyielding, so I would often dream of one day joining Starfleet so I, too, could explore the universe. I was crushed when I found out it wasn't real, but...I still look to the stars."

"Space is empty, cold, and vast. There is nothing memorable about it." Drogaxe scoffed. His large black clawed fingers handled the intricate blade in his hands delicately.

A creature as big as him handling something with such care was surprising.

"It may be so, but I can't help my yearning for the cosmos."

"Your yearning is a waste of time." Whether he knew it or not, I detected underlying emotions he was hiding. It piqued my curiosity.

"D, you've probably seen a lot of the universe, huh?"

A frog-like clicking sounded in quick succession as he nodded, his focus still on the now-gleaming blade. The sounds he made were so alien, and freaky, but I was utterly fascinated. He was fascinating; this enormous god-like creature from somewhere far away from here was literally out of this world.