Seed (Alpha Unknown 2)

If my desire wasn’t so strong, I could have found a way out by now. She was close. The fuel cells, as important as it may have been to my escape, didn’t mean shit without my immortality.

But there was a hitch in my plans. That fuck she made me let go was waiting for his chance to play cops and robbers. As soon as he heard about the intruder in the cargo hold, I was a target. She was a target.

Everyone was a fucking target.

Wherever he walked, I could hear his movements, even smell the layer of filth that resided upon his skin. Humans enjoyed giving others the benefit of the doubt, but living organisms only know the roles they are asked to play. His role was to be a killer without any honor. A destroyer of souls.

I saw him briefly, fidgeting through the ceiling, terrible at concealing himself. While talking to himself in a strange manner, he went through the computers as I had before, and slipped away into the ceiling above. For now, I was safe. Bleeding out slowly, but safe enough.

The hours passed, and I could hear more footsteps echo far above. The ship was massive, which meant I could learn more about their culture and world without feeling someone might sneak up.

Using the computer with some trouble, I scrolled through the various videos she had saved. I learned that Earth was on the brink of atmospheric catastrophe. The Earthlings were a highly volatile race of people, hellbent on misunderstanding the one evolutionary advantage that their ancestors gave them. Consciousness.

Much like my overlords, they found it impossible to understand. They vowed to live in a perpetual state of sorrow, publishing great books on how their demise would appear. They were mostly benevolent creatures, but they were ruled by a special breed of man; true predators who looked at every angle for opportunity, no matter the cost.

Had that man been in one of Earth’s great families, he’d be just like them.

Where I had come from, I was a criminal, too. But I was not like these people. I did what I had to do to help my planet. I wished my family goodbye on the outer sands of Dekras. I never once acted out of selfishness.

But all of that was gone now. One big swirl of color and beauty was all that was left of my place of origin. Someday, if the humans who managed to escape catastrophe survived, they might gaze on my galaxy and call it a work of art, a remnant of the gods themselves. If only they knew the truth. The gods were empty vessels, and this place we called space was proof.

More time passed. As I hid out of harm’s way, I stared at the directional algorithms on the screens in the room below me. I studied the automation techniques they must have designed back on Earth. “Fools,” I muttered.

They were headed toward more darkness. My planet was swallowed by its sun. No matter how hard they pushed, their navigation systems would not steer them in the right direction. They would die here, even if I wasn’t the one to do it.

Leaning against the cold metal frame, I sighed. I was in a predicament. Normally, I’d let all the humans rot. I had seen my family burn alive, right before my very eyes. I didn’t trust the other planets, despite feeling a sense of understanding with Earth’s culture.

My ship was near. I could hit the hyperdrive and escape. If I wanted to, I could get out of here and never look back.

Pain riddled my body. Glancing down at the side of my abdomen, I tried not to worry when I saw black blood ooze down my ribcage. The frayed hole of skin and torn muscle didn’t look too good. My injuries might have been a slight hindrance.

“Fuck me,” I groaned.

I tried to hold myself back, but my stomach shifted. The pain was so strong I vomited across the center of the ship, I needed help.

I looked above and saw her face again on the screen. Mia Thompson. Doctor. Smili

ng, I held my oozing abdomen. “Maybe you’ll be worth more than a quick fuck.”

Ignoring the sickening pain, I lifted my body and touched the glass screen that displayed her face and information. “Mi-a.”.

I read more about their journey. The backbone of this expedition was a government pet-project, Onyx. Researchers had found hidden energy sources on their planet, but they had failed to utilize them in the correct fashion. They were testing on their own people.

They thought they were making the world a better place. They were wrong.

The crew of inmates was like me, perhaps. It was hard not to feel some empathy, but, as I read on, I read Cade’s file. He wasn’t just a criminal. He was the bottom of the barrel, and now that barrel had started to crack.

I shook my head and tried to make sense of it. Earth wasn’t in a place to rest their fate on a group like this. Whether Mia or the captain knew it or not, Cade was in charge now.

This ship was not an ark to save their kind. It was a prison. But, soon, the prisoners would find a way out, a way to lead, and a way to get their revenge.

I would end this chaos.

Earth was a wonderful place. My planet was a mine for slaves and criminals. The smell of sulfur was strong, the sky a bright and blinding orange.

I watched her home movies. I couldn’t believe the life she lived. She had neighbors, comfort, friends, history, and a family who connected with her. Most of all, she felt love. They could love multiple times in multiple ways. An alpha had one mate, one bond to end his suffering.

I knew about duty. About loyalty. I knew a million ways to sacrifice. But fragile love was a foreign concept to me. I poured into her life, and I felt an affinity with her.