Author Elizabeth Norman
Hey everyone! Welcome to my work-in-progress author page! Here you can read snippets from my upcoming book, You I And the Cosmos, a Sci-Fi space drama and romance; If you enjoy the content I post here, you can also check out my social media for announcements, quotes, and more. Please keep in mind this work is still in editing, so what you read now may have minor changes in the final version. Now let us get on with the show, shall we?
Chapter One
When I was young, my mom would tell me stories, stories of the dreamers, the ones who dreamed of the Cosmos and what lay beyond our spinning rock. 'What would other life look like?' they wondered when they took the first tentative steps out onto a new horizon, 'So far from our own corner of space, would they look like us, a reflection of humanity, or something else entirely? Once we shared the stars would we be welcomed as travelers or seen as threats? Would we be allies? Or simply prey?'
Spoiler alert, we were prey and nothing in this goddamn universe was ever going to convince me otherwise.
As I ran, my chest heaving, mind racing, I contemplated the shitstorm of my life. Specifically, all the bad that had occurred to my person in the last twenty-five years: being sold into slavery as a child, bad; finally escaping enslavement only to find yourself the last human in existence, very bad; being thrown into an intergalactic prison, quite unfavorable; having the Cosmic Alliance regulators on your tail for escaping said prison…downright horrid.
The planet Allway, a haven for lost wayward souls, was seemingly more and more out of reach. My feet were clamoring at top speed down the crystal streets, each step glowing with an eerie luminescence in the darkness of the night; my breath puffed out in front of me in a bitterly cold atmosphere that made my bones ache.
The local inhabitants, a grayish humanoid species that called themselves the Caters, with tentacles for mouths, were unbothered by such chilly nights. On this particular night the streets were filled with a few stragglers on their way home or to the bars. They watched with startled expressions as I dodged around them in an attempt to escape incarceration.
I had made myself a spectacle despite my clever disguise—well, almost clever. I hadn't taken the time to download the perfect dialect to cover my human accent on my communication implant, and my stupid human inflections had given me away at the local market. Being wanted as the last member of an entire species made it somewhat…difficult to get around. My inflections were strange by most alien standards and my small stature made me appear to be, well, young. Which you know made it a tad hard to buy weaponry, medical supplies...and booze.
Lucky, lucky me the one damn Cater that recognized my human accent caught on. I should have known that the bastard merchant would sell me out.
You'd think after so many trips around the sun and everything I've been through, I'd have better instincts, but honestly, I was tired. For over four or so months, not that I was counting, I had been on the run. Jumping from planet to planet, trying to get to the edge of the universe to get out of the Alliance's territory, was now wearing me thin as a razor's edge, and now the exhaustion was seeping in.
“Stop and desist, human!” a robotic voice sounded behind me. “By order of the Cosmic Alliance, I order you to halt!”
In pure panic I almost collided with a Cater who was coming out of his restaurant to dump some trash in a nearby dumpster. He flung himself back in surprise, dropping the massive bags of garbage in his hands, and I jumped over the pile of reeking fishy-smelling garbage.
“Like hell I will, you fucking dog,” I risked saying under my breath, only slightly hoping they didn’t have bionic hearing, tooThe last thing I needed was a sound byte of my voice to add to their wanted projection feed, they already had a mugshot of my face but was it worth it? Yes, yes it was. , courtesy of my previous imprisonment.
Just up ahead I spied what looked like a thin alleyway—perfect. Regulators were large no matter what species they hailed from, courtesy of their suits, which were made of a special biometric armor that allowed them to acclimate to almost any planet's atmosphere and environment, but that didn’t help them fit in tight spaces now did it? I plunged left into the alleyway; steam from the waterway leaked up from below through a primitive venting system and blocked my vision, making it difficult to see what was in front of me. I was willing to take that risk, though, and barreled forward into the night; the triple moons were all hidden behind dark inky clouds, the Regulators were still hot on my trail, their boots making the ear-splitting sound of scraping metal as they approached the alleyway, but then they continued on.
There was an end to the alley in sight, I could almost taste the freedom. Up ahead, burning through the steam, I could see the familiar lights of the shipyard. ‘Praise all that is holy, I'm getting outta here,’ I thought, relief cascading through me. Somehow, even with the detours, I had made it back to my landing site in the local shipyard. Despite the throbbing of my leg muscles and aching lungs, I doubled my efforts and went for it; those regulators would take me back to imprisonment over my dead body. I ran straight into the shipyard then, which was reminiscent of what I vaguely remember as an earth parking lot, rows upon rows of ships in large cruisers, racers, even some warships.
I reached down to pull out my communicator off my utility belt and pinged my ship's AI Navigation System.
“Nav, do you hear me? Start the ship, ASAP!” I said, gasping into the speaker. After what felt like a millennium I heard a crackle; a calm male voice answered, “Pardon me, madam, but do you mean ‘as soon as possible?’”
Suddenly a stunning laser blast zoomed over me, hitting the old junky glider next to me; just a few yards or so away, the regulators had somehow caught up with me! “Shit! Yes, yes, yes! We talked about this, ASAP means right now!” I gritted out between clenched teeth.
“As you wish,” Nav said, and that was when I heard the most glorious sound all night; with a familiar choking sputter, an engine started just a few yards in front of me. I jumped around a tower of maintenance crates to see the unmistakable registration code 1446 and the name Big Bertha written on the wing ; My God, I could have cried with joy. “There you are, beautiful, ” I gasped out to my junky but faithful ship. Before Nav had a chance to fully lower the loading dock, I hurdled myself inside— just as another stunning blast pinged off the side panel, mere inches from my head.
“Close the door and put up shield defenses!” I sprinted down the long haul, past medbay, all the way to the galley which was right across the entry to the cockpit.
A vibration rocked the floor, Nav had started up the weapons system and shields. Now all I had to do was get this old girl off the ground.
The ship’s engine whined again, and it lurched forward in an effort to take off, almost sending me flying into the digital control panel.
“Nav! Get me visuals!”
A wide screen descended from the ceiling and it showed about six or so regulators surrounding my ship. Each was equipped with a stunning neutralizer, while one of the beefier ones looked like they were hauling around a turret retracting cable that, if I wasn’t mistaken, had attached itself to the lower half of my ship. How in the hell did they get past my defenses?
Lucky for me, though, this wasn’t my first time escaping incarceration.
“Get ready, Nav! We're about to use protocol seventy-five!”
“ Madam, are you talking about, how did you put it, the ‘big guns?’” he said hesitantly. ”Might I advise another tactic?”
I cut him off quickly. “Yes, that's the one, no, you may not, and now, I want you to fire on my command! That's an absolute directive,” I ordered; Nav would have no choice but to follow an absolute directive, still, I didn’t like to use it frequently, as there had been a few accidents in the past.
Another vibration rocked the ship. “The ‘Big Guns’ are in position, targets locked on, madam.”
Bertha lurched forward again; they were reeling us in. I quickly threw myself into my captain's chair.
“Now, Nav!” My scream cracked my voice up another octave. Light exploded in the screen's visuals and the ship shook so hard that it felt like my teeth rattled into my brain. The lights flickered and my visual screen went dark. I didn’t realize I was heaving strangled breaths until the emergency lights came on; my blood pounded in my ears while little sparkling lights dotted my vision.
“Nav?” I croaked; when silence followed, I called out with a shaky, “Nav? Please tell me you're still functioning.” I called out, unsure how I could even form a single sentence at that moment.
“Here, madam,” I heard through Bertha's speaker system; a gust of air escaped me. My eyes burned with unshed tears, and I felt a wave of relief; I’d only had Nav for a few months but if I lost Nav, I’d be dead in the water and down my one and only companion.
“How many targets are left?” I dared to ask.
The main power came back on, as did the visuals, and I vomited thick yellow bile at the sight before me.
Eviscerated was almost too kind of a word for what I was looking at; there was nothing left but scorched earth and the different colored bloods of multiple alien species. I also spied what looked like a few wayward organs. My ears began to ring and I almost didn’t notice Nav trying to get my attention.
“Madam? Madam? If you are quite alright, might I suggest we exit this planet quickly? The weapon’s signature is not subtle.”
Nav was correct; there would be time to process that later when I wasn’t on the run. Plus, where there were a few, there was always more when it came to regulators. “Yes, well,get us outta here, Nav.”
Our hover engines taxied us upward and we then began our ascent into the atmosphere at high speed.
It was gloriously silent as we broke through planet Kores’ta's atmosphere. This place was so backwards that they didn’t even have a security checkpoint system to get in or out. Mostly due to the fact that they solely relied on the occasional Alliance visits and patrols to do their cleaning up, for any pests that might have snuck in. Unfortunately for me, I had unknowingly arrived on trash day. As Kores’ta began to shrink in my visual screen and I started to feel the tension leave my body, I sagged in my chair, rubbing my temples, and began to shake from the adrenaline drop. That was until Nav’s alarm system went off.
“Enemy ship detected, I repeat, enemy ship detected!”
My blood ran cold and I stared ahead but there was nothing there on my vid screen.
“ Nav, report. Did that blast leave you malfunctioning? This isn't the time—” My eyes widened as a rippling distortion of light came on screen; then, there in front of me, was a ship almost ten times the size of my little cruiser.
I knew that high-tech cloaking device all too well; it was what I wanted to mimic with my ship but never had the currency to upgrade my girl. I then noticed in horror the most feared symbol in the known galaxy. Its swirling red pattern was unmistakable.
“Madam, incoming message from the Cosmic Alliance, Ship One Six Five.”
I knew that number, too; it was a prison ship. The same one I promised myself I’d never set foot in again.
Fuck. Me.
Chapter Two
​
I was ever so gently taken to my new cell; actually, aggressively roughed up was more like it. My wrists were cuffed and my neck leashed, but there was a lovely bonus this time, a gag strapped to my lower jaw and mouth for further humiliation; my face burned with rage.
“We should’ve thought of putting a muzzle on you earlier,” the guard chuckled; he was a Gorchen with slimy green skin and a bad attitude. His gnarled teeth were turned up in a cruel smile. “ Would've saved me the headache of dealing with your smart ass long ago.”
As we passed a few fellow prisoners, they hissed, sneered, and whistled; Anything to get a reaction out of me. To them, I must’ve looked like some pet that had misbehaved, food, or something else I didn’t want to think about.
“Just so you are aware, you’ll be sharing your cell with another,” the guard said without turning his back, “We're short on space these days, so I don’t want any lip about it…not that you can,” he mused.
Great, just what I loved, sharing my space with a possible serial killer; while my moral compass didn’t quite point north either, I could feel remorse. Still, I couldn’t resist and barked out an insult in Gorchen that had something to do with his underwhelming codpiece, not that he heard me.
He just yanked the chain with brutal force. “Quit trying to gab around the mouthpiece, human. Or ill tighten your muzzle,” he said with another yank of my leash.
“We’re almost there, so hurry it up, or I'll drag you in by your neck,” he grumbled. I unwillingly followed.
We continued down a dark metal corridor, the walkway was narrow, and thanks to grated floors, it was apparent we were on a higher level, as I could see gaps in the metal mesh-like material. I was in the max security sector. They weren’t taking chances with me this time.
The air was stifling, and I could feel beads of sweat forming on my neck, which was exposed due to the awful short shear they had given me. They had ditched my original garb for a pair of white pants and a tunic, which were on the baggy side. Humans were considered on the smaller end of the spectrum, so it didn’t surprise me.
Each block, as they called it, had two units separated by a transparent divide. I had seen others across from my old cell that shared such blocks. The divide that would separate them would deliver an electric shock if we so much as breathed on it.
We abruptly stopped, and I nearly ran into his back.
“Well, I guess all good things must come to an end,” He said, turning around to press the release valve on the muzzle-like contraption; I had half a mind to spit in his face…so I did. Rearing back my head, I let one loose into his beady black eyes. I heard a few of my fellow prisoners’ cackle; a long-necked Burl craned her head forward from the cell adjacent to me, shaking it ever so slightly in a disapproving gesture.
To his credit, the guard didn’t even flinch; with slow movements, he reached up with a hand to wipe away the phlegm from his face, growled low, menacingly, and gripped me by the hair, the cuffs unlocked and clattered to the floor. I dangled in mid-air as his face came within inches from mine; even his goddam breath was foul, like sweat and piss.
“You got a lot of kamuta little wench to be doing that sort of thing…I can see why your kind was wiped clean from the galaxy; your corpse can rot there for all I care.” The guard growled.
The force field to the cell finally lowered, and he hurled me in like a rag doll. “ I’m reporting this; they can deal with your behavior later.”
Hot angry tears threatened to come pouring out of me in light waves. My muscles quivered, and once I heard the bastard’s footsteps disappear from earshot, my fists connected with the cell’s forcefield door repeatedly. I didn't even notice a few tears had escaped. I wiped them away furiously, walking backward till my back touched the wall. I slid down and drew my knees up to my chest.
“If you are quite done with your little outburst, I suggest you keep your bodily fluids to yourself in the future. You’ll only make things more difficult for yourself,” scolded a soft faceless voice on the other side of the divide.
I jumped a little, and my eyes went to the divide in my block, our block.‘Ah, yes, how could I forget? I have a roommate now.’
A dim light was shining on something in the alien's hands. Still, the face was obscured in shadow except for two glowing yellow eyes.
“Thanks for the advice, I’ll be sure to take it in the future, and maybe they’ll let me out for good behavior—or better yet, they’ll set me up on some far-off planet where we will all live in peace and harmony, hold hands, and sing Kumba-fucking-ya” I bit out sarcastically.
My cheeks were still wet, however, and I could feel the heat rising in my face as I continued to swipe at those treacherous tears.
Seemingly unfazed, the voice continued, “I was merely giving you a suggestion. No need to act like a petulant child. Would it be so difficult to clean up your language?” They sighed.
I heard the soft thud of something closing, a book perhaps? The dim light that was on earlier flickered out.
“How many Sun cycles are you anyway, girl? I presume no more than about twenty-five cycles, perhaps?”
“Do you get off on antagonizing humans?” I hissed, “Also, it's not Sun cycles.”
“Ah yes, your kind always had the most unusual sayings…” he paused, searching for the correct terminology. “How old are you?”
I debated telling them to go right ahead and buzz off, that it was none of their business, even if we were in close quarters, but I was losing more and more steam by the moment. The chase and rough treatment had left me in tatters.
After a long silence, I finally croaked out, “twenty-four…what does it mean to you?”
“A minor curiosity, I suppose.” the shadowy figure said, shifting in a gesture that seemed like they were shrugging.
“I guess you’ll also want to know my name now?” I mumbled, annoyed.
“It would be somewhat useful in knowing what to call you other than human, yes.”
I stayed silent; they didn’t need to know my name, not yet, at least.
I wasn’t in the mood to make friends.
“Well?” he hummed. “Get on with it, human, before your weak body collapses on the floor.” the darkness said.
“I’ve been through a pretty rough situation today, you incredible asshole! I’d like to see you stand upright after what I’ve been through,” I growled.
“I see we’re back to the foul language once again,” they said patronizingly.
“So I'll call you human from now on, hmm?”
I then pursed my lips together, staying silent, and squinted into the darkness, trying to make out who or what they were besides infuriating.
The only physical thing I could discern were the two bright yellow eyes. They made me more nervous to look at with every passing moment. The voice was rich but soft. If they had been human, I would have guessed male, but that meant jack when it came to other alien races.
As if reading my thoughts, the figure got up from what I guess was their cot and came inches from the divide, which gave off a dim pink glow. That was all I needed, though. In the muted light, I saw those unmistakably willowy features, cat-slit eyes, and in place of where horns might be were broken nubs of bone.
A Krillian?
Humans had even once called the Krillian race beautiful, with regal elven-like features and pointed deer-like ears. All males sported antlers. These were usually larger; his, however, had been lopped off.
In many aspects, he looked closer to a human than most other alien races I’d seen.
“Looks can be deceiving, Odette,” I remember my mother saying.
My mouth dropped open, and my body pressed harder into the cold metal wall. I cursed the universe for the millionth time today; my cellmate was none other than a Krillian; great, just great. “How?” I managed quietly, proud that I whispered the words and not screamed them.
“How? What?” he asked, confused as if he didn’t understand.
The Krillians never threw their own into the brig; if they ever did, it wasn’t a max security prison.
I was afraid.
“I am a prisoner here just the same as you and everyone else,” and he stepped closer into the low pink light, revealing more of his face. I then noticed a scar across his left eye, which looked murky and distorted.
I started to sweat again. The contrast of that and the cool metal wall made my teeth chatter; yeah, I was now cold; I will go with that.
After seeing my reaction, he gave me a skeptical look as if he was surprised I was acting in such a way. His expression then smoothed, and he crossed his arms.
“I assure you, little human, I mean you no harm; your reactions are unfounded,” he said and waved a hand dismissively.
I balked, “Unfounded; let me ask you something first. Are you on drugs?”
“What?” His glowing eyes widened, expression horrified.
“Why would I-”
“I ask, genius, because you must be high off something outstanding if you think my reaction to you being Krillian is unfounded for even a second. Your kind has committed genocide to nearly two hundred non-compliant races and planets-including my own!” my voice broke at the last word. I bent my head forward to take a breath and steady myself.
When I finally looked up at his face, still illuminated by the divide, it looked remorseful, sympathetic even, and a hint of something else.
Jeez, I must be much more exhausted than I thought; I stumbled over to what barely passed as a cot in the corner of my cell and crawled in, slowly pulling the covers tight over my form, hoping he would be silent and leave me be.
To my relief, I heard quiet footsteps walking away, and soon, my eyelids began to feel heavy, my body finally succumbing to sleep. I didn’t dream as my mind entered the subconscious realm. The only thing reverberating in its emptiness was a low voice that almost didn’t register.
“Not all is as it seems, human; maybe you will see that in time.”
