Chapter 5 (Audio version)

Just a reminder, this is 'what inspired the game', lots of things are similar but not in the same universe; it's a parallel one. Still, there seemed to be a lot of interest, so if you want I can share all the chapters? as its already complete.

FYI: story below, but a quick note on game dev, i've added a new character Vincent the scholar and RTS i've added 3 new structures plus made a lot of improvements. Going well this weekend!

-5- Divergent Evolution

“There she is,” Pavel Wisniewski a blonde, fair-skinned Polish technician, leaned in nudging my shoulder with his, he nodded his head gesturing towards the other side of the room. “Go over and talk to her already.”

I glanced briefly in her direction, Fel was sitting alone, her back ramrod straight, her eyes fluttered for a moment “Hmm, I’m not too sure,” she looks busy I replied.

“What are you talking about? You gimp.” Charlotte, an African American materials expert, grinned with an amused expression. “She is literally sitting alone doing nothing.”

 Charlotte was the only one other than Hayes to survive the first encounter with the Kryllix, she spent a year recovering then another retraining to get a job at unity station.

Her dramatic story of perseverance made her a hero in the eyes of the people, thus, though she was more than qualified, the public backing got her the rest of the way there.

“Nah, check her eyes out,” I replied, “She is probably interacting with her conduit, downloading updates or managing battle data.”

“She’s not a fucking robot,” Charlotte said, “How is interacting with her brain chip any different than us playing with our smartphones? She is probably killing time, maybe even checking out your dating profile.”

I could feel the heat rise behind my ears, “I wish,” I glanced back over, and just as I did, our eyes briefly met, she held my gaze for a solid second before bucking her head back round to face directly forward into the empty seat opposite her.

“Oh, oh, oh, there we go!” Charlotte giggled, “Permission to dock granted!”

“Hmm, I dunno, she didn’t exactly smile at him,” Pavel replied mockingly, “It could be a ‘keep your distance you prick’ kind of stare.

“Gah, Fel is always like that, honestly I don’t know what you see in her,” Charlotte retorted.

Fel held a serious no bs kind of demeanour, which was normal for her, it was both intimidating and alluring to be honest.

“Whatever guys, I doubt she will be alone for long anyway, the 44th have all cleared quarantine, she was probably the first to make it here, they won’t be long behind her.”

Pavel leaned in conspiratorially, “I heard they had a pretty major dust off.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked.

“There was a high intensity battle on the Moon, some of the kitties didn’t make it,” Pavel explained.

“What? Fighting how?” Charlotte asked. “I thought there were only two Kryllix ships, and the other one had set down on Mars.”

“Dunno, it’s all under wraps but I’m guessing the Kryllix left some drones on the moon after invading Earth. The Sekarri went over there to clean them out thinking it would be easy and suffered huge losses. The safe net is censoring it all. It’s why we are here, they are rushing us to get up to speed to augment the Sekarri anyway we can,” Pavel replied.

“Good luck with that,” Charlotte scoffed, “We are like hundreds of years behind them, what use are our engineers and soldiers going to be when they haven’t even been to space?”

“We are in space now,” I said.

“Hah, you know what I mean,” she replied.

"Speak of the devil," Pavel said, nodding his head solemnly in the direction of twenty or so Sekarri combatants entering the canteen. Some of them went to the food printers, others went straight to find a seat, but not one of them sat beside her.

“Maybe she’s got space crabs,” Pavel said.

Chuckling Charlotte shoved him, then after a bit of flirtatious rough and tumble she turned to shove me, “Get going you prick, no more excuses.”

“Guess not,” I said. “Wish me luck,” I got up to make my way towards her. Over a distance which seemed like 2 miles, I turned back to Pavel and Charlotte who were giving me cheesy grins and thumbs. Great as if it wasn’t awkward enough already.

About five meters to go, Fel looked up in my direction, same expressionless demeanour then turned her head away, and continued staring at the empty chair in front of her like she was watching a world cup final – I paused for a moment, shrugging mentally, it wasn’t quite an invitation, but wasn’t a rejection either, so I decided to press on.

I sat down opposite her, “Hi Fel, I thought I’d come over and say hi,” I gave a nervous grin. Felynna just stared at me, though I think her demeanour might have changed ever so slightly.

Honestly, it was hard to tell because my adrenaline rather than eliciting flutters of first-time jitters had me in a state of intense, visceral anxiety.    Up this close her mixture of wolf and feline features were both mesmerizing but also slightly terrifying. She was after all a member of a race far more intelligent, strong, advanced, and most importantly violent than ours.

Within seconds, her predatory eyes were sizing me up and down like I was a lamb chop, I balked at the idea of ancient genetic memories surfacing of my distant ancestors being chased in the savanna, hunted down, then stripped to the bone by her predecessors.

We held an uneasy silence for what felt like an eternity, stammering I spoke “I’m sorry, have I interrupted you?”

Fel just looked at me, her eyes continuing to pierce through me, just like her razor-like claws on the table. She flexed her slim but muscular left arm allowing claws to expand and retract doing a number on the synthetic oak finish. I hoped this was her equivalent of nervous fidgeting, rather than a silent playful threat or a subtle warning.

The silence continued, I mentally patted myself on the back for getting this far, “I will let you get on with it,” I made to stand up and go, “It was nice talking ...”

“Hi,” Fel replied, cutting me off. Her eyes locked with mine briefly and slowly moved down to the seat I was leaving.  I got the message and sat back down.

Smiling nervously, I replied, “Hi, how are you doing today?” it was an effort to hold her gaze, my eyes darted around the room, occasionally flitting past her face to get a look in a manner I thought was subtle, in retrospect I should have realised that Sekarrians have 10 times the reaction speed of humans.

She just looked at me again, not responding, I mentally sighed but then noticed, slight but subtle changes in the contours around her face, was she responding through another medium?

Just then one of the 44th soldiers delivered food to our table. Unlike the rest of them, she didn’t need to wait in-line; maybe she was a senior rank, which would explain a lot.

A huge sirloin steak sat on an American cherry board, it looked medium rare, Fel’s eyes flicked over to me and back to the soldier who brought her food over, he nodded his head then headed for the serving bay.

“Do you mind if I eat?” she asked.

“Not at all,” I replied.

She began to eat the meat in a fashion that was ever so slightly disturbing. First, she selected a corner, then cut it off with her knife and fork, holding it up to her face she inspected it with her big almond shaped eyes and slowly began licking the morsel with her tongue, sampling the flavour.

 She swallowed it then paused for a moment to reflect on the taste, satisfied she straightened her combat attire, put the cutlery to the side of the board and extended her claws to finish it off the old-fashioned way.

She pulled at the meat with her fingers allowing her claws to serrate the meat ripping pieces off with ease, as if she was breaking bread. I considered asking how she as an alien was able to digest our foods, even though most experts on earth had theories of shared genetic heritage, convergent evolution and other ideas which could explain much, no one actually knew for sure.

It was pointless however, as we were told by the Sekarrian government, we could ask, but we wouldn’t get the answer just yet as we weren’t ready for it.

Fel as if sensing my tangential thoughts, stopped, raised her head, and spoke, “I’m good, how are you?”

Without much prompting, I found my tongue taking the reins, diving into stories about myself. A chatterbox by nature and a curse, speaking had always been my double-edged sword. A kindergarten report once declared me “A bright young boy, hampered by his ceaseless chatter” – a label that followed me into adulthood.

Fel, stopped every now and then, to look at me for a moment and then return to her meal, I quickly learned this was her signal for ‘I’m listening, go on’.

I continued to ramble until the same Sekarri soldier from earlier brought food over to me, no doubt following up on Fel’s signal. Finally, tension was beginning to dissipate, as I was a bit more comfortable with Fel’s body language. As she was wrapping up, I dug into mine, which was just how I liked it, medium well.

I put some peppercorn sauce next to her remaining piece, she eyed me with what I now know as the first look of hostility, wrinkling her nose up at it.

“Er, sorry,” I went to remove the dollop with my fork when she dipped her remaining steak piece into it and gobbled it down. Her eyes expanded to a size no humans could reach.

“Good?” I asked and was followed up by an imperceptible nod; I’ll tame her yet, I considered.

Fel jerked her head, as if reading my thoughts “You men, human men, have fetish fantasies over feline-like women.”

What the hell? I was caught completely off guard by her comment and the fact it was the first time she said more than three words. This alongside her look of aggression had me flustered.

“Er some do I suppose,” I replied nervously.

“No, not some, a lot. In fact, Sekarri fantasy erotica has spiked on the net by 2000% in the past three years. Statistically, you are likely to fall into this group,” she said.

Sure, I can read between the lines but I couldn’t help but notice her choice of words, “Hmm, so that includes literature as well, which I’m guessing extends to human women also. So, it’s not just a male thing.”

I caught an imperceptible flinch, was that a concession? If she could be to the point, so can I, “Isn’t it the same with the Sekarri? Why come here to save us, give that whole speech on how our two species are historically intertwined and destined to form a union?”

More silence, so I decided to eat more of my steak.

Fel continued her thoughts as if she hadn’t heard my question, “Pet play, that’s what you humans crave, the idea that you can tame us, as subservient romantic partners to fulfil your fantasies and nothing more,” I nearly choked as I struggled to gulp down the fatty chunk. How had things derailed so quick?

Animated and agitated, she continued, “But pets are less intelligent and capable than you. So, wouldn’t it be the other way round with us?

 Given that we Sekarri have a higher functional IQ and are more advanced than any nation on earth by centuries. Maybe a more appropriate fit would be for humans to be subservient romantic partners for Sekarri?”

I certainly wouldn’t mind being her pet, I thought to myself ironically. This got the first physical response that couldn’t be misread - Fel gave a slight grin.

 Whilst her powers of perception were concerning, this at least served to reduce the tension.

“Isn’t it more likely to depend on the individual?” I asked, as I pointed to the humans and Sekarri going about their day in the canteen, “We are all sentient, intelligent beings, right? Anyway, I just said hi, I didn’t intend to ...”

Fel cut in, “Thomas, I can smell your pheromones and read your expressions.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Oh,” she replied mimicking my tone and emphasizing the conclusion.

I looked at her expectantly, if I was that much of an open book, she may as well give me her answer and save both our time.

“Why would I be attracted to you? I’m 6ft, you are barely 5ft 7, isn’t that less desirable in your culture? The interlink tells me you haven’t had a partner in years, if ever. Is that why you approached me, did you think we Sekarri women are easy?

 Also, you are just an engineer, and I am from the people that saved your entire race, I could court a general, or a politician. Have you even considered how old I am? How long I live for?”

There was fire in her eyes, she added, “I’m a Virra - do you even know what that means?”

Shots fired; well, she concluded that quick enough I thought. I got up to leave, my jaw quivering between a mixture of hurt and anger, what might surprise most wasn’t her personal insults but the phrase ‘just an engineer’, that irked me the most.

“Thanks for your time,” I said, leaving for the exit, I didn’t turn back, my colleagues Charlotte and Pavel waved me over, but I didn’t have the stomach for it, I gave a thumbs down with a weak smile and made a beeline for my quarters.

Once I got in, I settled down and decided it was time to treat myself to the remaining contents of my personal allocation of bourbon.

 Topping the glass up with coke I considered how I got to where I am, a lot had happened in my life, much of which had begun with the arrival of the Sekarri. I clocked out via the time-check app, put my feet up, sobbed a bit then called it a night.