Beyond our Earth

8: Althazar

------------------------------------------Sara's POV----------------------------------------

My eyes snapped open. Within seconds I realized that I was in the tube. Memories of the orange alien flashed through my mind as I tried to piece together an explanation for why I was here. I touched the inner wall of the tube's translucent layer and it split open, letting my hand pas through. I stepped out of it easily. Thank goodness. I don't know what that thing had done to me. I felt like I had just woken up from a night's sleep. I was full of energy and my mind was busy at work.

The alien was not in my room anymore. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't know weather I should go looking for him or not. I sat down on the bench. This room was the most boring thing you could possibly imagine. After a few minutes I decided I had to leave.

I tried the door handle. It opened with ease. Thank god. If I had been locked in there, I don't know what I'd have done. The hallway was empty. That was another thing I was grateful for. What would I do if I met a new alien? Who knows if it would be friendly or tear my head off.

I figured that there was at least one thing I could try to do today. I could find the leader of this screwed up operation and order her to take me back home.

I walked down the hall in the opposite direction than I had come from the other day. I knew next to nothing about the spacecraft I was on. It obviously had artificial gravity. I reached the end of the hallway and the door there opened into a stair case.

I cursed. Which way do I go? Jeez, would it kill them to put a map up somewhere? 

I decided to take the stairs and go up. what harm could that do? I walked up a flight of the metal stairs, my shoes made a clanging noise on each step. Suddenly I heard some quieter footsteps a few flights above me.

I could feel my face redden as I stood there, frozen, debating what to do. I could turn and run back down the stairs, but come on. Who am I kidding. I was on an alien ship, I was bound to run into an alien sooner or later. I took another step.

By this point the alien was already turning the corner onto the staircase I was on. she faced me as she stepped onto the first stair.

Her human like qualities were comforting. She looked so similar to a person that I wondered if she was from earth.

She had icy blue eyes and straight black hair. Her skin was so pale it looked pure white.

"Hi," I said, feeling awkward starring at her.

"You're new here, arn't you." Her voice came through the translater in my ear. 

"um.. yes" I said, startled by her abrupt assertiveness.

"You must be a low class species then, considering you've never seen an Orian before." she smirked, taking another step towards me. "We're only the most common creature in the universe!" She exclaimed.

 My eyes went to the ground. I don't know why but she was making me feel uneasy.

"Oh, you've never seen any species before have you?"

I shook my head, not realising that the gesture wasn't universal.

"Why arn't you answering me? I know you can talk." She said.

"No I haven't. I didn't know aliens existed until yesterday." I said calmly.

 She sputtered out a laugh. "Insolent Depronite." She muttered, what I assume was an insult as she walked past me.

 "I suppose Althazar's gotten to you already and explained everything. Or will I have to?" she asked, turning around at the bottom of the staircase.

"Althazar?" I murmured.

She clicked her tongue. "Never mind. I'm Selene by the way. You may want to take a refresher on your species. Any Flouron would know an Orian when he sees one." Her words were sharp. There was no doubt she was a prideful little thing. She left the stair well in a flash and I was alone again. I could only imagine what other aliens would be like. This was not looking good for me.

I went up to the second level. There were more stairs but I decided to go out into the hallway on the second floor instead. I would make my way up gradually. That way I could learn what was on each floor and become more familiar with the place where I could possibly be living for the rest of my life.

I quivered at the thought. No. I would not let that happen. Based on today's experience, I was not a huge fan of aliens.

The door opened automatically in front of me. I walked into the hall. It was absolutely amazing! On both walls was clear glass, looking into a huge aquarium. It was like an underwater sanctuary. The bright blue water was filled with life. I peered in, my hands on the glass. I felt like a little kid going to the zoo for the first time. There were so many animals I'd never seen before. Of course, none of them came from earth. They were all "the dominant species of their planet". Wow. It was awesome watching them swim around. I had to pull myself away to continue down the hall. Some of the animals were separated into their own tanks. Maybe they were the aggressive ones or they required different water temperature.

I continued to the end of the hall and waited for the door there to open. I waited much longer than it took for the other doors. Still, it didn't open. I tried moving and waving my hands in front of it. Nothing worked. I guess I would have to turn back.

I walked through, back to the stairs, lingering a little when something in the aquarium caught my eye. I liked this part of the ship. But I had lots more exploring to do.

I wondered what else this ship held. I was beginning to see the merit behind this universal Noah's arch. It was so interesting to see what otherworldly life was like. Maybe collecting one of each Species wasn't such a bad idea. It was a living archive of Intelligent life. It was scientific progress at it's best.

"I should be proud to be a part of it" I tried to convince myself.

It just wasn't working. As interesting as this place was, I only wanted to visit. This was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I had plans. I had... A boyfriend! Oh my gosh, Braden! He mush have been wondering where I was! Did he think I stood him up? We were supposed to go on a date. I started panicking about what he would think.

Damn it, I liked him. He would have probably forgotten about me by the time I got back to earth.. if I ever got back to earth.

I took the stairs up to the next floor. The door wouldn't open there either. I wondered if the ship was malfunctioning or something.

I decided to go back down to my room before all the doors stopped working. I wondered if I would be fed. I wasn't particularly hungry but I knew I would have to eat sometime

The door to my hall worked fine. As I went to open the door to my room, the orange alien came out of it.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you. You scared me." he said.

"I was just... um, I went to the terrarium." I said. 

I didn't want to lie to him but I wasn't sure how he would react if I told him I had been exploring. He had suddenly taken a possessive stand with me.

He sighed. "oh, alright. Listen love, we're landing soon. It might be a littl bumpy so I was coming to warn you. How was your sleep?" he asked.

"Sleep? Oh is that what that thing did to me. I don't like it. It scares me and makes me feel funny. Normally us earth people sleep in a bed." I said.

The white panels that lined the walls flashed green.

"Landing's soon, darling. Go into your room and hold onto.. something." He said.

He rushed down the hallway at his usual fast pace.

"Okay... Althezar?" I murmured, watching him go into the stairwell.

I turned the handle and entered my room. A bumpy ride was just what I needed.