The Varkari

Landing

 It seemed as though he had vanished in the blink of an eye, the green water was gone and I was shivering against the cold plexiglas, listening to a persistent beeping. I pulled the black mask off my face with sluggish movements, watching as a thin tube slid out of both my nose and mouth. Sneezing and coughing up whatever phlegm was remaining in my throat, I looked around in a daze. Along with the beeping, my ears were ringing with a high pitched buzzing noise and my vision was slightly blurred. Other tanks were open now and I could see women of various ages and sizes all crouched down in their tanks as I was trying to focus. I wanted to go back to sleep. I knew it was the only chance I might have, however, to slip away during all the ruckus, especially as one girl started screaming obnoxiously.

I noticed that I was stronger since I had been put in the tank, my muscles cooperating more and my legs looking less like chicken bones. I was able to successfully get to my feet and sort of flop out of the tank on the floor, wet and cold. The machines had not noticed me just yet and were further down the line where tanks had not fully drained of their fluids, arms moving and plucking. I did no't see any towels or anything in the way of the drying tubes, however I spotted a pile of folded dresses not unlike the one I had had to wear back in the city. The only difference was that these were in a shade of lavender.

Shivering, I picked one up and put it on as quickly as I could, ducking down behind a padded bed. Othran moved along the line of tanks assessing each girl. It would be only a minute before he realized I was missing and I was sure that as the mate to the captain on the ship it would not go over well.

I was also not naive enough to think that they did not have cameras and so I had to move quickly. Waiting until he had to turn his attention to a girl that was trying to scramble out of the tank, I scuttled to the double doors that we came through while he attempted to subdue her. Smoothing my hair back so that hopefully the Varkari would not notice that I was still dripping wet, I measured my pace to be quick but not too hurried. Though, what was sure to get their attention was that my headlights were on full beam due to the cold and the thin dress hid nothing.

Luckily for me, the next corridor was empty so I ran full pelt in whatever direction I thought was away from the Admiral's room, my unused muscles sliding strangely over bone. His words rang in my ears that the bond would give him special abilities to always be able to find me, but I couldn't bring myself to believe that it was true. There was no way that it was like some built-in GPS system.

I rounded a corner and could not backtrack fast enough. Reddish eyes whipped to where I stood, half-crouched and attempting to hide the tremble of my knees.

"Stop," the cadet commanded. "Humans are not permitted to be without their mates after landing."

"He, uh, sent me to get his tablet thing from our room," I stammered.

His eyes narrowed at me and I watched as his nostrils flared, lungs taking in my scent. Putting a finger to his ear, he said what I feared he would. "Admiral, your mate is unescorted on level four, hall three."

I backed up a little and glanced over my shoulder to find another cadet coming down the hall toward us.

"Understood."

"Shit!" I yelped as he advanced, almost too quickly for me to avoid. Luck was still on my side. In a windmill of limbs, I slipped, still dripping with green water and went down hard, his hands closing in the air over me. I clambered to my feet and sprinted between his legs just as the other collided with him.

I had zero idea where I was headed, but I went down one nondescript hall and then turned into another, their boots thundering behind me. Heart pounding with the extra effort of fear and lack of strenuous use, I wheezed and forced my legs to keep going.