Black Hole Heartbeat

Ana - 43

Ana sat up bed as Elizabeth returned.

"What was all that?" "Another new arrival," Elizabeth said, sitting down on the bed's edge.

"Where are they going to sleep?" "That's not really my concern right now, Ana." Ana shuffled closer and rolled the pads of her thumbs around Elizabeth's shoulder blades,

massaging.

"Sorry, Princess" Elizabeth purred, "It's just this new arrival is responsible for Rassek." Ana's hands stopped abruptly, nails biting into the skin.

"The Jahlder colony?" "She's here to get Forr. Let her come aboard or she'd blow up the ship. And I saw the fleet she

had at her disposal. It was no empty threat."

Ana sank back into the pillow. Elizabeth handed her a t-shirt from the floor. "Forr's making some kind of deal with her."

"Do you trust her?" Ana asked. "Forr seemed to. Or at least he's smart enough to know that he's better off biding his time."

"Why does she need Forr?" "I think a lot of his family are dead. Apparently he's got some important title now."

"I had a brother once. He died," Ana said.

The words just fell out of her.

"What happened?" "Malaria. He was sickly even before I was born. It's one of the reasons I became a doctor. My parents didn't want me to." "I've never heard you talk about your family before." "That's because I don't like them."

Elizabeth lay down next to her.

"I never knew mine," Elizabeth said.

"West tried to find them, but the orphanage had no records. It burnt down." "You knew I was an orphan this whole time? Why didn't you say anything?" "It didn't seem important. I mean, not that it's not important, just – " Elizabeth kissed her. Ana didn't really understand why.

"You know, I ran away when I was nine. I spent the first week just wandering around the street, hoping someone would find me and take me back. Then I realized they just weren't looking." "I can't even imagine being homeless that young. You must have been terrified." Ana wrapped a comforting arm around Elizabeth's shoulder. "I never could've admitted it at the time. Every day was a fight for a loaf of bread."

"Every day? How did you survive?" "After a while I got in good with some merchants. I'd do jobs for them, pickpocketing mostly, and they'd give me food. Once I got better, I could pickpocket enough to buy anything I couldn't just steal in the first place. If no one carried coin, I never would've made it past ten."

"And you left Earth as soon as you could?" "Didn't you? There's so much to see, so much to do." Ana sat up but didn't answer.

"I was 18 when I kissed my first alien," Elizabeth continued, "I'd met aliens on Earth, but I'd only

ever been attracted to Human girls. This Jahlder though..."

Ana snickered, "He was Jahlder?"

"Shut up!" Elizabeth pulled her back down onto the bed. Her hands swam up Ana's neck, tickling until she couldn't breathe for giggling.

"Borreah was his name," Elizabeth said, hands stopping, "These absorbsion panels stretched

across his face like a handlebar moustache. He was the head of these really cheap

mercenaries. I was just a dumb kid. The ship I stole crashed on Mars and these were the first guys I found. It would've been easier for them to kill me, but he took me under his wing. He was

so rugged and exotic."

"A rugged Jahlder?"

Elizabeth tickled her again. She giggled and writhed beneath her fingertips.

"Are you gonna shut up and let me tell the story, Princess?"

"Okay! Okay!" Ana wheezed.

"I think he had a thing for naïve girls who worshipped him. I started to outgrow that, and he

happened across another runaway. This one was Jahlder too. I found him in bed with her and I just lost it. It was so stupid, it wasn't like we were in love or anything."

"What did you do?" "I pulled the girl out of bed. I think she cut her leg open, she was crying about it. It wasn't her fault, but I didn't care. Borreah actually liked it, the sick fuck. Started to kiss me, trying to take

my clothes off. I kissed him back until he let his guard down, then I tied him to the bed and took

off in his ship. Never looked back."

"I used to read comics about girls like you," Ana said.

"So what about you? Ever kissed an alien?" Elizabeth asked. "I hadn't even seen an alien until around four years ago."

"None? How is that possible?"

Ana turned away.

"You already know. You must have figured it out."

Elizabeth lay a warm hand on her shoulder. Ana let out a tense sigh.

"I grew up on a Human Only colony."

"Seriously?"

"Don't judge me." "I'm not judging, just... surprised. You hear stories about the people who live there," Elizabeth

said. "They're true. Rumours and lies about other species sprout up like weeds and blossom in the soil of ignorance. That's why I had to leave. My parents disowned me and I was cast out." Elizabeth sat up, arm around Ana's shoulder.

"So... how many people have you kissed?" she asked.

Ana held up two fingers shyly, "Just you and Sam." "I've got so much to teach you," she said. "You just better hope some rugged Jahlder doesn't steal me away."