Leila of the Rogue [Book Four]

Like a Cherry

  "Puta madre!" I yelled while waking up since I had physically swung my arm just like in my dream. It took a second for the cogs in my head to turn and realize where I was since my dream had been rather vivid.

  I was not stationed in a South American barrack, I was not having to keep Joe away from my dinner. I was, however, in an alien spacecraft and had just bitch slapped the alien that owned said ship. Wonderful.

  Slowly turning my head, I bit my lower lip while seeing the damage my robotic arm had caused. Thankfully, the helmet took the brunt of the hit before it had been sent flying, so I could see the expression on the Predator's face quite clearly. Though he may not emote like a human, I could see it in his eyes that he was reevaluating every decision he made that got him to this point.

  "Sorry." I mumbled, but he said nothing before dropping something into my lap and walking back to the front of the ship. Swinging my legs over the edge of the strange bed, I took a look at the package in my lap. Flipping it over, it sort of looked like an MRE, but I wasn't sure.

  Leaning over, I picked up the helmet I had and put it over my face to translate the markings on the bag. It was food, but I wasn't sure what kind and hesitated in opening it. Putting the helmet back down, I ripped open the package and smelled the contents just to test it.

  It didn't smell bad, but it didn't quite smell good either. It actually sort of smelled like cheap jerky.... Looking inside, I saw that it was some kind of dried meat, but it was white.

  "This isn't going to kill me, is it?" I called out but only got a grunt in reply. Wrinkling my nose, I sighed. I needed to eat something, and I hadn't really been prepared for being stuck on a spaceship with an alien instead of staying hidden back on Earth. Steeling myself, I reached into the bag and pulled out a chunk of the dried meat.

  Biting into it, I was relieved to find it didn't taste horrible. The closest thing I could say it tasted like was chicken. Tucking my helmet under my arm, I stood up and went to pick up the Predator's that he han't even bothered picking back up. Carrying it into the control room of the ship, I saw the big guy messing with things on the displays. I wasn't all too sure what he was doing, but I didn't bother to ask either.

  Setting his helmet on the control panel, I plopped down into the big chair and grabbed more of the weird alien meat. Looking through the large window, I saw nothing but darkness and stars twinkling in the distance of space. I knew we were far from Earth by now, but I wasn't sure exactly how far.

  Spinning the chair, I glanced at the large alien and at what he was doing. If I wasn't mistaken....it looked as if he was doing calculations of some sort. Was he looking for the next destination to go to? A new place to hide?

  "Once you've finished eating, we need to make repairs." My helmet said after the Predator clicked and spoke with that guttural voice.

  "Repairs on what?"

  "The left engine was damaged and some wiring was fried. We won't be able to make any jumps until it's fixed."

  "Jumps?" I quirked up a brow, and he paused as if thinking of a way to explain it.

  "You are in one place, and then you are in another."

  "You have hyper-drive tech? Sweet."

  "No." He turned and raised his hands. Making sure I was paying attention, he demonstrated what a 'jump' did as if I were a child, making a circle with one hand and pointing with the other. "This is one place." He gestured to the air on one side of the circle. "This is another place." He pointed to the other side. "You go from here....to here. That is a jump."