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Her knees, which had been functioning optimally until that moment, gave out on her, and she crumpled against the pitted surface of her broken ship. Lis didn’t have time for a complete mental breakdown, but she figured she could spare a moment before figuring out how to survive on a — ohmygod, holy shit — freakin’ alien planet.
As a test pilot, she willingly risked her life every time she went up in an experimental craft. When she signed on to this mission, she knew she might never return home. That uncertainty was part of the thrill — going so fast her hair was on fire, risking life and limb to accomplish something no one else had ever done before, and getting to play with all the newest toys and gadgets. Lis was an adrenaline junkie, and she embraced it.
But being stranded on an alien planet was a lot to take in. She closed her eyes and did some deep breathing exercises to center herself. It’s just another mission, albeit the most challenging one of your entire life. But we can do this. Be smart. Be brave.
“I’ve got this,” she said, startling a bronze, palm-sized lizard inspecting the tip of her boot. It trilled at her bold statement and skittered away.
Sure, her ship was toast, she didn’t know where the hell she was, and she might be the only sentient being on this entire planet, but she could handle this. Challenging adventures were her thing.
Then, proving that the universe had a truly fucked-up sense of humor, she learned exactly how wrong she was when three massive aliens with mottled tan skin the same color as the desert sands stalked towards her.
Good job, Flynn. What excellent survival skills you have there, she berated herself. Pushing off her ship, she widened her stance, her hands curled into fists. And you believed you could survive out here on your own? Girl, you didn’t even last a hot minute before some big, scary aliens got the drop on you.
Her first alien encounter. Dammit, I’m not trained for this, she thought.
Taking them head-on was not an option. Even the smallest of the aliens towered over her. Dressed in tattered kilts and mismatched pieces of armor, they were built like brick shithouses, bare chests and arms covered in thick slabs of rock-hard muscle, and faces that reminded her of poorly bred Frenchies, with squashed noses and beady black eyes.
The shortest, his brown hair styled in tall spikes reminiscent of 80s punk rockers, said something, his language sounding like rocks grinding against one another. The others laughed, the scraping noise making her hair stand on end.
She tried telling herself they weren’t as intimidating as they looked. These were aliens, after all. She may not be a trained exobiologist, but she shouldn’t jump to conclusions about their intentions just because they were unknowns. Maybe they were just as disconcerted by her as she was by them.
However, they had her boxed in, and it was three against one. Her instincts were screaming at her.
“Are you friendly?” she asked.
The three of them stared at her with their beady eyes.
Stiffening her spine, she held out her hands in what she hoped was the universal sign for ‘I come in peace’. “My name is Captain Fidelis Flynn. I’m from Earth. Can you help me out? I have things to trade.” She gestured at the items spilling out of the cracked hull and across the sands.
The small one flashed huge, serrated teeth at her.
Her hand twitched. She gave him a tentative chin tip.
He shot her with a net gun.
“Asshole,” she shouted, struggling to get out. The fibers were sticky, clinging to her clothes and gluing her to the hull. The more she struggled, the tighter the weave got.
The alien trio watched her efforts to break free, nudging one another and laughing.
Should have run while you had the chance, Lis, the annoying side of her brain said. What are you going to do now? She gritted her teeth, the net rasping against her neck. Honestly? Fuck if I know. But I’m not going out like this, that’s for damn sure.
“I’ve done nothing to you. Let me go, you jackass rock monsters,” she growled, trying to tune out the chorus of “Rock Lobster” that started looping through her brain. “Take what you want and leave.”
Punk Rock alien said something to the guy on his left, who dug into a pack and pulled out a long silver tube. Lefty grabbed her hair and twisted her head to the side, then jammed the tube against the soft tissue at the base of her ear.
She yelped at the sharp pinch, cursing the stupid rock lobsters… aliens as her thoughts went all wibbly. Her tongue felt thick as pain wrapped around her brain and squeezed. Just as she was about to pass out, the pain receded. “What the fuck was that?” She blinked hard, trying to clear her vision. “What did you do?”
But the dickheads only laughed their rockslide laughs.
Fuckers, she thought, wishing she could shoot lasers out of her eyes and sear their asses. She’d traveled through a wormhole. At the very least, she should get superpowers.
The low distant thunder she’d heard all afternoon grew to a growling roar as four more aliens roared over a dune on super-sized motorcycles.
Wonderful, she thought. More rock monsters. This day just keeps getting better and better.
Her captors howled in welcome and slammed their fists against their chests, the impact reverberating across the desert. The riders gunned their motors in response, rattling the hull with their noise, kicking up sand that tickled her nose.
A familiar mix of adrenaline and fear coursed through her veins, sharpening her thoughts. Whatever they were planning, she wouldn’t go down without a fight. Once she got out of the damned web thing, these inhospitable aliens wouldn’t know what hit them.
