11. Emma

Icouldn't stop reaching up and scratching at patches of my skin where the shadow mud had touched me before.

It still felt itchy and scratchy even though I knew it was no longer on me.

The training session had turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected.

I'd seen the Rocky movies with the flowing montages of pain being inflicted on the title character.

That was what I expected, not a fun snowball fight.

Vai led me into the canteen and I was taken aback by how empty it was.

Multiple chairs sat around broad tables let me know how many crewmembers usually served aboard a ship like this.

There were five dozen tables arranged at regular intervals around the room, each catering to ten seats.

"This is one of three canteens we have on board," Vai said.

"Three?"I said, flabbergasted. "And this is one of the smaller ships in your dad's fleet?"

He nodded and motioned to the nearest table.

"How long did you have to travel to reach Earth?" I said.

"Three weeks."

My eyes boggled.

"Three weeks in here? You came all this way to help rescue me? And you were on your own all that time?"

Vai shrugged his shoulders.

"I had Computer to keep me company."

I'd seen how he interacted with the computer system and wasn't sure it was much of a comfort.

I would have laughed out loud if it wasn't for the image of him wandering these empty hallways alone.

All to reach and rescue me from his evil Shadow.

I was overcome with a powerful sense of relief that he had undertaken this mission.

It didn't seem fair he had to make up for what his evil twin got up to.

I got the distinct impression the two entities were virtually different creatures altogether, no matter what they looked like.

The thoughts and feelings of one didn't dictate the actions of the other.

But what did I know?

I was new to this situation and until a day and a half ago, I didn't even know there was another intelligent species out there.

I shook the image of the lonely figure from my mind and focused on the situation at hand.

"It must be pretty good being the son of an admiral," I said.

Vai shrugged.

"It is what it is. He was away a lot when I was young."

"But look at the perks! An entire ship all to yourself!"

He smiled.

"I guess I am lucky in some ways."

He approached a long panel with a series of openings.

It was only then I noticed something strange about the canteen.

"There's no kitchen?"

"No one cooks on board. Although we usually have a programmer who can create new menu items any time we meet a new species or there's an important meeting with officials."

A programmer? I thought. What did that have to do with cooking?

It became clear when Vai began pressing buttons on the console.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Uh, something that's not still alive would be good."

Vai snorted.

"You eat living things on your planet?"

"Some cultures do. But in America? No. Everything is well and truly dead."

"Good. Because the M'rora only eat dead food. I'll order some of my favorite dishes and you can try them out."

He turned to the machine and I took a moment to look him over.

He did sometimes remind me of the creature that'd poisoned me and attempted to bed me.

How could he not?

They looked virtually identical and it was only in the general way they expressed themselves that you could identify the difference between them.

Vai brought two trays of food and placed them in the middle of the table.

He returned to the machine two more times before he deemed there was enough food.

One tray was piled high with meat smothered with a brown sauce that smelled spicy.

Another had a thick soup that kept on stirring itself even after Vai removed the spoon.

Another was piled high with vegetables that looked similar to what we had on Earth.

One was similar in consistency to carrots.

It'd been sliced into sticks but weren't bright orange but purple with pink flecks in them.

They tasted, strangely, like "purple"—the same way lemons somehow tasted like "yellow."

I decided to steer clear of most of the meat.

I wasn't used to this food and didn't want to make myself sick.

"What do you think?" Vai said, eying me expectantly.

"It's… good," I said. "Well, some of it is. I'm a pretty fussy eater but I can eat most of this."

"What is Earth food like?"

"Diverse. Like the food you have here. But I guess there's no comparison to the food you grew up with, is there? Mom's homemade food is always best."

"Yes, I suppose it is."

I was full and couldn't eat another bite.

I pushed the nearest tray aside and leaned back, bracing myself on the backrest.

"How about dessert?" Vai said.

I shook my head.

"I couldn't even if my life depended on it."

"Then I'd better offer you something worth more than your life!"

He plucked a bunch of large ovals from a thick stem.

"These are called glocks. They're the most delicious fruit in the empire. Maybe in any empire."

I peered over at them.

They had strange little bumps on them that sucked at my skin.

"They're not alive, are they?" I said.

"They're plants, so I guess they are alive in some way. Try it. You'll like them."

He tossed a glock in his mouth and munched on it happily.

It was only fruit, right?

Even if it was from an alien world…

I screwed up my face as I bit into it.

The juices ran down my chin and I hastily wiped it with my sleeve.

The flavor exploded across my tongue and zipped through my body.

"Wow," I said. "If more fruit tasted like this back on Earth, kids would hit their daily quotas easily!"

I munched on the rest of the glock until it was gone.

Okay, so now I was stuffed.

"It's my favorite," Vai said. "There's an orchard near my home and I used to play there as a kid."

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"An older sister. You?"

I shook my head.

"I always wanted a brother or sister. Every time my friends had an argument with their siblings, I offered for them to come live with me. They never did though."

Something about the training earlier piqued my interest.

"Have you ever been to the Shadow Realm before?" I said.

"Yes. It's… challenging. Largely the opposite of our galaxy. At least, they used to be, before we expelled the Shadows there and they began claiming it and turning it into a hostile wasteland. They dug up the resources and backward engineered any advanced technology they could lay their hands on.

"The real difference between us and them is their desire to dominate. Every species wants to do well. That's only natural. Every species wants to be strong and pass on the best possible future to their offspring but the Shadow want nothing but power. No matter what it costs."

"They sound like real charmers," I said. "Has anyone ever been taken by them before? By the Shadow? Have they even managed to take their ‘fated mates' back to the Shadow Realm?"

Vai's eyes looked everywhere but at me.

"Yes."

"And the… things they did to them," I said, thinking over how the fated mates were passed from one Shadow to another, "they always happen?"

"Yes. They've bred many Shadow hybrids by forcing their fated mates to breed an entire army. They grow stronger while we grow weaker."

I thought about being abducted by Iav and the destiny that might have befallen me if Vai hadn't rescued me.

"Why did you come save me?" I said.

It was a question that'd crossed my mind many times since I'd first encountered him.

"You didn't have to," I said.

"He's my Shadow—"

"I know. But that doesn't mean you had to rescue me. You could have sat at home and done nothing."

Vai looked at me as if that was the very last thing he could do.

"No," he said. "I couldn't. None of us could."

Why? I wanted to ask.

But the M'rora were an alien species.

There were things they did that wouldn't make sense to me and likely never would.

Vai leaned forward and pressed his lips together between his fingers.

"The bond between the M'rora and the Aror'm is an old and mystical one. It's more of a feeling than anything else."

"But you said you can't feel your Shadow."

"No."

"Then how is it like a feeling?"

Vai frowned and tried to put his thoughts into words I might be able to understand.

"It's like when you think about how you might act in a certain situation. What if you found money in the street? Would you pick it up? What if someone dropped it outside an orphanage? What if it was outside a big mansion? Everyone would respond differently in those situations because each of us is different. You know what you might do—at least you think you do. Sometimes people think they would do one thing but they would end up doing another. You never know until the moment comes."

"What's that got to do with your Shadow?"

"I know what he'll do before he does it. I know this because a part of him is me and a part of me is him. Every living creature has both a good and a bad side. Our Shadows are the physical embodiment of everything bad about us. They are evil and they are not good, and the things it would do to achieve its goals detest me. Just as the things I would do detest it. I don't know if I can explain it any better than that."

"Yin and Yang," I said absentmindedly.

"What's that?"

"It's an Asian philosophy that describes opposites in nature. They're related and linked to each other and no matter what you do, you can never quite escape that part of yourself."

"Yin and Yang," Vai said. "Yes. That explains it very well. I am the good side, he the bad."

"But I guess it only looks like that from your perspective."

Vai cocked his head to one side.

"Nothing my Shadow does is good."

"Not to you. But in his world, everything he does is right. Even if it looks like the evilest thing to us."

Vai smiled.

"I've never thought of the Shadow as anything but mindless killing machines. I suppose you're right. Either way, I can't let him have you."

I smiled up at him.

I liked the sound of that and wanted him to say it again.

I glanced at his hand on the tabletop.

I wanted to touch it.

But dare I?

And if I did, what would he read into it?

I bit my bottom lip, reached over, and took it.

His hand was cool to the touch, just as I somehow knew it would be.

"I want to thank you for coming to rescue me. You didn't have to."

Vai smiled and slowly turned his hand over.

He lifted it and pressed his lips to the back of my hand.

"Yes," he said. "I did."

A shiver ran through me and a thought flickered across the forefront of my mind.

Am I falling for him?

No, I thought. It wasn't possible.

Who would find a green alien with horns attractive?

Me! Pick me!

The voice came from deep in my sub-conscious and I tried to stifle it with a pillow.

It didn't work.

I wanted to listen to it.

I wanted to succumb to it.

"It must get tiresome sometimes," I said, "being in this tin can, surrounded by technology. Sometimes it's nice to unwind and surround yourself with nature instead."

Vai's attention perked up at the suggestion.

"Look out the window and you'll see the history of time itself. We're next to nature at all times."

I smiled at the notion and wrapped my hair around my finger, watching him and glancing away shyly in equal measure.

He bent down and offered his hand once more.

I was beginning to understand that offering your hand like he did was common in his culture.

I took it and he lifted me onto my feet.

"So, what happens now?" I said.

"Now we continue with our training."

I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that.

"More?"

"With all the advanced machines and computers we have, there are some things we cannot do."

He stopped and turned to me.

Our noses were almost touching.

But I didn't back away.

I raised my chin and our lips were so close I could practically taste him.

"Like what?" I said breathily.

His eyes focused on mine and I could barely breathe.

"Like, uh…" he said, smacking his lips and barely able to focus on the thoughts in his mind right now.

He'd forgotten what he was going to say.

"Like… your ability to sense Iav out there," he finally said. "If I help you better understand the bond you share with him, you'll be able to lock onto his position and know where he is at all times."

"I'm not sure I can do that."

"Of course you can. You were born linked to him. I bet you can sense him even now—even if you don't really want to. God knows there's plenty of reason for you not to want him in your head right now. But I'll show you how to open yourself to him. I'll show you how you can feel him out there. Then we'll have a much better chance of defending ourselves."

He gripped my arms harder, tighter.

It might have been painful if I didn't have his eyes to stare into.

"Yes," I said, taking strength from his confidence in me. "Yes. I'll do it."

He smiled at me.

It was intoxicating.

He might look like Iav, and yes, he even smiled like him with that incredible dimple forming in the pit of his cheek, the dimple that I wanted to gnaw on like a dog with a bone.

But he was different.

Even I could tell that.

He didn't have the same sinister darkness cloaking his features the way Iav did.

When he smiled, it was for real.

And although his eyes shone with the same golden intensity, there was no malice there.

Only kindness.

The emotions coursing through me right now might have been caused by that same poison Iav had given me.

But I knew he hadn't.

Because he wasn't like his evil twin.

He was good.

He was just.

And I hadn't ingested so much as a sip of water since I came aboard this ship.

I hadn't been poisoned and yet I felt the same lightheaded giddy sensation as I had when I had been given a heavy dose by Iav.

"Come with me," Vai said.

He offered his hand as he had done so twice to me already.

In both cases, I'd taken it without any real desire to follow him.

This time, it was different.

There was nothing but desire.

I wanted to go with him because there was no one else in the galaxy I wanted to be with more than him.

Right here and right now.

"Yes," I said. "Take me. Show me."

I am yours.