Dante’s Command: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Science Fiction Alien Romance) (Survival Wars Book 1) by Hana Starr
Authors: Hana Starr
Ads: Link
Someone else will bring the spare suit to me,
and then I will rejoin you as swiftly as I can. We will only walk through the
colony together, I assure you.”
“Promise?”
But he just shook his head, not understanding the
sentiment. And she gave up, deciding that it would have to be good enough for
now.
Dante motioned her over to where one of his men stood
waiting, and she reluctantly followed. Much to her surprise, when she reached
the corridor, a long section of ceiling had been pulled down like an attic’s
ladder, making a ramp to reach the terrain of Venus.
Fear filled her again but she glanced back at the wall that
opened and closed, and figured tentatively that it must be an airlock of
sorts. Dante would be safe until they returned –she hoped.
The man behind her motioned her up ahead of him. Mariella
gave him a smile that she didn’t feel, and then mounted the surface of the
ramp. It was surprisingly rough and desert-colored, which baffled her until
she stood up on top of the ship with all the others. And then she understood.
She saw Venus with her very own eyes, as much an alien to
this world as the men were to her. The surface was rough, tannish and grew,
strewn with dunes of streaming sand and broken stone. And looking down at the
ship, she saw how its exterior reflected the surface.
This must be how they’ve evaded detection, she
thought admiringly. That, and this unbearable wind. It pulled at her body so
hard she nearly fell over, and it destroyed and rebuilt the sand dunes in
seconds. Great rocks scuttered along like mere pebbles in its wake, and she
was slightly afraid of it.
The men were unaffected though, far sturdier and apparently
denser in composition than her, too. For a moment, she thought about the
implications of all this –of two similar species so close and yet so far apart-
but then quelled her curiosity. No one was going to examine anyone. She was
no anthropologist. She was here for their fuel source, not for them.
Her guide buzzed softly, saying something to her in his own
language. Mariella glanced at him, and then realized he wanted her to start
walking down the side of the flatter-than-she-thought vessel. It was
clumsy-going but easy enough, rather like hiking while wearing too many clothes
and the wrong-size boots.
And within seconds of moving, she realized the other flaw of
this planet.
It was sweltering. She started to sweat immediately, even
with her own little atmosphere inside the suit; it just wasn’t strong enough to
counter the overwhelming power of the sun.
And that reminded her all over again that the one flaw in
the Zenith Grid was that it couldn’t store energy. What were these people
going to do during their part of the year when sunlight was unavailable to
them, if all she had to offer was solar power?
However, she was too tired to think on it. Too tired, to
shaken up, and too damn hot .
How long they walked for, she couldn’t say. They were
heading in the direction of a low plateau but it was ages and ages away, many
days’ walks from here. There was no way they could make that! Absolutely not!
But still, the twenty-four men trudged on. Their faces were
slick with sweat. After a certain point, their footsteps dragged. Their
breath fogged up their visors, until she had no idea how any of them could
see. It was an eternity of walking, a damnation, and she finally understood
why Venus was likened to Hell.
If only everyone back on Earth knew how right they were…
Suddenly, she ran into the man in front of her. He didn’t
even seem to notice, though he had stopped in his tracks. A dim reminder of
curiosity opening up in her mind, Mariella glanced around him and gasped.
An enormous crack opened up in the ground, jagged like lightning
and terribly angled so that if any of them had come from it at the wrong angle,
they would have
and then I will rejoin you as swiftly as I can. We will only walk through the
colony together, I assure you.”
“Promise?”
But he just shook his head, not understanding the
sentiment. And she gave up, deciding that it would have to be good enough for
now.
Dante motioned her over to where one of his men stood
waiting, and she reluctantly followed. Much to her surprise, when she reached
the corridor, a long section of ceiling had been pulled down like an attic’s
ladder, making a ramp to reach the terrain of Venus.
Fear filled her again but she glanced back at the wall that
opened and closed, and figured tentatively that it must be an airlock of
sorts. Dante would be safe until they returned –she hoped.
The man behind her motioned her up ahead of him. Mariella
gave him a smile that she didn’t feel, and then mounted the surface of the
ramp. It was surprisingly rough and desert-colored, which baffled her until
she stood up on top of the ship with all the others. And then she understood.
She saw Venus with her very own eyes, as much an alien to
this world as the men were to her. The surface was rough, tannish and grew,
strewn with dunes of streaming sand and broken stone. And looking down at the
ship, she saw how its exterior reflected the surface.
This must be how they’ve evaded detection, she
thought admiringly. That, and this unbearable wind. It pulled at her body so
hard she nearly fell over, and it destroyed and rebuilt the sand dunes in
seconds. Great rocks scuttered along like mere pebbles in its wake, and she
was slightly afraid of it.
The men were unaffected though, far sturdier and apparently
denser in composition than her, too. For a moment, she thought about the
implications of all this –of two similar species so close and yet so far apart-
but then quelled her curiosity. No one was going to examine anyone. She was
no anthropologist. She was here for their fuel source, not for them.
Her guide buzzed softly, saying something to her in his own
language. Mariella glanced at him, and then realized he wanted her to start
walking down the side of the flatter-than-she-thought vessel. It was
clumsy-going but easy enough, rather like hiking while wearing too many clothes
and the wrong-size boots.
And within seconds of moving, she realized the other flaw of
this planet.
It was sweltering. She started to sweat immediately, even
with her own little atmosphere inside the suit; it just wasn’t strong enough to
counter the overwhelming power of the sun.
And that reminded her all over again that the one flaw in
the Zenith Grid was that it couldn’t store energy. What were these people
going to do during their part of the year when sunlight was unavailable to
them, if all she had to offer was solar power?
However, she was too tired to think on it. Too tired, to
shaken up, and too damn hot .
How long they walked for, she couldn’t say. They were
heading in the direction of a low plateau but it was ages and ages away, many
days’ walks from here. There was no way they could make that! Absolutely not!
But still, the twenty-four men trudged on. Their faces were
slick with sweat. After a certain point, their footsteps dragged. Their
breath fogged up their visors, until she had no idea how any of them could
see. It was an eternity of walking, a damnation, and she finally understood
why Venus was likened to Hell.
If only everyone back on Earth knew how right they were…
Suddenly, she ran into the man in front of her. He didn’t
even seem to notice, though he had stopped in his tracks. A dim reminder of
curiosity opening up in her mind, Mariella glanced around him and gasped.
An enormous crack opened up in the ground, jagged like lightning
and terribly angled so that if any of them had come from it at the wrong angle,
they would have
Similar Books
