Callum's eyes flickered open and he stared at the white wall across from him. He groaned softly, wondering why he was awake. His body hurt. Every single part of it. He just wanted to sleep. He curled up on his side, burying his head in his pillow. 'And this bed is so comfortable.'
A jolt ran through him and he pushed himself up, looking around wildly. He was in a small room with pale pink walls. A window with pale green drapes was set on one wall and there was a doorway without a door on the opposite wall. The bed he was on top of was like no other he'd ever slept on. It was soft and squishy with light blue sheets and blankets. The mattress was nothing like the strange water-filled ones the carcha liked or the flat pallet he'd slept on in his home village. 'Where am I?'
A second later his brain shambled into motion and he remembered. Even when it had been happening, it hadn't seemed completely real. Partially it had been because he had been so exhausted but it also had a lot to do with how much of it had been so insanely out of the realm of his experience. 'That's right. I'm on a spaceship.' A superdreadnought, whatever that meant, called Shimayasumota. It was like nothing he'd ever even imagined before.
Tsyirinsaku had been like a whirlwind after she arrived. Her fie had come down and swiftly organized the evacuation of Ragrun. Chajin had been taken away despite Callum's protests that she was an ally. Angra Mainyu had been hauled onto a transport and Russell had gone with it, shouting at the fie that he wouldn't let them harm it. Callum, Valencia, Mikan and the strange woman Century had been loaded onto a transport with tight-lipped fie soldiers and brought to the Shimayasumota. When he asked about the other humans, he was assured they would be taken care of.
The fie warship was impossibly large. The little transport that they'd ridden on had been like a pebble coming up beside a boulder. The interior was all bright, shiny colors. Greens and pinks and yellows. They'd been put on some kind of long cylindrical vehicle that whisked them through the interior of the ship to a multi-story building. Another strange but much smaller and boxier vehicle had taken them up to one of the higher floors and they'd each been given a room. Callum had asked about his sister and the others and been given vague assurances that they were fine. Not knowing what else to do and so tired he'd barely been able to stay on his feet, Callum had fallen into the strange bed and passed out instantly.
Though he was still tired and his body ached, Callum decided to get up. He scooted off the bed and stood. The only other thing in the room besides the bed was a large pale green rectangular box that was taller than he was. It had two doors that he pulled open. Clothes were inside. At least, he surmised they were clothes. His only experience was with carcha clothing, which this surely was not. It was certainly better than staying in his grungy jumpsuit, though.
He picked out a few articles and went to the small bathroom that was just beyond the doorway. The lights flicked on as soon as he went in and Callum squinted against the sudden brightness. He was used to electric lights after staying in the carcha compound but these seemed brighter and whiter. The bathroom was split in two, with one room containing a toilet and sink while the other was a shower area.
Callum stripped off his jumpsuit and stepped into the shower room. It took him a few moments of fiddling, including being sprayed with freezing cold water, to figure it out. Unlike the showers in the carcha barracks, this one wasn't mounted on the wall. It was attached to a long hose that let him direct the spray wherever he wanted. He liked that. The spray was a lot weaker than the carcha showers, though. The soap was foamier than the slime-like soap of the carcha and it smelled better too.
Feeling slightly more invigorated after the shower, Callum toweled off and dressed in the clothing he had found. It was quite strange, to him, since he'd only ever worn carcha clothes. The pale blue pants fit snug on his hips but were otherwise voluminous. They felt strange, billowing around his ankles. The pale pink shirt was made of a thick, soft material unlike anything he'd felt before. The touch of the material was nice but the shirt was too snug, especially around his neck. Callum tugged at it fitfully as he walked into the last room of the little apartment he'd been given.
It was the largest room and he supposed it must be a combination sitting room and kitchen. 'Just like back home.' The only difference was that it was larger than his entire home had been back on Ragrun. Most of the floor was covered in a soft, plush carpet of deep mauve but the kitchen area was tiled a bright pink. There were counters along both sides and contraptions he assumed were for storing food and preparing it. They seemed similar to the ones in the carcha compound. He thought they did at least. Callum was headed for the cold box hoping to get lucky when there was a knock on his door.
He jumped and then shook his head in consternation, glad nobody had seen. What was there to be afraid of? They were safe now, away from the carcha and with the fie resistance. 'God, please let us be safe.' He hurried to the door, stepping down into the small alcove of cold tile that was the entryway. He searched around but couldn't find anything like a button to open he door. At a loss, he waved his arms around and said, "Open." One of those things must have worked because the door slid up the next moment. His mouth went dry when he saw who was on the other side.
Her name was Belmavidelko and she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Her only competition was another fie, Yemoramato, but while that woman was all scowls and icy aggressiveness, Belmavidelko had an easy, warm smile and a friendly demeanor that only enhanced her beauty. And there was a lot to enhance. Her face was a perfect oval with soft, delicate features. She had a small, straight nose and full lips. Her eyes were big and framed by long lashes. Like all fie, she had two irises that bled into each other; pale pink and dark violet in her case. Her pale, light blue skin was flawless and the glossy pink hair that fell to her shoulders looked so soft he had to consciously restrain himself from reaching out and touching it.
Almost against his will, his eyes traveled down her body. She was about a head shorter than he was, slim and clean-limbed but still womanly. The yellow dress she wore showed that off to great effect. It was cut low enough to show a generous amount of cleavage and stopped well short of her knees. Even though the skirt was loose and flowy, it hugged her hips so close that he knew the exact shape of her body. It was certainly no more indecent that the jumpsuits carcha pilots wore but it heated his blood in a way they never had. Or maybe it was just her.
Belmavidelko stepped inside, saying, "Good morning, Callum. I'm glad to see you are awake already. How are you feeling?" Her voice was high and breathy, soft and soothing. He thought he could listen to it forever. He caught a whiff of her scent and was startled. Usually when he could smell another person, it wasn't a good smell. She smelled sweet and like something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Like a forgotten memory. "Callum?" She looked at him quizzically, brushing back her hair. She had three silver bangles on her wrist that clinked together as she did so.
He realized he'd just been standing there, staring and smelling at her even though she'd spoken to him. He quickly jumped back and said, "Good morning, Belma...Belmavadi...ko?" He blushed. He had the name right in his head but his tongue couldn't seem to spit it out without getting tangled.
Belmavidelko laughed. It was a soft caress. "Call me Bel. All of my friends do." Callum felt a flush of warmth. She considered him a friend? He wondered if Yemoramato had a nickname as well. He doubted she would ever let him use it. Now that he thought about it, she had never referred to Belmavidelko as Bel even though they were supposedly both close lieutenants of Princess Tsyirinsaku.
"Okay...Bel. I'm feeling fine, thank...you…" Callum trailed off as two women came in behind Belmavidelko. Besides maybe his sister, they were the last two women he wanted to see him ogling and getting tongue-tied around another woman.
Valencia was his childhood friend and partner in piloting Angra Mainyu, the powerful mech that had allowed him to oppose his carcha slavemasters. She was a short and slim woman, even more so than Bel, but lacked the fie woman's curves. Her hips were almost narrow as a boy's and her breasts were very modest in comparison. It was a constant source of mockery from their other longtime friend Riley. Despite that, there was no argument that she was a beautiful woman, with high cheekbones, a button nose, big, bright blue eyes and a smile that lit up her whole face. She was scowling now, though. Her long blond hair was split into twin tails as usual but she was wearing clothes as unusual as the ones he himself had on. Her dark green top was long-sleeved, loose and thick and she wore a dark gray skirt underneath that fell to mid-calf. It looked strange on her.
The other woman was Mikan, who he'd only met a few weeks ago but fought alongside as one of the pilots of the five mechs they'd stolen from the carcha. She was even shorter than Valencia but she was younger, too, and her body was starting to fill out better. Her ink black hair fell thick and straight to her shoulder blades and her dark eyes had an extra fold that narrowed them slightly. He knew she considered herself plain and unappealing but he had no idea why. She was lovely, with a fine-boned face and a smile that could melt the coldest heart on the rare occasions she flashed it. Strangely, she was still wearing the white carcha jumpsuit that hugged every part of her body as close as possible. It was hard to understand her sometimes. Even now she looked at the ground more than anything else. He thought she was the oddest combination of shy and bold he'd ever met. It still felt impossible that he'd lost his virginity to her. 'Though carcha aphrodisiac had a lot to do with it…'
That was the crux of the reason he didn't need to be making eyes at another woman in front of these two. Things were awkward enough as it was. Valencia, his best friend and partner, had told him she wanted more and he'd been unable to respond to her feelings. He'd lived with her so long that it was hard to move past the feeling that she was part of his family. Mikan, on the other hand, he'd just met and thanks to a certain set of circumstances, they'd had sex even though they'd barely known one another. Both of them had ended up thinking they'd forced the other one and that had kept them apart for a while. They'd resolved that bit of foolishness but he still wasn't sure what their relationship was. Whatever it was, the fact that he'd slept with Mikan had almost destroyed his friendship with Valencia. Everything was still fragile and Callum was worried the slightest misstep could shatter it all.
Yet when Bel pulled off her white sandals and stepped out of the entry alcove, he could not stop his eyes from darting down to her bare foot. He'd never really considered a woman's foot attractive or not before but hers was. The little toes were perfectly symmetrical and lacquered a pale pink that matched her hair. Same as her fingernails. Her slim ankle was surrounded by a small gold chain, highlighting what a graceful, feminine foot it was. 'God, what the hell am I thinking about? It's a foot!' But even as he berated himself, he couldn't stop drinking in every part of her. Valencia and Mikan were both beautiful but not like Belmavidelko.
He scurried backward as she walked deeper into the apartment. Once they were all four in the living room she put her hands on her hips and looked around. "How do you like your quarters?" she asked. "It is bigger than most, since you are a pilot and an alien both. We've opened this entire floor for the four of you human pilots."
Callum blinked. "We were given these apartments because we're pilots?" he asked. "What about the others?" Nearly four hundred other humans had been evacuated from Ragrun to the Shimayasumota, his friend Riley and his sister Catriona among them.
"We have set them up deeper in the ship." She sighed. "Unfortunately, they will be living a lot more densely than the four of you. Resources are limited on our ship. This building was designed to house alien visitors so it has a lot of climate control options and takes a bit of extra power to run."
"If it is trouble, I don't mind staying with the other humans," Callum said.
Bel laughed as if he was being silly. "No, that just wouldn't do. All pilots have their own quarters. You put your lives on the line to protect all of us. You should have some reward for doing so. Besides, you need to be close to the launch ports in case of emergencies." She nodded if that settled things. And for the life of him, Callum couldn't come up with any arguments. He wondered if he could have Catriona move in with him. Would she even want to? Things had been strained between them. It seemed to be getting better but he still wasn't sure. "But back to the climate control," Bel continued. "Human and fie physiology are similar, remarkably so, and so we have left the standard settings on. I can show you how to adjust the temperature and humidity if you would like, however."
Callum stared at her for a moment. She was speaking carcha, the only language he'd ever known as a lifelong carcha slave, but there were words in there he'd never heard before. "I'm just fine," he finally said. Living on Ragrun his whole life, it had never even occurred to him that there were other climates. 'Though I suppose the inside of the carcha compound had a different "climate."'
Bel seemed a little skeptical but just said, "Well, don't hesitate to let me know if you change your mind." She rubbed her hands together. "Now, have you eaten yet?"
Callum shook his head. "I was just about to look…" he said, pointing at the cold box.
She grinned. "Allow me to make breakfast for the four of us, then. We have some things to discuss." Without waiting for him to accent, she scurried by and began pulling things out of one of the cupboards and the cold box. The three humans watched her for a few moments until she turned around and shooed them to the table to wait.
Callum sat down cross-legged at the table where he could keep Bel in his line of vision without being too obvious about it. Mikan sat perpendicular to him on his left and Valencia across from him. "How are you two doing?" he asked. With a self-deprecating smile, he added, "My head is spinning."
"It's all still so unbelievable," Mikan said quietly. "Can you believe we really escaped Ragrun? Fought the carcha? It seems like a dream when I think about it. Or maybe a nightmare." Neither Callum nor Valencia could come up with anything to say to that and Mikan's cheeks colored.
"That woman is certainly something," Valencia said quietly, cutting her eyes quickly to Bel. "She had me up out of bed, dressed and on the way here before I even knew what was going on." Callum's eyes traveled to Bel as she cooked. Her movements were so graceful and the way her hair swayed was mesmerizing. A twist of her hips brought his eyes lower and he was mesmerized by those for a few beats. "Enjoying the view?" Valencia said acidly.
Callum snapped his eyes back to her, his cheeks heating. 'What is wrong with me?' He'd never stared at a woman like this before. "I was just wondering what she was making," he said. Whatever it was did smell wonderful. The flat look Valencia gave him told him how far she believed his explanation.
"S-she really is beautiful," Mikan said with a shaky laugh. Callum glanced at her, expecting her to be looking at him and fearful of the anger or pain he might see there. Instead she was staring at Bel, a bit of a blush on her face. That was interesting.
Something occurred to Callum. Bel had said that she'd opened the floor for four human pilots yet only three of them were there. "What happened to Century?" That was the 'codename' of the mysterious woman who'd been locked up in the storm prison of Algnen with Yemoramato, Chajin and a host of other extremely dangerous criminals. Nobody really knew anything about her other than the fact that she was a mech pilot.
Mikan shook her head. "She was with us last night but when Bel went into her room this morning, she was gone." Mikan shrugged. "She didn't seem that concerned about it." Callum frowned. Century seemed like a very odd person. He hoped she didn't do anything that made humans look bad.
"All finished!" Bel called out musically. She glided over to the table with a large plate piled high with a multitude of soft, golden-brown discs. The smell they were giving off was heavenly. She set the plate in the center of the table and then swiftly returned the table with a small bowl and four plates. One last trip and she set four glasses and a pitcher of a bright yellow liquid down. "I spent some time last night searching for traditional human foods. I had to make these hotcakes using fie ingredients, of course, and the butter isn't really butter at all, of course, but I am hoping it is a reasonable approximation. You'll have to tell me how they compare."
Callum glanced at the other two humans and then said, "We've never had anything like these before. We only ever had what the carcha gave us." Mainly just porridge and fish stew.
Bel's face fell slightly. "Oh, of course. I'm sorry." Her mouth twisted a little. With disgust, Callum thought. "The carcha are guilty of many crimes but the destruction of cultures is among the worst of them." She glowered at the tabletop for a moment and then abruptly brightened, like a flip being switched. "Well, at least you can try them now. I think they are very popular among humans." She served them each one of the golden disks and then took up the bowl. She used a dull-looking knife to spread something that was such a pale blue it was almost white over it. With a smile, she handed the bowl to Callum. He didn't need to be encouraged, not with the way everything smelled.
Once all four of them had 'buttered' their hotcakes–that's what Bel called it–they watched Bel cut a slice and imitated her. The knife was very dull but the cake was so soft it went right through anyway. Callum took a bite and tears actually came to his eyes as he chewed. It was sweet and savory and easily the best thing he'd ever tasted. He'd always considered his sister the best cook in the universe but she'd never made anything like this. 'I bet if she made hotcakes, they'd be even better,' he thought loyally. He glanced at Valencia, who was devouring hers, and Mikan, who had only taken one bite but also seemed to be crying.
"What do you think?" Bel asked, with a smile that said she already knew. All Callum could do was nod while stuffing another bite in his mouth. Bel closed her eyes and laughed with delight. "I'm glad. I couldn't think of an easy way to recreate maple syrup but maybe next time." Callum shook his head. There was more that went with this? He couldn't believe it could be any tastier. "Ah! The juice." Bel stood and filled each glass with the bright yellow drink. "It isn't orange juice, of course, but I think this has the same kind of flavor profile." Callum took a sip. It had a sharp, sweet taste with a slightly bitter aftertaste. It was good but didn't wallop him over the head like the hotcakes had.
The three humans steadily ate their way through the hotcakes. Bel ate the one she buttered but waved away any offers of a second with a laugh, saying she enjoyed watching the humans eat. When Callum was finished, he leaned back on his hands and sighed. He'd never really thought about human versus carcha food but if the hotcakes were an example of human food, he was going to figure out how to get more of it. Bel gathered up the used dishes and carried them into the kitchen. Callum would have helped, if he could have moved. Bel loaded them into the autowasher, explaining how to use it as she did so and then set it to wash.
She returned to the table and sat gracefully. "Now," she said, "there are some things we need to discuss." She was serious now but smiled gently when the humans stiffened. "Nothing grave. I just need to explain how life works aboard the Shimayasumota, which might be a little more difficult considering your previous circumstances." Callum nodded, remembering that Yemoramato had once called them 'dirt farmers.' She wasn't totally wrong. "Where to begin?" Bel closed her eyes and rocked her head gently back and forth, sending her hair waving. Callum's stomach clenched. "Well, I guess it's easiest to start with what we expect from you. You will be pilots for us, go where we send you and obey whatever commanders we set above you. I won't pretend it won't be very dangerous but you'll be striking back at the carcha that oppressed you." She fixed each of them with a long look. "We don't press people into service for us so you are welcome to join the other humans but I won't lie, we need every single pilot we can get."
She grinned. "Which is why we give a lot of benefits to those who fight for us. First of all, you'll be able to stay in these apartments. They are much roomier than the ones you would get elsewhere and have no ration limit on water or electricity. You also have full climate control, as I said before. You have a view screen here," she said, getting up and walking to the wall across from the table. She hit a spot on the wall and it slid aside to reveal a shiny black panel. "Net access aboard the ship is free but we have to keep disconnected from any planetary nets for obvious reasons." She grimaced prettily. "We can only update our database with recent shows and games every few months, sadly." Callum just stared at her. He had no idea what she was talking about.
"That's the basics for the apartment. Any questions?" Bel looked around. Nobody said anything but she must have been able to see how lost they were by their expressions. She smiled ruefully. "We should be getting all of you aides here shortly. Things have been moving so fast that we didn't have a chance to prepare them beforehand. Hopefully by tomorrow. They are to help you get acclimatized and can answer any other questions you might have about the apartments." Callum glanced at Valencia. An aide? "Now," Bel continued, "do any of you know anything about money?"
The three humans turned to each other. Callum and Mikan both shook their heads but Valencia said, "My father explained it to me once. Money is like a thing you can use to trade for other things and...stuff?" Valencia flushed, likely wishing she had just shook her head.
Bel just smiled. "More or less." Her smile slipped as she said, "We fie always had a great deal of pride in our free economy but a pure market economy can't function under these circumstances." She was using words he didn't understand again. "But we wanted to allow personal choice as much as possible so even though we have to assign housing and ration water and electricity, among other things, we do try and maintain a simulacrum of a market." Whatever their expressions were, it made Bel laugh. "I'm sorry. I'm explaining things that don't matter to you. Here is what is important; your apartment is free but you'll need to use money to pay for other things." Callum gave her a blank look. "Things like food, clothing and other necessities. Entertainment things, too."
Callum shared a concerned look with Valencia. "And how do we get this money?" he asked.
"We pay you for your service, of course," Bel said. "Two thousand tae every twenty-four days. I know that doesn't sound like much…" Bel trailed off and then laughed. "Well, I actually don't know how it sounds to you but it is more than enough to live on. Of course, you can achieve bonuses and promotions for good service as well."
Callum held up his hands. She was using words he didn't understand again. "Wait. Let's go back. Instead of giving us food and clothes, you give us money and we trade that money for food and clothing?" Bel nodded. Callum shook his head in confusion. That seemed needlessly complicated.
"Who do we give the money to?" Valencia asked. "You?"
"No, no. Of course not. I'm not a…" Bel rubbed her nose with one finger. "Perhaps it will be easier just to show you. I was planning on it anyway." She grinned. "Let's go shopping!"