Broken Boundaries

04 - Fight or Die

'..body ... on the ship ... landing for repair ...'

'Ship troubles.' said Asitha. 'Earth crew.'

Alain turned down the volume on the transmission. 'Seems so. I tried contacting them but they didn't respond, which could be caused by damage to their communications.'

'How long?'

Alain looked at the printout. 'Just over two standard days.'

Tiness sighed. 'We'd better not make contact after today then in case they pick it up or see us on the hull.'

Alain twiddled his thumbs. 'Yeah.' he said and looked at the drooping ears of the girls. He imagined his ears would look the same if he were Silth and his chest tightened a little at the thought he couldn't see them for a while, depending on the troubled ship coming. He stood up from the couch. 'All the more reason to indulge ourselves now! Let's eat and drink and watch movies until we've had our fill!'

The girls' ears pricked up. 'You're right, let's have fun!' said Tiness and looked at Asitha. 'I'll help cooking, you set up the rest.'

Asitha chuckled. 'All right.'

Asitha had chosen a horror movie because she was curious to see what kind of alien scared humans, and Alain chuckled silently when Asitha crawled against his side after the morphing alien appeared in its hideous form made from other aliens. She blushed at the end of the movie when she realised she had held on to his arm. 'Sorry.' she said and sat straight.

Alain smiled. 'In our world, that's what men are there for. To provide a safe spot for scared women to hold on to during movies.'

One ear went sideways. 'Really?'

He chuckled. 'Well, we hope to be anyway.'

Tiness giggled. 'Then next time we watch something like this I want to sit next to you too.'

Alain took the remote. 'I'll start one that's even scarier.'

'Noo!' she said and reached for to the remote across Asitha's lap. 'One is enough for today!'

He laughed. 'Just kidding.' he said and gave her the remote. 'It's your choice.'

She took it and pouted. 'Bad human.'

He smirked. 'Then don't tempt me with getting wedged between two lovely women.'

The girls blushed and Tiness hit his thigh. 'Human males are really bad.' she said and quickly started the next movie.

Alain nearly dozed off and woke up with a nod. He looked at the girls and smiled softly at their peacefully sleeping faces. After a stretch to chase a little sleep from his limbs, he unfolded his wall bed, carefully lifted Asitha in his arms, laid her down on his bed, and did the same with Tiness. "I wonder if you'd let down your defence like this if we were the same species.΅ he though as he watched them for a moment. He pulled a sheet over them and settled on the couch to sleep.

***

Asitha woke up from a dream where she and Alain hid from a slimy alien monster and blinked her eyes until she could focus her vision and see she wasn't in her own bed. She pushed herself up and looked around at the dim pod remembering watching a movie as the last thing, and at Tiness sleeping next to her. Her bladder urged her to get out and she waggled to the toilet, returning later to see Alain sleeping tight on the couch. She smiled softly at him. "Did you put us to bed?" she thought and wished she'd been awake enough to remember that. She returned to bed and snuggled up with the pillow smelling of him.

***

'Hey, sleep well?' asked Alain when Tiness sat up and stretched.

She smiled sleepily at him cleaning up the couch. 'I want this big bed.'