I have one disclaimer, though. I know that the word "Yautja" is commonly spelled without an apostrophe between the "t" and the "j", but I put it there anyway because I think the apostrophe makes the word look and feel more alien. So no flames about the apostrophe, please!
Nia slowly dragged her eyes open and found herself in a bed completely different from the first. It was just as soft and comfortable, but it was at floor level, with off-white linens and fluffy white pillows. For that brief second between asleep and awake, Nia thought that she was in her own bed. She groaned groggily, rubbed the back of her hand across her lids- and gasped. Her arms and legs no longer felt like lead weights! She could move as freely as she could before all of this began. The wound on her arm felt itchy, though. Nia scratched at it as she sat up in bed.
She threw the covers off of her legs, only to cover herself up again. She was still naked. Why wouldn't the creatures re-dress her? She glanced around, hoping to find her clothes and shoes, but what she saw instead was a very spacious room. There was a kitchenette to the left with a small, round metal table with three chairs. About ten feet from the foot of the bed was the entryway. Nia had watched enough movies to know that it was most likely locked, so she didn't bother with going over to it. To her right there was a lounge chair, a desk with a lamp on it and another door between the two pieces of furniture. Nia wrapped the top sheet under her arms and clutched it to her chest, then stood up from the bed and crossed the room, dragging the remainder of the sheet behind her.
She was surprised to find the floor was carpeted, but the room was too dimly lit for her to tell what color. When she was a half step away from the door, it slid open with a soft whisper. Nia yelped in fright. She wasn't expecting it to do that, and what's more, she wasn't expecting a light to come on and illuminate a bathroom! Her surprised quickly changed to joy because she realized that she needed to pee. She made her way to the toilet, sat down and relieved herself.
Nia had passed by a face bowl with different sized towels draped across it on the way to the toilet. There was another door to her left and after trying it, Nia learned that it was a shower stall, which she utilized after her bladder was empty. She let the hot water run over her skin for an immeasurable amount of time before turning the water off and drying herself. The soft bed, the towels, the bathroom- someone had gone through an awful lot of trouble to make her feel comfortable. What the heck was going on around here?
Given that the sheet was the only covering she had, Nia again draped it around her body. As she did so, she noticed that her breast felt unusually heavy and that her nipples were tender. Maybe it was close to that time of the month. Still, she wished that she had a bra to put on to relieve some of the discomfort.
What in the world did those creatures do with my clothes? she wondered as she walked to the door that was already sliding apart. As she left the bathroom, Nia's feet got tangled in the mass of fabric. She endeavored to unravel herself and yank the entire sheet out of the way before the door closed, which is why she didn't immediately notice the other individual in the room.
"Ahh, you have come out! How do you feel?"
Nia screamed, swung around and tumbled back against the bathroom's door, which swished open suddenly, causing her to fall flat on her rump.
"Oh, I am sorry. I did not mean to frighten you. Are you all right? Let me help you up."
Nia looked up into the metal face of what was obviously a robot, built with ingenuity and precision to look human, but the dark-gray metallic coverings told a different story.
"Who the hell are you?" Nia demanded, ignoring its outstretched hand and scrambling from off the floor.
"I am a Translation Bot, among other things, designed by the Yaut'ja to assist them in communication with you." the metal man said proudly.
"Created by who?"
"The Yaut'ja."
Nia's eyes widened in understanding. "You mean that monster that kidnapped me and has been holding me hostage?"
"I suppose that if I were in your position I would call them that. But let me assure you, they are not monsters. They are a proud and honorable race of sentient beings."
"Sentient beings do not drug and kidnap helpless women and drag them-" Nia paused and looked around the room as if for the first time. "Where the heck am I?" she finished.
"You are in one of the many cities, on one of the many homeworlds of the Yaut'ja. I have tried to translate the name of this Yaut'ja city into your language, but I have not been successful."
"I take it that this homeworld isn't in the Milky Way galaxy."
"Far from it."
"So, how did I get here?"
"You were brought here in a- how shall I put this? A space ship? Is that term familiar to you?" the robot asked.
"Great," Nia grumbled, not knowing whether to believe him or to just go with the flow until she woke up from this nightmare. "Well, since you are my interpreter, how about you translate this for me: I WANT TO GO HOME!"
"But you can not go home." protested the robot. His eyes even showed anxiety.
"Why not?"
"I am sure you must have a million questions and I will try to answer them all. But first, I bet you would like to get out of that sheet." he suggested. Nia looked down at herself, suddenly remembering what she was covered with. The robot turned around, his mechanical joints whining in the process, and walked across the room. Nia followed, but she bumped into the bed along the way.
"Dang it, why is it so dark in here?" she shrieked in exasperation.
"Forgive me. I forgot that humans need more light to see by than the Yaut'ja. Lights!"
The room brightened.
"There is something for you to clothe yourself in on the bed," the robot said, gesturing to where a garment lay with Nia's brazier and panties on top. "I shall turn my back while you dress, not that I am capable of being aroused, mind you."
Nia stifled a laugh as she slipped into her underwear, then the article of clothing. It was an ankle-length tunic with splits on both sides up to her thighs. The collar was V-neck and she could tie it about her waist with two string ties. Now that she'd had a shower and was clothed, she felt more at ease.
"There are some slippers over here," the robot informed, pointing to the side of the bed. "Does your bandage need changing?"
"It's fine." Nia replied. She had, in fact, taken it off before she got into the shower, then put it back on after she dried off, but she didn't bother explaining that to the robot.
"What is all of this?" she asked, slipping her feet into the shoes and tossing the flat sheet haphazardly aside. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
"It is in my programming to be sociable, to answer the later question," the robot explained as he remade the bed. "But I did not prepare all of this. I am, after all, just an artificial intelligence. The Yaut'ja had all this done. They have been watching you for weeks."
"But why?"
"All will be explained momentarily," the robot replied and walked to the table now that the bed was to his satisfaction. "Please, come sit and eat. I prepared vegetable beef soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for you. And there is orange juice, too."
Nia was eager to get her questions answered, but the robot was being so pleasant that she didn't have the heart to argue. Plus, the smell of the food was already awakening her appetite and pulling her to the table. Nia pulled out a chair across from the robot and sat down.
"So what's your name?" she asked after she began eating.
"I do not have a proper name like you humans."
"Then how do you know when someone wants to talk to you?"
"That someone would be looking at me, I imagine." the robot replied plainly.
Nia could only blink repeatedly at the logic of his answer. "Are there others like you?"
"Yes, a dozen to be exact."
"How do you tell each other apart?"
"We all have model numbers. In your language my model number is J-7-6-7-8-3-0-6-9-A-5-5-3-5-6-1-9-4-X-0-0-2-1-4-7-9-2."
"Sorry I asked." Nia mumbled and was silent while she finished her meal.
"Jax!" she unexpectantly shouted aloud.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You mentioned three letters in you model number," Nia explained. "J-A-X. Jax."
"Jax." the robot repeated, trying it out. "I like it. You may designate me Jax."
"Jax, it is. I'm Nia, by the way."
"I know. Prae'tor has spoken of you often. He has told everyone how he had to keep drugging you on the trip through space because you kept fighting to stay awake."
"Prae'tor?"
"The Yaut'ja that brought you to us, of course."
"It has a name?"
"Why, yes. All the Yaut'ja have names, just like you humans."
"That thing is nothing like us!" Nia suddenly snapped, slamming her clenched fist down on the metal table. "We don't go around killing people and kidnapping helpless women!"
"If Prae'tor had not killed that man, you would be dead." Jax reminded her. Nia's eyes widened in shock.
"You know about that?" she asked.
"Of course. Prae'tor brought his severed head back as a trophy and told the story to all the warriors. He said you stood up to the man like a Yaut'ja soldier, even though the man held a firearm on you."
Nia gasped. "He did what?"
"He hung the man's head in his training room, as a matter of fact. If you want I will ask Prae'tor if it is all right to take you to see it."
"I don't want to see that!" Nia shrieked, disgusted at the mere mention of a severed human head hanging on a wall. Donnell was a worthless weasel that tried to rape her, but he didn't deserve that. Twenty years in prison maybe, but not that.
"As you wish." Jax relented. "But you are correct about one thing. The humans and the Yaut'ja are not alike. The Yaut'ja would never kill one of their own, or try to ravish a female, unlike some humans who seem to enjoy causing others pain, especially those they deem inferior."
Nia shot out of the chair, rushed away from the table and flopped down on the bed in agitation.
"I have upset you. I sincerely apologize." Jax said.
"You're damn right I'm upset! I'm being held prisoner by a bunch of alien… psychopaths!" she shrieked. "I'm beyond upset. I'm officially pissed off."
"I know. I can identify the prominent stress patterns in the flare of your nostrils, your dilated pupils, your heavy breathing and in your accelerated heart rate. But, please, try to remain calm." Jax cautioned.
"Why?" Nia asked hotly, jumping off the bed. "Because if I don't Prae'tor will do to me what he did to Donnell?"
"Of course not! Prae'tor is an honorable warrior. He would never go against his code and attack an unarmed female."
Nia harumphed and began pacing back and forth beside the bed. "Yeah, right."
"Still," Jax continued, rising from his seat at the table, ambling over to Nia and clutching her arms in his robotic hands. "You really need to calm yourself and sit down."
"Why do you keep saying that!" Nia screamed and shook herself out of his grasp to resume her march. "I've been shot as well as kidnapped. I don't know where I am or how I'm going to get out of here and you want me to calm down?"
"Yes, Nia." Jax affirmed. "It would be best if you settled down."
"Why?"
Jax didn't answer right away, but after watching his charge pace and stomp in agitation for a moment longer without any clue how to get her to stop he announced, "Because you are pregnant."
Nia stopped dead in her tracks and gaped at him.
"WHAT?"
"You are pregnant and since you are distraught, I can hear that the fetus' heart rate has suddenly become irregular. So, please, sit back down and try to unwind for a minute."
Nia did him one better. She closed her eyes and completely passed out.
Chapters will follow, so please stay tuned. Tell me what you think of Jax in your reviews! Oh, btw, I do plan on writing some of youback. Just be patient with me, I have a lot on my plate! Kisses!!!