The sun had already sunk behind the table mountain, throwing long shadows. Eran was stilly curled on the ground, still resting, whilst Aki had awoken early, and had propped himself up against the now-cool hover bike.
The xenomorph was looking almost content, lying in the soft sand. They had hunted well, eaten well, and then went to rest without as much as a word between them.
After waking up, Aki had tried to wipe his face down, but couldn't remove the layers of road grime that had accumulated during the ride. Eran had fared much better. There were traces of grime around the scars, but most of his body just seemed to shed the dirt. The dome seemed as sleek as always.
You could never know, he mused, if Eran's eyes were closed. The only thing that was visible was the featureless dome, and one could guess from his posture that he was still resting.
He was curled up, his tail wrapped tightly around him, cradling the spear in his arms. Aki breathed out with relief to see it wasn't extended. He didn't want another accident to happen.
He knew he had to rouse Eran soon, but right now he wanted to let him rest for a few more minutes.
Letting him drive the hover bike was madness, but he saw how fast Eran had learned. How fast he could grasp things.
He was truly amazing in that aspect. His skill in communication had grown, and, from watching his concentration during the exchange with the governor, he had probably already mastered English as well. It had taken him some years to achieve the prowess in the foreign language, and this xenomorph managed it in hours.
Eran stirred, uncoiling, and moving his head to and fro to shake off the sleep and the sand.
The way he looked, sitting in the sand, disorientated, sleepy, he looked… cute. There was no other word in Aki's memory for describing Eran. He lingered on the sight and the thought for one moment, and then called out
"Hey, sleepyhead"
Eran slightly jumped, and turned around to Aki with a toothy smile on his lips "Hi…"
"How are you feeling?"
Eran nodded "Ready to continue."
"We should wait at least an hour or so till it is absolutely dark."
"You could have let me rest then…"
"Yeah, I could have, but we need to have a talk."
"Talk about what?" Eran started to look much wearier
"How we get his done. When we reach the port"
"Well you need not worry. They are hardly going to shoot you"
"Silly, I am talking about you."
Eran did look slightly happier "Hmm, I'll probably just take to the sewers or the roof tops." He scratched his talon.
Aki was surprised at the speed of the answer "You done this before" he realized how silly this sounded.
"Not exactly, but I can move about a human settlement unseen. You do realize what my race does. You fought us. It is in our instinct. You should better worry about your safety than mine."
"Well" Aki pulled together his courage "I am worrying about your safety because…"
"Yeah?"
Aki puffed himself up "Because you are a friend and I like you very much and I don't want you to get hurt" he blurted out in one fast sentence.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really."
Eran drew closer, until he was leaning beside Aki against the hover bike. "Please, you be careful too" the Xeno whispered in a voice that was much softer.
Playfully, Aki punched softly against his shoulder "Shut up!"
Eran hissed, and softly butted against the yautja, their shoulders staying in contact far longer than necessary. Somehow, Aki's hand fell into Eran's, and as he squeezed the talon, it didn't feel half bad.
Eran squeezed back, and rested his head against the cool metal of the bike behind them.
The yautja closed his eyes, relaxing, and breathed out with a sigh. Letting go of Eran's talon, he tried not to shiver as he put his arm around the xeno's shoulders, slowly drawing them together, until their sides touched. His brain screamed at him to stop and to get away, but the pull of his heart was just too strong to resist. He felt Erans talon move across his chest, and suddenly the xenomorph was on top of him, embracing him in a powerful hug.
Aki hugged back, a warm feeling of happiness forming in his stomach. Here he was, hugging this alien creature, and, for once, he didn't feel angry or uncomfortable with himself. Feeling Eran's silky smooth skin on his, slowly caressing the creature's back, he felt… safe. Finally at home. He didn't want to open his eyes, he didn't want their embrace to end, but he knew that it couldn't go on forever. He didn't even know if this was going anywhere, but did it matter? He was living now, and how could this warm fuzzy feeling inside him be wrong? What sin was it to feel happy? If any of his people would see him now they would condemn him, perhaps even kill him, not even mentioning what they'd do to Eran.
It chilled him.
He wondered what would happen if he just stayed here. Nobody knew he was still alive. He and Eran could just slip away, get onto a ship, and go far away…
There was no place where they would be accepted, not in the known regions of space at least. Xenomorphs were threats, and he would be a bad blood, a coward.
They had to face off against the creature that had killed his crew. He was a hunter, maybe not the best or the most true, but a hunter he was nonetheless. They would hunt the Blood Moon, kill it, and then they would go somewhere, no matter where, as long as they were together. Together, they would achieve anything!
Slowly, he let go of Eran, and, reluctantly, pushed himself up. The xeno at first clung to him with a sound that was more a whine than a hiss, and then let go.
It was almost completely dark.
"You know how this works?" Quickly, Aki explained Eran how to start, take off and fly the hover bike.
Eran nodded, and slowly got into the driver's seat. Aki got in the back, holding onto the hover bike's frame. They were just slightly too large for this human-sized apparatus. Eran was slightly nervous as he worked the control panel, his tail swishing back and forth, the spear passing close to Aki's face. "Watch it! You're almost hitting me!" he grumbled
"Sorry." Eran hissed, curling his tail over one of his shoulders out of the way.
With a roar, the engine jumped into life, Eran put his feet on the footrests and slowly edged the bike forward.
The first few hundred metres had been wobbly, but they were settling down now, Eran slowly increasing the speed as far as he felt comfortable.
They had extinguished all light, rushing along the road in total darkness, relying on the xeno's night vision.
It wasn't totally dark though. The sky was illuminated by thousands of stars twinkling above, giving off an eerie light. It wasn't enough to fly by, but Aki could make out shapes and forms flying past them.
Ever so often, Eran swerved off the road and through the prairie, to avoid contact with human housing along the road. There would be more of those the closer the got to the space port, and it would slow their progress. From time to time, Aki could see the navigational lamps of spaceships twinkle up in the sky as they blasted away.
Aki had slid forward in his seat, close to Eran, and now he encountered a problem. The xeno had raised his tail out of the way, and their hips had, inadvertedly, slid together in a way that was rather… uncomfortable. He was pressed up against Eran's bum, and the feeling was causing his head to spin.
Eran, apparently, was aware of the situation, as he slowly uncoiled his tail, putting it around Aki's midriff, and, gently, locking them together.
That had not been part of the plan. Did he have a plan? Aki shook his head. Of course he didn't. He just felt the pure strength of the xeno's tail, pressing him against Eran.
Not being able to resist, he ran his hands along the xeno's back side, ever so often touching the dorsal tubes, softly caressing them. What doubts did he have? This felt awesome!
His head was growing light, and he was starting to lose focus.
A slight swerve of the hover bike snapped him out of his reverie. Eran's tail had uncoiled again, and the xeno was shivering. Aki's hands had already moved down the back of the xeno to the base of the tail.
He withdrew them, and slid back on his seat away from Eran. "I'M SORRY" he howled above the wind, but he doubted Eran would hear him. What had gotten into him? He shouldn't behave like that.
His trousers felt uncomfortably tight, reminding him that the last time he encountered someone "interested" was quite some time ago. But the way Eran had shivered, he knew he had gone too far. He had to apologize, but the wind and the noise made conversation impossible.
He tapped Eran's shoulder, and the xeno slowed down to a speed where they could converse
"Listen, Eran, I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'm sorry. I.. I shouldn't… you know… I shouldn't resist." There was discomfort in his tone.
"No, it is fine. Don't worry about it."
The xeno whined. "I'm sorry I'm not what you want…"
"No, don't say that. You are just fine." He quickly put his arms around Eran and gave him a hug, and he felt the tension in the Xeno's shoulders ease up. He was about to let go again, as he heard Eran whisper "Stay…"
He accelerated again, and Aki pressed his face into the Eran's back. The xenomorph's skin smelled sweet and felt smooth, like a piece of well-oiled wood, and the yautja relaxed.
The world rushed past Eran. Unlike Aki, he could see everything, his gaze piercing even the shadows of the trees that they were now passing under. The forest had closed in, transforming the grassy plain into a much darker place.
He felt the warm arms of the yautja around his chest, and smiled his toothy smile.
He liked Aki.
Aki was soft and comfortable, and strong. He was going to take care of him.
A shimmer of light covered the horizon, but it was much too early to be dawn. They had only been travelling for a few hours.
He slowed, and to his displeasure, the yautja broke contact, withdrawing his arms to steady himself. "What's wrong?" Aki asked.
Eran pointed towards the light on the horizon.
"That must be the spaceport!"
"What's the plan?"
"We go on for another few kilometres, and then we will continue on foot."
Eran shrugged, and re-accelerated.
The road was straightening out, and the surface changed, from rough dirt, to patchy tarmac. The hover bike started to run much smoother, with less force on the handlebars. They passed a small junction, and the road started to widen.
They should probably soon get off it.
Eran started to slow, when suddenly a roar resounded from the forest. A bright light flashed at them from a track leading out of the woods
For the Xenomorph, time suddenly slowed. He twisted his head to the left, and saw a large transport, black, with enormous bright lights racing towards them.
How could he have missed it? He threw the handlebars to the right, trying to evade the form hurtling towards them, but the hover bike reacted slow, too slow.
With a crash, the transport hit the bike in the rear quarter. It was launched into the air, spun over, thus ejecting Eran from the seat. He was hurled into the woods, painfully hitting his head on a branch, before collapsing down on the floor, disoriented.