Chapters will be uploaded every Sunday! Hopefully these first two chapters are enough to sustain you guys until then! Enjoy!

Chapter Two

I wrapped it up in my arms, ignoring the stench, and jumped into my vehicle. I couldn't believe the both of us could fit into my vehicle. But I shouldn't be surprised considering how small this creature was.

I raced back down the mountain, skillfully avoiding the different obstacles in my way. I took a short cut to get to the ship, which resulted in me going straight through the field where the stripping machines were working.

I felt the creature begin to struggle against me. I looked down to see its hands covering its head. I looked back up to quickly and maneuvered my way out of the field.

A few men who were overseeing the machineries stopped what they were doing to watch me. I'm sure they were confused as to why I was stupidly racing through the field as they did their work. I would've addressed them, but I didn't have time.

I drove straight onto the ship. The docking port was on the other side, and I didn't have time to waste. The few men that were lingering there jumped.

"Commander are you okay?" One of them asked, before covering his nose, "Good goddess what is that?"

I didn't have time to answer them. I needed to get to the infirmary. I ran through the ship, keeping the struggling creature in my arms.

"Edward?" My father said when I burst into the room, "What's wrong. What is that." His hand covered his nose.

"Help it," I said, "It needs help."

"W-what is it?"

"I don't know!" I cried, "I found it on the mountain. Well, it attacked me, but it needs help!"

He waved his hand for me to follow him to where the healing chambers were. We only had four of them, and we only liked to use them in emergencies.

I shoved the creature down into one of the pods. It begun squealing and scratching my arm. I hissed but didn't let up until the glass covered it. It kicked and hit the glass before the healing chamber's mechanical arms grabbed it and spread it out.

I watched as the chamber easily restrained the creature. I was able to conclude that this creature wasn't as strong as we were. Any Outerrian could've easily fought against the mechanical arms when they were set on the lowest restraint setting. I felt a twinge of guilt rush through me as I realized I probably seriously hurt it on the mountain when I put my full weight on it.

Its eyes were wide, I could easily see the fear within them. I placed my hand on the glass near its face. It stopped and looked up at me, watching my movements.

Dad turned the machine on and looked down into the healing chamber. His eyes were wide as he took in the creature.

"Amazing," He whispered, "I…I'm speechless. I thought this was a dead planet."

"So did I," I said, "What do you think it is?"

"I'm running a diagnostic scan on it. It won't tell us exactly what it is. But it'll give us a clue."

"What does it look like to you?"

He shrugged, "I can't be sure… It's obviously a bipedal creature. It only has four limbs. It has opposable thumbs. A primate of sorts. But with the toxicity on this planet, it could be a completely new species."

The chamber begun its work. It started by putting the creature to sleep with gas. The creature closed its eyes, its head lulling to the side. I expected the machine to continue its examination, but the machine stopped and beeped loudly.

"It can't continue the examination," Dad said, "It's skin is covered in filth, it's going to clean it off."

Water suddenly filled the tank, spraying the creature's skin until the healing chamber was black with filth. We couldn't see inside of the tank for a few moments. Then finally, the chamber rid itself of the filth.

"Oh my god," Dad and I said in unison as we stared at the creature with wide eyes.

"H-how is this possible?" I said unblinking. "I mean… how in the hells is this possible?"

"I-I don't know," Dad said as he took a step closer to the creature to get a better look.

"What does the machine say?" I asked, refusing to believe what I thought it was.

He walked over and looked at the screen, staring at it for several moments. He let out the air he had been holding in his lungs.

"It says… s-she's human."

I turned back to the creature, who was sleeping soundlessly as the machine healed it. Now that it was clean, I could see it in more detail.

It had long hair that was dark brown in color. Its skin was pale, close to our pale but without the bluish undertone. Its facial features were similar to mine, there was a nose, lips and two eyes. It didn't have a tail though and it was clearly female. I didn't need to be a doctor or a scientist to recognize a female. It was also very small. Alice, who was already classified as a small female, was much bigger than this female.

"How is this possible?" I asked as I looked over at my father. "This planet can't host life. The soil is poisoned, the weather is unforgiving, and there isn't clean water anywhere. How did this creature survive?"

"I'm not sure," Dad said as he walked over and looked at the creature. "It should be impossible. We did a thorough scan on the planet before we landed, didn't we? We should've detected this human."

"I don't know how she slipped under the scanners."

"Perhaps the filth she was covered in—," he was stopped as I doubled over in pain. I tried to stop the hissing, but I didn't stop it in time for my father to notice.

"Edward what's wrong?" He asked as he quickly hurried to my side. He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I-it's nothing," I gritted my teeth. "When she attacked me, she must've hurt me a little and I'm just noticing."

"Well, let me see," He said as he tugged at my tunic. I jerked away from him.

I didn't need him to check me over because I knew exactly what was happening. I was able to identify these feelings once I had a moment to clear my head. I certainly couldn't afford to have this happen to me now.

"Edward what is wrong?" He asked in a firmer tone. He stared at me for a few moments, but as soon as I looked up at him, he could tell what was happening to me. "Y-you're going into the mating frenzy?"

"I guess I am."

He turned back to the human and then looked back at me.

"Did she trigger the frenzy?" He asked.

"I think so," I said.

My father's brows raised. "I guess… I guess there is no denying it. She is human. If she weren't then the mating frenzy wouldn't have been triggered."

"Where do we go from here?" I asked. "There is no way she could understand the mating frenzy. And she looks as though she couldn't handle it. She looks so… fragile."

"The medical scan should tell me everything we need to know," He said as he walked over to the screen.

"What could it tell you about this creature?"

"Plenty," He said. "Perhaps you should enter a hibernation chamber?"

"Why?"

"When her medical examination is finished and she can come out of the healing chamber, the mating frenzy will become overwhelming. You could hurt others or her. Like you said, she might not be able to handle the mating frenzy. Or understand it."

"Then give me the blockers," I asked. "Until we can get a better understanding of her."

"The blockers will only delay the frenzy by so much." He said. "It would be better to go into a hibernation chamber."

"No." I snapped. "I can't be in the hibernation chambers during this. We need to be prepared for the builders to come. There can't be any delays."

"I'm sure the council will understand if there is a delay. And I'm sure they would be interested to hear about our discovery—,"

Suddenly there was a loud, frantic banging. We jumped and looked over at the healing chamber.

The little human had awoken and was frantically beating the glass. She had ripped out the oxygen tubing that the chamber put into her nose and was currently drowning.

The urge to protect my mate overwhelmed me as I ran over to the chamber and broke the glass. Water spilled onto the floor, and I caught my mate before she was spilled onto the floor over the shards of glass.

She coughed several times, water spilling out of her mouth. She was shaking in my arms as she tried to stand on her legs but was unsuccessful on her wobbly knees. I easily held her upright.

"Hello," my father said softly as he kneeled down to her face and shined a light into her eyes.

She hissed angrily and snapped her teeth at him. Both of us chuckled at her.

"Be careful," I told her. "You'll break your teeth. They're not as strong as you think."

"Ferocious little thing," Dad chuckled as he retrieved a soft blanket from the cabinet. The only time these blankets were pulled out were in emergencies. Our bodies were able to immediately adapt to any temperature. "Too bad your skin isn't as tough as you wished."

He wrapped the blanket around her shivering body. I pulled her closer against mine and started to manually heat my internal temperature up to warm her. It had an instant effect as she leaned closer against me.

"We'll need to find clothing for her," Dad said. "She can't walk around naked."

"I think she might need food, first."

"First, let me give her some medical attention," He said as he grabbed a medical kit. "Hold her tightly, please."

He walked back over to us and placed his hand under her jaw to lift her head. She growled and kicked up a fuss as his fingers gently tapped against her throat.

"Remarkable," He uttered under his breath. "I can't believe I'm actually touching a full-blooded human—, hey now," he chuckled lightly as her teeth latched onto the finger that he stuck to closely to her mouth. She held onto the finger as he gently moved his hand back and forth to get her to release.

"Does it hurt?" I asked through my clenched teeth.

"Not at all," He chuckled again. He maneuvered her mouth to open to which she tried to roar at, but it sounded more like an angry squeak. "I'm surprised you have all of your teeth, little one."

"Why is that surprising?" I asked.

"Well, with the nuclear toxicity of this planet, she should be riddled with cancerous sores. And not having access to proper dental care should've taken a toll but her teeth are practically perfect. —Edward are you alright?" He asked as I closed my eyes and tried very hard not to breathe. Now that my human was clean, she had a very tempting smell that was doing very dangerous things to my body.

"I need a blocker, please."

"Do you—,"

"Now." I hissed. "I'm not asking I am ordering. As your commander."

My father looked slightly perturbed, but he nodded and got the scent blocker. I hissed as the scent blocker was put into the spot above my tail, being one of the three sensitive spots that were on my body.

It took a moment to blocker to take effect. It was strange not being able to smell her anymore. My body was trying to force its way into the mating frenzy. I felt my lower region calming down, which was a relief. The mating frenzy had been heating up my lower region to the point of it being painful since I couldn't take her as I needed.

Once her body warmed up enough, she started to straighten out her legs. I could feel her fear, but the warmth of my body must've been comforting to her, as she stayed pressed against me. I couldn't say I had a problem with it.

My father placed his fingers along her neck as he continued to performed a manual medical exam. She growled in frustration and tried to pull away from him, but he was much stronger than she was. It bothered me to see her struggle against him, but I knew he had to check her over.

"I think she is alright, but I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly," He said. "We are quite different. Aside from the obvious"

"What can you tell about her?"

"Well," He started. "Clearly she is early human. No more advanced then the last known humans of 2040."

"So you're saying there's been a surviving line of humans for 280 years? How did they even survive? The planet has been covered in a toxic cloud for decades. Nothing can survive it."

"I'm not sure," He said. "But we need to figure out what we're going to do with her."

"What do you mean?"

"We don't know if there's more. There could be other humans. She could have a family looking for her."

"I didn't see any other humans." I said before looking down at her. "But I guess that doesn't mean you don't have a mother or father."

"Mother?" her scratchy voice repeated.

Dad and I froze. She stared at me and cocked her head.

"Mother?" her voice obviously hadn't been used very often, but she did understand or at least could repeat language.

"Mother?" I repeated back to her. "Do you have a mother?"

Her eyes squinted at me in an almost suspicious-type manner. "Mother." She put her hands over her eyes. "Mother." She repeated before taking her hands off her eyes.

"I think she's saying her mother is dead," Dad said. He stepped into her eyeline and pointed a finger at her. "Mother," he said then covered his eyes.

"Mother." She said with a slight head nod.

"There could still be others." Dad said. "We need to do an immediate search of the planet."

I nodded. "You're right."

"Why don't you call for a search? Send the scanners, the drones. Every resource we have. We cannot strip this planet if there are humans residing on it. We need to help them."

I nodded and lifted the girl to place her onto the bed. She stared at me with confused eyes but when I stepped away, panic filled her eyes. She jumped from the tall bed, her ankles giving out on her. She almost stumbled onto the floor before I caught her.

"I don't think she's going to let you leave." Dad said. "Perhaps she's feeling the mating frenzy as well. Maybe that part of our genetics does come from the humans we descended from."

"Maybe," I said, rubbing the spot on my neck she had bitten. "When she found me, she jumped onto my back and bit my neck."

"She did?" He laughed. "Maybe she does respond to the frenzy. Biting is step two in the mating dance. Was she able to mark you?"

I ran a finger along the dents and pulled it back to see a very small smearing of blood. I grunted in surprise.

"I guess so," I said before wiping my finger onto my tunic. "If I had given her a few more moments she would've made a bigger mark."

"Incredible," He said as he placed a hand onto her back, to which she responded with an angry hiss. As his fingers pressed against each vertebrae of her spine, her shoulders rolled, and she squirmed in a very strange way.

"What is she doing?" I asked as she let out a very strange, scratchy deep vocal noise.

"She's ticklish," He chuckled. "That's not a bad thing. She responds very well to stimuli."

I nodded. "I need to stop the stripping process. Call Jasper in here please, I need him to stop it for me, since she won't let me leave."

"No. I don't want to overwhelm her," He said. He turned to the drawer and pulled out long needle. "One of the strangest things with humans that are evolved to this point, was that they could die from being overwhelmed. They only have one heart, so if it stops, there isn't a second one to keep her alive."

"Do you think that'll keep her asleep?" I asked. "The gas in the healing chamber only affected her for a few moments."

"Well, this dose is made for our kind." He said. "I have a feeling that she's evolved because of the radioactivity on the planet. Look at her eyes. It's clearly had some sort of effect."

He was right. Her eyes were brown, but there were white speckles in the brown. It made me wonder if she could see properly. She wasn't watching my father; she was busy looking at my face. I couldn't help but look back.

She was truly beautiful. Yes, she looked different from the other females I was surrounded by, but she wasn't any less beautiful. She might have been more beautiful. I wondered what she had lived through, being trapped on this toxic planet.

She made a loud squealing noise when my father put the needle into her back. Her distress noise stirred up the urge inside of me to protect her. Even though I knew she wasn't in any danger, my instincts were almost overwhelming.

A moment later, her squealing stopped, and she fell out in my arms. I effortlessly lifted her dead-weighted form onto the bed and laid her down.

"Edward, would you mind if I ran some tests on her?" Dad asked.

"Nothing too invasive," I told him as I walked to the door.

"So you'd say the memory tap would be too invasive?"

I paused by the door.