What the hell was going on?
Maybe she’d been in some kind of car accident and now she was unconscious, dreaming. Surely, she thought, this gorgeous man could only be a product of her imagination.
Wide at the shoulders with narrow hips, he was quite tall; Hannah guessed he might stand 6’ 4” or so. His handsome face was like something carved from granite, with blue eyes, prominent cheekbones and a dimpled chin.
With one long stride of his muscular legs, the man stepped closer to her.
“Greetings, Hannah,” he said.
“You may call me Sa’Zhan.”
Hannah raised an eyebrow and found herself stifling a giggle at the man’s odd formality, especially considering he was only wearing those shorts. Her humor faded, however, as she thought about the situation.
If she had been in some kind of accident and was dreaming this, it might mean she was severely injured. And if she wasn’t dreaming … well, that was really too weird to even consider.
“Welcome to Research Base 2X71,” the man continued, obviously unaware of Hannah’s conflicted state.
“Your people call this the Namib Desert.”
“My people do what now?”
Hannah shook her head. What the hell was this guy talking about? What was the Namib Desert? And what did he mean by “research base?”
Hannah felt light-headed. She thought the heat might be getting to her.
It must be at least 100 degrees out here. This idea concerned her. If she were dreaming, she shouldn’t feel hot, should she?
“You must be very pleased, to meet your destined mate at last,” Sa’Zhan said.
“My destined mate?” Hannah was so confused.
With every word the man said, he made less and less sense. And there was something about the way he spoke, as if English was not his first language, though she couldn’t pin down what kind of accent he had.
“Yes. Your voice called out to me across the galaxy, and I have come to this planet to claim you.”
Hannah’s mind raced to make sense of what she was hearing.
“So,” she said at last, “you’re … an alien?”
“I am not from your Earth,” Sa’Zhan said.
“I suppose that would make me an alien, to you. But that is unimportant. You are to be my life-mate. It is the way of my people.”
“Well, my people don’t just pick up random strangers in the middle of the night and make them … life-mates.”
Hannah could not believe she was really having this conversation.
“That does not matter,” he said, with a look of haughty pride.
“I have come for you, and you shall be mine.”
Hannah’s head was spinning from a combination of the intense heat and the utter insanity of the situation. Aliens weren’t real. Especially aliens that looked like they just stepped out of men’s fashion advertisement.
Just then, the man reached out for her. Hannah twisted away, and the movement made her even dizzier. She fell to the ground, the desert floor radiating heat against her.
She tried to stand up, but her vision swam and before she had a chance to do anything else, the world went black and she fainted.
Chapter 2
The first thing Hannah noticed when she came to was how nice and cool the air was. Thank goodness, she thought, that weird dream is over. She was lying in a very comfortable bed, covered by a light blanket. Hannah opened her eyes and looked around.
Still a little disoriented, her first thought was that she was in some kind of very modern hospital room. Her bed was actually a small alcove set into the wall. Above her, a double row of spherical lights shined down. The room itself was circular, and the surfaces gleamed like polished silver.
As she came to her senses, Hannah realized that, if this was a hospital room, it was a very strange one. There were no monitors, no equipment of any kind that she could see. The room was, in fact, quite empty.
No furniture, aside from the bed. Nothing on the walls. Not even a door that she could see.
Hannah tossed the blanket aside and sat up. Her feet were bare. She got out of the bed and felt the smooth surface of the floor, which seemed to be made of the same silvery material as everything else.
It reminded her of something, just at the edge of her mind. Silver …
It all came back to her in a rush. The silver-clad man who’d claimed to be an alien. Hannah willed herself to wake up, to stop dreaming, but some part of her knew this was real.
She walked to the far side of the room and put her hand against the wall. She could feel a faint vibration. Hannah took a few steps to her left, and there was a sudden whirring sound. A rectangular space in front of her slid open, revealing some kind of hallway.
Hannah went out and looked left and right. The hall curved away in both directions. She turned and looked at the room she had just exited. Above the door, written in plain English, were the words “Crew Cabin 1.”