Snake Keeper by Alexandra Norton

CHAPTER SIX

I PADDED DOWNthe deserted, dimly lit hallway that seemed to spiral in an infinite loop, glancing behind me every few seconds. There were no off-shoots or other paths to turn to, just occasional gold-colored doors. They all looked identical to me. I slowed down when I realized that no one was chasing me, and that I had no idea where I was going.

Finally, when I had given up on ever reaching the end of this godforsaken spiral, I decided to pick a door. They all looked the same, but I counted five more - my favorite number. As a kid, I thought the number five brought me luck.

Don’t fail me now.

I pushed the door, for there was no doorknob to turn. It slid open, receding into the wall with a quiet hiss. I peeked inside and spotted what appeared to be a large wooden bath, with two benches and pitchers of the same material nearby.

A bathroom! Thank God.

I padded inside, glancing back to see the door slide shut behind me. The walls and floor here seemed to be made of the same stone material, but in a different color: black, with blue veins running through its internals.

I traced my finger along the high rim of the tub, finding comfort in the gritty grain of the wood: a welcome break from all the stone.

The toilet was a in a small alcove at the far end, a perfectly round hole in the floor with a pool of water within, shifting in a gentle swirling motion. I knew what it was: the squatting toilets in Eastern Europe looked much less… neat… but the similarity of design was obvious.

Now how the fuck was I meant to get out of this body suit? Honestly, I had to admit it was comfortable. It felt like a second skin, and most of the time I’d been forgetting I’d even had it on. To my dismay, however, there was no zipper or removal mechanism of any kind. I was sure of it after twisting my torso to and fro in search of one for three minutes.

“You just pull it off.” I jumped at the voice behind me and spun around. It was a female alien, tall with yellow snake-eyes. Not the same one who had been one of my escorts from Earth, but maybe a relative? I backed away.

“Don’t worry,” her laugh bounced off the walls of the room, “I’m here to help. You just pull off the silkskin.”

She demonstrated by pinching her own black bodysuit at the shoulder and tugging it down. As she did this, the cloth began to peel away from her body as though reading her mind. It slid off of her dark skin and gathered at her feet, revealing her impossibly prefect body. Nobody looked like that. It was mostly human. But I could’ve sworn I saw an ethereal inner glow emanating from within her skin. Then, the alien bent down, clasped a corner of the fabric once more, and pulled it up her lean leg. Immediately, the fabric formed back around her, hugging her in all the same places as before.

“Try it,” she smiled when she was fully covered once more.

“Ok, but turn around please.” I was not about to take my clothes off next to a squatting toilet in front of an alien. Or anybody.

“I’ll wait for you near the bath,” she laughed again and padded out of the enclosed alcove.

The method worked. The fabric was a second skin to me, knowing exactly what I wanted it to do. When I relieved myself and came back out fully dressed, the bath had been filled with steaming water.

“You can get in clothed if you want, it’ll slide off in the water,” the alien sat on one of the wooden stools about a foot from the bath. I eyed her suspiciously as I dipped my toe into the tub. Hot, but bearably so. I sank down, the water coming up to my neck, and watched her as I soaked.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Zeetha,” she smiled. “I’ll be your minder while you get acclimated to the station, and to your new Keeper. If you need anything, you just call for me.”

“What happens now?”

“Now you relax, Emily. After your bath, I’ll show you to the bedroom and you can get some sleep. The hibernation in the shuttle isn’t really proper sleep, you must be exhausted.”

That was why I was so drowsy and slipping in and out of consciousness in the rock-shuttles?

“How…how far are we from Earth?”

“Is that the name of your planet?” She cocked her head. I nodded.

“I think Xioumar mentioned their trip was a few hundred thousand light-years. I’m not sure of the exact number.”

“Shit,” I muttered, staring at my reflection in the tub. I couldn’t even visualize how far that was. I traced orbits on the water’s surface with my finger.

“Where will I sleep?” I continued my questioning.

Zeetha visibly perked up. “You will sleep in the best nest of the station! Xioumar has an unbelievable view of the inner ring.”

“You mean I have to sleep in the same room as him?”

Zeetha frowned for a moment, cocking her head. Then, it seemed to dawn on her that this could be a problem: “Oh, but of course. The Keeper always shares a bed with the Kept.”

The water suddenly began to feel a little chilly. A shiver ran down my spine. “I won’t do anything,” I glared at her. “I won’t allow it.”

She looked confused again. “But I am sure you wouldn’t be disappointed.”

I clenched the side of the tub, knuckles turning white. “I won’t let him rape me!”

Zeetha dropped the subject and looked at the floor. “I think you will be fine. Just give him a chance, Emily. I know everything is new and strange. But your Keeper isn’t a monster.”

“What is a Keeper supposed to be, in your terms, exactly? What is the purpose of all this?” I demanded.

Zeetha sat up straight, with a perfect smile on her face, and regurgitated the same line the Federation told us on Earth: “The Keeper is charged with evaluating your species, and as the Kept you are charged with discovering his or her world and becoming immersed in it. Only then can you both decide whether an alliance will be of benefit to both of your species.”

“Do Keepers ever have Kept of their own species?” I queried.

“No, of course not. The Keeper and Kept relationship is reserved for different species partnerships, usually those the Federation is considering bringing into the fold. Whether you pair-bond later-”

“-Pair-bond?” I cut her off.

The alien folded her hands in her lap. “I think that’s enough for tonight. Your Keeper will be waiting, and it is very late.”

I tried to press the subject, but she would not budge further as she helped me out of the tub. There were no towels; the ambient temperature was perfect and I felt no jolt of chill upon leaving the water, but I still wanted to wrap myself in a fluffy bath robe and never come out.

I guess aliens air dry.

***

THE BEDROOM, OR“nest” according to Zeetha, consisted of a round gray bed made of now familiar foam sitting in the middle of a black stone floor. I stood in the doorway, gaping at the window that spanned the entire wall across from me: perfectly clear. It showcased the four planetoids rotating around each other slowly in the middle of the outer ring all around us. I saw the walls of the ring span from the window and around the floating rocks, and could finally clearly see the small black shuttles (similar to the one I’d arrived here in) sliding peacefully to and from landing pads inside the rocks. They seemed to not be free floating, but attached at the top by glowing cables at the top, like golden spiderwebs.

“I see you found our nest,” Xioumar entered behind me. I didn’t look at him, but recognized his voice. I wondered if he saw my shoulders tense at the sound of his voice.

“I’d prefer my own,” I answered coldly, still studying the view outside.

“Your preferences don’t matter here.”

He walked around me to the bed and pulled the sleeve of his skinsuit (or “silkskin”, as Zeetha had called it). As with my own in the bath, it slid off of him like a snakeskin. The skinsuit did not leave much to the imagination, and I had already seen his tall, muscular shape underneath the cloth. But that did not prevent the flush creeping up my cheeks when I saw his bare beige skin. Striations rippled under wide shoulders as he got into the bed. His overall physique looked generally human, but I could spot unfamiliar oddities in how muscles connected under his skin. The eight-pack abs seemed to shift like plates against each other under his skin as he moved, and connected to his obliques with defined, indented striations running up his side. This tangle of muscle led to a sharp, v-shaped abdomen, a single vein protruding from the hard flesh between his hips, which led into a very sizable…

I ripped my eyes away to stare at the floor, hiding my burning face behind tight chestnut curls.

“There are no covers,” I mumbled, sliding my gaze up to the edge of the bed, pointedly refusing to look at the Snake presently lounging within it.

“You won’t need them. The temperature is controlled.”

“You don’t understand,” I brooded. “Covers aren’t just about the temperature, it’s about…”

“Comforts of home,” he did understand. “If you’re good, I can arrange for a cloth tomorrow. Now get in. I won’t touch you tonight.”

I realized I’d been chewing my lip only when I tasted the iron on my tongue. Licking off the blood, I nodded slowly and approached the bedside. I got on the edge without removing my suit. The round bed was fairly large, but Xioumar’s hard body took up most of it. I curled up into a tight ball on the very edge and hugged my knees to my chest. I flinched away before he even touched me, feeling the familiar electric jolt against my back as his arm slid close. He moved it away.

The firm foam quickly molded to my shape underneath me, forming an admittedly comfortable cradle around me. The exhaustion of the trip, and the day, hit me all at once like a rock, and I fell asleep.