So Far Away Ch. 05

Relief flooded over her when she realized that Dānoar was holding her hand and smiling down at her. They made it, they were alive.

Then, confusion and a slight panic rose within her. Where the hell was she? He began to talk to her and that was when the sharp pains began to run through her head. Her free hand went to the left side her head where the pain stabbed her.

"Oh, God, that hurts! What's going on? How did we get here? And why does my head feel like its splitting open?"

Dānoar squeezed her hand, and started talking to her again, but most of it was like before, an unknown langue but then something changed. She could have sworn she heard him say hurt, soon and alright.

"Dānoar? Where are we? I know we're not on the ship anymore." She wondered if he would even be able to answer. He probably still couldn't understand her.

On the ship, she could never understand what he was saying. She momentarily wondered if there was some sort of device that the aliens used to keep them from understanding each other. Really, anything was possible.

He stroked her hand, again. She picked out words but there were more this time. Some of it was even phrases, patient, still translating, some pain, more time.

She began to look around with one eye closed, because there was still some sharp pain her head. She noticed that the room was brighter and was almost serine. It had light blue-gray colored walls with a round door on each wall. There was a man, similar in appearance to Dānoar, to her right. He wore a dark gray long sleeved shirt and pants that were very plain. To Jensen, he looked like he might be in his fifties.

She also noticed that Dānoar was wearing different clothing and his hair looked wet. He wore something very similar to what the other man was wearing except it was green and not as tight. She thought they almost looked like cotton pajamas or hospital scrubs.

"Why can I suddenly understand you?"

She heard the man next to her speak, it was almost a full sentence, "...start to work completely now... easier to understand and explain... talk to her now... should translate completely."

"Jensen?" Dānoar voice was gentle as he leaned in to speak to her, "Stay calm. I am here with you and you are safe. Can you understand me?"

She stared at him, feeling almost terrified. She saw his lips move but they weren't matching what he was hearing.

"Yes, but-"

"Listen to me. I will explain everything. Please, try to remain calm. I will not let anything harm you, remember, you are safe."

"How can I understand you? Why can we talk to each other?"

"The doctor inserted... this is harder than I thought it would be... he put something in you that helps us understand each other. It was painful at first because it was adjusting to our brain waves and speech differences but it will start to lessen in intensity very soon."

She noticed that he was right; the pain was nowhere near as bad as it had been moments before.

"Can you sit up? Do you feel well enough to do so?"

Mentally, she checked herself. She was physically sore, probably from the fighting with the aliens and a little weak but everything seemed fine.

Dānoar stepped back and let her swing her feet off of the padded scan table.

"How do you feel?" The other man asked.

"Fine, so far."

She looked at the floor for a few moments, and then looked up at Dānoar. She realized that she could finally look him full in the face, actually see him.

She smiled at him ear to ear. He couldn't help himself, he smiled back at her.

She liked his smile; it was big, bright and beautiful. He had a sort of large nose, nothing absurd or ugly, just larger than most, he had straight, thick dark eyebrows that shadowed his deep set, very dark, almost black eyes. He had a strait jaw and a strong, stubborn-like chin. He was still a little scruffy looking. She figured he hadn't had enough time to shave, if they did that where ever he's from, where ever they probably were now. He was tall, she would guess about six feet or just a bit over and had a lean look to him. Over all, she found him rather attractive.

"I..." she didn't know where to start, "I don't know what to say to you. I guess hello would be a good place to start."

He chuckled, he actually chuckled, "Hello."

His laugh startled her and made her heart suddenly jump to life in her chest. She sprung to her feet and flung herself at him, wrapping her pale, thin arms around his neck. This was her Dānoar. She could finally hold him, feel him, and know he was truly real.

Dānoar couldn't stop himself when she launched herself at him. He pulled her in, with one arm around her back and the other on the back of her head, pressing her close to him.

"I have you, it's alright, you are safe," he told her. He could feel her trembling and could sense her wave of emotions: relief, excitement, nervousness, concern, uncertainty, longing and affection. It came to him in overwhelming bursts, almost taking his breath away.

"I thought I'd never..." she whispered to him, still in his arms, "I thought they took you away from me forever. I thought they killed you. I was going to find a way to kill myself but then I saw you in that room."

"It's done and over with. They won't ever touch you again, you are safe." He tried to console her with his own emotions, his sense of peace and safety. He wasn't sure if she could sense what he was trying to communicate non-verbally, but it never hurt to try. He had done the same thing in the ship. He tried to give her determination and the will to fight. He could only guess, but it looked like it worked when she attacked her three escorts. He gently pressed her back to the scan table with his hands lingering on her upper arms.

"We are on my home planet, Jyasant. After you attacked the Farronds, the life forms that held us captured, I was able to free myself and defeat the remainder on the ship. From there I navigated their ship to this base."

He watched her pale face, her eyes becoming large. He could feel her concern for him. He could also sense her disbelief, fear and nervousness still. This, he knew, would be a lot for her to take in.

"I can elaborate but it will take time, I do not want to overwhelm you. You have been through a lot and I do not wish to distress any more than you already are."

His words filled her with some comfort, he knew that she felt safe with him and that she trusted him. This would help her in the long run.

There was a soft chime in the room indicating that her food had arrived. She jumped off of the scan table like a frightened animal, "It's alright. Your food is here, you need to eat now."

"You should also eat Dānoar, real food would do you good," the doctor told him as he looked up from his PAR of Jensen's scan, "your food is most likely in your room already."

An idea occurred to him, he took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "Jensen, I am going to get my food from the next room so that we can eat together."

She nodded at him, "Oh," she said with concern in her voice, "I, um, yes, I will wait here for you."

"What bothers you right now?" Dānoar asked her, confused by her expression and concern.

"I nodded," she said embarrassed, pointing to her head, nodding again, so he knew what she referred to, "I don't know if you have the same non-verbal communication that we... I, do."

"How interesting," The doctor, who heard the entire conversation, chimed in. He said to Dānoar, "It is safe to say that she is from a planet and not bred on one of their ships," the doctor confirmed, "She may look like us but she is technically an alien and yet she still nodded, like we do; a similar gesture shared between alien races. I wonder what else is similar between our races."

The doctor rounded the scan table to look more closely at her, "Your name is Jensen, correct?"

Again, she nodded, knowing now it meant the same thing that it did on Earth, "Yes, it is."

"Jensen, you will be spending a lot of time with our alien categorizer who will ask you questions about your planet, your race, your culture, your habits and, well, just about everything. This is to file your race into our data banks. You may find that we are more alike than you could imagine."

"I never thought that there would be an alien race so much like my own." Jensen told the doctor.

The doctor nodded to her. He did not respond what he was thinking . They were in fact cousin races, and he had his suspicions that the Farronds may have had a hand in this occurrence.

"I will return in a moment." Dānoar confirmed for her, "My room is next to this one."

Dānoar left the room through a round, silent, sliding door. She instantly felt horribly alone without him near her.

The doctor, who, in Jensen's mind, did not look anything like a doctor from Earth, went to the far wall and placed his hand on a white-blue glowing square. A panel opened next to the square, where the doctor removed what looked like a rectangular tray with a domed lid. He retrieved the tray from the space in the wall and walked towards her with it. It was sky blue in color and looked like clear plastic.

"This is your food Jensen. Eat slowly until your body adjusts to actually eating your food. It would appear that the Farronds have had you for some time and have been nourishing you through their tubes."

"Will I be able to eat your food? I mean... it's not going to kill me or..." she only shook her head, not knowing how to explain what she was thinking. The doctor laughed and shook his head.

"I understand your concerns, Jensen. The food is safe for you to eat. When Dānoar brought you in from the ship we did a body scan. Your genetic and physiological make up is strikingly similar to ours. You will be able to eat everything that we eat. The food sent up for you just now has been specifically prepared for what your body is lacking, which, according to your scan readings, is a lot. Please believe me that we would never do anything to harm you. The last thing we would want is for you to be in distress."

She smiled weakly at the doctor, "Thank you for easing my concerns and being so kind."

The elder man nodded to her with a slight smile on his lips, "I can only imagine what you are going through right now and what you have been though during your time on the Farrond ship; Mentally, physically, and emotionally. You shouldn't have to worry about eating our food and suffering ill effects. This planet and everything on it is suitable for you."

She was relieved to hear that he understood what she was trying to relay to him. Before she had time to completely consider everything Dānoar came back through the door that adjoined his room to hers. Her heart leapt at the sight of him and she smiled. Her feelings for him were overwhelming and alarming. She felt such a pull to be with him, the only way she could describe it was like magnets; very powerful, large magnets. Jensen also felt like her emotions were tied to him as well.

Jensen watched the way he walked. He had long, fluid strides, he was sure of is step. She liked the way he moved.

"I will leave you two to eat. Dānoar, talk to her about possible upgrades and let one of us know. It will take some time for her upgrades, if she chooses to get them, to be prepared for her," the doctor said as he left her room, nodding to both of them before he exited.

Dānoar placed his tray, which was a pale yellow next to hers and sat at the opposite end of the scan table, facing her, sitting cross legged.

"Sit back and eat," he told her as he touched a iridescent button on top of the dome of the tray, the sides of the dome collapsing to either side, revealing a sectioned tray of alien food, "I can talk to you about some things while you eat and after."

She sat back on the bed, trying to sit as lady like as she could, though found it difficult because she still wore the ugly, gray smock that her captors made her wear with no under garments.

She did as Dānoar to open her tray of food and was greeted by warmth and unknown, delicious smells that made her mouth water. "I didn't realize how hungry I was," she said as she gazed on the colorful array of food on the try, "I don't know how long it's been since I've had anything to eat."

"The Farrond's aren't known for their hospitality." Dānoar said flatly, "You are fortunate you made it this long. Though, by the looks of you and from what the doctor reported about your scans, you are malnourished. They will keep you alive as long as possible but just barely."

Jensen stared at her tray for a moment and was startled, there were utensils, strikingly similar to a fork and a spoon and what looked like a napkin.

"Farronds." she asked off handedly as she undid her alien napkin and decided on what to eat first, "Are those the aliens that took me?"

"Yes," Dānoar confirmed for her, "What do you call them?" He was nonchalantly eating his food; she guessed that he must have also been hungry.

She shrugged, "Aliens."

He paused from his eating and looked at her surprised, "Your people do not have a name for them?"

She shook her head, "No. Most of my people do not believe that aliens exist, let alone visit our planet." she laughed quickly, "Most of them don't even think there is even life on other planets. This would blow their minds."

"Amazing," Dānoar said as he continued to chew his food. "I think your people would be surprised to discover how much life there actually is on other planets."

"Really?" Jensen asked in amazement, "There is a lot of life on other planets?"

Dānoar nodded, "Yes, very much so. Do your people travel into space?"

"Very short distances." she told him as she watched him eat heartily, "We can travel to our moon, which really isn't very far away, and that is all. We talk about visiting other planets and solar systems in the far future, but that's as far as it's gone. We do have telescopes that can see very far away. They help us see what else is out there as far as planets, stars and the other oddities in space."

He nodded, "You must be a young race."

She shrugged, "I wouldn't know."

Jensen unfolded her napkin, which was cloth, and placed it on her lap then picked up her fork. It was not metal and it didn't feel like plastic, she had no clue what it could be. She eyed her tray suspiciously not sure where to start.

She had what looked like rice with a cream or sauce with it and probably some kind of meat and a vegetable. There was what looked like a chicken breast with some seasoning on it, something that looked like gelatin but yellowy brown with chunks of something in it and something that looked like bread but seedy looking. There was also a cup with what looked like milk in it.

"Dānoar." she grabbed his attention, "Can you confirm for me that none of this is larva, worms, invertebrates, brains, eyes, tongues, livers, intestines or anything of that nature before I begin to eat."

He paused mid chew and stared at her blankly, "You're serious?"

"Very."

"Do your people not eat these things?"

"Some of them do, I do not."

"I understand." he leaned over and inspected her food, "None of your food is any of the items that you just named."

She sighed with relief and then began to eat. The rice stuff went down fast, she found it very tasty. The food resembling a chicken breast tasted surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly, like chicken with herbs. The brown stuff was sweet, it had a sort of spicy quality to it and the chunks reminded her of dates. Her favorite though was the seedy looking bread stuff. It was similar to sesame rolls from Japanese restaurants. She loved sesame rolls, this was a treat.

To her relief, when she drank the milk looking stuff, it did, in fact, taste just like milk, "Oh, this is incredible! It tastes just like milk!"

"It is milk," Dānoar said after he swallowed a mouth full of food, "if by milk you mean the nutritious liquid that is produced by the breasts of mothering animals, then that is exactly what it is."

She stared longingly into her cup at the white liquid, "We get our milk from cows, goats and sheep," she said remembering the sweet, docile faces of her father's dairy cows, feeling horribly home sick at the thought, "but all female mammals having young produce it."

He chewed his food in silence for a moment, watching the expression on her very pale, suddenly sad face. He couldn't get over her shockingly flame colored, wavy hair and stunning blue eyes. He thought they made her look strangely beautiful. She was the definition of exotic in his mind.

He examined her face a little more closely now that things were calmer and what he saw he found more than appealing. She had beautiful cheek bones, full and round. Her eyebrows, which were reddish in color, were just slightly arched. A gorgeous pair of lips sat under her slightly upturned nose. She had a softly angled chin with the smallest divot on it. He imagined that when she was in full health, she would be radiant. Dānoar also couldn't help but notice her more than ample breasts. He redirected his eyes so as not to seem rude, some alien races found it natural, but he wasn't sure about hers. Momentarily he pondered if her adult hair was red but stopped the distracting thought.

Keeping his wondering thoughts in check he redirected the conversation to avert his thoughts, "Jensen, the doctor has requested that I talk to you about upgrades."

"Upgrades?" she responded, pushing her food away, starting to feel overly full and slightly sick, "Explain it to me, please."

"On my planet, everyone gets what is called upgrades. They are simply a way to keep us functioning at full capacity and to maintain our health," he said as he stood up off of the scan table.

Dānoar gathered both trays and took them to the wall where the doctor received her tray of food. He touched the same blue glowing pad on the wall and the trays disappeared from view behind a little door. He came back to sit in front of her on the scan table.

They were silent for a moment, just staring at each other. Finally, Jensen asked another question.

"What are these upgrades and what they are exactly?" She asked Dānoar, hoping his talking would take her mind off her increasingly growing nausea.

"The doctor will inject microscopic robots into your body that will benefit you." he began to explain, "They will help you heal if you bruise yourself. They will aid in pain management if your body is subjected to it. They will destroy harmful foreign bodies in your system. They will also relay information to your profile kept within our health care system in case something happens. Is any of this making sense?"

"Yes, actually it is, and it's fascinating!" she said to him, "This is technology that is only dreamed of on my planet."

He nodded to her, "That would explain why you have nothing of the sort within your body now. Your reading said that you were pure."

"What about natural things, like... Well, this could be a problem because I don't know if my words will be the same as what your words are for the diseases and ailments on my planet."

Dānoar frowned, "Yes, I see. Try to explain them and I will answer you the best of my ability."

"Alright," she responded, "We have what is called cancer. It is sometimes irregular growths, called tumors, that destroy and kill your body but sometimes it invades our bones and other places that kill us."

"Yes, we had cancer among our race." Dānoar confirmed, "It has not been an issue for a very long time, since we've had upgrades."

"And we have what's called heart disease." she said, lighting up, "It kills many people on my planet. The body forms a blockage in the vessels of the heart..."

"We have also had this heart disease," he confirmed once more, "again, we have not had that problem for some time."