Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #14 May 2015 | Page 18

I don’t want to see him trying anything else until he
goes.”

be in quarantine for a long time. An even more powerful species from the Council of the Five imposed this
on us. But now your quarantine period is finished and
we need you as much as you need us. It is time for our
two species to merge.”

Mark left with Djamal and Xiang to help carry the unconscious man away to the infirmary. Bruno and Hiba
left for the garden.

4) Another being at the
base
After Bruno left, Hiba was resting in the garden hut
when she was startled by a soft touch on her face.
Before her, there was a beautiful blond boy with an
intelligent smile. Where did he come from? Am I going
crazy? She thought, rooted to her bed. “Who are
you?” She whispered.
The boy gestured for her to settle. “Please calm
down.” He requested. “Your adrenaline rises so quickly…Fascinating.”

She looked at him, reflecting on what he had said.
Something didn’t seem right with Rafael’s speech.
Perhaps what bothered her was that he seemed so
sure of his superiority and so sure that she would drop
everything around her in order to follow him, as if she
were a distracted teenager. She didn’t trust men who
didn’t care much about her opinion, at least that lesson
she had learned in life quite well.
He stopped talking and sat by her side. “We can take
care of you, protect you, teach you. The humans from
Earth have a lot of potential, but the wisdom of a baby
when it comes to its chances of survival in a universe
full of life.”
“But we haven’t seen any of this life.” She said.

“I have reasons to be jumpy lately.” She answered
in a shrill voice, but soon felt strangely calm, almost
sleepy.

He touched her forehead. Memories were unlocked in
her mind of forgotten times when she had met him before. He had been there when she was a child, telling
her she would fly to space one day. He had been there
when, as a teenager, she still felt unsure of her attractiveness, telling her she was beautiful. He had been
there while she was still on Earth offering her an easy
way out of all troubles she had at the time, then all had
seemed like a pleasant but unreal dream.

“I’m your friend. And you are the only person in this
station I want to be friends with. Your colleagues
would not understand my presence, so don’t tell them
anything. My name is Rafael.”
She nodded, making an effort to break out of the
drowsiness and think clearly. “Why are you here,
Rafael?”
He looked at her for some seconds as if putting his
words together. “I don’t know where to start. You see,
I don’t have much time. The universe is a very complex place. Your species has many things in common
with ourselves, with the difference that you are, in
terms of history, so much younger. As a species we
possess the experience of millennia in space travel, we
fought countless wars and made countless agreements
with other species.” He started walking around with
one palm gripping the other hand behind his back.
“One of these agreements was that your planet would

“Come with me Pearl.” Rafael said, fondly taking her
hands in his. “There is so much I can show you. I can
guide you. There is a lot you can learn.”
She snapped out the dreamy state the memories and
Rafael’s mental powers had put her in. “My name is
not Pearl anymore… I’m Hiba.” All thoughts of her
troubles with Liam came rushing through her mind,
awakening her like a cold water bucket. “Is this, then,
what happened to the other women in this base?” She
answered, taking her hand away to massage her forehead. “They went with you? By their own free will?”
“Yes, we took all of them. They are far too brilliant

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