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Chapter Five

"You mean you didn't do this to her?" Lauren asks, still maintaining a safe distance between herself and Aaron.

"What?" Aaron says, shocked by Lauren's question "No of course I didn't. Why on Earth would you think a thing like that?" he asks as he comes to the woman's side to check on her.

"Well how else could she have gotten in here?" Lauren replies, hoping Aaron has good answers for the questions plaguing her. She really doesn't want to see him as a murderer for so many reasons.

"I'm really not sure, to tell you the truth." he answers, "But clearly she isn't dead, so it doesn't look like anyone here is a murderer, now does it?"

"Then why did you have her locked in here?" Lauren asks, slightly aggravated by Aaron's mockery "And how long has she been locked away?"

"Look, I don't know what your deal is all of a sudden, but I didn't lock her in here!" he says as he moves the large object that looked like glass off of her. "Flucron?"

"What?" Lauren begins calming down slightly upon seeing that the woman hadn't been impaled after all.

"Nothing." he replies as he slips one arm under the woman's head and the other under her legs to lift her.

"You came in here with an ax. Why?"

"I was chopping firewood when I heard you scream." he answers without hesitation, much to Lauren's relief. "Seriously Lauren, do you think I would murder someone? Why all of the questions?"

She can't deny it seems farfetched, but this was an incriminating scene all the same. Before she can answer however, the woman speaks, but her voice is so weak that they can't understand her.

"What?" Aaron asks as he lowers his head closer to her mouth.

"Kuzonay." she repeats softly.

"What is she saying?" Lauren asks as she approaches Aaron, convinced finally that he isn't going to chop her into tiny little Lauren pieces.

"Lauren, can you go get one of the spare beds ready?" he says looking down at the woman he's holding "She needs somewhere to stay, and I'm not leaving her in here alone."

Running on before them, Lauren heads upstairs to prepare a bedroom for the woman, but she's never bothered to check any of the bedrooms since there was no one staying there and so no need to clean them, or enter them at all for that matter.

Checking the room across from her's, Lauren sees that it's already set up. The bed is spread, the room is neat and clean, and there's even a small collection of books set up between two desktop bookends. This must be Aaron's bedroom, where he stayed before she showed up.

Turning to leave, she trips over something. Looking to see what the offending item was, she finds a small clear stone that has been cut into the most peculiar shape. It's shaped like the diamond on a playing card face of said suit, with several smooth sides, ten to be exact, each side being only an inch or so wide, and it's about the size of a softball. It's a very pretty stone, and Lauren feels drawn to it. She stoops to pick it up and place it on the shelf that sits just inside the room, next to the door, and as she reaches for it she could swear she sees it move, but before she can grab it she hears the front door open.

Great.

Shutting the door quickly and as quietly as she can, she rushes to another door and pulls it open. There's a bed and pillows but no blankets or sheets. Rushing to the linen closet she pulls some out and quickly gets back into the room and begins spreading the bed.

"Lauren?" Aaron's voice calls from behind her just as she finishes spreading the blanket. That was close. "Oh great, thanks for getting that set up for me."

"You're welcome." she answers as she pulls the blanket back while he places the woman on the bed, then she covers her back up. "Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine." he says sounding confident.

As they exit the room, Lauren closes the door slowly behind her and turns back toward Aaron who is about to descend the stairs.

"Aaron?" she calls softly.

"Hmm?"

"About earlier." she begins as she studies the hardwood flooring before looking back up at him "I'm sorry for... I'm sorry that I accused you of something so unthinkable. It was quite silly of me to jump to such a conclusion, especially knowing you as well as I've come to over the past few months." she says, her face red with embarrassment.

"It's alright." he answers with a reassuring smile. "I understand. It looked pretty suspicious, I'm sure." looking down the stairs for a moment, he seems to contemplate saying something, but after a short pause he simply looks back at her with a smile. "We're good."

Acknowledging his reply with a slight nod, Lauren heads toward the stairs and they both go down. Today had been a strange one for both of them, and though they were on good terms again Lauren still wondered how the woman got into that building by herself in that condition. How long had she been there? And why was she there? She doesn't dare ask any questions though, not yet. No need making things uncomfortable again by interrogating Aaron. She at least feels she can trust the man again, and for now that's enough.


Aaron spends the rest of the day at the house, relaxing and checking frequently on the woman they found. He recently harvested all of their fields and is taking a small break before preparing to plant their Winter crops. For now he's simply focusing on chopping firewood, some they would sell and some they would use, even though they had central heat.

After dinner Aaron takes care of dish washing and Lauren goes to check on their visitor who still hasn't awoken. As she enters the room she leaves the door open wide to allow the light in the hall to illuminate her surroundings so she doesn't have to turn on the room light. Walking to the bed, Lauren grabs the blanket that has slipped and pulls it back over the woman, but as she does so, her hand flies up and grabs hold of Lauren's wrist, startling Lauren so badly that she nearly screams again.

The woman stares hard at Lauren without saying a word for a moment, her emerald eyes locked on Lauren's eyes, an angry look on her face.

The woman says something in a language Lauren can't understand, but the look on her face and the low tone of her voice says she's not happy, and she tightens her grip on Lauren's wrist to the point that it actually begins hurting.

"What? I don't understand." Lauren says. The woman looks at her strangely for a moment before speaking again.

"Where am I?" she asks, still clutching too tightly to Lauren's wrist.

"You're at my house, or actually my friend's house." Lauren says, trying her best to remain calm so as not to upset her even more "We found you unconscious and brought you here."

"So you were just out doing your own thing and you found me lying around and brought me here?" she asks sarcastically.

"Yes actually, that's exactly what happened." Lauren answers simply.

"I don't buy it, princess." she answers sounding angry once more as she squeezes Lauren's wrist even harder, causing her to cry out.

"It's the truth." she answers the woman sounding desperate. "Please let go of me now."

"Why?" the woman asks sounding confused as she loosens her grip slightly. "Why would a Milariman have pity on me?"

"What?" now Lauren's confused.

"Are you some sort of rebels?"

"What are you talking about?" Lauren asks as she tries to pull her arm free but cannot.

"You don't know me?" she says, looking as relieved as she does surprised.

"How could I? You've been unconscious." Lauren answers, starting to question this woman's sanity. "Now let me go!"

"Alright, but let me be clear about one thing," she says as she tightens her grip again and bends Lauren's arm, bringing her closer until their faces mere inches apart "If you're lying to me, you will regret it. Do you understand me?"

"Lady, to be perfectly honest, I don't understand half of what you're saying." she answers with a strength that surprises even her. "But if you threaten me like that again, I'm afraid you will be the one who regrets it."

After staring as menacingly as she can for a few silent moments, the woman pushes Lauren back and lets go of her arm, causing Lauren to stumble backwards and fall square on her backside.

"Alright then, I'll be on my way now." the woman says as she swings her legs over the side of the bed and rises to her feet. "You've got guts, princess, I'll give ya that. You have more guts than brains though."

This woman is truly a delight.


"Oh hey, you're awake." Lauren hears Aaron's voice calling out and she rises quickly to get downstairs. The poor man doesn't know what he's dealing with. That woman is crazy.

As she reaches the bottom step though, she sees a surprising sight: the woman is engaging in civil conversation with Aaron, though she still has a strange expression on her face that Lauren can't quite put a name on.

"Please, have a seat." Aaron says cordially "We just had dinner. There was plenty left over, let me get you some."

The woman obliges and Aaron serves her up a generous amount of stir fry. Lauren walks into the kitchen and locks eyes with the woman again, and that civility she had shown when engaging with Aaron is replaced with the anger she'd shown Lauren moments ago.

'Why on Earth does this woman hate me so much already?' Lauren thinks to herself 'I am going to be so glad when she's gone. I don't trust her at all.'

"So, what's your name, madam?" Lauren asks with a kindness and respect she doesn't feel at all.

"My name is Ashley." she says and casts a suspicious glance at Aaron who just smiles in reply.

'Boy she has him fooled by her kind act.' Lauren thinks, thankful no one can hear what's really going on in her head.

"Well it's nice to meet you...Mrs. Ashley?" Lauren probes.

"Ms." she answers, sounding less than amused by Lauren's indirect interrogations, and the look she shoots her while Aaron is turned away toward the refrigerator is equally unamused, and just a little threatening. 'This woman is too nosey for me' she thinks 'She suspects something, I know it. But she doesn't seem to have the slightest clue who I am. I need to find a way out of here before she finds out and reports me...if she even knows about Milarim.'

"Oh, my apologies, Ms." Lauren says, this time lacking the false sincerity she managed earlier. Now she sees why Ashley is being so nice to Aaron.

"Well then, Ashley," Aaron begins as he returns to the table, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room "where are you from?"

The woman's countenance falls for the briefest of moments as she suddenly realizes that her cover might not be going as well as she'd thought. A quick glance at Lauren shows that she's looking at her accusingly.

"I'm from out of town." she answers, hoping her hesitation didn't give her away.

"Oh, has your memory come back to you so soon?" Lauren says, surprising both Aaron and herself with her accusing tone.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." she replies, not liking being on the defensive like this. How long could she keep this up before getting trapped in her own words? She clenches her fist in hopes that Lauren will notice and back down, but it doesn't seem to deter her any. "Mrs... I'm sorry, I don't believe I got your name." hopefully that will change the direction of the conversation.

"Ms." Lauren corrects "And my name is Lauren."

"Oh, so then you two aren't...?" she says as she looks from Lauren to Aaron and back again.

"N-No. No we are not." Lauren says as her face reddens.

"Oh." she answers softly "My apologies. I shouldn't have assumed. Don't worry though, I'm certainly not one to throw stones. I don't mean to judge you for your decision not to wed."

"EXCUSE ME?" Lauren shouts as both she and Aaron blush deeply at the implication of her words.

"No, not at all. I'm very open minded about these kinds of relationships." she says innocently.

"I bet you are." Lauren quips snidely before she can stop herself.

"And just what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she says indignantly as she rises to her feet and leans over the table toward Lauren.

"Easy there ladies." Aaron intervenes "I think we just got off on the wrong foot here. Let's try this again."

With Aaron as referee, the conversation manages to remain calm and civil this time, and though nobody is fooled into thinking the two women like each other, it's victory enough that no one ends up with a black eye or worse.


Despite her protesting and Lauren's hardest wishing, Aaron insists that the woman stay the night in the house given how late it is, and after she finally agrees he heads off to the cemetery, leaving the two women alone once more. They don't fight, but that's likely because they both avoid each other, with each of them heading to their room as soon as the glasses they'd used for their nightly tea are washed.

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Sanya lies in her bed wondering just where she is and how she got here. She was sure she was back on Milarim when she awoke, but Lauren seemed completely sincere when denying it.

Lauren.

Oh that woman was going to be such a pain in her neck if she didn't get out of here soon. She may not know anything yet but she pries too much for any secret to remain a secret for long. And how would she get out of here anyway? She has no means of transportation and Kuzonay is... she blinks back tears at the thought of Kuzonay and tries to force her mind in a different direction.

She'd managed to gather that she was on Earth by the language they spoke, it was one of the Earth languages Sanya understood, but something still didn't sit right. And how did she end up on Earth after being ejected? The CPP was supposed to send her to the nearest compatible power source, but Earth had no such source. Most Earthlings didn't even know about the other races, let alone energy signatures.


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Lauren lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. What about Ashley made her blood boil just being near her? Maybe it's just the way she acted when she woke up. To be fair she had never even given Lauren a chance before going off on her, and her behavior since hadn't exactly been amicable either. Then there was her obvious attempt at pretending to be something she wasn't with Aaron. She was trying to deceive him, but her outburst with Lauren revealed her true colors. Lauren just hopes that Aaron saw it that way as well.

Still, something seems off about the woman, but Lauren can't quite put her finger on what it is. She's hiding something, of that much Lauren is certain. As she debates the matter in her head and tries to scan her memories of the evening's events for a clue, she slowly drifts off to sleep.


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Walking into the kitchen for breakfast, Aaron finds Lauren cooking as always, this time making omelettes.

"Where's Ashley?" he asks as he glances around the kitchen and into the living room.

"I've not seen her this morning." Lauren answers, both glad of that fact and slightly aggitated that Aaron's even asking her.

"Huh. Maybe she's still asleep. It is pretty early still." he says as he pours a glass of orange juice.

"Perhaps." Lauren answers, clearly unconcerned with the matter.

"I'll go check on her." he says, and seeing Lauren turn around with the skillet still in her hand to stare at him, he adds "I'll hurry back. I just want to make sure she's okay first."

And with that he rushes up the stairs leaving an irritated Lauren staring at the place where he'd stood.

"Good morning to you too." she says and turns back to finish cooking.

Aaron knocks lightly on the door where she'd slept which stands slightly ajar, and getting no answer he announces his intentions to enter. After getting no answer still he walks in and finds the bed made messed up and empty, but no sign of the woman that slept there the night before.

"She's not up there." Aaron announces as he comes back down the stairs.

"Oh well, she must have wondered off into town to catch a ride back home." Lauren replies as she sets the second and final omelette she intends to prepare on the table. "I'm sure she's fine."

"I gotta go find her." Aaron says as he picks up his jacket that he'd draped across the back of the wooden chair.

"What?" Lauren says indignantly and nearly drops her napkin "But what about breakfast? Aren't you even going to eat after I made it?"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry Lauren." he answers as he slips the thin brown jacket back on and heads for the door. "I have to make sure she hasn't wandered off somewhere. I'll be back."

And with that the door shuts before Lauren can protest any more. Ooh that man. A pretty face walks into the picture for half a day and he's suddenly obsessing over her and completely dismissing the efforts that she puts forth everyday. Lauren eats alone, but not in silence, as she spends the time between every other bite complaining about the way Aaron is acting, how inconsiderate he is, and how glad she is that "that woman" is gone.


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Sanya had to look for a good hour but she finally found what must have been the source of energy that her pod had been drawn in by, but it's inside of a large building. It appears to be some sort of shed or shop, but the door won't even try to budge when she tugs at the handle.

Giving up on opening the door she begins looking for a window to climb through, but the thing has no windows or even a back door. What kind of morons were Earthlings anyway? Who builds a builing with one door and no windows? Having no other option, she resolves to blast her way in.

Extending her arms in front of herself, her hands placed one over the other, palms toward one another, she summons a red ball of energy.

"Ashley!" Aaron's voice calls and she drops her arms to her sides, letting the energy dissipate.

"I'm back here." she calls as she walks back around to the front of the building and sees him coming up the way.

"What are you doing out here?" he asks as he jogs up to her "You're missing breakfast."

"Oh sorry, I was just wanting to see where you found me at. I was hoping I'd find a clue as to how I ended up here, but I can't get that door to open."

"How'd you know where we found you?" he asks with a smile that Sanya isn't sure how to take.

"Lauren told me about it." that lie came much easier than the one about where she was from yesterday thankfully.

"Oh okay, well I'm afraid there's no lighting in there, but if you come back and eat with us I can grab a flashlight and give you a look around," he offers. Relieved that he bought it, she smiles and nods in agreement. Now to hope he wouldn't mention it to Lauren over breakfast.


Arriving back at the house Aaron and Sanya walk in and head for the kitchen, but Lauren isn't there, nor is the food. Turning Aaron sees Lauren sitting on the couch watching television.

"Hey Lauren, did you put my omelette up?" he asks as he turns to go to the refrigerator.

"Nope." is her only answer as she raises the remote to turn the channel.

"Where is it then?" he asks confused "I didn't see it on the table."

"It's in the trash can." she answers nonchalantly.

"It's what?" Aaron replies, clearly shocked, and both Lauren and Sanya have to fight back a smile.

"Well it got cold while you were out looking for Ashley," she says "so I figured it wasn't really fit to eat any longer. There's plenty of eggs left if you want to make another one though." she's having fun with this, and truth be told Sanya's still getting a kick out of it too.

"What? Why? Oh never mind, I'll just have some oatmeal." he answers and heads for the pantry.

"Out of that too." Lauren calls back as she continues clicking away on the remote. She's flipped through all five of the channels several times during this conversation, but she's not paying the programming any mind anyway.

"Fine I'll just boil some eggs then." Aaron says exasperated "Looks like we both missed the food, Ashley."

And at that moment the unthinkable happens: the two women look at one another and share a knowing smile.

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Heh. This chapter made me laugh quite a bit It's always funny to see strong willed women at odds with each other like that lol.

I'm impressed with how accurately you depicted the interaction between them. Not many people have the talent of bringing characters a sense of realism to that extent. The "traveler from space" aspect of the story aside, I could see that exact scenario playing out between real people. 

So it seems I was right in assuming Sanya was from a different world. The fact you referenced "Earth" as a place foreign to her makes it obvious she's from a different planet, and it gives us a lot more insight in to the level of technology she is accustomed to. Though now I'm curious as to what could possibly be stored in that shed that drew her to Aaron's home. Somehow I get the feeling either Caitlin or Aaron's grandfather are connected to this somehow, and / or it's possibly even connected to why she died (though I may just be jumping to conclusions). Oh, and what the **** is up with her being able to perform a Kamehameha all Goku-style like it ain't no big deal? lol XD

I'm really looking forward to the next chapter ^^ Every new one just keeps me yearning to know what the heck is going on, and you pace / place your cliffhangers in just the right places lol

Mynamescox44 : I kept putting off replying to you just to make sure no one else was going to comment first.

Lol Glad to hear it managed to strike the balance between humor and progression. I was hoping the dialogue wouldn't seem too heavy and like it slowed things down. In truth it actually covered a lot of ground plot wise. And I must admit, I got a few laughs and much enjoyment out of writing this chapter myself. I've been waiting to get these two in the same room since before Sanya was even introduced. They just clash so badly.


Oh wow, thanks so much! I'm really honored that you think so.


Yeah, there's so much more about that energy signature stuff that we haven't even begun to get into yet. So far only indirect information has been covered, but that'll change soon. And that shed seems to be the source of a lot of interest and chaos for them, no? xD
Lol Told you she was tough, didn't I? "Won't open? Oh well, let's just do this real quick..." *blows wall out* "Better!"

Hahaha Thanks! I'm glad to hear that. I'll start working on the next chapter tonight. Normally I would already be well into it, but the way TdV has tightened up for me the past few days has left me unable to write much on this. I'm looking forward to getting back into it though.