cosmicshifts Read online

  She gave him a look that he figured meant to leave her alone and that she knew what she was doing. “You can learn whatever you want from my ship that you stole. But you’re not getting me or Phillip.”

  “Bigfoot has a name?” the other man asked her.

  Before she could answer, lights split the sky and the ship above them revealed itself. The blast from the engines blew many of the men backward and sent the scientists running. The door yawned open. Everyone froze. All they had to do was board the ship, and they could be gone. He would not miss the guns and waiting to be caught. All the hiding would be behind him. A woman much like Alika, wearing a black leather bodysuit, walked down the ramp. Alika ran toward the female coming toward them. At that moment, Phillip heard a shot. One of the soldiers must have gotten spooked and fired. It headed directly for Alika. He jumped in front of the bullet and felt the sudden heat hit him square in the chest. He fell back and landed on the bottom of the spaceship’s ramp. He heard commotion around him and then the rumbling of the engines again. After that, there was nothing but blackness.

  * * * *

  Alika’s face appeared above him. Her beautiful jade cheeks were streaked with tears. He reached up and brushed a stray one away. Phillip noticed that his hand was human and not hairy. “Why are you crying?”

  The sadness in her eyes cracked when she realized that he was alive. “You were dead. You transformed back into a man, and you weren’t breathing. We tried to heal you, but not even the machine could do anything.”

  He sat up slowly, drew her into his arms, and kissed her lightly on the lips before cupping her face in his hands. “You don’t have to worry about me. I heal from all my wounds. It might take a while for me to come back, but I always do. Getting shot hurts though. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. We dragged you into the ship and then took off. They shot at us, but it didn’t damage the hull. We lifted off after that. We’ve just passed Saturn. It will take us a little while to get back to Rovan. Elarna’s not pushing the ship. I hope this is what you wanted.”

  Phillip lifted Alika into his arms and held her close. This was all he desired. “It doesn’t matter what planet or moon I’m on. The only thing I ever wanted was to be with you. I’ll follow you across any solar system.”

  “Well, you won’t have to chase me across the solar system. I’ll always be here for you.”

  He kissed her, pressing his lips to hers. “I love you, Alika. My green beautiful alien.”

  She giggled. “And I love you, my gigantic hairy beast.”

  Phillip smiled and still felt the Bigfoot living inside of him. For the first time, he decided that he was not cursed at all. He was blessed. A woman loved him, and he was off to discover new adventures with her on another planet where wondrous things awaited him.

  Come & Yeti

  Chapter One

  Swirling black clouds blanketed the sky, covering the three suns. The heavy gale compacted more snow against the five foot drift that partially hid the front of his dwelling. The colossal storm raged outside, and the howling wind reminded him of a wounded Griglach. It sent a few shivers under his fur. The drafts reached deep inside his cave and stirred the flames of his fire. The warmth was not something he needed; he used it for the light and to cook his food. Unlike others of his kind, he did not rely on technology to assist him. He didn’t need a house made of stone, metal, and ice. Living in the mountains like his ancestors was what he was meant to do. No one understood his need to give in to his animal urges, the primal side of the Yetan nature to hunt with his claws and teeth. Others of his kind looked down upon him, but it didn’t stop them from coming to him when they needed to be healed.

  With the severity of the storm, he heard the Griglach hide flapping about. He sighed and picked up one of the luma stones he used to light the darker parts of the cave. The cavern had an abundance of the luma stones. The stone he chose was a foot long and three inches around. When he blew on it, the warmth of his breath interacted with the crystal, and it illuminated a light blue. He charged a few by the fire in case he needed them. As he walked toward the front of the cave, he tore a leg from the sorna he’d caught, a large winged creature that had wandered into one of his snares attracted by the meat he had left behind. This one had a five foot wingspan and more fat on it than usual. It was a lucky catch. Sorna mostly kept to the air unless they were breeding and it was mating season. They made their nests deep in the ice by clawing out a hole with their four inch talons and dangerously curved beaks. He had gotten a few pecks even through his thick pelt. He took another bite before setting the drumstick down and headed toward the cave entrance

  The luma stone gave him enough light to see through the snow storm. The large hide had been wrenched free from most of the pegs that held it into the stone. He thrust the luma stone into the snow drift and held fast against the battering wind. Some Yetan were thought to have been blown away by the great gusts. Ancient tales told that spirts had ridden the wind and stolen away his people, but he wasn’t afraid of archaic legends or the gusts. He lifted a hunk of ice and pounded the fasteners back into the stone. Some of the ice shaved off with each whack, but the repairs were easier than he expected. Working on the last pin, he heard a whistling sound overhead and then a large boom. Golden light exploded in the sky and streaked across the horizon. As he watched, another smaller flash broke off from the main one. In an instant, a sonic boom whooshed across the landscape, sending a wave of snow throttling toward him. He braced himself for the impact but didn’t know what had crashed. The surge washed over him and weighed him down, but he was far enough away that it didn’t bury him. With one good shake, he rid himself of the snow. He grabbed the luma stone and decided to investigate what had fallen from the heavens.

  As he approached the crater, he noticed a silver ship protruding out of the mountain of snow it was immersed in. Parts of the hull and the insides were scattered across the frozen landscape. His father’s warnings sounded in his mind about how, in the past, their species had been hunted by beings who had come down from the sky. He had not seen this other race, but he didn’t doubt his father. Exposed wires and other sections of the craft sparked as he got closer. The way it landed made him think it ought to have cracked into more pieces. The scent of burnt ozone lingered in the air. He scrunched his nose at the stench of some putrid fluid that poured out of one side of the craft. Others from the village would be coming soon to investigate the crash. If they found any survivors they would be brought back to the town to be examined.

  He should leave it alone, but he noticed a form submerged in the white drifts. An arm and a leg clad in black material was a stain upon the pristine snow. Off in the distance a loud shriek echoed on the wind. The storm had slowed, but it was only a lull. One look at the sky and the dark clouds told him that it would start up again soon.

  When he looked up, he saw a two, large Gorap flying toward the crash site. Their black skin was slicked down with a few feathers. Their twenty foot wingspan made it easy for them to slice through the air. The Yetan Guard rode them for air patrols if any ship or foreign object came down onto the planet. They would take back anything they found and return to gather the remains of the vessel. He only had a few minutes before he would be spotted among the wreckage. He worked his way through the thigh high drifts and came upon a passenger that had been thrown from the spaceship. He scooped under the arm and leg and pulled out a female. He pressed his ear to her chest and barely heard her heart beating. As he listened, he realized there were two thumps instead of one. A small moan passed from her lips when he readjusted his hold on her and hugged her close. Once she touched his pelt, his whole body was electrified. It was his body’s reaction to her internal injuries because he had the ability to heal. First he had to get her out of the frigid environment. With her thin skin she would not survive long in these harsh conditions. She coughed when he moved her and a green liquid he assumed was blood bubbled over her lips. She muttered something in a lyrical tongue th
at he could not understand.

  “Don’t worry,” he answered her. “I’ll make sure you’re safe.” He held her against his chest, knowing that she would be warm from his pelt. His body shook again as he fought the transformation that threatened to overtake him. He gritted his teeth, but he was in control. As he trudged through the snow, the Goraps’ shrieks sounded above him once more. Snow fell harder than before, but it blanketed his footprints. The wind picked up again, slicing him with cold even through his fur. He breathed out and felt ice crystals forming around his mouth and nose. Standing out here was not doing any good. He used the luma stone’s light to make his way back to the cave. Once he entered the hollow, he tugged on the hide to make sure it was secure once more. He rushed to the back and placed her on his bed of furs. He laid his hand on her forehead and a spike of agony speared his spine as he felt her internal injuries were worse than he realized. She didn’t have long to live. When he pressed his head to her chest again, only one of her heats beat this time. He quickly stoked the fire and added a few lumps of coal to build up the heat. Thankfully, his cave was stone and not ice. He was far back within the mountains and if needed, he could navigate the tunnels that ran through them.

  The fire grew higher. Condensation from the ceiling fell onto the flames and made them hiss. He glanced at the blaze to be sure it was still contained in the hearth. He turned his attention back to the woman. Her breathing was shallow. He was her only hope. Energy poured through him, and this time he didn’t try to contain it. The change was coming upon him. He knelt before her and felt his form shrinking as he was able to take better stock of the woman before him. He grabbed a knife from the shelf above the bed carved into the wall. The black blade was made from a sorna’s talon, and it was stronger than any metal weapon he owned. He slipped it through a hole in her garment and sliced it along her side and then over her chest so he could peel back the cloth. Once he had removed all her clothing and set it aside, then he could heal her. All the while, his form shrank and his hair receded. Once the transformation was complete, his hands were similar to hers except dark in color, almost as black as the female’s clothing. He shook off the feeling of being hairless and focused on the woman before him. She had full breasts that were a darker indigo than her amethyst flesh. He closed his eyes, and in his mind’s eye he saw the internal structure of the alien. One of her two hearts had been pierced by a couple of broken ribs. Some of her other organs that he didn’t have a name for were also damaged. Her healing would take more than one session for him. All he had to do now was get her stabilized. Her remaining heart was creeping to a halt.

  The heat of the fire seared his bare skin. Sweat beaded on his forehead that he wiped away with the back of his hand. Then he placed his hands on her chest. The intense wave of pain that consumed him made him cry out. He had worked on serious injuries before, but her physiology was different than what he was used to. His instincts guided him like a sixth sense so he could heal the woman. Underneath his discerning hands, the bones of her ribcage rearranged and clicked back into place. Once that happened, she inhaled a large breath, but she wasn’t out of danger. More sweat ran down his brow as the heat ignited within him and settled over his heart. He concentrated the energy down his hands and into her slowing heart. After it hit the organ, it started beating at a normal pace once more.

  With that done, he felt a little bit better. Now he could focus on her other heart. It had not restarted. It was dead in her chest. He knew that without the other beating she could not be able to live. More warmth, stronger than before, gathered within him. It seemed he would burn up from all of the energy. He ground his teeth as another bolt buzzed along his muscles. He screamed when he pushed that energy into the other heart located diagonally from the other one. It took a moment before it started. Once it did, he could feel the punctures in it healing. There was still more for him to do, but he just didn’t have enough stamina to completely repair any more major injuries. Instead, he went through her system slowly and made sure he healed what he needed to do to keep her alive so he could recover his strength.

  When she was no longer in danger, he let out a sigh of relief. Exhaustion had him. He took a deep breath and spread his hands before the fire to warm them. He flinched at his hairless flesh and thought how different his ebony skin was compared to his pure white pelt. Right now he couldn’t muster the power to shift back into his rightful form. No matter how grateful others were when he healed them, his hairless appearance always brought ridicule. The blaze lulled him into a half sleep. He watched the flames dance and felt his eyes close.

  The alien woman mumbled something, and it brought him out of his stupor. He turned back to her and touched her cheeks. She was hot. He scrunched his forehead together as he tried to figure out what he had missed. He placed his hands on the center of her chest once more and tried to sense what else was wrong, but there was nothing. Maybe she just burned hotter than his species. She babbled again and opened her eyes. Under those purple lids were the bluest eyes he had ever seen. They focused on him for a second before she closed them again. He waited to see if she would awaken once more, but she slipped deeper and deeper into slumber. He pulled a blanket over her half-naked form. He didn’t need her dying from a chill after all the work he had done. The fire had burned down, and he could feel the nip in the air on his naked flesh.

  He stood up, and his muscles took on greater mass from regaining his original form. His instincts said his charge would be okay for now and didn’t require any more mending at the moment. He rolled his shoulders to loosen his muscles once he returned to his Yetan form. He made his way back to the front of the cave to check to see if others had come from the city to commandeer the ship’s wreckage. He peeked through a hole in the Griglach hide and saw the Yetan Guard had set up a perimeter around the crash site. The red sashes they wore stood out against the white landscape. If the royal guard was involved, he prayed they would not come into his cave. Just in case, he would set aside some provisions and made sure he had a quick getaway planned. They would not get their hands on her. If that happened, there was no telling what experiments they would perform. He did not want to see her eviscerated and used for study. He remained still and observed as the guard collected what debris they could carry. Then he slipped back and snuffed out the fire lest they see the smoke escaping from behind the hide. He gathered a few more hides and piled them on top of the woman so she could stay warm.

  He gathered some dried sorna jerky, a few pieces of clothing for her and for him if he changed back into his hairless shape. Then he slipped under the furs with the alien and molded his body to hers, covering her the best he could so the extra blankets, hides, and his furs could keep her warm. Already she was trembling and the temperature was plummeting. Even with the fire extinguished, the luma stones embedded in the cave wall gave off a faint blue light, enough that he could see her. She was peculiar and attractive wrapped into one fine package. Her hair was shoulder length and white as his pelt. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were the same hue as her hair. Her cheekbones were sharp like the fine edge of a luma crystal. She wasn’t beautiful in the way he was used to because all Yetan females were covered in hair.

  She was unique.

  His guest whispered something once more in her lyrical tongue and thrashed around. He laid his hand on her forehead. “Don’t worry. You’re safe. No one is going to harm you while you’re with me. I swear.”

  Chapter Two

  Phillip opened his eyes slowly. Everything hurt. The last thing that he remembered was the sudden barrage of the alarms sounding off in the spaceship he was on with Alika. They had only been on it a few days since they had left Earth and were heading back to her planet. The distress signal she had set off had been picked up by her friend, Elarna, who had rescued them. There they were supposed to live a happy life. However, that had all changed when the ship’s warning system had broadcasted around them.

  He tried to sit up, but a sharp stab traveled up his shoulder. He
closed his eyes and took in a deep breath against the pain, knowing that he would heal. One thing about his condition he appreciated was that he mended no matter what the damage done to him. Whatever his injuries were, he had to find Alika. The last time he had seen her was when she shoved him into some kind of escape pod so that he would be safe. Phillip had tried to argue with her, but she wouldn’t listen and thrust him into the pod. The metal door had come down over him. All he could do was pound on the glass and watch her lovely emerald face grow smaller and smaller as he moved away from the falling ship. The crash had knocked the wind out of him. When he opened his eyes, he realized the escape pod had shattered around him into tiny pieces. One of those fragments had embedded into his shoulder. He gripped the metal shard and pulled it from his flesh. Once it was out, it immediately felt better. Phillip threw it away from him and got up slowly.

  He took in the alien planet he had crash landed onto. Gazing around, he understood what it had been like for Alika when she had hurtled down to Earth, onto a foreign world. He was in the same position, staring at the white wasteland around him. The atmosphere felt heavier than what he was used to and so did his body, but he could breathe with ease, so at least the planet wasn’t devoid of oxygen. Phillip glanced up at the sky. Violet tinged, gray clouds showered white flakes down upon him that he assumed was snow. It inundated the landscape so it was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of him. Phillip held out his hand and caught a few snowflakes on his fingers. Against his brown fur it dissolved a little slower. He flicked his tongue over the melted snow. It tasted like the snow back home with a slightly salty aftertaste. The wind whipped around him, stirring his pelt. The glacial atmosphere tried to break through his large frame and blow him over. At least his cursed form as a Bigfoot came in handy and kept him warm. On Earth he hated being what he was, but maybe here it was a boon.