Captain Lanie Romein, A.K.A. The Ice Queen by Yezall Strongheart (100 books to read .TXT) 📕

Chapter one

Lanie was only fifteen years old when it happened. Home alone, she walked out to the patio of her parent's home. The pool lights glowed invitingly. She took off her sandals, and sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water. The quiet was only broken by the sound of the water rippling around her legs. The house sat on several acres well outside of town. The night was warm, and a slight breeze spread Lanie's strawberry blond hair across her face. Brushing the hair from her eyes, she looked skyward. The usual constellations met her view, as she scanned the sky.
Always having a fascination with the vast darkness of the universe, she wondered who was up there looking down. Her eyes focused on a distant dot. As many times as she had gazed into the stars, she knew when something was out of place. Making a frown as she scrutinized the area surrounding the anomaly, she stood.
"What the heck?" She mumbled aloud.
It wasn't just a dot, it appeared to move, and as she watched, it became larger. Lanie stumbled over a lawn chair as she backed up towards the house. Her mouth was open, still transfixed on the approaching object, she could hear herself breathing. It glowed like a star, and it seemed to pulse occasionally. As she continued to watch, it flashed brightly, and then the light was gone, she gasped.
Lanie looked left and right across the sky, hoping to catch sight of where the light had gone. Seeing nothing unfamiliar, she ran into the house and up the stairs to her bedroom. Her telescope already aimed up towards the sky, she looked out her window to find the spot where she had last seen the light, then aiming the telescope there, and she looked through the eyepiece.
Knowing it wasn't something as simple as a satellite, or a known spacecraft, she was sure she had seen something quite rare. Lanie continued to look for fifteen or twenty minutes, before she finally gave up. Shoulders slumped in defeat, she sighed heavily. Dragging herself to her bed, she fell across it. Her eyelids became heavy as she looked up at her ceiling.
Her eyes fluttered open, but a bright light prevented them from opening in more than a squint. Disoriented and confused, she sat up in her bed, shielding her eyes with her hand. The light blinked out, and it was then she heard the low hum. Running to her window, she looked out into the yard below. Her mouth formed an 'O' shape, but no sound came out.
What she saw was a shimmering, transparent, apparition in the shape of a disk, hovering over the pool. There was nothing her mind could understand about it, Lanie stood paralyzed, staring. The more she tried to understand what she was seeing, the more the details of the disk would become clear. Covering a good portion of the back yard area, it was large. It appeared to have windows, but she couldn't see through them. Lanie's hand went to her mouth, and she took a few steps backwards. Behind her, she heard heavy footsteps on the stairs, blended with metal hitting against metal sound.
Her heart had stopped beating; she drew in a breath and held it. Spinning around, she saw a shadow standing in the doorway of her room.
Lanie heard her ragged breathing before she could form the words, "Who are you?"
There came no verbal answer, but the shadow bowed.
Turning her head to one side, she tried to decipher the action. "W-What do you want?" she asked barely above a whisper.
The shadow was a black mass as it stood covering the doorway. It was tall, maybe six feet or more, resembling a human, yet not. Appendages such as arms and legs seemed familiar, but other unseen blackness was out of proportion. It took a step forwards and an arm extended towards her, resulting in luminescence from the window revealing the intruder in more detail.
It was as if Lanie had an electrical shock pass through her body. Feeling faint, she leaned on a dresser beside her. Before her stood something not of this earth, she was inches from it, and she visibly trembled as her eyes traveled over the form, taking it all in from head to toe.
Her mind making something familiar out of what she was seeing, it appeared it wore an armor of some kind, including a helmet. Hoses ran from one unseen place to another. The being was totally encased from head to toe, and as her eyes moved up to the helmet, she stared into the darkened visor.
The arm it had extended was still reaching out to her, her gaze dropped lower to see the hand on the end of it only had four gloved fingers. She glanced up quickly at the visor, and then down again at the hand, she placed her hand in the beings. It moved, as if adjusting its stance and it startled her. She tried to pull her hand away, but it clutched her tightly.
Fear rose in her throat, and she whimpered as she yanked her hand wildly, still trying to free it.
A soft male voice combined with a low static noise said, "Please, don't be afraid."
Shocked that the being spoke English, she stood still, and after a minute, she asked again, "What do you want?" A flash of light blinded her for a second.
Lanie realized she was no longer in her room. The transportation was instant, and she knew she was aboard the spaceship. He had released her, and she stood apart from him in a dimly lit room. Looking around, although the room was sparsely furnished, it was not what she would have expected. Nothing futuristic looking, muted colors, and simple pieces of furniture meant for sitting. Nothing hung on the beige colored walls. There were no specific odors, but the air was tempered perfectly, and the humidity of the warm summer night was gone. The only shock came when she looked out a window and saw the Earth spinning amid the surrounding stars, as if it hung on a Christmas tree.
"Are you taking me away? To your planet?" She asked, her voice was high pitched and shaky, as she gazed into the visor.
A click, and then the male voice said, "You will be returned shortly" He watched her as he removed the gloves from his hands.
Lanie wanted to believe he meant her no harm. She tried to calm herself. As his hands were revealed to her, she saw they were a bluish color. Her mind began to race, what other differences were there. Was there a hideous monster under all that armor? She found she was holding her breath again. Watching in amazement as he unfastened the bindings of the armor, he opened the breastplate. The same bluish skin covered his well-toned chest. He shrugged the armor off one bulky shoulder, then the other. He stood still for a moment, watching her, and then his hands went about removing the lower part of his armor.
A realization hit Lanie, and she turned her back to him. "W-What are you doing?" She asked. Never having been intimate with anyone, she feared he would rape her. Receiving no answer, she began to imagine what would happen next. To her amazement, she felt a stirring that excited her as much as it shamed her.
The lights in the room went out and the only light came from the window, where the universe cast a soft illumination into the room. "My appearance troubles you. I'm sorry." He replied softly then paused and continued. "I will mate with you..."
"No!" Lanie shouted, interrupting him. She knew that by the sound of his voice, his helmet had been removed. Feeling intense fear of what she would see if she faced him, she stood still.
"I won't hurt you or alter your body in any way, but I will

mate with you."
Knowing he could overpower her and she had no place to run, she tried to reason with him, Lanie started to cry, "Please, don't! I've never even been with anyone from my own species!" She could tell he stood right behind her.
He placed his hand on her shoulder. "What do they call you?" He asked.
Lanie twitched at his touch, "Lanie."
"Lanie, I am called Azano. I can't explain why I must do this...but it's important to my race."
"What could this have to do with your race, are they dying or something?"
"In a way, yes."
Lanie tried to come to grips with what was about to happen. And it would

happen, triggering quick incomplete thoughts to scurry across her consciousness. Sex...With an Alien? Blue babies? "Well...Azano...I don't really have a choice; is that what you're saying?" Her voice was weak and shaking. It was going to happen and she couldn't prevent it. She only hoped she would survive it.
"Yes." His hand slide down her arm and then back to her shoulder. "I will try to make it as pleasurable as I can. On my planet it is not an emotional process but a clinical one," He paused. "But I have studied your ways and I think I can compare to any human male."
"Just one more question, was I chosen at random or do I have something special?" Lanie asked.
"You are very special Lanie, but the reason you were chosen is because you always believed we existed. You had a higher level of acceptance over anyone we came across."
Lanie sniffed her nose, "Well, let's save your world then, shall we?" She spun around and faced him. Staring straight ahead, she looked at his muscular blue chest and her eyes slowly moved upwards. His helmet had indeed been removed. She was relieved to find that although the configuration was slightly different, he looked