A deep ache that seemed to radiate from the bones greeted Ethan before consciousness fully returned, as if his body was remembering how to exist after being scattered across space.
His eyes opened to a ceiling that's like a soft bioluminescent light, the patterns were shifting... Nothing seemed human or earthly at all.
"You're awake." The voice came from his left, melodic but carrying undertones that human vocal cords could never produce.
"Please don't move suddenly. Your cellular structure is still stabilizing from the extraction."
Ethan turned his head slowly, and for few seconds he forgot how to breath.
The woman standing beside his medical pod was humanoid in the way that a statue is humanoid—recognizably bipedal, proportioned similarly, but fundamentally other.
Her skin held an iridescent quality, shifting between pale blue and silver depending on the angle of light. Delicate scales traced patterns along her cheekbones and down her neck, disappearing beneath the collar of her pristine white medical uniform.
Her eyes were too large, her irises was a brilliant amber with vertical pupils that contracted as they met his gaze.
She was beautiful in a way that made Ethan's brain struggle to process what he was seeing.
"Where…" His voice came out as a rasp, because his throat felt like sandpaper.
"Here." She lifted a glass of clear liquid to his lips with hands that had one too many joints in each finger. "Drink slowly. Your kind processes hydration differently than most species."
The water was cool and tasted faintly sweet. As he drank, memories started crashing back in a slow motion, one after the other. It started with the battle, then the creature and finally the earth burning beneath him.
"Earth," he gasped, pushing the glass away. "The evacuation centers. How many got out? Where are the other survivors?"
The doctor's expression shifted into something that might have been sympathy on a human face. She set the glass down carefully, and Ethan's stomach dropped before she even spoke.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "The extraction beam could only lock onto one biosignature before the Voidborne consumed your planet's atmosphere.
The interference was too severe for multiple retrievals."
The words didn't make sense. They couldn't make sense.
"One?" Ethan's voice came out hollow. "You're saying I'm the only one?"
"The only human we managed to save, yes." She placed a scaled hand on his shoulder, and despite everything, the touch was surprisingly warm.
"My name is Dr. Senna Vex. I'm the chief medical officer aboard the Stellar Mercy, a Coalition rescue vessel. We've been monitoring your planet's distress signals for three standard cycles, but by the time we received authorization to intervene…"
"Authorization?" Ethan sat up too quickly. The room spun, and Senna's hands steadied him. "You needed authorization to save a dying planet?"
"The Coalition has strict protocols about interfering with pre-contact civilizations." Her voice held an edge of frustration.
"By the time the bureaucrats finished debating whether humanity qualified for emergency intervention, the Voidborne had already reached critical infestation levels. I argued for immediate action, but…"
She cut herself off, her jaw tightening in a way that looked almost human.
Ethan stared at his hands. They looked the same as always—calloused from flight controls, a small scar on his left thumb from a childhood accident.
But Earth was gone, his squadron was gone. And over all…..Sarah was gone. Seven billion people reduced to cosmic dust, and he was the only one left because some alien committee had taken too long to vote.
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"Forty-seven hours. Your body went into shock during cellular reconstruction. We had to…." Senna paused, her head tilting toward the door. Her pupils dilated suddenly. "Stay here, she muttered."
"What's wrong?"
Before she could answer, the door slid open with a hiss. Three figures filled the doorway, each from a different species.
The one in front was tall and powerfully built, with midnight-black skin that seemed to absorb light and golden eyes that fixed on Ethan with unsettling intensity. Feline ears twitched atop her head, and when she smiled, her canines were distinctly pointed.
"So this is the human male." Her voice was a purr that raised the hair on Ethan's arms. "The rumors spread quickly, Doctor. You should have known you couldn't keep him hidden."
"Captain Zira." Senna positioned herself between Ethan and the newcomers.
"This patient is under medical quarantine. You have no authority…"
"Authority?" The feline woman—Zira—laughed, and the two figures behind her moved to flank Senna.
One was covered in chitinous armor that looked organically grown, insectoid features barely humanoid.
The other was wreathed in what appeared to be living flame, her form flickering at the edges.
"The last male of a compatible species appears on a Coalition vessel, and you think medical protocols matter?"
"Compatible?" Ethan swung his legs off the pod, ignoring the weakness in his limbs. "What the hell does that mean?"
All three sets of alien eyes locked onto him with an intensity that made him want to step back. Zira's smile widened.
"It means, human, that your genetic structure is remarkably...adaptable." She took a step forward, and Senna actually growled—a sound that came from deep in her chest.
"It means that in a galaxy where most species can't interbreed without genetic engineering, your kind is compatible with nearly everything. And now you're the last one."
The implications made Ethan gasp.
"Oh god," he whispered.
"Not god," Zira said, her golden eyes gleaming. "Just very, very valuable."
The ship's alarms suddenly blared to life, as red emergency lights flooded the medical bay, and Senna's wrist communicator crackled with urgent voices speaking in languages Ethan couldn't understand.
"What now?" Senna hissed.
Zira's expression hardened. "Word travels fast in the outer sectors. I'd say we have about five minutes before every desperate matriarch within jump distance arrives to claim your precious human."
Through the viewport behind them, Ethan saw streaks of light as ships dropped out of faster-than-light travel. Dozens of them actually, all converging on their position.
"Welcome to your new life, human," Zira said over the blaring alarms. "Try not to die in the stampede."