The Alien Explorer's Love

by Leslie Chase

  It irked her that she couldn't even come up with an idea about how the trick worked. There had to be an explanation, but what on Earth could it be? Then she brightened, looking to the door next to the stage that headed into the rest of the hotel.

  "Let's go and ask," she said.

  5

  Jaranak

  Escaping the lecture hall was only the start, of course. It wasn't quite that easy to dodge everyone who wanted a word with him, and Jaranak found himself talking with half a dozen people on his way back to his room.

  He'd learned quickly that he should simply smile and nod, and shake every outstretched hand. That covered most of his interactions, along with a repeated insistence that he had to retire to rest. The advantage of the narrow halls was that it was that the people at the front of the crowd held back the rest, letting him escape relatively quickly.

  At the door to his suite, he turned to shake one final hand and thank his audience. He wasn't entirely sure what he was thanking them for since they were the ones imposing on him. Still, it seemed better to be polite than to risk annoying people now that they were making progress. Once he was done he slipped through the doorway into his room, his two guards politely but firmly blocking anyone trying to follow him.

  "Thank goodness that's over," he said, massaging his sore hand. The local enthusiasm for shaking hands baffled him. "At least for today."

  Karnan looked up from behind the improvised control center, holographic icons floating above it. "I think that went well, don't you? I'm getting the hang of this."

  Jaranak shook his head but managed a smile at his friend. "You nearly stabbed one of them with the damned knife."

  "Don't blame me," Karnan objected, holding up his hands. "I was only following your directions."

  "That was the bit where I was saying, 'Left, no left, go left you idiot.' You just missed her."

  Karnan sighed. "It would be a lot easier if I could see what I was doing."

  "And this whole thing would be easier if we didn't have to pull off this damned deception at all," Jaranak said, flinging himself down into a chair. The frustration was bubbling up again. "But here we are anyway. I just want to finish our work and go. Speaking of...?"

  Karnan waved at the display, and it switched to show a shimmering approximation of the local landscape. Buildings barely showed up, only the iron frames appearing. That was the problem with the portable scanner, it was in some ways too powerful. Most of the building materials used here didn't show up at all.

  A strong red glow faded in, somewhere to the north of the city. "We're high enough to get a signal now, but it's still weak. This is the best I've been able to narrow it down so far, and it'll take time to get it pinpointed. I'm not even sure it'll be possible."

  The sensors were meant to be used from above, and now that their ship was at sea level Karnan had suggested bringing the sensors into the hotel to get some height. It was good to see it working, even if it was a slow process.

  "You're doing well to get it that far," he assured his friend. "Working with salvaged scanners and battery power, it's a miracle you're getting it to work at all. At least now we have a rough idea where to look, and hopefully our little demonstration will attract the right people's attention."

  If Hrail or any of her crew were alive, and if they were monitoring the human news services, they might hear about this and come to the right conclusion. That was too many 'ifs' for Jaranak's liking, but it was the only plan they'd thought of for establishing contact with the other crew.

  His two guards entered the suite, the humans outside fended off for now. As soon as the door closed behind them, they pulled off their masks and the heavy cloaks that concealed their bodies.

  "Whose idea was that disguise?" Orshar complained, dropping his in disgust. "I can scarcely breathe in it."

  "Wasn't it yours?" Parvak replied. It was probably meant as a joke, but his frustration was all too real. The costumes were bulky, inelegant, and far too hot — but it had seemed like a good idea when they came up with it. Their blue skin was always going to be too much of a giveaway that they didn't belong here, after all, and while Jaranak had to show his face, the rest of them didn't.

  The blue skin paint excuse wasn't the best lie in the world, either. But it would do. A few days should be all they would need.

  The four of them sat back, taking a moment to relax. Jaranak closed his eyes, breathing deeply and wishing they could just forget about this whole business. But no. Other things first.

  "What do we have arranged next?" he asked without opening his eyes.

  "Tomorrow, you see a few of the human scientists." The derision in Karnan's voice was clear. "Hopefully today's demonstration of the skymetal will get some interest."

  That sounded like more hands to shake and speeches to give, probably to very little gain. But that was the point of this whole business, he reminded himself. Exhausting as the deception might be, getting to the point where they could get the answers they needed was more important than his comfort.

  Or his hand.

  "These humans aren't going to be easy to fool, not in the long term," he mused aloud. "Not even in the medium term. We're going to have to move fast."

  "I told you, we're on the wrong side of the continent for our cover story," Orshar responded. The annoyance in his voice was plain, and Jaranak had to restrain a smile. As annoying as his own role was to play, the role of his 'ceremonial guards' that his friends had adopted was tougher still. Covered completely from head to foot and staying quiet had to be intensely frustrating. He would forgive a bit of irritation from them as a result.

  "The West Coast would have been better for our cover, but the Skystorm came down here," Jaranak reminded him, pulling off his top. The outfit was ridiculous, but it was the best they'd been able to do. Tomorrow the tailors come back with a suit, he reminded himself. He found the locals' clothing ridiculous but at least the tailor would be able to fit it properly.

  "I don't see why—" whatever Karnan was about to say was cut off by a knock at the door. Grumbling, Jaranak pulled his costume back on, trying to smooth the feathers as best he could. Karnan looked equally annoyed as he pulled on a mask and cloak on his way to answer the door. The others got to their feet, keeping alert but not pulling their costumes back on. It wasn't likely that whoever was on the far side of the door was a threat, but who knew what they might encounter in this strange place? If there was danger, they'd be better able to fight unencumbered.

  Karnan looked back, and Jaranak gave him a nod. Opening the door as little as he had to he stepped into the hall outside and spoke in English with an exaggerated accent. "Welcome! How may I help?!"

  "Please excuse us," the embarrassed voice of a young woman answered him. Jaranak groaned, hoping he wouldn't have to speak to yet another human today. "Um, we had some questions. Can we come in and speak to the prince?"

  "Please, it is the hour of our rest," Karnan said, loud and slow. "Make arrangements with Captain Hennessey, he can set an appointment for you. Tomorrow?"

  "Oh, I've had enough of this," another woman said, sounding exasperated. The sudden sound of a struggle brought Jaranak to his feet, but by the time he'd reached the door and flung it wide, the scuffle was over. Karnan stood, nonplussed, staring down at a pair of young women. One of them held his mask in her hands, looking up at Karnan with surprised annoyance. The other had an apologetic look on her face, stammering something.

  The woman holding the mask muttered something under her breath, and while Jaranak couldn't make out the words the tone was enough to jog his memory. The woman who asked all the annoying questions, he thought with an internal snarl, even as he tried his best to put a smile on his face. The intelligent look in her eyes paired with the look of confusion would have been endearing under other circumstances, but now he just wanted her gone.

  "I'm terribly sorry," the second woman said, looking embarrassed for her companion. "Lilly here just wanted, ah..."

  She trailed off,
as though unable to come up with an excuse for her friend's behavior.

  "I wasn't expecting you to have gone to this much trouble," Lilly admitted peevishly. "Why wear the mask and paint yourself blue?"

  Jaranak put his hands on his hips and glared down at the annoying female. "Give my man his mask back," he said, sternly and coldly. "And then leave, please. This is undignified."

  Lilly looked from the mask to Karnan to Jaranak, her face flushing a little as she turned the mask over and over in her hands. Then, with an expression of disgust, she looked up at Karnan.

  "I know you're lying," she said. "There might, conceivably, be such a place as Prindakh somewhere. But your language, your story, these outfits... it's like a bad pantomime."

  Jaranak simply stared down at her, impatient for her to get out of the way. There was no dignified response to that, especially not since she was right. That made it all the more important that she shut up about it.

  Karnan extended his arm in a pushing gesture, and Lilly's friend pulled at her shoulder.

  "I'm really sorry," she said, grabbing the mask and handing it back. "Lilly is very passionate about these things, that's all."

  "It is fine, just go," Karnan said wearily. But Lilly shrugged off her friend's arm and looked up at him with those piercing eyes.

  "It's not fine," she said. "Whatever you're up to, I'll work it out. You won't get away with... whatever this is."

  With that, she turned to go, reaching into her bag. Karnan shook his head and looked at Jaranak who sighed and stepped back into the room. That was when Lilly struck.

  Spinning back, she lunged towards Jaranak, fast enough to catch him by surprise. His hand came up in a block, catching her left wrist easily. But that seemed to be part of her plan. A damp scrap of cloth in her right hand wiped across the back of his, and her face lit up in triumph for a split second. Then confusion replaced it.

  The cold cloth scrubbed again, and Jaranak smelled alcohol. He frowned, wondering what she was doing, as she stared at his hand.

  "That doesn't make sense," she said, to herself rather than anyone else. Her friend pulled at her arm, making apologetic noises towards Jaranak. "Why isn't the paint coming off?"

  Oh shit. Jaranak realized what her plan had been — if he was a human fraud, he'd have the wrong skin color for the role he was playing. That must be why she thinks that I'm painting myself, because it would give the game away if I didn't.

  So she'd wanted to reveal him as an American. That made sense, from all the information she had. There was no way she could have expected him to actually have blue skin... and there was nothing he could do to explain that to her.

  There was no hope that she'd simply let it go. Another human might, but not her. Jaranak could see the wheels turning in her mind as she stared up at him. She wanted answers, and wouldn't settle for more mystery.

  He didn't know what to say, so he settled for fixing her with a steely stare and letting go of her wrist. She stepped back, still looking at him in confusion.

  "Time for you to go," Karnan said, taking up his role as guard again and stepping between Jaranak and the humans. "The prince has no time for your foolishness."

  Jaranak allowed himself to be herded back into the room as Karnan shooed the humans away. But he knew that this was only a temporary reprieve: she'd be back soon enough.

  6

  Lilly

  "I don't understand," Lilly said as she and Margaret made their way out of the hotel. "How come the paint didn't come off?"

  Margaret shook her head, pulling at her arm. "I don't care! Honestly, Lilly, what possessed you to try that? We're lucky that we're just being thrown out and not, I don't know, arrested for attacking a foreign dignitary or something!"

  Lilly shrugged her arm out of Margaret's, exasperation on her face. "Of course they wouldn't call the police, that would just draw them into an investigation. That's the last thing they'll want, whoever they are."

  "You sound paranoid," Margaret opined, turning to face Lilly. "Listen to yourself. You're talking as though this is some kind of a conspiracy."

  The rainy skies were dark with heavy clouds hanging overhead, and Lilly thought she could hear distant thunder. That's just great. I'm in a fight with my best friend and now I'm going to get rained on too. She sighed. I can do something about one of those at least.

  "Okay, maybe I am taking things a bit too far," she said, taking a deep breath. "There isn't a conspiracy, and I doubt there's anything going on here apart from a quick fraud. I just — Margaret, you know how much I hate things I don't understand."

  Her friend's expression thawed. "I know, it's one of the things I love about you. I remember when you used to stay up all night reading about ships and trying to figure out how they worked."

  Lilly felt her face flush a little, embarrassed. "In the end, I asked my father and he took me down to the docks and showed me. But that felt like giving up."

  "And you don't give up easily." Margaret's smile spread across her face. "In fact, I'm sure that you're not going to give up on this current obsession of yours either, so... how do we find out more? Preferably without risking getting ourselves in trouble."

  Impulsively, Lilly embraced her friend. Raindrops were starting to fall all around them and they hurried across the road to a diner, seeking shelter from the oncoming storm. By the time they reached it, everything felt more like an adventure again.

  It helped that the fraudsters didn't seem to be hurting anyone. At least not yet — so far, all they'd managed to get from their marks was the price of the tickets. That was nothing special, there were fraud psychics that took as much money every day in New York. If they got away with whatever they were doing, no one would be out thousands of dollars that Lilly could see. Which meant that, her own need to understand matters aside, it didn't matter too much if she couldn't solve this mystery.

  The diner looked across the road at the Bremer Hotel, and Lilly chose a seat from which she could watch the doors. It didn't seem likely that she'd spot Jaranak or his friends sneaking out without their face paint on, but she knew she'd kick herself if she missed them!

  Margaret sat opposite her, shaking her head and looking amused. Once they had coffees in front of them, Lilly fished out her notebook and started to ask herself how the fraudsters could have pulled off their trick. It seemed impossible, but it wasn't — it had happened. And she refused to entertain the notion that it was magic of some kind. They weren't even claiming that it was, despite their show of a ritual.

  "Do you think Michael might be able to tell us something?" Margaret asked. Lilly looked up at her, raising an eyebrow, and she grinned. "Look, his father was there to watch the demonstration, and he's a tough sell. You've heard the rumors about him, right? That he's practically a mobster?"

  "Yes," Lilly admitted. "Which makes your fascination with Michael a bit odd."

  "Hey, he can't change who his father is, can he? Anyway, Michael might know what got his father interested enough to turn up today. And maybe even what they're trying to sell him. That'd be useful information, right? Because as far as I can see, Mr. Cooper's the biggest target for a con at that demonstration, and it's a bit odd that he'd turn up at all."

  Lilly thought about it and nodded slowly. "That's a good point, Margaret. It would be handy to know what brought them there, and what Mr. Cooper's interest is. Though, having seen that skymetal stuff, I'm going to guess it's investing in a mine."

  "Probably," Margaret agreed. "Can't hurt to find out, though, can it? So, let's see where you can contrive to bump into Michael again. He'll talk to you more easily than me."

  Lilly groaned at that, not entirely convinced that Margaret was trying to solve the same problem she was. Her friend had spent a lot of effort trying to set her up with men, but it never took — partly because Margaret always chose men that she liked, rather than ones Lilly would be interested in.

  Still, this time she had a strong argument for why Lilly should go and talk to him. No m
atter what Margaret hoped for, Lilly wasn't interested in Michael as a man. She almost giggled at the thought of making conversation with him. No matter how nice his shoulders are, it won't make up for how weak minded he is. Margaret can keep him.

  It wasn't as though he was that good looking, either. Lilly found herself comparing him to Jaranak. The memory of his broad, strong chest and strange, piercing eyes brought a flush to her cheeks. No matter what she thought of his morals, she couldn't pretend he wasn't clever and good looking.

  Stop that, she told herself fiercely, shaking her head to return to reality. Getting lost in a daydream wasn't helping anything.

  Across the table from her, Margaret watched with a mischievous light in her eyes. Lilly felt her blush deepen at the sight, and glared at her friend. That only seemed to push Margaret closer to a fit of giggles, and Lilly looked away in frustration.

  Before she could come up with a rebuke, the door of the diner opened and they both looked around to see two men scanning the room. They were both big, rough looking men who seemed to have squeezed into suits too small for them, and neither man looked happy. The few other patrons of the diner took one look at them and then looked away, not wanting to draw their attention. Lilly followed their example.

  It did no good, though. One of the men stood at the door and the other walked over to Lilly and Margaret's table. Looking up at him, Lilly realized that he looked familiar. She wasn't sure if she'd seen either of these men before, but she recognized the type. The Coopers had been surrounded by them at the lecture.

  If Michael has sent them to deliver flowers, he's stupider than I thought. Lilly tried to make a joke of it, but that wasn't easy with the big man looming over them. There wasn't anything friendly about his face, and Lilly exchanged a frightened look with Margaret.

  "You're the ladies who asked questions at the lecture across the street?" The big man looked down at the two of them, his beady eyes staring without any real interest. That was more intimidating than anger — he looked like he'd hurt them as much as he felt he needed to without caring about it. There wouldn't be any reasoning or pleading with a man like this.