The Alien Explorer's Love

by Leslie Chase

  With catlike grace he swung himself down from the bed, and to her surprise it folded neatly into the wall as soon as he was off it. She stared for a moment at the seamless wall where it had been and then managed to shrug. Just one more wonder — why should she be surprised at that? She was aboard a spaceship, of course it was like magic to her.

  "Back here," he said, taking her arm and guiding her to a door at the rear of the ship. Thanking him, she stepped inside. The bathroom inside was, fortunately, enough like an Earth bathroom that she didn't have to ask his help in how to use it, and soon she felt ready to face him again.

  When she returned, the room had changed again. Instead of a bed there were two chairs, and between them a small table. Lilly stopped and stared for a moment and then shrugged it off. There was so much strangeness to this place that she was starting to get immune to its surprises. That didn't mean she wasn't curious about how it worked, though.

  "How does the room...?" she trailed off mid-question, gesturing helplessly, and Jaranak laughed.

  "Change shape, you mean?" He waved for her to be seated and poured water into a glass for her. "The transstar field that lets my ship travel faster than light is harder to generate the larger it is. That means we cram as much as possible into as small a space as we can. The rooms have to do double duty, and each one can be reconfigured for other needs."

  "That doesn't answer my question," she pointed out, sinking into the seat opposite him and picking up the drink. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until she sipped it and ended up finishing the glass before she put it down.

  Jaranak refilled it. "I suppose it doesn't, but it's the answer I can give you. The details are technical, and I don't know the words for them in English. I'm not even sure there are words for some of the concepts I'd need, yet."

  Lilly sighed. She supposed that made sense, but it wasn't satisfying. She wanted to know, but then she had to admit that she might well not have understood even if she spoke the relevant language. She wasn't an engineer, after all, and she barely understood the operation of a human ship. Expecting to understand an alien one that sailed the stars rather than the sea was asking a bit much.

  "May I ask you a question?" Jaranak broke into her thoughts, and she nodded.

  "Why aren't you an explorer like your parents?" he asked after a moment's pause. "From everything I've seen of you, you'd be great at it. You have a keen mind, you speak the languages, and your family connections should make it easy. And yet—"

  "— I'm here, in New York, messing up your plans," she finished for him with a grin. Under it, though, she felt the old pain resurface. "It's complicated."

  He reached across the table to take her hand, and she knew that she hadn't managed to hide her pain. But his touch helped. Somehow it made her feel safe and protected, despite the fact that he couldn't do anything to help.

  "I couldn't go out there with them because I'm ill," she said finally. "I caught something when I was just a child, a tropical infection that doesn't have a proper name in English. It doesn't affect me all the time, but the attacks can come on quickly. Even here in New York, they can be dangerous. In the South Seas, it would kill me pretty quickly. I always need my medicine with me, and a doctor nearby."

  She spoke softly, opening up for the first time in a long time. "I wish I could go. There are so many things my parents have seen that I never will, that I can't go and see. And more things that they haven't seen, that I could be the one to discover."

  There was a lump in her throat as she told him about her deepest feelings. It felt like forever since she'd actually spoken about this with anyone, and it hurt to let someone else in.

  Jaranak's eyes filled with sympathy, and he didn't answer with words. Instead, he stepped around the table and lifted her from her chair, sweeping her against him in a powerful hug. She stiffened in his grip, and then found herself relaxing and accepting the comfort he offered her. At least as an explorer himself, Jaranak could understand what she was missing. Too many of her friends didn't, and even Margaret would try to help her by telling her about how dangerous and uncomfortable a trip to the South Seas would be.

  That's not the point, Lilly always wanted to scream at her. The risks were part of what called to her, but she couldn't go.

  She didn't want a safe life in a safe city — and a good thing, because that wasn't what she was getting. Though, with Jaranak, she felt safe. It was a bit ridiculous, given how close she'd come to dying, but that hardly seemed to matter while he was around. He'd kept her safe.

  And, more than that, he'd told her the truth. As unbelievable as it was, he hadn't lied to her. Well, not after I caught him in his first lies, she thought, making herself be honest about it. But once he'd promised her the truth, he'd delivered. And that thought reminded her that she owed him a truth of his own.

  Better to get that over with, rather than dwell on the painful past.

  "Okay," Lilly said. "I owe you an answer to your question. You've proved your point."

  With a vague wave at the alien technology around them, she grimaced. "I'll admit I didn't think you'd be able to, but you did."

  Jaranak grinned and nodded, accepting the change of topic without argument. Squeezing her hand, he leaned forward.

  "I know it's not easy to accept," he told her. "So, what did you see while you were hiding under my bed?"

  Phrasing it like that made Lilly blush again. Would he never let that go? She had to admit that she wouldn't, if she'd caught him hiding under hers.

  Okay, I'd probably have screamed and called the police, she admitted. But if we ended up as friends, no, I'd never let him forget it.

  Trying to be serious, she looked up into his eyes. "It was Ambrose Cooper. He had a couple of his men watching the room, but they didn't come in until he was there — and he was the one who seemed to know how to use your machine."

  Jaranak's face stiffened, and she could almost feel the anger radiating from him. His hands balled into fists, his eyes narrowed, and he bared his teeth. It was almost enough to make Lilly shrink away from him, even though she knew that his anger wasn't for her.

  "Cooper? That little weasel," Jaranak ground out. "He seemed too eager to help, somehow: I should have been more concerned. But how did he know what to look for? What to do? He's a clever man, yes, but..."

  "I don't know that," Lilly answered carefully, putting down her glass. "All I saw was that he could use the machine, and tried to do something with it. He didn't say what, though he did seem keen not to be caught by you."

  "That, at least, was smart of him," Jaranak said. His smile was hungry, angry. "I know what he was trying. The sensors connect to the ship remotely, and he was trying to shut down the ship's security systems. If he'd managed that, he could have gotten in here... though I don't know what he'd have done then."

  "Stolen your ship?" It was the obvious suggestion, but even as she said it Lilly saw the problem. "No, even if he somehow knows how to fly it, he won't be able to repair it, will he?"

  Jaranak looked into the distance, thinking. "He shouldn't be able to. But he shouldn't be able to access the sensor logs without leaving a trail for me to follow, either. So I can't rule it out, completely."

  Standing, he stalked up and down the middle of the ship. Lilly watched his wrestle with the puzzle, trying to think of how she could help. She knew nothing of the ship's operation, and it was pointless for her to guess at any of the technical side of things. But she did know Cooper, at least by reputation.

  "He's not just a smart man," she told Jaranak. "He's a ruthless one as well. There's a reputation, I don't know how true it is, that he strong-armed his way to the top."

  Jaranak raised an eyebrow at her, and she realized he might not know that turn of phrase. The alien's grasp of English was good enough that it was easy to forget he'd only learned it recently.

  "He steals from his opposition, and he employs thugs to break up businesses that compete with him," she explained. "That's the rumor, at le
ast. Like I said, I don't know how true it is. No one publishes those stories in the papers, anyway."

  "Someone sent those thugs after us," Jaranak said thoughtfully. "If Cooper is known to employ such men, maybe it was him. What I don't understand is how he could have learned enough to do this. I don't care how clever the man is, that's like..."

  He trailed off, looking at Lilly with an air of embarrassment.

  "—like some bronze age king figuring out how to make an internal combustion engine," Lilly said with a half-smile. "You don't need to worry about insulting my species; I know the difference between uneducated and stupid. Someone needs to be taught how to use technology before they can use it, no matter how clever they are."

  Jaranak nodded again, looking relieved that she'd taken it so well. "I suppose the only thing I can do is ask him," he said, and baring his teeth. The expression looked almost like a smile, but Lilly wasn't fooled. It was the hunting grin of a predator, and she shivered at the sight of it.

  "Be careful," she warned him. "Those two men who got away will have warned him by now, if he is the one who sent them. They've had plenty of time to get home and—shit."

  Jaranak's head jerked around to her in alarm as she felt herself pale. "What is it?"

  "Home," she repeated, trying to get her sudden worry under control. "I left Margaret waiting for me! I didn't know if you were going to be dangerous, so she was going to wait up... and if she doesn't hear from me she's bound to try to help me."

  "Then we have to get you home," Jaranak said, standing quickly. "The last thing either of us wants is some kind of ill-advised rescue attempt getting her into trouble. Or worse, she could attract police attention to what we've been up to tonight."

  Lilly nodded quickly. She didn't know what Margaret would do — and that was another amateur mistake they'd made, she realized. Margaret knew where she was and was expecting her, but they hadn't made any plans for what to do if something went wrong. What if she'd really walked into a trap? What would Margaret do about it?

  Her chest tightened at the thought of her friend setting out to rescue her and getting herself into trouble. Instinctively reaching for her medicine, she realized that she didn't know where the bottle was. Where had Jaranak left her bag?

  A moment of panic set in as she looked around quickly, but then she realized that she wasn't coughing. Despite the tightness, she was breathing normally. Blinking, Lilly sat back in her chair and took an experimental deep breath.

  Her lungs filled smoothly, easily, without pain. Despite the exertion of earlier, despite her fears, despite everything, her lungs weren't struggling. In fact, she found that she could breathe deeper than normal. Eyes widening, she looked up at Jaranak in amazement.

  "I can breathe," she whispered.

  15

  Jaranak

  At first, Jaranak didn't know what Lilly was so excited about. Eyes shining, a huge smile on her face, she drew a deep breath and laughed aloud.

  He smiled too. Whatever pleased her so much, he was glad of it. But his confusion clearly showed through, and after a moment, she grabbed his face to kiss him.

  "Don't you understand?" she said, face inches from his. "I'm cured. Your, what did you call it? Your autodoc must have fixed my lungs."

  "Oh!" Jaranak's eyes opened wide, and he swept her into his arms. "I don't understand how it did that, but if it's true it's wonderful."

  He hadn't considered that possibility — the autodoc needed to know something about a disease to treat it. It was intended for emergency use, rather than replacing an actual doctor, and diseases could be complicated.

  But if it had gone beyond normal expectations, if it had cured Lilly of her affliction, that was wonderful. Jaranak might not understand how or why it had worked, but that was less important than the fact that it had.

  Quickly calling up the device's status reports, he looked through the holographic displays. Lilly peered at them too, and he could feel her mix of wonder and impatience as she stared at the unfamiliar information.

  "Well? What does it say?" she asked, practically vibrating with energy. She seemed conflicted. Jaranak understood — after so many years suffering from whatever affliction this was, it would be difficult to hope for a cure. Jaranak held her tight, checking and double checking the records. The last thing he wanted was to give her hope and then snatch it away.

  At last, he had his answer. Turning to face her, he looked her in the eyes. "I see what happened, Lilly. The disease damaged your lungs when you were a child, and the autodoc spotted that damage when it scanned you. So it fixed it. It can't cure a disease but it can repair the effects one leaves behind."

  She met his gaze with a huge grin, and threw her arms around him. "That's — that's amazing, Jaranak. I can breathe normally! I didn't think I'd ever be able to do that."

  Planting a kiss on his forehead, she laughed, and Jaranak couldn't help being swept away by her joy.

  "I can breathe! That means I can, I don't know, I can travel," she said, practically dancing with new-found energy. "I could follow my parents' footsteps, go and see the islands they never reached. Do all the things I dreamed of doing!"

  Jaranak felt his smile freeze and tried not to show his wince. Those are her dreams, he told himself, and she's only known me a couple of days. Of course they don't involve me! But it still hurt to see her so happy about the idea of going off on her own.

  He was being ridiculous, and he knew it. It wasn't as though they'd even discussed any plans for the future, and he'd be leaving her world as soon as he could. Lilly wasn't abandoning him, not in any way that mattered. And these were the dreams she'd had since childhood; he would never stand in the way of her achieving them.

  By the time she'd turned back to face him, he'd managed to get his expression under control. Lilly flung herself back into his arms and he held her tight, the feel of her heart beating next to his chest feeding both his happiness and his sadness. They might not have long together, but he wanted to enjoy every minute they did have.

  Very well, then. If this is going to be brief, we'll have to make the most of it, Jaranak promised himself. And that means dealing with Cooper as quickly as possible. I won't have him interrupting us again.

  Lifting Lilly off her feet, he kissed her firmly on the lips and put her back down.

  "We'd better get you back home," he said. "Otherwise Margaret will throw all of these plans into disarray."

  Lilly looked a little crestfallen as he disengaged, but she nodded agreement. Looking down at the robe she was wearing she shook her head. "You're right. Though it's going to be a little embarrassing explaining to her where my clothes are."

  Jaranak chuckled, and she blushed brighter, biting her lip. It was such a cute little gesture that Jaranak had to fight an urge to pounce on her all over again, but they didn't have the time and they both knew it. Trying to distract himself from those thoughts, he looked for clothes that he could wear. He had more than one suit, of course, but the others were all still at the hotel.

  Searching the wardrobe again, he found a tunic that was mostly intact. It wasn't a great choice, but it would do. Pulling it on, he turned to find Lilly watching him carefully, looking as though she was memorizing his body. Caught, she looked away and blushed, and Jaranak growled quietly. It wasn't going to be easy to say goodbye to her, not when every gesture she made, every look, made him want her more.

  All the more reason to get this over with, so that we can spend more time together without distractions, he told himself. "Let's go."

  For a moment he thought she was going to argue, but no. She straightened her borrowed robe and together they left the ship.

  They emerged on deck warily, but no one was waiting. The docks were as quiet as they ever got, and they disembarked unobserved. As soon as they were back on land, Jaranak realized just how much Lilly would stand out wearing the pristine white robe he'd lent her. It looked nothing like what a human would wear around New York, but there wasn't anything he could d
o for that.

  Fortunately, he'd made some arrangements when he'd arrived, and paid well for them. There were always some urchins around the docks, and they'd come to know his needs. At a nod from him, one of them ran off into the city.

  "Where's he going?" Lilly asked, stepping up beside him. Jaranak laughed.

  "After the interruption earlier I'd rather not risk walking you through the streets, just in case," he explained. "So I paid the boy to fetch a taxi for me before. He knows what I want."

  Lilly smiled at that, then shivered in the chill breeze. Pulling her borrowed robe tighter around her, she snuggled against Jaranak. He put an arm around her, lending her his warmth, and they looked out over the harbor together in silence.

  The electric cab drew up minutes later, summoned from wherever it had waited for them. The grinning urchin leaped out with a flourish as Jaranak helped Lilly inside. He flicked a coin to the boy, who caught it out of midair and made it vanish before scampering away.

  "You know you overpaid him, right?" Lilly asked with a grin as the car pulled away.

  "Not really," Jaranak admitted. "I don't have a good feel for your 'dollars' so I've just paid whatever seems to get results. It's worked out so far, and I've got plenty of money for things like that."

  "I suppose so," Lilly said, shaking her head and sitting back. Jaranak chuckled. It wasn't like there was any need to save money — any money they had left over when they left would be wasted.

  If the driver thought anything odd about his passengers' change of clothes, he didn't say anything. Jaranak had paid him enough to keep his curiosity sated and his eyes on the road.

  For a moment they drove in silence, the only sound the faint noise of the electric motor. Jaranak took Lilly's hand in his, squeezing it, and she held on tight. Looking around, Lilly took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, clearly enjoying her new freedom to breathe.

  Then she turned to him, a bright light of curiosity in her eyes.