“This place is huge!” Zan suddenly exclaimed.
I kept forgetting that Silver had been teaching him English.
“Yeah, Zan is really excited that we visited the Institute. The poor kid got bored back at the support center, all alone and countless Android examining him.” Silver showed her usual affection towards him.
Jay snorted and walked outside. Frankly, I wished that after six months traveling together, Jay would finally show even the slightest bit of affection towards me.
Everything between us had turned from unbearable to plainly desperate. At least, he now talked more than before and didn’t finish a conversation by storming out of the room. The only thing that was better was that he had become somewhat more considerate of my feelings, and that made me happy. Happier than I dared to admit.
“Okay, now that this mission turned out to being a failure, where are we going next? Any other unnecessarily big buildings to visit? Any other crazy Professors?”
He sounded bitter, I knew I would have been bitter if I didn’t remember anything about my past. Still, I had run out of ideas and places to visit. Human planets had their share of research centers, but we had visited them all.
“We’ll figure something out, don’t worry. I just need some time to think.”
Jay snorted again. Okay, he was annoying me without a reason now. We headed to the hovering platforms altogether, and we rode one each. Our descent to the main floor felt more boring than before. Passing through the same departments again, I focused my attention to Jay. His troubled scowl disappeared as soon as we found our way to the interesting parts of the Institute.
His eyes shone watching all the experiments and technology he could see. Everything he didn’t understand amazed him. I felt my stomach twisting in a tight knot thinking all those things. He could look cute after all, not that I had ever thought otherwise.
If only we could spend the rest of the day here, going up and down the departments, giving him a VIP tour of the place, making him forget our most recent failure.
And then, it finally came to me.
I floated closer to Silver’s platform.
“Hey, Silver. Do you mind taking care of Zan for the night? Jay’s feeling a bit down, and I want to take him for a stroll around the city, to show him the place and get off his head from his people. He kinda needs it.”
The Android looked at me quizzically, trying to understand what was wrong with me.
“Okay, but are you sure you’re going to be fine? What if that guy appears again? I don’t want you to be alone with him if that happens.”
Frankly, I hadn’t thought about that possibility. She was right. If Dark Jay suddenly appeared, I could be in grave danger. But, for the last six months, there had been no incident of him waking up, and after extensive discussions with Silver, we figured that he only woke up when certain events took place, stressful events like hitting his head hard or getting seriously injured.
“Nah, it’ll be okay as long as I don’t hit him in the head or something, right? What might go wrong? We’re gonna be fine,” I said to her, but she didn’t seem all that confident.
“Have your phone on standby, and if anything happens, call me. I’ll make sure even the army comes to your rescue” she said to me.
Zan was trying to understand what we meant. He looked confused. He smiled at me, although it could be a snarl. I still hadn’t figured out if he liked me or not.
“Not worry miss Eladia. Zan will save you if something bad happens.”
His deep, resonant voice made him sound both cute and surprisingly mature. Zan would definitely be a good-looking man when he would grow up. But he still had some way to go.
The trip back to the main floor seemed shorter than the way up. I kept my eyes on Jay for the most part of our descent, trying to understand what was going on in his mind. He showed no emotion, and it felt like he was furious about something and yet he kept his calm.
I was trying to figure him out from the day we found his crashed ship on Primordial Earth. To this day, I had no idea what was wrong with him. I only knew that I found myself observing him more often than not. It was like when we were in the same room, my eyes came to life and did their own bidding.
I heard the fuss of the big crowd roar below me, we were getting close to the hell called reception hall. Against all my hopes, people still swarmed in, in thousands, and I felt even less comfortable than before. At the very least, I wished we would have spent another hour or two back in the Professor’s office, so I would have had time to calm down and get ready to go through this again, but it seemed I was wrong.
We stepped off the platforms, and I could already feel the presence of countless people choking me. Silver was on my left side talking with Zan and Jay was on my right side, making people stare at him for being this unusual being that nobody had ever seen. Even though I was with people that I could trust, I felt more lonely than ever. People scared me, especially when in big crowds.
I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, but I always acted as though I could so people didn’t have to see me shake like a fish out of the water. Breathing became a choice and moving was difficult. And yet, among the endless sea of heads, there was one that I would rather not see now. Or never.
“Eladia Matthews. What are you doing here?” A red-haired man with a groomed stubble and big, inquisitive eyes appeared before me.
“Sean. Who would have thought we would run to each other here?”
The man looked at me, then Jay, then Silver and Zan. He didn’t seem one bit surprised about my unusual company, which either meant he had already heard the news of my arrival, or he just acted that way to seem cooler. Either way, he was still damn hot.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”
Sneaky bastard. He was taking advantage of my weakness. He knew I couldn’t refuse him while in a crowd.
“Yes...yes of course. You already know Silver. This is Zan, a friend from Primordial Earth, and on my other side is Jay. Jay is...another friend from Primordial Earth.”
Jay and Sean noticed my qualm.
“I’m not from Earth, and my name is Jasih,” Jay hurried to correct me, but luckily for me, Sean didn’t seem to care.
“Nice to meet you all. I’m sorry, but I have to attend a meeting in ten minutes. I hope I see you again, love. Take care,” he said and passed between Jay and me with an elegant squish.
For a moment, I thought that somehow I had managed to get away with the minimum damage, but knowing Sean, he always left the best for last. And that was what he did again, only this time, he made sure to go big.
“Oh, huge guy...what was it again? Jasih. Make sure to take care of this girl. When we dated before, she used to run in trouble all the time. Come Tora, they’re expecting us,” Sean said and left, with a tiny robot flying to his side.
Tora, as well as Silver, was a mandatory Chronicler assistant. Every Chronicler had to choose one while studying their major. But that didn’t matter now. I slowly turned to see Jay’s reaction, but by the time I found him, he was long ahead of us towards the exit. I only had time to spot his head before rushing behind him.
Damn you Sean. You and your big mouth. But, the big question is why the usually thick Jay is suddenly so upset? What happened?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay
I walked through the crowded hall, trying to find the exit to this place. My head was pumping, and I wanted to get some air. It was like the world was sitting on my chest and I couldn’t breathe. I had never felt anger like that in my life, or at least, since the time I had woken up.
That funny looking human with the red hair intimidated me in any possible way. Our whole mission was a failure, and everything seemed to take the wrong turn today, especially when it came down to me. But this Sean human was the drop that spilled the cup. I wanted to hit his face too bad and erase that slight smirk off
his face.
I pushed my way through the many humans of the hall until I finally found the door leading to a place full with elevators. This building hovered in mid-air, so the entrance was only possible by using elevators that flew the people to the building. That was what Eladia said before.
Eladia. Even her name makes the fire inside me burn brightly. I don’t want to see her, or that man, before.
Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my shoulder. “Stop! For God’s sake, please stop running.”
Eladia panted in that small, curvy body. Her hair, always caught up, swung a couple times after she stopped. Her hands were sweaty and shaking a bit, but even though she must have been running to catch me, her skin still had that refreshing sense when touching me.
“Why? Aren’t we leaving this Institute? Or would you like to spend some more time with that man? Either way, it’s fine with me.”
She looked at me with those funny eyes, the ones that say she had no idea what I was talking about. At that time, I realized I didn’t know what I was talking about either. Her face, her dark brown eyes, everything on her, ticked me off the wrong way. And yet, I couldn’t picture her kissing that human, or falling into bed with him.
“Listen, I’m sorry if it was something I said or something I did. But, you had been way too upset since we left Professor Virgil’s office. Could you at least slow down and let me make you an offer?”
She was breathing normally now, but still, Eladia used her hand to support her weight on me. Not that it did matter or anything, but she was usually way too proud to even admit she needed help. But, she was right. That crazy Professor was my last hope, and she treated me like a specimen of some sort.
“Okay. Speak. What do you have in your mind?”
“Well, we’re at humanity’s biggest city, the world capital of Yaerus. What would you say if I took you out for a dinner?”
When I heard the word dinner, my stomach growled in response. “I think you got your answer.”
She laughed at me but not in an intimidating way. Her laugh was contagious, and I felt my lips stretching upwards, but I used my whole strength to stop. My people might have been in danger, I might have kids searching for me somewhere, or grand-kids, or their kids to protect. I couldn’t spend my precious time entertaining my desires.
Still, I was hungry, tired, and I wanted to see how the humans had managed to stay alive for so many years and what tricks had they come up with to become so successful. Those little animals were always so resourceful back in my time that I couldn’t even imagine the things they must have invented.
And before I knew it, we rode into one of those elevators back to the ground. The small room was choking with people heading the same way as we did. Eladia was standing next to me. She was close enough to touch my naked arms. I felt her cold skin matching my warmness. It was a pleasant feeling, one that I could get used to easily.
Soon, when we managed to get off that elevator, Eladia and I got on a small vehicle that she called a taxi. This taxi traveled on the road and then in the air, whatever needed to get to its destination as fast as possible. Once again, I was glued to the window, trying to sip in every possible detail.
My heart pumped hard inside my chest. All these people, the big buildings, the funny smells that must have been some kind of greasy food, everything in this city had character, driving me close to a memory from my own city. But as quickly this feeling came, the same way it left. It was as if I had stretched my arm, I could touch it, only that now it was gone.
I turned to watch Eladia. She seemed happy for some reason, relieved. She stared at everything with a knowing glance. She must have passed from here countless times in the past. Still, this city was beautiful in its own way, the only way a city could be.
When we finally arrived, I saw a big, flashing sign reading ‘Phosphorus’ above a small door. It wasn’t that small, but for me, it kinda looked small. I saw Eladia give something to the man that drove us here, and he left as quickly as he arrived.
“What did you give him?” I asked.
“Excuse me?”
She looked confused.
“You gave something to him. What was it?”
And again, she seemed like she couldn’t understand what I was saying. I was at my limit to storm off again, but I realized that I had done the same thing quite some times in the past.
“What is it with you humans and questions? For a species that makes so many of them all the time, you don’t seem to understand what I’m saying to you. You were talking to the driver, and before he left, you gave him something. What was it?”
She finally caught up with me. She reached inside her pocket and took out a small, plastic card.
“Humans use money for everything. It’s like a reward for a job well done, or something to measure the price of a thing. I’ve used this card many times in front of you on other planets, only now you’ve noticed it?”
And then, like a raging river coming out of my mouth, I started laughing. It’s a strong laugh, a laugh that must have been imprisoned inside me for quite some time now.
“You humans are so crazy. I really don’t know how you managed to survive with all those funny ideas you got.”
Eladia seemed amused and irritated at the same time. She smiled at me and pulled me under the ‘Phosphorus’ sign.
No matter how hard I try, humans were more interesting than I first thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 9
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eladia
The second I saw him laugh, I stopped caring about who he was, or if I was actually in danger just by being next to him. Jay could smile after all, and laugh, and have fun. He was nothing like his other half, the Dark Jay. That was the first thing that passed through my mind back then. The second point was that I kinda liked him more when he smiled.
The ‘Phosphorus’ bar was one of those places where everything was designed to make you have fun. Virtual reality games, a bar on the back, restaurant on the upper floor, and many, good looking people, dressed with the latest word in fashion. But, that wasn’t the reason why I decided to get him here.
It was really late, and the lights had been lowered to create an atmosphere. Surely, if your thing was loud, mellow music, a bunch of couples dancing in the middle of the room, and doing drugs in the toilets, then okay, ‘Phosphorus’ was perfect for you.
“What is this place? The music’s too loud in here,” Jay screamed to me so that I could hear him.
“Be patient. We’re almost there,” I replied to him.
I moved towards the bar and made a signal for him to wait.
If I’m lucky, then…
“Jessie!!!”
“Oh. My. God. Eladia? What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you would be on a faraway planet by now, getting crazy with all those Great Mystery buds.”
Jessie was one of my colleagues back in my studying days, back when I spent most of my time taking care of my silhouette and fixing my makeup. But Jay didn’t have to know about that part of my life now. My trustworthy ponytail was the only grooming I needed nowadays.
“Hey, don’t be harsh. You’re a Researcher, and I’m a Mystery girl. It’s not my fault I can’t resist a good treasure hunt!” I replied to her.
We had to talk loud at one another, ending up with my voice sounding hoarse and ugly. But Jessie, with her enigmatic, black eyes and golden hair, made it seem like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Tell me, who is this stud you have with you? I’ve never seen anyone with skin so white. Is he okay?”
Luckily, the place was badly lit and she couldn’t spot his eyes. She must have thought he was just a huge human with extremely pale skin, but if she knew the truth, then I would have to spend the rest of the night explaining everything to her.
“He’s just a friend coming to Mosa for the first time, so I thought of giving him the proper tour of the city. Hey, Jessie, you know, I have something to ask you. Can I
get him upstairs?”
Jessie, the usually wild girl, seemed to think twice before nodding to me. She passed the door key to me with a smooth handshake. I wanted to thank her, but she shook her head. Before I turned my back, she threw me a slight grin.
Well, there they go Eladia. Your student years. This is probably the last time she lets you get up there and have some fun. It figures. After all those times she had to come and pick me up from up there, while I was drunk.
Nevertheless, I would have never come back here if it wasn’t for Jay. I wanted him to see the coolest view of the city at night. However, when I turned my head expecting to find him at exactly the same place I had left him, he was nowhere to be found.
I swore behind my teeth, but in a room as small as this, I quickly saw him in the middle of the dance floor. A young brunette was trying to seduce him by dancing around him with her clothes almost off. A skinny, good-looking girl that she could have had every man she wanted. Instead, she chose the one least suitable for her.
Alien Romance Box Set: Alien Cube: The Sci-FI Alien Invasion Romance (Books 1-5) Page 10
