“You know I can’t do that. We have to talk. I want to explain to you how I feel,” I say, but I know my words can’t reach him.
A cloud of dirt covers everything around us. It must have been over half an hour already since the time the bomb on the Great Embassy set off. Only a haunting silence remains now. Are there more victims? Was there something I could do to stop it?
“There is nothing...there is nothing you can do now. You were lying to me...you...you…” he keeps saying, muttering. For a moment it feels like he isn’t talking to me but to himself.
“I had to keep this secret from you, Jay. You don’t know what your other self can do.”
I can hear the despair in my voice; despair and misery. What troubles me the most, however, is that if I can hear it, then it’s sure that Jay must have picked up on that himself. I feel something running down my back. It’s itching and hot. There’s a voice inside me telling me that it’s blood. I choose to ignore it.
“You speak like you wanted to protect me, but you only wanted to protect yourself,” he says.
Jay starts walking away from me again.
My body feels heavy, and I want to sit down and rest for a while, but I know that we don’t have much time before the police arrive. Jay is an Esuh, part of an extinct alien species. If the police find out about him, they will keep him stranded in a research facility somewhere on Yaerus and experiment on him for many years before they let him go. I can’t let that happen.
I’m ready to take another step forward when Zan rushes to my side and stops me.
“You don’t have to do this. Jasih is afraid and alone. Jasih is like Zan before he met Silver.”
The young boy sounds anxious and sad. He’s wearing normal clothes now, and he doesn’t walk on his fours all the time, but he’s still hairier than common humans, even though Silver insists in grooming him every two weeks or so. His dark hair makes him look older than his real age, and his green eyes sparkle in the middle of the night.
Still, even he’s right.
My lips curl upwards in a tilted smile. I stretch my hand and touch his thick-with-hair head. I pat him; he seems confused for a moment.
“You can’t be more right, Zan. But like you’ve found Silver, Jay needs to find that one person he can communicate with. Only that he’s not so good at talking as you were when we first met you. That’s why I have to chase him and teach him how to talk,” I say.
I’m not sure he understands completely but still, he nods. Hell, I’m not sure I know what I’m saying myself. I’m just another Chronicler trying to follow the trail of clues the Nusae left behind before vanishing. The Great Mystery seems an easier task to tackle now, certainly easier than finding the right words to mend this situation.
And so, I keep following him.
Zan wants to come after me, but Silver stops him. He tries complaining, but the last thing I hear is Silver saying to him: “she has to do this alone.”
That’s a pretty wise comment from a robot that thinks in ones and zeroes. She must have picked this up from a film or something.
Five minutes later, we’re still walking. We have wandered off the area of the destroyed embassy. I’m not sure where we are, but we’re still walking. In time, I hear the first sirens of police vehicles echo in the dead silence of the night. The flying shuttles head to the area of the destroyed building, their blue and red lights flashing prominently.
My attention is drawn to them so much that I forget for a moment that I’m on a mission to win back Jay’s trust. When I turn my head to check on him, I quickly notice that he has stopped walking. He’s standing perfectly still. My heart skirts wildly; the first thing that comes to my mind is that he must have changed his mind, that he wants to talk to me after all.
“Jay...,” I start, but he doesn’t react to my voice.
He’s just standing there, his statuesque build towering before me. I can still feel his hot breath on my neck when he hugged me before, on that roof. This time, even though we’re just a breath away from each other, I know I have to keep my hands to myself.
I open my mouth to say something, but the words never come. Even though I’m not ready to give up on him yet, I don’t know what to say. So, I grab my ponytail and pull it down to a tighter knot.
I start putting random words in a line, forming sentences; it sounds like talking, but I’m not sure it’s me that it does it.
“The first time I saw you, you were just a tall man with a really pale skin sleeping inside a cryo-pod. The only thing I thought back then was that these pods have the power to last for years and that I have to set you free from your eternal sleep. However, that day, when we got attacked by a pack of wild animals that tried to kill us, you fought them with all your strength, but you couldn’t win.
“And that’s when your dark self, woke up and protected us all. With ash gray skin and bloodlust filling his eyes, the man inside you took over and almost killed us. I was afraid, thinking that the next time you turn, the same thing will happen again.
“So, we all agreed that it would be better if we never said anything to you. And that worked for the first six months, while we were traveling from planet to planet. You didn’t change, not even once and even we had started to forget our own lies. Around that time, Silver came up with a theory that you only change when you’re in a pinch, like when you hit your head, or you’re in danger. How could I’ve known that you could also change when making love to me?”
Throughout my monolog, Jay doesn’t talk, not even once. If he’s giving me the cold shoulder, then he’s way too good and way too stubborn. It’s not like him to not say anything, even when he knows he’s right. He always wants to have the last word.
So, I walk around him and get in front of him. His body is stiff and full of dark red stains. I was sure that there were countless wounds under his clothes, but I never expected to see him collapse. Jay falls to the ground, first hitting his back and then his head.
The pain must have been immense. He came back for a second, shouting in pain before his eyes rolled back and he passed out again.
Fear hits me like a cold wave of water. I start shaking seeing him lie on the ground motionless, lifeless. I want to do something, but I feel like my will has abandoned my body. Fortunately, Silver and Zan appear out of nowhere and take over.
Jay was the only thing giving me the strength I needed to stay conscious. Now that he collapsed, my legs start trembling, and my stomach is trying to push more bile out of my body.
I manage to hold back a new round of throwing up, but I’m way too tired to keep my eyes open. So, without saying anything to my friends, I make the two steps needed towards the nearby pavement and sit on the concrete. Before I know it, I’m lying there, sleeping the sadness off.
It has been a long day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay
I’m standing on the roof of a building. It feels familiar, but I can’t get my mind to focus enough to recognize it. The sky is dark, and there is nothing to do up here but watch the city fade under my feet.
I take a step towards the edge of the roof, and I get the feeling that I’ve lived in this exact moment before. It’s that feeling when you know what’s going to happen, and everything feels familiar to you even though you know you’ve never been to that place before.
I take a good look around me, but I can’t understand where I am. For now, I’m on the roof of a city in the middle of nowhere.
Suddenly, a girl appears before me, a girl with long, blond hair and shining, blue eyes. That girl is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, so beautiful that I can’t think myself doing anything illicit to her. She’s a creature made of pure light, her whole body shining like a star.
It takes me a minute to figure that the young woman is standing on the ledge of the roof, one foot hanging over the edge.
“Hello?”
My word echoes around me like I’m i
n an empty room, making the whole place seem even more empty than it already is. The girl never replies to me; she only stands up there, leaning at the end of the roof.
Right then I realize that something is wrong with her. The light doesn’t come from her but from behind her. Soon, the glow gets more intense, strong enough to swallow the city whole in its brightness.
“Run! Don’t just stand there!!! Jump!” I start saying to her.
Jump!
This word echoes deep inside me like it’s a command I have to follow. I’m vaguely aware that I just said that to myself, but it doesn’t make it easier to disobey it.
Soon, the light is strong enough that I can’t do anything but close my eyes. There is no sound anymore, anything except a murmur coming from the distant dark.
“Jay...Jay...”
That name again. Who is calling me in that name?
Her voice is like a beacon of hope in this blinding light. Out of nowhere, a name pops in my mind:
Eladia.
“Jay, are you alright? Oh my god, Jay, you’re finally awake!”
When I open my eyes, the first thing I notice is that I’m not in pain anymore. In fact, it feels like I’m better than the last time I found myself waking up from a mystery slumber.
I take a deep breath and look around me only to see a line of familiar faces. Eladia is standing above me, her black hair caught in that hideous tail as always, but her brown eyes big and beautiful as I remember them.
Silver, the Android with the holographic human parts is sitting two feet behind her, close enough for me to see her but too far to talk to me. On her side, the wild boy from Primordial Earth, Zan, seems worried in his own, stoic way, sitting next to her.
I wonder, do I look like him when I’m worried?
Maybe.
For a moment, everything inside me feels normal in a twisted, confusing way. I know I must have been sleeping for a long time, but I don’t know how much. That means that I must ask her.
I turn my head and gaze straight into Eladia’s big brown eyes and then, everything comes to me at once. Our adventure back on Primordial Earth, that time we got intimate on that roof, and then when I woke up not knowing where I was, the time I found out she had been lying about my true identity the whole time.
At once, the room starts feeling too crowded for me. I command my hand to get her out of the way, but, for a reason unknown, my hand doesn’t follow my order. Instead, it stays frozen on my side, a dead chunk of meat.
“Where am I? What did you do to me? I can’t move,” I start saying, intending for my voice to be loud and clear but the only thing coming out is a silent mumble.
“Jay...Jay, you have to relax,” the female human, the one that betrayed me, says.
I don’t want to listen to her, but it doesn’t seem like I have a choice.
The human turns and nods at her faithful companions and they both rush out of the room, into the busy hallway. They leave me alone with this woman.
“Jay...Jay, please let me explain to you. You were seriously injured, and--”
“I don’t want to hear anything from you! Get out!”
The last part is closer to a roar. I can’t control my temper around her, now more than ever.
“Hey! This is not a bar, fella. This is a hospital. You don’t get to shout at anyone in here, do you understand?”
Another human walks inside the room, this one a male. Tall, blond, with dark brown eyes and a fit body. His face’s calm and soothing, especially for a male human.
“Who are you?” I say.
Eladia seems to recognize him.
“I’m the person that treats you while you’re here. You were pretty roughed up when your friends brought you here. You’ve been up and down for two weeks now. It wasn’t easy getting you up to shape again, buddy,” the man says.
He touches my chest with a metal object with a small screen on the top. He waits patiently for a second and then nods to himself. He does the same thing a couple more time to different parts of my body, nodding every time like he’s having a conversation with himself.
“You’re better today. One more week in the bed and you will be as good as new.”
His voice is hoarse and deep but reassuring in some way. It feels like, for a change, I can trust him.
“I can’t move my hands and legs,” I say, trying to push a yawn down into my chest.
“Don’t worry, it’s common in your case. You’re packed with some pretty strong meds, big fella. Now, don’t be rude to your friends. Ms. Matthews, can I see you for a moment outside?”
Eladia looks at the doctor and me, one after the other before nodding and leaving my side. For some reason, I want him to stay, but I can’t hold my eyes open for too long. My eyelids are suddenly heavy, and before I know it, I’m drifting back to sleep.
The last thing that crosses my mind is the man’s eyes.
I like that man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eladia
“Ms. Matthews, you have to understand that Jay has not fully recovered yet. It’s a miracle that he managed to survive with injuries as severe as his, but for some reason, every time he wakes up it seems like he has a difficult time seeing you in the same room with him. Would you care to explain to me what’s going on between you two?”
Doctor Cross is without a doubt the best doctor in this hospital. Not only he’s young and handsome, but for some reason, he had no difficulty believing everything we said to him, even though we never quite shared the whole story with him.
I can’t go on now and tell him that we’re possible targeted by a man wearing a red, demon mask since we’re the only witnesses to the murders he committed. Nor I can tell him that Zan is a new human species that comes from Primordial Earth. Or that the small cube that can’t be moved too far away from Jay’s body is a Nusae artifact that could mean the solution of the Great Mystery.
Either way, Dale Cross, the doctor, had no problem trusting us in the first place since he only knows half the truth hiding behind our wounds. Still, he has been kind and protective, certainly a man worth protecting from our dangerous truth.
“Let’s just say we had a fight before he got hurt and he doesn’t seem able to handle it well yet. Isn’t that a good enough reason for him to be angry?”
His left brow arches above his eye into a cute scowl; this man is hot even when he’s angry. He kinda reminds me of Jay on that end.
“Eladia,” he says, lowering his voice, “you know you can trust me. I won’t hurt you. When people go through a traumatic experience like what you went through, it changes them enough to forget their petty arguments. Also, you saved his life. You were the ones that brought him to the hospital when he was almost dead. I’m sure he can find it in his heart to forgive you.”
Dale is right. I can’t keep lying to him as I did with Jay. That attitude didn’t get me very far with him. He’s so mad at me now that he can’t put his anger beside and just forgive me. But, would I do the same if I were in his place?
“You know doctor, you’re right. But,” I stop, adding a dramatic pause to my saying, “I can’t tell you what’s really going on right now. You have to trust us...me...on this.”
His face softens up, and he sighs. Dale seems like the considerate kind of guy, the type of human that cares what happens to you. He’s certainly not like those extremists that want to rush the human race to the top rank.
“Okay. I understand. However, the next time you’re in the middle of an adventure, remember what we had to go through to save him in the first place. Okay?” I nod. “Perfect. I really have to go and make my rounds now. I’ll be back later tonight to check up on him. He’s gonna need quite a lot of rest to fully recover, but I’m confident he’ll be fine. That serum I came up certainly seems to help him a lot.”
Doctor Cross casts me one last smile and stretches his hand to pat my shoulder before turning away to leave. I want to ask him
to stay with us just to make sure there’s nothing wrong with Jay. But, after two weeks of always being on our side, I kinda trust this man with our life.
I walk back into the room. The television is on and kinda loud. We have the room for ourselves, but it's way too loud even for a company of four, like us. There's a breaking news report. I focus on that for a moment.
“We are now live from Mosa, Yaerus where a second hit of the infamous Tech-Infection was just discovered. A middle-aged lady was found earlier this evening in her apartment standing in the middle of a large number of guttered animals.
“The police has been called and managed to decompress the situation in mere minutes, and although we still have no info about the so-called disease, this is the second hit this week and the fiftieth on Yaerus. The only thing common to that disease is--”
Alien Romance Box Set: Alien Cube: The Sci-FI Alien Invasion Romance (Books 1-5) Page 14
