Not of This World

by Tracy St. John

  Yees continued. “We are now ready to advance to the next step in determination. You may escort Jeannie to the temple. Our physicians will examine her to confirm she is a naturally occurring being. Meanwhile, we will inform the Assembly of our findings.”

  “Yes, Elder Yees. Thank you.” Kren attempted to fill his demeanor with enough gratitude to make up for his earlier disrespect.

  Yees gave him a quizzical look. “Jeannie has requested you remain with her throughout the scientific testing. I informed her the visual examination will be thorough.”

  Mekay, who stood off to one side with the rest of the council, added, “I’m a little surprised she wants this, given her modesty.”

  Kren thought of the lovely woman beneath the clothing she wore. His hearts beat faster.

  Jeannie gave him a shy smile and shrugged. “You’ve seen it all before anyway. I need a friendly face I can trust for these tests.” She nodded to Yees. “Your elders have been kind, but I’m feeling the stress of dealing with strangers.”

  Kren held his arms out to her, not caring what Yees, Fetla, or anyone else thought. Jeannie came to him, her pretty face lighting brighter as he folded his arms around her.

  He felt the rightness of her slender form against him. Even the raised brows of the council made no impression on him, not when he had Jeannie safe and secure. He dipped his head down to whisper in her ear.

  “I am with you wherever you need me. Always.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Is it possible to be scared shitless in Nirvana? Why yes; yes, it is.

  Jeannie sat in the examination room located in the one of the medical domes of the temple. A most tranquil place, though her nerves refused to obey the surroundings.

  The temple wasn’t a single building as she’d supposed, but a cluster of connected domes in the center of Hahz. The largest dome, the interior of which Jeannie had not seen yet, was in the middle of dozens of smaller white domes circling around it. It rose high above the rest of Hahz, a gorgeously vaulted structure of metallic ribs and glass which Kren had told her also collected the majority of the village’s solar power.

  To Jeannie, a temple signified only a religious affinity. However, Hahz’s temple was a place of secular pursuits as well. Scientific research, education, politics, and living spaces existed side by side with chapels and spiritual retreats. The technology boggled the mind, even though she couldn’t guess at a fraction of the various gizmos in the rooms she’d passed. The world of the Risnarish men outside the temple consisted of agriculture and raw nature. Within the temple, Jeannie felt she’d stepped onto a set of some science fiction television show. Computer podiums and stations slid out of walls and floors at a touch. The same with machines and furnishings. The table Jeannie lay upon had been a part of the floor when she’d walked into the empty room. When one of the doctors uttered a command, it had slipped silently up on what she guessed were hydraulic legs beneath the smooth surface.

  The evidence of an awe-inspiring, technologically advanced civilization was everywhere. Yet, the little bit Jeannie had seen of the temple left no doubt that it was a place where spiritual serenity was also pursued. Even the medical examination room looked like a cross between a high-tech doctor’s office and a spa retreat.

  Too bad she couldn’t obey its unspoken dictates to relax. Jeannie was surprised the whole room wasn’t shaking from her nervousness.

  The table she’d been instructed to lie upon naked was similar to a massage table. It was comfortable once the doctors had dressed it with padding and soft linens. An array of machinery, made of metal and white plastic-y surfaces, had emerged from the walls and floor, arranging themselves near the head of the table.

  Otherwise, the room was not as functional as Jeannie was used to seeing. The flooring felt soft underfoot. The walls had slid open in places to reveal shelves with small instruments arrayed like jewels, their metallic surfaces twinkling in the warm light. Soothing colors of pastel green and cream composed the palette. A fountain in the corner sent water burbling over flat rock formations. A sound filled the air...not music, but more akin to the quiet hum of many people exhaling at once, steady and never ending. Instead of the antiseptic smell Jeannie associated with a doctor’s examination room, there was the scent of the woods beyond the borders of Hahz, fresh, deep, and wholesome.

  It was a calming setting, which Jeannie appreciated given her position. Yet despite its placid aura, the rooms she’d passed through as she’d come to this place had seemed somehow cold. All was arranged just so. Even the rocks in the fountain were placed with precise symmetry, order that nature would have never allowed. As tranquil as the temple was, Jeannie preferred the warmth and jumble of Kren’s dome. The temple appeared to be a presentation. Kren’s place looked like a home.

  Kren stayed close by, sitting on a bench against the soft green wall. He smiled encouragingly at her whenever her gaze slid to him. His few interactions with the two doctors, Carn and Jaxa, had been respectful, if distant. The attitudes between the two genders came off as formal though they’d initially greeted each other with recognition. Jeannie found it odd. The men and women were indeed separate in most matters, more acquaintances than friends.

  She shivered despite the comfortable warmth of the room as Carn and Jaxa stood at either side of the table. She was naked and felt her exposure. Unlike the way Kren had made her feel in his bed, she did not enjoy this sensation of helplessness.

  At least she could talk to everyone at the temple. The translation program containing English had been loaded into the structure’s programs, allowing her to speak to the Risnarish women testing her.

  Carn, a young woman with brown, white, and cream stripes that matched the décor, leaned over and brushed Jeannie’s hair back from her face. Her touch was gentle, as was her demeanor. “Relax, Jeannie. You will not be harmed by the examination.” She beheld the Earthling with quiet curiosity. “Your breasts and sex...they are always vulnerable this way?”

  “Yes.”

  Jaxa reached for a gadget sitting atop one of the machines near the table. It reminded Jeannie of a small television monitor with handles. Jaxa fiddled with it, and let it go. It floated in the air, hovering in front of her.

  Jaxa’s teeth were bright against her mahogany and black face. Her magnificent coloration made her look like a goddess carved from polished obsidian.

  She was as careful as Carn with Jeannie. “Hold still for me while I scan, please. The machine will not touch you, only image your internal body.”

  Jeannie thought of MRIs, X-Rays, and radiation. She hoped that whatever the scanner gadget emitted to take its pictures wasn’t harmful to her.

  As the machine drifted over Jeannie’s face, Carn took blood samples. Jeannie was hyperaware of everything and expected the sampling to sting despite the two doctors’ assurances to the contrary. True to their word, the cuff that Carn wrapped around her forearm caused no pain as it did its work. Jeannie watched with morbid fascination as her blood slithered through an IV-like tube and felt nothing beyond the slight pressure of the cuff. Had she not seen the red fluid moving from the cuff to a small collection vial, she’d never have known anything was being done to her. It was certainly not the horror of the sample-taking as performed by the Monsudan drones.

  Jaxa watched as the scanner floated over Jeannie’s throat and then glided to the right, following her collarbone. A moment later, the dark Risnarish woman put a hand on the device, stilling it. She bent close to stare at whatever had come up on its readout.

  “Ah, a foreign particle. It may be a tracking device. Here, on the back of the shoulder.”

  She tapped something on the scanner, and it beamed a projection in the air. Jeannie saw reddish-pink meat, what she took for muscle. A tiny black rectangle was embedded in the center of the glistening flesh. Circuitry wound in maze trails over its surface.

  “How big is it?” she
asked, her voice weak.

  Jaxa held up two pointed-tip fingers, indicating an area of only a centimeter. “Quite small. Easily missed if not searched for.”

  Jeannie swallowed. “That’s how they find me? Can you take it out?”

  Carn gave her another pat. “Certainly. It will take only a moment, though it does mean a minor bit of cutting and bleeding.” She took the blood-taking cuff off Jeannie’s arm, her expression serene.

  Jaxa turned off the projection and set the scanner to work again. “Let me finish the visual examination first. When that is done, I will remove it.”

  The exam continued. Carn and Jaxa agreed they could take their skin sample from the same site where the transmitter had been inserted. Saliva, urine, and other samples were collected, all painlessly. As they worked and Jeannie experienced none of the horrors she’d endured at the hands of the Monsuda, she relaxed. Carn and Jaxa often inquired if she felt all right, if she needed water or anything to eat. They were politely kind. Gentle. But there was no more than the barest hint of warmth. If the two physicians were an example of the Risnarish women, then Kren was right that they were remote creatures.

  Meanwhile Kren sat quietly, his gaze rapt on Jeannie, still smiling encouragingly when she looked at him. His presence allowed her to feel even more secure. She decided there was nothing to be afraid of.

  When the tests and examination were over, Carn and Jaxa had Jeannie roll over on her left side. They numbed the back of her right shoulder.

  “I am pinching the area where we will make our incision,” Jaxa said. “Do you feel anything, Jeannie?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Then we will remove the transmitter.”

  “Cutter sterilized and ready.”

  “Incision made.”

  “Extractor sterilized and ready.”

  “I have the foreign body. Removing it now.”

  “Containment vial. Storage confirmed.”

  “Seal it. Closing incision.”

  “Anti-scarring salve. It looks good.”

  Their comments were spoken in easy tones, as if discussing the current weather. It went quicker than Jeannie expected. She could hardly believe it when Jaxa patted her arm.

  “It is done. The Monsuda will not be able to pinpoint your position any longer.”

  Those words, spoken so casually, offered a world of relief to Jeannie. An enormous weight lifted from her. After so many years, she was free of the creatures that had abducted her since childhood.

  She looked up at the Risnarish women, tears filling her eyes. In a husky voice she said, “Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how wonderful this is.”

  Carn and Jaxa smiled, still too serene to be more than moderately pleased. Carn said, “You may put your clothes on now. We are done.”

  Jeannie slid the sheath dress on. As soon as she was dressed, Kren came to her and handed off the belt, pouch, and tablet Mekay had given her.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, stroking her cheek.

  Jeannie beamed, feeling as if she’d won the lottery. “I’ve never felt better. To know those monsters can’t find me, at least not so easily—you can’t imagine. I feel I’ve been set loose from a life sentence.”

  Kren grinned, his response so much more real than Carn’s and Jaxa’s. “I am glad for you. As scary as all this testing for sentience has been, at least this good has come of it.”

  Jeannie drew closer so she could speak confidentially. “Thank you for staying with me. For being ready to go against your elders on my behalf.”

  “Yes, you inspire great loyalty among our men, Earthling.”

  Jeannie and Kren both gasped, jerking apart. They gazed with wide eyes at Yees, who stood right behind Kren. When had she come in?

  Yees looked at Kren, her interest as mild as the doctors’ pleasure had been. “Mekay, Gurnal, and especially you have shown a great deal of protectiveness for Jeannie. It is a fascinating reaction. I’m not sure what to make of it.”

  Kren straightened and spoke with care. “I apologize for any disrespect I have shown you and the other members of the council, Elder Yees. But I feel compelled to keep her safe.”

  “Why?” Genuine interest sparked her starburst eyes, but no malice.

  Kren was at a loss to explain himself. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because she’s so defenseless compared to the other beings I have known. Physically, that is. Her force of personality is as strong as any man’s.”

  “So I’ve noted.”

  Jeannie wondered what Yees meant by that comment, but as always, the woman’s unperturbed demeanor told her little. Carn and Jaxa had drawn close, fascinated by their conversation.

  Kren glanced at Jeannie and then away, as if his next words made him feel disconcerted. “I confess to having formed an emotional attachment to her as well. If anything happened to Jeannie, it would be as if someone reached in and tore my guts out.”

  Jeannie’s heart sped up. He cared that much? She took his hand and smiled up at him. His returned smile held relief as well as joy. He pressed her fingers.

  Yees switched her regard from Kren to her. “Do you feel anything like that for this man, Jeannie?”

  She kept looking into his silver eyes. “Kren has become dear to me. I’m not sure why, especially since we haven’t known each other for long. But yes, I enjoy his company a great deal.” She thought of how he’d touched her the night before and her face warmed. She hoped Yees didn’t ask how intimate their company had become.

  “Do such attachments happen on Earth? Is this why your men and women mingle their lives so closely?”

  “Being together is a natural thing, I suppose.” Jeannie was reminded of the phrase “love at first sight.”

  Was she infatuated with Kren? Even though he was an alien?

  “A most interesting development,” Yees opined. “Thank you for your cooperation with our questions and tests, Jeannie. I will inform you of our decision and if you will meet with the Assembly soon.”

  She turned to go, but Jeannie realized she had a question of her own, one that needed to be answered immediately. “Elder Yees?”

  Yees slowly pivoted to face her again. “Yes?”

  “What happens if I’m judged not sentient? If you decide the Monsuda made me?”

  Kren stiffened next to her. His grip on her hand tightened as Yees regarded her with detached composure.

  The head elder said, “This may be distressing to you. But you must understand that we cannot allow any Monsudan creations that fall into our hands to remain functional. Such devices are too dangerous to our existence. They must be eradicated.”

  Jeannie’s stomach churned. “Eradicated? Do you mean you’d kill me?”

  “Yes.”

  Without another word, Yees turned away again and left the room. Jeannie stared after the departing Risnarish woman, the wind knocked out of her. Her life was on the line. If they thought she was a Monsudan creation, they would execute her.

  Kren’s words, though whispered, were filled with determination. “It will not come to that, Jeannie. I know you are real, and I will not let anyone harm you.”

  * * *

  Jeannie managed to keep quiet until she and Kren reached his home. It had been okayed that she would remain with him until a final decision was reached by the council. The concession might have had more to do with the fact he was an enforcer who could protect Hahz from her suspected evil than from any kindness on the council’s part.

  The moment they were inside the dome, she turned around to face him. “I am to be executed if they decide the Monsuda made me. You knew it all along.”

  He looked down at her, his expression distressed. She didn’t want to know the possible outcome bothered him. She didn’t want to think he cared. Not when he’d hidden something so important from her.

 
I thought I could trust him. I thought I’d found someone worth believing in.

  Stupid, of course. He was an alien, belonging to a culture unfamiliar to her. They’d only met a couple days before. Why was she so surprised that Kren had handed her over to a hostile council in charge of whether she lived or died? Why did it hurt that he’d given her no warning about the danger she was in?

  He squared his shoulders, his jaw firming with resolution. “They will not harm you. You will live a long life, because you are sentient and not of the Monsuda.”

  “You can’t guarantee that,” she spat, poking his chest with her finger. “You’re their enforcer, sworn to uphold their laws. If they tell you to kill me, you have no choice. Isn’t that true?”

  He sprouted extra fingers on his hands, all for the apparent purpose of giving him something to clench into fists. “I will not kill you. I will not allow them to kill you. I swear it. You are under my protection.”

  With that, his hands sprang open. He grabbed Jeannie by her upper arms and yanked her close. Before she could think, his mouth was on hers, kissing her with furious passion.

  The taste and feel of him overwhelmed her. For a few moments her body softened, melting against his. Her lips parted, allowing his tongue to sweep in and claim her. Jeannie’s body lit like a cluster of sparklers on the Fourth of July, sizzling and snapping with engulfing desire.

  Her senses clamored to give in to him. She wanted nothing more than to surrender to Kren. Not just her body, but her faith that he spoke the truth. She wanted to believe there was someone out there, anywhere in the far-flung galaxy, who might restore her crippled trust in others.

  Yet brutal experience had taught her otherwise. With regret that brought stinging tears to her eyes, she pushed against Kren, tearing free from that burning kiss.

  “Stop. Let me go, Kren.”

  For a moment he stared into her eyes, his striped face naked with agony. His arms tightened around her, as if he would ignore her demand. She almost wanted him to. If he did, she might throw aside all fears of false devotion and let him convince her—if only for a little while—that he deserved her trust.