Haven and the Alien Mechanic

by Jessica Coulter Smith

  “Now you empty the fruit mixture into the dish,” Tilia said. “Then we’ll make the top of the pie.”

  Haven looked at the leftover dough. “Could we do a lattice top? I always thought those were pretty.”

  Tilia frowned. “I’m not sure what that is.”

  “You crisscross the dough over the top of the pie so it makes a lattice.”

  Tilia smiled. “I understand. Yes, we can do that. It will be different from my usual way and a nice surprise for Dryden, if he returns in time to eat it. If he isn’t back before the pie has to be eaten, we’ll make another when he gets home.”

  Haven hoped he wouldn’t be gone too long, but she knew tying up loose ends could take a while, as well as packing up the hotel suite. She missed him horribly and almost wished she’d gone with him. But then she might have missed Tryval and would have had to wait even longer for things to be settled. And she definitely wanted the mating between her and Dryden to move forward as quickly as possible.

  Tilia showed her how to actually bake the pie, which was easier than she’d thought. A Zelthranite oven looked similar to a large microwave, with a specific sequence of buttons that had to be pushed to cook different dishes. Then Tilia explained how the food processor worked in the kitchen, and showed her how to program certain meals, which would slide out on a tray when they were finished.

  “I don’t understand,” Haven said. “If the processor can cook everything from pushing a few buttons, and you don’t even have to insert ingredients, why do you need to bake the pie?”

  Tilia smiled. “Because the pie is made with love. The food processors weren’t always here. When I was a little girl, my mother had to make everything from scratch. Processors didn’t come around until I was nearly in my teen years.”

  Haven found everything about Zelthrane-3 to be fascinating and wanted to learn as much as she could. “Do you have libraries here? I haven’t seen many books on your world.”

  “Most of our reading is done on handheld comm units. They can be used for more than just communication, but not everyone has one. Since bringing humans to our world, a library has been opened here in Terran Prime. There are books there in many languages. We can go sometime if you’d like.”

  “I’d love that. I’ve always enjoyed reading, but I won’t understand any of the books that aren’t in English.”

  “Most of them are in English as the majority of our brides seem to come from America. The other countries seem hesitant to participate even though we have Terran Stations in every major city on your world. It’s our hope that the longer the program is open the more diverse the candidates will be.”

  “What about other worlds? Surely humans aren’t the only ones compatible with your people.”

  Tilia smiled. “No, they aren’t. There are other worlds that enter negotiations with our warriors from time to time, but there isn’t a bride program in place on any of them. If a warrior goes to one of those worlds and sees a female he wishes to claim, then he makes a declaration to her people and terms are agreed upon. You won’t see many wandering Terran Prime, though.”

  “So it’s rare for a warrior to select a mate not of Earth?” Haven asked.

  “Not so much rare as that the women seldom wish to leave their worlds. A lot of our warriors have joined the military forces of other planets in order to take a mate. The Bride program with Earth has kept that from happening as often. But as I mentioned, the pool isn’t very diverse. Not that there’s anything wrong with Americans. We just wish everyone would participate.”

  Haven could understand that. Eventually, America would run out of women who wanted to consider marrying an alien. And even if they didn’t, there were so many alien races out there who needed females as badly, if not more so, than the Zelthranites. Already she’d seen several other races in her small Kentucky hometown. She could only imagine who she’d see in places like New York or London. She found the different aliens to be fascinating, but only one had captured her heart.

  “The pie will be ready shortly. You look tired,” Tilia said. “If you’d like to take a nap, I’ll pull the pie out when it’s ready. I’m sure the baby is draining some of your energy the closer you get to your due date.”

  “I’m worried if I go to sleep, I’ll miss Tryval’s visit.”

  “Perhaps we should contact the council and see why he hasn’t arrived?” Tilia suggested. “He seemed most eager to reach you, and now he’s all but vanished. Something doesn’t seem right.”

  Haven had to agree. “Could you contact the council for me? Or show me how to use the Vid-Comm?”

  “I would be delighted to show you how it works.”

  Tilia led her into the living room, then showed her the sequence of buttons to turn on the Vid-Comm and dial the council. A room appeared on the screen with a group of males surrounding a table. One was dressed all in white and she assumed he was the Chief Councilor based off Dryden’s earlier description.

  “Good morning,” the chief councilor said. “You must be Haven.”

  “Yes, sir,” Haven replied.

  “My name is Borgoz. Did you need something?”

  She licked her lips, suddenly feeling nervous. “An alien by the name of Tryval was supposed to come here days ago to meet with me. I haven’t heard from him and to my knowledge he hasn’t arrived. I wondered if the council knew anything about his whereabouts.”

  Borgoz frowned. “I’m familiar with Tryval. He was very anxious to meet with you and I find it odd he hasn’t met with you or contacted you.”

  “He called on the Vid-Comm four days ago saying his shuttle had been delayed, but he’d planned to leave the next morning. That was the last I heard from him.”

  “Let me make some calls and see if I can locate the shuttle he was supposed to be on. As soon as I hear of anything, I’ll contact you, Haven. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. There could have been another delay for shuttle maintenance.”

  “Thank you, Borgoz.”

  He smiled and signed off.

  “See, he’s going to take care of it,” Tilia said. “He’s very good at his job and if Tryval has been delayed, the chief councilor will find out quickly. Borgoz has been known to be stern in the past, but since finding his mate he’s softened a bit.”

  “Is she like me?”

  “Human?” Tilia asked. “Yes, and she’s American. But Charlotte is different from most people. She has a hard time hearing and reads lips to understand what people are telling her. There’s something she wears in her ear that lets her hear a little. Their daughter is completely deaf, so Borgoz has asked that we learn sign language, not only to communicate with his daughter, but to open up the possibility of accepting brides with the same affliction. Charlotte is able to speak in a way that we can understand, even if her voice is different, but from what I understand not all deaf people can communicate that way.”

  “Was it a love match between them?” Haven asked.

  “Oh, yes. He loved her so much, he would have been willing to give up everything for her. The Chief Councilor isn’t allowed to leave our world because of the dangers, but he informed the council members he was leaving anyway. Charlotte was facing a pregnancy on Earth that could have been fatal and he wanted to be by her side.”

  “That had to be scary for her, but it’s so sweet he rushed to her side.”

  “Why don’t you rest and if the council calls, I’ll be sure to wake you?” Tilia asked.

  “I don’t think I could rest if I tried. Is there anything you need help with around the house?” Haven asked.

  “One of the human brides has a housecleaning business. She comes by once a week and cleans for me. It was a present from Harvol. I have an idea. With the influx of humans on our world, in the last year our… I believe you would call them technology experts, have managed to pull a handful of movies from Earth’s libraries and load them so we have access through the Vid-Comm units. Would you care to watch something with me?” Tilia asked.

 
; “I love watching movies.”

  “I doubt we have anything new from your world.”

  “Sometimes the best movies are the older ones,” Haven said. “I think my favorite movie is Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean. He was such a cutie.”

  Tilia smiled. “I’ll see if it’s available. If not, we can put in a request. They add a new movie every few weeks. It’s not as simple as tapping into one of your satellites; they have to convert the files to a format that will play on our technology.”

  Haven nodded. “That makes sense. If it were as easy as popping in a disc I’m sure the brides would have requested hundreds of DVDs and Blu-rays by now.”

  “After the movie, we can go to the library if you’d like. I don’t know if there’s a limit on how many books you can have at one time. Or maybe we could put in a bookshelf while Dryden is gone and ask him to bring books home to you. Is there a certain type you like?” Tilia asked.

  “Romances. Any type of romance. I read everything from historical, to paranormal, to the racy BDSM books.”

  Tilia smiled. “I didn’t understand some of that, but I’m sure Dryden will know what to search for. He won’t reach Earth for a while yet, but we can have a message waiting for him. Let’s call the Terran Station in your hometown.”

  Tilia moved over to the Vid-Comm and pushed a series of buttons. Haven paid attention in case she needed to place a call there in future. When someone appeared on the screen, Tilia smiled.

  “Greetings, Myska. I would like to leave a message for my son. He’ll be arriving there in about four Earth hours.”

  The alien called Myska nodded. “I will be happy to deliver a message for you.”

  “Please tell him to bring back two boxes of romance books for Haven. She said any kind would be fine.”

  Myska made a note and placed it in an envelope, writing Dryden’s name across the front. “Anything else?”

  Tilia looked at Haven. “He can bring back anything you’d miss about your world. As long as it can travel approximately eight hours.”

  “I have a lot of music on my iPhone, but no way to charge it here. I’ve seen solar chargers on my world that would allow me to charge my phone here. Could he find one for me?” Haven asked. “I know I can’t use the phone to call anyone, but I really do love music. I even have some books and movies downloaded to it.”

  Myska’s brow furrowed. “There are solar-powered charges that would allow humans to use Earth devices on our world?”

  Haven thought about it a moment. “Anything that could be charged off a USB plug would be able to charge from the solar charger. So, not all Earth devices would work, but I bet quite a few would. They would just have to preload them with the books, music, and movies before bringing them to your world.”

  Myska’s eyebrows arched. “And not a single bride has mentioned one of these chargers before, that I know of. My parents own one of the Earth shops there. I’ll send a box of the chargers to them in case other brides would like one. Thank you!”

  Haven smiled as he made a note for both himself and one for Dryden.

  “So, with the solar chargers, any of those Earth devices would work, as long as the material was pre-downloaded,” Myska clarified. “Which means if I bought some tablets and loaded them with movies, my family could sell them on my world? We used to have a way to download Earth books on a unit similar to our handheld comm units, but the scientist who made the technology possible is no longer on our world, and the devices have stopped working with your Earth e-books.”

  Haven nodded. “I’m sure they would be really popular. I’ve heard they aren’t reliable for long-term use, but once some are brought here, maybe your inventors could create larger community solar-charging stations around Terran Prime.”

  “It’s possible,” Myska said. “Thank you, human. You’ve been most helpful.”

  Tilia patted her back. “Haven is incredibly smart. She chose Dryden after all.”

  Myska smiled. “I’ll see that he gets your message when he lands. Enjoy your day!”

  Tilia signed off. “I wonder why none of the previous brides have mentioned these solar chargers. Are they not common on Earth? We use solar energy for most everything here, but don’t have the proper outlets for your devices. One inventor looked at the possibility of added Earth outlets to some of the homes, but then he discovered there was more than one kind depending on where on Earth the bride came from, and it would be difficult to get the needed amount of supplies here from your world. They tried to design something similar using our materials, but it shorted out the device.”

  “There are different types of USB-charging cables, but as long as the humans brought one with them that worked for each of their devices, there’s no reason the solar-power chargers wouldn’t work. I would imagine you would have more brides willing to move to this world if they could bring a bit of Earth with them. They wouldn’t have to give up everything they know.”

  Tilia hugged her. “You are incredibly smart, Haven, and have given my people much to consider. I’m sure Myska is already on a call with the council to discuss the possibilities with them.”

  “Most devices have Wi-Fi on them. As long as Dryden keeps an account on Earth with a bank card attached to it, he could easily take my iPhone with him and download new material for me. It might not be as easy for all brides, but maybe there could be some sort of service provided for them in future?”

  “Myska will give you credit for the idea. I’m sure the council or the inventors will reach out to you before long. Make a note of anything you want to mention to them. Our council will be open to any ideas to make our current brides happier, and those ideas may help other women decide to join the program.”

  “Eventually all of your males will have mates. What will become of the bride program then?” Haven asked.

  “Even with the current generation giving birth to females, there may be males who prefer an Earth bride in future generations. The program may slow down and become more selective, but I don’t think it will disappear altogether. And even if Zelthrane-3 no longer uses the program, it can be adapted for other worlds. Already there are negotiations for other races to use the program. We aren’t the only one with a lack of females. The Traxian and his companions you met at that party are a prime example.”

  “I’ve seen the black-and-white Bentares warriors mingling with your people. Do the warriors ever form bonds with other races?”

  “The Bentares live the closest to our world, but in the past other races have formed bonds with Zelthranite warriors. There’s a Zorlon-Zelthranite pairing and a Skuriu-Zelthranite pairing that I know of currently. We don’t mingle with other races often because we’re not on a direct trade route. Only those who go off-world mingle with others. Sometimes we have visitors, but it’s not that common.”

  “How did the Zorlon and the Skuriu come to be here?” Haven asked.

  “The Zorlon crashed in the wilds of our planet and our warriors went to investigate. He was badly injured in the crash and was here for months as he healed. The bones in his legs were crushed and the healers worried he wouldn’t be an effective warrior, but he proved them wrong. His name is Django. The Zorlon people are seafarers on their world and love the water, but Django formed a bond with one of the warriors who rescued him and decided to remain here.”

  “What do the Zorlons look like?” Haven asked.

  “They’re a medium aqua color with almost lime-green hair, to better blend with the waters on their world. They’re quite beautiful to look at.”

  “What about the Skuriu? How did he come to be here?” Haven asked.

  “Plivarian was actually freed from a slave market. His partner, Sumari, discovered him when his warship refueled. He’d been captured during a raid by pirates. When Sumari found the proud warrior, he purchased him and offered him freedom once they were off that horrible planet. Plivarian said he owed Sumari a life debt and they became a warrior pair. If you see Plivarian around town, the Skuriu is har
d to miss. He’s bright, lemon-yellow with small black spots, like one of your wild cats, and has jet-black hair. He’s very striking.”

  “I’d love to meet him sometime.”

  Tilia smiled and pulled up a list of movies on the Vid-Comm. “As you can see, we don’t have many options right now. Only about fifteen. You’ll get tired of watching the same ones over and over.”

  Haven looked over the list and picked one of her childhood favorites. “I love Labyrinth. Could we watch that one?”

  “Of course.”

  Tilia showed her how to start the movie, then they got comfortable. It hadn’t been on fifteen minutes before a weird sound came from the Vid-Comm and the movie disappeared to be replaced with the councilors. Borgoz looked worried, as did the others. Haven’s stomach pitched.

  “We have received word of the ship Excessia. Tryval asked for a ride from them when shuttle repairs were going to take several days,” Borgoz said.

  “And where is the Excessia now?” Haven asked.

  “Raided and blown up. The ship’s identifying marks were found in the wreckage. It is believed if there are any survivors they have been taken as slaves.” Borgoz looked grim. “I’m sending three ships to the planets closest to the wreckage in hopes of finding your Tryval at one of the slave markets. It’s possible he is lost to us.”

  Haven thought she was going to be ill. She might not have wanted to spend the rest of her life with the alien, but she also didn’t wish him harm. He was the father of her child. Her hand shook as she pushed the hair behind her ear.

  “You’re going to do everything you can to find him, though, right?” Haven asked.

  “I’ll make sure my warriors scour the galaxy for him.”

  “Thank you, Chief Councilor,” Tilia said. “I know Haven will worry until Tryval is found. Will you keep us updated for any new developments?”

  “Of course.”

  The screen went back to the movie, but Haven didn’t much care to see it now. “We need to call Dryden. He needs to know what’s going on.”

  Tilia nodded. “I completely agree. Why don’t you go relax in your room and I’ll call the Terran Station in Kentucky? I have a feeling Dryden will make a quick return trip.”