by Marie Dry
“From now on, you will accompany me on the visits to the orphanage and the shelters.”
Madison pressed against the wall to avoid the kids going into the dining room when they exited the clinic, and she noticed that all the children were well dressed in brand new clothes. Clothes were expensive, and only the very rich wore a lot of new clothing and followed fashion. Did the aliens provide these children with clothes from their synthesizers? She didn’t want to see them as humane benefactors of children. These monsters killed her brother.
“Why pick on me?” she asked once they were outside. “I think the other doctors should gain experience as well.” And suffer under his tongue.
“I prefer you.”
“Why?”
“You do not need reasons, you will obey.”
“Goodie for me,” she said and, with her shoulders drooping, followed him to the shuttle. They went back in silence and she came to the conclusion that if he was a typical alien, they didn’t suffer from a lot of emotion. “Definitely reptilian,” she muttered.
“You will cease calling us reptiles,” he said.
She kept forgetting his super hearing. “Are you reptilian?”
“No.”
“I’m still calling you a reptile.” If he could call her human in that insulting way, she could call him a reptile. When she’d kissed him it hadn’t felt like kissing a reptile, his lips had been warm and seductive.
“I thought your name for me was Frankenstein.”
Damn, she thought. She shrugged. He wouldn’t know the reference, so she’d just keep quiet on that. And maybe she’d stop calling him Frankenstein.
“I do not sew dead humans together,” he said without any discernable emotion.
Madison could feel a blush starting under her armpits and climbing to her face. He must’ve looked up the name. At least he didn’t realize most people mistakenly used to call the monster Frankenstein.
The rest of the trip, they were silent, and she childishly decided she’d call them reptiles every chance she got. At the hospital, she got out, barely able to contain her roiling stomach. She’d thought he would keep away from her in case she threw up on his shoes again. Instead, he hovered near her.
Rachel stood outside the hospital, trying to look as if she wasn’t waiting around to see if Madison was still in one piece. She’d gotten in the habit of waiting for her after their shifts.
Madison ran down the ramp. “Bye, Viglar.” If she ran fast enough, she might get away before he tried to put her to work. Her stomach that had threatened to expel its contents turned.
“Human.”
Madison gnashed her teeth and turned to him. “My name is Madison,” she said through her teeth. “You call me human in that supercilious voice again, and I’ll feed you a knuckle sandwich.”
Madison cringed at her juvenile words. It had been a long day, with him correcting literally everything she did, and the stress just got to her. She felt stupid for making the childish threat, but she just wanted to get away from him and relax for a while.
“I will not be fed by a human,” he said as if accepting food from her would be the next thing to being poisoned.
Proving she was her mother’s daughter, in spite of the lack of ample weight and the fact that she was a natural red head, she grabbed his jacket and couldn’t get a grip so she grabbed his shoulder to hold him in place and pulled back her fist. “Allow me to demonstrate,” she snarled.
She didn’t think she knew how to snarl, but that was the only way to describe the sound coming out of her mouth. Being unable to hold him with her hand on his shoulder just made her madder.
He caught her fist in his hand and then turned it this way and that, studying it. “I do not see the sandwich.”
Madison’s stomach rebelled and, before she could stop it, she threw up on his shoes. Again. This time he stepped back in time and waited until she finished.
“Why did you call me?”
He loomed over her and bent down until he gritted next to her ear. “You will cease telling Rachel anything. That human is not your friend.” He turned and walked away and she glared at his back.
Rachel stood waiting for her with her eyes stretched so wide she looked like a cartoon character. “Are you crazy, Madison?” Then her eyes narrowed and a speculative look came and went in her eyes. “You know, if anyone else had tried that, he would’ve killed them.”
Madison threw her hands in the air. “Not that again.” She wanted to crawl into a deep dark hole and hide. What had come over her to act like that? After that little scene, he must think she had the emotional capacity of a four year old.
And why did Viglar say Rachel was not her friend? He might be a pain and rude and a know it all, but the aggravating thing was that most times he was right.
“So, what did he whisper in your ear?”
“The usual nonsense about how useless I am.” Though to be fair, he threw a lot of insults at humans, but he never insulted her. It was the fault of the university that trained her or faulty equipment, but now that she thought about it he worked her hard, but wasn’t as scathing to her as he was to the other doctors.
For some reason, she didn’t want to tell Rachel what he said and she didn’t know why. Rachel was her best friend and she normally shared everything with her, but some strange sense stopped her from telling her the truth and that made her feel dreadful. Damn alien.
“You almost threw up on his shoes.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Madison said as Rachel left and Madison went back to work.
“Tomorrow morning at six your studies begin, human,” Viglar said as Madison finally left for the day. “Do not be late.”
She didn’t answer, just walked to her flat. She was lucky to have a place near the hospital. It was a combination of Rachel’s family’s influence and working at the hospital that made it possible for her to have a flat in a good part of the city.
She found Rachel sitting on the steps waiting for her. “You shouldn’t do that, it’s dangerous to sit outside after dark.”
They lived in a fairly good area and, even though they were only interns, doctors were scarce and they were paid decent money. When Jacobson didn’t sabotage her salary. Though this area was cordoned off, there didn’t seem to be any safe neighborhoods. Gangs were everywhere.
“Yeah and it’s dangerous to walk after dark.”
Madison shrugged. “I suppose.” She’d been desperate to get away from Frankenstein. Though it’s been a while since she saw any of the thugs hanging around. She turned and scanned the street. “Have you seen any of the gangbangers lately?” she asked Rachel.
Rachel got up and looked up and down the street. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t had any trouble for a while. Not even someone hassling me for money.”
They went inside and she poured them both a generous amount of wine and took out the previous day’s pizza to heat.
“So give, what happened?” Rachel took a huge bite of the pizza, but her eyes were avid.
Madison closed her eyes and shuddered. “It was awful, he criticized everything I did and I threw up on him.”
“What?”
Madison took a large bite of Pizza. “Twice.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing, just cleaned his boots and now I have to work with him every day.” She took a big gulp of wine before continuing. “He said my methods were barbaric and the two years we spent in medical school were too short to learn anything, so now he’s going to teach me.”
This is an opportunity to study his methods. Learn from him. With his advanced technology, he would never be confronted by a patient he couldn’t save.
“If you can stick it out, you might be able to get your hands on their technology or DNA.”
Madison took another huge gulp of the wine. “I suppose.” She knew she should be eager to get his DNA and technology, but she kept thinking about the way he interacted with the children. Their well-dressed cloth
es. The way he gave them sweets with that god-awful smile.
Rachel smiled at her, a teasing smile. “And he’s sexy, at least you get to look at that body up close every day.”
“What? No, he’s not sexy. Why would you say that?” Madison had a nice buzz going and Rachel was spoiling that.
She took another swallow. Okay, so he had a good body. And his face with its high cheekbones and firm jaw wasn’t half bad. That didn’t make him sexy. He was a good kisser. But even with the wine causing a nice buzz in her head she didn’t tell Rachel about that.
Rachel tapped a finger against her wineglass and thought about it. “Okay, he’s green and those black eyes are creepy, but you have to admit he is well built. You don’t see many men like that.” There was a strange watchful look in Rachel’s eyes that, even with the buzz Madison felt, struck her as odd.
“I can’t see past the rudeness. He said we’re collapsing.”
“What? The hospital?”
“No, our civilization. He said because we don’t fly anymore, we are collapsing, and it’s not true. We’re at the peak of our existence.”
“Hmmm.”
“And he said they used to put down weak women, but now their emperor or something married a weak woman so things are changing.” She needed to stop talking. She blamed Viglar for this feeling that she couldn’t trust her best friend.
“Hmmm.”
For the rest of the night, they talked about work and the guy Rachel broke up with the previous week, and then Madison said she had to go to bed because she had to be at the hospital at six the next morning. Rachel left to go to her flat on the floor upstairs.
Madison fell into bed, and she was so tired she didn’t lay awake obsessing about everything the alien said. She especially didn’t want to consider how exhilarating it was to spend the whole day with the dratted alien. He might be aggravating and know it all, but she’d never felt this alive before.
She fell into a deep sleep and only woke when the earthquake made her bed shake. She was uncomfortably warm and moaning she kicked the bedding off her. Or tried to. It suddenly weighed a ton. Blinking she sat up and stared at her bed. “What the hell?” It took a moment for her befuddled mind to realize she was looking at what looked like an animal pelt, died red. The same red as her hair. “I’m going to kill Rachel and whoever else is in on this joke,” she muttered.
Mumbling about crazy friends, she moaned and rolled, sleepily getting up to go and stand in the doorway. Earthquakes were a reality of life.
Someone large and green stood in her way.
Chapter 10
Madison screamed loud and long, turning in circles, looking for something to help defend her against the intruder.
“Human, cease your screams.”
Madison stopped screaming and turned to the large figure that stood with his legs apart and his arms crossed over his chest, staring at her as if she was a sample of a virus under a microscope.
“How the hell did you get in here?”
“Your human locks are inadequate.”
“This is not happening.” She sank down on the bed and clutched her head, tempted to pull her hair out of her head. She actually lifted her hand when she remembered she only wore a thin T-shirt, and she didn’t have any underwear on, and if she lifted her hand to her head he might see more than he ever wanted to. She pulled the sheet out from the heavy red thing on her bed and tried to cover her legs. “This is a nightmare and I’m still asleep having a nightmare about a rude green alien in my room.”
“Human, you are an hour late.”
“I quit, you don’t have to teach me anything. I’ll go and work at another hospital.” She didn’t look up because if she looked at him right now she would beat the living tar out of him.
Her threat was an empty one, anyway. Without some serious money behind her, none of the other hospitals would take her.
“You will rise, human.” He tore off the sheet, pulled her upright and his eyes flashed red. “You will work where I say. At the hours I command. I expect you to behave better than the other lazy humans.”
“Unbelievable,” she muttered and grabbing some clothes she went to the bathroom. She could feel his eyes on her butt. “And get out of my bedroom. Its rude to come into someone’s home without an invitation,” she shouted over her shoulder and scurried into the bathroom. She closed and locked the door and leaned against it for a moment, waiting for her heart to stop beating overtime.
When she came out, he stood with his legs apart and his arms folded over his chest. The alien whose hologram had appeared had stood just like that. Even though they looked a lot alike, she knew it wasn’t Viglar that had made that speech. She didn’t know if it was good or bad that she knew that.
“Did you bring that?” she motioned to the pelt and did a double take. He’d made her bed with the pelt placed over it. And he’d managed hospital corners.
“I killed an Eduki for you. The red-pelted Eduki’s are the fiercest of all Eduki’s, and I faced him with courage to honor you.”
“Huh.” He thought her a stupid human. How come she suddenly get to be honored. And where did he find the animal that pelt belonged to? Nothing like that existed on earth.
“You are honored, human. In spite of your ugly hair and spindly arms and legs, you have been claimed by a fierce warrior with exceptional healing skills.”
Madison stared at him and then shook her head. “No, nu-huh, I can’t do this without coffee.”
She didn’t want to hear about claiming this early in the morning. She wanted to, but couldn’t take exception to his remark on her skinny arms and legs. Her mama always said she was so skinny she had to tie a knot in her legs to make knees.
Madison walked into her tiny kitchen. It was more a counter where she could cook than a real kitchen. It was too early in the morning for this. She couldn’t cope with Frankenstein’s monster before the sun came up. “I’m not going anywhere without coffee, so just chill.” She wasn’t going to acknowledge his talk of claiming. That way lay insanity. If she ignored it, the whole issue would go away. A shiver went down her spine. What did claiming involve for the alien? She had a hunch it entailed much more than kissing.
“You will have coffee at the hospital.”
“No, I won’t.” she took a large swallow and sighed. “It’s gooder’n grits.”
She didn’t see him move, but one moment she was telling him how it was going to be and the next she was hanging over his shoulder. She pummeled his uniformed back. “Put me down. Ouch, you freak, you broke my hands.”
He put her down, checked her hands, and then threw her over his shoulder and carried her outside.
“Let me go, I need my bag, I need to lock my door.”
With her still over his shoulder, he turned back and touched the door. “It is now locked.”
“What did you do to my door? I’d better be able to get in tonight.”
He didn’t answer her, but walked out to the street and put her in the car that stood outside. She complained the whole way to the hospital. He ignored her but she had six brothers. She knew how to be annoying. She could keep it up for hours. He might be a tough nut, but she’d crack him eventually.
“Do I carry you?” he asked when they stopped at the back of the hospital.
Glaring at him, she opened the door and got out. She headed for the cantina and he stopped her, steering her toward his office.
“This is going to get annoying real soon. And don’t think I can’t get the better of you. I’ve got six brothers. I’ve got lots of practice.”
“Practice against human males does not count.”
She gnashed her teeth, balled her fists, and seriously considered hitting him behind the knee. That would take him down quick. She could make him go down and then just walk on as if nothing happened, and the rest of the day she’d smirk in his face until he was driven out of his mind. She’d done it once with her biggest brother. It was her foolproof method of getting back at them.
They never saw it coming.
Once in his office, he pushed her down into a chair and touched the wall. The most wonderful smell filled her nostrils.
He placed a cup of coffee and a plate filled with toast, bacon, and eggs in front of her. She’d never had bacon before he started feeding her, she knew what it was from looking at old commercials but never imagined how good it was.
“You will eat everything, and then we will start.”
She was tempted to eat really slow just to irritate him, but the food looked and smelled too good and the coffee was heavenly and woke her. She wolfed down the breakfast while he stood over her. A habit he took up ever since he told her he’d monitor her food intake. She didn’t care. It’d been years since she had anything this good. Her mama was a good cook, but ingredients were scarce. Madison sat back replete and smiled at him. After all, he did give her this excellent breakfast. Not that she wouldn’t get him, at a later date, for throwing her over his shoulder.
He took away the dishes and made them disappear into the wall.
“Thank you, that was a great breakfast.” She thought about his threat to have her accompany him the whole time. And it was starting to look like he expected her to report at this ungodly hour every day. She couldn’t think of anything worse than being trapped in his office with him every day. “I prefer to go to the cantina. It’s nice to chat to the other doctors. At night, when my shift starts,” she said pointedly. She always volunteered for night duty, because she hated getting up early.
He moved to another section of the wall and pressed those invisible buttons. “You will report here every morning at five and eat breakfast under my supervision.”
The damn alien was incapable of listening to her. She could get up on his gleaming desk and shout that she didn’t want to be his pet project, and he’d just continue issuing commands in that rough voice that made her shiver. “I’ve been eating my breakfast without supervision for a while now. Really, I’m quite comfortable doing such a difficult task on my own, now that I’ve reached the ripe old age of twenty-eight.”
