Out of this World

by Katrina Kahler

  Dear Diary: Now, that was eventful! It felt great taking out a whole lot of alien drones. Sure, I had a little help from my friends, but after all, that’s what friends do, they help when you need a hand. Okay, that’s not all friends do, but it’s a nice part of having friends. Friends have your back. Plus, sometimes they see things more clearly than you do.

  I can’t help but notice Jason, Tomas, Felipe, and Jess didn’t seem very keen on Zeekee. Maybe they were just being over-protective. After all, Zeekee is an alien. I guess even vampires and witches can find aliens unsettling. As for Jason, sure he was also on my side, but he might have been a little jealous. He is usually the only “man” in my life. I got the idea that he didn’t like sharing me. Not sure how I feel about that.

  As for Zeekee…he certainly is CUTE! I love his big green eyes. He is so good-looking! But okay, that’s not the main deal here. This boy is an ALIEN from ANOTHER world and he needs my help! It sounds like his mom and his people aren’t very open to change. Heck, I guess they are like most humans I know. 

  But I will make it my job to keep him safe!

  Home Sweet Home

  Shep, my faithful German Shepherd ran to the door to greet me, his tail wagging a mile a minute.

  Shep noticed Zeekee. The tail stopped wagging. Shep took a step back. Shep started to growl.

  “Bad boy, Shep!” I scolded.

  Shep continued to snarl, even showing his teeth.

  I turned to Zeekee, “Sorry, he’s usually very friendly, but he is also quite protective towards me.”

  Zeekee positioned himself behind me. “Nice. A strange creature with teeth,” he said.

  “He’s called a dog,” I explained.

  “Right, I knew that,” Zeekee replied. “We only have cats on my planet. I never knew why. But I’m now starting to see the reason for that.”

  I smiled. “Ah, he must smell the cat on you. Shep and cats don’t get along.” I turned to Shep. “Shep, be good, Zeekee is a new friend.”

  Shep didn’t listen. In fact, he began to snarl louder. Who would have thought I’d have a dog that didn’t like aliens. I mean, I guess Shep felt like he needed to protect me from something new. But really, Shep should understand that I don’t need protection. At least not from this cute alien guy. I needed to calm Shep down and fast.

  I gave Shep a reassuring pat on the head. “It’s okay, buddy, Zeekee is a friend.”

  The growling continued.

  I hated to do this, but I just couldn’t have my dog threatening my new alien friend. “MAC, deactivate the deodorant nanobots from my arms,” I demanded quickly.

  “Say what?” MAC responded from my watch communicator.

  “Deactivate my deodorant,” I repeated.

  “Ms. Lia, do you think that’s wise? You’ve had a stressful afternoon. Your underarms are, how can I say this politely? Less than fresh….”

  “Yes, I understand,” I said. It always felt weird arguing with my computer assistant. He certainly wasn’t assisting me now. Though in his defense, I’m sure he thought he was. “Just do it!”

  I heard MAC sigh. “Okay, let me be clearer. If I deactivate your nano deo bots and you walked into a theater and lifted your arms up, all the other patrons in the theater would fall unconscious.”

  “That’s a really specific example,” I told MAC.

  “I’m a computer, specific examples are what I do.”

  “Look MAC, I’m not going to leave the house. In fact, I only want the nano deo bots deactivated under my left arm, and only for a moment.”

  A question mark appeared on my watch interface.

  “I just need to calm Shep down,” I argued once more.

  “Okay...done,” MAC said, “Proceed with caution.”

  “Gotcha…”

  I leaned over Shep, and in my most soothing voice I softly sang, “Shep be nice and calm…” I didn’t want to use my underarm scent on him if I didn’t have to.

  Shep kept his eyes focused on Zeekee. Yep, my loyal dog didn’t trust an alien from a planet that had no dogs. I had to calm Shep down. I considered other options besides giving him a whiff of my underarm. I tried talking to him one more time. “Come on, boy, calm down…”

  Shep’s fur stood up on edge. If anything, he became more agitated the longer he focused on this alien boy. I positioned my underarm so it moved gently over Shep’s nose. Shep, as always, sniffed my underarm. I don’t know why but he just couldn’t resist.

  Shep rolled over onto his back. He sighed then closed his eyes.

  “Wow, your scent overpowered him!” Zeekee said.

  “I like to think of it as comforting him,” I told Zeekee.

  Zeekee shook his head. “No way! You dropped him like a meteorite! What power!!”

  “I am activating your nano deo bots again,” MAC said.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I pointed at Shep, “He’ll be resting for a while. Let me show you my house.”

  “Zeto!” Zeekee said. “I’ve never seen a house from another world before.”

  I led Zeekee into the living room. His mouth fell open. “I have never seen such rounded and fluffy objects before…what are they?”

  “Ah, we call them a couch and chairs,” I said.

  He leaped into the air, onto our couch. He bounced up a bit. He settled down. He sank back into the couch. “OMS this is so soft! It’s like sitting on a cloud!”

  “OMS?” I asked.

  He grinned, “It is short for Oh My Stars.”

  “Ah,” I said.

  He jumped off the couch and spun towards a yellow easy chair. He plopped down on the chair. “This has such comfort and warmth. It’s much nicer than our metal chairs.”

  I pointed to the handle on the chair. “It also goes back and rocks.”

  “You mean it plays music?” Zeekee asked.

  I smiled. “No, but some people have chairs that do that. Pull the handle and lay back.”

  Zeekee put his hand on the handle and pulled it back. His eyes shot open as the recliner foot section popped out. “OMS cubed!” he shouted. “This chair is awesome.”

  “Now move your body,” I told him.

  He glanced at me. “I thought you said this chair doesn’t play music.”

  “Just trust me, Zeekee,” I grinned.

  Zeekee slowly rocked the chair back and then forward. His grin spread wide across his face. “This is surprisingly pleasant. For primitive beings, you Earth folk do have some good ideas!”

  “Ah, thanks,” I said. Though being called primitive didn’t make me happy.

  Zeekee pointed at the TV on the wall. “Is that big black box what I think it is?”

  “If you think it’s a television, yes, it is,” I said.

  “Oh no, I thought it was a TV,” he sighed. “I so wanted to view one of those.”

  “A television is a TV,” I replied with a smirk.

  “Ah,” his face lit up. “You Earth people make things so complicated sometimes!” He clapped his hands. “Television on! Entertain me!” he shouted at the TV.

  “Ah, our TV doesn’t respond like that,” I said.

  “Do I need to call it by name?” Zeekee asked.

  I smiled. I reached down to the coffee table and grabbed the remote control. “No, our TV is not advanced.”

  Zeekee’s eyes dropped. “Oh, my bad. I just assumed since Earth people spent so much time watching these boxes, they would respond to voice.”

  “Some do. It’s just that my mom is old-fashioned,” I explained, handing Zeekee the remote. “Use this.”

  He took the remote from me and wiggled it with his hand. “It has a nice feel to it. Do I talk to this?”

  I smiled. “No, you press the buttons.”

  “With my fingers?”

  “No, with your tongue, Zeekee.”

  “Okay, but that doesn’t seem very sanitary,” he said, his tongue dropping out of his mouth.

  I waved my hands in front of him. “No, no! That was a jo
ke. Of course, you use your fingers!” I grinned.

  Zeekee looked at me. He had a slight smirk on his lips. “Ha, good one Lia Strong!” He laughed. “You are so freezing!”

  “I think you meant cool.”

  “Isn’t freezing colder than cool?” he asked.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Therefore, isn’t it better than cool?” he asked.

  “You might think that, but it’s not,” I told him.

  Zeekee started scrolling through the channels on the TV. “You Earth people sure are a bit weird, but you must be doing something right to invent something as fun and cool as TV.”

  “Ah, thanks,” I said.

  I sat and watched Zeekee. His eyes were glued to the screen as he scrolled through the channels. After about fifteen minutes of that, I said, “You know, we earthlings have other rooms too.”

  Zeekee’s eyes remained locked on the screen. “Do you have TVs in those rooms too?”

  I nodded. “In some yes, but not all. At least not in this house. Like I said, my mom is a bit old-fashioned. “Are you hungry?” I asked him.

  He looked at me. “No, I told you my name is Zeekee, hungry would be a strange name.”

  “No, I mean do you have hunger?” I asked.

  “Ever?” he asked.

  “Like right now?” I laughed.

  He stopped watching the TV. He patted his stomach. “Actually, I do have hunger right now. Can you have your robots bring me something?”

  “Ah, not a lot of robots around, not yet anyway.”

  “Then how do you get food?”

  I pulled him up from the chair. I dragged him into the kitchen. Once again his mouth dropped open. “I have read of these in history books. This is what we called a food preparation area.”

  “We call it kitchen,” I said.

  I pointed to the refrigerator. “That’s a refrigerator, it keeps food cold.” I pointed to the oven. “That’s an oven, it cooks the food.” I pointed to the microwave. “That’s a microwave, it cooks food fast, good for warming things up. It’s great for popcorn.”

  “What is popcorn?”

  “It’s tasty. Trust me.”

  Zeekee walked over to the sink. “I know what this metal contraption does. It’s a water dispenser and water remover.”

  “Yep, we call it a faucet and sink,” I said.

  He grinned. “You Earth people, with your colorful words.” He pointed at the table and chairs. “Do you consume food sitting down in groups?”

  “Mom and I try to, whenever we can,” I told him.

  “How quaint,” he told me. “Where is your female parental unit?” he asked.

  I looked at the clock. “She’s still at work. But she should be home anytime now. I think she has a date tonight.”

  “So you people still work?”

  “Yes. My mom’s a medical doctor.”

  “Wait, doesn’t everybody on Earth have a date tonight? After all, you all share the same planet.”

  “We call it a date when two people who like each other, more than just as a friend, go out together.”

  Zeekee nodded. “Oh, I see.” He paused. “Do you have a date tonight?” he asked.

  “Nope,” I grinned and shook my head. “Right now, all the boys I know are just friends.”

  “Even that Jake fellow?”

  “His name is Jason.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Zeekee I am sure.”

  “Do you have a romantic interest in Jason, formerly known as Jake?” he prodded.

  “I’ve known Jason all my life.”

  “Wait! You were born together? Do you have clone facilities here?”

  I shook my head. “No, Zeekee, let me be more specific…”

  “I would appreciate that, Lia Strong.”

  “I’ve known Jason for as long as I can remember.”

  “That does not mean you cannot have romantic feelings towards him. I think that would increase the chances. But, I could be wrong. On my planet, our dates are picked for us by computers.”

  “Interesting,” I said. “And no, at this current moment in time, I don’t have a romantic interest in Jason. He is my best friend.”

  “So Earth folk cannot be romantically involved with friends?”

  “They can be, but Jason and I choose not to be at this present moment. We are young. Plus, he’s kind of like a brother to me.”

  Zeekee grinned. “Ah, I understand that.”

  “Do you really?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Actually no, but I figure it’s not that important. The important thing is, you are without romantic interest.”

  Something about the way Zeekee worded that statement didn’t feel quite right. But sadly, he had figured out the truth. The romance in my life was zero. I just didn’t need to be told that. But hey, I’m only 13. I have a lot of time. Plus, did Zeekee’s interest mean he had an interest in me? Or was he just curious? I’d have to see how this played out.

  I walked over and popped open the fridge. I looked over my shoulder and asked Zeekee, “What do you feel like?”

  He felt his cheek. “I think I feel kind of soft and squishy, but it depends on which part of me you feel.”

  “Ah, I mean what do you feel like eating?”

  “Do you have protein mush?” he asked.

  I looked into the fridge. “Well, we do have bacon, lettuce, and tomato. I can make you a sandwich.”

  “It sounds fascinating! What is this sandwich you speak of?”

  “In this case it’s meat,” I showed him the bacon. “With lettuce,” I showed him a head of lettuce. “And tomato!” I showed him a nice big red juicy tomato. “Between two slices of bread!” I pointed to the bread on the counter.

  Zeekee licked his lips. He stopped. “My, what a primitive reaction I just had.” He grinned, showing me the dimples on his cheeks. “I liked it!”

  I moved to the counter and prepared a sandwich with super speed. Not that I had to, but I wanted to impress him. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to see that Earth folk could do some amazing things, or that I, myself, could be a pretty amazing person.

  Regardless, I slapped together a tasty BLT in like, under a second. Grabbing a plate from a cupboard above the counter, I darted over to Zeekee. Yep, something about this guy made me want to impress him. I placed the sandwich and plate down. I super sped over to the counter and made myself a sandwich. Then shot back to the table next to Zeekee.

  “Do you want some milk?” I asked.

  He raised a finger. “I know what that is…it’s a liquid produced by mammals to nourish their young. Do you have a milk-producing mammal in the house?”

  I got up and walked to the fridge. This time I moved at regular speed. I pulled out a bottle of milk. “Nah we just put it in bottles,” I told him.

  I grabbed two glasses and super sped back to the table. I poured the milk in the blink of an eye.

  Zeekee had already bitten into his sandwich. “Quite impressive,” he said.

  “Thank you,” I said with a bow.

  “Actually, Lia Strong, I was talking about this bacon. It’s amazing!”

  “Oh right, I knew that,” I said, feeling my face turn red.

  Zeekee pointed at my face. “Oh, I enjoy the added color of your cheeks!” he noted. “Is that a side effect of moving so fast?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I told him.

  I guessed it was a good thing he didn’t realize he’d embarrassed me. That might have made him feel uncomfortable. It must have been a weird and strange enough experience just being on another planet. The poor guy was all alone. All because he wanted to learn and experience new things. I didn’t need to make him any more uncomfortable. After all, I couldn’t imagine what he was going through.

  He really gobbled down that bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. He finished his sandwich before I had even taken a second bite out of mine. And I can really eat. One of the better things about being super is that I actually burn throug
h a LOT of calories each day. When you have the strength of hundreds of people, you need to eat a lot.

  “So, what it’s like on your planet?” I asked.

  He drank a glass of milk. “More please!” he said, showing me the glass.

  I super sped to the fridge, grabbed the bottle of milk and put it on the table.

  “My planet is very sterile and cold. All the plants and trees we have are planned. We have no wild growth left. It’s a very efficient planet. Our food source is protein mush or bars, and also multi-plant.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Multi-plant is an edible plant that has the benefits of what you would call fruits, vegetables, and grains. It is quite amazing.”

  “Is it tasty?” I asked him.

  “Well, not nearly as tasty as bacon!” he grinned.

  Before we could get much deeper into the conversation, we heard the front door open.

  “Hello?” Mom called as she entered the house. “Okay, Lia! Why’d you knock out the dog AGAIN?”

  She walked into the kitchen. An eyebrow popped up. “So, who do we have here?”

  Zeekee jumped up on the table and put his hand to his chest. “Greetings, mother of Lia Strong!” he pounded his chest three times. “It is an honor to meet you.” He bowed. He dropped back down to his chair. He lowered his gaze, “I am Zeekee Zaxxx!”

  “Let me guess. You aren't from around here,” Mom laughed. I could see that she found my new friend very amusing.

  “I am from the same galaxy!” he beamed.

  “Oh good,” Mom said. “I was afraid this might be a little weird.”

  I gave her a grin. “You know me, Mom, these days, the new normal is…anything goes.”

  Mom sat down at the table next to me and across from Zeekee. She looked right into his big green eyes. “So Zeekee Zaxxx, what brings you to Earth?”

  “I have a cloaked space shuttle in orbit.”

  Mom smiled.

  “He’s a bit literal. Earth languages are different for him,” I said.

  “So, why did you come here?”

  “I wanted to see new planets and interact with special people like Lia,” Zeekee said slowly like he had to think before each word.

  “Okay, do your parents know you are here?” Mom asked.