Export Duty

by Cassandra Chandler

  “I do not understand,” Cyan said. “How can rain be correct or incorrect?”

  Both the Earthlings laughed.

  “It’s just an expression.” Lily cast a reserved smile at him. “But you really will be fine.”

  “You hear that?” Rin said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Cyan narrowed her gold eyes at him. The huge orange cat she called “Freddie” approached and started walking around her in circles, its tail clinging to her in an odd, almost prehensile fashion. She looked down at him with a forlorn expression.

  Rin hit on a way to reassure her. Maybe. “Now that I’m thinking about it, this is going to be great. I don’t know of anyone who’s let their body heal from any kind of injury without our med-tech. We can observe the process and make notes.”

  “It’ll be a great cover story, too,” Lily said. “If anyone asks, you can tell them you were a little too curious about the local wildlife, and then decided to see what it’s like for us humans when we pay for our mistakes.”

  Rin had a sudden urge to hug Lily and thank her. But that would undo the progress he could see that they’d made in convincing Cyan to follow their plan.

  “‘Us humans’.” Lily shook her head. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

  Rin turned back to Cyan. “I can heal on my own. We don’t need to use anything that will leave a trail back here. No one else has to know. That is why you came to me, right?”

  “It is, but…” Cyan picked up Freddie and buried her snout in his fur. “Are you certain you will be as correct as rain?”

  Rin chuckled. “Yeah.”

  Cyan’s eyes crinkled up and her head tilted back. She let out another huge sneeze, her scales turning orange and white in a pattern that matched the cat.

  “Okay, what is up with that?” Lily asked. “Are you allergic to cats or something?”

  Cyan sniffed a few times. “What is ‘allergic’?”

  “You know…” Lily said. “When certain things make you sneeze? Like people who are allergic to cats. I guess their bodies don’t know quite how to react to their…fur or something, and being around cats makes them sneeze or cough or get itchy. I’m not a doctor and I’ve never really studied them before.”

  A reaction of that sort would be unheard of on the ships and in the dome worlds of the Coalition. Everything was too controlled. The air was constantly purified, and the food held only the molecules needed to sustain life.

  Cyan perked up, a huge smile splitting her face. “Does it make their coloration change?”

  “Not…humans.” Lily glanced over at Rin, as if seeking support. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. “With mild allergies, they usually just make people sneeze and stuff.”

  This could explain Cyan’s issue. And if it wasn’t dangerous, then her problem was mostly solved. If he could deal with scratches, he was sure Cyan could deal with the discomfort of her sneezing fits—especially when he saw how lovingly she cradled the cat in her arms.

  “Are allergies dangerous?” he asked.

  “Well, some allergies can be dangerous. I don’t know about the sneezing kind. Like I said, I’m not a doctor or anything.” Lily gestured toward Cyan. “And she’s a lizard person, so I don’t even know how this all applies.”

  “She’s a Vegan,” Nana said. “Cyan’s from the Vega system.”

  Lily looked up at the sky and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “This can’t be real.”

  “It can and it is.” Nana turned and started toward the house. “Now let’s go inside and sort this out. Starting with washing out those scratches.”

  “Right.” Lily gestured toward the house. “Come on. I’ll help you.”

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Inside the house, there was a couch to the right of the door in an inviting seating area with a few chairs and a bookshelf. Some yoga mats were propped up in the corner.

  He thought of the yoga classes Sarah taught for the members of the Department of Homeworld Security stationed in Florida. She’d probably get along great with Nana.

  Nana.

  The title was familial. Using it caused a warmth to spread through his chest. Or maybe it was thinking about how he was happy he could help his friend.

  Or the cats really could be venomous.

  He needed to learn more about the creatures.

  Cyan sat on the couch and Nana settled into a chair nearby. Several cats had followed them inside, including the one with orange and white stripes. It jumped up on the couch next to Cyan and started emitting a low, rumbling sound again.

  “What the hell is that noise?” Rin asked.

  Cyan wrapped her arms around the cat and hugged it against her chest. “It is called ‘purring’ and it means he is happy.” She buried her snout in the cat’s fur again. “I am happy to see you, too, Freddie.”

  She pulled back and gently touched her nose to the cat’s, who sniffed her, and then rubbed his face against her chin. Cyan’s lips stretched in a huge smile as she stroked the cat’s back.

  “If you are allergic to cats, you should consider maybe not rubbing your face on them,” Lily said. “And maybe wash your face and hands after touching them, to get the allergens off.”

  “But he is soft and snuggly,” Cyan said.

  Lily’s eyebrows lifted. She shook her head.

  “How is that so cute?” she murmured.

  Rin chuckled. The stinging in his legs was turning into dull throbs. He pushed the pain aside, keeping his focus on making sure Cyan was indeed safe with her new friends.

  “Tell me again how long you’ve been having these reactions to Freddie and the others,” Rin said.

  “It started a few days after I discovered Freddie in the woods and followed him here,” Cyan said. “I do not know what changed, but suddenly I would have fits of sneezing. After a while, my coloration began to alter as well.”

  Nana made a tsking noise. “It really does sound like an allergy. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that before. It’s almost like I never read War of the Worlds.”

  Lily took a sudden step forward. “You don’t think—”

  “Oh, sweet pea, it was only a joke.” Nana let out a laugh. “Our bacteria and illnesses can’t hurt Cyan.”

  Cyan nodded. “All of us have been inoculated against Earth-born pathogens and also checked thoroughly to ensure we are not carrying any harmful pathogens ourselves.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Lily said.

  Rin smiled at the Earthling who had just moments ago firmly believed that aliens couldn’t possibly exist, and now was showing concern for one she’d only just met. She glared at him when she met his gaze.

  “What?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “The human capacity for empathy and compassion will never cease to amaze me.”

  Lily’s lips parted, and for a moment, all he could think about was how soft they appeared. Her cheeks turned red and she looked away, clamping her mouth shut.

  Cyan let out another sneeze.

  Chapter Five

  There were aliens hanging out in Nana’s house. Real, live aliens. Cute ones, too.

  The way Cyan kept burying her nose in Freddie’s fur made Lily want to say, “Aww.” She kept it under wraps, not wanting to start an interstellar incident by accidentally offending anyone.

  The cat looked like it weighed about as much as the lizard person—Vegan—but he seemed to be cautious in how he was lying next to her, glancing up at Cyan’s face when he shifted positions. It was almost as if he was checking on her, or feeling protective, like Rin obviously did.

  Which brought Lily to the other cute alien in the room. Although, “cute” wasn’t a strong enough word.

  Handsome, rugged, masculine, gorgeous. Any of those would work.

  Rin looked like he’d just stepped off the cover of a romance novel. His shirt kept straining against the muscles of his back as he inspected Cyan, occasionally consulting the high-tech watch that seemed to be feeding him information. />
  As if his looks weren’t enough, he was considerate, well-spoken, and had given Lily the best compliment she had ever received in her life. That comment about her impressing him with compassion…

  She was heading into deep water where this guy was concerned, and without a life jacket. Worse—without an action plan.

  “Lily. Lily!” Nana’s voice broke through Lily’s thoughts.

  “What?”

  Nana smirked and shook her head. “It looks like we’re going to have company for a while. I’m going to go prep the guest room for Rin. You can have my room. Get the cot out of the closet and set it up here so Cyan and I can camp out together, okay?”

  “Wait, what?” Lily asked.

  “I’m not risking a mind-wipe because someone notices the scratches on Rin’s legs,” Nana said. “They’re staying here for a couple of days.”

  Lily had really zoned out to miss all that. It had to be from the shock of finding out that aliens were real. Rin couldn’t be that distracting.

  “I don’t want to inconvenience you,” Rin said.

  “The cot won’t carry your weight,” Nana said.

  “I meant about staying—”

  Nana turned to Cyan, cutting Rin off. “How long did you tell them you’d be gone this time?”

  “Several days,” Cyan said.

  “Then I’m not sending you back with Rin all scratched up when there’s talk of ‘mind-wipes’ and ‘being forbidden’ from doing something you love.” Nana let out a derisive snort.

  “Well, you don’t have to give up your room,” Rin said.

  “I’m aware.” Nana headed down the hall toward the guest room.

  “You’ll never win.” Lily shook her head as she opened the door to the small closet just off the living room. “When she’s like this, she always gets her way.”

  Lily dragged the cot over to the couch and propped it up against one of the overstuffed chairs next to it. She started pushing the coffee table away, and Rin leaned into it to help her, then rose as she moved to rearrange the chairs.

  “Is she like this often?” he asked.

  “Stubborn as a mule?” Lily laughed. “Yeah. You get used to it, though.”

  “I have not yet encountered a mule,” Cyan said. “I would like to do so someday.”

  Lily snorted. “If you get along this well with Nana, you’ll probably love them.”

  “I can hear you, you know,” Nana shouted.

  Lily started setting up the cot. “Ears like a bat,” she murmured.

  “I have encountered those,” Cyan said. “They are fascinating creatures. The diversity within their kind is truly staggering.”

  Cyan kept going on, peppering them with statistics and factoids about bats that Lily only half paid attention to. Okay, less than half. She was more focused on getting the cot set up and dealing with the reality of aliens in her Nana’s living room.

  And trying to ignore Rin’s proximity.

  “One of their food sources is gnats,” Cyan said. “It intrigues me that those words are so similar, but I have not been able to determine if there is a causal relation to the naming conventions among humans who use this language. I have spoken with Magenta, our chief linguistics expert, and she is looking into the possibilities.”

  “Let me guess,” Lily said. “Her stripes are magenta colored?”

  Cyan let out a series of little snorts that sounded like a chuckle. “Indeed. Our Vegan names are unpronounceable by human or Sadirian palates, and Sarah had already named several of us based on our stripe colors before we established a dialogue. As the Protector of our people and the chief liaison between Vegans and Earthlings, we have decided to continue this tradition.”

  “Wait, Sarah as in ‘The Old Oak’ restaurant Sarah?” Lily asked.

  “Yes.” Cyan beamed. “I am one of the lucky Vegans who is honored to live with her in her tree home. It is lovely.”

  “Wow.” Lily shook her head. “It really is a small world.”

  “Earth is an excellent size,” Cyan said. “We are so grateful to have found a new world for our people that can accommodate us without putting an undue burden on your ecosystems.”

  “Wait, for like…all of you?” Lily asked.

  Rin was standing by the couch behind Cyan. He caught Lily’s eye and shook his head vigorously, then cast a concerned look at Cyan. The Vegan was quiet for a moment, staring intently at Freddie.

  After the constant stream of sound, her silence made Lily’s stomach clench. Had Lily said something wrong?

  Lily fished for something to take the conversation to safer terrain. “I didn’t think there were that many different colors. How can there be enough names for an entire species?”

  Rin’s mouth dropped open briefly and he covered his eyes.

  Apparently, her new topic wasn’t safe after all.

  “There are quite a few Earth words for different colors,” Cyan said. Her voice was subdued. “Especially since we are using all languages. Even Vegans who share a stripe color will have individual names.”

  “You don’t all have to have different names,” Lily said. “There are lots of humans who share the same one. Like me and my Nana.”

  Cyan smiled at her, but didn’t say more. Lily didn’t know why this was a sensitive topic, but wanted to help her feel better.

  “You know what else rhymes with ‘bat’?” Lily winked as she said, “‘Cat’.”

  Rin nodded his approval, but still cast a concerned look at Cyan. He visibly relaxed when she smiled.

  Cyan’s laugh came out as a series of hisses. “It does, indeed.” She gripped Freddie’s face and rubbed their noses together, saying, “Cats are amazing creatures. Detached, yet affectionate.”

  “Are Vegans not…huggy?” Lily asked.

  Rin started to laugh, but turned it into a cough. The smile he cast at Lily made her toes curl.

  “Most Vegans are more reserved, I would say,” Cyan said.

  “Well, if you ever want a hug, just ask.” Rin patted Cyan’s shoulder and she smiled up at him.

  It was such a sweet scene. Most of the scifi movies Lily had seen portrayed aliens as monstrous creatures. Cyan and Rin didn’t seem scary at all. Lily liked them.

  Rin turned toward one of the chairs and winced, pulling at his pantlegs. Lily glanced down and saw blood seeping through the fabric.

  “I’m so sorry,” Lily said. “I was supposed to help with that.”

  “I can assist.” Cyan leaned forward, but couldn’t seem to dislodge Freddie’s weight across her lap.

  “That’s okay.” Lily cringed at the eagerness she could hear in her own voice. “I can take care of it. You spend time with Freddie.”

  Cyan settled back onto the couch with a contented smile. Nana crossed the room, heading for the kitchen to make lunch, probably.

  “What are you still standing around for?” Nana hooked her thumb toward the hallway. “Take him to the bathroom before those really start to sting.”

  “Cats can sting people?” Cyan’s golden eyes were wide.

  Nana laughed. “No, sweetie. Just sit back and I’ll explain.”

  Without really thinking about it, Lily hooked her arm in Rin’s elbow. His eyes widened, but then he smiled at her. Well, smirked, more like.

  Lily put on her best scowl as she led him from the room. “You heard Nana. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Chapter Six

  Lily led Rin to a small bathroom and closed the door, muffling the conversation in the other room.

  “I hope it’s okay that I'm helping with this,” she said. “I just need a little bit of space and I have a feeling this is the best I’m going to get for a while.”

  “It’s fine. And I can take care of myself.”

  “Really?” She crossed her arms, cocking her hip to the side as she stared at him. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I haven’t had a chance to think about it yet. I’ve been focused on Cyan. I guess I’d start with a scan?”

/>   “All you’ll find is bacteria.” Her lips pulled into a frown, deep furrows appearing between her eyebrows. “You’re sure you guys have immunity to Earth’s pathogens, right? I mean, there are a lot of them.”

  He laughed. “I’m sure.”

  “Okay.” After a pause, she added, “Wow, that must be nice.”

  She leaned over and started untying her shoes. There wasn’t much room for two people in the small space, and her movements kept her close to him in areas…he hadn’t let anyone close to in a long time.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Prepping to get in the tub.” She pointed at his feet. “You should take off your boots and socks.”

  “O…kay.”

  If he tried to lean over to untie his boots, they would bump into each other. He ended up sitting on the edge of the bathtub. By the time his feet were bare, Lily was standing again, staring at him. Her gaze was shuttered, leaving him wondering what she was thinking about.

  There were so many things she must be processing. Aliens, “lizard people”, advanced technology. But she was staring at his legs. If he had to guess, she was focused on helping him, just as he did with his patients. Even with everything else going on.

  His chest felt tight at the thought. He looked away, but then his attention became caught on the soft skin covering her perfectly smooth legs. He didn’t get to stare at them as long as he wanted, because she dropped to her knees in front of him.

  Fantasies played in his head. Images he should not indulge filled his mind.

  Lily leaned forward and started gently rolling up the cuffs of his cargo shorts. Of course, that’s all she’d been planning to do. He chided himself for the pang of disappointment he felt.

  Just because several of his colleagues had hit it off with Earthlings right away didn’t mean that he would as well. From what he knew, it was an oddity even by Earth standards that some of them had bonded so quickly. He couldn’t deny that he felt drawn to Lily, but that didn’t mean she felt the same way.

  “Oh, wow, they really did get you good.” She glanced up at him, concerned etched in her features. “Not that it’s good what they did. It’s just an Earth expression—”