by Meg Ripley
“Have a seat,” Jessica said, gesturing to the stool next to her. Banek sat down, and Jessica almost laughed at how improbable he looked. “I’m Jessica, by the way,” she said, extending her hand towards him politely. She steeled herself; guys of Banek’s size tended to almost crush a person’s hand without even realizing it.
She was shocked when Banek took her hand lightly in his—more lightly than she would have thought possible—and leaned forward, pressing a soft, gentle kiss just above her knuckles. Jessica felt her cheeks burning at the chivalrous gesture without knowing why. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Banek said, sitting up once more and giving her a smile. “My name is Banek.” For a moment, flustered, Jessica was not entirely sure how to respond.
“Nice to meet you, too,” she said, licking her lips and reaching out almost blindly for her cocktail glass. She took a quick sip and a deep breath to steady herself.
“What’s troubling you, Jessica?” Banek asked. Jessica remembered that he had asked her that before—his strangely courteous gesture of kissing her hand had thrown her. She cleared her throat again and focused on the subject at hand.
“Well,” she said, setting her glass down and spinning it carefully on its base against the bar top, “this has kind of been a week from hell for me.” She felt a short, sharp stab of pain somewhere between her ribs—a pang that she had felt several times in the last few days. Jessica swallowed as her throat convulsively tightened at the thought of what all had happened to her. “First, my boyfriend broke up with me,” she said. Jessica closed her eyes; she could remember all too easily the look on Thomas’ face when he had told her he wanted to “see other people.” “And then my car threw some kind of rod or something, and it’s in the shop until I can come up with seven hundred dollars to fix it.” Jessica opened her eyes. “And to cap it all off, tonight I got a notice from my landlord that if I can’t pony up an extra three hundred a month for rent, he’s going to lease my apartment out from underneath me.” She smiled wryly, glancing over at Banek. The huge guy nodded, his eyes sympathetic.
“Those are very deep troubles indeed,” Banek said, reaching out and giving her free hand a squeeze. “Would you like me to beat up your former boyfriend? Or maybe your landlord?” Jessica nearly dropped her glass in the process of bringing it to her lips, her mouth falling slightly open in shock at the matter-of-fact way that Banek had proposed “beating up” the two men causing her the most grief. She closed her mouth, licked her lips, opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it again in rapid succession.
“Did you just offer to beat up my ex or my landlord for me?”
Banek nodded solemnly. “Or both of them, if that will solve more of your problems,” he said. Jessica stared at him, blinking slowly as she tried to work his words through her mind to make sense of them. It wasn’t the alcohol; she certainly was not nearly as drunk as she would like to be. Jessica steadied her hand and took a long drink of her Long Island, still reeling in shock at the offer that Banek had made.
“That won’t be necessary,” she said finally, licking her lips of the potent concoction. “My…my ex can just…” she took another sip and laughed ruefully. “I’ll leave karma to deal with him. As for my landlord…” Jessica shook her head again. “I’d rather you didn’t end up going to jail just to get revenge for me.”
Banek shrugged. “I could also provide you with money to pay for your car repair, or repair it myself,” he suggested. Jessica laughed, finishing off her drink in two more gulps and bringing her hands up to her suddenly warm face.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull,” she said, glancing at Banek furtively. “But I’m not that kind of girl.”
Banek frowned. “What kind of girl?” he asked. Jessica pressed her lips together; his strange looks in addition to the inflections and accent in his voice made her certain that Banek was as foreign as they came.
“I don’t want—or expect—a guy to…pay for things for me,” she said quickly, pushing down the other retort that sprung to mind. I’m not a call girl, I’m not a sugar baby, and I can solve my own problems.
“But it would be easy for me to remove all of your troubles,” Banek pointed out; Jessica had to admit to herself that he sounded sincere—and that unsettled her almost more than the offers themselves had. “I wouldn’t expect anything in return except for your kind regard.”
“My kind regard?” Jessica raised an eyebrow.
James came over, attentive to her needs as a regular customer. “Another Long Island, or something else?”
“Whatever she wants, James, please let me pay for it,” Banek said quickly. Jessica glanced at him, irrationally irritated with the gesture. She was in dire enough straights that free drinks—no matter the source—should have been met with nothing but gratitude, but the fact that Banek had offered to take all of her troubles away by giving her what amounted to at least a thousand dollars in exchange for “her kind regard”—whatever that meant—made her wary of any other offer on his part.
“Another Long Island it is, then,” James said, giving her a surreptitious wink. Jessica pressed her lips together, taking a slow breath to conquer her sense of irritation. She shouldn’t be mad at Banek; he hadn’t suggested that he wanted her to have sex with him in exchange for his help, after all.
“What did you mean by kind regard?” she asked finally, watching James mix her drink in the corner of her eye. Banek smiled.
“I just wish to be thought of kindly by you,” he said. “I’d like to see you happy, and not upset.” Jessica accepted her drink from James, looking away as Banek paid the bartender—giving him, she noticed, a very good tip on top of the price of the drink.
“You don’t want me to promise to go on a date with you or something?” she asked, wary. Banek shook his head.
“I only want to see you happy,” he said. All he’s missing is a fedora, Jessica thought resentfully. But the next moment, she retracted the mental statement; Banek seemed—unlike any of the “nice guys” she had encountered before—to actually be sincere. About everything. She took a long sip of her drink and tried to understand it. Here was a guy who had just met her and who was offering to solve all of her problems, simply to make her happy. It was strangely thrilling—and unsettling all at once, though in spite of herself Jessica found that she liked Banek more and more. Lord help me…I’m in such sad shape, I’ll probably even go home with him, she thought wryly. Abruptly, she caught herself glancing down, her mind suddenly fixated on the thought of what it might be like to go home with Banek—and what, exactly, a huge man like him would have in terms of endowment. She reined in her thoughts, telling herself to focus on what the man was saying to her.
****
Banek held Jessica upright as they made their way down the sidewalk towards the address she had given him. He wanted—wished—he could take her back to his lab, where he could be certain of her safety and where he could open the discussion of her submitting to experiments. But going back to her apartment seemed to be the best option for keeping his potential subject happy and content. He would never consider taking advantage of her inebriated state; but Banek thought to himself that he would make sure to sleep on her floor or on her couch, so that he knew that she was okay.
“You know,” Jessica said, pulling herself up and walking a few unsteady steps unassisted, “you have got to be the strangest guy I’ve ever met.” She shook her head, giving him a little smile.
“How am I strange?” Banek asked, one hand half-extended, ready to steady her if she tottered again. He’d been happy to buy her three drinks in addition to the one James had covered for her; as they sat in the bar together, Jessica had begun to open up more about her life. She had told him about Thomas, the ex-boyfriend who had dumped her to see other people, about the landlord, about the car—a very old car, she said, almost more expensive to fix than it was worth. She had told him also about her friends, about her family, and about her work; Jessica worked at a clothing s
tore as an assistant manager, earning what sounded to Banek’s ears like a rather small salary.
“How are you not strange?” Jessica asked, smiling again. “You look like you walked off the cover of a romance novel, you sound like you come from some kind of weird former Soviet country, and you offered to beat up two people you don’t even know within five minutes of meeting me.” She laughed, shaking her head. Banek’s gaze followed the sinuous lines of her slim body, the shimmer that lit her dark hair, the yellow-orange light of the street lamps glinting off of it.
“You’re a beautiful woman,” Banek pointed out. “And I only want you to be happy.”
“Where are you from, Banek?” Jessica asked. “Oh—oh, we have to turn right, here.” She pointed towards a street corner ahead. Banek nodded.
“I’m from a place called Khatanar,” he said.
“Where the hell is that?”
Banek smiled. “Very far from here.”
Jessica paused. She blinked slowly, turning to face him completely. “How far?” she looked up at him with suspicion in her green eyes. Banek had been feeling guilty—at least slightly—about the necessary subterfuge of assuming a human character; he wasn’t sure why it bothered him, but the opening that Jessica had provided was just what he wanted.
“Very far,” he said quietly. “Another planet.”
Jessica’s eyes widened in an expression that wasn’t quite surprise. “What planet?”
Banek chuckled. “The planet’s name is Khatanar,” he told her, reaching out instinctively to brush a lock of hair away from her face. “You humans call it Tau Ceti e.”
Jessica blinked again. “So—you’re an alien, then,” she said. Banek nodded. Her lips pressed together, her eyes narrowed. “You’re fucking with me because I’m drunk, aren’t you?”
Banek chuckled, shaking his head. “I will prove it to you when we get to your place,” he said.
Jessica raised an eyebrow and started off once more. “I swear to God, if you try and rape me, I will—”
Banek snorted. “My people do not believe in rape,” he said. “If I ever tried to rape a woman, I would be put to death, whether or not I succeeded. It’s one of the worst things a man in my culture can do.”
“That’s good to hear,” Jessica said. Banek quickened his steps; she was moving more quickly than her inebriation suggested was possible, and he felt a flash of worry that she would fall and hurt herself. “Does that extend to earthlings?” She glanced over her shoulder at him, and Banek felt a rush of heat through his body at the glow of her green eyes in the dim light, the challenging, humorous expression on her face.
“Absolutely,” Banek said. “I would never—ever—do anything to hurt you, Jessica. Whether you liked me or hated me, I wouldn’t.”
“That’s a good system. Here—here’s the building. Let me get my keys.” Banek watched with a mixture of amusement and faint alarm as Jessica rummaged in her purse, various items clinking and clattering in the bag. She retrieved her keys and held them up victoriously, grinning at him.
After briefly fumbling with the keys, Jessica managed to get the door to the building unlocked, and led Banek up three flights of stairs, finally turning onto a landing that led to a hallway. Once more she struggled—for just a moment—with the pieces of metal before finding one that fit the lock on her door, and Banek followed her into the small apartment. He breathed in; the space smelled richly of the woman James had called his “lady love” in the best possible way—her perfume, the scent that clung to her skin, hung in the air faintly, along with a warm undercurrent that stirred something deep inside of Banek.
Jessica kicked off her shoes and gestured for Banek to do the same before turning in a quick circle, arms outstretched, indicating the entire space. “This is it,” she said, giving him a sleepy, slightly drunken smile. “The place my landlord thinks is worth fourteen hundred a month.” She took a few steps and fell into an oddly graceful sprawl on the couch. “Were you really serious about paying for that?” she asked him.
Banek nodded. “It’s not very much money for me,” he pointed out. In truth—though he did not say so—he could requisition as much human money as he needed from his superiors.
“You’re supposed to prove you’re an alien now,” Jessica said, looking up at him intently.
Banek chuckled. He withdrew a kerchief out of his pocket and began wiping away the cosmetic that blurred his skin, making it look more human. He reached up and removed the lenses that covered his eyes, as well. This was the moment of truth; would Jessica be able to accept what she saw? Banek stood silently and for a long moment Jessica stared at him in the light, as if trying to decide what to think.
“Shit,” she said quietly. “You really are a freakin’ alien, aren’t you?” Banek nodded. Jessica opened her mouth as if to say something more, and then closed it. Her gaze traveled up and down over his body, taking him in more thoroughly. “I like you better like this,” she said finally. “Your eyes are incredible.”
Banek smiled. “But very non-human,” he pointed out.
“Oh, totally. Hey—I’m too tired to stay awake, but don’t probe me, okay?”
Banek chuckled, sinking down onto the floor next to the couch. “I swear I won’t,” he told her. “Sleep.”
****
When Jessica woke up, she felt a thick, throbbing pain in her skull, a sour twisting lurch in her stomach. Oh God, no more free drinks ever again. Never again. The events of the night began to filter through her aching, foggy mind—up to the discovery of Banek being an alien, and falling asleep on the couch with him on the floor. For a terrified instant, Jessica tried to determine whether or not she was wearing clothes; she was. Opening her eyes barely a slit, she saw that she was still on the couch, sprawled on her side, sunlight pouring in. The glinting light stabbed daggers into her skull and she quickly closed her eyes again with a groan.
“Jessica?” She recognized Banek’s strange voice—quieter than she had heard it the entire previous night.
“Mmm,” she replied, unwilling to form words.
“I have something for you to drink,” Banek told her in the same quiet tone. “It will make you feel better—much better, and quickly.” Jessica nuzzled into the throw pillow she had grabbed at some point in her drunken sleep.
“No such thing as a hangover remedy. Time.” She heard Banek chuckle.
“You’re telling an alien from an advanced species that he can’t cure you?”
Jessica cautiously opened her eyes. In the morning light, Banek looked even stranger—his skin purple-tinged gray, his unearthly eyes with their metallic flecks even more astonishing. He held a cup of something she couldn’t identify. Seriously, are you going to trust him? It’s probably a knockout drug. But he wouldn’t have needed a knockout drug last night, why would he use one now? Jessica sat up uneasily.
“If this kills me or knocks me out…”
Banek chuckled again. “I promise it will not. Drink.” He handed her the cup. It smelled faintly fruity and looked like blue-tinged water. Shrugging, deciding that if she had trusted him with her drunken self, she might as well give him the courtesy with her hung-over self, Jessica knocked the concoction back. It tasted almost like apples, with mint and ginger flavors mixed in, and almost as soon as she had finished swallowing the last gulps, she began to feel better.
“I have no idea what that is,” Jessica said, smiling ruefully and shaking her head. “But it seems to be doing the trick. I guess I’ll know in a few hours if it was poison.”
Banek laughed, his unearthly, metallic-flecked eyes seeming to dance. “I wouldn’t poison you, Jessica. I want you to trust me.”
“So,” Jessica said after a moment of digesting that comment, sitting up more steadily on her couch. “You’re an alien. What exactly brings you to this backwater planet?”
Banek took the cup from her and set it on the side table, moving to sit down near her. “My people are looking for research subjects,” he said. Jessica felt
a deep, cold chill run down her spine.
“Research?” she swallowed; suddenly her hangover was gone, but the nausea that had come with it returned.
“Entirely voluntary,” Banek said quickly. “We don’t abduct people.”
Jessica stared at him for a moment and then laughed. “Well, that’s good, I guess,” she said. “What kind of research are you doing?”
“We’re investigating human reproduction and female sexuality.” Jessica felt the blood rushing to her face as she blushed.
“Oh. Oh God. So then…you—oh God.” She shook her head. “You were interested in having sex with me all along!” The blood drained from Jessica’s face and then flooded back. “Are—do you—how do you even know—why women?”
Banek reached out and touched her shoulder with surprising gentleness. “We were hopeful that we could blend human genetics with ours, for increasing our own diversity.” He licked his lips. “As I researched, I became fascinated by the human concept of romance.”
Jessica’s face burned as her blush intensified. Suddenly so many strange things about Banek—his clothing, his demeanor, the offer to beat up her landlord and her boyfriend—started to make sense. “You read romance novels, didn’t you?”
Banek nodded, frowning slightly. “I’m starting to think that these led me astray,” he said.
Jessica scrubbed at her face. What time is it? she wondered. It felt as though it was far too early in the morning to be having the conversation she was. “Yes and no,” she said, glancing at Banek. “Romance fiction is…fantasy. It’s not—it’s sort of an ideal? But…” Jessica shrugged. “It’s not exactly a formula for real life.”
Banek seemed to consider her words for a long time. “And yet, you invited me to your apartment,” he pointed out.
Jessica laughed in spite of herself. “So, I did,” she said, tilting her head back to look at the ceiling. “You have a point there.”
“Did you want to have sex with me?”
