A Human Element

by Donna Galanti

  Likini and Andy welcomed Laura as if her coming was expected, or more like wished for. They asked no questions of her but accepted her as Ben's partner. Likini set her up discreetly alone, but in the guest bedroom connected to Ben's.

  Together upstairs after breakfast, Laura helped to make up her bed. "You're so lucky to have such a wonderful man as Andy for a husband."

  Likini smiled and swung her glossy, black hair that fell like a mahogany waterfall. "Yes, I am blessed." She rubbed her rising abdomen. "And you too. Ben is a wonderful man, a good friend to Andy."

  Laura nodded, her eyes filled with tears. She had discovered being pregnant meant trying to fight the daily swelling of emotions racing inside her like a rollercoaster.

  Likini moved next to her and touched her belly. "Doubly blessed you are as well. You have a family now."

  Laura bit her lip, trying not to cry, but the tears spilled over. "I lost all the family I had and Ben did too. I'm so scared. I don't know what will happen once this baby comes. I don't know what it will be."

  If Likini thought her choice of words strange she did not show it but took her in her arms and held her. Their bellies touched one another filled with life from the men they loved. "It will be your child, and Ben's. That is what it will be and that is all you need to know."

  "My good friend, Mr. B said once, before…he died…that Ben was my match. I couldn't believe it though. I felt so alone and was gone a long time not knowing what to do. I never knew my real father, but was lucky to have had a wonderful father who adopted me. I want my child to know his father. I almost killed my baby. How could I have wanted to kill our baby?" Laura sobbed harder.

  "But you didn't. You made the right choice and Ben is here. You are a family now."

  Likini stroked Laura's hair and soothed her. And they held one another in understanding, as only pregnant women can when faced with life changes rushing toward them.

  And so Ben and Laura began to get to know one another in a new place and a new time. A time harboring no crisis or fear or pain. It was surreal in the path of what lay behind them when the few days they spent together had been filled with so much death.

  He wanted to go to her that first night, but was anxious about how she might receive him. He was also nervous about hurting her in her condition if they made love. He tried to sleep but couldn't and stood by the window looking out over the ocean. He thought of Laura so close to him sleeping in the bedroom a few feet away.

  He ached for her, but didn't have to wait long as the connecting door opened. She stood outlined in the shadows before him in a baby doll nightgown. She looked so young and sweet. He took her hand and lowered her gently on the bed, sliding next to her. The moon shone in through the sheer curtains, glinting on her curves and hair. He breathed her in and held her, one hand spread wide on her belly in possession. Then he felt a kick, once, twice, and laughed out loud. Laura pressed her hand over his.

  "It just started a couple weeks ago. She is feisty, or he. I don't know what it is."

  "It's ours, that's what it is."

  They faced one another on their sides, staring into each other's eyes.

  "What are we going to do, Ben?"

  "I'm not sure. I'm still in shock you're here. Ecstatic, but in shock."

  "I know. I didn't make it easy, running away."

  "Nope, sure didn't."

  "I'm glad I found you through Felix's belt. I've been watching you." She hung her head, as if ashamed to admit spying on him. "I saw you with Andy and Likini and remembered you said they lived here."

  "I wondered how you knew to come here. Although, I hoped you would. And I now know I wasn't imagining you at times. I really did see you in the shadows, didn't I?"

  Laura nodded, tucking her head into her chest, but Ben picked it up to look into her eyes. "Why didn't you give me a chance all those months ago, Laura?"

  She looked over his shoulder at the moon shining through the window. "Do you realize that my creation came out of your parent's death? Because of me they died."

  "No, because of fate and destiny they died. You weren't even born yet. You had no control over that. It's almost sweet irony I lost my parents and later found a love through the very accident that caused their death. And because of you I have life again. I have love again."

  Ben pulled her face back to his, and stared into her eyes to reassure her. She looked down at the bed sheets, twisting them in her fingers.

  "I couldn't give you a chance back then, Ben, because I was afraid."

  "Afraid of what?"

  "Afraid if I stayed, somehow you would die too. I know it sounds illogical, because the threat that chased me my entire life was gone, but it's how I felt. You were the one person left that I loved and I wanted you to live. If just one person I loved lived, then I could be okay with that. So I set you free so you could live."

  Ben pulled her face back to his. "I am free. You did set me free, but not in the way you think. There's nothing in our way now."

  She nodded slowly.

  "And why did you come back, Laura?"

  "Because I discovered love doesn't go away. It doesn't die."

  Ben grinned. "Someone once told me love remembers."

  "Yes, it does."

  "And I'm your match, remember that too?"

  Laura laughed then she looked sad. "My headaches are gone now, I guess because the reason for them is gone. And I keep thinking about Charlie and Felix and Mr. B. They're all sealed in their tomb below the earth."

  "Mr. B would be at peace knowing he's buried on his mountain."

  "I know. And Felix's mission is accomplished, isn't it?"

  "I think he would say the outcome had the desired result. It's destiny."

  "And my brother, he never had a chance in life like me. He's now sealed there forever at peace in the earth. He was created there and died there in the same spot. He came full circle. It's almost poetic isn't it? He was so tormented. I pitied him. I wanted to love him. But he couldn't let himself. He saw himself as such a monster. I wonder, would I be like him if we had been switched? I am part alien too."

  "Maybe being part alien isn't so bad. I think you have all the good human elements and alien elements in you. Embrace it. Someday others from Elyon may come here. Think of it."

  "But what about our child? What if it's a freak?"

  "It will be our freak then. But we won't think it's a freak. We'll love it no matter what. You have a great capacity for love. Look, you were willing to forgive your brother and love him, weren't you?"

  "Yes," she whispered.

  "Your heart was wide open then and it is now, Laura."

  "But what if someone finds out about it, like the government, and wants to take the baby away?"

  "No one knows about you or us or the baby. Everyone who did is dead, except Andy now and he will never tell. No one can take our child away. And we won't give our baby away. You don't need to be afraid."

  Laura put his fingers in hers. Her love flowed into Ben, covering him in peace. "I was gone so long because I was afraid to face you, Ben. Afraid to love anyone again. Afraid I would curse you as I had so many others. I felt like I didn't belong anywhere."

  "Andy told me a long time ago love makes the world go 'round. I have found out since then, while it's corny, it's also true."

  Laura smiled. "And maybe not just our world."

  Ben laughed, glad she could see lightness in the situation. "You're the woman I love, no matter which world it is. This one or another. We're all beings in this infinite universe."

  He kissed her, long and slow, pushing his tongue into her warm depths. "And you do belong. You belong with me. We belong together. And I know what you are."

  "What am I?"

  "You're the only woman I ever loved."

  He felt his erection rising hard against her and moved back a little, but she grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast. It felt heavier, plump with her pregnancy. He rubbed her nipples into hard points and she moaned.


  "I don't want to hurt you," Ben said, willing himself to go down.

  "You won't. I've been reading up on it. And I visited a doctor a couple of times for a check up on the baby. She said sex is good."

  "Of course sex is good." He moaned, as she caressed him. "But is it good for the baby?"

  Laura laughed. "I don't think she'll mind."

  "Or he."

  And so Ben took her with tender grace their first night back together. She was so swollen in places that it seemed her senses were heightened to his touch. She trembled with pleasure encouraging him to fulfill her needs. He spread her wide open and licked her velvet softness until she gasped for him to stop.

  "Now, Ben, I want you in me now."

  And he accommodated her wishes, pushing into her wet, tightness with a groan of relief and cradled her to him. Hot tears fell down the sides of her face. He stopped, afraid of hurting her, but she shook her head and pulled him closer and he knew they were tears of joy.

  He kissed her full breasts as he stroked her slowly, wanting to feel all of her. She pulsed around him with heat and want, taking him in deep, pulling him toward her. Her soft, round belly moved beneath him like a prayer, over and over and he kissed it knowing their love grew inside. And he thanked God for bringing her to him.

  He was glad to be alive.

  CHAPTER 36

  Ben and Laura found a cozy bungalow to rent down near the ocean and moved in a few days later. There were tears of happiness as Likini and Laura hugged goodbye.

  "We want you to be Aunt Laura soon. Won't you?"

  "I'd be honored."

  "Likini, they're only a couple of miles away," Andy reassured her. And that night, when Ben and Laura snuggled in their first bed together, they got the call baby Joseph was born.

  "After my real dad," Andy boasted on the phone. "I wished he had lived to see the day." The mother was doing well and after many congratulations, well wishes, and promises to come see the baby they hung up and lay back in bed.

  "It's so amazing, isn't it?" Laura stroked Ben's chest.

  "What?"

  "This creating of life. No matter how it happens."

  "Yes. But that's the easy part. The hard part is making something worthwhile with your life."

  "I remember Felix once said events can change in a second, re-directing your course. Sometimes unluckily so."

  "Sometimes luckily, too."

  Laura nodded then sighed. "There's something I've been wanting to do but was afraid to do it alone." She looked at Ben. He turned on his side to look at her, waiting, so she continued. "I want to see if I can transmit myself to Elyon with Felix's belt to see where I come from. Felix said the planet is dying. Do you think it's still there now?"

  "I don't know. But it's worth a try. I'll be right beside you. Is there any danger in using the belt?"

  "I don't know, honestly. I hadn't thought about it when using it to seek you out."

  Laura went to the bedroom closet and from deep in the back, she pulled out a box. She opened it and drew out the belt. She touched its smooth texture. It rippled beneath her fingers, as if it were alive. It hung wide and heavy, created of metal she had never seen before. Its burnished gray steel shone in the soft lamplight. It moved from darker to lighter shades of gray in a fluid movement.

  "Here it is." She handed it to Ben. "Once I wear it and push this series of buttons and envision where I want to go, it transmits me there. When I blink and open my eyes, I am in the place I want to go. But my body stays here. And see this green button here? If you push it, once I've been transmitted, it will send me back here."

  "What happens to you here while you're transmitting yourself there?"

  "I don't know. You'll have to tell me. Maybe I'm in a sleep-like state. I just know you can't be conscious as the same person in two places though."

  "A paradox."

  "Yes."

  Ben looked at the belt and back at her. "Okay, let's do it. But if I see you in any distress I'm bringing you back here."

  Laura nodded. "I'm scared to do it, yet need to, you know?"

  Ben took her hand and pulled her to him on the bed. "I understand. I'm just worried for you and the baby if something goes wrong."

  "I was fine the times I sought you out and you're here now." Laura smiled, rubbing her belly.

  "What are you hoping to discover?"

  "I'm not sure. Answers, maybe. To see the people I come from and communicate with them. But I'm afraid to do it as well because once I open up that door, if there is a door remaining, it could change everything."

  Ben smiled. "You told me a long time ago that in finding out who you are and where you came from changed everything."

  "And it did."

  "And yet, here we are."

  Laura smiled back at him. "Yes."

  "So what else is there you couldn't face?"

  "Nothing."

  "And whatever it is, we'll face it together."

  She stood up and put the belt on. It fit her now on the second to last loop. When she first tried it on months ago, it fit loose on the smallest belt hole. She eased into the wingback chair in the corner of the bedroom and Ben pulled up the ottoman to sit beside her. They looked at one another and he took her hand.

  "I'm right here, always."

  She nodded, biting her lip. I want to go to Elyon. She envisioned herself standing on the faraway planet. Then she pressed the buttons on the belt. The sound of traffic and the wind rushing through the trees around their bungalow disappeared. It was replaced with utter silence. It was so quiet it felt unbearable. She opened her eyes.

  Light, soft and rose-colored, warmed the world around her. She stood on smooth, gray rock that spread outward in all directions and disappeared into whiteness. Mist and snow blew around her. It was hard to see more than a hundred feet in front of her. A humming grew inside her head, soft at first, and then it rose in urgency. Something moved through the mist. She clutched her belly and looked down. She shimmered, as Felix had. Her fingers moved through her belly like an apparition. Her baby was safe at home, next to Ben.

  And you are safe with us, Laura. We've been expecting you.

  She gasped as figures moved out of the mist and walked toward her bundled in gray robes. They looked like Feo, with tufts of white hair, opal skin, and yellow eyes. At first only a few came, then more came walking forward through the blowing snow. Different ones appeared. Some were massive with green eyes, like Felix. They stared at her and she sensed peace and great sadness. They were a people barely etching out existence on a dying planet. She tried to speak, but no words came out and so she spoke to them from her mind as they did.

  I had to know where I came from. Feo was my father.

  We know. We are glad he reached your planet and created life. It means we will carry on, not here on our planet but another. We are glad you survived.

  My brother didn't.

  We know. He was a tormented being, a Destroyer who gave into his darkness.

  And Felix, he helped us. He was created from your visit before.

  We know. We seek you out on Earth too and have been watching.

  She wasn't sure which of the Elyon beings was speaking to her as they all stood, staring at her. They seemed to speak to her in a collective group. Then one stepped forward and reached out his pod fingers. Laura reached for them and her fingers spun in webs around his.

  Felix was a good soul. He had a big heart, like you have, Laura. And like Feo did, your father. My name is Adrian and Feo was my brother.

  Will you survive here…Adrian?

  We have little time left here on Elyon. The cold, droughts, and famine are too great for us to continue much longer. Our planet is dying. Our people are dying. Our sun has nearly gone out. But we're preparing a final ship to reach Earth. It may take many months to get it ready as our resources become more limited. But we hope for all survivors this time. We have drawn a lottery to see who will go.

  I'm glad. I wish it could be all of you.<
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  The Elyon being nodded and smiled at her.

  Take care of your child. He is a part of all of us and he connects our two worlds. Your name is fitting, Laura Armstrong. You have held much weight in your lifetime yet still remain strong. You may now be our only hope, if our journey does not succeed. Will your people welcome us this time?

  I don't know. But I will, and I will try to convince others as well.

  Then that is all we can hope for.

  He moved back toward the others and they returned to the mist they came from. Laura felt a great sadness lift from her. Hope grew in her for the people of Elyon and for contact with Earth. She held her hands up to the mist. Snow fell gentle now. She looked one last time around her then pressed the green button on her belt. She opened her eyes to find Ben leaning forward with an anxious look on his face.

  She held her belly now, to reassure herself she was indeed back on Earth and here with the man she loved. "They are coming. It may be many months, but they are coming again."

  "We have all the time in the world, Laura."

  "Yes, we do."

  Two bright spots flooded her cheeks from excitement. Ben took her hand. She thought of the possibilities ahead for them—for Elyon, for the human race, for other planets out there with life that someday may come as well.

  Laura's anxiety grew as her due date grew closer. Ben knew she hid it from Likini when they visited her, Andy, and baby Joseph. Their baby looked normal in every way. When Likini took him to her breast, Laura gripped Ben's hand. He thought too what she must be thinking. Would their baby look normal? Would he act normal?

  They went to their first ultrasound to find out. Laura pulled on his fingers, twisting them in hers waiting for the screen to come alive with a picture. Ben bit his lip and said a prayer. Then, at last, they saw a perfect baby boy growing inside her. He turned, sucking his thumb like any baby. A boy, just like Felix predicted.

  "Your son is a big boy," the doctor told them. "But not abnormally so, he could be a good nine pounds."

  "Is that okay?" Ben felt fear snake inside him.