Chapter Two #2
"Yeah, I was angry," I admit, turning to lean back against the railing so I seem less threatening.
The coral-like material is warm against my back from the sun.
"For about three days. When Finn told me about his abduction, when I realized you were all real, I was furious.
Ten years of thinking I'd hallucinated the whole thing, and suddenly I find out it was real?
Do you have any idea what it's like to believe the most important experience of your life was just a drug-induced delusion? "
He flinches, the colors on his skin settling into deeper blues. "I am sorry—"
"No, stop. Let me finish." I take a careful step away from the railing, moving slowly.
He doesn't retreat this time. "But after those three days of being pissed off, I realized—you kept me safe.
Someone out there, on some alien planet, had kept me safe during the worst three days of my life.
And that anger just... turned into a desperate need to say thank you. "
A breeze comes off the water, carrying that salt-sweet smell and making the zhik'ra below us ripple in hypnotic patterns. He watches me like he's waiting for something—for me to start yelling, maybe, or demanding answers.
"I didn't know what I was doing," he says quietly. "I just tried to keep you stable."
"Exactly." I move a little closer, noting how the light plays across his skin, creating patterns within patterns.
"You didn't understand what was happening, but you stayed with me.
You kept me hydrated. You played music when I was restless.
" I manage a small smile. "Terrible music, from what Kav'eth said, but still. "
"The Earth databases were confusing," he says defensively, and something in his earnest embarrassment makes me smile. He fidgets with the cuffs of his coveralls, a surprisingly human gesture. "There were so many categories. I thought 'children's music' would be soothing."
"What did you play?"
"Something about wheels and buses. It had repetitive lyrics."
I laugh, actually laugh, and his skin shifts to warmer colors. "The Wheels on the Bus? You played that for a detoxing teenager?"
"For forty-seven repetitions before I found how to change it."
"Oh my god." I'm grinning now, and some of the tension in his posture eases. "That's amazing. Terrible, but amazing."
We stand there for a moment, the platform creaking slightly as it adjusts to the tide below. Other farmers are visible in the distance, but none close enough to overhear. Still, he keeps glancing around nervously.
"Can we talk?" I ask. "Like actually talk? Not through Council bureaucracy or formal meetings. Just... talk?"
He looks around again, more deliberately this time. The platform connects to several others by walkways, and there are what look like administrative buildings on the shore with windows facing our direction.
"Not here," he says quietly. "Too many observers."
"Then where?"
He hesitates, his skin going through what looks like a whole light show of different colors while he thinks. I can see him weighing options, probably calculating risks. Finally: "I could show you the zhik'ra forests. If you're genuinely interested. It's more private among the growth areas."
"I'm genuinely interested," I say immediately.
"You don't even know what zhik'ra is."
"Seaweed, right? Or kelp? Whatever you call it." I shrug, moving closer to the platform's edge to look down at the swaying forest below. "But that's not what I'm interested in, and we both know it."
His skin flares bright gold for a moment before settling back to nervous-looking blues. "You're very direct."
"I spent ten years thinking I was crazy.
I don't have time for indirect." I turn to face him fully, taking in details I couldn't see from a distance—the way his gills flex slightly with each breath, the way his golden eyes have flecks of green near the pupils.
"What's your name? I can't keep thinking of you as 'the alien who saved me. '"
"Vel'aan."
"Vel'aan," I repeat, trying to match his pronunciation. The name has a musical quality, like most Nereidan words. "I'm Alex. But you probably knew that already."
"The Council told me. Before, I didn't..." He trails off, looking uncomfortable. His weight shifts from foot to foot, making the platform creak. "I never asked your name. You were supposed to be a routine biological survey. I wasn't supposed to take a human at all."
"Wait, what?"
His skin shifts to what might be embarrassment—kind of a darker blue with gold edges. "I was aiming for a stray animal. For cataloging and behavior analysis. My targeting was off by approximately three meters."
I stare at him for a moment, processing this. "You're telling me you accidentally saved my life because you have bad aim?"
"I had excellent aim," he protests, his skin flashing indignantly. "The calculations were simply... imprecise."
"Right. Imprecise." I'm still grinning. "So you accidentally grabbed a dying teenager instead of someone's cat?"
"I believe it was supposed to be a dog."
This is insane. My entire life changed because this alien couldn't properly calibrate his transport beam. I start laughing, really laughing, and have to sit down on one of the curved benches built into the platform. The material adjusts to my body temperature immediately, which is still weird.
"Will you show me the forests?" I ask, still smiling up at him. "I promise not to mock your aim anymore. Today."
He looks at me for a long moment, like he's trying to figure out if I'm real. The afternoon suns make his skin shimmer, the bioluminescence more visible in the bright light. Then, so quietly I almost miss it: "Follow me."
He leads me along the platform toward a smaller dock.
As we walk, I pull out the communication device Tev'ra gave me—a slim, curved thing that looks more grown than manufactured.
He'd shown me the basics: touch here to activate, trace symbols to compose, tap to send.
I manage to send Finn a message: Found him.
Going to look at alien seaweed. Don't wait up.
Finn's response appears on the curved screen almost immediately: Alex, don't do anything stupid.
Too late. Already committed to stupid. Talk later.
I pocket the device and watch as Vel'aan starts unfastening his coveralls. "The water here is optimal for viewing the forests," he says, like he needs to justify this.
The coveralls come off in one piece, and I try not to stare.
Underneath, he's wearing what amounts to Nereidan underwear—a minimal piece of fabric that sits low on his hips and leaves absolutely nothing to imagination.
It's form-fitting, barely there, and the same gray as the coveralls, like it's standard issue too.
His body is all lean muscle with that blue-tinted skin that shifts between different shades as his bioluminescence responds to.
.. something. Nervousness? Awareness of my staring?
Well, two can play at this game. I pull my shirt over my head and drop it on the platform.
"We're going in?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
"The forests are aquatic. Is that a problem?"
"Nope." I kick off my shoes and shuck my pants, not bothering with modesty. I'm down to my boxers—basic black, nothing special, but from the way Vel'aan's skin flares gold, you'd think I was doing a striptease. "I just can't stay under as long as you can. No gills."
His skin does that flashing thing again, gold and blue alternating rapidly. "I'll stay near the surface with you."
I stand there for a moment, waiting for him to get in and show me the way.
"You're not afraid of drowning?" Vel'aan asks, watching me with what looks like concern.
"I'm not afraid of anything that involves you," I say simply, dropping my pants on top of my shirt in a messy pile. "You kept me safe once. I trust you to do it again."
The look on his face—surprise, wonder—makes the ten years of wondering worth it. He seems frozen for a moment, just staring at me like I've said something impossible.
"The water is warm," he says finally, his voice slightly rough. "And I'll stay close."
"I know you will," I say, moving to the platform's edge.
There's no ladder, just a three-foot drop to the water. Vel'aan dives in with barely a splash, all alien grace and efficiency. His body cuts through the water like he was born for it—which, I guess, he was. He surfaces near the platform, treading water effortlessly, waiting for me.
I sit on the edge first, legs dangling, then push off and drop into water that's exactly as warm as promised. There's a slight tingle against my skin—mineral content or just the fact that I'm swimming in an alien ocean, I'm not sure which.
Vel'aan stays close, just like he promised, his skin glowing more visibly now that we're in the water. The bioluminescence creates patterns under the surface, following the movement of his arms and legs.
"Ready?" he asks.
I'm treading water in an alien ocean, basically naked, about to follow someone I barely know into an underwater forest, with no real plan beyond "thank you" and "you're attractive."
"Lead the way," I say, and follow him into the alien sea.