Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
After saying my goodbyes, I slid the tablet thing back over to Aster. “Thank you. She, uh… She worries a lot. I’m glad I had a chance to put her at ease a little.”
He nodded, pushing the device aside, but he didn’t say anything more.
He studied me, not suspiciously like Trevuk had, but in more of an appraisal.
If he was human, I’d think there was interest there.
Since he was literally an alien from another planet, I didn’t want to assume I knew what his expressions meant.
Still, a flush burned the back of my neck, and I had to clear my throat before I could speak.
“Um… I’m sure there are a lot of other terrified parents and families out there, worried about their military members.
I know you said you’re concerned about who they’d communicate with, but punishing the entire group won’t have anyone warming up to you.
There are parents on the ships worried about their little kids and caretakers worried about their charges. You understand?”
He nodded slowly. “I will make mention to project leader. Not safe to return them yet. Not until governments understand.”
I could see both sides of it, which was a little annoying. I wanted to push for them to send us back, but I knew, just like they did, that if the governments had their militaries, they’d take action before listening to what the invaders had to say. People would die on both sides.
“You have hunger?”
His question surprised me. I figured the interrogation would be followed by being sent wherever they were sending Colt. They seemed to be going out of their way to cater to me even after I broke out of one of their little rooms.
“Uh… I’m fine. But… Was that all you needed to know? Am I getting sent away soon?”
He frowned again like he didn’t understand and shook his head. “No. You stay with me. Help make people happy. We want to help. Not scare.”
Uh… Okay? Somehow I was enlisted into being a liaison for the military personnel? For breaking out of one of their rooms? What?
If he noticed my confusion, Aster didn’t comment on it. He leaned a little closer, his eyes casting over my face.
“You are young.”
I huffed out a startled laugh and leaned back a little to put more space between us. “Not really? I’m thirty-two.”
He tipped his head, considering me. “You look young.”
This was such a weird conversation, but I went with it. He seemed to be the one calling the shots to make things happen. If I could get him on board to get people in contact with their families, I think it would make things easier here.
“You can thank my parents for that, I guess. My family ages well.”
“I will.”
He said it so matter-of-factly, like he had plans to meet my family. Which was… strange. I’d had boyfriends run in the opposite direction when I mentioned meeting my family. Meanwhile, my alien abductor was acting like he had plans to meet them and maybe even looked forward to it.
This whole day was just weird.
Trevuk came back before it could get too awkward, his expression dark and furious. “We have had frequent attempts at breaking out. They will not listen to reason.”
Aster gestured to me. “Ask Enzo. He has good ideas.”
I whipped my head around to gape at him before swinging back to Trevuk. That guy looked like he wanted to snap me in half. Pointing out the flaws in his plan already pissed him off once. I didn't want to criticize him. At least not to his face.
Trevuk crossed his arms again, the suspicious vibes coming off him in waves. He said something in his language to Aster, who scoffed and mirrored the posture, crossing his arms and glaring back. “He can help. Let him.”
Rolling his eyes so hard it looked painful, Trevuk finally relented with a grunt. “What ideas?”
Shit. How the hell did I explain things to this guy without pissing him off? Aster was a lot easier to talk to.
“I, uh… I mentioned explaining things to the people you abducted. Our governments don’t always keep us in the loop, even if we could contact them right now. No one has any idea what’s going on, and it’s scary.”
Trevuk’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue with that. He didn’t say much at all, so I figured it was fine to keep going.
“I also suggested letting people call home. Just to–”
“No. Too dangerous,” he interrupted, his face shuttered closed.
There was no arguing with someone like that, but apparently, Aster was willing to try on my behalf.
He started talking in his own language, sitting up and gesturing with his hands.
He pointed a few times at the tablet thing I used to call home, and then to me.
Maybe explaining the phone call I made earlier?
“If you monitor them, you can make sure they aren’t doing anything bad,” I added. It wasn’t the greatest, people like their privacy, but it was a step in the right direction. It’d at least give people the opportunity to tell their families they were safe.
Trevuk’s face was pinched like he didn’t like the idea, but he didn’t seem to have any arguments about it. He nodded once.
“I’ll make an inquiry. For now, you go to your room. We have things to do. No breaking out. I’m keeping your tool.”
Well, I tried. It was more than I ever expected, since I was just in maintenance. I wasn’t anything special. But I managed to get someone to listen and take us into account. Hopefully, it’d make a difference.
I was escorted back to my room where Knightley was already camped out.
He was curious about what happened after they took me away, but I didn’t want to get his hopes up about contacting his family if they eventually turned the plan down.
I told him they asked a lot of questions about how I got out and if others could potentially do the same thing, and that was about it.
Knightley passed out almost immediately after we turned the lights out, though I think some of that was still him recovering.
He said the serum made him tired, and the doctor said to rest for the evening.
It didn’t have that effect on me, but I had a lot less damage to heal.
Knightley had a broken leg that morning.
He had a lot to fix. But he was healed, doing well, and that should’ve only made it easier for me to relax.
They didn’t let him suffer. They saw he was hurt and immediately took him to get the care he needed.
After such an insane day, I was surprised that it was so difficult to fall asleep.
We’d been given more of those food brick things for dinner, and the beds were still awesome.
I was full and comfortable and had a promise from one of the aliens that no one would hurt me.
So why was it that I couldn’t seem to settle?
My mind flicked back to Aster. He was probably the reason I wasn’t carted off with Colt to wherever the troublemakers went.
He was the one who caught me, but he was gentle about it, and he hovered after that, protecting me.
I’d bet my next paycheck that he told Trevuk not to send me anywhere.
His attention was sweet, albeit a little weird.
I found myself wanting to talk to him more.
He made me comfortable enough that I felt safe asking him questions.
I wanted to know more about how they planned to save the earth, and how they were going to get the governments of the world on board.
Humans, as a whole, never fully agreed on anything.
It was always four out of five dentists that recommended a toothpaste.
Same went for the government. There was always at least one group that caused trouble.
No laws were ever passed with unanimous votes.
I think. Maybe. If they had, it was rare.
What were the aliens going to do about them?
If I was honest with myself, that wasn’t the only reason I was curious about Aster.
He was… different. His eyes weren’t white with color in the middle, like ours.
They were all color, and their pupils sharpened like cats sometimes.
I thought Aster’s eyes were black, but they were more like deep purple, with shades of dark blue and green with flecks of gold.
Almost like he had galaxies in his eyes.
It was hard not to stare when he was sitting so close to me.
And the tentacles. If the aliens had shown up under different circumstances, there’d be a whole faction of humans panting for their attention.
Tentacle porn was a real thing. It was something I may or may not have looked up out of curiosity when I was younger. And as an adult.
I batted that away, rubbing my hands over my face roughly to try and get a grip. I was not seriously thinking about tentacle porn right after being abducted by aliens. What was wrong with me?
Maybe I didn’t want the answer to that.
I made plans instead. I wasn’t sure Aster would come back, though he said he would.
If he wanted me to keep giving him ideas about how to make the military personnel more comfortable, then I needed to really think.
I wanted to do them justice. It was more than just phone calls home and an explanation of what was happening.
We didn’t know how long it would take for the aliens to feel comfortable enough to let everyone go home.
For now, I wanted to focus on the basics.
Things like more space to stretch out, more than just a roommate to talk to.
Maybe they had a common area where people in small groups could get some exercise?
Even prisoners got that much. And maybe I could discuss the food.
The food bars weren’t terrible, but they’d get old fast. And I wasn’t really sure how those bars worked with allergies.
Hopefully, no one has had any issues with it so far.
Mostly, I wanted to push for the ability to call home freely.
I knew the risk, the idea of making plans behind the aliens’ backs, but I thought it would go a long way to show goodwill if the aliens let people talk freely with their families.
If they were technologically advanced enough to knock out all cell service, then they should be advanced enough to monitor for trigger words during calls or whatever.
I dunno. I wasn’t really tech savvy. I had the guy at the mall set up my phone for me.
I mostly used it for games and to call my mom just enough to keep her from freaking out about me being so far from home.
So like six days a week at least. If I skipped a day, I’d be almost guaranteed a wailing phone call the next day about how I don’t love her anymore and how she went through the pain and misery of pregnancy and childbirth only for her children to hate her.
Mothers. Ugh. I was almost afraid of what she’d have to say once I finally had a few minutes to sit down and really chat with her. Maybe phone calls weren't the smartest idea after all…
Maybe I could pitch a suggestion box too.
That way, the other military members could make suggestions, and we could go through them to find ones that would be plausible to make them more comfortable.
I wasn’t entirely comfortable representing literally every military member on the planet.
I wanted to make them happy, but I was just one guy.
I finally fell asleep with my head full of ideas.
Half were probably going to get shot down immediately, but I felt better having a little bit of a path forward.
Something to do. At least until we could get the governments to agree on things and start the process of healing the planet. Then, who knows?