CHAPTER 8
ZAREK
Do not share valuable information about your species’ to members of planets not within the Intergalactic Unity Senate. Unless, of course, you are trying to impress an attractive human.
There must be something wrong with my brain. Ellie’s staring at me, her lips slightly parted, and I want to kiss her. I feel this way every time she gives me that look. I am not even sure it’s desire sparkling in those dark eyes of hers, or mere curiosity, but it calls to me.
Except I will not, because then I would have to admit those thoughts and feelings out loud. And I cannot, because that would likely ruin this already complex arrangement.
So instead, I sit down on one of the small chairs and stare out the window. My fingers brush against the metal frame, causing me to feel the intense electrical currents of the train, and I balk.
“Are you alright?” she asks, crossing toward me.
“Yes. Apologies…I’m just. It’s a lot,” I say, a little overstimulated by my tumultuous emotional state.
She gives me a small smile. “That’s understandable. The train might take some getting used to, but I’m sure your pod was strange at first as well. You’ll get the hang of it.”
For a moment, I wonder if Ellie has spent a lot of her life traveling by train, before I realize this is her attempting to comfort me, and smile back at her. “Thank you. I am sure I will.”
“Once we get your DIRC fixed, I’m probably going to stay up half the night soaking up every ounce of knowledge it’ll let me, so I’m going to take a little nap,” she informs me before walking over to one of the small beds and lying down.
As Ellie removes her glasses, making herself comfortable, I flip the light switch and adjust the curtains so nothing can disturb her sleep.
I am now shrouded in darkness, and the only thing preventing the room from being pitch black is the little bit of sunlight peeking through the thin, deep blue fabric covering the windows.
Part of me wants to activate the night vision feature of my BLEND.
Another part of me is lulled by the soothing, rhythmic vibrations of the train, and I close my eyes, just for a moment.
“Nous arrivons maintenant à Nevers,” a feminine voice says over the loudspeaker. My eyes blink open, my body far too aware of the oppressive contacts I’m still wearing.
Ellie sits in the chair across the table from me as the overhead announcement continues. She nods along, eyes wide, her body language pleading hurry up and get me off this fucking train. I need my DIRC fixed, badly, but I think Ellie actually wants it more than me.
“What is she saying?”
Ellie squints. “She’s listing places we can visit.”
It’s all incomprehensible to me, but I hear the word floral and it instantly piques my interest. “Floral…floral what?”
“Parc Floral d’Apremont-sur-Allier,” Ellie repeats. “It sounds like a botanical garden.”
All of the exhaustion and overstimulation leaves my mind and body at the thought. “Can we go? Please?”
Ellie looks at me as if I just asked if we could take a detour to my planet, her eyes wide and brows furrowed.
“What?” I ask, unsure what I did wrong.
“Hello? We have to get your DIRC fixed first,” she says as if she’s reminding me. “And then I would like to go through it.”
“I know, but if we have time after the computer store, could we do a little exploring? We took the scenic route, we should try to enjoy at least some of France,” I suggest.
I know she needs to utilize the DIRC for her professional (personal) interests, but I also want to enjoy my time on Earth.
When I return to Terilia with the edelweiss sample, there’s no telling how my government will react.
I could be praised as a hero, or placed on probation, or worse… condemned to home confinement.
And I’d also like to get to know Ellie better.
Archiving human artifacts might not have been the calling I dreamed of, but now that I have one here in authentic carbon form, I don’t mind studying her.
Witnessing humans think and interact in real time is lightyears more interesting than staring at cave markings or old documents.
“Fine,” she grumbles, and it takes everything in me not to laugh.
The train comes to a halt, and Ellie slips my DIRC into her leather satchel before standing to exit our car. She pulls the handle, stepping out of the doorway, and I follow suit.
“Do not say anything until we’re off the train,” she commands, bossy as ever.
The train cars we pass are in different levels of disarray. Some still have their doors closed, while others are open and empty of lifeforms, leaving only their scattered belongings and trash. One is clearly occupied by a family with multiple children, toys and diaper bags left on the floor.
We’re almost to the exit when I spot a young woman holding a book with a peculiar cover.
There’s an illustration of a woman on the front with flowing long brown hair.
Snow falls from the sky above her, and I shiver at the thought.
Behind the woman stands a figure that looks a lot like me, though he’s brawnier, his skin a deeper shade of blue. He looks like a sapphiro.
“Is that a tail?!” Shit. I didn’t mean to ask the question aloud.
Ellie looks back at me with a scrutinizing glare, and I immediately close my mouth, ensuring no more words tumble out.
We step out of the train and onto the station platform, and it’s nice to breathe in fresh air.
“Humans write about sapphiro?” I ask.
Ellie gets out her phone and gestures for me to follow as we begin walking toward the narrow street. “No, not sapphiro. Humans are fascinated by the concept of extraterrestrial life. As far as I know, nobody but Jo and I are aware of your species.”
My brows furrow, mouth curling to the side. “But they’re blue? I thought humans believed aliens to be green or gray.”
She shrugs. “Yeah, that’s how we usually portray them, but I think she was reading a romance novel. Blue is a much sexier color than green.”
My forehead creases, surprise radiating through me. “Alien romance?”
“I refuse to have this conversation with you right now,” she huffs as we round a corner. “Focus on the mission, Derek.”
There’s a river up overhead, and we continue past a restaurant with outdoor seating, where couples and families are enjoying a late lunch. My stomach grumbles loudly.
Ellie reaches into her bag and hands me a protein bar, which I take in kind.
“Thank you,” I say, but she doesn’t look up from where she stares at her GPS application. I unwrap the bar, which appears to be blueberry flavored, and take a bite.
“The computer store is about ten more minutes away,” she responds, and continues walking. “The train is serving dinner between six and eight tonight, so we should try to make it back by then. Departure is at midnight.”
“How do you know?”
“The announcement you kept talking through.”
My mistake. Finishing the bar in silence, I tuck the wrapper into one of my pockets.
The architecture of this city—Nevers—features some of the most stunning structures I’ve ever seen. There are modern buildings, but the majority of this place feels like something I would have studied. Historical stone masonry is everywhere we turn.
We pass a strange, unique building that is blocky and geometric, and I stop for a moment to just stare at it.
“Utah might have stunning geographical features, but I am so glad I came to France instead. Between the diverse flora and the architecture? This country is pure bliss for me,” I share.
Ellie freezes, her muscles tensing. “Utah, huh?”
Oh, I messed up. I’m not sure why I lied about why I came here to begin with.
Deep down, I think I was ashamed to admit that I don’t have the same passion for my career that Ellie does.
And I also know Ellie prefers to follow the rules, so I was afraid she would look down at my choice to go rogue, but now I have to come clean.
There’s no other option.
“I’m—” I don’t know what to say.
“The edelweiss is not important to human history,” Ellie states as though it were a definitive fact.
“Is it not?” I ask, genuinely uncertain. In fabricating my story, I might have assumed its importance, but the idea was based in some level of truth. There are novels and even songs written about the flora. Does that not mean anything to humans?
“Walk and talk, we’re almost there,” she instructs me, her tone snappy as we continue down the sidewalk on the cobbled street.
“There’s some old mountaineer mythology regarding edelweiss, but no, I would say it is not important enough for us to travel an entire country and hike up a mountain to acquire. ”
“Ah.”
We’re on the front steps of the computer store, and I want to finish explaining, but Ellie opens the door and we walk inside. A man at the front desk greets her, and they converse in French.
She pulls out my DIRC, and I want to be helpful, but I have no idea what they’re saying. My mind keeps running through the last hour, over and over again.
Blue is a much sexier color than green, Ellie had said, the sound permanently playing in my head like a phonograph stuck on a defective loop. I wonder if this disguise allows my skin to flush like humans do. If so, I’m probably red right now.
I can’t believe I brought up Utah. I should not have lied, but I did, and now we’re here.
The clerk grabs something out of a container, a small chip that reads Athlon 64, and Ellie hands him her currency card. She takes the antiquated-looking piece of technology and slips it into her purse.
“Merci,” she says as we exit the shop.
“And?”
“You’re expensive.” A wide, infectious grin spreads across her face. “We’ve got a working processing chip now!”
“That’s amazing,” I say, but I feel the smallest amount of cortisol and adrenaline releasing into my system.
What if Ellie gets the information she needs and leaves me stranded?
No. I close my eyes, desperate to relieve myself of these contacts, and shake the bad thoughts away. She’ll follow through. We made a deal.