CHAPTER 18
Earth archivists are expected to follow the laws of the region they are assigned to. Good thing I was assigned to Utah and not France.
I had three different, but equally strange dreams last night.
After our call with Zul, Ellie drifted off quickly, her brain and body exhausted.
It was more difficult for me. My mind was considering every worst-case scenario, until there was nothing left but to fall asleep and relive those thoughts during REM.
In my first dream, which was really a nightmare, the Tetheh took Ellie from me, strapped her to a table, and dissected her brain.
This is not something that would ever happen, as sapphiro would never torture or kill someone of any species unless in self-defense, but earthly media must be worming its way into my head.
I don’t remember much about the second one. I think Ellie was a flower, and I a bumble bee, but that is all I can recall. It was peculiar, but not frightening.
The third and final dream, which is the one that took me through until morning, involved me creating a fake ID and joining Ellie’s university so that we could be together, but she did not recognize me because I changed the settings on my BLEND chip.
Rather than taking my features and making them human, it completely changed everything about me, causing me to become unrecognizable.
I had to prove with my personality alone, that I was Zarek.
It went easier than expected, honestly, and once I spoke, Dream Ellie immediately realized it was me. It’s because of how much you annoy me, she had said.
In such a short amount of time, Ellie has made me feel seen and understood more than very few have before. Even in my dreams, I am eager to find a way to continue nurturing this sapling of a relationship that has been growing between us.
As she tosses and turns, I consider waking Ellie to tell her about the dreams, but decide I better not.
She deserves to rest. Standing up, I get dressed and put my contacts in, deciding I’ll roam the train a little before whatever adventure we decide on for today.
There’s only one more stop—in Lyons—after this, before we make it to Moutiers and have to find our way to the French Alps.
I would like to make today, and tomorrow, truly count.
I quietly close the door to our train car and meander my way past other riders, until I find my way to the café car, where everything smells of rich pastries and warm coffee.
Can you woo a woman with coffee? If so, I am damn sure going to try.
I start to make a latte, determined to pour the milk into a fun shape, when a few humans step beside me, putting together their own breakfasts.
One woman has her phone open to a photo of a vibrant lavender field, which she is showing to another woman beside her.
“Where is that?” I ask in English, wishing I spoke even a jbit of French.
“It is like an hour from here, maybe less. Abbaye de Sénanque,” she answers, very clearly at least bilingual.
“Thank you,” I answer, impressed.
There is one thing I will give credit to humans on Earth, over other species and planets I have met and learned about; Besides sapphiro, who make it our job to study other species and cultures, very few species choose to learn each other’s languages.
Even within a singular planet, many of the beings we meet are monolingual. It is so impressive that there are entire nations where most people speak two, if not three or more languages or dialects. I hope this trend continues and inspires others long after humanity is gone.
I wonder if we let them into the Intergalactic Unity Senate, would humans learn Terilian too? I bet some would.
After two failed attempts at making a skull or bone out of milk, I decide on something simpler. Picking out two plates full of treats for Ellie and I to enjoy together, I return to our cabin.
I make it back to Ellie, who is already awake, and place the coffees and desserts on the small table. Taking a seat beside her, I hand her over a cup.
Ellie hums as she brings the coffee to her face. “Is this a heart?”
“I think so.”
“It smells delicious. What shape did they put for yours?”
I shake my head. “I did not put a shape on mine. I tried really hard to do a bone for yours, but it was decidedly too difficult.”
“You made our coffees?” she asks, a pink blush adorning both cheeks.
My chest becomes warm, just like the coffees, the electric pulse of my heart kicking up, and I nod before picking up a lemon tart to consume whole.
“Yes. Also, I heard of this place not far from here. Abay…de…Sénanque,” I say, using my best attempt to remember the French. “I figured we could both pick out our last two adventures? I choose something here, and you choose something in Lyons.”
Ellie’s smile drops, and I understand she does not want to think about goodbye, but we have to plan for the worst-case scenario. If we are going to part, I would like to have spent the last few days enjoying ourselves, just as we have on this entire journey.
“Okay,” she answers quietly, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Let me look it up.”
“It’s a lavender field.”
Ellie calls a taxi line—one that specifically takes tourists to the fields—and tells me we need to hurry and eat so we can get dressed.
We disembark the train, walking out of the station, where a black SUV waits for us. I open the door for Ellie and we step inside, the driver playing upbeat electronic music.
“Hello,” I say, testing the waters a bit. The driver gives us a wave, responding in French, and Ellie continues the conversation from there.
Avignon is a really stunning city, the structures made with lots of limestone. As we pass the city walls, it reminds me of what I remember from studying the Middle Ages.
“This place looks like Medieval Times,” Ellie whispers as we stare out the window.
“Is that a theme park?”
“Not exactly. It’s a dinner theatre show, but everyone dresses up,” Ellie explains.
“Is that why you took me to the cosplay shop?”
Ellie giggles. “No. I mean, I took you there to get your costume, but in all honesty, I thought you were a cosplayer when I first met you.”
“I thought you were a terrified archaeologist, and then I thought you were ingenuous," I say.
I stick out my tongue, and Ellie shoves her shoulder against mine.
“I’m kind, not gullible,” she says defensively.
“I don’t know, you’ve been in a lot of tight, enclosed spaces with an alien. Seems pretty gullible to me,” I whisper, even though I do not think the driver speaks English. Ellie frowns, not feeding into my humor, so I amp it up. “You have even undressed for one.”
“Keep it up, and I’ll bite you.”
I shrug, a smirk lining my lips. “How did you know I was into that?”
To my shock and disappointment, Ellie does not bite me. Instead, she pinches my arm, and I let out a small yelp, which causes her to giggle.
Her laugh might be worth the pain.
“Now I understand you are neither scared nor gullible. You are simply inquisitive, and empathetic,” I say, and she gives me a look.
“Are you just saying that so I don’t pinch you again?”
I just smile.
The drive continues for twenty or thirty minutes, giving us a view of the green and luscious countryside. After going down a steep incline, we arrive at our destination, and our driver and Ellie exchange some words before we step out into the warm summer air.
“My phone doesn’t work here, so we have to be ready to get picked up by exactly two o’clock,” she says, showing me the time, which reads just after ten.
“Got it. Did you schedule a guided tour?” I ask as we walk toward a small, old building.
“No,” Ellie shakes her head. “They’re booked for months, and only available in French. Plus, apparently walking through the fields isn’t allowed.”
“So…what are we doing here, lover of rules?”
She sighs. “Obviously, we’re going to very carefully traverse the fields. If no one is looking. This is your adventure, after all.”
This place does not have an entrance fee, as it is a religious monastery, and it’s refreshing to enjoy something so public. There are no gardens or fields like this on Terilia, outside of the lab-grown ones used for medicine or by private organizations.
There are groups of people being led by tour guides, while others pass areas that are obviously prohibited, hauling cameras and drones along with them.
After some time, we are finally able to sneak off, careful not to step on any of the lavender, until we’re completely alone in a field of purple. It smells divine, every flower appearing perfect, and yet I cannot seem to keep my eyes off the human before me.
Ellie is wearing tan shorts with lots of little pockets, her socks coming just up over her boots, and I watch the strength of her calves as she walks in front of me.
My eyes wander, scaling her body, pausing at the roundness of her ass and hips, and then at the small of her back, where a thick braid stops dead in the center.
It took every ounce of me not to try something when we were in the ocean, but I wanted to experience her, and I needed her to know that I am not using her.
Not for sex, and not even for the edelweiss. I have truly loved every experience I have had thus far, and I’m not ready for this to end.
I stop and crouch, examining one of the flower’s petals and stigma more closely.
“You’re awfully quiet. What are you thinking about?” Ellie asks, the only other sound the distant chiming of church bells.
“That lavender is a part of the mint family,” I share. It is true, though it is not what I was thinking about. I just do not have the heart to remind her of the end right now.
Not when everything around us is so beautiful.
Ellie’s face is unreadable, and I cannot tell if she’s disappointed, or if she sees right through my lie. It’s as if she has the ability to stare through me, but if she truly could do that, she’d stare straight into my chest and see my heart beats solely for her.
A bee lands in Ellie’s hair, but she does not seem to notice.
“Hold still,” I say, standing and stepping close to her. My finger brushes against the bee, gently pushing it, and the small creature flies away.
“Was that a bee?” Ellie’s eyes are big, her mouth agape.
“Yes, but it’s gone now,” I answer, and my hand cups her cheek.
I’m afraid she’ll pull away. That maybe she does not want to feel what she feels, so she’s choosing to ignore it. I would not blame her, but it would hurt all the same.
But then she presses her face into my hand, and I grip her jaw, dragging her in for a kiss. Ellie’s lips are as soft as I remember, and I savor the taste.
My mind wanders, and I want to taste something else.
In the middle of this field, with the only sounds being birds and bees and ringing church bells, I want to drop down to my knees and taste her. Devour her like I have been starved.
My fingers find their way down her body, toward her hips, and I unbutton the top of her shorts as she leans further into me, our tongues colliding.
Ring. Ring. Ellie’s phone is going off, and we both sigh in disappointment.
“Can you call Jo back later?” I ask, my forehead wrinkling.
“Unfortunately, that is the alarm for us to head back, otherwise we won’t catch our taxi in time,” she answers, and my shoulders slump.
I plant a kiss on her forehead, my body overheated, but follow her toward the abbey’s parking lot. It’s a long walk, but our fingers remain intertwined the entire way back, until we reach the car and step inside. Our skin is slick with sweat, our breaths heavy, but we made it just in time.
There has to be something I can do.
What if I convince the Intergalactic Unity Senate to allow Earth to join? That could benefit so many individuals, not just myself.
Even if I did, which could take decades, there’s no guarantee they would allow Ellie and I to be together. Earth itself might even forbid it.
What if I give Zul the sample and then disconnect my DIRC, destroying it permanently?
I would probably never speak to him or my parents again, which would kill a part of my heart, but I fear none of them will want to see me again if I return, anyway.
I’ll come back as not only a traitor, who disobeyed his every order, but I’ll also be a broken sapphiro.
My heart will have shattered, leaving me a husk of the being I was before.
What if I can convince Tetheh that Ellie can help them—or better yet, that she is necessary to ensure sapphiro’s survival?
It sounds unrealistic, delusional even, but it might be the only plan that could actually work. If I can convince them that she is needed, they will have no choice but to hire her, and bring her to live on Terilia with me.
I will find a way.