10. Hi #4
The woman smiled. The blade-woman bent down again and came at Charlie with the gun. Charlie did wince, but she tried to hide it. She outright failed. However, she didn't move away.
The woman reached out and touched the blade-woman's arm before opening her palm, then closing it again, and repeating the motion. Oh, Charlie knew this one, too.
Give it to me.
Charlie watched them speak. Clipped this time in an obvious disagreement.
The blade-woman clearly thought it wasn't necessary for the other to complete the task.
The first woman clearly didn't care. After a short exchange, the blade-woman surrendered the device and stood, walking back to the line where the others remained.
The woman looked at Charlie. Raised her eyebrows.
Charlie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. At least no one could say she didn't take risks, because this had to be the biggest fucking risk of Charlie's life.
So far.
Charlie opened her eyes and stared at the woman in front of her. And then she nodded.
The woman sat up and leaned forward. She placed the device against the skin behind Charlie's ear. Charlie closed her eyes and braced.
Nothing happened.
Charlie opened her eyes. The woman was a foot away, worry etched along her face.
Her face clearly showed that she was questioning if Charlie was still okay with this.
Charlie realized this woman would not do it without her explicit permission.
She understood she wouldn't do it with even a panicked nod or some sort of general consent.
She sought purposeful consent, the kind you give when you know what it is you're agreeing to and you're making the choice to choose it anyway.
Surprised, Charlie realized that was all she needed to trust her.
Charlie reached up and touched the woman's chest, right at the collarbone, the same spot from earlier. Then she moved and placed her hand against her own chest, the same spot again. Charlie nodded one last time, smiled, and dropped her hand.
Something crossed the woman's face. Surprise, maybe. Or something gentler than surprise. She nodded at Charlie, her eyes not leaving her.
She raised the device, found the spot, and placed it against Charlie's skin behind her ear.
And pressed the trigger.
A ringing tore through Charlie's skull. Loud and sharp, vibrating through every bone in her head.
Gratefully, the injection itself was painless, but it was as though her brain was reacting to the invasion, throwing up alarms and flashing every warning light it had.
She closed her eyes tight, dropped her head into her hands, and started counting.
One, two, three. Count and focus on the numbers.
Let the train of thought pull you through.
After a few minutes, Charlie began to feel the flood subside and the disorientation ease. Her mind slowed its emergency broadcast and returned to something approaching normal.
Charlie opened her eyes slowly, checking to make sure she could register the incoming light without flinching. After successfully taking in her surroundings, she raised her head gently.
The woman was still there. Right there in front of Charlie, inches away. She was looking directly into Charlie's eyes, worry carved along every line of her face. Charlie nodded gently. I'm fine.
Her gaze tore to the others around the room, realizing everyone was staring at her.
She looked back at the woman and took her in again. The skin and the hair, those gold constellations and the amber eyes. She watched a smile form on the woman's face, slow and sure and steady. And Charlie couldn't help it.
She smiled back.
"Hi."
Charlie's whole body went still.
Emotions welled up inside her that made her feel as though she might cry.
Hi. One syllable. Two letters.
It was easily the most extraordinary ordinary word she had ever heard.
A person, someone she couldn't understand seconds ago, someone she'd never encountered, from a place she couldn't have imagined, was suddenly speaking to her in words she could understand perfectly.
"I... I can understand you," Charlie almost whispered, afraid to break whatever it was causing this magic.
The woman nodded and chuckled softly. "And I can understand you."
Charlie was overwhelmed all over again. This voice, its timbre and warmth, settling into Charlie's chest in a way she didn't expect.
"My name is Reyna Solas," the woman continued. "I'm the captain of this ship you seemed to have crash landed in." Charlie listened as the woman chuckled again and she smiled.
"Captain... Solas?" Charlie asked, ensuring she pronounced the name right. The woman pulled back, one eye closing while the side of her nose scrunched up.
"Mmm... no need for that," she responded. "Call me Reyna." And there it was again, that smile that brought the okay. "I'm Kaelari. That's my species. And this," she gestured around the room, "is a ship with quite a few different ones." Charlie looked around again before returning to Reyna's gaze.
"Reyna," Charlie repeated, honored that a Captain of a spaceship wanted Charlie to call her by her first name. "It is really nice to meet you, Reyna."
"And it is very nice to meet you... um?" Reyna said, her voice kind. Not demanding, not harsh. Still gentle and preserving the safety Charlie had felt building since the first smile.
Charlie popped up from the ground, Reyna following her up quickly in reaction.
Charlie tried to dust her hands on her pants, but it accomplished nothing because whatever kind of batter this was was not interested in being transferred.
"Where are my manners?" she said to herself, but also out loud, and then she held out her hand.
"I'm Charlie, Charlie Wickett. Well, actually, my real name is Charlotte Wickett, but that's a whole other story. All of my friends call me Charlie." She looked into Reyna's eyes, her hand falling slightly from its outstretched position. "And I really hope we're going to be friends."
Reyna smiled at her. "Charlie Wickett. I have to say, it is a delight to meet you."
"A delight, huh?" Charlie teased. "Well, then, likewise."
Her hand was still out. Charlie looked down at it. Reyna looked down at it. They both looked back up at each other.
"I'm not sure what's happening here," Reyna said, pointing and circling around at Charlie's outstretched hand, a chuckle escaping her lips.
Charlie beamed. "Oh! Ha, I should've figured that.
" She held her hand up straighter. "This is a handshake.
It's something we do..." She stopped and blew out a breath, the weight of what she was about to say landing on her like an elephant on her chest. "It's something we do on Earth to say hello to someone new. "
"You're from Earth?!"
Charlie's eyes went wide. "Uh... yeah?"
"So you're human?!" Charlie started to lower her hand. "No no no, keep your hand up!"
Charlie laughed and dropped her gaze. "Well, that's not exactly how a handshake works, it's more that—"
But Reyna grabbed Charlie's hand and just held it. She stood there, looking at Charlie expectantly, as if the next step of this Earth ritual was supposed to reveal itself.
Charlie looked down at their hands, and then looked back up at Reyna. "Close enough."
Reyna released her hand, and just as quickly as the excitement had arrived, the role of a Captain returned. Reyna turned to Torvax and spoke in a quick, quiet stream. Charlie couldn't hear all of what was said, but she caught the shift in Reyna's tone.
The fun was over. The protocol was back.
Torvax and Reyna approached Charlie, with the blue guy stepping forward. "I wanted to apologize to you, in case you were frightened by my actions upon your arrival," Torvax said.
"Oh," Charlie said, taken aback. "Thank you."
"It is my duty to ensure the safety on this ship, its crew, and most especially its Captain. I was only thinking of their well-being. I am sorry if I did not consider your fear as well."
Charlie chuckled. "I understand, promise. Thank you for being so good to your crew."
"I would like a..." Torvax turned to Reyna. "What was it you said I should ask for?"
"A do-over."
"I would like to request a 'do-over' with you at a later time, if you'll allow such an act."
Charlie laughed again. He was just so gosh darn proper. "Sounds good, umm..." Charlie squinted at him. "What did you say your name was again? ‘Turbo?’"
"Torvax."
"Right! That's way cooler anyway." Torvax bowed to her and Reyna, and then walked back to his post by the galley door.
Reyna turned to Charlie. "I think the best thing to do is get you to our medical bay.
Our doctor, Dr. Pheras," at which Reyna paused and pointed over to the woman that had originally tried to stab Charlie with the Voxlink.
"She needs to examine you before we do anything else.
To make sure we're safe." A pause. "And that you're safe, too. "
Charlie understood and nodded. That was fair. If a clear alien, such as this green woman even, had appeared in her lab at JPL, she'd probably want a doctor to look at her too.
"Before we go—" Reyna started.
But Charlie suddenly wasn't listening. She'd spotted it. Her bag.
It was on the floor near the mixing bowl, covered in the same batter as everything else within a six-foot radius of where she'd landed. She was already moving, dropping to her knees beside it and unzipping it before Reyna could finish her sentence.
Everything was there. Nineteen cassettes in their cases, untouched, the Walkman, even her Mom and Dad's war letters, all ten, still bound by the rubber band Charlie had wrapped around them only a few days ago.
Her Dad's pin was still there, too, tucked into the inner pocket where she'd put it that morning.
Was it still morning? Was it even the same day?