How to Date an Alien (15 page)

“I owe you one." I patted his back and
started running out of the cargo unit.

“Hey,” Malcolm yelled.

I stopped quickly, turning back toward him.
"Yeah?"

“Just don’t do anything to stupid, okay? I
can only cover for you down here for so long."

“I won’t."

I turned back around, running in full force
toward the cellblock. I didn’t know what I would find, but I hoped
that Ace would still be down there and not already headed for
option number two.

You would think that a prison block on an
alien base would have more security guards. But as I ran down the
long white hallways and into the basement I didn't see a single
guard or even a single person or alien. As I approached the rows of
cells I realized why.

They weren't ordinary prison cells with metal
bars, but lines of green electrical currents that ran the length of
the large room, squaring off each snarling prisoner from each
other. I ran down the rows, looking in each cell. Some of the
prisoners looked like old women begging for me to help them, and
others were sneering beast-like creatures who would growl and jump
toward the electric currents only to get thrown back by the
shock.

I finally made it to the end of the block to
a small green-lined cell with Ace crouched in the corner. His head
was down, and his suit and hair were singed from either the
electric shock when he was detained, or from running into the
electric currents surrounding him.

"Ace?" I whispered, trying to hide the horror
on my face from seeing him look so helpless with his face buried in
his knees.

He slowly tilted his head up toward me. The
fire in his eyes was gone and all that was left were pools of
sadness on his blackened face.

"Alex?" He stood up gradually as if it took a
great effort for him to move toward the cell wall. Standing only a
foot from me, I wanted to reach out and touch him, make the burn
marks go away, but I knew it would only electrocute both of us.

"It's me." I could feel the tears welling up
in my eyes and tried my hardest to fight them back.

"What are you doing down here?" he whispered,
looking around. "This could get us in even more trouble."

I shook my head. "I don’t care. What else can
they really do to me? They've already taken you away and left me in
my own prison."

I looked at the green currents surrounding
him. "I mean, um, not exactly prison."

He smiled an actual small flash of white
against his otherwise darkened face. "I know what you mean, Alex.
You don't have to explain it to me."

“I’m sorry." I pushed back my broken glasses
to wipe the tears from my eyes. “But I just don’t know what to do
anymore.”

He let out a deep breath. “Well, the board is
supposed to meet today to decide what’s going to happen.”

I longed to reach out and touch him, to feel
the lines of his face against my hand, and let his lips trail to
mine. But the constant buzzing of the green bars let me know it
wouldn’t be happening.

“What do you think will happen?" I
pressed.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never
really seen another alien get in trouble for being with a human
girl.”

I gulped, thinking of what my dad had said
about him killing other human girls in other countries. I didn’t
want to upset him anymore, but I had to ask. “My dad said some
things to me.”

His eyes met mine. A fire was slowly burning
behind them. “What did he say?" he spat between gritted teeth.

“Well…" I bit down on my lip, trying not to
meet his gaze. “He just said that there were other human girls
besides me.”

He let out a relieved sigh, raising an
eyebrow as I looked up at him. “Is that what this is about? Are you
jealous that there were other girls before you?”

I could feel the color rise to my cheeks. “No
that’s not what I was saying! Just wondering.”

“I think your girlfriend is jealous,” a small
alien that looked like he could have been someone’s grandpa, but
very yellow, yelled from the cell next to Ace.

“I am not!" I scowled at the old man.

Ace shook his head, smiling over at him. “Can
you give us a little privacy here?”

The old man lifted his arms up and turned the
other way in his cell.

“That goes for the rest of you as well,” Ace
yelled as I watched all eyes shift off of us, and pretended they
weren’t hanging on our every word.

Ace turned back to me, his eyes fixed on me
like I was the only one in the room. “I told you about the other
human girls. The ones who had their lives sucked from them right in
front of me. For years it was as if death had surrounded me. I
would pass women in the street who were on the brink of death,
begging anyone to come and save them." His eyes dazed off as if he
were in a dream. "Sometimes I wondered if they knew I could have
saved them if I wanted to, but I think most of them were just
clinging on to whatever shred of life they could find." His eyes
met mine again as I saw the darkness spread over them. "Death
surrounded me for years like it was waiting for me to screw up. I
wouldn't listen to its call, not once looking at one of these
girls, and then I met you."

He put his hand into a fist and laid it on
his chest. “The only time I can feel my heart beating so hard it’s
threatening to leap right out of me is when you are around. You’re
the only one that makes my heart beat so fast that I never want it
to stop."

He closed his eyes and then slowly opened
them. He released his hand from his chest and put it back down.
“There has never been anyone else who can do that to me, human or
alien. I will not lose the only girl that will ever have my
heart.”

My lips trembled as I tried to fight back the
tears that threatened to escape my eyes. I didn’t know what I would
do if Ace was executed. How could I live without someone, who even
though I’d only known him a short while, could leave me
breathless?

I leaned as close as I could to the electric
bars without getting shocked, whispering, “As long as my heart is
beating, I will never let it stop beating for you.”

“I’m pretty sure we can change that.”

I turned to see five large men with flowing
black robes and snow-white skin come barreling toward Ace’s cell. I
jumped back, trying to catch my breath that I almost lost when I
was caught off guard.

“What are you doing here?" Ace glared up at
the man who had spoken to me.

Just the mere sight of his face was enough to
make me gasp. He had the same statuesque facial structure as Ace,
but his had been hardened like a worn-out basketball and decorated
with thin scares that stood out against his pale skin, which was
pulled even tighter by his long black braid.

“What do you think we are doing here, Ace?
It’s time to come home." The man grinned such a wicked smile that
it spread across his pale face and curved into the corners of his
dark eyes.

“What do you mean, go home? You can’t do
that!" I protested, lunging at the man, but I was pulled back by
two of the other guys with him.

“Oh, my dear human girl.” He stepped closer
to me. His long fingers drew a line down my face. He left the same
icy hot tingle as Ace’s fingers and at that moment I knew he was a
Caltian.

He shook his head and looked toward Ace. “You
couldn’t have at least picked a girl with a decent pair of glasses?
Or maybe even a blonde?”

Ace growled at him. "Take your hands off
her."

The Caltian slid his hand out from my chin
and took another step toward Ace's cell. "My, my, all these years
on this wretched planet have made you quite the angry Caltian."

"This doesn't concern her. Just let her go."
Ace narrowed his eyes, his hands balling into tight fists at his
sides while the Caltian stood there, smiling and carrying on.

"Oh, my dear Ace, I think we both know that
this has everything to do with her."

"If you do anything to her. I swear—"

"You swear what?" The Caltian arched his
pencil-thin eyebrows. "It looks like you've already done a fine job
protecting her."

The Caltian glanced over at me. I tried to
fight the other two Caltians off me, but they had strength that I
was definitely lacking. "Just look at her. Broken spectacles,
bruises, and she doesn't even know how to respect her elders."

He shook his head, turning his attention back
to Ace. "I'd say it's time to—oh, what's the human expression—let
sleeping dogs lie?"

Ace opened his mouth. His lips lurched back
as a loud, animal-like growl came from deep within his throat. He
thrust his hand through the bars, the electric shock barely fazing
him as he reached for the Caltian's neck.

"Ace, no!" I screamed.

Before he could even react the Caltian pulled
a small disc-like object from his cloak and thrust it hard against
Ace's hand. The growl was replaced by a whispered gurgle. His eyes
rolled into the back of his head, and he fell backward onto the
floor of his cell.

The Caltian laughed a high, sharp cackle,
like the one from my nightmares. “Oh Ace, you should know better
than to get angry."

He pulled a small silver key from his pocket
that glowed against the walls of the cell. He slid the key into the
lock and the door opened. Two of the other Caltians pulled Ace out
of the cell and to his feet.

“Now let’s get you back home. We have big
plans for you." The Caltian let his fingers trace Ace’s limp face
before he let out another silvery laugh.

“What are you going to do to him?" I begged,
watching the Caltian and the others turned toward the door.

The Caltian stopped and looked back in my
direction. “Oh, dear little human girl.”

"Oh, dear little Caltian," I mocked before
gargling a mouthful of spit and shooting it in his direction. The
wad froze in midair before it even hit his face.

The two guards holding me back laughed.

"This one definitely has some spunk," one of
them added.

"Yes, and we all know that I hate spunk." He
took another step toward me, pushing the frozen spit wad until it
broke against my face.

"Gee, and I was just hoping to get on your
good side."

He pointed the silver disc at me. “You have
no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

He thrust the object into my chest. I felt
the surge of electrical energy flow through my body, my arms and
legs flailing like wet noodles. I fell to the ground, unable to
move as the sound of my own heart pounded in my ears.

“How is that for my good side?" He laughed as
I sailed back into the darkness of my nightmares.

Instead of the woman’s laughter, I heard the
sound of alarms ringing through the darkness. I didn’t know if they
were part of my nightmare or where they came from, but the noise
was high-pitched and deafening. I opened by mouth to scream but it
was engulfed by streams of black. I coughed, trying to spit the
darkness out, but every time I tried, the inky blackness would just
burrow farther into me.

I saw Ace in the shadows. His hair had molded
in with the black as he started to melt away before my eyes. I
tried to reach for him, but every time I lifted my arms the Caltian
man would pull me back until I couldn’t see his face anymore.

“Alex,” the Caltian said in a lower
whisper.

I couldn’t answer, but his voice got louder
and louder. The blackness started to fade and I could feel the
light warming in my eyes. I reached my arms out, pawing and hoping
that the warmth was Ace lying next to me, and it all had been just
a very bad dream.

“It looks like she’s waking,” a voice called,
coming closer to me as I reached for the light. It was familiar,
but I couldn’t remember where I'd heard it.

I opened my eyes only to be surrounded by
green with a pair of beady bug eyes staring at me. I tried to
scream, but when I opened my mouth, a pool of sweet green liquid
flowed into it. I quickly looked to see that there was light above
me. I swam up until I was able to gasp for air, spitting out flakes
of green goo in the process. I wiped my eyes, feeling the warm gel
slide through my fingers until I could finally see the little
orange doctor standing on a platform in front of me.

“Welcome back, Alex." She smiled those pointy
teeth.

“What happened? Where am I?" I looked down
and realized that I was floating in one of the tubes filled with
green jelly that I had seen during my tour on my first day at
Circe.

"You've had quite a bit of damage to your
human shell, so I thought it was best that you take a soak in the
healing tank." She poked at my outstretched hand, taking a droplet
of the green goop and rubbing it between her fingers. "It looks
like you've healed fairly well for your first time."

I wiped more of the gel from my face and slid
out of the goop and onto the platform next to the doctor. She was
right about the healing. Even though I was dressed in not much more
than my underwear and covered in green goop, my body actually felt
like I had just woken up from a long nap. I was completely relaxed,
but I couldn't ignore the aching in my heart when I thought about
what happened before I ended up in the tank.

"Where's Ace?"

“It seems there has been a bit of dilemma."
She started down the platform's small ladder, her tiny voice fading
the faster she traveled.

“What kind of dilemma?" I followed her down,
trying not to slip on the rungs. Before the doctor could speak, Jen
and Malcolm ran through a large metal door.

“You’re finally awake!" Jen screamed, running
over to me and almost knocking the doctor over as she rushed to my
side.

“We were worried about you when the alarms
started going off." Malcolm popped his head over Jen’s
shoulder.