A sense of calm swept over me. This must have been what it felt like for Columbus to take his first step on the new world. Or Armstrong stepping on the Moon.
I’d once thought I would ask him to join me on Earth, to spend the rest of his life with me, but my emotions were still raw. They were pulling me in a bunch of different directions. He’d lied to me, had lied about the one thing I cared about most.
My friends.
And now, thanks to him, they were out there somewhere among the stars, scattered like grains of sand. I’d seen with my own eyes there was a near-infinite number of alien worlds out there, and my friends could be on any one of them.
I knew deep down in my heart I would never see them again.
Nighteko followed me down the ramp but kept a discreet distance. I didn’t want to look at him but I couldn’t help myself. When I looked into his face, I saw his sadness. It was the same expression he’d worn whenever he spoke about his parents. Only now that expression was tied directly to me.
I tore my eyes away. They began to sting.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off at your home?” he said.
“No. I need to make a statement to the police here anyway. And I need to think about what I’m going to say.”
He nodded.
The silence stretched for too long, becoming awkward.
“Alice,” Nighteko said. “It was… great meeting you. There’s not much about being a smuggler I’m proud of, or glad that I did, but if there’s one thing I’m happy about, it’s your holding that ruler to my neck, of running into that meteor field that disabled your pod, of you coming to speak with me in that bar. I don’t regret any of it.”
My nose was blocked and my throat stung. I could barely hold back the tears.
“I’m sorry I lied to you,” he said. “If there was some way I could go back and change something, it would be wishing I put a tracking device in your friends’ pods. But I don’t regret abducting you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ll care for you always.”
I want you too.
I want you to come with me.
I hate you.
Come share your life with me on Earth.
Go away! I don’t want to see you ever again!
My emotions were all over the place. I didn’t know what I felt. I couldn’t make a coherent decision now.
I needed time.
Did the past few days mean as much to him as it did to me?
My insides ground like a cement mixer.
No. He took my friends from me. That was a red line. I could never forgive him for that. Not ever.
“Goodbye, Nighteko,” I said.
His eyes dropped and he nodded his head as if it was what he’d expected all along. He cleared his throat.
“Goodbye, Alice,” he said.
He slapped his hand on the control pad. The hatch door groaned as it wound upwards. He looked to one side, unable to meet my eye, but at the last second, he looked up.
There was a click.
His sadness, his love for me was clear as day in those gorgeous eyes of his. They would be the very last thing I would remember about him.
My lover.
My captain.
My alien gladiator.
The ship rose into the sky, turned, paused for just a moment, and then faded into the distant nothingness of the night sky.
The nocturnal creatures began to chirrup, tweet, and sing, awakening after the alien thorn had been removed from their planet.
I turned and walked down the road, heading back into town. I needed time to think and a long walk like this would certainly give me that.
“Hey! Hey! I said, do you want a lift into town?”
I was so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t noticed the little car pull up alongside me. My instinct was to turn them down, but when I allowed myself to feel the painful condition of my feet, I decided it was probably best to accept their offer. I could always find a bar to sit in if I needed more time to think.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said.
“Climb in the back,” the driver said. “There’s always room for one more.”
The back was packed—almost as bad as the front. They squeezed up and after I shut the door behind me, the others relaxed, crushing me.
“What were you doing walking by the side of the road, dude?” said one of the girls piled on the front passenger seat. She wore thick glasses that made her eyes look huge.
“My minivan broke down,” I said.
“Well, that’s sucks,” the driver said. “Do you want a toke?”
She extended a pink nail polished hand holding a spliff to me.
“No, thanks,” I said.
She took one for me and blew it out the window, which of course got blown back in the car.
“Where’s everyone else you were with?” the big-eyed girl said.
“What everyone else?” I said.
“Nobody drives a minivan by themselves.” She chuckled to herself as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Everything was hilarious with enough pot.
“They got a taxi back,” I said. “I figured I ought to head back into town to report it in case it gets stolen.”
“Now that is good thinking,” the driver said. “I hate inconsiderate drivers. They’re so goddamn… inconsiderate! Do you mind if we play some tunes?”
“Go ahead,” I said.
The driver cranked the music up so loud the cheap speakers rattled every time a base note reared its head. The others kept talking over each other. I felt relieved. I wasn’t in the mood for making conversation. I turned their voices off and looked out the window.
Should I tell them to stop? To turn around and head back? But then I’d have to answer their inevitable questions, difficult questions that would be hard to explain. I doubted they would think I was lying. With how high these guys were flying,
