“Your name is Lao’k.” I said again, smiling back at him. “Your favourite colour is yellow.”
“It is.” His silver eyes twinkled.
“I read your mind?”
“You did.”
I couldn’t believe I had actually read his mind. Imagine the uses of such a skill. My excitement was immediately cut short, they can read minds and put words in our heads. Panic and dread flooded me. What if this was their plot? They’d make me think we were “compatible” then they’d take me back to their ship and experiment on me. I imagined myself on a cold metal slab, with the aliens standing menacingly over me as they cut me open. He must have read that thought; his face wrinkled with hurt before he pressed me against his chest.
“I leave my mind open to you. Try again. Pick anything you want from my mind.”
I wasn’t even sure how I did it the first time, now he wanted me to do it again. He seemed confident that I could. That what I had experienced earlier wasn’t a lie. I decided to try again just to be sure. To read his mind, he said to feel his presence beyond my mind and self. Last time I was looking into his eyes. I met those piercing, cold silver eyes again. They seemed permanently fixed in a mean stare, until he smiles at me. The dark pools of his pupils were inviting little doorways.
I felt him. His mind was a void. Everything about him was at my finger tips but out of sight. Like being in a library in the dark. He said to think about what I wanted. What did I want to know? Whether they would kill us, kill me?
Images came to mind, a couple passionately entangled, a host of children, me snuggled against him. Warmth swirled in my chest and shot downwards through my body.
But I still couldn’t believe it. Maybe if I searched things randomly, he wouldn’t be able to trick me. I thought of myself as ransacking that library, images blurred past me. I reached into the dark, grabbing at anything and everything I could. He said I could read anything, then what about his most embarrassing moments, his deepest secrets, his fears?
His hands tightened around me, crushing me against his chest, a groan escaped him. Someone thrust me from the library. It wasn’t a physical push, but it did cause me to twitch. I felt empty, like I had lost something dear and important to me. Something no one else knew about. Like a piece was taken away from inside me. When I looked up at the alien, streaks of sweat had trailed down to his brow, drops hung perilously on the edge. A pained look slowly eased from his face. His brother looked about ready to fly at me. Did I hurt him?
“I am fine. Your method was...crude, but I believe you have your answer.”
I nodded. An apology was on my lips but they wouldn’t move, I couldn’t say it. I had glimpsed his childhood, moments he were embarrassed about, his regrets and insecurities. I had deliberately hurt him to satisfy myself. He said he was fine, I felt like a child who’d just publicly embarrassed herself but the adults didn’t think it funny.
A hand slammed on the table, Klein rose out of his seat. “Council Master Mal’k, if you could refrain from involving Ms. Bronwen until we come to some sort of clarity.” He declared.
“Mr. Klein, we will work with you, but my brother will not be kept from his companion.” Their leader said resolutely. His tone carried a hint of threat.
Klein and the others stopped to discuss their response; as long as I was in the room, they’d have more interruptions and the negotiation would stall. On the other hand, they didn’t want me to get close to to the alien, concerned I would betray Earth’s vulnerabilities before they reached an agreement with the Alythes.
Before they settled on their response, the Luna negotiator had a question, “How does your mind reading work?”
The alien leader shook his head. “You have a misconception, we do not read minds.”
“Your brother and Ms. Bronwen demonstrated otherwise.”
“They are companions. As I’ve said, companions know each other because they alone can read the other’s mind.”
The politicians were locked in a debate unable to decide, until Captain Ruiz suggested they let the alien be with me under his supervision. The politicians agreed, so did the alien leader. the alien didn’t care as long as he was with me. I cared, now I had an alien and Captain Ruiz following me about.
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I thought it would be best to stay somewhere open and public, like the common area. But, an alien in the common area was hard to ignore and word spread through the ship like an electric shock. Soon, everyone who had missed the aliens yesterday or earlier was flocking to the area, so I pivoted to my quarters.
The quarters Kishna and I share are large enough that we don’t feel cramped. A third person can fit in here comfortably too, but an alien with wing baggage, not so much. His wings brushed against the wall or some piece of furniture in the narrow space. Worse the chair didn’t accommodate for his wings. He stood a little way from the door, where it was more spacious. He said standing didn’t bother him but it was jarring to me. Beneath the desk is a detachable corner shelf with legs which Kishna and I haven’t used yet. I gave it to the alien to use as a stool, while Ruiz took the chair and I sat on the bottom bunk.
We sat is silence until Captain Ruiz cleared his throat. “I trust no mind reading is going on?”
The condition the politicians set for allowing us to be together, was that our conversations would be spoken aloud. That was easier for me, as I still hadn’t grasped mind reading. Plus it was weird having his thoughts in my head, my own thoughts are loud enough as is.
“Nope, just three people sitting in silence, passing the time.” I answered nonchalantly.
After another round of silence and staring, the alien spoke. “Why are you resistant to our connection?”
I reclined on the bed propped up by my arms. “Look, your parlour trick was interesting and all, but I’m not about to alter my life’s course because of it.”
“It is not a trick, Alei.”
“And there’s that. How do you know my name? Don’t tell me you read my mind, you guys have teleport technology. Your mind reading could easily be another piece of technology. There’s no way, in a room full of people, that I was the only one screaming in your minds.” I rolled my eyes and bobbed my head for emphasis. “That you chose to walk up to me the moment I entered. That you all reacted when I calmed down. There were more than twenty people in that room, over a dozen of which were women.”
“A dozen other women do not think of me as Mr. Sexy.”
I closed my eyes. Damn!
“I do not know why your thoughts were clearest. We know little about your species. It was chance and miracle that I found you here. And I am grateful for that." He paused, his gaze pinning me where I was. "I will never lie to you Alei.”
I wanted to believe him. Something about the way he spoke, it wasn’t the kind of superficial assurances people would give, he spoke with pure authenticity. So far in our interactions he had shown he was trustworthy. His word mattered.
“Do you have mind reading technology?”
“No.”
“Only you and I can read each other’s minds?”
“Yes.”
I could trust him. For now at least.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiQmP0m0ER
and then Add to home screen.