by S. E. Smith
“Tink, Cosmos, welcome!” Ralph said loudly with a heavy New Jersey accent. “Welcome. Marge, table for two of my best customers!” Marge rolled her heavily made up eyes before mouthing word for word everything Ralph said. “We have the best steaks in town and you are going to love the special tonight.”
Tink and Cosmos had a hard time not laughing at the way Marge rolled her eyes and waved her arms in the air mimicking every move Ralph made. When Ralph turned to look at Marge, she acted like she was adjusting her cap before giving them a wink and turning to get some menus.
Sitting in a window seat, Tink let out a sigh. She loved this town and the people who lived here. They all seemed to have a story to tell. Tink wondered what life was like where the men from the spaceship came from. Did they have blue skies and water? Was their landscape lush or barren? What were the plants and animals like? What were the women like? She thought the last thought with a tinge of jealousy. She knew what the men were like: tall, dark, and delicious. Tink started when Marge put the menus and two glasses of water on the table.
“So, my folks headed to Japan to present their ideas on solar energy cells.” Cosmos asked.
He was determined to distract Tink. He knew she loved hearing about some of the places and people his folks often went to and met. He didn’t hear from them often, and like the cancelled trip to Chicago, he saw them even less.
“…Seems there are some people there thinking of building a major resort using mostly solar energy.” Cosmos went on to tell her about some of the places his parents had been to recently and some of the big names they met. Tink listened half-heartedly, her thoughts wondering back to the last night, or was it just this morning.
After a delicious meal of steaks, baked potatoes, and salad, Tink sat back and smiled at Cosmos. She knew what he had been doing for the past hour and a half. He seemed to know her better than she knew herself sometimes. Stifling a yawn with the back of her hand, she stretched her legs out under the table.
“You ready to call it a night? I know I slept most of the day but I feel like I could crash again after that meal.” Tink said as she yawned again.
“Yeah, I didn’t get much sleep either since I flew to Chicago just to turn around and come back on the red-eye. I’d like to go over everything again tomorrow and review what RITA has when my brain isn’t so fried.” Cosmos said as he let out a big yawn. “Besides, your yawning is contagious!”
The walk back to the warehouse was quiet, both of them deep in thought. They walked arm-in-arm up to the second floor which was Cosmos living area. As they came to the section leading up to the third living area where Tink lived, she reached up and wound her arms around Cosmos’ neck giving him a light kiss on his lips.
“Thanks for everything, Cosmos. See you in the morning.” Tink whispered sleepily.
Cosmos watched as Tink walked the rest of the way up the stairs to her living area. He didn’t care what it took, he would always make sure Tink was safe and happy. With a sigh, he made plans in his head for the next morning to solve some of the questions he had about where Tink had gone and what those circles on her palm meant.
Chapter 10
The engineering level was full of activity as clean up from the attack was still under way, repairs to different areas of the ship that were damaged were taken care of, and excitement about the female were discussed. Only one man seemed to be oblivious to everything going on. He had total confidence in the men under him. Brock had hand-picked every one of the men in his section for their assignment. He walked quickly across the room heading for a small office/work area.
Brock wasn’t as tall as some of the other Prime males at six foot one but he more than made up for it in his stocker build. Pure muscle across a broad chest made him seem taller than he really was. He had the same black hair common to his people; but, unlike many aboard the ship, he preferred to wear it longer letting it hang down to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep, molten silver with a hint of purple. He carried the strong jaw and short, broader nose of his kind as well. His family continued to be friends and supporters of the ‘Tag Krell Manok family for as long as they had been in power. His grandfather and his father before that fought alongside them during the great wars.
He always had a knack for technology and building devices. When he was chosen to be the chief engineer on the Prime Destiny when it was being built ten years before, he made some changes to the power grid, power modules, weapons systems, and outer hull structure. He took pride in his work and enjoyed the challenges of designing a superior ship. He had over the past ten years made modifications to the ship making it one of the most feared vessels in the known galaxies. It had been some of those modifications that prevented the Juangans from taking over the ship.
Standing in a small workroom off of engineering he had designed specifically for working on some of his more creative projects, Brock contemplated his next step. He had been reviewing the schematics RITA downloaded over the past four hours. While the design was so simple and innovative he was amazed his own people, hell amazed he hadn’t thought about it before, there was still too many questions unanswered. He was still trying to decipher some of the components and the energy grid on the design this Cosmos used to materials he knew about. In addition, not all of the design was there. There were still too many missing pieces of the puzzle to figure out how to build it so it could safely be used. The main concept was there - just not enough of the details.
Picking up the small metal device the female dropped, Brock gave a deep sigh, stood up and stretched. He needed to take a break and get something hot to drink. Walking over to the replicator, he gave the command for his favorite Nitearan tea. Made from the bark of a plant on one of the small planets from their solar system, it contained a slightly nutty flavor with a hint of black root. Calming and rejuvenating. Rolling the device around in his hand while he waited for the replicator to finish producing his tea, he moved some of the cylinder dials to match the numbers on the coordinates RITA gave him for Earth. When the final cylinder clicked into place the device began to glow and a knob popped up on the top of it. Curious, Brock pushed the knob down. One minute he was standing in the darkened engineering office; the next, the room was lit with a shimmering swirl of colors and a doorway appeared.
“Hockta balmas!” Brock muttered in disbelief as he almost dropped the device when he realized what it was.
It was a portable portal! As he stared at the device the shimmering lights flickered then disappeared as the power grid supporting it faded. He now knew what the device was; what he needed was a power source that would last long enough to let someone through. This he could do much quicker than trying to recreate the larger device from the incomplete schematics RITA had given him. Forgetting his tea, Brock picked up a device scanner from the table. The scanner would create a three dimensional image of the device and create a detailed schematic for replication. If he could modify the power source to use the base crystals it would provide more than enough power for the device! More excited than he had been in years, Brock felt all the fatigue from the past days’ events fade away as his mind began contemplating what needed to be done.
Chapter 11
The rest of the week seemed to drag by for Tink. She was off on Monday so it threw the rest of the week off by one day. She thought the weekend would never come! You would have thought having one less work day would have made it go faster but it didn’t. She had to work Saturday morning and was playing at Purple Haze starting at eight o’clock that night. She worked on several projects over the week at the garage and had some minor repairs at the College of Engineering to do. She ran into the ‘Professor Jerk’ the night before at the college and had to put up with his shit for an hour before she was able to get away. Now, she was rushing to put all her tools back in order so she could be ready for Monday morning. She admitted it helped being busy to keep her mind off the silver-eyed man she met. God, had it only been a week ago? The nights were the worst. Cosmos did his best to
keep her busy once she got home at night but he couldn’t keep her mind off of what happened after the lights went out. The circles on her palm continued to burn and itch with regular intensity. It didn’t actually hurt - it was just a constant reminder of her adventure.
“Tink, do you think you can take a look at the ’63 corvette over in Bay 2 on Monday? I can’t figure out why it is still running a little rough.” Mike, one of the mechanics asked. Mike was a cute guy. He started a little over a year ago. He was in his mid-twenties, had dark brown hair and eyes and an easy personality. He asked Tink out a couple of times. They enjoyed each other’s company but agreed they made better friends and now just hung out when the mechanics around town got together.
“Sure.” Tink replied as she put the rest of the tools back in the tall tool drawer. She wheeled it back against the wall and took a quick glance around before heading for the door.
“Can you make sure everything is locked up before you leave? I gotta get going if I’m going to get everything done before I play tonight. If you get a chance come on down to Purple Haze. Some of the other guys are going to be there. It’s Pete’s birthday and I was going to play him a special song.” Trisha called out.
“Sounds great, see you later.” Mike answered with a grin.
Pete owned the garage. He had been married to Peggy for the past twenty-five years. He was a grizzly man who spoke his mind. He never finished school but he was a wiz at tearing an engine apart and putting it back together. He met Peggy shortly after she moved into town and they fell in love. Peggy ran the office. Pete was popular for all his surliness and everyone loved Peggy. She planned a surprise birthday party at Purple Haze and asked if Tink could do a country music night. Tink talked to the owner who thought it was a great idea.
Tink grabbed her oversized purse out of the cabinet and headed for the door. She had a lot to get done before she got ready to play. She drove her car so she wouldn’t have to back track before heading home. Pulling her list out, she headed for the grocery store. If she didn’t buy some food for her and Cosmos they were going to be spending a lot more time at Helena’s. She also needed to get some new jeans and boots for tonight.
Three hours later Tink was pulling the last bag out of the back of her Prius. Cosmos loved to tease her about her choice of vehicles. He seemed to think she would have been a big truck or SUV person. Tink never liked driving something she had trouble seeing over the dashboard in. Plus, with global warming, energy conservation, and gas prices constantly going up, she thought she made a smart move. Clutching the last bag to her chest, she slammed the back trunk down.
“Cosmos! Groceries!” Tink yelled.
“He’s in the lab, honey. I’ll let him know. Your sister called and wants you to call her back.” RITA answered.
“Thanks. Which one?” Tink huffed as she moved up the stairs to the second level.
“Hannah.” RITA replied.
“Hannah? Wow, I thought she was still in Africa doing a shoot on lions.” Tink muffled as she reached under the counter to put some of the can goods up. “Did she leave a message?”
“She just said to call her. She says she is worried about you. She has the satellite phone on her and don’t worry about the time. She is in a village stocking up right now so you won’t disturb her.”
Tink straightened with a groan. Hannah had a knack for knowing something was wrong before anyone else. She hoped she hadn’t talked to their mom yet. If she had Tink was in for company, soon! Hannah was the oldest out of the three girls and the most like their father. She was a freelance photographer for several nature magazines and did documentary work on some of the more endangered species around the world. Her skills with a camera were known internationally and she was always being asked to do one project or another. She received her first camera at the age of six and had a natural talent for knowing when the lighting was just right for a shot. All the travelling the family did was the perfect opportunity for her to develop her hobby and at the age of ten she received several awards for her photographs. By the time she was thirteen she was doing articles and photo shots for a variety of magazines. She attended college on a photography scholarship and immediately was offered jobs with some of the most illustrious companies in the world. She turned them down not wanting to have to be told where to go or what to do by anyone.
Glancing at the clock, Tink saw she still had time to finish a few of her chores upstairs, get a shower, and call Hannah before she had to leave. The phone call would be the last on her list so she would have an excuse to cut it short if Hannah started asking too many questions Tink didn’t want to answer. Turning to see Cosmos coming up the stairs, she put her hands on her hips.
“Perfect timing, I just finished lugging everything up here and putting it away.” Tink said trying to look stern.
She could never be angry with Cosmos. She looked at him and fought the curve of the smile threatening to sneak through. His hair was everywhere like he had been running his hands through it over and over in aggravation. His shirt was buttoned wrong and he was muttering to himself. Yep, he was having one of his ‘brain-days’, as Tink liked to call it. Cosmos’ brain-days consisted of him being totally absorbed in whatever new concept or problem was running through his brain. He was totally oblivious to everything else on those days and there would be no communicating with him; at least, not in anything that made sense to anyone else.
“What? Sorry.” Cosmos replied with a sheepish smile. “Guess I wasn’t paying attention. I haven’t found out anything about…” he trailed off with a distant look in his eyes.
Tink cleared her throat and raised one eyebrow waiting for him to finish his sentence. “About…?” She prompted.
“Nothing. Do you mind if I stay in tonight? I’m working on another theory and don’t want to lose focus.” Cosmos asked distractedly.
Cosmos liked to come down to the bar and listen in if he was in town. Tink thought he did it so the rowdier college boys wouldn’t hit on her. He was so protective. It was worst than having her parents and her other two sisters watching over her.
Shaking her head she grinned. “No, I won’t mind. I’m going to go do some housekeeping upstairs before I call Hannah then get ready.” Walking up to Cosmos she re-buttoned his shirt and patted him on the chest. “Just don’t forget to eat something. I bought some chicken you can warm up and there are some microwavable veggies in the freezer.” Giving him a quick kiss, Tink headed upstairs to finish what needed to be done.
Two hours later, Tink was stepping out of the shower when her cell phone rang. Quickly wrapping a towel around her hair and another one around her body she hurried into her room to grab it. Glancing at the screen she grimaced, Hannah.
Sliding her finger across the screen, she answered. “Hi Hannah.”
“Why didn’t you call me back? What is going on?” Hannah demanded. Yep, just like dad - to the point.
“I’m fine, thanks for asking!” Tink bit back a grin. She knew what buttons to push and she loved to push Hannah’s buttons. “I had to work today and had a bunch of errands. I was just about to call you.” Tink said as she crossed her fingers hoping Hannah would drop whatever bone she had to chew on.
“Okay.” Tink could hear Hannah’s impatient sigh. “Hi Tink. How are you? I’m glad you are fine. Now, tell me what is going on. I had one of my feelings and you know they always come true.”
Tink undid her fingers, nope - no luck. Letting out her breath she turned and sat on the edge of her bed. “Okay, but you aren’t going to believe me.” Tink said softly.
Tink never held anything back from her family, at least not if they asked. It was an unspoken rule, be truthful and as a family they could overcome any obstacle. Taking a deep breath, Tink explained everything that happened over the last week including how she felt at night when she was alone. When dead silence came from the other end of the phone Tink wasn’t sure if Hannah was still there or just too stunned to speak.
“Hannah?” Tink asked
hesitantly.
“I’m trying to decide whether I should kill Cosmos or give him a kiss for saving you.” Hannah replied softly.
Hannah believed everything Tink told her. Their father might be a science fiction writer but Tink wasn’t and she wouldn’t make something like this up. If Tink said she was on a spaceship in another galaxy through a portal Cosmos built, then she was.
“I’m coming home. I’ll be there as soon as I can make the arrangements.” Hannah said in a voice that meant there would be no arguments.
“You aren’t going to tell mom, dad, or Tansy are you?” Tink asked quietly.
The last thing she wanted was to be invaded by her whole family. Tansy was the middle daughter and was nothing like their mom and dad. She worked for Homeland Security or the CIA or something. No one really knew. She didn’t talk to anyone about what she did for a living. She was the most reserved of them all. She kept an apartment in Washington, D. C. but was never there. She seemed to have a different hair style and color every time they saw her. She always said she liked to change her appearance. She could look like a super model one minute or a homeless person the next. She was definitely the chameleon of the family. If she got wind of something like this, if she suspected Tink might be in danger, she would have the whole government involved! It would be an X-File episode on a grand scale.