by Robin Martin
‘Seriously, you guys need to learn to live a little,’ Pandora said as she followed us out. ‘I’m just going to the taxi stand out front. See you later.’
She took out her phone and, swinging her hair over her shoulder, headed off into the Saturday evening crowd. Both Harry and Rion’s eyes followed her until she disappeared around a corner.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. Now that she was gone, it seemed like everyone was normal again, if somewhat exhausted. Pandora was like a mini cyclone that swept into our lives sending everything helter-skelter and then sweeping out again, leaving us all to pick up the pieces. I just hoped it would be a cyclone that would soon blow itself out to sea—or at least back into space where she belonged.
Chapter Eight
After I dropped Zoe home, I had a decision to make. I’d originally intended just to go home and have an early night. But, when we’d been at the jukebox earlier, Pandora had said something to me that had me worried.
‘I’m going to show those kids at Jas’s how to party. It’ll be a blast. You should come.’
‘Pandora, that’s not wise. You need to be careful.’
She’d just tossed her head, sending her hair flying, and laughed. Not reassuring.
So, I was considering going to the party just to keep an eye on her. She was what they called ‘a loose cannon,’ and there was no predicting when she might go off or what she might hit. She’d even affected me. It had been fun dancing with her, and for two minutes and forty-four seconds, I’d forgotten my agenda to persuade her to be more low key and not draw attention.
Then, when the music ended and I sat down, I realised how foolish I’d been. It was just dancing sure, but it was more than that. Pandora was on a mission to have fun, and she really didn’t care about the consequences. Sometimes she didn’t even see them. She was reckless. Bad enough in a human, but disastrous in one of my people. Our natural abilities were enhanced by millennia of scientific and technological advancements. We knew more, and so we could do more. I had always controlled that part of my abilities, for the most part, but even I’d made mistakes. Pandora showed no signs of even trying to control it, and that’s what worried me most.
So, I was thinking I should follow her to this party and see what she was up to. I knew Jas and her friends would be far more susceptible to Pandora’s influence than Zoe and the rest of our friends.
But, and this was what was bothering me, should I have told Zoe? I knew I should go on my own so I could judge the situation and intervene if I had to. Of course, Zoe would come if she realised why I wanted to go, but I didn’t want to involve her. This was alien business, and no one would be able to deal with Pandora better than me if she got out of hand. I hoped it wouldn’t be necessary, but I wasn’t sure. Yet, Zoe and I had always been honest with each other, and trust was important. If I went without telling her, would she feel betrayed?
I had just reached my townhouse, a short walk from Zoe’s, when I made a decision. I’d go. Zoe would understand. Wouldn’t she?
The music was ear splitting, and the room was crowded with gyrating bodies, people drinking beer from plastic cups, and everyone talking at a roar. Chelsea, the host and Jas’s best friend, was dancing with some guy in the corner. There wasn’t a parent or adult to be seen—not that I was surprised. Chelsea’s mum was known for her liberal views, and so a lot of parties were often held here.
Strange to think this was the place I’d first materialised into an organic form nearly a year ago. I did it to help Zoe win over a boy. No, who am I kidding? I did it to show off. But considering everything that had followed, I couldn’t regret it. I had Zoe. I was human at last, and I was happy, except for this distraction of Pandora. Where was she? This party seemed much wilder than the one I had been to nearly a year ago. It wasn’t hard to guess who was responsible for that.
I didn’t have to look far. She was in the middle of the room, her arms in the air, and her head back, laughing as she danced to the music. There was a plastic cup in one of her hands and an admiring group, mainly boys, around her.
‘Hey, Pandora, you’re spilling your drink,’ one of the guys said. I looked over and saw Chad Everett grinning at her. Without even meaning to, I felt my hand clench and my insides tighten. Last term we’d got into a fight, but we’d never finished it—not that I approved of violence… my people had eliminated it from our society a long time ago. But, somehow, whenever I saw Chad, I forgot that. Now was not the time to think about him.
Pandora laughed again and then drained her cup, spilling much of it because she was still dancing. She put one hand on the back of her head and stretched out the other with her now empty cup. ‘Be a good boy and fill this up again, Chad.’
He stepped forward, pulling her into his arms. ‘What will you give me if I do?’
Pandora put her arms around his neck and moved her swaying body even closer as she whispered in his ear. No one would have heard what she said, but because of my still enhanced hearing, I heard every word. ‘More than you bargained for, Chad.’
I could see his eyes light up, and his hold on her tightened. Then, with a backward step and a swift push on his chest, she laughed as she moved back from him. ‘Now, scoot and get that filled before I change my mind.’
He gave a deep breath and a last lingering look at Pandora before he ‘scooted’ through the crowd to do her bidding.
I’d seen enough. I pushed my way through the moving bodies till I reached her. Her eyes were slightly glazed, and her dancing was getting more unsteady. She saw me and smiled. ‘Orion, you came after all.’ And then, pulling me closer, she slid her arms around my neck. ‘Got rid of the little girlfriend, have you? Nice enough, but you can do much better. After all, you are an al—’
‘What are you doing?’ I said, interrupting her before she said something we both regretted.
‘Dancing with you, I think. Although, you’re not as good at it as you were this afternoon.’
I moved us away into a quieter part of the room. ‘Pandora, this is crazy. You’re going to get yourself into trouble.’
‘I sincerely hope so. What’s the point of becoming human otherwise? I want to have fun, fun, fun!’ She moved away from me and started twirling in a circle. In many ways, she reminded me of Archimedes at that embarrassing dinner at the Brennans’. He’d eaten and drunk far too much, made inappropriate comments, and generally disgraced himself. Were my people totally unable to cope with being in a human state?
I pulled her towards me again and said in a low voice that I hoped no one else near us would hear, ‘You won’t be having much fun if they find out you’re an alien.’
‘Why?’ Her dark eyes looked into mine, and I realised she really didn’t know. She still had so much to learn.
‘They wouldn’t let you live a normal life. You’d be taken away to some scientific institution where they would perform countless experiments on you. They’d want to know everything about our people, and it would ruin our entire space mission on this planet. Do you really want that?’
She swayed a little, and I caught her before she fell. ‘Well then, I just won’t tell them.’
‘You may not be able to stop yourself, especially if you’ve been drinking.’
‘Then I’ll make them forget what I said. You know I can do it. Archimedes did it to Zoe when he took her memories of you as an alien away. Easy-peasy. You worry too much, Orion.’ She laid her head on my shoulder. ‘But I am getting tired. Can we go outside for a breath of fresh air?’
As I headed towards the front door with her, I heard Chad call out, ‘Hey, Pandora, where are you going? I’ve got your drink?’ He held it up in the air.
I wondered where Jas, his girlfriend, was. Where was she when we needed her? Ignoring him, we left. I breathed a sigh of relief. Now, all I had to do was to get her home.
But Pandora had other ideas. She sat down on the step and leaned her head against a slender column supporting the roof above it. ‘Just need to take a br
eath or two, and then I’m going back inside. You should too. It’s time you learned how to live.’
‘This is crazy. You shouldn’t even be here. And as for living, you haven’t any idea of how to do that. You need to slow down, act more… human.’
She raised her head and looked at me. ‘But that’s just what I’m not. I’m an alien on this planet, and so are you. We aren’t the same as they are. We know more. We can do more. We are… more.’
I sat down on the step beside her. Behind us inside the house, the music throbbed, mingled with laughter and the sound of voices. I could understand how all this must seem intoxicating, in more ways than one. I remembered when it happened nearly a year ago, I had felt it too. Unlike Pandora, instead of embracing it, I’d tried to fight it. But, just like her, I had felt superior to human beings—at first. I now knew how misguided that feeling was. I tried to explain it to her.
‘You’re wrong. We might know more facts than they do, even be able to conjure up a few tricks, but we certainly aren’t better than them. Think, Pandora. We’ve been without bodies for so long that we’ve forgotten what it is to experience life through our senses, to see beauty, to smell a rose, to feel the touch of another person. That’s so powerful, it changes you in ways you don’t realise. Human beings only have a short time on Earth, and yet they have accomplished such amazing things; they have written great books, composed music that could move you to tears of joy, learned to love in ways we can only begin to understand. They are not less than us. In many ways, they are greater.’
Pandora tossed her head, sending her hair flying. ‘Rubbish. That’s not true, and you know it. They’ve also started wars, killed each other, shown incredible greed, and nearly brought the planet to the edge of extinction. They are stupid. I might have plans for a short time to enjoy myself here, but I won’t forget for a moment who I am. And you shouldn’t either. You’re an alien, Orion, not a human.’
I shook my head. ‘No, I’m not. Once I was an alien, but not anymore. Our supervisor told me that in making my decision to stay here, I would no longer be one of our people. I am now human and will live a normal lifespan, if all goes well. That’s what I chose, Pandora. That’s who I want to be.’
‘Then you’re a fool.’
I gave a half-smile and then said, ‘I’ve been called that before, and worse.’
‘You’re also wrong. Once an alien, eh? Let me add to that to make it more truthful. Once an alien, always an alien. That’s who you are and who you will always be. You need to remember it. I might play with these humans for a while—after all, being an organic again is fun—but I know who I really am. Do you?’ She stood up and stretched. Her eyes were clearer, and she seemed to have lost the effects of whatever she was drinking. I suppose she would say that was evidence of her enhanced alien abilities. Although, I hadn’t noticed a quick recovery in Archimedes when he indulged. Perhaps it was because he was so much older.
‘I’m going back in. I think you should too. But it’s up to you, of course.’
I put a hand on her arm. ‘I don’t think that’s wise. You might say something, do something that you’ll regret.’
She shook my hand off. ‘Maybe, maybe not. But it’s my choice. You can’t control me, Orion. Don’t even try. Besides—’ She gave me a smile that showed me my words had no effect on her whatsoever. ‘—there’s a beer waiting for me inside. And there’s a rather cute guy who’s holding it.’
She gave me a wink and then turned towards the front door, opening it and letting out the full roar of a party that was even noisier than when I first arrived. She went inside, closing the door, and the sounds were muffled again.
I turned away. There wasn’t much more I could do. Pandora was right. I couldn’t control her. I just hoped I wouldn’t be called on to do some damage control.
As I walked into the night, my footsteps on the pavement soon became the only sound in the darkness, the noise of the party having faded into the distance. But Pandora’s words stayed with me and gave me a sense of disquiet. Once an alien… would I always feel that it was still there inside me? And was I wrong to suppress who and what I had been?
Chapter Nine
Monday was weird, like I was in an alternate universe or something. First of all, Lou didn’t sit with us for lunch, and it wasn’t because she had something else to do, like choir practise or doing an assignment in the library. No, she was having lunch all right, just not with our group. She was sitting under the old fig tree in the corner near the bicycle rack, and she was with one of the guys from our English class, Mike Li. He was a tech head and into gaming and probably even quieter than Lou. What was going on there? What had I missed? They were the two most unlikely people to be talking to each other, let alone sitting down to lunch together. I was determined to find out from Lou as soon as I could get her on her own.
Then there was Harry, usually so easy and friendly. He hardly said a word at lunch, but I did notice him glancing over at Pandora, who was, of course, sitting with Jas’s group. Even though she’d crashed our afternoon on Saturday, she seemed to show no desire to have much to do with us at school. Harry seemed down about that. It looked as if my plans to help Lou and him get together were hitting a few road blocks.
Kerri didn’t bring a book to lunch, unusual for her, and told us she spent most of Sunday watching movies on Netflix. I was surprised the earth didn’t stop in its orbit around the sun.
Even Rion was different. Like Harry, he was quiet, and though he still smiled at me and gave me a hug when he saw me, it seemed like his mind was elsewhere, like he was on autopilot.
So, it was up to me to inject some life and normalcy into this group. ‘So, guys,’ I said, trying to sound bright and chirpy, ‘Rion and I are going to see Nebula when they come to Brisbane in August. Anyone want to join us? It should be awesome.’
Harry shook his head. ‘I doubt we’d get tickets at this late date.’
‘Pandora might be able to get some tickets,’ Kerri said. ‘She seems to be good at getting things. It might be fun to go together.’
‘I don’t think Pandora would be interested,’ Harry said. ‘She seems to have decided who she wants to hang out with.’ He looked over at her sitting next to Jas. Pandora said something and everyone exploded into laughter.
‘Yes, but, she’s friends with us too,’ Kerri persisted. ‘She really helped me a lot with English, and she wanted to hang out with us on Saturday. It doesn’t matter that she’s sitting with her other friends. People don’t have to be exclusive to one group.’
That was a very mature but not realistic view of high school life, I thought. Maybe in adult life it was different, but in high school, sadly, it was all about groups. I was just thankful I had friends I could trust and rely on. The same couldn’t be said for some of the people in Jas’s group, including Jas herself. I should know. I’d once been a part of them.
‘They usually are, exclusive that is,’ Harry said. ‘But maybe Pandora is the exception.’
‘Maybe we shouldn’t worry about her at all,’ Rion said, sounding annoyed. ‘She’ll always suit herself. I think we’d be wise to realise that.’
‘It didn’t seem to stop you from dancing with her on Saturday,’ I said. I wasn’t really jealous. I knew Rion wanted rid of her as soon as possible. But I didn’t exactly love seeing how well they danced together.
‘That was a mistake,’ Rion said.
‘And yet you danced together so well.’ I couldn’t help myself. I knew it was the wrong thing to say.
Rion’s mouth tightened.
I didn’t say anything else, but the vibe became tense and awkward.
Harry got up. ‘I’ll see you guys later.’
That just left Rion, Kerri, and me. Kerri didn’t seem to notice anything and went on quietly eating her lunch, but then that was Kerri.
So, we sat in silence for a few minutes. I wanted to say something, I really did, but for once, I just couldn’t think of anything.
The
n, to my surprise, Pandora came over to us. Kerri looked up at her and smiled. ‘Hey, Pandora, how are you?’
‘Super.’ She plonked herself down on the other side of Rion. ‘Saturday was fun, eh?’
Kerri nodded enthusiastically. ‘We should do it again, you know, the going out as a group thing.’
Rion was still quiet, but he was definitely looking uneasy. Nervous even.
‘Great idea,’ Pandora said, and then she turned to Rion. ‘You should have stayed longer at Chelsea’s party, though. You missed a good time.’
I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. ‘You went to Chelsea’s party on Saturday night after you dropped me home? You didn’t say anything about that. You told me you were going home.’
Rion’s face had turned red. ‘I can explain.’
Pandora gave an impression of looking surprised. ‘Oh, you mean you didn’t know? I just thought he told you, but you didn’t want to go.’
I ignored her. She knew exactly what she was doing when she mentioned that little piece of news.
‘So, explain,’ I said, hoping my voice sounded as frosty as I was feeling.
‘I will… later,’ he said, looking as guilty and embarrassed as if he had just been caught stealing petty cash from the canteen or something. But it was worse, far worse. He had lied to me, and he had never done that before. I felt betrayed. No, worse than betrayed. I felt devastated. He left me to go to a party he knew Pandora would be at.
‘You lied to me.’
‘Yes, but…’ He stopped and took a deep breath and said, ‘I didn’t mean to. Can we go somewhere and talk about it?’
I wanted to go with him, I wanted to understand why he would do such a thing, but the lump in my throat wouldn’t go away and I felt my eyes moisten. I couldn’t break down, not here in front of everyone, and especially not in front of Pandora. I had to get away fast. The bell rang, coming to my rescue. I did the only thing I could.