by Vixa Moon
My heart is pounding with anxiety as the officer approaches the car.
Finally, he’s here. He’s tall and skinny, and I can’t help but noticing the gun at his side in its holster.
He bends down over the car, and shines his light inside, making sweeping motions with it, examining the back seat, myself, and finally Korzak. He spends way too long examining Korzak.
“Is there a problem, officer?” I say, being careful to use my most polite tone.
“Is this your car?”
“Yes, sir,” I say, adding the “sir” because I think it never hurts to be exceedingly polite in situations like this.
The officer doesn’t say anything for what seems like an eternity. In reality, it’s probably closer to thirty seconds. But it feels so long because while this cop is taking his sweet time, dangerous aliens are trying to track Korzak and myself down, in order to kill us or kidnap us for some incredibly nefarious purpose that I don’t even yet understand.
“License and registration, please,” says the officer.
I fish through my small purse for my ID and hand it to the officer. Now I reach over Korzak to open the glove box, which doesn’t even open all the way because his knees are in the way. That’s how much room he takes up in my small car. I hand the registration, which is partially crumpled, to the officer as well.
The officer nods. “I’ll be right back,” he says, and walks back to his squad car. I watch in the side mirror as he gets inside.
“What’s going on?” says Korzak, now that the officer is safely out of earshot.
“He’s running the information through the computer in his police cruiser. I don’t know why he stopped us.”
“The police are free on your planet to stop anyone they please?”
“Pretty much,” I say.
Korzak chuckles.
“Are we going to be OK?” I say. “I mean, are the CAT going to get to us while this is all going on?”
Korzak pulls his scanner out from where he has it tucked inside some sort of leather pouch. “Well, their ship is still at your house. Or nearby. But that doesn’t tell us where they are. But if they’re traveling by ground like we are, then they’re not going to be much faster than we are.”
I nod. “I guess that’s good news.”
“Does this typically take long?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only gotten pulled over once before. It took about twenty minutes.”
‘We should be OK,” says Korzak.
I keep my eye trained on the side mirror, to make sure the cop isn’t coming.
“So if he heard you speak, it would just sound like alien gibberish to him?”
“Definitely,” says Korzak.
“There’s no way to make you talk regular English? Because it’s going to be pretty difficult to have you not talk at all when we’re checking into hotels and eating at restaurants, or buying clothes… It might cause some problems down the road.”
“I might be able to devise something that would immediately translate my words to your language,” says Korzak. “I can start once we’re done with this little incident.”
“Good,” I say. “Now I just wish he would hurry up. I don’t like the idea of those aliens tracking us down.”
“I will defend you wherever they find us,” says Korzak. “But it would be strategically more advantageous if we weren’t out on the open road when they find us. And the longer we go without them finding us, the more likely they are to split up. The fight will be easier if it’s two against one, rather than four against one.”
I nod my head. Honestly what he’s saying just makes me more nervous.
I really don’t like the idea of Korzak fighting for our lives. He does seem like a capable warrior. I mean, not that I would know. But that’s the feeling I get from him. But can he really take on all those aliens at once? And what if they have some tricks up their sleeves that he’s not expecting?
Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the cop gets out of his car and comes walking back towards us.
He leans down slowly towards the window.
“You were reported missing less than 24 hours ago,” he says brusquely.
“Oh,” I say. “Well, I don’t know what that’s all about.”
“Your mother called in a missing persons report.”
I groan.
“I thought that people had to be missing for more than 72 hours or something before a report was filed?”
The cop shrugs. “Some people are very insistent. And some people have connections.”
He gives me a beady look, as if he’s trying to insinuate something.
Knowing my mother, I could see her having used both connections and pure bull-headed insistence to file some report about me. All because I didn’t pick up my phone for a single day, most likely. Then again, she was right. I had been abducted by aliens and literally removed from the planet Earth, after all.
“Well,” I say. “I’m here, and I’m not a missing person. I just lost my phone, that’s all. And I promise I’ll call my mother the first chance I get.”
The cop doesn’t seem to appreciate my tone of voice, my cheeky comment, or whatever it is that you want to call it.
Instead of saying anything back to me, the cop shines his light on Korzak and makes a face as he examines Korzak’s strange clothing.
“You sure you’re all right, miss?” says the cop. “You’re not being held against your will, or forced to do anything?”
I groan inwardly. We really should have gotten Korzak some normal clothing. Apparently he looks like a kidnapper or worse in those crazy alien warrior clothes of his.
“I’m fine,” I say. “This is my boyfriend, and we’re heading to a ren fair.”
“Ren fair?” says the cop.
“Renaissance fair,” I say. “You know, where a bunch of weirdoes like us go and dress up strangely.”
“Oh, that explains it then,” says the cop. “Well, that’s it. You’re free to go.”
He ambles back to his squad car and sits in it.
I’m practically holding my breath, still nervous from the encounter, when I start the engine again.
“That was close,” I say. “Who would have thought there would be a missing persons report out for me? Leave it to my mother to arrange something like that. I’m sure she had to really try for it, too.”
“So we’re fine?” says Korzak.
“Yup,” I say. “But we really need to get you some new clothes. Did you hear how he thought you were my kidnapper or something?”
“Well,” says Korzak. “It is logical, since the people who kidnapped you were wearing clothing somewhat similar to mine, at least compared to your traditional Earth clothing.”
“Uh, I guess,” I say. “But that’s not the point. I mean, no one knows that I was kidnapped by aliens.”
“Oh,” says Korzak. “I thought that’s what the missing person report was about. The Verdant Falcon was able to intercept it. That’s how I knew you had been taken away from Earth by the CAT.”
I drive in silence for a moment, watching the white lines of the highway zoom forward and disappear from view.
“Wait,” I say, slowly. “So you knew about the missing persons report? Why didn’t you tell me? You know how much trouble that could have caused? We’re really lucky they didn’t arrest you. Then the CAT would easily catch up with us in the police station… this could have been a disaster. Why in the world didn’t you at least mention it?”
I can feel myself getting a little annoyed, if not angry. After all, it seems like a huge oversight not to mention something like that to me.
“You have to remember that I don’t know the customs on your planet,” says Korzak. “There’s no way I would know that what a missing person report would entail. For instance, many planets don’t even have police forces, or they act very differently than here on Earth.”
That calms me down a little, hearing that. He’s right, after all. There’s a lot h
e doesn’t know about how Earth works, just like there’s a lot I don’t know about how the rest of the universe works.
“You’ve sure got a lot to learn,” I say. “Because you don’t just have to battle the other aliens. You also have to deal with all the humans here on Earth. They’re not all as nice as me, you know.”
“I can handle humans,” says Korzak. “I can defeat anyone in battle.”
“You’re pretty confident,” I say. “And I like that. But you’ve got to remember that you don’t know anything about humans. We may seem primitive to you, but I assure you that there are those among us who are pretty nasty… pretty crazy… you have no idea what they’re capable of.”
“We’ll see about that,” says Korzak.
I settle back to driving silently for a while.
But after a time, we start talking again. For a while, we manage to avoid talking about the aliens pursuing us, or the whole fated mate thing that Korzak has going for me. Instead, we manage to actually just talk casually for a while. I don’t know why it happens, but it does. Maybe driving in the dark has something to do with it. Long road trips seem to have a way of sparking all sorts of conversations that you might not have normally. Maybe it’s the movement of the car, or maybe it’s something that I’ve never even thought about. I really have no idea. All I know is that it happens, and I enjoy it.
Korzak turns out to be very interesting. There’s more to him than just this persona of the super tough, super strong warrior. He tells me about his childhood, growing up on Ternan. He tells me about his father, who’s some super important person. I don’t really exactly understand it, but it’s something to the effect of his father is a rich senator or a prince or something. Some kind of nobility, at least, on a planet that doesn’t have nobility. And he’s rich, as I mentioned, but on a planet that doesn’t have a real concept of money. At least not the way we do here on Earth.
We talk for hours as we continue to drive through the night. Korzak, of course, offers to drive, but I tell him that after all it’s my car, and I’m not yet confident in his ability to actually drive it. Plus, if we get stopped again by the police, it’s not going to look good if the driver of the car has not only no driver’s license, but absolutely no identification whatsoever. I wonder what would happen if they booked Korzak at the police station? He has an unusual appearance, and he has no public records whatsoever here on Earth. Plus, no one would be able to understand a word he’d say. It wouldn’t be good, let’s put it that way. Then again, I really can’t see Korzak submitting to handcuffs and jail cells. He looks so strong he could probably break through the handcuffs or even the jail cell bars. I doubt there’s a prison on Earth that could hold my Korzak.
My Korzak? My thinking is really changing a lot. Not so long as ago I was scared of him, terrified of him. Now I realize that I’m starting to see him as my protector, my savior, and my own.
“I think I’ve got this figured out,” says Korzak, finally looking up from something that he’s been fiddling with for over an hour.
“What is it?”
“I think I’ve rigged up a device that will be able to translate everything on the go.”
“So you won’t sound like a crazy person when you talk to other people?”
“No,” says Korzak. “If it works properly, that is. We’ll have to test it out first, of course. I used a bit of…”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “I mean, honestly I’m not going to understand any of your technical explanations.”
Korzak, to my surprise, laughs.
“Let’s just call it alien technology,” I say.
“Fair enough,” says Korzak.
We’ve been driving for hours. It’s almost morning now. But the sky is still dark. The sun hasn’t even started to poke up from over the dark and distant horizon.
Off to the side of the highway, there are some buildings. As we approach them, they look like big box stores.
“Hey,” I say. “If we’re not about to be attacked by aliens any time soon, how about we get you some clothes? That store over there is open 24 hours a day.”
“Sure,” says Korzak. “That’s acceptable.”
I take the next exit and back track until I find the store.
The parking lot is huge, and lit by fluorescent lights that buzz in the night. These sorts of lights always give me a weird feeling for some reason. They never seem to actually illuminate anything. Sure, they let you see a little. But they don’t give that warm feeling that regular light bulbs give. Instead, they give everything, including this parking lot, an eerie, creepy feeling. And that buzzing sound they make doesn’t help anything.
“Nice place,” says Korzak, getting out of the car and stretching his massive body.
“Yup,” I say, closing my car door and making sure to lock the door. “One of nicest clothing stores on the planet Earth.”
“I think you’re being sarcastic,” says Korzak. “But it’s hard to tell with you.”
“I think you’re starting to pick up on some human customs,” I say.
“We have sarcasm on Tarnen too,” says Korzak. “But it’s very different.”
“Come on,” I say, starting to walk towards the store. “We don’t want to spend too much time in this parking lot.”
“It’s dangerous?” says Korzak, surveying the area, but not seeming worried in the least bit.
“Oh, right,” I say. “I forgot that you’re a vicious Tarnan warrior and you’re not scared of anything.”
“Not much,” says Korzak.
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s get you some clothes.”
At the entrance, Korzak stops for a moment to examine the automatic doors.
“Nice doors,” he says.
“That’s surprising come from you,” I say. “I thought you thought all our technology was primitive.”
Korzak laughs. “Well, we have been traveling horribly slowly across the ground in some kind of primitive explosion-powered contraption.”
“You mean my car? Hey, you can say what you want about me, but don’t knock my car. But wait, you really think the doors are cool? That’s pretty weird. They’re just normal doors. Every store has them, or most of them.”
“I was practicing my sarcasm,” says Korzak, flashing me a rare grin.
“Very funny,” I say. “Now come on. Let’s dress you up like a typical American. I just hope they have your size.”
Korzak follows me into the store, but soon he joins me at my side and we walk together side by side through the mostly deserted store.
The fluorescent lights in here are starting to give me a headache, but I ignore it. After all, I can’t be so fussy. We’re on the run from aliens who want to kill us. The less time we spend in here the better.
We weave our way through aisles full of pillows, cheap chairs, children’s toys, beauty products, and office supplies before finding the section with the men’s clothing.
I watch Korzak’s expressions with interest, curious to see what he thinks of our American customs and our stores. His face doesn’t change much, but his eyes do seem to widen a little when he spots certain products. I also notice that he’s constantly vigilant for any threats. He scans the aisles and the surrounding area with caution, as if the CAT aliens might show up any moment. Occasionally, he takes out his little device that shows the location of the CAT ships, even though we both know that it doesn’t give us any information on the location of the CAT if they’re traveling by conventional human transportation.
“So this is it,” I say. “See anything you like?”
Korzak shrugs. “I like my clothes as they are, and I doubt anything here will suit my sense of… Tarnan warrior style. I’d like to appear as nondescript as possible.”
“Uh, OK,” I say, realizing, as I should have earlier, that I’m going to have to take the reins on this one.
Suddenly, an employee rounds the corner of the aisle.
He’s dressed in the typical silly looking vest that they mak
e the employees wear for some unfortunate and unknown reason.
He gives Korzak a look like he’s just seen an alien.
And he has.
“Hi,” I say, waving at the young employee.
He’s maybe 20 years old, with long hair that hangs down over his eyes.
He doesn’t say anything.
Instead, he just stares at Korzak.
Now this is exactly why we need to get Korzak some normal clothes. Sooner or later, we run the risk of someone getting really weirded out by Korzak and calling the cops or something.
“We were just about to try on some pants… my friend was about to try them on, I mean,” I say.
The employee looks Korzak up and down, taking in his huge, partly naked torso and his incredible height.
Instead of saying anything, he backs up slowly, step by step, inching his way away from us.
“Shit,” I mutter. “I hope you didn’t scare him too much, Korzak. He might call somebody.”
12
Korzak
“Let’s worry about that later,” I say.
“But what if he calls the police or something?”
“We’ve got to get me some Earth clothes,” I say. “That way this won’t happen again. Let’s just do it fast. Can you get some appropriate garments for me?”
“Uh, OK,” says Olivia. She seems very nervous, after that strange interaction with the employee.
I may not know much about Earth interactions and social conventions, but I do get the sense that the employee was acting strangely. And it was all because of me. I need Earth clothes as fast as possible.
I get momentarily distracted by watching Olivia’s ass as she bends over, examining some of the clothes.
“Here,” she says. “These might fit you.”
I take the garment in my hand.
“Is this a shirt?” I say.
“Pants,” says Olivia. “You put them on your legs.”
I laugh.
“They’re not very good quality,” I say, feeling the material between my fingers.
“Well they’re only $4.99. So what can you expect?”