by Unknown
“Good evening, Ms. Thomas”
“Hello, Doctor Hales. Anything exciting today?” What if he said yes? A new life form made contact at nine o’clock this morning.
“Not a thing. Dick Reeves thinks he might have the track of an unnamed comet, but we need more data.”
Her stomach churned. Excitement or fear she wasn’t sure which. “Nothing at all?” She set her bag down and took off her jacket.
“I’m afraid not. A little gift for you, all the daily and weekly maintenance is done, so you can have a pleasant night watching the stars.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Doctor Hales. Are you in tomorrow?”
“No.” He grinned as he put his glasses away. “I’m off for three days. I’m taking Viv to the mountains.”
“You both have a lovely time.” She sat in front of her favorite monitor on the row of five.
“Thanks, we’ll enjoy the break. I’ll see you next week.”
“I sure hope so,” she murmured as she increased the screen resolution.
“There’s a pot of fresh coffee. I’d get a mug before it stews.” He headed toward the door.
“Thanks, Doc.” She turned to say goodbye, but he’d already gone. Coffee, a good idea, it might sharpen her brain. After that she’d go through as much data from yesterday as she could to see if she could find anything to corroborate her memories of last night. The words of her presentation of evidence formed again in her mind. “The first contact with this alien race came…”
A flashback of last night’s events stiffened her nipples, her body sensitized to all sensations and she wanted more, and for a second she couldn’t move. Just like yesterday. Frozen.
Oh, God. A delicious shiver raced down her spine.
A little to the left the monitor was dark. Breathing out slow she managed to turn her head and took command of her body.
She strode into the break area and filled her mug with the steaming brew. Tonight she needed sugar and added a spoonful.
Time get back to work. No entity from the planet Zog was going to drive her nuts. She smiled. The cartoons her father had collected when she was a child brought happy memories. Her first hope of finding life on another planet had grown in her mind while she read those comics, but her alien’s world wasn’t called Zog. She didn’t know what it was called or where in the wide universe it was, or even if it existed at all. Maybe, as she’d told herself last night, the weirdness had just been her mind announcing she needed to get herself a man. She took a swig of coffee and walked over to the row of screens.
Everything seemed to slow as she reached to put the mug down. She couldn’t set it on the counter. Her hand trembled with the effort. The same low hum she’d heard last night crept up in volume. She couldn’t open her mouth. Her ears ached as the sound intensified.
The electrical equipment bleeped. The main overhead lights flickered and popped as they blew. A second of total darkness left her breathless before the emergency floor lighting kicked in.
She stood, statue like, with the mug in her hand. The smell of burned out electrics soured the air. Only the computer screen directly in front of her showed any light. A lime green spot, like a blister, swelled center screen. Fear swamped her as the green glow pulsed and filled the monitor.
Her sense of her surroundings changed. The viewing room dimmed until the green light absorbed everything and she stood in a separate bubble away from the heat. The room faded and so did the smoky stench. Fresh sounds rose. The high pitched clicks and screeches associated with dolphins, the roar of surf, the boom of whale song; a raucous combination which hit a peak, before slowly fading. Her fingers ached from gripping the handle of the coffee mug. Still, she couldn’t put it down.
A second later the voice she recognized spoke. A wave of expectation rushed through her.
“Good evening, Clancy. Are you well?”
Smooth, sexy as hell to torment her, the male voice set ripples of anticipation tingling in her flesh. Her stomach rolled.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Clancy. I will keep you safe.”
“I can’t move!” The thought bounced in her brain.
“It is best that way until you are calm. I only want to observe.”
“No!”
A low chuckle sounded, attractive and deeply masculine. Her heartbeat quickened, her mouth dried, and a rash of small shivers raised the fine hairs on her arms.
“You will help me. I need your assistance.”
“Let me move. Let me go.”
“You can put the object down.”
A wash of relief raced up her arm as finally she could set the cup down. She flexed her hand and then the frozen sensation returned.
“Better?”
“I want to be able to move.”
“In a little while, you will. I need you to move for me the way you did last night.”
“No. Not again.”
“Is it not usual for your race to repeat the action?”
“No.”
“That is a lie, Clancy. I know it and so do you. If you lie to me I will be unhappy.”
Shit. If it, him, he, was unhappy, what might happen?
“Exactly. You will have to share the emotion with me and be unhappy, too.”
The chair she’d moved slid up to nudge the back of her knees. She slumped down on to it with a gasp.
“Better?”
“Yes.”
“Now you can move your hands and arms.”
As though someone else lifted her arm it raised and her hand flapped about as if tugged by another person. She fought to yank her arm down but the effort almost broke her wrist.
“I need to see your skin, Clancy. Take your garments off.”
Her whimper echoed loud in the silent space.
“Please help me to see you clearly.”
“This is not usual. My people don’t sit naked in front of each other.”
“But I am not one of your people. I need to see your skin.”
A sudden flush of heat raised sweat droplets that slid like rain drops on glass down her breast bone. As if she was in the tropics heat raised her temperature until the thick shirt she wore prickled so much her skin itched. “All right, all right, I’ll take it off. Don’t cook me.”
Slowly she unbuttoned the shirt, pulled it over her head and dropped it to the floor. She sat in her bra and linen skirt. Little pools of sweat formed in the creases of her elbows. Only being able to move her arms made removing further clothes impossible. “You have to let me move freely or I can’t undress and nor will I be able to…” She hesitated. Did she want a repeat performance of last night? No, of course not. But, hell, yes she did. She ached for another taste of the powerful release she’d found at his urging.
“Presently, if you try to run you will be harmed.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me, you said so.”
“I will not harm you, but there is a small fire in the building which might. I will attend to it. You must make your promise you won’t run.”
“Okay, I promise I’m not going anywhere. Just make sure I don’t fry.”
Like a marionette with its strings cut she sagged in the chair as her body became her own.
“The garments, Clancy. Please remove them now.”
“All right.” She slipped her shoes off and slid out of her ankle length skirt, leaving it in a puddle by the chair.
“Everything.”
Excitement now undeniable, she unhooked her bra and peeled it off, dumped it on top of her blouse on the floor. She rubbed at a line mark by the side of her breast and brushed her thumb against one nipple.
“You see. I have freed you from pain.”
“No, not pain. We would call it discomfort.”
“I see. The rest, please.”
“This is unfair. I can’t see you at all.” She eased off her panties and set them down. The leather chair stuck to her sweaty buttocks and she crossed her legs. “There. Alien pervert.”
“What is this name?�
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She had meant to keep that thought silent but hadn’t. “It’s a term of endearment. Like calling you a friend.”
“Thank you, Clancy. I would like to be your friend. I have learned the term, darling, especially for you.”
Damn it, her stomach rolled with desire at the soft spoken words. Goosebumps rose on her skin as if warm chocolate trickled slow over her breasts, or a velvet glove stroked her thighs. She wanted to hear the endearment again. “This is crazy.”
“Your pulse rate has risen and your skin surface temperature, too. You are aroused?”
“No. I was too hot before, it’s just that.”
A second or two passed.
“Another falsehood? One more and I will close down your consciousness and work on you alone.”
“No!”
“Then be obedient. If you are compliant you shall retain your memory of our time together. I wish to examine you, to study you.”
She sighed. “Then I don’t have to do all the self touching stuff?”
“Yes, you do.”
“It’s not the same you know.”
“The same as what?”
A little quiver rippled though her. “If I touch myself it’s not the same as if a man touches me.”
“How? Explain.”
She shook her head. “I can’t really explain. It’s more exciting if someone else touches me. Couldn’t you touch me?” Oh, for God’s sake she must have lost it completely, asking to be touched by a green glow.
“It is against all normal considerations.”
“Oh.”
“Are you so disappointed?”
“Yes. I have spent half my life looking to the stars for signs of other life forms. I’ve hoped and prayed it would be me who discovered one of them. And here I am, with you, but all you want is a sex show.”
The husky low laugh rumbled around her. A guy who laughed like that couldn’t be all bad, even if he had got her to strip naked.
“I understand your wishes. I too, have longed to venture to other worlds. You are my first contact, darling. My first study.”
“I am?”
“Yes. But I must follow the procedures.”
“Is there no way we might ever meet in person?”
A long silence followed.
She waited, her sensitized skin cooling. The surroundings remained hazy, as if looking from the inside of a bubble suspended in space and time. “Are you still there?”
Thankful she could move she shifted position on the seat, her buttocks peeling off the warm leather. Not nice.
A new glow of light appeared expanding fast from the screen into the bubble. The white glow grew larger.
She plastered herself as far back as she could on the seat. “Is that you?”
“Yes. I have been given permission to work with you. I can touch you as you wish.”
She narrowed her eyes against the pulsing incandescent light. “You’re too bright.”
Immediately the gleaming brilliance dimmed.
“Is that an improvement?”
“Yes.” How weird she didn’t bother with speech. Thoughts were quicker. She peered into the globe. “I can’t see you.”
“No, but you will feel my presence. My touch.”
A tendril of light wavered and reached toward her face and the gentlest feather-light caress brushed against her cheek. “Oh.”
“Your skin is softer than I’d imagined.” His whisper stroked her senses.
“You’re real. Truly here.”
“In part. Yes, I am real. I want you to relax. Your heart rate is far too high. Are you distressed?”
She shook her head. “Excited. Scared. You are real.”
“Please, become calm. If you do not control your reactions, all my readings will be considered inaccurate.”
“Doing my best.” For several seconds she breathed deeply and tried one of her meditation exercises. Months of yoga and at last they were proving useful.
“Better. I have a base reading and this is closer to it. I want you to maintain this level while we work, until I tell you not.”
“What are you doing?”
“Assessing.”
A caress followed his words. She sucked in a great breath, at the touch of something so smooth over her arm, up onto her shoulder, along her collar bone and down onto her breast. Like oil on water the caress floated over her skin, smothered her breast until her nipples tingled and throbbed in her eagerness he should reach them. The incredible touch paused before it diminished in scope until like a hot droplet it clung weighty. “Oh, God.”
“My readings indicate you like this.”
“Yes.”
The incredible sensation moved to her other breast, cupped it in a tender grip, massaged and gently tightened, pulling down until it gripped the base of her engorged nipple. A ball of tender heat now hung from each.
“Clancy, your heart rate is raised. Control it, please.”
“No chance.” She squirmed on the seat. The rest of her body ached for a taste of him.
“I see. I need to record your responses.”
She waited. His grip remained the same. More pressure would have been welcome.
“We will continue. Well done, your heart rate has lowered a little.”
As if in answer to her inner thought the grip on her flesh tightened significantly and she groaned as it drew tighter and pulled before letting go.
“I wish you to mimic the movement for me.”
She closed her eyes and stroked up her arm with one finger, along her clavicle, down to one breast until she could squeeze as he had done. The sensation didn’t match that of his touch, for she couldn’t quite replicate the softness, the power, or the consistency of the grip, but her nipples throbbed, swollen and stiff, and she rubbed her thumb over one. She sucked in a breath. “I always wanted to be first to discover you. But why did you pick me?”
“Continue. I selected you for many reasons. I enjoyed your configuration.”
“What?”
His touch on her other breast forced a groan from her. The pressure was so perfect, smooth, but with enough weight behind it to torment her.
“I liked the way you look.”
“I like the way you touch.”
“Thank you, darling.”
Her mind raced in response, dissolving in a dizzy need. She needed more than simple caresses. “Do you kiss?”
“Ah, you refer to the mouth to mouth greeting of your kind. No, I have never experienced that.”
“How do you know of it?”
“As part of my study.”
“Can you kiss?” A sudden flip of scariness squashed her mood. Maybe he was like one of those lizard based things, or perhaps he had two heads? Can you kiss?”
Silence.
She trailed her fingers over her breast bone and around her breast. Her body ached for more, but he’d gone. How she knew that she’d never be able to explain. His loss iced her innards.
Now the viewing room came into focus, the floor light illuminating the pile of her garments, and she inhaled the scent of burned electrics. She leaned back and made two fists so hard her nails dug in her palms. “Bastard!”
Nothing.
Silence.
Sadness swamped her as she reached for her clothes. The silence in her mind made it certain. He’d gone. She dragged her underwear back on; incredulous that she’d actually removed it in the first place. Once she’d put on the rest of her clothes she grabbed her bag and reached for her phone to call the maintenance company about the electrical problem. The escalator would be out and she best go down into the car park via the fire escape.
Half way across the hazy room to the fire door her throat constricted and she coughed in the acrid air. Three more steps and she wove sideways as she tried to take the next.
The fire door was thrust open and a flashlight shattered the darkness.
“Thank God.” She reached for the fair haired guy who stretched out his arm to catch her and
looked up into a pair of aqua blue eyes. She relaxed as he swept her off her feet and inhaled as he covered her mouth and nose with an oxygen mask.
“Breathe nice and steady, darling. Trust me, you’re going be fine.”
Cradled in his arms she sucked in a deep breath of life. Warmth from his body eased the quaky shivers as if she was held by a sunbeam. Two more breaths as he strode with her to the top of the stairs, and the endearment, along with the sensual voice, registered.
Impossible. She checked out the solid square jaw-line, the fair eyebrows, those incredible eyes and the heart stopping sex appeal of this guy. It couldn’t be.
He tightened his embrace as he took the fire escape stairs, out into the starlit night. His boots rang on each step down the metal stairway to the car park. As they reached the tarmac her fume fuddled mind cleared and suspicion turned to hope. No blue flashing lights, no fire fighters, just her small car and a golden yellow van.
“Can you stand?”
She nodded, but wrapped her arm around him as he set her feet down. She tugged off the mask. “Tell me it’s you?”
A corner of his mouth lifted in the first move toward a smile. “I couldn’t let my first study get toasted.”
“Toasted!”
He nodded back toward the building. “The fire is winning the battle.”
“I’d best call the emergency services.”
“Already done. I said I’d take care of things.”
“So you did.”
“They’ll be here soon. We will show them you’re safe and then I’ll take you home.”
“Home?”
“Your dwelling.” He slid his arm around her and squeezed her hip. “It’s name is home, yes?”
She nodded. “What do I tell the firemen about you?”
“I’m a…” His expression froze as if he were calculating. “I am a paramedic and saw the building was on fire. I knew you were in there. You are my pervert.”
“What! Oh God, yes. Friend, friend is the best word to use.”
He turned toward the blue flashing lights at the gateway. “Here they come.”
The fire crew arrived, checked with her the building was clear, and set to work. He stowed the oxygen cylinder in his shiny gold van.