by Tasha Black
His words were impudent, and the gloating and lustful expression on the man’s hairy face… It was insufferable. Rocky longed to tear the man limb from limb.
“Brother, what’s going on?” Bond’s angry tone pulled him into the present.
“This will not stand,” Rocky said, glad his brother was also angry at the man’s behavior.
“You’re supposed to be clicking with Georgia,” Bond said. “You’re not even sitting with her.”
Oh.
“I’m trying,” Rocky said, trying not to whine. “But she isn’t interested in me.”
“Then be more interesting,” Bond said. “Our time is limited. And it seems the women have troubles of their own. If we’re run off this land, we can’t exactly bring the ship with us. At least not yet.”
Bond opened the vent on the top if the control array and poured another jar of honey inside, the golden liquid coating the components as it flowed slowly into the console. Bond had come up with the idea of using the honey to stop the infection their ship had picked up after being exposed to Earth pathogens during their crash landing.
So far, the honey seemed to be working where nothing else had. But the progress was frustratingly slow. All three brothers were beginning to worry that the damage would not be reversed in time.
Rocky sighed. Had matters ever been this tangled back on Aerie? He didn’t think so.
“Don’t you find Georgia attractive?” Bond asked, licking sticky strands of honey from his fingers with a smile.
“Of course I find her attractive,” Rocky said, incredulous. How could anyone fail to find Georgia attractive? “My whole body turns to longing every time she’s near.”
“Then what are you waiting for, brother?” Bond asked.
“I’ve tried, but she won’t accept me. I’ve followed her. I’ve tried to help her in everything she does. I’m always kind and mannerly.”
Bond looked thoughtful.
“What?” Rocky asked.
“It’s only something that Posey said about Georgia once,” Bond said.
“What did she say?”
“She said that Georgia likes a challenge,” Bond told him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rocky asked, frustrated that he had hoped for a clue to winning Georgia’s interest and received only another distracting facet of her inscrutable mind. He wished that he had shared his brother’s gift of reading thoughts. He could think of no other way to possibly decipher these complex creatures, since they never seemed to say what they actually meant.
“It means that she doesn’t like things to be easy,” Bond ventured. “Maybe you’re making it too easy for her.”
Oh.
“So I should avoid her?” Rocky asked. “Be unhelpful and rude?”
“No, it was a silly idea,” Bond said shaking his head. “I’m just desperate. I love Posey so much, and I want the same for my brothers.”
Of course he did. And he didn’t have to tell Rocky. One second in a room with Bond and Posey and it was clear.
“If we don’t all click with our women, and if we don’t repair the transponder…” Bond couldn’t finish his sentence.
But Rocky knew what would happen.
They needed to click with their women and become full mates, or the Aerie high council would deem the humans unworthy and terraform the Earth to suit their own life forms instead of joining with the Earthlings.
And even if Rocky and his brothers succeeded, if they didn’t fix the transponder, it wouldn’t matter. Their world would never know about it.
Aerie would see only that her sons had gone silent on a distant planet.
And she would strike.
It wouldn’t take much to destroy this planet’s inhabitants. Aerie could casually swat, as if the Earth were an errant fly at a picnic, and every creature here would be obliterated forever, making way for colonization.
Every creature - including Georgia Taylor.
Rocky’s body surged with a wordless need to protect her. This instinct was surer than gravity, stronger than the explosive force of the volcanoes on Aerie’s rocky surface.
But it was all for nothing, since Georgia did not desire his protection.
Bond stood looking over the water, an expression of open anguish on his face.
Rocky found it endlessly interesting that he could read his brother’s moods from the cues of his physical form. Such a feat would have been impossible on their home world, where they had existed as gaseous masses. He supposed that it was not unlike the way Bond had always felt, with his gift for telepathy.
“I will win her, brother,” he told Bond. “I will not allow harm to come to your love.”
Bond nodded.
“It’s cold,” he said. “Let’s go back to them.”
Rocky nodded in return, and they walked together through the tall grass back toward the observatory. Perhaps he could assist Georgia in studying the papers she had collected from that awful man. Or at least keep her company while she did.
5
Georgia
Georgia sipped her espresso and scowled out the window of the café at the bare trees, their branches bent by the wind over the sidewalks of the little town. The gray, overcast view perfectly mirrored her current state of mind.
Across from her, Posey scooped cinnamon-dusted whipped cream out of her frappe with a stirring stick and ate it, while Rima dunked a blackberry tea bag in and out of her cup.
“So what’s the plan, Georgia?” Rima asked at last.
“Let’s just wait for the boys,” Georgia said. “That way I’ll only have to tell it once.”
“I’m sorry about what happened,” Rima said miserably. “I’m sorry about everything. I should have been honest with you in the first place about all of this.”
“You’re right. You should have,” Georgia snapped. “But we’re here now, and we have to make the best of it.”
“She said she’s sorry,” Posey cut in.
“I heard her,” Georgia said. “It doesn’t change anything. We still have to clean up this mess.”
Georgia didn’t really feel like getting into it right now, but she wasn’t just going to roll over if her friends pressed the issue. None of this was Georgia’s fault, but she intended to do her damnedest to fix it.
They were spared further conversation when the bells jingled on the door and the boys came in.
The coffee shop was full of tired moms with strollers and women on laptops who Georgia could only assume were writing romance novels.
They all looked up like a herd of deer at the approach of the men.
Even Georgia, in her bleak mood, had to begrudgingly admire the trio of tall, dark handsomeness.
“What’s the plan?” Magnum asked before sitting down. He was a man after her own heart, that one.
“Magnum, wait,” Bond cut in. “Let’s at least get something to drink first. What would you like?”
“Milk,” Magnum said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Rima smiled smugly, as if she were proud of her milk-drinking lug.
Bond wrinkled his nose and looked to Rocky.
Georgia half-expected Rocky to ask her if she wanted anything, but he just shrugged.
“Okay, then,” Bond said, and headed to the counter, winking back at Posey from his place in line.
Rocky pulled up a chair next to Rima and Magnum seated himself on her other side.
Georgia chided herself for a stab of jealousy. After all, she had seated herself in the corner. Rocky couldn’t get the seat next to hers without asking everyone else to move.
While the others made small talk, Georgia got out her phone and stabbed away at the screen: news, weather, email, boring, boring, boring.
“Thank you,” Bond said loudly as he approached, barista in tow, helping to carry his order. “You are very helpful.”
She colored furiously at the compliment, and Georgia was afraid she would drop her load of beverages.
“Okay, so a latte a
nd a milk,” she simpered.
Rocky took the latte.
The barista stared in wonder as Magnum took the cardboard carton of milk, ripped the straw off the side and delicately tried to insert it into the tiny hole on the top of the carton.
“Thanks again,” Bond said.
The woman scurried back behind the counter and Bond sat, placing a coffee in front of him and handing Posey a rice crispy treat the size of her head.
The joke was on him, because Posey was always on a diet.
But instead of pushing it away, Posey smiled up at Bond in a way that made Georgia think she might have forgotten everything that was ever important to her before.
Why did women have to lose themselves to gain a man?
“Georgia, I’m so excited to hear your plan,” Posey said, sharing her wide smile with her friend.
“Well, wait until you hear it before you get too excited,” Georgia said. “The easiest thing to do, of course, would be to call a news organization or an educational institution about the guys,” she began.
“That’s off the table,” Posey said flatly, all signs of that sweet smile gone.
“I don’t understand why you’re—” Georgia began.
“—They’ll be locked away,” Rima interrupted fiercely. “Experiments will be done on them, and they haven’t even had a chance to see what we’re all about. Absolutely not, Georgia. They came here on a mission of peace.”
The boys exchanged glances.
“That had better not be the plan we were waiting for,” Posey grumbled.
“It’s not,” Georgia said. “But you’ll need to keep that solution in mind when I tell you my next one. Because I don’t know if you’re going to like it any better.”
They were all scowling at her, and it was all she could do not to scowl right back. But she was a leader and leaders didn’t indulge in maudlin emotions - something she needed to keep a better handle on from here on in.
She took a sip of her espresso and then continued.
“We don’t need to turn the guys in,” she said crisply. “But we do need a UFO sighting.”
She expected them to start breaking in to ask how they were going to pull that off, but they were just staring at her obediently. The shepherdess had her little sheep back. Good.
Then Rima’s hand went up, like they were in a classroom.
Georgia nodded.
“How do we get money from that?” Rima asked in a small voice.
“Great question, kiddo. Look around. This whole town is poised to monetize UFO sightings. It’s already got the themed restaurants. It’s already got the cute street names. And most importantly, we’ve already got… the amusement park.”
Georgia let her words hang in the air triumphantly.
“But the amusement park…” Rima began.
“Yes, it’s in disrepair. Yes, it needs landscaping and paint and some serious love. But it’s ours. And if there are UFO sightings, people will come. And when they come they will need something to do.
“And here’s the fun part. Halloween is coming. We don’t have to make the park pretty - we don’t even have to make it all work. In fact, we need to do the exact opposite. We spook it up a little, then bill it as a haunted amusement park. And as long as we have a couple of things going - the merry-go-round, the Ferris wheel - the rest is icing.”
She looked at each one of them in turn, trying to gauge their reactions. If they didn’t go for this, Georgia really didn’t have a plan B.
“Are you with me?” she asked hopefully.
“I love it,” Posey breathed.
“This… This could actually work,” Rima said.
“Your idea is excellent, Georgia,” Magnum declared. “What is Halloween?”
6
Rocky
Rocky was in the zone. While his brothers did delicate work on the instruments inside their broken down ship, he cleaned and polished the metal and polymer exterior out in the fresh air.
The rich oxygen levels of this planet were hell on the metal surfaces of the ship, and they needed regular maintenance to prevent rust and deterioration.
They had crashed in the last moment of landing in part because of the proximity of the pond and the woods to the observatory. In the early days, the clearing must not have been so overgrown.
The upside was that he had an excellent view over the water and woods as he worked today.
He had just got into the swing of things, working up enough of a sweat to remove his shirt in spite of the bracing air when he heard a cough.
“We’ve got the transponder working again,” Magnum said in the gruff voice that might mean he was feeling happy, or humble, or… gruff.
“That’s fantastic,” Rocky said, hopping off the surface of the ship and onto the ground next to his brothers.
They weren’t speaking though, and Bond had a serious look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“We’re still not getting a response,” Bond said. “The signal looks strong on our end, but it is not reaching Aerie.”
This was bad.
“Well then we need to repair the amplifier, that’s all,” Rocky said.
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Magnum roared.
Bond placed a hand on Rocky’s shoulder.
“We’ve repaired and reintroduced every component of the communications array, Rocky. It appears that it should be working. But it isn’t. We’re not sure what to think.”
Rocky was kind and hardworking and apparently his Earth body was attractive. He wasn’t technologically minded like his brothers, but he was creative, which sometimes gave him an insight into problems that his brothers lacked. Something played at the edges of his mind, tugging on an idea like a loose string.
“You don’t think it’s been disabled on the other end, do you?” he ventured. “Something blocking the signal? Or someone?”
Bond and Magnum exchanged a glance.
“None of us want to believe that is possible,” Bond said. “But it is difficult to imagine another explanation.”
“Who would do such a thing?” Rocky asked.
Magnum rolled his eyes and Bond shook his head.
“Who knows?” Magnum grumbled. “Any of those power hungry politicians might find it suits their interests to imply that there’s danger out in the universe. Or it could come from one of the factions in opposition to merging with the humans, the ones clamoring for racial purity. It doesn’t really matter who. We’re fucked.”
Rocky remembered a time when Magnum himself had not been so convinced of their mission. He marveled at how much living among the humans had softened his brother, no matter how gruff he tried to remain on the exterior.
“Is there no other way to patch in?” Rocky asked.
“There may be another way to break through,” Bond said. “But we’d need stronger equipment,”
“Where can we find something like that?” Rocky asked.
“I have no idea,” Bond said.
7
Georgia
Georgia let a smile stretch across her face. It was impossible to stay frustrated when she was out with her friends, walking the streets of the pretty little town, with tiny scarlet leaves drifting down like a ticker tape parade.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Rima said.
“Why not?” Georgia asked.
“I spent my whole childhood trying to pretend the alien thing never happened,” Rima shrugged.
“Oh, it happened,” Posey laughed.
“But collecting money to fix up the theme park?” Rima said. “I mean my gosh. I thought we’d be run out of town on a rail before anyone would help us.”
“Everyone loves an amusement park,” Georgia said firmly.
“Especially a haunted one,” Posey added.
“You know,” Georgia suggested, “it’s entirely possible this town doesn’t hate your family as much as you think,”
Rima paused, seemingly to conside
r the possibility. Ahead of them, their friends Calvin, Ellie and Tom were heading into a store.
“Should we catch up to them?” Posey asked.
“Oh, that’s Tea Thing Ring,” Rima explained. “Big hippie hang out - loose leaf tea, hobo bags, silver mood rings, that kind of stuff. Calvin will clean up in there.”
“Do you think they’ve figured out that we’re not really Mennonites yet?” Posey asked.
It was a fair question. The three “converts” had been hanging out at the observatory a lot lately, wearing all white, as the rest of the gang did to keep up the rumors that they were a religious group. Georgia would round them all up for group meditation before every meal, but there hadn’t been a lot of praying or religious talk.
“I’m not sure if they care,” Georgia observed. “I think they wanted to belong, to be part of a group. We’re giving them that. And, hey, when the truth comes out, they’ll have the satisfaction of knowing they were part of something that was larger than themselves, though it might not have been what they originally thought.”
“Oh my gosh,” Posey squealed. “Roasted nuts.”
Sure enough, there was a vendor with a silver cart, selling small wax sleeves of fragrant nuts.
Posey dashed over and came back with three steaming bags.
“I couldn’t resist,” she smiled.
“It’s nice to see you eat real food,” Georgia said. Immediately she regretted her words, the last thing Posey needed was to be self-conscious. Georgia had always thought Posey had a perfect body, but that didn’t stop her friend from occasionally obsessing over it.
Posey merely smiled and handed her a bag of nuts.
“Bond is helping me appreciate my body just the way it is,” she said.
“Oh, I’ll bet he is,” Georgia teased.
Posey smacked her lightly on the arm and Rima giggled maniacally.
“So what’s up with you and Rocky,” Posey suddenly demanded.
Georgia stopped in her tracks.
“I- I don’t know,” she admitted.
“He’s so nice, Georgia,” Rima said.