“Will there be anything else, Señor Case?”
“No, that should do it,” I replied calmly, delighting in these sorts of purchases. I reached to the top stack of chips and pulled out two yellows, thousands, and a green one, a five hundred. I placed them on the counter. “Will that cover it?”
“Si, Señor!” I knew it was more than enough.
“Keep the change, Julio, and thanks.” I turned to Xen who had just shy of a hurt look on his face. “Interest on the fifty thou you borrowed.” I winked.
He smiled and chuckled a little, realizing that twenty-five hundred was a pittance.
“Good point,” he admitted.
We cashed in Xen’s chips, just over three hundred twenty thousand. As the cashier put the stacks of hundreds into a white, canvas bag, she reminded both of us that we were required to claim all winnings at customs and pay all applicable U.S. taxes upon re-entry. “Of course we will,” I said, winking. The cashier smiled, and we walked out to get my car. The valet brought it up, and we got in.
“I brought Rachel with me,” I said quietly.
Xen’s face went from the perma-grin to a sober realization of what that meant. He looked at me with a concerned look on his face. “How’d she take it?”
“What did you do when you woke up yesterday morning in Costa Rica?” I asked.
“I went out on the beach, got drunk on your beer, and contemplated the nature of a brand new universe.”
“I believe you and Rachel have set the standard. That’s exactly what she’s doing … well, except that she’s using tequila.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Xen asked.
“I didn’t have any,” I said bluntly.
“Good point.”
O O O
Xen followed me down the path behind the house and out onto the beach. We both had blankets draped over our shoulders. The beach was a mottled strip of silver and gray in the almost-full moonlight, everything set against a black backdrop of ocean and sky. Small white-capped rows of black waves, highlighted by the moon, crumbled against the sand in steady, soothing echoes of contrast. Rachel’s back was to us. She had pulled her knees up to her chest, the bottle of tequila stuck into the sand. I noticed that she hadn’t touched much since I left for the casino.
We walked up behind her, and I draped my blanket over her shoulders, taking a seat cross-legged in the sand next to her. We sat in silence for a few minutes.
“I feel like I just went down a rabbit hole,” Rachel said finally.
“You did,” I confirmed quietly. “How do you like Wonderland so far?”
“It’s not real yet.”
“It will be when you wake up,” Xen said. “That’s when it really starts to sink in.”
“You okay?” I asked, concerned.
“Yeah,” she replied with a certainty that surprised me. “Knowing what I know now explains a lot of things over the past couple years.”
“It’s been my experience that the mind has a way of explaining away the impossible, or at least improbable, no matter what planet you’re on, unless someone smashes you over the head with it.”
She laughed nervously. “I bet.”
“It’s funny how that works, isn’t it?” Xen added.
“Yep,” I said quietly. We were silent for a few more minutes while Rachel continued to ponder the new world she’d been brought into.
“There’s someone I want you to meet,” I said.
“Who?” Rachel asked a bit nervously.
“The only true friend I ever had up until today, somebody who knows everything about me.” I saw Rachel’s shoulders tense a bit and then relax after a few seconds. “Mag!” I hollered into the jungle over my shoulder. I saw her slowly glide out of the tree line about twenty yards up the beach. I put my hand on Rachel’s arm and pointed at the approaching feline form. “Over there,” I said pointing.
“Jesus!” Rachel blurted and squirmed back in the sand a few inches.
“Don’t worry. She’s a friend,” I reassured her.
“You told me you had a cat,” Rachel reminded me.
“She’s called a dratar, actually—where I come from, at least—but cat is close enough.”
Magdelain came trotting up to me and rubbed her head against my knee. Rachel leaned back into Xen a bit, away from Mag.
I scratched Mag behind the ears, and the rasping started. “Magdelain, this is Rachel. Rachel, this is Mag.”
Mag raised her head and slowly moved a few steps towards Rachel.
“If you scratch her behind the ears, you’ve got a friend for life.”
Rachel slowly put out her hand and gingerly touched the back of Mag’s furry skull. She scratched the way I had, and the rasping increased in volume.
“See?”
“She’s beautiful,” Rachel added, smiling. “Is that a purr?”
“Sort of,” Xen added. “She’s smart, too. Like … people smart.”
“Really?”
“Yep,” I confirmed. “I trust her with my life. She’s saved my ass … hell … I’ve lost count of how many times. We were made for each other. Literally.”
Mag smiled at me but let Rachel keep scratching.
“Was … was that a … smile?” Rachel asked slowly, uncertain she had seen what she saw.
“Yeah,” I said affectionately. I patted Mag’s side warmly. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
Rachel looked at me closely, searching for something in my face. “You said that about me, too.”
“Yep,” I said but didn’t look back at Rachel. “Meant it, too.”
There was a minutes long silence. Mag lay down in with her head in between us.
“Ahem!” Xen cleared his throat and then forced a yawn, stretching his arms. “Well, I’m about ready for bed,” he said a bit too loudly. “I think I’ll hit the sack and let you talk about … whatever.…” His voice trailed off. He stood up and laid the blanket out flat on the sand. “Good night, you two.”
“Good night, Xen,” Rachel said quietly.
“You need anything?” I asked, calculating how much he’d been drinking the past two days.
“Where’s the aspirin? I have a feeling there’s a hang-over with my name on it waiting in ambush somewhere.”
I chuckled lightly. “Bathroom cabinet. You can’t miss it.”
“I’ll just curl up in the guest bedroom and pass out. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Xen,” I said with a smile.
Xen nodded to me, winked once in the darkness, and walked back up the path through the jungle.
Magdelain raised her head and looked at Rachel and me. A few seconds later she got up and followed Xen, leaving us alone on the beach, bathed in Costa Rican moonlight.
“Why’d you show me this?” Rachel asked after a few minutes. “You didn’t really have to.”
“Yes, I did.”
She looked at me again, searching for what she clearly hoped was there. This time I turned and stared into her eyes, showing her what she wanted.
“Somewhere along the way you became more than just important to me. Seems to me you feel the same way.”
“I do.”
“If we wanted to explore that, then you needed to know who … and what … you were dealing with.” I shifted a bit uncomfortably in the sand. “I mean, it seems to me you have a right to know if the person you’re with is a … a …”
“A what?” she asked grinning a bit too gleefully, delighting in my discomfort.
“There’s only one word for it.…” I said and paused again.
“Yeah?” she asked expectantly, knowing the answer and refusing to say it. She was actually enjoying seeing me squirm.
I let out an exasperated sigh. “An alien,” I finally blurted, laughing a bit nervously. “God, how I hate that word!” I said, and we laughed together at a truly bizarre situation.
“You’re still Justin to me, you know. I don’t care about the rest.” She put her hand gently on mine. Our
fingers intertwined. “There’s something I want to ask you.”
“Oh-oh,” I said, a bit of the nervousness coming back. “What?”
“Well, I mean … you look like us … like a human … a man.”
“Yeah,” I said, not certain where she was going.
“Well … are you like a man … in every respect?” She looked at me and raised her eyebrow, smiling a bit wickedly.
My eyes grew wider as it dawned on me what she was talking about. I stared at her, and a grin spread across my face. That wasn’t the only thing that got bigger.
“There’s really only one way to find out, you know.” I leaned in and kissed her, gently at first, but our lips parted, and our breathing got heavier.
Her hand untangled itself from mine and slid up over my thigh. She found what she was looking for and ran her hand over it. “Oh!” she said.
I chuckled and pushed her gently over onto the blanket Xen had so thoughtfully spread out in the sand. “God bless Xen,” I said into her mouth.
“Amen,” she whispered.
***
Alarm
“So, you going to give us our Q & A?” Xen asked expectantly as he unwrapped one of the cigar boxes.
I took a deep, controlled breath, as if preparing for something I’d never done before. Giving them the whole story scared the hell out of me. I had no idea how they were going to react. But I owed it to them both. Xen sat behind me at the small kitchen table with the cigars and scotch in front of him. I had fried up a mix of diced bacon, onions, chilies and tomatillos and was scrambling eggs into the mix. I’d also set a pitcher of orange juice on the table and three glasses.
“Once Rachel gets out of the shower, we can all get into it,” I said as I threw some cheese on top of the eggs. “How’s the juice?”
“Freshest I ever had.”
“Yeah, the locals squeeze it themselves. It’s a perfect setup here. The loft is my home, but this is my sanctuary.”
“How’d you find it?”
“It was a thank you gift, actually … about fifteen years ago … I helped someone, and he expressed his gratitude by giving me this.”
“Gave it to you? Anyone I know?” Xen asked, sniffing the cigars. “And is he interested in adopting a son?”
“No … and no.”
“What happened to him?” Xen asked.
“He died.”
“Did you kill him?” He sounded a bit too serious for my comfort and then went to work on one of the boxes with the scotch inside.
“No, damn it. Why does everyone ask me that?”
Xen raised a Why do you think? eyebrow at me.
I sighed heavily, resolved not to let things like that get to me. “Time,” I finally said simply but with a great deal of thoughtfulness. “Time got him.”
“Hunh?”
“He was old. Juan de la Vega … the last of the great Spanish gentlemen. He died in his sleep. Hell of a guy, too. I miss him.” I felt wistful as I thought of the old man. “I only hope have that kind of class and poise when I’m in my golden years … if I ever have golden years, anyway.”
“How’d you meet him?” Xen asked, pulling the cork slowly out of the scotch bottle.
“His granddaughter had been kidnapped in L.A. He needed help finding her. I helped him.” I was lost partway in the memories of those events.
Incredulously, “And he gave you this?”
“Yep. Drop in the bucket for him, though.”
“Still, it must have been some help.”
“Vega thought so. He almost died alone, you know.” I said sadly. “I was the only one there. All Vega wanted was to pass this world with a loving family around him. His money made that impossible with those kids. Shitty brats, every one.”
Xen looked at me thoughtfully. “You know, sometimes you have more humanity than most of humanity.”
Rachel’s sweet voice interrupted my reverie. “That smells wonderful,” she said as she walked in wearing one of my robes and drying her hair with a towel. All the sweeter this particular morning, I thought.
“Kitchen or patio, you two?” I asked, shaking my head to shoo a few lingering, long forgotten ghosts out of the corners of my mind. “And we can let the interrogation begin.”
“Patio!” they shouted in unison, but Xen kept looking at me thoughtfully.
“I’ll bring this,” I said, holding the eggs. “Rachel, grab the plates, sugar, and silverware. Xen, you get juice, glass and cigar detail.” I walked out onto the patio and waited for them. They collected what they were supposed to, followed me out and set everything down on the patio table.
As they sat down, I dished out the scrambled eggs and set the still-hot skillet on the brick wall behind me. I sat down, grabbed the sugar and poured a healthy amount into my orange juice, stirring it with a table-knife. Xen and Rachel were perched on the edges of their seats looking at me expectantly, almost like buzzards circling.
“I’ll start,” Rachel jumped in as she dug into her eggs. “What’s with putting a ton of sugar into everything? Orange Juice not sweet enough for you? And those sickly-sweet cappuccinos? God! They’re awful!” They both started eating, expectant looks on their faces.
I smiled, intrigued at her choice of beginnings, and massaged the back of my head. “That’s not where I thought we’d start, but okay.” I set the knife down and drank half of the juice. “Sugar for me is like five shots of espresso for you … crossed with really mild hemp and a touch of speed.”
They both stared at me a bit wide-eyed, their mouths stuck around the food they were chewing.
“You mean you’re high all the time?” Xen asked, incredulous. Rachel looked shell-shocked.
I chuckled. “Well, high is a strong word … more like a really good buzz. It’s how my metabolism works.”
They looked at each other and laughed.
“Unbelievable!” Xen added finally.
“No wonder you never take anything seriously,” Rachel said, shaking her head.
“It certainly explains your attitude,” Xen added.
“I guess it does,” I replied, laughing along with them.
“Okay,” Xen started, with a more serious look on his face. “My turn. Why do you look like us?”
“I was kind of wondering that myself,” Rachel added quietly, hiding a suggestive grin from Xen. I’m pretty sure I actually blushed.
“I mean,” Xen continued, “you’re from another planet, right? Let’s get this shit out in the open. I want to hear you say it.”
I paused, still hesitant to actually let the words cross my lips. I took a deep breath. “Yes.” I nodded once with a resolved finality that seemed somewhat cathartic. “I’m from another planet.” It was a huge relief, and the depth of the feeling caught me by surprise.
“So, how can you look like us? It’s statistically impossible, unless that’s a possessed body, a copy, a construct, costume or something else I can’t think of.” Xen looked at me with a serious, almost accusatory look on his face. He was a scientist, a good one, and his understanding of biology and natural selection simply didn’t have room for such genetic synchronicity across the stars. “Impossible,” he concluded with certainty.
“No, it’s not,” I said, smiling lightly.
“What?” Xen erupted. “Come on! Are you saying that all life around the universe looks like humans? I’m almost insulted.”
“Of course I’m not saying that,” I conceded with a Don’t-be-silly look on my face. “What I am saying is that a large portion of the sentient races look like us. Like you and me. There are a few other archetypes, but about sixty-five-percent have this body-type.”
“How is that even possible?” Xen was actually getting worked up. He didn’t want to accept it.
“Well, I’m not a scientist, and I didn’t really study it. They had me studying other things. It has something to do with stars and the life that evolves around them. Stars of one type create people like us, and stars of a different type create differ
ent archetypes. As I understand it, they were just beginning to identify a network of both communication and something like consciousness between solar bodies. But that’s about all I know.”
Xen had a thoughtful look on his face as he contemplated the possibilities and plausibilities. “Interesting,” he said finally.
“Why are you here?” Rachel asked suddenly. And she nailed me down with an exceedingly serious look of her own. Although Xen didn’t pick it up, I also heard the between-the-lines question of Will you be going?
I’m sure my face looked a little sad as I remembered my egress from home and the unpleasant circumstances surrounding it. “Well, I’ll kill two birds with one stone on that one, because you both also want to ask what I am, why I can do the things I can do.”
“Yes,” they both said.
“When I said that people look like us all over, I meant it. They make love and babies just like you do. Babies of all kinds are born every day out there,” I said somberly. “But I wasn’t one of them.” I paused and took a drink of juice. “I was an … experiment … a … a weapon,” I added with both sadness and even shame coming into my voice.
“What do you mean?” Rachel asked with a look of genuine concern on her face. She placed her hand on mine. I looked up and smiled at her.
“I mean, a group of people, some of them tyrants, drew up a specification for me, hired and forced people to create me, and used me as a weapon to do their dirty work. I killed … a lot of people in those days … some, maybe most of whom didn’t really have it coming. My father, if I had such a thing, saved me … well, helped me save myself.”
“What happened?” Xen asked.
“I asked questions … asked why. The powers that existed at the time needed a weapon that went where it was told and did what it was told. Asking those questions, was beyond my specification, a sign of anomalous behavior. They decided they were going to fix me, make me more compliant and less inquisitive. It’s the only thing that ever scared me to death, so I left. I stole what I could, including my transport, broke into a phase facility, programmed it for destinations unknown, and ended up here. My father blew the console to wipe the destination just as the troops blew the doors. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him.”
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