Page 6 of Alien's Eternal Mate
I hated his smug face, though the bump in his nose sellion was quite similar to my own, and our eyes were the same shade of green.
“And I was correct in my assertions. Stop talking to me.”
I rolled away from the young man and stared at the bulkhead wall.
“Really, aren’t you talking to yourself, Car?”
“Do not call me Car. I always hated that nickname.”
“You loved it when you were a little boy.”
I flipped over to face him, sputtering with fury.
“I am a little boy no longer!”
“No, you’re not. You’ve become an adult. A bitter, cynical, and hateful adult.”
“I do not hate.”
He tilted his head to the side and just looked at me, which I found even more infuriating than his recriminations.
“Fine. I hate! I hate aliens. Any reasonable, sane man would feel the same. They are going to replace us! Their culture is already seeping into our own. The other day I heard two human teens speaking Kiphian because they think, and I quote, it will get us some hot scaly chicks. We are at war, and we’ve already been decimated by the opposition.”
He did not respond, not with words. He just kept staring at me with that damn calm expression on his face.
“What?” I snapped. “Do you want me to hate the Coalition more? Because you never came home thanks to them? Please. You fought side by side with the damned Lumpys and Chipheads and Flatfaces. You’re a traitor too.”
His brows climbed high on his young face.
“You are the real traitor. A traitor to science. Your bigotry and hatred have no basis in fact. You do not even have a decent hypothesis to back up your theories. You’re just afraid of aliens. Or more apt, you’re simply afraid.”
“Enough!”
I hurled my pillow at the man, but he wasn’t there any longer. He had never really been there, and even though I knew this I still spent several moments searching for him.
I settled back to try and sleep, but my respite was haunted and gave me no relief. When I awakened several hours later, I almost felt worse than before.
I spent the next several days in my quarters during our journey to Luna. The Superluminal jump drive throbbed rhythmically, shooting us across the galaxy. I wanted nothing more than a catastrophic failure.
I had no place in the new destiny of Earth. The Alliance would likely never let me go. I would be an indentured servant until I died.
Thus, I experienced little joy when the captain’s voice announced we would arrive at Sol system momentarily. I experienced even less when Dr. Buzos summoned me to the airlock like some graduate student.
Still, I did feel a modicum of curiosity about these relic ruins on Luna. Their mere existence should have been impossible. Yet, one often found that little was impossible when it came to Precursor technology.
Buzos, Caraway, and Kight all nattered with each other like old wives in a knitting circle. They were oh so eager to get underway. Caraway noticed my disgust and made an attempt to draw me in.
“Aren’t you excited, Dr. Reed? These ruins represent a potentially incredible discovery.”
“And you will no doubt take full academic credit for whatever we find.”
Caraway’s smile faded and he adjusted his spectacles.
“I assure you, I intend to give full credit to all members of the expedition. Even the grumpy ones.”
Buzos smirked, and Kight tilted his head back and laughed, spine lighting up with intermittent flashes of color. I bit my tongue on a harsh retort and shouldered my case of equipment.
The airlock showed flashes of the silver gray lunar surface as we descended. My ears popped as we passed into the atmospheric bubble surrounding Heinlein, the largest city on Luna. It had been years since I’d been there. A couple of new structures had gone up, and the shield generators had additional redundancies, but otherwise it looked much the same.