Page 23 of The Bully Alien
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Ihope she's going to keep in mind that the spaceship doesn't work, won't work, can't fly, hover, do anything at all as I drive her to the location of my spaceship. what's left of it anyway.
We arrive at the site, and she stands agape. Wreckage is scattered everywhere, it's almost like a graveyard of forgotten dreams. I can feel her sorrow in her heavy silence.
The sight is both depressing and captivating at the same time, so we sit there in silence for a while before getting out to explore it more closely.
We start at the cockpit area. Bits of wires hang from consoles like autumn leaves, though instead of colored orange or blue these are multihued shades of grey and silver. A control panel is smashed to pieces and scattered across the floor, its buttons like colorful gems against a backdrop of darkness.
Ipoint out every detail, like the broken hull of the ship, which has been scorched and dented from its crash landing; the pieces of debris scattered around us; and the array of broken gadgets inside, which are all that remain of what was once my prized possession.
She starts exploring, picking up pieces of metal and running her fingers along the broken wires.
"There's no way at all we can try to fix this?" she asks. "The wires—"
"The wires are the least of our worries," I say.
"How so?"
"Because."
"Because?" she echoes, thunder in her eyes. "That's all you have to say?"
"Yes."
"Are you kidding me?" she snaps.
"I brought you here to see it. Don't you think that if I could fix it, I would've already? If I could fly away, I wouldn't still be here on this fucking planet."
"It really does suck here, and if I had the means—"
"There's no means." I shake my head. "There's nothing I can do."
"You've really tried everything you could've possibly done?" she presses.
"Why wouldn't I have? I fucking hate it here."
"Why?" she demands. "Because we're all so fucking stupid?"
I say nothing.
"Have you talked to an engineer?" she suggests. "What about going to a scrap yard? A junkyard? Maybe you can tweak—"
"You don't have the technology here on Earth for what I need. I can't stress that enough. Half of the equipment that is necessary for the ship to fly is destroyed."
"How? Did you crash land?"
"Basically."
"Did you have to heal yourself?"
"Yes."
"Is that automatic?"
"No."
She gapes at me. "Seriously?"