Authors: Jenna Payne
“You did?” he asked stupidly.
“Kind of hard to miss it,” she answered with an eye roll.
“True enough,” he answered. A small smile came to his lips.
“Anyway,” she said looking down and beginning to fidget with her sleeve, “I was wondering. Did you really mean that? What you said about needing help?”
She looked up and her eyes met his. Those blue eyes looked hopeful but guarded. As though she was still not quite sure whether or not she could trust him.
“Yeah,” he said. “I meant that. You were right. I’ve got a problem. I need to sort it out before I do anything else.”
She nodded and moved her eyes back down to the table.
“Because, I was thinking,” she said. “If you’re really going to get sober you’re going to need a lot of support and . . . I was wondering if I could help.”
She looked up at him again. This time, her guard was down and he saw a question light her eyes. She was asking him to take her back.
Chris blinked twice to make sure he understood correctly. After everything he’d done, after the promise that he’d broken, she wanted his forgiveness.
Chris broke out into a smile when he realized there was no question in his mind at all.
“I’d like that,” he said. “I’d love it really.”
He reached across the table and took her hands. As soon as he did, she looked up at him. When she caught his grateful smile, she rewarded him with one of her own.
“I love you,” he said honestly. Her smile widened as she looked back at him.
“That’s lucky,” she said. “Because I love you too.”
As he leaned over to meet his lips with hers, Chris realized that having Michelle was far better than any football career.
THE END
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Bonus Story 1 of 20
Josiah
“Josiah, you have a summons. It seems Lord Rixon requires your presence,” I looked up from the seemingly normal knee I was reconstructed with. It appeared unassuming to outsiders, but I could feel the slight mechanical flex and pull of the joint whenever I moved it. A courier, his name was Don I recalled, stepped into my room in the recovery quarters of the medical center and handed me the thick stationary.
“A handwritten summons?” I mumbled. The courier nodded, adjusted the badge he wore on his uniformed combat armor and then held his hands at ease behind his back. Couriers were at the lowest rank in our army, but they were trained harder than even some specialized combat warriors. The couriers had to be able to deliver messages through any given situation, save for their own deaths, which was something they were trained to avoid almost as much as their failing to deliver a message.
“Yes sir, Lord Rixon ordered me to bring this to you urgently. He would like you to report to him immediately,” the courier answered my largely rhetorical question and looked at me expectantly. I stood up from the bed and almost missed the aches and cracks of my old organic body. This one I had now, with new parts, felt too new. It needed some getting used to perhaps.
I nodded to the courier to lead the way and we exited the medical facility to walk to the nearest Tele Port. The usual bustling streets of the city Voltaire were unusually sparse. The war had wrecked our planet and all the inhabitants within. Planet Rodon would never be the same. The war though, was largely over, save for a few skirmishes of straggling warships here and there about the galaxy. I had wondered what Lord Rixon could have wanted with me. I was nearly killed in a stealth operation gone terribly wrong. If anything Lord Rixon would probably want to demote me as a specialized agent. Specialized agents did not get dismembered on assignment.
The courier and I stepped into the glass enclosure and he tapped the side panel that would bring the Tele Port to life. He typed in our destination and gave the clearance we needed to get to the palace grounds and then the familiar shifting sensation beneath our feet started. The world around us melded into bright rainbow colors and then it all stopped. The palace courtyard emerged into view around us and a guard opened the Tele Port’s sliding door to escort us out.
“Lord Rixon has been awaiting your arrival Josiah,” said a guard. The guard was tall, broad shouldered and stocky. He wore the customary gold plated armor over his white uniform that was much like the couriers. My intrigue was piqued and I wondered what was so pressing that the overseer of our planet and king of our race wanted to have a meeting with me in person.
The courier left. I followed behind the guard through the picturesque courtyard filled with plants and colorful flowers, through the large grand, golden double doors, and directly into the grand hall. The hall was elegant and had an air of understated opulence to it. The floors and pillars that lined the room were made of the same gold-veined white marble. The hall was decorated in crimson tapestries to reflect the blood our kind had lost in the war. Lord Rixon was sitting on his throne towards the front of the room and he was fiddling with his tall scepter rather anxiously. He looked up and his golden eyes widened with purpose and if I was not mistaken, excitement.
“Josiah, I’ve been awaiting your arrival. Thank you for meeting with me so swiftly,” Lord Rixon was often a humble ruler and it is what gained him so much respect amongst the people. I inclined my head before bowing at the waist with my fist crossed over my chest. “Rise, rise. Come Josiah we have much to discuss…” Lord Rixon was anxious to deliver whatever it was he needed to speak with me about. I rose and then approached his throne.
Rixon was physically intimidating, like many of the men on our planet he was tall and well-muscled. What distinguished him from the rest is his shock of silver white hair, his intense brow and golden eyes. From birth people whispered how he was destined to be royalty. It is why now Rodon’s colors are white and gold. If not for Rixon we would be a planet destroyed.
“What is so pressing my lord?” I asked curiously as I stopped at the bottom step of the raised dais which held Rixon’s throne. He gestured me closer and I walked up to stand directly next to him.
“I have a mission for you Josiah…how are your new limbs?” Lord Rixon studied me with a calculating eye; his gaze was almost tangible as it went from my new legs to my new arms. They looked organic, but were certainly not.
“They are strange my lord, but nothing I cannot get used to,” I assured him and Rixon nodded absently.
“Good, I am aware that the new limbs will bring you an intriguing level of strength and stamina…” Rixon looked at me knowingly and I nodded once. “That is what I need. Precision and discretion. As you know the results of the planet wide population census has been reported,” Rixon paused and looked at me expectantly.
“Yes my lord, I heard the devastating news of our being classified as an endangered race. It will be slow, but I feel we can rebuild our numbers,” I commented and Rixon nodded, his expression was then thoughtful.
“Precisely. It will be slow because during the war, interestingly enough, not many female children were born. We need females to further our race and to ensure its survival. I had our greatest thinkers look into it and they have found that the women of Earth share largely the same makeup as our kind. Our kind could be renewed quicker if we had some human females here than if we simply left things up to chance as they are now,” Rixon explained. My eyes grew wide as I thought of the implications…or the possibilities. I saw where Rixon was going with what he was saying. But how would it be done?
*****
Josiah
I looked at Lord Rixon with wary eyes as he continued his explanations. “I want to integrate human women in Rodon. We have no other choice Josiah, what if tensions flare up again? What men do we have to protect us?” I took a deep breath; Lord Rixon had brought up a valid point.
“So you would like me to travel to Earth and bring human women here?” I asked with slight uncertainty.
“I would like you to travel to Earth and observe them. Report back what you find. If it could be possible without backlash to have more soldiers go to Earth to pick human mates and return with them here…” Lord Rixon looked at me expectantly as he awaited my reply.
“I understand what you want me to do my lord. Carry out an intelligence mission quietly,” I replied. Rixon nodded.
“Yes, I do not want to create even the slightest ripple that could endanger our planet all over again,” Rixon looked at me with a severe expression. I knew there was no failing this mission. In any event all I had to do was see what the human women were like and if they’d truly be compatible with Rodonian men.
“I understand my lord. I am confident in my abilities to carry out this mission to your highest regards,” I assured Rixon. He smiled in a regal manner, though with slight relief I could tell. Even Rixon’s own intended bride was killed during the war. He could benefit from this plan to induce human women to Rodon as well.
“Wonderful, well then if you are truly healed and familiar with your new body, I have outfitted our fastest spacecraft for your departure to Earth. There you will be given an identity and means with which to survive as well as instructions on how to appear human and blend with their general populace.” Rixon snapped his fingers at a nearby guard who stood vigil beside the dais. The guard called for a courier and the same one who’d originally delivered the message to me, Don, entered the room holding a thin white folder of all the materials I needed.
“I will walk you to the craft while I explain these materials,” said Lord Rixon. We proceeded within a procession of four guards surrounding us. I looked down at the folder and opened it.
“That is your identification card,” said Rixon. “It also allows you to drive vehicles which are much like the ones on Rodon, only the humans have not yet outgrown their wheels. Behind that is your passport. Apparently Earth is not united in the same ways Rodon is, so one needs special clearance to travel from country to country. Which you will need to in order to gather all possible information on the human women. You would present that at the check in stations in the human ‘airports’, which is the quickest form of global travel there. I would not recommend you use the space craft to get around on Earth; due to the speed enhancements we gave the craft, we took out all measures of camouflage.”
As we walked, Rixon continued to tell me about the planet Earth and what I needed to do there.
We arrived at the flying docks atop the palace’s east wing and there I saw the sleek black spacecraft awaiting our departure. Before I went to climb into it Lord Rixon turned to face me.
“I would like to convey the seriousness of your need to remain clandestine while on Earth. We cannot disrupt their development or their ways of life,” Lord Rixon made sure I understood the importance of remaining undetected and I assured him that I would be successful in my mission.
“Very good then, be well and successful on your mission Josiah, I look forward to your return and your report in six months’ time.”
With that I saluted Rixon and he inclined his head. I then tucked the folder, of documents and cards I would need under my arm and climbed into the spacecraft. The glass enclosure lowered down and locked into place. The coordinates for Earth were already set; all I had to do was tell the vehicle to launch.
I glanced to the side of the landing pad at the grouping of guards, Lord Rixon, and the courier Don one last time before I ordered the craft in Rodonian tongue, “Head to Earth.”
The craft lifted smoothly into the sky, silent as was usual for speed crafts, and then it shot off into the night sky. Soon I left the atmosphere and the light of countless stars lit the dark expanse of space. I went through the folder once again and used the leather holder that was given to me. The humans called it a wallet. I put the identification card within, as well as the few credit and debit cards and loose monetary notes, after which I studied the passport. I was to be Josiah Davenport on Earth. I was from New York City, and that would be my first stop. I was to get a hotel and then begin observing. Hopefully the females from Earth were beautiful and not too dull to take note of.
*****
Melanie
“Hey watch out lady!” an annoyed bike messenger shouted as he shot right past me on the sidewalk. I got ready to yell at the guy in return for almost knocking me over. Those messengers weren’t supposed to ride on the sidewalks anyways. He was too far ahead by the time I worked up enough annoyance to yell back so I simply let it go and mumbled to myself. The sidewalks of New York City were almost as volatile as the streets. Everyone was impatient, hurrying somewhere. That’s mostly why New Yorkers got a bad rap for rudeness. We simply wanted to get where we were going.
I, however, wasn’t in any rush today. I had finally quit my dead-end job and I was happy about turning over a new leaf. No more information processing that would give me carpal tunnel, a hunchback, and blindness before I was forty. As I walked down busy Madison Avenue I wondered what it would be like to work for a marketing or advertising firm. How much fun that would be to get in touch with my creative side once again.
I walked by this pizza shop I had always wanted to try, Giro’s. I’d never actually gone in before because it was always packed and I never had enough time to go in and enjoy the full experience of sitting down at a restaurant, ordering my meal, and eating it in peace.
I lived a largely lonely life. My only family, my parents, died when I was just starting out in the city and I had chosen to stick to myself ever since then. I wrapped myself up in work and chose the most menial job available. It was mind-numbing work simply inputting data day in and day out. But I was finally breaking that unhealthy mold and choosing to do what I had come to the city for in the first place.
I’d start this new life by having some pizza at Giro’s. Just before I stepped into the modern restaurant, with its glass storefront, I noticed someone standing across the street. I only noticed him because he was standing completely still in a river of moving New Yorkers. I couldn’t make out his features from the reflection in the glass, but I
knew
he was watching me. I felt the prickle of awareness along the back of my neck and all.
I turned around to look at him, but when my eyes reached the sidewalk across the street, he was gone. I shook the feeling of unease and stepped inside the restaurant. I had been feeling an odd shadowing presence for some time now, I’d say about two weeks. But whenever I’d look over my shoulder or think I saw someone staring at me in my periphery, when I double checked there would be no one there.
Perhaps it was just the increasing anxiety I was feeling over my job. Though since I had finally quit all of that should have gone away…I forced myself to forget about it and I focused on trying the pizza at Giro’s. Spending the rest of the day doing pretty much nothing but eating and walking in the park was a dream.
I ate slowly. The pizza was terrific. By the time I decided to walk back home it was getting dark. Winter was well on its way and the days were just getting shorter and shorter. I needed to clear Central Park so I could hail a cab to get me to midtown. The trees along the usually friendly paths of the park seemed a bit ominous and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched and followed. Thankfully I made it out of the park and managed to wave down a cab and get home to my apartment.