Page 17 of Sky Song
Only as she entered the lab Lyle’s words came back to her.
My hearts, I never get lost.
He hadn’t shown up at the lab by accident.
Cricket left work later than usual. Between arguing with Kim and consoling distraught Salty, she fell behind on her daily processing quota and was forced to stay after hours. It was darkwhen she finally left, darker still when she schlepped into her neighborhood.
The tall trees that lined the street stood still in the complete absence of wind. Their shadows blacked out swathes of the lamplight on the road, making it look menacing. It was so quiet. Cricket felt spooked, but she couldn't detect a reason for it. Strange, since she wasn’t easily frightened.
She concentrated on the road and walked fast, her sneakers making barely any sound.Almost home.
A sensation of being watched washed over her.
Cricket glanced around, a frisson of real fear feathering down her spine.
It’s not real. It isn’t!
Ramping up her speed, Cricket walked ahead, fighting the urge to look over her shoulder, angry at herself for succumbing to the effects the shadows had on her, frustrated at her inability to shake off her fear, unsettled by the events of today, sad over not seeing Lyle again, missing mama, homesick, lonely, hating Meeus, scared… All those feelings spun faster and faster, coalescing into a knot of raw emotions impossible to separate. Cricket broke into a run to escape her own vulnerabilities, but they chased her right on, clung tight until she was sprinting through the darkness down the empty street as if demons from hell nipped at her heels.
She stopped when she found herself in front of her house, surprised at how quickly she made it here. She worked to regulate her breathing, noting again how normal it was, with not a hint of wheezing.
The run helped a little, and even though all the feelings were still bottled up inside her, they weren’t quite as bubbly.
The lights in Paloma’s window glowed with a muted light that changed colors. On the other side, at Mr. Sulys’, all wasdark, but a long wailing sound gave away the nonexistent pet’s unhappiness.
“You, too, are having a shitty day, Hipper?” Cricked mumbled at the dark windows to the right of hers. “Maybe we can howl together. A duet. Our community’s always looking for fresh talent.”
As if he heard her, Hipper let out a new trill, and his howling took on an especially soulful note.
A shadow moved a distance away. It was the same alien guy from before, with a lanky figure and hunched shoulders.
Blood running hot after her run, Cricket took a step in his direction. “Who are you?” she whispered and started moving after him, intent on taking a better look. She hadn’t seen an alien in six years, and suddenly, they were coming at her out of every orifice.
At first, he didn’t see her, but when he caught on to the pursuit, he gave one look over his shoulder, made a fluid turn and seemingly vanished from sight.
Cursing, Cricket slowed down. She was too far, and it was too dark for her to see his features. But one thing was absolutely certain: he wasn’t a figment of her imagination.
Chapter 4
A week had passed from Lyle’s lab visit, and life returned to its well-trodden groove so decidedly that the events with the alien delegation now seemed a long time ago.
Perhaps the biggest shift in Cricket’s routine was the cancellation of her weekly check-ups with Dr. Ragberg. She missed their scheduled interactions, impersonal and businesslike though they had been. Dr. Ragberg was the only person she knew who came from Earth, and even though he painstakingly avoided discussing the subject, she always felt that tenuous second-hand link to her previous life, to mama who knew Dr. Ragberg’s former fiancée Gemma. To a place and time where she had been Cricket.
Mama’s scheduled letter would be coming soon, filled with news and instructions, told in a voice uniquely mama’s to boost Cricket’s flagging spirits. Some days it was all that could motivate her to get out of bed in the morning.
On the day of the letter, Cricket woke up later than usual. Making the bed just like mama had taught her, she became aware of a strange kind of silence in her little house. Not silence, exactly, but it felt like someone replaced the usual mundane sounds with a completely different set.
Cricket glanced at the small electronic clock on the shelf, and it became clear: the power was out. All her appliancesfell silent, and the ever-humming air purification system wasn’t blowing.
“There goes my morning coffee,” she said to the powerless clock. Which was okay. Shadush nutritionists recommended coffee in moderation, and she always ran out of her allotted batch half-way.
Grabbing a glass of water, she went outside.
Paloma was sitting on the steps in front of her house, cradling a can of Canseso lemonade she loved so much. She looked a bit sleepy-eyed but fresh after a shower, with wet hair that was beginning to curl as it dried.
“You’re up. Finally! I was getting bored to death.”
“Good morning to you too.” Cricket smiled.
