Page 23 of Sky Song
The smell of late spring, undiluted by lights, was especially sharp, blanketing the streets like a fog. Without the visual input, Cricket could be on Earth in May, the breeze gentle on her face, and it was so immersively familiar.
She thought of mama, alone in the City. It would be too early for warm weather yet, but soon, their spring would also start. She wondered if old Oskie, mama’s roommate, recovered from her fall. Mama had been living with Oskie following Cricket’s departure. She claimed she preferred it that way, to have somebody to talk to, but Cricket knew mama missed their little house that she had to let go after she’d lost her job at the prison.
Still, it was reassuring to know that mama wasn’t alone at night, watching the darkness from the window like Cricket did when sleep refused to claim her restless mind.
The street was silent and dark, and Cricket stayed alert in case the shadowy alien man decided to lurk around, but she didn’t see or hear anything suspicious. When she got home, she stood in the middle of the room, wondering what there was todo in the unbreakable darkness. She wished Paloma hadn’t left today, of all days.
Suddenly, a blinding light pierced her eyes, and everything came back to life. Cricket blinked rapidly as all the appliances began humming and beeping, the security alarm bleating about its reset functions, and the built-in virtual screen she hardly used coming on to broadcast a reassuring message from the government.
Hipper howled behind the wall.
“My god, has Armageddon arrived.” She scrambled to get the technology under control, slightly disoriented in the cacophony of impulses thrown at her brain all at once.
In her scramble, she almost missed a quiet knock on the door. Acting on autopilot, she opened the door expecting to see a representative from their homeowners cooperative, or a neighbor like Mr. Sulys, and stared into the large, black, inhuman eyes she never expected to see again.
Chapter 5
“Are you looking for a bathroom?” Shock temporarily rendered her brainless.
To give him credit, Lyle didn’t miss a beat. “I was hoping for a glass of water. You live a long way away from the spaceship depot.”
Unable to form a coherent thread out of her escaping thoughts, Cricket looked beyond Lyle, noting the lights in the neighboring windows, normal-like. A door opened a few houses down and someone came outside. Hipper was going crazy.
“I think you should come inside.”
No. She didn’t just invite an alien to her home. A Rix alien, too. Mama would kill her if she knew.
“Thank you.” The corners of Lyle’s mouth trended upwards as he stepped over the threshold, his tread heavy despite the soft-leather shoes.
Pulling the door closed, she turned to catch him checking out her home with curiosity. Hipper’s frantic yowls quieted down. Her shock was wearing out, and questions buzzed around her mind, all of them along the lines ofNow what?
To give herself a second to sort through them, Cricket headed to the kitchen and poured him a glass of water.
Lyle took it from her but he didn’t drink it.
“My transport didn’t arrive,” he explained without her prompting. “I waited at the depot and then left.”
Like that explained everything! Why didn’t his transport arrive? Where had he been all week? How did he find her house? And how come he was bobbing around Shadush by his lonesome when aliens were supposed to be constantly supervised?
Lyle put up a hand. “Do you want me to answer all the questions at once or just the last one?”
She hadn’t realized she said anything, much less all of her thoughts out loud. Apparently, her brain was taking slower than usual to reboot after the shock.
“I’m sorry, but yes.”
“Yes what?”
“The last one, I guess.” They’d get to the rest later.
“I walked out on my escort.”
Cricket blinked. “You walked out on your escort?” The escorts were typically part of Meeus’s versatile peace force which could act as police, national guard, or military, depending on the need. Either way, not an easy character to ‘walk out’ on. “At a spaceship depot?”
“Uh-huh.” He still didn’t drink that water.
“It’s a secured area. I’m surprised they let you.”
“Well, here I am, so…”
