Page 56 of Taken for Granite
Back at the SUV, it took no time at all to seal the seams on the metal canister, including the lid, insert the rubber bucket, chuck the alien cellphone inside, and throw the lid on. Problem solved.
Juniper updated her mental checklist.
Capture Gargoyle. Completed.
Rescue Chloe attempt one—fail.
Regroup. Done.
Rescue Chloe attempt two—success!
Meet with Tas. Done.
Deal with the sigil. Mission accomplished.
Drive her gargoyle boyfriend to the intergalactic pick-up location so he can leave Earth and live a long, safe life back on his home planet, and no man will ever make her feel as desirable or safe as when Tas had his arms and wings wrapped around her, but don’t cry because he needs to go home and she needs to not be selfish and let him go.
Fuck me.
Juniper didn’t want to think too hard on the last item. Fortunately, Chloe peppered Tas with questions.
“So you’re, like, from a different planet?”
“Yes,” Tas answered.
“Does it have a name or do you call it the rock with sulky dudes?”
“Duras. And the sky is violet,” he added, heading off any follow-up questions. “You would not like it because the environment is too harsh for your human skin. You are not built for it.”
“I bet I would like it,” Chloe said, stuffing a piece of chocolate in her mouth.
“Don’t fill up on candy. We’re stopping for lunch,” Juniper said.
“I’m saving room for burgers and fries. Ugh, I’m thirsty. Do we have any water?”
Tas handed her a bottle of water from the cooler and the questions continued.
“So you were captured by those nutjobs in 1940?”
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t you, you know, old and stuff?”
“I am 1,458 years old.”
Chloe made a high-pitched noise of disbelief. “What!? You don’t look that old,” she said, barely pausing to let Tas answer. “But they had you for almost eighty years. Why didn’t you go crazy? And the world must look super weird to you now.”
Tas huffed. “I spent several decades in my stone form, but I cannot tell you the exact number of years. It was like sleeping. And though the world may have advanced, it is not so different.”
“We have computers now.”
“There were computers then.”
Another snort. “The size of buildings! This phone is more powerful than all the computers used for the moon landing—and it fits in a cup holder.”
“The moon landing really happened?” His voice took on a soft tone.
“Sure. One small step for man. Here.” Chloe pulled up the famous moonwalk footage and passed the phone to Tas.
