Aliens Are Real: Part 2 (4 page)

“How did it go?” Yumi heard Honorio say.

Yumi looked up and spotted
Honorio
in her doorway.
He leaned against her doorframe with his arms crossed in front of his chest. 
His question was the same one she
had been asking
herself.
Jasmine’s resilience to shock surprised her.
From her study of alien creatures at home she knew that the common reaction to her kind revealing themselves was panic
. Across the
universe, most life
forms
chose either
the fight or f
l
ight responses.
There were occasional instances where a being believed in alien life forms and thus greeted their race with open arms.
Jasmine didn’t seem like she believed in aliens and exhibited a modified flight reaction.
Yes, she fled the house, but seemed to do it more because she was angry that everyone talked in their heads and left her out.

Honorio broke into her thoughts. 
“Yumi?”

She blinked at him. “Yes.
Sorry.
It went well.”

He didn’t move from her doorway.
He seemed to be waiting for something. Distracted by her own thoughts, she remained silent.
Eventually, he shifted his weight which caught her attention again.

She looked toward him. “Do you need something?”

He unfolded his arms an
d walked to the side of her bed, and
s
he looked up at him
.

H
e stared
down
at her intently.
“Are you alright?”

She pulled herself out of her thoughts and focused on Honorio.
“Yes
,
j
ust thinking.”

Honorio didn’t appear convinced but he changed the subject to Yumi’s relief. “Do you think that Jasmine is trustworthy?”

Yumi nodded.
She didn’t understand why but she knew that Jasmine would never betray her.

“Do you think the new plan will work?”

Yumi studied his face.
He showed an excessive amount of stress.
Yes, a human knew about their
existence
,
but this in itself should not concern him as
much as was apparent in his expression
.

You are concerned about your role
, she thought to him.

Honorio’s eyes widened
.
H
is arms unfolded
,
and fell to his sides.
He looked down at the floor
, exhaling
loudly.

Is it that obvious?
H
e lamented
in his mind
.

I will not mention anything to the others.
What, exactly, is troubling you?
Yumi thought to him.

Honorio threw his hands in the air
,
then let them fall to his sides, slapping his thighs.
The sound emphasized his frustration.

I
know
nothing of
humans,
he thought to Yumi.
They confuse me.
To make our plan work, Jasmine must trust me but her behavior is baffling.
I speak logic to her and she reacts with anger.

He clenched his fists
as he struggled to find the right words to explain his anxiety and frustration with Jasmine.

Why not let one of the others win over Jasmine?
Yumi asked.

Honorio snorted out loud.
Who would I trust to do that?
Joseph who cannot take anything seriously?

Yumi shook her head in agreement with Honorio’s assessment.
He stared at the doorframe
across from where h
e leaned.

Tyrone can barely converse with females
of any species
,
Honorio continued.

Yumi found herself stiffening at Honorio’s comment.
She forced herself to relax, knowin
g her reaction was ill-
placed.
Besides, Tyrone was
only a friend. That was
all he could ever be.

Honorio grabbed the doorframe behind his head and leaned back. Honorio continued analyzing the team, seemingly unaware of Yumi’s reaction.
Malika could possibly acclimate a male source but only if we lucked out and snagged a compatible one last night. Even then, her emotions are too raw.
She
’s
unpredictable and obviously views Jasmine as an enemy.

Honorio shook his head before
look
ing
directly at Yumi.

You are the only positive link we have to her right now and we cannot compromise your friendship in any way.
Honorio shrugged
.
That leaves me
,
even though I am ill-
equipped
for the task
.
He thought to Yumi.

She nodded
and
looked at her hands.
You are right
.

Although she knew he was right, she felt her stomach twist with dread.
Nothing about their mission worked out as planned.
She feared that her insistence on socializing with Jasmine
brought more stress to her team than she intended. She shuddered at the thou
ght that someone about whom she cared
might get hurt.

Honorio grabbed Jasmine
,
and pulled her into his arms.
He ran his hand through her light brown hair.
The silky strands slid across his finger tips, sending a strange, shivery feeling down his spine. He gazed into Jasmine’s dark brown eyes, admiring the flecks of green and gold hidden within.
He lingered on the sight of her full lips.

He remembered how soft they
had
felt
,
touchi
ng his that night at the
Quest
C
enter
. He leaned down
,
and gently pressed his lips to hers, basking in the sensation.
His head felt
buoyant
, his knees wobbled as though made of rubber.

He pulled back to gaze at Jasmine’s face
,
but instead
,
Yumi smiled up at him.
Her large almond eyes shone with admiration. Honorio looked around for Jasmine
,
panicked
that he had lost her. Yumi and he were alone.
Emptiness stretched
for miles around them.

Yumi faded before Honorio’s eyes. Eventually, all that remained was a floating blue ball of electricity.
Honorio looked at his hands and saw his skin begin to fade as well.
He bellowed “No!” repeatedly until his vocal chords slowly disintegrated and the only sound that remained was a
n electric
hum.

***

Honorio sprang out of his bed.
He wiped his hand across his neck, feel
ing the beads of sweat.
More beads fe
ll down his bare chest and
tickled his skin. A quick swipe of the hand
wiped those away as well.
A slight breeze from the
air vent
cooled the beads remaining on his back.
He planted a hand on the wall and ran his other hand through his dark, damp hair several times, giving himself an anchor to reality. Panting, he regained control of his mind.

He glanced around his room.
Except for the blankets he had kicked to the bottom of his bed, everything sat neatly in its place.
He walked back to the bed
,
and jerked the blankets up and with a snap, he flicked the coverings into place.

Honorio glanced at the clock by his bed. 5:17am
. H
e
considered going back to sleep since his human form required rest
. Instead, he
grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
He jerked the clothes on then
crept
out of his room and down the stairs.

In the basement, he swung his arms in circles as he walked to the weight bench.
The temperature was several degrees colder in the basement. He felt a shiver crawl up his body
,
and marveled at the spasm.
He grabbed two twenty-five pound weights and slid them on each side of the bar. He grabbed two more and placed them next to the first weights then grabbed the weight locks
,
and tightened them on each side to prevent the large circles of metal from dropping off.

Pushing the bar to
ward
the ceiling in rhythm with his breathing helped him relax. He focused on proper muscle form as he inhaled and exhaled with the pumping of his arms. After three sets of ten reps, he felt warmed up enough to stretch his muscles
,
and put on some real weight.

He slowly pulled his arms in various directions to lengthen the muscle fibers. He watched his
human
body flex, the shape of his skin adapting to the contracting and relaxing tissue underneath. The ripple of his caramel form fascinated him. Sure he’d tried various bodies from worlds spread across the galaxy in his training, but the biped form he held now felt more comfortable and relaxing than any of the others. Until their bumble onto Earth, his preferred
body was
the form of
a
six-legged crab
like creature
from
the
third
galaxy
past his homeworld
. Now, he couldn’t
imagine
taking any other shape than the one
in which he resided
currently.

With the added weight on the cylinder of metal, Honorio lay on his back. He’d never attempted 300 pounds before. Without Tyrone to tell him the math, he didn’t know exactly how much crushing force that held if he were to drop the bar, but he felt certain it would be enough to damage his
human
body.

He settled his hands on the bar, cleared his mind then lifted the weight.
The massive pressure pushing
toward
Honorio’s chest swayed slightly. He forced himself to breathe
.
The
odd
human
instinct
s
tried to dictate the opposite behavior
. Slowly, he allowed the weight to drop, halting its progression a couple inches above his chest.
S
weat formed on his arms eve
n though he thought he saw his breath condensed by the low temperature
.
He pushed upward
against the cold metal. The feel of his muscles working together pleased him. Down in the basement, he felt in control, powerful. The bar, the weights and the laws of physics worked as they should –
predictably. Why couldn’t everything work that way on Earth?

Forcing that thought from his mind, he concentrated on controlling the movement of the weight above him. His muscles shook on the final set of repetitions. A low moan issued from his thr
oat as he forced the bar upward
even though his rubbery arms threatened to collapse and let the metal fall to his chest. With his last burst of strength, he forced the bar up and onto the waiting arms of the bench.

He sat up
as his arms trembled.
The exhaustion in his arms wasn’t enough. He needed more to distract him from his disturbing dream. He stood and stretched the muscles in his chest and arms before setting the bar up with a different configuration of weights.
He then hoisted the bar onto his shoulders and carefully
squatted. He pushed the weight up, careful to keep his abdominal muscles taut
and his back in proper alignment.
After two sets his legs complained against more repetitions.
He considered stopping but Jasmine’s face appeared in his mind unbidden. He forced his body to perform more repetitions as if punishing his muscles and tendons would teach his mind not to wander.

After dropping the weights to the cement floor, he folded at the waist
, and hung in a rag
doll stretch for a minute.
Shaking legs forced him to focus on his balance as he slowly stood up. Leaning into another stretch, he tried to focus on the mission at hand. His team needed to get home. Before they could leave, they needed their target. To get the target, they needed to discover its exact location. To do that, they needed to get on base. Their best way on base without attracting attention was through Jasmine.

He shook his head to
purge
her face from his mind. Then again, h
is objective was to win over Jasmine
and her father. Instead of forcing her from his mind, maybe he should allow himself to think of her simply to analyze her behaviors
,
and determine the best way to
establish a rapport.

Absent mindedly
,
he grabbed
a pair of
dumbbells and curled his arms while he ponder
ed the alarmingly magnetic girl. She was stubborn, that was for sure. Her persistence through Malika’s rebuffs surprised him. His observations of adolescent females had been those of tantrums, pouting, and whining. He
witnessed
coercion and the unending, obnoxious giggling in roving packs that he
observed
tearing apart adolescent males’ egos without mercy or notice.

Jasmine carried herself with more poise than expected. Her posture needed work and her penmanship left much to be desired but those were easily fixable.
In fact, with a little tutoring, she held a lot of potential. If he could carve her into a leader, his people would have an easier time with first contact. Surely with his help, she could attain presidency of her country.

As he thought
on that, he dropped the dumb
bells he was holding, laid out a
yoga mat
that he kept in the basement
,
and started doing crunches
.
He felt the smooth movement of the muscles hidden underneath his shirt tighten then release. His back didn’t care for the hard cement so he stopped his descent an inch above the ground before
touching his elbows to his knees again
.

He noticed that his legs and arms shook more than usual. His stomach growled loudly and he realized that he
had become quite
hungry. After many repetitions, he decided he was exhausted enough to stop. As he tried to stand, he had to reach out to the weight bench to steady himself. His human body complained against the exertion. He was grateful that it was still the weekend. He was in no condition to go to school although he felt certain his body would protest on Monday as well.

As he stumbled up the stairs, his mind turned back to the catalyst for his workout.
Now that he
was allowing
himself
the
freedom to think about Jasmine, he felt more at ease. He even allowed a smile to cross his lips. How hard could it be to win her heart?