I Married An Alien (18 page)

Dana turned and gazed up at it. "I don't really know. I suppose it serves some purpose. Most of the other really tall buildings have them too, except for the hotel of course - since it has a domed roof."

I cast my glance at the hotel, lit up like a Christmas tree. Had it only been one night since I had been there enjoying my honeymoon?

"There are more Humans in there than anywhere else on this planet. Which reminds me, I will probably be busy tomorrow since there's another contingent of young women coming for their tour of duty." Dana sighed. "I wish I could fall pregnant again, then not only could I take a break from all those reluctant brides, but I would get to hold another lovely newborn in my arms. Don't you long for such a thing?"

Since I'd thought all that behind me, I had long ago given up even thinking about motherhood. "I… ah…. Well, it's early days yet," I hedged, needing to get my head around this whole marriage and relationship thing before I could even begin to contemplate the baby thing.

"I think you and Jordan will do just fine. As soon as you're free to leave you can finish your honeymoon somewhere else. There are plenty of beautiful places on this planet."

Suddenly a cold gust of wind buffeted me and I shivered. Since I hadn't thought to bring a wrap or cardigan up with me, I rubbed my chilled arms. "Maybe we should head back inside."

"Yes, it can get cold at night sometimes. Another thing that Terron has going for it, a wonderfully mild climate. Well, at least half of the year."

"What part of Earth are you from?" I asked, since I couldn’t determine her accent.

"Same as you, Australia, but I lost my accent years ago. A good thing that. I much prefer the way the Terrons speak. So melodic."

"Yes, it seems you have really grown to love everything about this place."

"And so will you when you let go of your old attitudes and beliefs."

I hoped so, since there appeared to be no way of going back either as myself or Anita. And even though I didn't want to admit it to Dana just yet, I was also beginning to fall in love with the place, not to mention one very attractive man who was now stuck with me until death do us part.

Chapter
Fourteen

Unfortunately Jordan showed his not so attractive side later that evening when he eventually stumbled into our room some time after midnight. Even though Terron alcohol smelt and tasted much better then the few beverages I'd sampled on Earth, I knew he had been drinking far too much from the way he tripped over things and swore under his breath, probably from stubbing a toe or two.

And when he finally collapsed onto the bed, I smelt the liquor on him. It wasn't an unpleasant scent, but I was in no mood to deal with a drunken man, since I'd never particularly liked it when my father came home tanked. Luckily that hadn't happened too often, usually only after my mother had nagged him to such an extent that he told me he was going off-world for a while.

Luckily for me, Jordan passed out a few minutes later, but only after he had tossed and turned and grunted half a dozen times, jostling the bed so much I felt like I was on a trampoline. Typical male. How was he any different to every other man who liked his booze? But somehow I suspected Jordan wasn't normally a heavy drinker. Like Dana had said, he had a lot on his mind right now, and just wanted a bit of time, as my father had so eloquently put it – ‘off-world’.

Eventually I nodded off, and woke to the dulcet tones of Jordan groaning and complaining that his head hurt. So Terron alcohol supplied just as potent hangovers as Earth alcohol, I thought, unable to stop myself from grinning at his antics.

"It's not funny. I feel like I've been hit by a hover," he complained.

"Your own fault for not watching what you were drinking," I replied as I rolled over to present my back on him.

"Should have known I'd get no sympathy from a time traveler," he grumbled.

"I didn’t tell you to drink the stuff."

A pillow landed on my hip, so I rolled over and shoved it on his chest, dropping myself on top of it. "Go take a shower. You smell like a brewery, a Terron brewery, admittedly -"

He shoved me off him, and lurched out of the bed. I heard the dulcet tones of him throwing up in the bathroom.

"I would have thought with all the incredible technology your race has invented, that your propeller-heads would have come up with a morning after pill by now." I called.

"You're asking for trouble Anita. We don't have to meet the Chancellor till ten, so if you don't want to end up over my knee, I would…" Once again his sentence ended with a loud retch.

"Not that hard-faced man who greeted us when we got here?" I asked uneasily. I'd been hoping our paths wouldn't cross again.

"Yes, we have a lot to organize today… Ahh, that's better. Best method yet I've found for curing a hangover."

"What, by puking your guts up?"

The door opened, and he stood there, leaning against it, looking much healthier than a few minutes ago. Even though he'd slept in his clothes, he was not rumpled or disheveled. That miraculous Terron fabric had already smoothed itself out. All it had taken him to spruce himself up was a comb of his long, gorgeous locks, and he was as handsome as sin. "Yes, by puking my guts up, as you so eloquently put it. Now, shall we take a bath together? I've already started the water running."

"Yes, I can hear it." So he was back to his friendly self, was he? Maybe a night out with the boys
had
helped ease his stress levels, as talking to Dana had helped me to put my issues more into perspective. But we still needed to talk, and somehow I doubted he'd want to do much of that in the bath.

Jordan started to strip, undoing the buttons on his shirt, which he then threw at me. "Are you getting out of bed, or do I have to come over there and tickle you out of bed?" he challenged, as I pulled his shirt off my head and tossed it to the end of the bed.

"I was just enjoying the view." I stared pointedly at his bare chest.

"What view?" He glanced around the room. "You can't see out the windows from where you are."

I laughed. "The view in here, silly. So don't stop now. You still have a pair of trousers to go."

"Oh, that view," he cottoned on with a cheeky smile. "You like that view, do you?"

"What do you think? I've never been married to a better looking man."

Jordan placed his hands on his hips, his impressive muscles flexing as he frowned down at me. "And just how many husbands have you had, since I know you Earthlings can marry numerous times without it meaning anything."

I couldn't believe it; the man was actually
jealous.
I couldn’t think of any other reason for that dark look on his face. "I haven't been married to
anyone,
Jordan. Here’s the reason: because as Ruth Clarke I was fat, plain and not very interesting." There I had said it, and the bitterness staying with me as I regarded his still form. He didn't move a muscle as he digested this information.

Then he came and sat down on the bed beside me. "That's all in the past now, my love." Gently he stroked the side of my face. "No matter what you look like, the bond would make you irresistible to me. The fact that you've somehow managed to come here for a second chance must mean the power that governs the universe isn't done with you yet." He continued to caress my cheek, and his gentle touch helped calm my self-doubt a little, but I still felt the compulsion to explain it to him.

"No man's ever looked at me twice, Jordan. I never went on a date, and my mother told me far too many times not to hope for marriage or children, because I was just too plain and boring."

"Your mother has a lot to answer for," he muttered under his breath.

"If I had a picture I'd show you, but we kept very few photos. You wouldn't have liked me the way I was before I came here. I was almost fifty, a good twenty kilos overweight, with dull brown hair, going grey, and a double chin."

“
Believe it or not, but I’m over fifty of your years," he said with a wry smile.

"So the Aging would have turned you your true age?" I asked.

"Something like that, so I can understand where you're going with this, Ruth -"

"Anita," I corrected him. "Didn't we agree on Anita?"

"Well, there you go." He slid his hand down the side of my neck, to squeeze my shoulder. "You want to be Anita now, and that's how it will be, at least until we sort out this mess she's gotten herself into." He took a deep breath, his massive chest rising. "There is one thing I'm glad about in you being Ruth."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You didn't have to go through what that poor girl did at the hands of those disgusting Rembrandts. It might be your body they violated, but thankfully you have no memory of it."

"I might have ended up pregnant from it though," I said uncertainly.

"If that was the case, all the hormones I pumped into your system on our mating night would have destroyed anything Human in you womb. Sorry, but our Terron genes are stronger than your Human ones."

I had an image of Terron sized sperm beating up the smaller Human ones pop into my head, and gave an involuntary snort. "Something to be thankful for," I said, glad I wouldn't be bringing any offspring of those odious Rembrandts into the world. It was such a shame they had inherited the family name of such a famous, wonderful artist.

"Now, shall we take that bath?" he asked, standing back up again.

"Oh God, the bath!" I gasped. "It's probably overflowing by now!”

Jordan rushed across the floor and into the bathroom. "Not quite, but almost. Are you coming in?" he called out.

I needed no further encouragement. I was out the bed and undressed within moments. I never knew washing one another could be so erotic, but Jordan used the soap, his hands, tongue and various other parts of his body to arouse us both, not to mention making us as clean as we could possibly get!

The Chancellor announced that he had a lot to discuss with them when Jordan and Anita arrived at his reception lounge. His mostly female staff scuttled about, pouring tea and coffee for everyone.

Jordan had only been here once many years ago, before he and so many like him had been ordered to the countryside to set up
Hytanta
farms. They waited at a large table with complicated looking computer equipment set up surrounding a central viewing platform of both monitors and holographic imagery. Mark, Brian, Logan and Derek arrived and joined them. The Chancellor's staff welcomed them the same way they had Jordan and Anita, with hot cups of coffee.

Then the Chancellor got down to business. The first item on the agenda was Anita's father. The Chancellor told the group he had contacted him and assured him that his daughter was safe, and that they would hook up a live feed between the planets at 11am.

"Now as you know, I have viewed the memory recordings," he continued. "How do you wish to precede, Anita? Do you want to lay charges, and if so do you want them extradited to Terron to face trial?"

Jordan watched her take a deep breath, so he leant towards her, and said; "They would face a harsher penalty then if they were tried on Earth. We do not take such offenses lightly." He returned his attention to the Chancellor. "Perhaps you could outline all the charges against them?"

"Of course. There is the rape and attempted abduction against Anita. There is also the allegation of unauthorized use of
Hytana
oil to produce weapons of mass destruction, which of course we will need to investigate further. I have already dispatched a team of unmated males to track them down. After Anita’s kidnapping attempt, I fear I cannot trust any of our Earth representatives. Security has also been heightened and all shields upgraded to maximum power, so no one or no
thing
will be able to penetrate Terron's atmosphere as long as they are up."

This only confirmed in Jordan's mind that the explosives the Rembrandts were constructing were meant for Terron. What on earth did they have to gain by such a violent act of terrorism? It would mean the end of the Treaty and all oil exports to Earth, not to mention a possible war between the worlds, a war Earth could not possibly hope to win since it had no defense shields. A retaliatory strike from any one of Terron's spindles would effectively vaporize any Earthian warship, and such was the power of the Infinity Squared navigation system, that the Terrons could even direct such energy blasts through the wormhole directly at Earth. Jordan wondered it the Chancellor and the rest of the Terron High Council had considered this, but he didn't voice his concerns. Any missiles now headed for Terron would be spotted in the wormhole long before they reached the planet's shields. Unfortunately the shield couldn't be maintained indefinitely, since it put too much strain on the power-conduits to the planet’s core. But they still had the sensors and the spindles as backup.

"I just wish you could have come to us with this information as soon as you arrived on the planet," the Chancellor said to Anita.

"Do not blame her, your Grace," Jordan intervened. "I doubt she would have known who to approach, and her group were on a very tight schedule. It would have been difficult for her to slip away."