Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy (29 page)

"So," I said, in a dual attempt to be sociable and relieve my boredom, "How long have you and Jomi been married?"

"Twenty one years this August."

"Wow! So long!" Twenty one years. Jomi didn't look a day over twenty five at the most. Olaf looked to be in his mid-fifties. I presumed Jomi's race aged slowly, just like the hybrids. The thought made me uncomfortable. In thirty, or forty years' time, I would look so much older than Aric. What would he think of me when I was an old woman? Would he still love me? I didn't want him to feel obliged to stick around and look after me when I was frail and doddering. Pushing the disturbing picture out of my head, I wondered instead how a giant of a man like Olaf ended up with a sleek elegant woman from another planet. It was... kind of weird - like a big grizzly bear pairing up with a gazelle. Perhaps he was so big because he was from elsewhere too? How could I pose the question tactfully? In the end I decided to just come right out with it.

"So, are you, like... totally human?" Anyone overhearing our conversation would have thought it ludicrous.

He grinned and didn't miss a beat. "One hundred percent."

"So how did you and Jomi meet? I mean, it sounds a bit nosy. If you don't want to answer, I'll understand."

He waved away my reservations. "Her car had broken down on the highway, and I helped her with it."

I found it ironic that someone who had the technology to travel from distant planets could fall victim to the faults of the comparatively primitive and simple vehicles of Earth.

"Have you met Jomi's father?"

"Yes, but he doesn't know that I know what... or where he's from. Jomi has convinced him that she's married me to 'fit in'."

"That must have been weird meeting him. I mean, it's supposed to be uncomfortable to first meet your in-laws, but knowing he's, well, not human, and an important member of the Council... "

"Yeah, it was. The whole situation's just crazy. When Jomi first told me about herself, I thought she was, well, to put it bluntly - nuts." He twirled his finger around his temple in a 'crazy' signal and grinned at me. "She showed me the wyk thing, and it blew my mind. Amazing, isn't it?"

I nodded. Amazing was an understatement. The whole situation I found myself in was so incredibly surreal I felt my sanity could be on the brink of shattering into pieces at any moment.

Olaf took a swig from his energy drink, and went on. "When Jomi said her father was coming to visit us, I expected him to turn up in a big shiny flying saucer type thing. Instead, he arrived in a blue BMW 507 Roadster. Beautiful car that - a classic. Elvis owned one. Worth a mint!" He shook his head wistfully, and then he remembered what he'd been talking about and threw me a sheepish glance.

"Being an important intergalactic council member," he went on, "I thought he'd be wearing a long robe and speak in fancy prose, you know - sort of like the bigwigs in Star Wars? He was actually wearing a leather jacket, Levi's 501s, was pretty cool. He didn't - still doesn't, look any older than Jomi."

"How old is Jomi anyway?" I was uncomfortable asking - it seemed kind of rude, but Olaf was an open man, and seemed happy to answer my questions.

"Well, in earth years, she's nearly fourteen thousand years old."

"Wow!" I shot him a surprised look. I couldn't fathom living for that long.

"She's been living here all that time?"

He shook his head. "No, she's only been here about four thousand years."

I smiled at the absurdity of using the word 'only' when he was talking about millennia, and he grinned back.

"Yeah, I know - 'only' is not the word for it," he laughed.

"God, four thousand years? Think of all she's seen and done. All that history."

"She lived in Egypt when she first came here."

"So she saw the pyramids being built? That would be so awesome."

"No, actually, she says the pyramids were built long before historians and archaeologists think they were. The pharaohs just adapted them for their tombs."

"Seriously?"

"She said they weren't built by man..."

"Then who?"

"The 'gods' - the people who came from the sky. In other words, aliens."

"Wow, the archaeologists are way off, aren't they?"

"They should know better. Or at least suspect that their theories aren't quite right. Think about it - the Egyptians documented just about every aspect of their lives in carvings, tablets. They left behind a type of written evidence of everything about their lives - except the building of the pyramids. There's nothing written about how they were built. Because they weren't the ones who built them. There are similar structures all over the world, and the amount of work and time it would take for humans to construct them would be phenomenal. The so-called 'experts' figures just don't add up, and they should know it."

We both sat in silence. My thoughts were whirling around my head like snowflakes buffeted by the wind. The history of the world as we knew it was all wrong. I was told in my history class at school that it was important to study the past to understand the present, and plan for the future. If everything we think we understood about the past was faulty, then we really knew nothing about ourselves at all. Humans are such a proud, even arrogant, species. We judge ourselves to be superior and unique among species by our ability to love, empathize, problem solve, and yet, having met Jomi and Aric, I realized such venerated qualities aren't unique to humanity at all. I stared out at the star-filled sky. So many worlds out there, so many possibilities. Our position in the universe, and our understanding of ourselves was built on false conclusions. What did it really mean to be human? And more importantly - did that question really matter, seeing as we are only one minute, almost insignificant part of a huge, cosmic unfathomable phenomenon? Perhaps it was better to value the qualities themselves, and appreciate that our human bodies are just one form which are fortunate enough to be able to experience those qualities. I suspected humans would be more tolerant of the creatures and environment around us if we lost the arrogance and self-centered attitude.

"Thinking about all this could drive you crazy. Our history, our place in the universe..." I said to Olaf. "Just when you think you have things figured out, something comes along and blows it all out of the water."

"Yeah, I know. I try not to think about it, and just get on with life. I leave all that stuff up to Jomi - she's better at it. I don't think humans are designed to worry about all that. The Innaki don't want us to be capable of thinking too much."

"Did the Innaki really... design and make humans?"

Olaf shrugged. "Apparently. Jomi's not too sure. She doesn't want to investigate it too much in case her interest is flagged up to the Council."

"Just how much interest does the Council take in the Earth anyway? Don't they hear about the reports on the television, and the internet, about UFO sightings and abductions? Surely all that would eventually get back to them?"

"Earth is just one of millions of seeded planets. They don't take much notice of any of them once they're set up, other than to look in occasionally to see what's evolving, and hear the reports of those charged with overseeing them. Jomi basically only lets them see and hear what she thinks is necessary."

"That's a hell of a responsibility."

"Yeah, it is. I worry about her, but you have to understand, she isn't human. Her species is so much more capable than ours. What we would think of as a monumental task might just be a small chore to them, although Pleiadians are very spiritual people. I think the deceit she has to undertake weighs heavily on her."

"She does it for you."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Me, and the humans, the hybrids, the Earth in general. She loves this place."

"How long does she have to be here? Who did her job before she came here? How did the Innaki manage to break the quarantine before Jomi was around?" I hoped he wasn't fed up with my questions.

"She took over from her mother. Her mother loved the Earth too - I don't know how long she was here for - Jomi wouldn't tell me, but I'm presuming it was a very long time. I get the impression the post has been passed down forever through the female line in Jomi's family. They inherit the post and they become the proverbial 'Mother Earth'."

"How long do Pleiadians live for?"

"Eons." His voice held a hint of sadness and I wondered if he ever thought on the problem their lifespan differences would bring.

"Does it bother you that you'll grow old, and eventually die, while Jomi lives on, and well, remain 'forever young'?"

He reached for his drink again. "It used to bother me, but I decided it would send me crazy if I kept thinking on it. It makes me sad, and any time I have with her, no matter how short, is wasted if I spend it feeling unhappy."

His outlook was admirable and made plenty of sense. I guessed it was really the only healthy attitude to take - why worry about things that were impossible to change? Worry was just a waste of time and energy and sullied whatever happiness one might attain in any situation. Throwing an affectionate glance at Aric's sleeping form, I made a promise to myself that I'd concentrate on the positives in my relatively short time I'd have with him. When the time came, and I believed myself to be too much of a burden on him, I'd take myself off quietly and lose myself somewhere in the world so he could get on with his life. Until then, I'd cherish every moment I spent with him and try not to think too far into the future. Had Olaf planned something similar? He and Jomi had no children to worry about leaving behind. I wondered whether their lack of children was planned, or whether it was impossible for humans and Pleiadians to interbreed. The issue intrigued me, but asking him about it seemed way too intrusive. Growing up without a proper family, one of my goals had always been to have a family of my own someday - I'd vowed my children would feel secure and loved and always have a home to call their own. I knew I was too young for a family of my own right now, but one day in the future... Would Aric and I be able to make babies? I blushed in the cab's gloomy light and glanced at Aric. A lock of golden hair concealed part of his face, but I could still see the elegant sweep of his long lashes adorning the closed lids of his beautiful eyes. He would make gorgeous babies. My blush deepened and I groaned inwardly - even thinking such things was pretty lame of me considering our precarious circumstances.

Pushing any thoughts of a family out of my mind, I turned to Olaf.

"How far to the border?"

He whacked the screen of his flickering GPS until it cleared, then scratched his head. "Well, it's about ten miles to Evanton," he said, "which is the last major town before the border, and then, it looks to be another twenty miles after that to the..."

He stopped mid-sentence, and stared ahead. What happened next seemed to transpire in an instant. The road curved to the left but he made no attempt to steer the wheel in the direction we needed to go and we bounced on the bumpy verge, the massive trailer shuddering in protest. Instinctively, I grabbed the steering wheel and hauled it to the left, leaning over Olaf's unresponsive bulk. The truck bumped back on to the tarmac and a flash of bright white light lit up the surrounding countryside. Olaf's eyes were still directed straight ahead. His gaze was glassy and unseeing. I screamed as a spindly gray being appeared at the windshield, crawling and sticking to the glass like a spider, its shiny black eyes blinking as it turned its attention to me. All the jolting had woken Aric, and he sat up with a start, assessed the situation with impressive speed, and produced a large ball of crackling white wyk. He was about to throw it when the glass from the window next to him smashed, and the grotesque head of a gargoyte appeared, its jaws snapping towards Aric's jugular. The ball of wyk went flying across the cab and I just managed to push Olaf's stupefied head out of the way as the wyk whizzed past. It smashed against the window next to him, shattering the glass into tiny pieces.

The rig hurtled at breakneck speed along the highway and the Innaki, clinging steadfastly to the glass despite the driving wind, continued to stare hypnotically through the windshield. The atmosphere began to grow thick and my limbs were feeling sluggish. I sensed a strange, inaudible buzzing in the air, as though the air around me was charged with electricity. The Innaki was trying to stun me. As I struggled to block the creature's intrusive thoughts, a large silver disk appeared in the sky overhead. My heart sank. The Innaki had found us yet again.

* * * * *

The buzzing in the air grew stronger. The Innaki's gaze never left my face and it was all I could do to muster the strength not to look back. It stayed remarkably steady in the wind's onslaught, stuck firmly to the windshield by what looked to be small suction cups on the tips of each of the four long fingers. My mind began to feel far away, as though my brain was trying to observe everything around me from a great distance. I was aware of Aric's battle with the gargoyte at my side, but that too seemed strangely distant. The white line of defence I'd been able to summon before, totally evaded me. The buzzing increased until it felt like the entire universe was humming. Even my teeth felt as though they were vibrating. My surroundings felt oddly indistinct as if I'd been observing it all through thick fogged glass. As my sight began to dim I knew I was losing the battle for consciousness.

The sound of shattering glass broke the trance. My brain was suddenly sharp and clear again but it took a moment to take stock of where I was and what was happening. I was bent right over, my forehead against my knees as a spray of tiny glass flakes fell around me. A bulky weight was holding me down, my head stuck between the bottom of the dashboard and my legs. The cab was shuddering as it bounced over rough terrain. I could barely breathe and my back felt as if it would break in the peculiar angle I was stuck in. Pieces of glass pierced my hand as I fought to get the weight off of me.

"Stay there Luce!" It was Aric, leaning over me to reach the steering wheel. "Wake up Olaf, damn it!"