Not of This World Read online

  They were compelling despite their alien appearances. Beneath the multi-colored stripes, they seemed almost human. Especially Kren when he gave her that compassionate expression.

  It was probably because of the kindness she’d sensed from the Risnarish people that Jeannie had already adjusted to their appearance. They weren’t anywhere as scary as when Kren and Arga had first cornered her in the woods. They looked better than the creatures that had taken her from her home on Earth. Even the worrisome dog-things that roamed the village weren’t half so frightening as the drones and their alien masters.

  The wind in her face diminished, and Jeannie’s hair stopped snapping in its wake. She felt rather than saw the aircraft drop in a gradual descent. They must be reaching their destination.

  The ship settled down. Jeannie peeked over the side to see where they were. In the black of night, not much greeted her searching gaze. She spied the dim rounded shape of another dome, much smaller than the one Kren and Arga had brought her to after they caught her. Black lines appeared here and there not too far in the distance, their shape darker than the star-filled sky. Jeannie couldn’t tell what those lines were, but they reminded her of telephone poles.

  There were the chattering sounds of what Jeannie imagined might be insects. She also heard curious noises in the distance, sounds that made her think of animals—but animals she’d never heard before.

  Kren lifted her from his lap. Hefting Jeannie in his arms, he jumped out.

  As soon as his feet touched the ground, a line of what Jeannie initially took to be balls lying side by side on the ground lit up. Kren set her down on the first of them, and her feet landed on flat, slightly rough ground. She crouched for a better look.

  They weren’t balls at all—more like paving stones. She rubbed a hand over one and mused over the dim glow that came from her palm for a few seconds before fading out.

  Kren gently pulled her upright and gathered her shivering form close to his body. “Halir,” he said.

  Jeannie guessed that halir meant “move it, toots.” Kren pulled her along the glowing walkway, heading toward the dome. His footsteps thudded against the stones, as heavy as if he’d been wearing shoes. Jeannie wondered if he’d hardened the soles of his bare, toeless feet.

  Halfway down the path, the arched door lit up, too. Instead of glowing white as the stones did, the door was sky-blue. When they reached it, it opened on its own. Jeannie decided there must not be much of a burglary issue for the Risnarish, not if doors opened of their own accord and invited people in. Or perhaps it somehow recognized Kren.

  It was too cold outside to hang about wondering. The interior lit up, and its warmth beckoned. Eager to thaw out and learn more about her host, she stepped inside with the barest of hesitation.

  As soon as Kren stepped into the dome behind her, the door shut once more. Jeannie hardly noticed its politely quiet whooshing sound as she looked around what was surely someone’s home. A dome home, her bemused mind tittered.

  The space was circular, not nearly as vast as the alien checkpoint or police station or wherever it was Kren had taken her first. This place was still roomy, bigger than the beachside condo Jeannie lived in near Morehead City in North Carolina.

  Reminded of home, Jeannie wondered how she was supposed to get back to where she belonged. If I could just speak to Kren! Could he send me back to Earth? Does he even know about it?

  Maybe not. He and his striped buddies had been obvious in their unfamiliarity with her kind. How was she to return home?

  Questions she couldn’t ask. Not now, anyway. She’d have to figure out some way to communicate with her alien host. In the meantime, Jeannie put the matter on the back burner of her brain while she examined her surroundings.

  The first thing that caught her eye was a circle of tightly mortared stones in the center of the room. The stones, as big as those that made up the path outside, sparkled like quartz. As she looked, flames leapt to life within their border. She started, and then she moved toward the crackling invitation.

  She stood as close to the blast of heat as she could stand. It chased the last of the night’s chill away. Over the flames hung a chimney, also built of the huge quartz-like rocks. Jeannie’s head lifted and fell back as she scanned up its length to where it disappeared through the middle of the dome’s roof. Could she climb up the inside of it if escape was called for? The fire would have to be extinguished first, though. Jeannie wondered how to switch the thing off without the aid of a fire extinguisher.

  She continued her examination of the chimney. Surrounding it were the pie-wedge-shaped panes of glass similar to what she’d seen at the other dome, their tips blunted where the chimney interrupted. Flat strips between the wedges offered gold-tinged light. It was bright enough to see by without causing a glare.

  Kren watched her as she turned to take in the rest of the building. Was this his home? It must be.

  There were partitions at regular intervals. It made her think of spokes, with the fireplace the center. The curved walls of the home would make up the outside of the wheel. The dividing walls separated spaces within the house. Jeannie rocked back and forth to test the green floor beneath her. It was soft and giving despite its flat, uncarpeted surface. She peered closely at the fine grains and porous features of the floor covering.

  “Like cork and coral got mixed together,” she muttered to herself. “But only in appearance. It’s almost springy underfoot.”

  She stood up straight to find Kren watching her, the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Jeannie flushed to have been caught talking to herself. Living alone for so many of her adult years, she had a bad habit of doing that.

  She resumed looking over the dome. She spied another door in the outer curve of the house, which she assumed led outside. Another avenue of escape, if the need arose, so long as it wasn’t locked.

  The color scheme of Kren’s abode seemed nature inspired. There were splashes of color here and there in fabrics, and notes of silver and steel in odd contraptions. Otherwise greens, browns, and blacks predominated. Jeannie had the odd idea she’d never left the woods at all, that the space around her had grown organically from its depths.

  One partition had a raised platform covered in fabrics. Jeannie wondered if it was Kren’s bed. The metal railing at one end suggested a headboard. She went warm all over and quickly glanced away. The unwelcome image of the alien male lying on the sheets and growing a cock as he did fingers was too bizarre to consider. But wouldn’t that be something? Purely from curiosity’s standpoint, of course.

  Jeannie kept her gaze from the maybe-bed. More partitions awaited her examination. There was an area that had been walled off entirely from the rest of the room, with a closed arched door blocking her gaze. Jeannie wondered what was behind that door.

  Having seen all she could without being so bold as to walk around and nose into Kren’s belongings, Jeannie faced her host. She smiled at him. He smiled back, nodded, and moved to a section directly across from the door they’d entered through. Unfamiliar gizmos were spaced neatly on the counters. He opened one of the cabinets and removed a covered platter.

  He took the cover off to reveal what had to be meat. Golden brown with crisped skin, already with several slices missing, the exposed flesh was red marbled with pink-tinged fat. Jeannie’s stomach growled.

  Kren pulled another covered dish out, and then another. There were more things to eat. Brown-tipped green sprouts as thick as Jeannie’s pinky swam in what looked like a thick cream. Orange tubers with what might be herbs sprinkled over them shown in glazed glory.

  Kren opened a triangular metal contraption from the front and shoved all the platters inside. He closed the object and spoke. A monotonous clicking sound issued from it.

  He glanced over at Jeannie. She only now realized she’d moved from the warmth of the fire to the kitchen area to stand next to
him. She’d been so focused on the food that she hadn’t realized she’d headed straight for it.

  He showed her four fingers. “Vir,” he said.

  Jeannie nodded, though she didn’t know what four in Risnarish timekeeping might mean. Seconds? Minutes? Hours?

  I wish I could tell him I’d eat it unheated, she thought. Everything had appeared cooked already, leftovers ready to chow on at a moment’s notice. Her stomach growled again.

  Kren shot her an amused look. Then he eyed her up and down, which reminded her that she stood there naked. It was just her luck that these Risnarish wore no clothes. But without apparent sex organs and with skin that armored, why would they bother?

  His gaze lingered on her breasts until her cheeks got hot and she was nearly ready to cover herself with her hands. For an instant, Kren’s expression slid from mild humor to something darker. He pulled in a breath and turned his face away. He glared at the machine he’d put the food in as if it had wronged him somehow.

  About two minutes later, the machine stopped clicking. The front panel slid open, and steam escaped from the platters. Delicious aromas of cooked meat and herbed vegetables wafted to Jeannie. She nearly moaned.

  Kren claimed a couple of rainbow-hued cups from a cabinet and set them one at a time under a curved tube on the counter surface. They filled with clear liquid. Kren handed Jeannie one of them and she tasted cool water. Suddenly realizing she was thirsty, Jeannie drained half of it at once. When she took the cup from her mouth, Kren reclaimed it and set it beneath the tube, filling it up again.

  She watched as he waved his hand in front of a cabinet. It opened, and a drawer slid out. He took out a couple of small tongs. He gave Jeannie a friendly glance and nodded at the room with seating and tables. She followed him there, sitting on the raised black ottomanlike piece he indicated. The cushioned surface gave only a little beneath her, but it was comfortable enough.

  Kren put a tray on a small table and slid it over to her. Jeannie wasted no time in using her tongs to grab a chunk of meat he’d given her. She noted Kren’s surprised look, as if he hadn’t expected her to know how to use the utensil.

  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes but spoke out loud because she had to say something. “You’d think the opposable thumb would clue you in. I have evolved to use tools, alien man. I am not a dumb animal.”

  She took her first bite, then had a moment where she realized that what was food to Kren might be poisonous to her. As her tongue rejoiced in the savory juiciness of the meat, something that might have been a cross between pork and lamb, Jeannie decided she didn’t care. Food poisoning would be worth not feeling her stomach flap against her spine, especially when the meal tasted this good.

  The vegetable sprout things crunched satisfactorily between her teeth. They reminded her of celery and broccoli, made more delicious by the peppery sauce.

  At first, hunger led her to devour the food as fast as she could chew. Kren uttered a distressed noise and grabbed the tong-wielding hand. He guided her to pick up a smaller bite and mimed chewing slowly.

  Jeannie’s stomach was a cavern, and it protested, but Kren was being sensible. She didn’t want to puke up the wonderful meal because she wasn’t patient, so she nodded and ate slower, making herself savor the food when she wanted to bolt it down. Kren smiled and went back to eating his own meal.

  He watched her with interest, the occasional worried expression flitting across his face. He probably wondered what to do with her. She supposed if their situations were reversed, she would turn him in to the authorities. It seemed clear Kren had some sort of authority however, based on where he and Arga had taken her at first. It had almost felt like a police station.

  She watched him and he considered her while they ate in silence. His race was obviously intelligent, maybe as smart as the awful creatures who had a habit of kidnapping her from home. Kren’s people shared the planet with the other aliens, and yet they acted as if they’d never encountered an Earthling at all. It was a relief to know Kren had nothing to do with those monstrosities and knew nothing of their experiments on Earthlings.

  Don’t get too comfortable with him. It could be these Risnarish will decide to dissect me to discover what makes me tick.

  The sudden stab of fear made her mouth go dry. She hoped Kren was as kind as he looked.

  Nothing I can do for now but keep an eye on things and hope for the best. At least the chow is delicious.

  Jeannie sighed with satisfaction after she swallowed the last bite of her food. It was wondrous to be full once more. Having finished his own meal, Kren smiled at her pleased expression. He stood and took away the plates and cups. When Jeannie stood too, he motioned she should sit back down.

  His house, his rules. She resumed her seat and watched as Kren waved a cabinet open, set the dirty dishes inside, then waved it closed again. He returned to the living/dining room and sat across the table from her once more.

  Kren said something. A virtual drawing screen appeared between them, floating over the table. Using a finger that he narrowed to a point, he quickly sketched the figure of a man riding on the little flying machine he used. He pointed to himself and then waved his hand before his side of the screen, wiping it clean. He drew another picture showing a man with one of the doglike creatures Jeannie had observed from afar. He pointed to himself again. Another erasure, and he drew himself sitting at the table, eating the shapes of the things they’d made a meal of moments before. He erased again. Once more, Jeannie was impressed with the man’s artistic talent.

  Kren motioned to the floating screen and to Jeannie. He waved expressively, as if trying to explain something and pointed to her and the screen again.

  “You want me to tell you about myself?” she guessed. “You know I can’t draw worth a damn since my fingers don’t turn into points, right?”

  Besides, she wanted a few things taken care of first. Now that hunger no longer rode her so hard, other needs begged to be attended to. For starters, she was filthy. Her skin itched from the weeks with no cleansing save for the occasional dip in a stream. Darned if she couldn’t smell herself too, and she reeked. Her hair was a tangled mess, probably full of leaves and twigs and who knew what else?

  Yes, Jeannie wanted a shower if it was possible.

  She performed washing motions, pretending to scrub her scalp and then her pits. Kren blinked at her, his heavy brow creasing with confusion.

  Jeannie tried another tack. She leaned over the table so that her face came close to Kren. She inhaled deeply. His musky scent was pleasant, tinged with that fresh woodsy aroma. Jeannie beamed at him approvingly. She then sat back and smelled her arm. She mimed choking and held her nose, making a face of disgust.

  Kren’s confusion vanished. His mouth stretched wide, and he laughed and nodded. The sound of his amusement was a deep roll of thunder that tickled her ears. Darn if she didn’t feel it in her very bones. She flushed and told herself that her face grew hot because she was embarrassed that Kren agreed that she was walking stench.

  Kren rose and waved a hand for her to follow him. Jeannie did so, relieved to have another pressing need on the verge of being met. Being stranded on an alien planet was rough going.

  Kren led her to the part of the home that was walled off. At their approach, the door to that section opened.

  Jeannie peered in, not following right away when Kren entered the room. It wasn’t that she distrusted him...well, yes it was that exactly. She thought he had no ulterior motives, but Jeannie didn’t have faith in people or aliens as a rule. Her experience with both had been heartbreaking at best and horrific at worst.

  The room was blinding white. The floor, walls, and ceiling appeared to be all of a piece, with no seams to separate them. The lack of separation made the small space seem twice its size. The unrelieved surfaces glowed with light, turning Kren’s eyes into polished silver. Not one line of his i
nteresting physique was hidden from Jeannie’s too-fascinated view.

  She forced herself to look away. A circular cushioned disk, resembling a small pool float, sat atop a short platform with a hole in the center. Jeannie’s first thought was that it must be a toilet. But it sat so close to the ground. Using it would mean squatting.

  At Jeannie’s bemused expression, Kren cleared his throat. He nodded as if to confirm her suspicions, miming eating gestures and then squatting over the platform and making slight grunting sounds. He stood up straight again. His uneasy smile added to a shamefaced look.

  Jeannie couldn’t help but laugh. So even alien musclemen got embarrassed over bodily functions. She bobbed her head to indicate she understood. The relief on Kren’s face made her wonder if he’d thought she might insist on going outside to do her business on his front lawn.

  Even the most basic needs were minefields of misunderstandings on other worlds. How many more obstacles would they have to navigate before the night was out?

  Kren went to the back of the room, which was partially walled off by a clear divider. He waved her over.

  Since nothing in the area seemed overtly dangerous, Jeannie went to stand next to him. She looked within the partitioned area, noting two silver circles with tiny holes embedded from the ceiling to just short of the floor. A larger disc sat in the middle of the cubicle floor.

  Kren said something that sounded like “Sar.”

  Water sprayed from all the discs, save the one in the floor. That was apparently a drain, as the rivulets of water flowed into it. Steam rose from the pattering shower. Kren put his hand under a spout and shrugged. Jeannie did the same and jerked her hand back. It was hotter than she could tolerate.

  “Klat,” came Kren’s next order.