Vadful just wanted to play. He didn't seem to be interested in helping me down or stopping Pete. He flapped his wings way out ahead of me, daring me to jump. I suppose, if I had been a daredevil, I could have leapt off the branch, and hope the bird would catch me, maybe toss me onto his back like some rodeo star, but I wasn't suicidal, and my ankle still hurt from where he saved me last time.
"You dumb bird! Can't you see I can't fly?...Why don't you make yourself useful and chase down Pete!"
I pointed that way, but he only looked back and panted like it was funny.
I clung to the tree, refusing to look down, wishing I had a communicator.
Vadful got bored, flapped to a nearby branch, one I couldn't reach...and just watched me.
I turned around to hug the tree, and check for vines or a potential way down I had missed before.
The scraggly growth near me wasn't nearly strong enough to support my weight. Just about everything lay out of reach, or would snap off if I tried to hang from it, or put a foot down.
"Why couldn't you be like one of those tree men in the Hobbit?" I complained to the trunk. "I wish you could understand me and grow a treehouse ladder or something."
A glance downward told me little. It was dark, I saw buildings, but the fall would probably kill me.
I sighed, resting my forehead against the rough bark. My fingers tingled, but I had touched sap,and who knew what effect that had in the human body.
When I felt the tree shaking, I thought someone had taken a chainsaw to the base, and I was in for real trouble. I let out a horrified scream.
I stopped screaming when I noticed a new, sturdy looking bough had suddenly materialized a few feet below me.
I tested the branch, climbed lower, and spotted a second one growing from the trunk. "I won't forget this," I promised the tree. If it got me safely to the ground, I would be in its debt. True, it might not be alive, or have an intelligence, but it grew for me.
Then, feeling a little self conscious, "Great. I'm having a serious conversation with a plant."
The goose alien from the zoo flapped down on the branch above me. Did I detect a look of concern?
"Hi!" I called. "Can you help me? I'm kind of stuck."
I'm not sure it understood, because it just flew away. Vadful mooed at me.
Even Charlie came to visit, but he was no help either.
Although I managed to descend a few dozen feet, I again found myself stuck on a tree limb with no apparent way down. "Hey tree! What's up? You get tired all of a sudden? I can't water or prune you if I'm stuck in your branches."
The tree didn't respond.
"I can only water you one way up here, and I don't think you'll like it."
Deciding that maybe I'd just been using my power and not thinking about it, or that the tree responded by some telepathic connection, I turned around and gripped the sticky bark with my fingers. "Grow, please."
That did work a little better. A ladder-like set of thick branches grew out on my side of the tree, allowing me to climb lower and lower.
I didn't know I'd reached safety until I planted my foot on a railing and toppled onto a bridge.
I didn't recognize the area I'd fallen into. The huts buildings looked more modern, the huts less primitive, and they had strange devices out front.
"I've heard of sleepwalking, but sleep climbing?"
I stared. Lori was just casually leaning against the rail, looking rather indifferent about the whole thing.
"What, no 'I'm glad you didn't fall off the tree and go splat?'"
ET, Spike, Tolmina, and two other Qulpari from the neighborhood came waddling up from the other side.
"I have been watching you. I am proud to see how well you mastered the art of Grunspeking."
I reddened. "You were here the whole time?"
ET nodded.
"Why the hell didn't you try to help?...You let Pete get away! Sovirox is going to kill him!"
"Rilquza is pursuing him."
I frowned. "Then who's warming the egg?"
He smirked. "Roy Neary."
I slapped my face. "Oh boy."
"We kept careful watch. If you had fallen, we would have given you aid, but it seems that was unnecessary." He patted me on the back.
"I knew you could do it," Lori said. "And even if you failed, these guys would have caught you."
"You are getting good at that," Lori said. "We could go home."
I just gave her a pained look. "So I can grow plants. Big deal. I can't do that telekinetic stuff, I can't stop bullets, and if they catch me, they'll probably try to cut me open like ET's buddies."
"I didn't mean that. I mean, I guess eventually I thought maybe we could, when the world forgot about us, but-"
"They're not going to forget for a long time. We'll be front page news: 'Missing kids found.'' And then the government will lock us up."
"How would they do that if we're front page news?"
"I'm sure they'd find a way, or get to us before the reporters do."
"They have an outpost in Antarctica. We can stay there as long as we need, until we know it's safe. Or if that's too dangerous for them, we can go to some little island off the coast of Australia or Micronesia. Kiribati or something. You could grow our food. Plus there's that musical weapon..."
"Which we no longer have..."
"Okay. So we'd have too figure out something else...Have you ever seen the Swamp Thing comic books?"
I groaned. "I don't want to become a plant man just to defend myself...even if I knew how to do that."
"You're already a plant man."
I rolled my eyes. "You know what I meant. Anyways, you know we can't leave.I mean, what's Gertie going to do?"
She gave me this look like Gertie could come with and everything would be fine.
"You can't seriously be thinking about letting Pete go off and get killed. We've got to at least stay long enough to make sure he's safe."
Lori crossed her arms. "And how long is that?"
I had no answer for her.
"Look, if Pete comes back, we can take him. If not, maybe she'll find an island boy, I don't know. At least her chances would be better than they are here."
I could only sigh. "It's a nice idea. I think it could possibly work, but I don't want to risk it. I was with ET. You weren't. If you want to go back to earth, you really should. They don't know how much you've been in contact with aliens. You might have a chance to live a normal life. But me, they're probably going to cut me open to see if I've got alien organs or something."
"Elliott, there's a reason they gave me a fern. I'm not good at growing things. I'm not going to survive without your plant magic."
"They're teaching you. With enough lessons, you can probably do pretty well for yourself."
"How do you know they're not going to chop me open?"
"Hey, you're the one who suggested we go back!"
Her face darkened. "We're going to grow old and die here, aren't we?"
I didn't say no. "At least we'll be free."
"Where's Pete?" Gertie had awakened. She stared at us, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Gertie..." Lori began.
"He's playing hero."
"Is that why he took my Zemedo?"
I nodded. "Nobody told you anything?"
"I was sleeping. What happened?"
I told her about my misadventure.
Gertie looked really worried. "We should go after him."
"He's gained a lot of distance on us already. Rilquza's already searching. We should go check with Roy and see what he wants us to do."
"He didn't do anything about Pabyeba," Lori pointed out.
"Yeah, but that's because she's an alien and they have different values about stuff like this. Pete is human. I'm sure he'll try a little harder."
"I hope it's more than a little."
When Gertie asked about Vadful, I could only say I didn't know. He had flown away again, to his girlfriend, I guess.
We found Norenio standing at the end of the bridge, looking into a little mirror as she gnawed on a stick with her buckteeth. It appeared to be a health ritual, like shaving or brushing her teeth, her chewing deliberate, targeting specific areas.
The female still had on her bed clothes. A harness made from leather, with a loincloth of similar material, the chest scandalously open and exposed. You'd think, as well endowed as she appeared to be, there'd be something to cover, but no. The breast area resembled that of a bird. I guess she didn't lactate. No bellybutton either, she did mention laying eggs.
Norenio tucked the stick into a pouch. "Elliott! I was very frightening for you in the tree! I am glad you are okay!"
"I had no doubt Elliott would be safe." ET turned to face me. "Elliott...lay down."
I furrowed my brow. "Here on the ground? Why?"
"I wish to give you something."
I gave him a look that said 'are you serious?' But did what he asked anyway, spreading out on the hard uncomfortable planking.
ET placed his frog fingers on my forehead, making a strange crooning noise. His hands glowed, squishy fingertips sending waves of something warm and electrical through my scalp. Unconnected memories popped into my brain, alien voices, unfamiliar scents, heart emotions...then I felt a familiar tingle jolt through my body, and I knew what he'd done.
He'd given my powers back.
I stretched out my fingers, willing a nearby alien pinecone/acorn about the size of a baseball, to move. I caused bits of gravel, leaves and wood splinters to rise into the air, but the acorn thing only lifted a centimeter before falling back down.
When he let go, ET looked a little tired and weak. "That is all I can give you. I only took a portion. Pabyeba took some, as did Tolmina and the others. They will return the return the power to you if they find you worthy, and do not use it with hate."
I sat up, staring into his huge eyes as I tried to frame a question about an experience I could barely understand. "That, um...thing you did...um...uh..." I couldn't find the words.
He smiled. "I could not give you the power without giving you part of myself, my memories."
"Pabyeba," I breathed. "You were thinking of her." I didn't actually say her. I'd switched to the alien pronoun without even thinking about it.
ET nodded, looking more than a little embarrassed. "My...thoughts wandered. I did not mean to-"
"Don't be sorry. It's...biology. I feel that way about-"
"Lori. Yes. It works both ways."
I blushed. Pabyeba's scent, ET's first intimate moment with her. The caring, the passionate connection, and the feeling of belonging that grandparents get when they gaze into each other's eyes after being together for so long - and now ET had something similar from me, permanently stamped on his own brain.
I staggered dizzily to my feet, leaned on the side of a building to stop the planet from spinning.
When I'd at last gotten my feet under me, I locked eyes with my alien friend and blurted, "You're a fool! She's the best thing that's happened to you, and you're trying to forget her!"
The look I saw on ET's face made me think of how mom would look if I started giving her relationship advice. A weird neon green tint spread across his face. "You do not know what you are saying."
It felt like my ears were burning. "Do I? After dropping that in my brain? Forget your stupid play! She needs your help! If you really love her, you've got to do* something!"
ET's face paled. "But she told me to brood the egg."
My stomach sank. I could feel how important that egg was to him. "You're not alone in this, ET. After what you've shown me, I...whatever you want me to do, I'm here for you."
"We're all here for you," Lori added.
Gertie squeezed his hand. "My brother's right. You should make good on what you promised that night before Pija Ecyolbo."
ET...didn't look surprised by this, but I was shocked as hell. That word had been one of the random things he'd dropped into my brain, and it carried as much emotional punch as if Gertie had referenced a romantic interlude on the Fourth of July.
"She ...does not want me harmed."
"I don't want you harmed either, but do you really think she can save herself?"
"We have called the Navnadbu."
"I know. But is that enough?"
I and ET were making the same kind of face. I had to stop myself from saying no aloud.
"We need to plan this carefully," ET answered. "Let's go back to my emboki." That was their term for `house.'
As we wove our way through an unfamiliar cluster of buildings with maroon coloration and a faint scent of bad mayonnaise, I started pondering how much Gertie knew, and just had to her aside. "How did you know about Pija Ecyolbo?"
She had a guilty look on her face like she had just accidentally learned about sex. Maybe she had. "Back on earth, I thought I could mind meld with ET like Spock on Star Trek. It...kinda worked."
I swallowed, unsure if I wanted to know anything else. "...Okay."
ET knew a lot of aliens in the area. We got introduced to quite a few before we at last climbed the ramp to his neighborhood.
"You should tell her," ET muttered to me as I walked beside Lori.
"What?" I stammered, knowing full well what he meant.
"Those things you are afraid to say will not be an insult to her. You should not be scared."
Lori stopped, hands on her hips as she scowled at me. "What things?"
I blushed. "Nothing."
ET elbowed me.
"I'm not going to say that!"
Lori looked as red as I felt. "Say what, Elliott?"
"Y-you, y-" I couldn't make my mouth form the words. "You're...very attractive."
She laughed. "Seriously?"
My face felt redder now. "Very physically attractive. I..."
"And...?" ET prompted.
Lori let out a snorting laugh. "Yes, Elliott!...and...?"
Boy I felt hot. "You're pretty. Pretty nice looking. B-beautiful."
ET elbowed me again.
"No. Absolutely not. That's crude and impolite."
That really got Lori laughing. She grinned at the alien. "Thanks. I needed a good laugh!"
Then, in a lower tone, "Maybe I can coax the specifics out of him later."
I kinda wished I could have erased the image of what I saw next out of my brain.
The moment we entered ET's home, we came across Roy, clad in nothing but a pair of briefs, hugging Pabyeba's egg to his body.
In his defense, he did have a blanket draped around himself, but it wasn't exactly doing an effective job of covering things. Plus he was asleep, so it had begun to slip.
The moment he heard our footfalls, his eyes popped open, and when he saw me, he pulled the blanket closed and cried, "Oh God! This isn't what it looks like!"
Looking unsurprised, Lori told me, "ET was afraid of him damaging the egg."
"I said I'm not wearing a belt buckle or anything sharp, but he gave me a lecture about body heat."
"It's practice," Gertie said. "I was half asleep, but I thought I heard someone telling you that."
"Thank you , Norenio number two," Roy groaned. "Any news about your little boy friend?"
My sister shook her head. "Nothing about Pabyeba either."
Roy rubbed his face. "Shit."
"Anyways," I said. "We gotta do something ."
"Yeah? Like what? It's late!"
"We must go to Yolnax," ET announced. "And we need to go now."
Roy suddenly got a startled cow expression on his face. "What the holy hell? When did you suddenly grow a pair?"
Even if ET hadn't made telepathic contact with me, he'd been around humans enough to understand the expression. "Elliott has...seen my love for Pabyeba. If I want nothing, then I am not truly alive. I feared that pursuing my desire for Pabyeba would cause undue suffering, but I will suffer more without her. She willingly denied herself for me and this egg. She deserves more."
Roy didn't seem exactly thrilled. "...Okay, but it's the middle of the night."
"Yes. And I can only hope that we are not too late."
