Lombax of the Future written by Geia Akyama
Chapter five-The real E.T.

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Sheela fidgeted in front of the rather large property her human acquaintance lived on. the lush greenery rustled invitingly in the afternoon breeze and the multicolored flowers of all shapes and sizes gave off highly appealing scents to the Lombax's nose. All in all this was very much a place she'd love to live in if it weren't for the diseases that existed here and nowhere else.

In her human Guise the extraterrestrial looked like a young petite woman with plain features compared to others of the species. Sheela had taken great pains to make her human disguise perfect with slightly browned skin tone and eyes as far as possible from each other but still appealing to a few of the males like Douglas. Thankfully details like freckles, a small upturned nose and sheer lack of body hair were easily programmed and required next to no effort to maintain.

And what she couldn't hide with the hologuise she hid with some of the strange fashions this primitive species displayed. A large yellow hat shaped like her ears not only attracted some stares but encouraged the people not to notice if she brushed her ears against them. Mostly humans both young and old accused her of being a Poketard, whatever that was.

The gate chimed and opened to let Sheela walk up to the large house and the person waiting for her. She hadn't even gotten halfway to the front door when a tall, and nearly handsome in her opinion, man raced outside. Douglas had been extremely helpful to her during her studies. with his help she learned the ins and outs of the confusing English Language and a smattering of others. Why this species needed more that one planet wide language was beyond her.

"Sea Lamp! You've got no idea how worried I was about you. When you called to cancel our date I got worried. You sounded sick as a dog..."

Sheela cringed as the human mangled her name from 'Ivory of the Sea' to simply 'Sea Lamp'. Still, it was the closest he'd come to her true name. With some practice maybe the human mouth could make the proper sounds for the Standard Galactic language.

Douglas' strong arms wrapped around her in a crushing hug and she smiled as he swung her around with the biggest smile she'd yet seen on his face. The scientist frowned, she'd like to take him with her but that wasn't smart thing to do no matter how much she'd miss him. Being on the planet surface wasn't smart either, but it would be easy to stay in quarantine for the trip back to the Polaris Galaxy.

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Doug smiled broadly as he scooped up his girlfriend and hugged her tightly to his chest. Last he'd heard from her was that she was staying at her place until she recovered from her cold. It had sounded more like the flu but he wasn't about to argue with what kind of stomach bug she'd been unlucky enough to catch..

His eyes fell on her necklace. It was a little big for her but she never took it off, not even when her clothes were soaked through. Two large chunks of polished red coral were set in silver with a small hinge connecting the two polished stones. The top stone was shaped like an egg and the lower one was a wide upside-down triangle that stopped just short of her carefully concealed cleavage. It matched her personality perfectly.

"Douglas~! Spine please!"

Doug chuckled and set his girl down on her feet and moved in for a quick kiss. Small, strong, and smart; just the way he liked his women. His smiled slipped when she put her gloved fingers gently on his lips to keep him from touching her lips. Her almost un-earthly blue eyes were clouded with concern and doubt as she looked up at him.

"Douglas I have to tell you something important. I can't stay here for much longer. I've got to go home now..."

Douglas' mouth hung open. She was leaving? They were just starting to have get to know each other! Had he done something wrong? He'd do anything to fix it! Just don't...leave...me like this.

His thoughts must have made their way to his face because she hastily went on with her declaration.

"It's not you Doug, I'd never blame you. Even with you I've been working..."

"Categorizing endangered species along the coast..." Douglas said glumly. She'd been using him like all the other girls he'd ever met.

"Partially. I wanted to see how the people here lived too. Please don't look so sad. I don't like to see you upset. I'll be back, I promise, I'll call you as soon as I get home."

Heshala smiled tentatively and partially closed her eyes. "I can stay with you till the sun sets though. My car should be out of the shop by then."

Douglas nodded slowly. He didn't even know where she lived. Every time he'd asked she beat around the bush saying she lived in an isolated area in the mountains across the Pacific. He'd been willing to overlook the strangeness of her answers in favor of her company but that still left him not knowing her phone number or her mailing address.

"Maybe we can go on that date I missed? I'm not at all happy with myself for missing it. I've never been to this Balboa Park before."

She was leaving but unlike all the others she sounded sincere. She was trying to make the pain of separation more bearable by doing something he wanted to do and she promised to get in touch with him again. That was more than anyone else had given him.

"Will I see you again?"

Douglas tried to keep both pain and suspicion from his voice and expression as he looked directly into her eyes. The sun would be going down in three hours. Just long enough to bet to the Organ Pavilion and eat before sundown.

"Of course. Even if I have to ignore the orders of my superiors I'll come back to you."