Vukvuzan's marking, unlike Jamie's, had a symbol in the center. The jabbe is administrated at the end of sentence.

Jamie blew a raspberry.

What is...`Spike?'

"You look like...a famous character." I had difficulty explaining the details in terms an alien could understand. They didn't even have paper.

"Of...legend," Gertie supplied.

Spike smiled. I am honored.

Suppressing laughter, we returned to the elevator.

"So how are we getting back to ET's place?" Jamie asked.

I frowned at the sliding door. "We have to ask Larven about getting another vehicle."

Things got even more interesting when we stepped out at the main floor. Gertie, proudly displaying her trophy, inspired a lot of noise. Several went "Mudo mudo", shaking their heads or covering their faces in horror. More laughter and jokes from the others. They called Gertie Boofsuru, which roughly translates as `The Weird One.'

If this had been earth, I imagine there would have been some violent action, maybe someone throwing rocks, but several of them, turning neon blue, merely flopped on the floor, bowing their heads as they did breathing exercises until their flesh resumed normal coloration.

Qulpari, like Mennonites, the angriest ones practiced the art of shunning, turning their backs to us to pretend we weren't there. Our friend Larven took it well, asking for an explanation of what happened, even becoming visibly relieved once he discovered the terms of Gertie's...Ojulno.

Time teaches one.

Those within earshot seemed pleased by this as well, a few, but not all of the shunners turning back around and murmuring to each other.

We asked Larven to help us get a ride home, but that proved to be unnecessary. We found Norenio, Tolmina and ET standing by the open hatch of a blue flying machine. Charlie purred and rubbed against them.

When ET noticed Gertie's bracelet, he shrank back, rubbing his face in dismay. "Mudo."

"She is lonely," said Norenio. "Maybe she will find a playmate."

ET shuddered. This seems like a bad idea.

Larven explained the situation to him.

After a moment's discussion, ET led us into the vehicle.

Since Larven apparently already had a mate (hence no reason to stay at the registration building), he joined us on the padded bench.

The first time I'd seen ET look genuinely uneasy. Even when Gertie had put him in a dress, he hadn't looked this embarrassed. He did not speak. We rose into the air in awkward silence.

At last, ET said, Gertie, are you in kemmer? The word had associations with breeding.

"I...I don't know. I mean, in case it happens, I wanna be ready. Elliott and Jamie have each other. I want...something too. Pabyeba did say it would take a long time..."

ET smirked, seeming visibly relieved. Yes, I think it will. He shook his head. Pabyeba...

"Well," I ventured. "At least we'll know if there are any other humans on this planet."

Jamie stuck out her tongue. "Yeah, if they happen to be in kemmer! What if it's an old man?"

I cringed. "I...guess we can always tell him to go away..."

The idea didn't set well with my sister either. "You'll protect me, won't you, Elliott?"

I gave her a nod. "I owe you at least that much." I turned to face Norenio. "Where's Roy?"

She frowned. "He is...`Ten sheets to wind.' I put him in bed, in his house."

"I can't imagine what he's going to think about what Gertie did."

Norenio looked genuinely puzzled. "Did she do something wrong?"

Tolmina seemed puzzled too, despite it being a situation that should have offended him.

"Yes!" Jamie blurted. But then she noticed Gertie's reaction. "...No. I don't know."

"I...do not understand. If I and Roy Neary can be happy..."

Jamie rubbed her face. "Of course you'd say that."

"Our biology are different, but we satisfy each other needs. We have mutual-love."

"Never mind." Jamie grimaced like she'd smelled something stinky.

"I'm amazed you moved the guy," I said. "Roy's so heavy."

The Abreya just smiled. "Gertie, have you seen how Qulpari make babies?"

ET rolled his eyes.

"No," my sister said. "But I saw pictures."

"You should study, if you truly lust want Qulpari."

ET covered his face. "Mudo."

"Maybe we should ask Roy about that," Jamie suggested diplomatically. "I mean, he did say he saw some things."

Gertie nodded, wide eyed. You know she respected the man.

"How was your date?" I asked ET.

He smiled. "Wonderful. The music was most enjoyable. Pabyeba and Meazquad are still there. I...could not stay for the entire performance, due to your...controversial actions."

Gertie shrank in her seat. "I'm sorry."

"Do not be. You have human needs that must be addressed."

That cheered my sister. "Thank you. I'm glad you understand."

ET blinked like he only understood some.

Jamie furrowed her brow. "So...just a concert? Not...anything else?"

It seemed the answer was no. ET reacted like an uneducated non-English speaker being asked to explain the role of feminism in Pride and Prejudice. "What...else would I be doing?"

"Jamie," I hissed. "Roy was drunk."

"How'd you find us anyway?"

My wujemzu (kind of like an uncle-family relationships are hard to describe when you have three partners) Nuomgob sent me a message asking me if I knew anything about a group of large pale skinned creatures looking for Nisweku registration. When I noticed you missing, I got suspicious, especially when Pabyeba mentioned a conversation she had with Gertie.

We got the strangest looks from ET's neighbors when we landed. ET's sheepish expression in response seemed very human-like.

We returned to his hut, curling up on the pallets he'd set out for us.

Roy was out, obviously, but Meazquad and Pabyeba returned and they all curled up together with ET in his bed. Tolmina lay on a pallet beside Norenio. Wotrevi snored on the floor.

Rilquza and Colzest hadn't come back - Guess the moon people meeting had gone longer, or they were sleeping there.

I slept okay for maybe four hours, but then I noticed something licking my ear. At first I thought it was Charlie, but then it felt strangely...human, the lips, then the teeth gently nipping on a lobe...

My eyes flew open and I found Jamie's arm wrapped around me. "Jamie, what—"

Her mouth moved down, warm breath tingling my neck. "I can't stop thinking about you. I can't even sleep right now, you're making me crazy..."

"What?" I swallowed. "I...am?"

Instead of answering, she put a finger to her lips, leading me outside, toward Admasca's place.

I stopped. "Wait, Jamie. I...you said you didn't want this. I mean, what if something happens? What if ..." I could barely say it. It came out as a whisper. "What if we have a baby?"

"I changed my mind."

"You mean...?"

She nodded. "I don't care anymore. I love you. This is a good place, and if we never go home, I feel safe, I don't think we'd have too much difficulty—"

I kissed her, interrupting her train of thought.

Jamie, kissing back, led me by the hand down the walkway.

Not in the right direction. I know, I should have noticed earlier, but I really hadn't been thinking. "Wait, where are we going?"

She took me to the flying machine. "Somewhere private."

I blushed. "And you know a place?"

Yeah,kind of weird, she had never gone anywhere without me, but I guessed she meant randomly flying somewhere secluded in the pod. She nodded to me. "I think I got an idea."

"But—" I glanced, with meaning, back at ET's neighborhood.

Jamie opened the hatch. "You really want that little scamp watching us?"

I suddenly felt hot. "...No."

"Don't worry, we'll come back for her." She pulled me inside, shutting the door.

"Wow," I stammered.

"I've been watching them. I know how this thing works..." Jamie pushed some buttons on the computer, kissed me on the lips.

The vehicle rose, and so did our passions.

For a moment, I paused my kissing to glance out the window at the darkened landscape speeding by, lights gleaming out weirdly shaped buildings like Jack O' Lanterns. "Where are we going?"

"Do you really care?"

I shook my head, parting her lips.

We tasted each other's mouths, Jamie's trembling fingers undoing the top of my jumpsuit. I detected cigarettes, but didn't want to upset her by mentioning it.

She stepped away, turning her back to me as she opened the front of her outfit.

The vehicle landed, the hatch swinging open on its own accord.

Jamie's clothing tumbled to the floor, but of her body I saw nothing but a pair of naked calves disappearing outside.

I quickly gave chase, but only got a few steps out of the hatch before ramming into a tree.

A fog lifted from my mind, and I realized I'd been dreaming. Sleepwalking, in fact.

I glanced back. The pod waited glowing and empty, no sign of Jamie's clothes.

Ahead of me stood that damn wooden door at Yatgibi's place, overgrown with clinging vines and branches.

None of the events of this little late night adventure had been real! Jamie was probably still sound asleep at ET's place, and there I was, out here, looking like a complete ass!

The anger, the disappointment, the frustration and rage, radiated through every inch of my body. I screamed, ramming my fists into the bark until my knuckles turned bloody.

"Good," Yatgibi muttered in my ear. "Now...try it again."

Memories came unbidden to my mind. The sheer unfiltered hatred I felt against the government that captured me and ruined my life, combined with the anguish I felt about my little romantic adventure being nothing more than wishful thinking, filled me with a rage I'd never felt before. My hands glowed like red lanterns.

"If you knew that your whole life would amount to failure, would you try so hard to please others?"

I frowned at the alien, the red light fading somewhat. "What?"

"You're not going to amount to anything. You're not worth very much. So why not do what pleases you? What makes you feel good? There is a pleasure to this."

"Yatgibi...What...are you trying to do?"

The alien gave me a disarming smile. "Only trying to help. There is vast untapped power in you, if you only learned to harness it correctly."

"And you're doing this by insulting me?"

"I am only telling you some...unpleasant truths. Now that you've left your world behind, it's unlikely you will achieve very much of importance. You will die alone and forgotten."

"If you're...trying to make me hate you...it's working."

Yatgibi grinned. "Fire always begins with a blossom."

"But wait. I did succeed. I built a spaceship and got here. That's something, isn't it?"

"You had help. Can you truly say it was your accomplishment? Even if it was, what next? Your entire existence is defined by that one thing."

I couldn't disagree. My encounter with ET and my homemade spaceship had been my only claim to fame, the only thing people would remember me for. Nothing else in my entire life would matter to anyone, except maybe my family and friends. I'm just the freak, the missing kid, the government asset.

Worse, I'd never see Mom and Dad again.

I let out an animal scream, and half the wooden material sealing the door cracked and split like it had been hit by a seismic tremor.

It is early. What are you doing out here?

I glanced back at the factory. Yatgibi stood by the factory rear entrance, yards away from me.

My first thought had been `How did you get over there so quickly?'

When realization dawned on me, I began to question my own sanity.

He hadn't been there either.