When Alison woke up after a much needed eight-hour sleep, the first words leaving her smiling lips were “grandma, you always rock”. She stretched, and Kimmy rippled off of her and up on the wall. Allie looked at the Kidem slowly making its way to its favorite spot on the ceiling, and chuckled.
“You’re really smart, aren’t you? You’re starting to know exactly what I want and how I feel.”
She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face and fix her makeup, all the while thinking about the dream she’d just had. Allie’s grandmother had died many years ago, but she had never felt like the old woman had ever left her. Once in a while, she’d dream of her, and her grandma would usually come up with some sort of advice or solution to a certain problem. Now, she had appeared in her dream to remind Alison of one simple thing: sleep on it.
“You’ve always said that, grandma,” whispered Allie, smiling at herself in the mirror. “Sleep on it.”
She reached for an empty spot on the sink, and a hairbrush materialized just in time for Allie to grab it. She brushed her blonde hair slowly, enjoying the new sense of clarity she had after both her body and brain had rested. She had wanted to talk to Ark before going to sleep, but she hadn’t been sure then. Well, Alison was sure now. She had some new questions only he knew the answer to.
Once she was satisfied with the way she looked, Allie went back into her bedroom, looked at the unmade bed, closed her eyes, furrowed her brows, and imagined it perfectly arranged, with new clean sheets, even. Once she was satisfied with the way her room looked, she raised her left arm and motioned for Kimmy to wrap itself around it.
“I never thought I’d get used to you so quickly.”
The alien being squeezed her wrist gently, as if to show its gratitude at the new friendship they had formed.
“Are you ready? Because I think I am. I hope I am.”
She sat down on the edge of the bed, facing the door, and then thought of Ark intensely. She did her best to visualize his strong, handsome features, and once she had his image before her mind’s eye, she called him. A few minutes passed, and she was starting to wonder whether her little trick had worked. Just as she was preparing to send him a second telepathic message, the door opened, and Ark reluctantly stepped in.
“Alison,” he whispered. “Did you sleep well?”
She stood up abruptly, as if she couldn’t believe she had actually managed to call him so easily, without moving a muscle.
“Y-yes… Very well, thanks.”
He smiled at her, revealing two sets of perfectly white teeth.
“Did you want to see me?”
“Yes.”
She cleared her throat and started pacing the room. Even though, a couple of minutes before, it had seemed very clear to her what she wanted to ask him, now, for some reason, his presence intimidated her and made her lose her train of thought. She decided it was best to look out the window instead of focusing too much on those dark blue eyes of his.
“Who would’ve thought I’d ever be attracted to a blue-skinned alien guy?” she cursed herself mentally, then did her best to dismiss the idea. Her attraction couldn’t possibly be real. She only thought he was interesting because he was so strange, and his kind was so mysterious.
“I see you’ve settled in quite nicely,” he noted as his eyes took in the new sheets on her bed and the door to a bathroom which hadn’t been there before. “You’re getting a hang of this whole manifesting thing.”
“Oh yes, I’ve also eaten. Your food is delicious, albeit a tad blue for my taste.”
Ark laughed, and his booming voice filled the room.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Nothing.” He waved his hands in apology and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “It’s just that this is the first time I think about it. That our food is blue, I mean.”
Alison turned around and studied him with curious eyes.
“You’re blue too. You know that, right? You and all the members of your crew.”
Ark nodded thoughtfully.
“Well, yes, but we don’t think of it as being something weird or unnatural. To us, you humans are the ones who’re not exactly the right color.”
Allie’s eyes widened in shock.
“I thought you guys were too evolved for racism.”
“What? No! This is, by no means, racism.” Ark’s features turned serious. “We don’t even have that concept, even though, in their physical form, all races look different.”
“Hmm…” Allie sat on the bed and stroked her chin in deep thought. “This is interesting. I don’t understand. If you’re saying without a physical form you, well… we are all the same, then when you do choose to incarnate, why do you choose a certain skin color, or maybe even specific features?”
Ark rounded the bed and moved to stand in front of the window. The Hesperia was still cruising through hyperspace at an unbelievable speed. Three weeks, and they would reach the Council.
“It has to do with the soul families we each belong to,” he explained. “Yes, we are One at a certain level, and we’re connected, but we do belong to different spirit families, and those families become races in the physical realm.”
“Oh… I see.”
Usually, back on Old Earth, Allie would get all worked up over discussions about racism, but Ark’s explanation made much more sense than any human explanation.
“Not one soul family is superior, or inferior to others,” Ark continued. “And no race is superior, or inferior on this physical plane either. It’s just the way things are. Frankly,” he turned to look at her, “before you asked, I haven’t even thought about it. I’m pretty sure no one on The Hesperia has ever thought about it. If you choose to get out of your room and join us, I’m sure your insights will start some philosophical debates, which to me sounds very challenging and entertaining.”
“Oh really? I thought you all agreed on everything all the time.”
“We do, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun considering and discussing other perspectives from time to time. But we’re all Unxendi here, and new perspectives are hard to come by. You’re the first human I, and any member of my crew for that matter, have ever really interacted with. Your experience and your views are fascinating to us.”
Allie cocked an eyebrow and adopted a sarcastic tone.
“Does that mean you brought me on your spaceship as some sort of human pet? Clown? Or comedian?”
Her harsh words made something stir inside Ark’s chest. It was an emotion he hadn’t felt in ages, and he did his best to control his reaction.
“I’ve already told you why I brought you here,” he said calmly.
Allie shrugged. “And I thought about it, and concluded that I don’t believe you.”
His face turned a paler shade of blue.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I don’t believe you. You said you thought I am special and you just couldn’t let me have the same fate as the rest of humanity, but let’s face the facts, Ark: I’m not really that special. Sure, I might have some unexpected dreams sometimes, and some of my telepathic abilities seem to be more evolved than the average humans’, but there were plenty of people on Old Earth who were truly gifted.” She waved her right hand to draw his attention and started counting on her fingers. “Astrologers, shamans, light workers, energy workers, Reiki masters, and so on and on… It would take me hours to list all of them. Say what you will, but I know those people were way more evolved than I will probably ever be. So, you see, your explanation simply doesn’t stand.”
Ark pursed his lips and chose to stay silent for a long moment. Of course, Alison was right, and he had already considered her theory countless times. He had just hoped she wouldn’t figure it out so quickly. He had been wrong, and now he had no other choice than to be honest with her.
“So, Captain?” she insisted. “Are you going to tell me what you really want with me here?”
He cleared his throat, but avoided her gaze.
“The Galactic High Council of Seven will find you very interesting,” he murmured.
“No,” she stood up to face him. “Stop selling me this bullshit. It’s not about my abilities, nor about your stupid Council. What’s it really about, Arkvar?”
She had entered his personal space, and for the first time, he didn’t feel very comfortable with her so close. He walked to the other side of the room and positioned himself with his back to her, facing the door as if he had just remembered he had duties to attend to and he’d soon have to leave.
“Ark, you kidnapped me, and I need to know why. I need the truth, this time. What happened to your fancy story of love, honesty and transcendence? I can sense there’s something you’re not telling me, and it’s making me very nervous, believe me.”
“Alison, I don’t know what to tell you,” he replied in a low, calculated voice.
“Oh yes, you do. I know you brought me here for a reason. All you need to do is share it with me. Come on, what’s the worst that could happen? I’m your prisoner, anyway. I’m not going anywhere.”
He took a deep breath and released it slowly.
“It’s too soon.” When she didn’t say anything, he added: “It’s better if we wait, know each other better…”
He was interrupted by Allie’s sudden burst of laughter. Once she started, it took her a few long minutes to regain her composure.
“Oh my God, I don’t believe this!” she managed between chuckles.
Ark squeezed his hands into fists inside the pockets of his uniform. He furrowed brows and gritted his teeth, but controlled himself and didn’t say anything.
“You like me,” she said, throwing her hands in the air as if she’d just made the discovery of the century. “You saved my life because you like me.”
She waited for him to contradict her, and when he didn’t, she rightfully took his silence as confirmation.
“Wait to know each other better,” she repeated his words, adding a hint of sarcasm to her chirpy voice. “You did learn some things about human women during those three days on Old Earth. However, what you didn’t learn is that we are very good at catching the obvious. Granted it took me a good night’s sleep to make the connections, but I won’t judge myself too harshly given the nature of the situation. I’m usually pretty good at spotting these things, but you distracted my attention by selling me that entire story of how I’m special and evolved. You managed to confuse me for a while, I’ll give you that.”
Ark turned around harshly, and his unexpected reaction made Alison’s chuckle die on her lips. When she saw the hurt in his eyes, she even took a step back.
“I didn’t sell you anything,” he said firmly. “I never lied to you, Alison Page, and I never will. Yes, I did reveal only part of the truth, but it was only because I know this is all happening very fast for you. I wanted to give you a chance to understand, adapt, explore the ship, make some friends, get to know me before I told you that, yes, I like you. I like you very much, and I knew it the second I laid eyes on you. But you are special, and that has nothing to do with me liking you or not. It’s a simple fact, and my main concern was to make you aware of it as soon as possible. On Old Earth, you humans have always had this unreasonable idea that if someone thought of themselves of being great, then that person was selfish and self-centered, and wasn’t worth the time of day.”
He smiled as if it was his turn to laugh.
“Honestly, it’s one of the most ridiculous ideas you humans have ever come up with. When Thivo and I realized how it worked for you, it blew our minds. So yes, Alison, I thought it was more important to remind you how special and unique you are than to tell you another reason why I saved you from certain physical death was because I like you.”
“Oh,” she whispered. “I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed. That was very rude of me.”
Ark smiled, and his body relaxed visibly.
“Please don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong.”
Allie opened her mouth to contradict him, but changed her mind immediately. She was at a loss. She didn’t know what to say, nor how to behave around him anymore. Many men had told her she was oh-so-special and beautiful and one of a kind, so it was difficult for her to accept Ark’s honest and completely disinterested compliment. She realized she had never been complimented that way before, and the thought humbled her.
“You’re pretty good-looking, too,” she said, and regretted it instantly.
A huge smile pulled at Ark’s lips, but he managed to control it before it turned into full-blown laughter.
“Handsome, I mean,” she tried to salvage the awkward situation. “No, hot. You’re not.” She nodded vigorously. “For a blue-skinned alien, that is… you’re pretty hot. I guess.”
Her blue eyes quickly ran over his body from head to toe.
“I’m not sure,” she backed down. “I can’t say blue is my favorite color, but if I look past this teensy-weensy detail…” She shrugged and bit the inside of her lip. All she was doing was digging a deeper hole for herself, but that was fine. The faster she dug, the sooner she could hide inside it and cover herself with imaginary dirt.
Ark couldn’t take it anymore. He started laughing, and the tension lifted when Allie joined him.
“You’re funny,” he said. “I like that, too.”
Allie huffed.
“Okay, stop telling me you like me and why you like me. You’re making me turn into some kind of weirdo with no social skills. I’ve blurted out enough silly things for one day, thank you very much.”
They held each other’s gaze for a long, magical moment, and Allie felt like it was the first time when someone was looking at her with such joy and kindness in his eyes. The weird, inappropriate comments she had made before had made her blush, and now his intense gaze only spread that angry shade of red all over her neck and chest. She could feel her skin burn, and her knees trembled for a second, as if to make her aware she was giving herself away too easily. She moved from one foot to another to make sure she had her own balance under control, then averted her eyes. For the first time, she was considering letting down the wall she had built between her mind and his, but her better judgment saved her from making a decision she might have regretted later. There was no way she could know whether she’d be able to raise that wall back into place once she let it fall. Taking a peek inside Ark’s mind and allowing him to enter her head for a moment wasn’t worth the risk. Better safe than sorry.
Once Allie’s train of thought came to a stop and her decision was made, the spell was broken.
Ark felt it, and turned away to hide the disappointment in his eyes.
“Well, if you don’t have any more questions, I’ll be off,” he said in the most casual tone he could muster. “There’s a lot of work waiting for me on the Bridge.”
“Of course. I’m sorry I’ve kept you so long.”
He nodded and opened the door to leave.
“Wait.” Allie took a couple of steps toward him. “Being in here all the time is so boring. Is that offer of yours still available? May I explore the ship?”
“You are free to go wherever you want.”
“I’d get lost.”
He smiled. “Just as I said before, I can ask Shirin to show you around.”
Allie thought for a second. “Who’s Shirin?”
“Didn’t she introduce herself? She’s my Second Officer. She was the one who brought you on the Deck the other day.”
“Oh! The tall blue lady! Yes, I like her. She’s cool. But, isn’t she busy? Given she’s your Second Officer and all…?”
“I’m sure she’ll enjoy the time off.”
With that, he was out of the room. Allie stared at the closed door for a long while, her whole being seemingly incapable of detaching itself from Ark’s presence.
“Shit,” she whispered. “I think I like him too.”