Everybody has a memory burned into their minds of where they were when the first peaceful Zenkian ship entered Earth’s atmosphere. Most evacuated the city, but I did not because I worked for the military in communications, and it was my job to stay put.
On Earth, we had a pact with the blue-skinned rebel Zenkians known as the Grantsions. They were helping us to defend ourselves against another pack of Zenkians known as the Waysaw. The Waysaw had red skin, and they were brutal.
They had launched a surprise invasion on us decades before. We weren’t even aware that aliens existed then, but we would soon find out. The Waysaw invaded, taking down entire cities. They would steal women and our resources and take them back to their planet. They were nine-foot-tall gladiators with fighting skills we had never seen and technology far more advanced than ours. In short, we were no match for them.
That was why we desired the help of the blue-skinned Zenkians, the Grantsions. They had rebelled long before against the Waysaw, and now the Waysaw were their enemy too. So now the Grantsion had military bases on Earth right next to our own, and getting the Earth military and the Zenkian military to get along was hard: very hard.
I sat in the tower overlooking such a base. I had been transferred from a copper mine known as the Hala mines in the north of the country six months before. I had been transferred to oversee the relations between the Grantsions and the Earth army.
I looked down over the ruined city of Houston, Texas. It was now just rubble, and everything looked burned and dark. This was the aftermath of a Waysaw invasion five years before. Most of the country looked like this now. We built the military bases and towers over the ruined city. It was the perfect place for battle because the city was already ruined and mostly evacuated.
Outside of work, my life in the city was genuinely typical, potentially so boring it could be called exhausting. I was committed to work and invested next to no energy in myself. I was sort of dating somebody, yet that somebody was what my friend Sheila called settling.
"You going out with Sergeant Richard Banks once more: is that an accurate statement? You are settling Nicole," she said to me one day at lunch.
We sat at a table at the bottom of the tower in our military uniform jumpsuits. It was an incredible place for people watching and passing judgment on others.
"Yes, Sheila, you have disclosed that bit of information to me every day since I began seeing him," I said to her.
"Yes, Sheila, I know he is dreadful. In any case, he is great at sex and has an incredible body. At this moment, that is all that I require. Look around you. We are in a shit hole. I might as well get laid at least," I said as I drank the remainder of my juice. She kind of snickered at my comment.
"Yes, that is incredible. You are getting laid, congrats. Be that as it may, you know, and I know, that you require more than that. You require sentiment and being on the same page, as I do. Much the same as we all do. I'm not saying you should quit having sex with him; however, quit giving him such an extensive amount of your time and vitality. He doesn't deserve it. Call him over to your apartment, do your business, and after that, tell him to clear out. That is my advice," she said.
"Yes, I am extremely mindful that that particular routine of kicking men out after sex is your method for things. I will think about it. In any case, he asked to take me to dinner tonight," I said. “Not that you can actually have a fancy dinner at the one diner that is left here.”
"Dinner? Doesn't he have that awful characteristic of asking you to dinner and afterward concocting some reason for you to pay for it?"
"Could we get back to work now? I have a lot to do," I said feeling irritated that I had disclosed to her such a great amount of information about Sergeant Richard Banks. There was such a concept as giving somebody too much information, and as a communications and information examiner, I should know that.
I had my dark hair high on my head in an untidy bun. I wore heaps of mascara to highlight my blue eyes and went with a bare lipstick. I felt exceptionally hot in my tightly fitted jeans and low-cut tight tank top. It wasn’t exactly a dinner dress, but it was military hot wear. He sat opposite me eating. He barely surfaced for oxygen. He wore an army jacket and army pants on his extraordinarily fit body. He was the always working out sort.
I attempted to make some kind of discussion, " This diner is an awesome pick. How did you catch wind of it?” I said sarcastically. I knew it was the only place to eat out in the area.
“No. Come on? We’re not going to make stupid small talk like that,” he said.
"About the check. You wouldn't fret about going half on this one with me, right? I knew it would be costly. However, I wasn't anticipating that it should be this costly. You requested the second most expensivedish on the menu, and I ordered the cheapest. You're chugging down that wine like you've never had wine in your life. I believe it's reasonable that you pay for your half," he said.
"Extraordinary; so don't get dessert. We need to leave and go to your place. I must be up at an early hour in the morning for a meeting," he said as he waved the server over. I took a look at my plate; it was still for the most part full. I ate at an ordinary pace, not like a pig. He ate his whole dish in sixty seconds. I would eat at the pace that I wanted. I started to eat and didn't waste time with discussion. There was no good reason for it.
The following day at work I was sitting at my work area, in the steel and glass tower. I was taking a look at information on the screens from the two satellites we had out in space. We were expecting a new ship today, a Grantsion Zenkian ship. It would be carrying one of the greatest Zenkian soldiers, or so we were told. He would be coming with his superior to have meetings with us. This was part of the Grantsion and Earth army pact.
“There she is. We have contact. Zenkian Grantsion ship is coming in,” Commander Eriks said.
A few minutes later, a dark triangle-shaped ship hovered in front of the tower.
Then Private Martinez ran over to me. "Nicole! Nicole! Commander Eriks needs you in his office. The president needs to talk with you," he said.
"Rush! Go!" he said as he snatched my arm and ran with me the distance to Commander Eriks's office. Commander Eriks held up his hand to me and after that addressed the telephone, which was on speaker.
"Mr. President, I have our information and communication specialist Nicole Plimoc here."
"Hi, Nicole Plimoc. I praise you for your fantastic work. This recent arrival is an important one. I will be coming to the base to meet with these particular Grantsions as well.”
"Yes, Mr. President, and thank you for the compliment. Just doing my job, sir.”
“Nicole, I want you to be the one to meet with these Grantsions. I know there are tensions on the base already between the Earth army soldiers and the Grantsion soldiers and I cannot have that tension with these new arrivals. I want you to stay with them closely and diffuse any tensions,” he said.
“Yes sir, I understand,” I said, excited that I was getting a direct order from the president.