NICOLE PLIMOC
It had been ten days since I had talked to Commander Vycon Dase after he had rejected me. I was left feeling absolutely deflated. What had gotten into him? He had become a completely different alien. It was all that I could think about. How could I have misjudged him so badly? Why did I think that I could trust him? He was an alien after all. I knew that the aliens were prone to fights with our own soldiers, but I considered it to be the fault of both parties.
But now, I was seeing just how manipulative and dishonest a Grantsion Zenkian could be. He had me thinking that he was some charming alien that understood me. He had me thinking all sorts of things that I was now feeling guilty that I felt at all. He had worn a mask, and he wore it well. Was it simply to bed me? That did not make sense. He had gone against the rules of the Zenkian. If his Leader found out, he could be exiled from his own village when he returned. It was a great risk for him to take simply because he wanted to be inside me. As soon as I thought of him inside of me, flashes of his blue naked body came to my mind. Damn it, Nicole, you don't want him: remember? I found that I was getting aroused once more just by thinking about him.
But one thing was for sure, I was feeling extremely hurt and disappointed. I did not know why. I barely knew this alien; in fact, he proved to me that I didn't know him at all. I only knew an imaginary side to him. So why did it hurt me so much? Why did I think that we could continue seeing each other in secret? I have looked forward to it and I knew that it was more than just lust. He had gotten under my skin.
I knew that he was out at the copper mines helping with the new shield, the Grantsion technology. He was needed out there. But I remembered just how cold he was. He was very short with me and almost seemed annoyed. It broke my heart. He made excuses, and I knew exactly what it meant. I had dated enough on Earth in order to know when a man wanted to avoid you; an alien man was no different. It really pissed me off. So that was how I spent the following ten days: somewhere between pissed off and extremely sad.
“What is going on with you, Nicole? You have been very distracted lately,” Sheila said as she came over to my desk.
“What? Oh, nothing, it is just this Waysaw invasion that is imminent. It is taking a lot from me,” I said.
“You do?” I asked, hoping that she would not find out the secret that I was keeping.
“Yes, too much work and no play. When was the last time that we even took a lunch together? You have been so busy with these meetings since those new Grantsions arrived,” she said.
“Especially because the last time you went out it was with awful Sergeant Banks. At least you're too busy to deal with him lately,” she said.
“Well, what are you doing now? Do you have an hour to spare? Let’s go to the diner and eat greasy burgers and French fries,” she said with a big smile.
As soon as she said it, my stomach grew very hungry. I realized that I had been eating a lot the last three days, and I did not know why. I assumed I was eating my feelings, as pathetic as that was.
“You are right, Sheila. Let us go and have some girl talk. I have missed talking with you,” I said.
“And I you, Nicole. After you,” she said as she formally bowed. It made me laugh. It felt good to laugh.
I followed her out of our tower base and walked through the battalion areas.
“Nicole!” I heard someone shout. I silently wished that it was Commander Vycon Dase, but I recognized the voice and knew that it was Sergeant Banks. Hearing Sheila sigh next to me only confirmed it.
“Actually, she and I have a very important lunch meeting,” Sheila said grabbing my arm.
“It will only take two minutes,” Sergeant Banks said as he grabbed my other arm and pulled me a couple of feet away from Sheila.
“Where have you been? I have been wanting to see you. You realize that it has been weeks since we have been together? The last time I spoke to you, you said you had your monthly cycle, and then I have not heard from you since,” he said.
“Yes, but as you know, once the new Grantsions arrived, I have been needed in meetings. You have attended a few yourself; you know how they take all day,” I said.
“And what about at night? I heard you have had quite the security team guarding you in case the Waysaw show up and take the female. Why is it that Commander Vycon Dase must guard you and not Sheila or the other few females that are here?” he asked.
I tried to restrain my shock that he knew. Of course, he would know; everyone knew because it was announced in that meaning. Was he in that meeting? I couldn't even remember. Once the commander joined those meetings, I quit keeping track of who else was in the room.
“I am not the one that assigned that team to guard me. I am sure that you have heard that. I am at the mercy of my superiors, just like everyone else here. Now if you'll excuse me, I am on a time crunch,” I said walking away from him.
He grabbed my arm one more time and whispered. “I better not hear that you are doing other things with that filthy alien. I don't know what I will be capable of if I heard that.”
“You have nothing to worry about. And I am not yours, Sergeant Banks. I have never belonged to you.”
“Yes, you have. You were to be my wife; the two of us together with our positions, we would be a power couple,” he said.
I yanked my arm from him disgusted. “Is that all you think about? Your military status? Get away from me,” I said and walked away from him.
“This isn’t over!” he shouted. His words brought goosebumps. Normally I wouldn't care, but now I had something to hide. He could not find out that I had bedded the alien. He would make things very bad for me, and very bad for the commander.
“What was that all about?” Sheila asked as we walked toward the diner.
“The same old crap. You know Sergeant Banks and his selfish ways,” I said.
When we sat down at the table, and the menu was in front of me, I went wild with it.
“I will have a strawberry milkshake, a cheeseburger, an order of chili cheese fries, and maybe a couple of chicken strips on the side,” I said.
She looked at me with wide eyes. “I will just have the cheeseburger and fries and water,” she ordered.
“Wow, you have such an appetite. I have not seen you order like that before in my life. The last time I saw a woman order like that, she was pregnant.” Her eyes grew wide.
“No, I am not pregnant. As you can see, Sergeant Banks was very angry that I have not been with him,” I said as I hid the panic inside of me. I grabbed my glass of water and drank it down in order to distract her. Could it possible? Was my appetite growing out of control because I was pregnant? It had only been ten or eleven days since I’d slept with Commander Vycon Dase. Was that enough time to tell? I didn't know how these things worked when you were dealing with an alien baby.
I sat there listening to small talk with Sheila while I was in a complete panic. It had been a long time since my last monthly cycle, as Sergeant Banks had reminded me outside. The last time I was with the sergeant, I had my cycle a week later. That was more than a month ago, at least a month and a half. So that meant if I were with child, it would belong to Commander Vycon Dase, no question. I quickly shoved the food in my mouth, in all honesty, I was very hungry. I ate practically all of it to Sheila's surprise.
After we walked back to the tower, I waited for Sheila to go back to her workstation before I snuck out. I quickly made my way to my apartment. I had a stash of pregnancy test; almost all of us females did. It wasn't easy getting supplies out to this base, so when they came, we tended to hoard things that females needed in our own apartments.
I took a test; it showed positive. I was in shock. Maybe it was an old test and broken. I grabbed another and took it a few minutes later after I had chugged an enormous amount of water. The test once again showed that I was pregnant. Crap.
“What am I going to do now? You have really gotten yourself into it thick, Nicole,” I said to myself as I left my bathroom. I walked back and forth in front of the windows of my apartment. I would have to get back to work soon before I was missed. But I needed at least twenty minutes to process this. What the hell was I going to do? I could not be pregnant with an alien baby. There were so many things wrong with that prospect.
It was sort of forbidden for humans to be with the Zenkian in any way, even the Grantsions. It wasn't exactly a hard rule, but it was definitely frowned upon. The human females sort of had a choice in the matter, but as far as the Grantsions were concerned, they would be punished. The Grantsions had told Earth over and over that they did not want the human females the way the Waysaw did. It was a major point in the pact between us. This baby could cause all kinds of trouble. but that wasn't my biggest problem: at least not now.
The biggest problem was that the father of this child would be leaving across the Galaxy billions of miles away to another planet. I would never see him again. He would never know that he had created a child inside of me. What was I going to do? I did not have a lot of time because he would be leaving soon, once that shield was completed. I had to do something.