The morning after Key arrived, Becca called in to take off from work. Gia usually worked from home, but had been working at the office more lately, as they were acquiring a large client for her company. She offered to stay as well, but Becca shook her head.

“No, this is big for you guys, you need to be there.”

Gia arched an eyebrow. “I don’t know how I feel leaving you alone with an alien.”

“I’ll be fine. He’s kind. He’s injured. Nothing will happen.”

Gia sighed and dug into her purse for a moment. “Here,” she said, holding her hand out. “You keep this.”

Becca looked down and saw that her friend was offering her a small can of mace, which clipped to a key ring. She laughed softly but took it, knowing that her friend was only looking out for her. “Thank you,” Becca said. Gia nodded, and then the woman left.

Becca’s heart began to pound then at the prospect of entering her bedroom to speak with Key. She didn’t know why that thought made her so nervous, but she thought it had to do with Gia’s not being there any longer. Was she nervous to be alone with the alien because she was worried about her safety? She didn’t think that was quite right.

She went into the kitchen first, and busied herself with making a piece of toast for the being from space. She wavered a minute as she decided whether he would like butter or jam, or nothing, but she decided on butter and spread it quickly across the surface of the toasted bread. She set the toast on a plate and carried it to her room.

Key was awake, and he turned his head to look at her when she came in.

“I brought you breakfast,” she said, her voice nervous. “Do you eat breakfast? We always start the day with a meal …”

Key smiled and nodded. “Yes, we eat breakfast,” he said. “That smells pleasing.”

“It’s not much, I thought since you were hurt, we could start light,” Becca said. She moved to the side of her bed and sat down on the edge, offering Key the plate. He looked at the toast for a moment.

“You call this bread, yes? We have something similar,” Key said, and then he sighed. “Well, we had something similar, I should say.”

Becca looked at the alien, sadly. She couldn’t imagine what he must be going through. She reached down and placed her hand on his shoulder. She opened her mouth to tell him how sorry she was, but he shook his head, and she knew that he meant that he did not want to talk about it. He smiled then, and lifted the toast to his mouth. He took a bite, and then laughed.

“This is good,” he said.

Becca laughed. “We have a lot better than that here on Earth.”

“I’m going to enjoy trying it,” Key said, and then he quickly wolfed down the rest of the toast.”

“Would you like some more?” she asked.

“Perhaps one more,” Key said, nodding.

“How about some coffee?”

Key laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what that is, so why not?”

Becca laughed and took the plate back. She went to the kitchen and started the coffee maker, and then busied herself preparing another piece of toast. When she was done with that, she poured coffee into two mugs and added milk to both, before taking it all back to the bedroom. Key looked at her.

“A feast,” he said as she placed the plate upon his lap and the mug in his hand. Becca laughed.

“Not quite,” she said as he quickly ate the second piece of toast. Then it was time to try the coffee.

“A hot beverage?” He asked. She was impressed he knew the word beverage.

“Your people didn’t have coffee?”

“Nothing hot. Not to drink. My world was like your deserts, however. We valued cold drinks across the planet.”

“Your whole planet was a desert?”

“Yes.”

“Like Star Wars?”

“What is Star Wars?”

Becca laughed. “Never mind.”

She watched as Key put his lips to the rim of the coffee mug and tilted it. He sipped a bit and made a face. “Intense,” he said, and the girl laughed.

“It’s caffeine. It can be intense,” she said as he took another sip.

“I don’t know what caffeine is,” Key said truthfully.

“It keeps you awake. Gives you energy, I guess you could say,” Becca explained.

“I see,” Key said. “We have something similar, a fruit called Borca. Eat it, and it keeps you up all night.”

“That’s coffee here. Caffeine, it’s in a lot of stuff. It’s a plant. But coffee in the morning keeps you going all day.”

“Well, it’s not bad,” Key said, taking another sip. He set the plate and mug aside then and looked at the young woman.

“You are a beautiful human, yes?” he asked.

Becca felt her cheeks grow warm, and she knew she was blushing. “I don’t know,” she said.

“That is what you call modesty, I believe,” Key said, and Becca laughed.

“Okay, yes I am attractive.”

“I am attractive as well, in my own species. I know I must look monstrous to you.”

Becca shook her head. “You don’t look like a monster.”

Key smiled. “I do not think you look like a monster, either.”

Key smiled and nodded, and then the smile faded, and he suddenly got serious. “I supposed you have many questions.”

Becca shrugged her shoulders. “It can wait,” she said.

“I’m not going anywhere. My stomach hurts. My wound must heal; we may as well answer the other’s questions.”

“You have questions?” Becca asked.

“Of course,” Key said.

“Okay, ask me one,” Becca said.

“Why are you hesitant to take me to your authorities? Surely they would be interested in hearing from me.”

Becca took a long moment to answer. Finally, she decided on the truth. “I’m afraid they would kill you.”

“Kill me? I am no threat to them.”

“Kill you to study you. To see what your insides are like.”

Key was quiet for a moment. “We have something called a spectrometer, in your language of course. It’s weird using my lips to speak so much, we use our throats. But a spectrometer, it can show what is inside.”

“We have something similar, but it works best on bones.”

“I don’t have bones.”

Becca was surprised. “You don’t?”

Key laughed. “I do, I was just kidding. That’s what you call it, yes? Kidding?”

Becca laughed and nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay, I asked a question and you answered it. Now you ask.”

“What are you going to do here? On Earth.”

“Just exist. Live. I have no plans. I just needed to get here. My species, we are finished. I have no woman with whom to mate. I will exist, and then I will pass, and that will be that.”

Becca was nodding sadly.

“Why did ... Gia you said? Why did Gia not want me to stay?”

“She’s scared, I suppose,” Becca said. “You’re from outer space.”

Key laughed. “Understandable,” he said.

“How long does your species live on average?”

“Good question. I already know a lot about your species, but you know nothing of mine. Our years are different, of course, but converted to yours, I would say two-hundred-and-fifty.”

“Oh, wow,” Becca said.

“That’s about a hundred years on my planet.”

Whenever he spoke about his home-world, she could see the sadness and yearning in his eyes. It was Becca’s turn again, to ask a question.

“What was your planet like?” she asked.

Key was quiet for a moment, but then he smiled. “Hot,” he said with a laugh. “Hot and hard, but beautiful. There were small stretches of green - forests, in only a few spots. To see it with your own eyes, after a lifetime of red and orange sand, it was something else. Water existed underground, cool and calm in cave springs. The sky shone like gold when the sun rose or fell. We did well in a harsh land. We made it beautiful; we built great cities.”

“Did you have a wife?”

Becca could help herself, the question came spilling from her mouth before she could stop from asking it. Key looked to her. “I did have a mate. I understand you marry, but we did not. We had mates, but more than one at a time, if we so chose. We were more like animals, than you humans are. We attempted to spread our seed, as widely as possible. I understand you would think that poor, but it was my way of life. I had one woman. She was the first I mated with, and I kept going back to her, even after mating with others. Women and men did not live together on my world. Men were not as respected as women were. We held no positions of power. We worked and we contributed, but the women were celebrated. It was that way because three fourths of those born on my world were female. It was that way so that men could mate with multiple women.”

“You had children?”

“Many,” Key said. “But I did not see them. Their mothers raised them. It is not our way. Still, they are gone now, and it brings me pain.”

“I’m sorry,” Becca said.

“I think I will sleep more,” Key said, and the girl nodded, upset that she had brought their conversation to a halt. Without thinking, she bent down and kissed Key on the cheek. His eyes were closed and they didn’t open. Becca pulled herself back, mortified. She left the room quickly.