In the depths of space, a small ship went to its destination unnoticed. The rounded vehicle cut through the blackness like a knife, its dark color the perfect camouflage. It could have been a meteor save for its symmetry and design.

Circuitry covered all the walls of the room where two human males sat. Wires and lasers criss-crossed in an infinite geometrical design. A millennium’s worth of technology was packed into little more than a few thousand cubic feet. Minimal noise could be heard as it traveled a light-year an hour. It was an amazing thing, this ship, although the occupants took it for granted.

The two men were father and son. Marph, the former, was in his mid-forties, although he looked younger with his toned body and youthful face. His blond hair had little gray in it. Marph had seen unspeakable horrors in his lifetime, yet he was the eternal optimist.

Tavi, the son, was almost fourteen. Like his father, he too had the appearance of a younger person. His eyes made up for it. They were full of pain and sorrow, dull and numb. Outwardly, he would pass for a joyful type of person. He smiled and laughed and cried as any other human could. Tavi had a sharp eye and a sharper wit. He would have preferred to believe that good things happened, but he had seen too much evidence pointing otherwise.

On the veiwscreen was something that neither person had ever seen before. It was a planet, green and blue, foreign and mysterious.

“So this is where we’re hauling ass?” Tavi asked his father as he looked at it. He did not say this in English, but in que, his native tongue.

“Don’t say that,” Marph responded. “This is where we are settling, not to be confused with hiding or, as you so colorfully put it, ‘hauling ass’.”

“Whatever. I still don’t like it. Ev’clear is so messed up. I can’t imagine any place actually being decent.”

“You were born in a decent place, you know. A large house near the capitol. Your mother loved that house, I tell you. Foun bought it herself after she won the election. The planet used to have a democracy... before the stirks took over. Before they ruined everything,” Marph remarked, nostalgic. “You don’t know the feeling of having enough to eat, being safe in your own bed. All you know is the dirt of that shack in the rural areas.”

“Well, after all we went through, we’d better get something. Learn new languages, study little reports that Natarr gave you when he went there, and all that other crap. Of course, I’m also human now. Short, scrawny, screwed-up human. That’s me!”

“Natarr gave us more than paper, Tavi. He got me a job and found a good apartment--a house within a house, I believe. You’ll like it here, I promise.”

Tavi grumbled, as he was wont to do. He thought of his life up until this point, and sighed. Violence was normal for him. He knew war. It was his familiar companion, his source of energy since early age. The concept of peace was like sudden silence for a person who thrived on noise. Silence gave one time to think, to dwell on things. This scared Tavi more than anything.

Marph looked at the veiwscreen. He knew a world such as this had many different cultures. He would not get a rounded view of this planet, as he would only live in one place on it.

Contemplating his future, Tavi asked, “My new name is Luke Dawson, right?”

Marph nodded.

“Hmm... I wonder what our new place will be like... Blue Ash, Ohio.”

Something rung loudly, blaringly in Tavi’s ear. At first, it seemed deafening, like the gunshots that always had managed to wake up him back home. Great, he thought. If this place is as screwed up as Ev’clear, I’ll shoot myself.

It had been a week since he had landed here. Tavi rolled over to the other side of the bed to see Marph turn off the alarm clock. Ever since his father had gotten that job at that office, he always got up at five a.m. on the dot. The apartment’s one bedroom had two twin beds in it. One was next to the door, the other bordering a large window. Marph occupied the former.

“You gotta get up now? Turn the damn thing off, please,” Tavi tiredly said.

Marph stood up and reached for something on the bureau. “I already turned off the thing. Besides, Earth kids don’t use the word damn.”

Tavi pulled up the covers around him and remarked, in English, “Then it’s a good thing I’m not a damn Earth kid, ain’t it?”

It had been a week since the two had landed on Earth. The spaceship was stored in the fifth dimension, along with most of the other family valuables. Marph was still weird, but had quickly dropped his Ev’clear accent(which had a startling resemblance to a British one). Tavi spent most of his time moping around the house and never had any accent in the first place.

Marph sighed and went to the shower. Tavi fell asleep in less than ten minutes. By the time he awoke for the second time, it was eleven o’clock. Tavi yawned and rested, looking blankly at the walls. They were bare, save for a poster of Cindy Crawford. He didn’t know why, but the picture seemed to hold some deep appeal for him, so he put it up. The bed frames for both beds were metal, as white as the walls. On the end of the room opposite the beds was a cheap wooden dresser Tavi and Marph shared. The only mirror in the house was in the bathroom, since looking at a butt-ugly human face was the last thing either man wanted to see upon waking up.

What should Luke Dawson do today? he thought. Should I fix the television that nobody wants to watch, or explore the fun place called Blue Ash? Who knows? Lemmie see... I’ll be going to Psycomore--I mean Sickomore--No wait, Sycamore. Yeah, that’s right! I’ll be going to Sycamore Junior High in a little less than two months. That’s a school, right? Where they educate the masses? Okay, kind of like those rich people’s teachers in the good part of Ev’clear. Yes...

Tavi sat like this for a long time until he decided that a shower was in order. Naked, he wandered into the bathroom and stepped in the bathtub. He turned on the faucet like he had been taught and adjusted it for the water to come out of the shower part. Then he drew the curtain and bathed. This was new to him. On Ev’clear, as a que, he had never been required wash himself so frequently.

He finished and stepped out onto the bathroom rug, wiping his feet. Then he walked to the kitchen and poured himself some cereal. It was sickeningly sweet, but somehow Tavi tolerated it. He sat on the living room sofa and looked over a book he had gotten out from the library. It was something by a math professor at Harvard, he believed.

“This is crap,” Tavi murmured. He reviewed the equations and summaries, things it had taken humans many years to discover. Most eight-graders would have found these beyond their comprehension, as this took a college-level education just to figure it out. But then, to Tavi this was basic. Dang, he thought. This idiot couldn’t even fly a ship. Half of this is wrong. Light speed is not impossible! Nor is this. And this! Morons.

The door bell rang. Tavi instantly recognized the calling and got up to answer. He found a thin man in his twenties holding a Bible, dressed in a business suit.

“Hello,” Tavi said.

“Hello,” the man answered. “May I tell you about Jesus--” He looked down and exclaimed, “Christ!”

“Yes...?” he asked, leaning against the open door. He felt like something was missing, but it escaped him at the moment. The Jehovah’s Witness ran away with such shock that Tavi worried about that man’s psychological state. Then he went back to reviewing physics for an hour.

Later, Tavi thought it might be a nice idea to take a walk to Swain Park. As he was about to head out the door he realized what had set off his visitor. Oh yeah, he dimly realized. I wasn’t wearing any clothing. I guess that really is required here.

He lazily wandered back to the bedroom and opened the middle draw, taking underwear and socks, things he regarded as having no purpose. Then came the denim shorts and tee shirt. Tavi put on high-tops and remembered to comb his hair, parting it to the side as he had been taught.

“You are now dressed, Luke Dawson,” Tavi remarked to the reflection in the bathroom mirror. “You look like a monkey’s ass--whatever a monkey is-- and you smell like what you regurgitated last night at McDonald’s. Congratulations!”

With a slightly “pissed off” demeanor, he marched down the hall, past the bedroom, around the kitchen, in the living room, and to the door. He absent-mindedly grabbed his plastic near-empty wallet and locked the door behind him. Tavi strode down the stairs and found himself in the parking lot below the building.

The cars in the lot were mostly sportscars, for rich singles who would quickly marry within two years and buy a house in Montgomery or some other fine suburb. Marph’s used Toyota Tercel was absent, already at work in Kenwood. Tavi was momentarily tempted to curse the world he had grown up in and the world his children would. Then he stopped himself.

I am not dead, he thought. There is no weapon in my hand, nor is there a need for one. There are no armies and gangs threatening me every second I breathe. There is no reason for me to feel as I do. Yet...

In minutes, a new and used bookstore became visible when he walked along Blue Ash Road. It was small and quaint, holding a certain appeal for Tavi. He entered the place and the bells on the door chimed in welcome. The middle-aged woman nodded and smiled while taking count of the new deliveries.

Tavi explored the bookstore with wonder and amazement, especially at the large amount of romance novels they carried.

“You know we just got in that Star Wars book in hardcover. It was just published last month,” the storekeeper remarked. “Ever seen Star Wars?”

“No, I haven’t. What is that?” Tavi asked.

The woman laughed. “Oh please, you’ve never even seen it on video? You’ve never seen Luke and the gang fight space battles and do good?”

“Oh! I’ve seen that,” Tavi responded. “Just not in the way you think.”

She laughed and said, “You might want this book then.”

“How much?”

“It’s been discounted to fifteen dollars.”

Tavi made an effort to hide his shock. Fifteen dollars could buy two shirts or a pair of shorts! Outrageous! “Good-bye, then,” he said as he walked out of the store.

As he went to his next stop, he froze. He sensed a stranger come up behind him and reached for the blaster that wasn’t there. Tavi turned around to see a tall man tower over him dressed raggedly and poorly.

“I’ve got a gun,” Tavi lied. His natural facial expression made it believable.

The man looked questioningly at him. “Freak. All I wanted was the time.”

Tavi looked at his watch. “It’s one-thirty.”

The stranger walked off and Tavi sighed. How can I get so defensive? he wondered. How can such a simple thing set me off? Good God, this isn’t Ev’clear! But wait! It could be worse...

Tavi walked to the local Thriftway and picked up the groceries Marph had asked for. The twenty-five dollars he had been given were enough for all that was needed, plus a gallon of that ice cream Marph seemed to like so much. This left Tavi with his own ten dollars from the lawn he had mowed last Saturday. He, of course, would put this in the family funds like he did whenever he obtained any cash on Ev’clear. Still, he began to doubt if this was still necessary.

In aisle three, Tavi saw two girls as old as he was talking near the newsstand. He became interested for some reason and pretended to read an issue of Newsweek so he wouldn’t be caught eavesdropping.

“Well,” the first girl, a redhead, commented. “I suppose your dad might let you get that Gucci from Saks downtown. But really, in that color?”

The second girl rolled her eyes and laughed. The magazine she was showing her friend was the type that showed clothing only one percent of the population could afford. She happened to be in that one percent. “Yes. Magenta is everywhere this season! Didn’t you see Calven in New York last month?”

Tavi took mental notes of the names the girls mentioned. They could be vital information.

“Okay. But if you’re getting that for school, get it with the coat that model’s wearing on page 183. Camel hair would look so good on you.”

The two walked off with the magazine and Tavi instantly reached for another copy of it. “Coat on 138..” he muttered. The caption said that it was made by some designer and that it cost more than six hundred dollars. Using what he had learned from the Jehovah’s Witness, he exclaimed, “Christ!” even though he didn’t know what the word meant. The idea of such expense on finer clothing was not foreign to him, but the coat looked like something he had seen for fifty dollars elsewhere. People here must be very stupid, he figured.

Then Tavi went to the cash register to pay for the groceries. He observed the cashier process each and every item instead of scanning them altogether. Tavi wondered why the person did this. Then he saw that no better technology was available and sighed. Primitives!

He hauled the bags back to the apartment and wondered why twenty pounds of baggage was so tiring. I am weak, he thought. I am weak and defenseless. But then, so is everyone else here, so perhaps we’re equal. Hmm... maybe I should look into investing in a good rifle.

Tavi found himself bored, a feeling he had never known before. He had known fear, he had known grief, but he had never known boredom. Although this feeling was new to him, he did not care much to explore it. He wanted to rid himself of this emotion that consisted of nothingness immediately.

Thus, Tavi stared at the television for a few minutes. It was broken, but he had gotten it that way from a thrift shop for five dollars, believing he could fix it. A television was in every Earth home he had seen in Blue Ash, so he figured he should get one as well. The black screen was silent and motionless. Tavi didn’t know exactly what it was supposed to do, but he guessed it served some kind of entertainment purpose. He made a mental note to see if the library or bookstore carried a guide for repairing televisions, but he fell asleep on the couch before he could act on it.

Marph returning from work awoke him around six o’clock. “Hey,” Marph said as he put his papers on the desk in the living room, a mini-office. “How was your day?”

Tavi laughed. “I saw a man in a business suit holding some big book saying he wanted to tell me about Jesus, whatever that is.”

“Where did you see him?”

“At the door. He was gonna say more, but then, well... so I forgot to dress and he freaked out. Whatta loser!”

Marph rolled his eyes. “Luke, you know you’re going to be staying here for a very long time. We’re going to have to adapt. I have, more or less. Why can’t you?”

Tavi got off of the sofa. “Why must we? Why move to a place where you’re hiding, where nobody accepts you? Why bother? I mean, if you wanted that, we could have saved some trouble and stayed on Ev’clear! At least we’d still be que.”

“I thought you liked this place.”

“At first. But in a second I learned that it’s just more of the same, except worse.”

Marph took off his sports jacket and banged his fist on the table. “All my life I wanted to provide a safe place for my family! I want freedom and I want liberty! What I want and long for are basic rights! That is all! If you want to go back, you can.”

Tavi watched as Marph took a small silver object out of a draw below the kitchen counter. It had the dimensions of a beeper, but none of the details. It was smooth all over. “This,” his father said, “is the key to the fifth dimension. If you want to take this in your hand and go back to Ev’clear, I will not stop you. If you want to join one of the militias, I will pray for you every night. And if you die fighting, I will mourn for you.”

The key gleamed in Marph’s hand. Tavi eyed it curiously, longingly. He continued, “Take it.”

The key dropped into Tavi’s hand. Tavi took it and aimed it at the hallway. A swirling circular opening appeared in the unlit hall. Beyond it could be seen the fabrics of time, space, and anything else one would care for. Tavi took one hesitant step forward. Another followed.

“Go on,” Marph said with little emotion. “Go back to Ev’clear. I’m not stopping you. Go on.”

Tavi dropped the key and the opening disappeared. He looked at his father. Marph gave a slight smile and patted him on the back.

The son looked out of one of the windows, avoiding his gaze. “So you were right? So I don’t have the guts to go back, do I?”

“Yes.”

“Great! What do I--we-- do now? I’m nothing here. You’re nothing here. Seven years from now, what can we say we’ve done? You’re a secretary, I’m a student? There’s no honor in that, no courage... What the Hell am I saying?”

“You are complaining of a life in which there is no fighting, no death, no ‘adventure’. You hate living in a safe place. Maybe you haven’t adjusted yet to Earth, or perhaps you’ve adjusted too much. To be specific, maybe you’ve seen your old life glamorized with Nintendo and the cinema--”

“I haven’t seen one yet.”

“It makes no difference and you know it. You’re not a fool, Son, but you’re apt to be seriously misguided sometimes.”

Tavi considered the statement. “No. I think I just hate this place because it’s as boring as anything. I mean, there’s nothing to do here!”

Marph rolled his eyes and said, “I think my coworker called it ‘those lazy summer days’. Just wait a few weeks until school starts. Then you’ll wish for times like this.” Then he used the phone and called the local pizza place to order something.

“You know,” Tavi said as Marph hung up. “It would be more cost-effective to try buying dinner-foods from the market and cooking them.”

“Well, I don’t know how to use the damn stove. Do you?”

“Good point. Who did you call this time?”

Marph answered, “Papa John’s. Why?”

He casually set plates and silverware on the small table. “Uh, no reason.”

“Is it her? That woman--what’s her name?”

“Charlotte. Yes... It’s none of your business!” Tavi exclaimed, somewhat embarrassed. He thought of her, glasses, thick hair, and a thicker body. The current standards considered Charlotte to be imperfect, but Tavi barely even knew what those were. To him, the plumpness showed prosperity and health. The glasses made her seem unique, as the concept of eyewear was new to Tavi. Thick hair could be full of life, well-fed like the body. Why must I feel this way towards her? Tavi thought. She is too old for me, by at least three or four years. It is but a birthdate, of course. Still, that matters, even back home. Wait! Did I just call Ev’clear home? Oh my God, I am screwed up!

Marph stared blankly at the broken television. “We really should buy a new one.”

“Yeah. I probably should try fixing it, shouldn’t I? I’ve been meaning to, but I just haven’t got around to it yet. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“No. Listen, I’ve been looking at the way things are going lately and it seems we’re better off than expected. Tell me, in the way of appliances, what do you want?”

“The flabro-tika numerni! New version.”

“Something available on Earth, please... Bum.”

Seconds passed before Tavi carefully responded, “Something called the compact disk was introduced five years ago. It plays music like the cassette player you got from Revco, but lasts longer and has better sound. Music. It is a strange thing to me, people buying recorded information for pure entertainment. Don’t you think?”

Marph nodded, so Tavi continued. “Well, I think I like music. It is an effective and legal form of amusement.”

“...Or, to be more precise, it is legal and you actually enjoy it.”

“Precisely!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! The enemy soldiers ran after Tavi, with full ammunition and the advantage of actual vehicles.

Tavi aimed his blaster, his most prized possession, at the young stirk closest to catching him. Before he could do anything, the stirk was hit between the eyes. Black blood gushed out of his punctured skull. Tavi, however, did not notice. He was too busy concentrating on finding a good escape and shooting as many of the stirks as possible.

“Come and get me, damnit!” Tavi called to the battalion behind him. It was his side’s battle cry. “Cevor ku dowm! Come and get me!”

“Stupid kid,” the stirk captain remarked to one of his officers. “We’ll cut him off in a second. I don’t know why he doesn’t surrender now, though. If he did, we’d be merciful to him. A lethal injection is said to be better than death of a thousand cuts, isn’t it?”

The officer nodded. “I, for one, shall show no mercy of any sort. They all should be killed!”

“Ah yes, each and every one of them!”

Tavi saw a building at the end of the road. It was abandoned and empty, but Tavi knew how to use such things to an advantage. He saw the enemy behind him. They were aided by speeders and were getting closer by the second.

If only my legs can go just a little faster, he thought. Blue sweat dripped down his light green face. The building was close now. Only fifty yards now! So close, so temptingly close!

Something hit Tavi from behind, on his right shoulder. Pain streaked through his entire body. He couldn’t feel his arm and looked around to his left. The stirks were in firing range. Yet Tavi ignored the pain. If anything, it made him go faster. He made a sharp turn into the building and used the moments it would take for the enemy to get out of their speeders to find a hiding place.

After they had made a thorough search of the place, Tavi relaxed and looked down at his arm. Only now did he fully realize that it wasn’t there, replaced by a large pool of blood. So he used some old rags to control the bleeding and, overcome by shock, made his way home that night.

His eyes snapped open and stayed that way until Tavi realized what had happened. It is little more than a nightmare, he thought. There are no stirks for a million-billion miles.

The alarm rang and Marph woke up. “Well,” he said. “It’s the first day of school. You excited? You’ve got all your supplies in a sack, right?”

Tavi nodded, preoccupied. Although what he had just experienced was an illusion, the incident itself was very real. It had taken place two and a half years ago, when Tavi had been caught at an “illegal meeting”. Of all the members of his gang, he was the only one to survive. “Yeah. Who takes a shower first today?”

“I probably should. I need to get to work earlier, and you might want those extra minutes of sleep after a summer of waking up at noon.”

“Fine. Seven is a godless hour anyway,” Tavi said as he again burrowed his body in the covers. Hair touching the pillow was a sensation Tavi had finally gotten used to after two months.

I should be happy now, he figured. I will be expected to make up for lost childhood now, won’t I? Yes, and I can do whatever the Hell I want without fear of getting physically hurt-- the Constitution does protect me against that, doesn’t it? But if this is all true, than why do I have such a heavy heart? Why?

Tavi bathed and dressed, recalling what he had studied before going to Earth. Deciding that he knew enough of the subjects to compete at an eighth-grade level, he walked the few blocks to Sycamore Junior High. In the parking lot there were large yellow vehicles. Tavi knew their purpose was to transport students to school who were not fortunate enough to live near it. Yet, although he had seen them on the streets, he’d never seen one up close. It fascinated him.

He entered the school through the cafeteria, surrounded by masses of other students. So this is school, he thought. I wonder what it will be like here. There are classes and periods and all, so I guess that’s one thing I know. But what else? What social interactions here should take place here?

A male and female student were touching lips at one of the lockers until an older person, an authority obviously, came up to them and told them to stop. Tavi’s first impression of this was not rules being carried out, but of a jealous old man. The girl looked at the old man and Tavi overheard her saying, “Go screw yourself, Mr. Elmwood. That’s why only staff is allowed in the faculty restrooms, remember?”

The reply came. “You’re getting two days of suspension for that remark!”

“Fine. This place sucks. Good-bye!” With this the girl left with her boyfriend.

Tavi sympathized with her attitude, but saw no reason for such a thing. If Mr. Elmwood wasn’t armed, what gave her an excuse to act as she did? Humans must be either really overreactive or they just haven’t seen enough to know that this is the good life, he thought. I’d guess--no, hope-- that it’s probably the latter.

He made his way to first period English. Tavi had learned the language fairly quickly and thus felt confident as he entered the classroom. He took a desk in back and placed his backpack next to him. Then his confidence fell as he saw the other students.

Everybody here knows everybody else! Tavi broke into a sweat. What do I do? If I sit here alone, with no conversation, I’ll surely look awful to these people. Oh, thank the gods these people seem to like so much... here comes what must be a teacher!

“Hello, class,” said middle-aged man. “For those of you who don’t know or have forgotten over summer break, I’m Mr. Krisley.” He was tall and thin with short red hair. He looked non-threatening, in other words. Tavi felt himself relax around this new person.

“Today,” Mr. Krisley continued. “I’ll give everyone a list of the materials needed for this class. Included are a binder with dividers. Any questions?”

Tavi wanted to ask what a binder and a divider were, but did not. First he figured that his question would be embarrassing. Also, he knew he was smart enough to learn what these things were by himself. He thought, Perhaps Dad would know.

“Class,” the teacher announced. “Today we have a new student here. Luke?”

It took Tavi a moment to recognize the name. He sat still, since the last thing he wanted to do was have attention drawn to him. Attention from these aliens was almost as bad as that from stirks. Actually, he thought, it is worse. At least with stirks I know what to expect. Dumbly, he responded, “Uh... what?”

“Come up here and introduce yourself, boy. Tell the class about yourself!”

Tavi, eyes downward, stood next to Mr. Krisley. He looked at his new classmates and sighed. “Hi.”

A low mummer came from the audience. Then something caught his eye: in the back of the room, her back to the window, was a girl. Externally, she looked no different from her peers. Her wavy blond hair, a few shades lighter than Tavi’s, was pulled back in a barrette. A light pink blouse draped over some jeans, with clean white Keds anxiously tapping on the floor. At the moment, she was writing a note to a friend.

Quickly, Tavi averted his eyes and rushed back to his seat. Still, the impression had been made. Something about this girl excited his imagination. The look in her eyes was that of a well-hidden secret, a mystery never to be solved. He knew that body language was another thing that made her stand out. Tavi knew that own past disfigurement caused him to be left-handed and favor his left arm. This girl’s movements seemed to imply something of another nature, but it was so subtle that it took a trained eye to see it.

Who are you? he wondered. No other human has affected me like this. Not romantically, but another thing. Fascination, maybe? If only I knew!

Then the bell rang and Tavi went to his next class.

Sometime around 11:57, Tavi entered the cafeteria. This room was larger than the rest, except for the art classroom with its high ceiling. The floor was cleaned daily, but those that cleaned it were lazy bums who only did a half-hearted job, leaving it covered with the crud of years past. The walls were ivory, with announcements posted all over. Crowds brushed by him from all directions. Many lined up at the main- and snack bar.

Tavi already had packed his lunch, save for a cold drink. He went to a vending machine and took out some quarters. Following the instructions, he slid the coins in. “I want ‘fruit punch’,” he said. Nothing happened. He tried this many times, in about five of the more common Earth languages. “What the Hell is this?!” Tavi fumed in his native tongue, in a voice too low to be overheard or, though here it was unlikely, understood.

Then Tavi saw the girl in his first-bell class using the vending machine next to his. He observed how she hit a large button with a logo on it to obtain product. So he searched for a button indicating the availability of fruit punch. None could be found, so he took some cola instead.

The girl passed by him. Tavi followed her to a table near the entrance to the parking lot. She sat down with two other girls. Other than this trio, it was unoccupied. He inhaled and asked, “May I sit here, please?”

“Sure.” Tavi took a seat next to one of the girl’s friends, across from her. The friend handed him a tray and he took out his lunch. “The name’s Luke, right? So, where ya from?”

Tavi quickly recalled the explanation he had been trained to give if anyone asked this question. “I’m from England.”

“Why did you move?”

Ouch. He hadn’t considered this one, so he gave the answer he heard most other people give. “Dad’s job... you know, what else?” This was partly true in the sense that his family’s economic condition had improved from living on Ev’clear.

“Yeah,” the girl sympathized. “Wait! You don’t know my name, do you?”

Tavi shook his head.

“Okay, then. I’m Victoria, but just call me Vic.” She indicated the Japanese-American girl next to her. “This is Tanya.” Then she gestured to the extremely thin brunette. “And here’s Libby.”

Tavi greeted all of them. Tanya looked mischievously at Vic and asked, “Wasn’t it Brent that you had that thing for?”

Vic rolled her eyes. “I still do, girl. What? Do you actually think...?”

“Brent?” Tavi asked. “You mean the Brent in Honors Math? Brent Parker?”

“Yeah. He’s hot, isn’t he? A jock, true, but intelligent enough. He’s on the football team, and he’s, like, their greatest player ever! He looks like that guy from Growing Pains, a kind of muscular Kirk Cameron.”

Tavi’s house now contained a television, but it was rarely used. Still, he had seen the show mentioned in various magazines and thus knew what Vic was talking about.

“Speaking of Growing Pains...” Tanya remarked. “Doesn’t Luke here look like that other guy on the show. You know, what’s-his-name, the younger one.”

Libby laughed sarcastically. “Luke Brower, Luke...?”

“Dawson,” Tavi said. “It’s Dawson.”

“Dawson...” The word lingered on Vic’s tongue. “Haven’t I heard that before?”

“I’m not related to anyone, if that’s what you mean.” Uncomfortable, he changed the direction of this conversation. “Uh, do any of you play sports?”

“I was a cheerleader last year and Libby rides horses, but that’s about it,” Vic responded.

“Why don’t you do it this year?”

“Too many damn snobs. I swear, it makes Beverly Hills look humble! I mean, so what if you’re some straight-A rich kid? It doesn’t make you better than anybody else.”

Power comes from wealth, Tavi thought. The poorer classes will always be abused, for the weak shall never inherit the Earth. Because if they did, they wouldn’t be weak. Or, to use a more Sycamore-like term, Duh! “Are you considered wealthy?”

“Define wealth,” Vic said. “If you mean material wealth, then I probably am. My dad is an executive at P&G, and we live in this big place in Montgomery. But as for the real wealth, that of the heart? Well, I am thankful for my family and my cats, so I guess I am in that way as well. Still, I know it could all end.”

“How?”

“Natural disasters, death, legal issues, or whatever. None are possible now, but you never know what’ll happen, right? Sometimes I have these dreams where I live in a world where, although I live like a god, many people there struggle just to live. Every day, former political leaders, tradesmen, and countless others must beg to get food. Some are fortunate enough to have a subsistence farm, but they’re in the minority. Then I wake up and realize that these poor souls never saw it coming.”

“Sounds like where I’m from.”

“Really?” Vic asked. “I thought England was supposed to be nice.”

Tavi quickly realized his blunder. “Well, I don’t think so, with that Thacher chick and all!”

It was a little after six when Marph returned home. Tavi was doing his homework, with books and papers spread across the small kitchen table. Marph laid his coat on the hook near the door and asked, “Is that stuff from the school?”

Tavi nodded as he mentally did some long equations. The math assignment, which would have taken an average student at least half an hour, occupied no more than five minutes of Tavi’s time. The rest of his work was even easier. In some schools, he would have been envied for this. But, Sycamore being Sycamore, Tavi would never face another’s jealousy since he’d probably end up driving a tiny Toyota Tercel in the high school, that is to say, if he’d drive any car at all.

“Did the others like you?” Marph asked as he sat across from his son.

Tavi finished his work. “I made some acquaintances, yes.”

“Do you remember Natarr? The man who helped us settle here?”

“Um... I think I do. He’s a friend of yours, right?”

“Yes. Well, he’s coming over tonight.”

Tavi removed his books from the table, placing them in his knap-sack. “Great. He lives in New York City now, doesn’t he? With that wife of his?”

“Natarr’s been on Wall Street for a decade now. He goes by the name Edward Smith while his wife has chosen the name Sophie. I think you’ll like them.”

“Oh,” Tavi commented. “Are we to meet them?”

“Yeah. We’ll pick them up at the airport around seven and then eat at the Massonette. Do you have any good clothes? Oh, I forgot, why would you? You’ve no need for them until now. That’s okay. I bought something for ya.” Marph held up the suit for Tavi to see. It was jet black and double-breasted, obviously of some very high quality. Then he showed him a box of rich leather shoes, a folded shirt of the finest cotton, and a plain bright blue silk tie.

“Dad, how could you afford this?” Tavi asked as he touched the suit under the plastic bag. The fabric felt like wool, yet it was luxurious. “We don’t have that kind of money!”

“I know we don’t. If you care, I’ll tell you that the tie was the only thing I bought at full price. The shoes and shirt were on clearance, and the suit was a lucky find at a very fine men’s store.”

“Ah yes, the thrift shop. Wonderful place! But who would just give up a thing like this? The guy must have died or something, I swear! Oh, thank you!” Tavi said as he took the clothing to his bedroom.

A few minutes later, Tavi emerged from the bedroom looking a few years older. The suit slipped over his body as smoothly as if it had been custom-made for him. He combed his hair back with Marph’s hair gel and carried himself as if he were a rich man, perhaps a mannerism he had borrowed from his classmates. Tavi’s appearance clashed with the background that consisted of a small apartment. The picture would have looked more appropriate if he had been standing in a fairy-tale ballroom, with a crown on his head and an orb in his hand.

Marph looked at his watch. “It’s six-twenty. We’d better go now.”

Tavi adjusted his shirt and they left home. He saw his father go by their Tercel and said, “Isn’t that our car? Why are we walking away from it?”

Marph came to a gray Buick, took out a key, and opened the door. Seeing the suprised expression on Tavi’s face, he explained, “It’s a rental.”

“Ah! To make us seem like we come from Indian Hill? Or maybe just because you think Natarr’s used to it?... What?” Tavi saw Marph’s disapproving eyes.

“It has nothing to do with making an impression, I assure you. Really! Tell me, why don’t you try fitting four full-sized people in that Tercel?”

“Okay,” Tavi mumbled, ashamed of his outburst. How rude of me, he thought. How awful to degrade any signs of wealth, when in truth such things are not that bad. Maybe I am a freaked-up stirk now, but maybe I’m not. Oh crap! Who cares? Either way, I might as well get over it. Besides, the leg-room is really nice...

Gate 24 was like any other gate in the Greater Cincinnati Airport. Blue plastic seats lined the large windows, occupied by a variety of people: mothers and children, men on business trips, and a lone old woman waiting to see her grandchildren. A tired-looking airport attendant raised her head over the ticket counter, taking note of the strangers that surrounded her. Her head drooped a little bit, immediately raised when notice of the arrival came. Surely enough, flight 45 landed a minute later.

Edward and Sophie Smith were the first people to come through the entrance. Edward was a large man with a muscular powerful frame and a friendly face. His wife was as tall as him, only very thin. Both were blondes, which by now seemed to be the hair color of choice for those not born on Earth. They walked with a casual confidence. Marph recognized them and gave them a warm greeting, in English. “How are you, Edward? Well, I hope?”

“Very! Let me tell you, ever since I bought that Microsoft stock in ‘85... but enough about me. Are you good? Did my connections work out for you? Is Tavi--oops-- is Luke in a good place?”

Tavi minded be refereed to in the third-person, and thus remarked, “I’m very well at school, thank you. By the way, if you call me the ‘T-word’ again, somebody might hear you. A name of that origin might be noticed by the wrong type of person.”

Edward was not used to being talked down to, especially by someone less than a third his age. Still, Tavi was right. The rules were to only use Earth languages in public and not to call anyone by their que name. While the former came naturally to him, the latter was very hard. Socially, he had not encountered this taboo before.

Marph regarded the situation and sighed. Tavi had always had a mouth on him. But he was used to it, so he simply changed the conversation. “Are you looking forward to the restaurant we’re going to?”

“The Massonette? I suppose. The service is good enough, and the food is fine if you like that kind of thing. Although to be honest, I’d rather just eat at a McDonald’s,” Sophie responded in her Manhattan accent.

Tavi did not bother to hide his shock. The Massonette, he had heard, served the best gourmet food in Cincinnati. McDonald’s, on the other hand, was crap; despite the fact that it was made for and by humans, Tavi’s human stomach still couldn’t digest it.

“Oh...” Marph scratched his head. He didn’t really care where he ate, but he thought that this would be the most appropriate place to go. After all, wouldn’t the Smiths be used to this sort of thing? Edward had always been rich, even before living on Earth. He was rich on Ev’clear, before the stirks took over. He relocated to Earth the second they did, five weeks after he had discovered that the planet existed. It was easy for him, as transportation wasn’t blocked at the time. For Marph, of course, it was harder: with no money and stirks coming at him from all directions, even walking in the open was dangerous.

“Well,” Tavi suggested. “Maybe we could just all go to the apartment and order some Chinese...” He wanted to change out of his suit as soon as possible; it made his posterior itch madly.

“Luke...” Marph said quietly. He had reservations for this place, damnit!

“Oh, I think it’s a wonderful idea! Simply quaint!” Sophie exclaimed. “Ah yes, very humble... so Southern, so Cincinnati! Don’t you agree, Edward?”

Edward, at a loss for words, simply nodded. He had been anticipating a creamy fondue dish, perhaps with a chocolate desert, but he could get that anywhere. Maybe an at-home meal would be refreshing.

“... We accept, Dawson. A home-cooked meal would be fabulous!”

Marph was about to protest, but Tavi chimed, “That’ll be great... Uh, where’s your luggage gonna be picked up?”

The Buick drove along I-275, with Tavi and Marph in the front, the Smiths in the back. Marph asked his son, “Tell me, what in Hell were you saying about cooking back there?”

“I can cook. You have a problem with that?”

Marph laughed. “What? Where did you learn? Who taught you? You?”

Tavi leaned back in his seat. “...Well, it was summer and I was bored, that’s all.”

“What can you fix? It had better not be crap. If it is...”

“Chill! A simple dish like soup and casserole shouldn’t take me more than twenty minutes!”

Marph shook his head in wonderment. He had always known that Tavi was marginally more intelligent than his peers(who were a bunch of dinkleberries, in his opinion, so this didn’t say much), but he still had wanted to be the first one to tackle the great beige monster.

Tavi yawned and thought of reasons why he shouldn’t jump out of the car window onto the streets fifty feet below. None came to him. I’m bored, he thought. I’m very bored and should prefer to fly out of this glass cage, over the worlds below like a bird, the wind caressing me with her soft touch. To fly so high that I would reach what Earth calls Heaven, and sweep over it so gently that God himself would not notice... Too bad, that in reality, I’d probably go someplace other that Heaven when those transparent shreds kill me. Damn...

“Please, Dawson. Don’t not forgive the kid for cooking!” Sophie commented from the backseat. “Things like that are vital to most households! I mean, what would Edward and I do without Hilda?”

“Ah! See, that’s the issue. You can afford a cook, we can’t,” Marph said.

“Which is what that guy at the Chinese place is for...” Tavi commented. He turned to the people in back. “By the way, cooked food is not vital. Nor is a cook, or a stove, or many other things you take for granted. You’d be suprised what you can live without if forced to.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Marph hissed.

“Why not? We lived like that, didn’t we?”

“Let him talk, Marph,” Sophie urged. She used his que name, reminding him that a car was not a public setting, even if it was the size of most airports.

“Yes,” Edward added. “I’m actually curious as to what things have been like since I left. There was a depression, wasn’t there? I mean, except for the stirks.”

“Oh, the benevolent stirks!” Tavi said. “How we were expected to worship them, to be their slaves! They take your house, your good ship, and anything else left of value. What do you have left? Pride?! Not when you’re begging every day! We had a shack in the country and a crap ship, the only things the stirks didn’t want. We were able to grow food and trade for what we absolutely needed, but it was purely subsistence. I couldn’t be formally educated, so I taught myself from some old gliners--you know, books--that Dad had stored in the shack. Of course, those days were dreadful. Now I don’t mean dreadful in the sense that Dad’s business suffered. I mean dreadful in the fact that it was taken over by the stirks... like everything else.”

“My God...” Sophie exclaimed. “How did Foun fare? Did she win in the next election?”

“Actually, they killed off all members of the Senate,” Tavi said. He talked in a bland tone, as if it were old news that he didn’t care about. Sometimes he thought about Foun, and wondered what things would have been like if she had lived. Besides having a mother, not much came to mind. He would have still been the one-armed farmboy, in the same shack, living the same life. Besides, he was used to people dying.

Marph held back some tears while Sophie and Edward looked downward, silent. Tavi sighed. What is it with these people? he wondered. What is the big deal?

The car pulled into a parking space in the lot below the building, and they took the elevator to the right floor to the apartment. Tavi opened the door and let the adults through. Edward commented, “This is temporary, isn’t it?”

“Why should it be?” Marph responded. “It’s big enough and leaves over enough money to save for Tavi’s college and my retirement. Personally, I find it very comfortable.”

“It is,” Sophie agreed as she sunk into the plush sofa. It was an inexpensive couch, but it was covered with some pillows that Marph had bought to brighten the room.

Edward slightly blushed. He tried to comprehend what his friend had been through, but he could not. Or, perhaps he simply would not. The thought of Ev’clear going to Hell was not a pleasant one, and he naturally wanted to think of it in the best possible light. Marph had told him that there was a depression when he explained why he wanted to move to Earth, and Edward believed him totally. Maybe his fears about Ev’clear would never be realized and moving to Earth was overreacting. Still, he knew that Tavi was telling the truth, not exaggerating it.

Tavi excused himself to change into more casual clothes, and the others did the same, as evening dress was too much for spaghetti and meatballs. The conversation turned to business and politics while Sophie repeatedly complemented Tavi on his cooking. The scene was not unlike that of any other dinnertime gathering. Marph was presented with wine, which he had never tasted before, and soon everyone was very drunk, save for Tavi; he had discovered alcohol’s numbing effect while watching the others and thus stopped drinking after half a glass.

“Oh dear,” Sophie complained, slurring her words. “Marph’s too wasted to drive us to the hotel, Edward. Where will we stay for the night?”

“I can drive you there,” Tavi offered. The sight of his drunk father bothered him, and the sight of two drunk semi-strangers scared him.

“Aren’t you too young...?” Sophie protested, although with no conviction.

“I’m old enough. Let’s go,” Tavi lied. The thought of being caught by a policeman slightly worried him, but he knew that he drove too well for that to happen. After all, wasn’t a typical ship one-hundred times as complicated as a Buick anyway?

He drove the couple to the hotel and then left the Buick at the rental place, walking the rest of the way home. Tavi returned to find Marph sleeping on the sofa, with vomit in the toilet forty feet away. He flushed the toilet and checked to see that his father was alright, then looked at the empty bottles on the table. He took them out of the apartment with disgust and threw them at the dumpster. Some of them made it in, some crashed on the metal siding. Satisfied that this would no longer endanger his father, he went back to the apartment and went to bed. He considered placing the alarm clock near the sofa, but decided against it; Marph needed a day to recover.

Tavi slouched at his desk in fourth-period history. The night before had left him with little sleep. He had gotten four hours of rest, if even that much. Mr. James strode in front of the class, lecturing on the importance of something that Tavi didn’t give mind to.

Seeing the boy with his head on his desk, Mr. James asked, “Luke, right? Fine. Tell us, what is Thomas Jefferson best known for?”

Thomas-what? Tavi dimly tried to come up with an acceptable answer. “Uh... didn’t she do that spread for Playboy or something?”

Peals of laughter spread throughout the room as Mr. James exclaimed, “Young man, off to the principal’s office! Now!”

Tavi gathered his books and muttered “That’s cool” as he walked to the office, wondering what it was that he had done. The entrance to the principal’s office looked like any other part of the building, surrounded by a reception area with teachers’ mailboxes and secretaries. One of the latter told Tavi to sit on a bench next to the door. Tavi did as he was told and saw another student on the other end of it. “Hey,” Tavi said.

The other male looked at him. He was of average height, average build, and Jewish. He responded, “Hey. What you here for? I got caught cheating.”

“What? God, this school gives such easy work! Are you stupid?”

“No.” He laughed. “Jus’ too damn lazy. Oh, I’m Shawn. Who are you?”

“Luke. And if you ask what I’m here for, all I can tell you is that, well, apparently Thomas Jefferson did not pose in Playboy. At least that’s what Mr. James impressed on me.”

Shawn laughed. “Mr. James? Well, no duh! It’s not like he’s ever seen the magazine anyway... Mr. James doesn’t like women.”

Tavi missed the joke, but smiled just the same. The clock ticked solemnly, marking each second until the fatal moment. Tavi felt a faint dread while Shawn spread himself across the bench. To Shawn, this was a second home. He exhaled, bored.

“Tell me...” Tavi began. “What exactly happens to you when you go through that door?”

“Mr. Samson bites your head off, expels you from school--which sucks anyway-- and you walk out and tell that cross-dresser to kiss your ass. So of course he gets real mad and locks himself up afterward-- to jack off with Mr. James!”

“Interesting...” Tavi commented as he realized what that meant. He questioned the significance of such a thing and continued to count the tiles on the ceiling. Eventually, the secretary called out Shawn’s name. While some of his coolness wore off with this, he proceeded to Mr. Samson’s door with dignity and disdain.

Tavi tapped on Shawn’s arm. “Good luck.”

“Yeah... you too,” Shawn said, losing for a moment his composure. It was only for a second, but Tavi saw his underlying fear.

Muffled sounds were heard from behind the door as Tavi listened with interest. “Shawn Disraeli, this is the third time this month you’ve been in this room. Cheating, cutting class, and smoking in the bathroom? What type of example are you setting here, Disraeli?”

Shawn’s voice responded, “None, sir. I should have done better... sir. May I pleased be excused to class now?” He was terrified, but trying desperately not to show it.

“Wait. You’re getting a after-school detention, you understand?”

The door opened and Tavi’s name was called. He passed Shawn and nodded.

Shawn smiled as he walked away, humming a popular tune that had been stuck in his head for days.

Tavi cautiously went through the door and felt his heartbeat grow faster, like a hummingbird’s. Mr. Samson was a tall and muscular man, with a thick brown beard and aggressively hazel eyes. Tavi backed into the wall farthest from his desk and felt old emotions creep up inside him: those of doubt, of fear, of danger, and of defense. He hadn’t felt like this since his last day on Ev’clear, maneuvering through the stirk ships as quickly as possible.

Mr. Samson told Tavi to sit in the chair in front of him and asked, “Do you know what you’re here for, young man?”

Tavi shook his head and shrugged.

“Well, Mr. James tells me that you’re making profane comments in class. Is that true?”

“Probably,” Tavi responded. Ah, he thought. So it was that Thomas-chick thing I said. But what was so offensive about that? If the rest of Earth is like this, no wonder they’re so damn primitive!

“Luke, we look down upon that behavior in this school. Our motto is ‘Freedom with Responsibility’. Do you know what that means? That means that as a student here, not only do you have special privileges, but a certain responsibility as well. Understand?”

“Yes. Sorry.”

“Are you honest when you say that? I’d hate to punish a kid here on his second day, but I have been known to do that. Do you promise never to repeat this act?”

“Uh, yeah...” Tavi said, relaxing slightly.

“Good. Now I’ll just leave you with a warning. Off with you! Fifth bell is about to start, so you’d better hurry.”

Relieved, Tavi went to the door. As he exited, he turned back to Mr. Samson and said, innocently and honestly, “Say hello to Mr. James for me!”

Tavi carried a light green tray. The items on it had the names of various types of Earth food, but not the actual appearance. This made him wonder about the true content of his lunch, but he disregarded it. After all, wasn’t there a variety of different combinations of cheese, fish, bread, and something that looked utterly disgusting?

“Hey, alien!” Tanya called from the table. It was directed at Tavi, and he was only a few feet from her. Yet, even if he was across the room, he would have still spun around and dropped his meal.

“Wuh?” Tavi asked. People weren’t supposed to know who he was. Immediately a vision of stirks was brought to mind, with all the pain that went along with it. He tried to calm down, not noticing the mess on the floor.

“Yeah. Libby thinks you’re weird, so she calls you alien. After all, England is very far away,” Vic explained jokingly.

Tavi laughed. “Well, many people think that Cincinnati is a planet of its own too.”

Tanya started fingering her hair, which was perpetually down. This was done in a somewhat flirting fashion. If this was done in an attempt to attract or simply another part of her personality, nobody knew.

He sat across from Vic. The latter commented, “What about your food?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“It doesn’t matter. You need to be eating if you’re to sit here at a table. Also, isn’t that your mess everyone’s walking through?... Ah well, you can take my fries and if you don’t tell, I won’t tell. How about that?”

Tavi shrugged and greedily ate the offering, as he had missed breakfast. “Thank you!”

“No prob... Oh God, I’ve gotta tell ya’ll!” Vic announced. Her eyes lit and her hands raised like a socerior as she said it. “Brent Parker asked me out!”

“Really? Lucky,” Libby remarked.

Tanya took more interest. “How did he do it? When, where, and how?”

“I was at the library that’s a few blocks from here, an hour after school. Well, maybe it was a little later, because football practice had let out by then. I was reading something at one of the desks there when I sensed someone coming behind me. I turned around and--damnit!-- it was Brent. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder, with his duffel-bag in his hand.”

“He came all that way for you?” Tanya asked.

“Actually, it turned out he didn’t even know I was there. He was searching the shelves for a report he was doing, and I just happened to be two feet away. Honest! But if there’s such a thing as destiny, then it was workin’, baby! He saw me, I saw him, we talked like we usually do. Then he brought up the subject of romance, the pretext being that I was reading Gone With the Wind. Finally, he just asked me, quote, ‘LaRosa’s is just down the street. It’ll be dark in a couple hours, with these shortening days and all, and the night is made for this romance you talk of, isn’t it...?’.”

“Aw...” Tanya sighed.

“Good for you,” Libby said, and quickly resumed staring out of the window.

“What’s it like?” Tavi asked.

“What’s what like?” Vic responded.

“This feeling you’re talking about, about love and stuff. Why do you yearn for this? Is it more than physical and sexual?”

“Of course. Brent makes me feel like nobody else can. When I’m with him, I feel like I’m a queen. He sweeps me off my feet and the world around us is little more than a dream. And we move through this dream like ghosts, detached and careless, free and loving it! I can’t describe the feeling, except to say that’s it’s very, very nice,” Vic finished.

Hey! Tavi thought. I want some of that!

“So what’s up with you... alien?” Vic asked.

The sound of the word shook him slightly, but the feeling passed in a millisecond. He responded, “Well, last night was fun, and today was only slightly better.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Probably because it isn’t. Last night, Dad invited some friends from out-of-state and we ate at my place. All was well, until the wine came. Then everyone got drunk off their ass and I ended up driving his friends to the hotel downtown.”

“Your father’s an alcoholic?” This concerned Vic.

“No. He’d never tasted the stuff until last night, and I don’t think he ever will again-- unless he enjoys being sick, which I strongly doubt. Then when fourth period history came today, well, that was more of a learning experience.” Tavi didn’t know why he was telling these things to Vic, but she made him feel safe and was one of the few people he trusted.

“You don’t have Mr. James, do you?”

“Yes I do. So I’m in class and he asks me who the Hell Thomas Jefferson is. Well, I’m almost sleeping here, so how should I know?”

Libby interrupted, “He’s that guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence.”

“Well, now I know. Back then, I didn’t. Thus, I answered that Thomas was a woman who modeled in Playboy. How was I to know? Well, this somehow annoyed him, so I got sent to the office, where I met this guy who told me about the affair between Mr. James and Mr. Samson. He went on and on about it, though I can’t see why it matters. Still, when I walked out of the principal’s office, I asked Mr. Samson to give his lover my regards... That’s not sucking up, is it?”

Tavi’s friends broke out in an uncontrollable fit of laughter, although he couldn’t see why. Yet he soon laughed with them; it was contagious. Then he saw Shawn walk in the room. Shawn was a loner and drifter, so it was his habit to sit in a different place everyday. He associated with every clique, social group, and club known. But even though he knew half, if not all, of the school, nobody remembered his name. This was the was the way of Shawn . “Hey, Shawn!” Tavi waved him over.

Shawn came to the table and plunked down on the seat next to him. He casually took out his paper bag, which contained nothing more than a candy bar and chips. He observed the crowd he was sitting with now: three preppies(or anti-preppies; Shawn found it hard to tell them apart), and Luke, whose social stance was questionable. “Hi.”

Over the course of the lunch, the girls didn’t pay much attention to Shawn while Tavi was in avid conversation with him.

“Why don’t you like this place?” Tavi asked. “It’s a center of learning and enlightenment! Besides, the food’s not bad.”

“What planet are you from? Sure ain’t Earth from the way you’re talkin’. For one thing, Sycamore is little more than a sucky piece of crap-- the Hell I’m sent to every single freakin’ day! And for another, the food here is toxic. We’ll all get cancer from it or something, you know we will...”

“Wonderful,” Tavi commented.

“Yeah... Hey, what about going to Diary Queen today?” Shawn offered.

“I thought you got an after-school detention.”

Shawn asked, “What? I didn’t tell you that.”

Tavi brushed it off like a mite of dust. “But it’s true, isn’t it?”

“You must have overheard it, I guess. School’s so cheap, it’s not like they can afford decent walls or anything. Ah well. By the way, when I was talking about Dairy Queen, I meant at night. Where do you live?”

“Just down the street, behind the Thriftway. It’s pretty near the place. You?”

“In Deer Park, on Elizabeth Street, across the highway. In a little green house. Don’t worry about numbers, though. Just look for the place with the foot-high lawn and the weed garden,” Shawn said.

“You mean the grass at your house grows longer than everyone else’s?” The only lawns Tavi had seen on Earth were short and bright green. What was a weed? While seeing the surrounding neighborhoods in Blue Ash and Montgomery, he’d never seen one.

“If I don’t mow it, yes. Considering that I haven’t bothered since--when was it?-- May, I think it might be the lushest lawn in a fifty-mile radius.”

“You must be very proud,” Tavi responded. “What’s your family like?”

“Mom likes to think of herself as a painter, but it’s Dad who brings in the money working at a record store. I’ve got a younger sister and a cat, but that’s really it. So, why not come around six-ish?”

Vic overheard the last part of this conversation and asked, “Oh, what ya doin’?”

“Shawn just invited me to his house. Do you want to come along? It’s all right, isn’t it?”

Shawn nodded. “It is. But we have to leave the house by seven, maybe bum at the mall or something. We can take the metro, even though it’s so damn unreliable.”

“What do you mean?” Tavi suggested. “I can drive pretty well. And the Tercel may not be the most comfy thing in the world, but one of you could stand the cramping for a few measly miles, couldn’t you?”

Shawn’s description of his house was only half-accurate. Not only was the yard a mess, but the inside was too. Even Tavi’s old shack was neat when compared to the water-stains in the bathroom, the fact that the bedroom Shawn shared with his sister doubled as a garage(complete with old bicycles and tools), or simply the foul smell of the place. Shawn’s house smelled of body odor and something “else”. Yet, this did not bother Tavi. It is a mess, he thought, but it also has running water.

“You want anything?” Shawn asked as he reached into the grimy fridge for an after-school snack. Tavi accepted, just like he had learned to when reading about Earth etiquette from someone called Emily Post. He was handed a glass half-filled with Coke and a small bag of Doritoes. Despite the simple, packaged look of the food, it actually was quite tasty.

Tavi leaned back in his rusted metal chair, his feet on what used to be a card table. “So,” he asked. “Why do I have to leave before seven?”

“That’s when Mom gets home. She’s kind of... strange.”

Tavi knew that what he wanted to do was impolite, but he did it anyway. “How so?”

Shawn’s body movements indicated that he didn’t mind the inquiry. “She thinks she saw aliens.”

Hell-o? Tavi looked into his eyes, wanting more. He got it.

“Yeah, about eleven years ago.” Shawn did not see Tavi’s relief at this(if he had said two months, well...). He continued, “She worked as a realtor back then, trying to sell this house in Indian Hill. Somebody had bought it, and it was company policy to greet the new residents when they moved in; a nice idea, though generally useless. So it was a Sunday afternoon and she was waiting there in the house. She’d gotten there early and decided to wander the grounds a little. It was a nice day, so why not? Then, as she’d later tell me, an orange object appeared in the sky. It was hazy at first, but went on to become a ship from outer space. Mom said it looked like a cross between a bullet and a boat, not something NASA would be able to pull off. It landed in the backyard and five people popped out, a human family. They were dressed weird and the children ranged from two to eight years old. Mom then says that she tried to act calm at the time, but she eventually went nuts nonetheless.”

“Oh my God...” Tavi remarked. The description of the event struck something in his memory, but he couldn’t grasp what it was.

“Of course, we don’t believe a word of it. I personally suspect it had something to do with drugs. More Coke?”

“Please.” Tavi allowed Shawn to pour. “Tell me, what makes this so unbelievable?” He was serious as he said this.

Shawn laughed, a melancholy expression disguised with a smile. “It was aliens. Now even if they exist in this big damn universe, I’m pretty sure not one of them has ever stepped on this land. Why, you don’t believe, do you?”

Now it was Tavi’s turn to burst out in laughter. He now felt very, very tempted to tell Shawn his real identity, if only to see the reaction. Intellectually, of course, Tavi knew it would be disastrous, but wouldn’t it also be fun?

“Don’t screw with my mind,” Shawn said with a straight-face and humorous intent. “There’s already one nut in this house and my family doesn’t need another.”

People in your blood can get screwed up by extraterrestrials? Must be genetics, Tavi observed.

“Mom says that aliens in human form roam the Earth. They want to take it over. They want to ruin civilization as we know it. They are responsible for the Holocaust, AIDS, every other thing that went wrong on this Earth. They are vampires at night, sucking the blood of their helpless victims. They will eventually outnumber the humans, and when this happens, will shed their disguises and destroy what is left of humanity. At least that’s what Mom said,” Shawn remarked and shrugged.

“That’s not true. Look at me!” Tavi wanted to say. He had absolutely no desire to conquer Earth and ruin their civilization. He had little knowledge of the Holocaust and AIDS. The only blood he had ever tasted in his mouth was his own after one of the many fights he got into back on Ev’clear. He only knew of four ques on Earth, and two of them were too drunk to destroy a damn thing. Instead, Tavi responded, “Yeah.”

Shawn looked at his watch. “God help us, it’s ten to seven. I pray that--”

He was interrupted by the slamming of the back door. The door was located in his room. Thus, the woman who was obviously Shawn’s mother strode through the bedroom, down the short hall, and into the cramped kitchen. Like her son, she was of average build and medium attractiveness. Yet, there was something shockingly strange about her. Her eyes were always glassed over, soulless and empty. Her gait was rigid, fearful. Dressed like a proper artist, in a black silk shirt and long black skirt, she hadn’t painted in months. The canvases she did paint contained disturbing images and, out of a perverse guilt, would be burned within the next few hours. She didn’t notice the boys at the table and took hold of the cordless phone in the living room. They looked on as she said, “Maury? Maury? It’s me, damnit! Maury?” Mrs. Disraeli hung up and asked nobody in the room, “Why didn’t that bastard pick up?”

Tavi looked at Shawn. The latter quietly explained, “Maury is my late uncle who died before I was born. She still thinks he’s alive, though. And notice how she didn’t even dial. I dunno; I feel sorry for her.”

“Is she like this all the time?”

“No. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll catch her at a good time. She’ll be wearing something other than black and sitting on the couch, reading an old book. I’ll get up next to her and she’ll ask me how my day went, just like a normal mother. She’ll understand what I’m saying and tell me about how cute the cat was, lying in the sock drawer like nobody’s business. It’s times like that when I forget about the argument she had with thin air and the hundreds of paintings still burning in the backyard. But then an hour later, she’ll be talking and then she’ll just shut up all of a sudden, staring off into space as always,” Shawn said. He was almost on the verge of crying, but did not since he was in the company of somebody who would actually notice.

Tavi too found this sobering. He sighed and took a gentle sip of his drink, hoping that perhaps it would erase the moment. To change this conversation, he asked, “Do you think Vic will get here soon? It’s already seven.”

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Shawn ran to it as if it were his salvation. He fumbled with the locks and doorknob like someone was timing him. Opening the door so quickly that he could hear it banging into the wall, Shawn said, “Vic! So glad you’re here.”

“Sorry I’m late. The damn Metro rearranged everything so I missed the bus. So then I had to walk, and do you have any idea how far this place is from Indian Hill? Even on a bike it’s Hell!” Vic breathlessly explained as she walked in and plopped on the authentic seventies-style couch next to Mrs. Disraeli.

Mrs. Disraeli came out of her blank stare and looked at Vic as if she were a demon. “You! You! You’re not getting me in the loony bin again, you freaked-up extraterrestrial! No! Don’t move! I’ll kill ya if you do...”

“I’ve an idea,” Tavi announced as he stood up, placing his glass in the almost-full kitchen sink. “Let’s get the hucking fell out of here. Yeah, like now!”

“I’ll agree to that, Luke.” Vic popped up from the couch and followed Tavi to the front door. Shawn also did this, but with a miner detour.

“Mom?” he asked. “I’m going now. Y’hear? Want to watch some TV now?” Shawn turned the knob on the old television set, and instantly Wheel of Fortune appeared on the screen. “Are you fine now?” Mrs. Disraeli didn’t respond. “Good.”

Shawn met the others outside.

“So how do we get to wherever the Hell we’re going?” Vic asked, arms crossed. “I’m sure as Hell not doing public transportation again, y’all.”

Tavi saw the old Lincoln on the gravel driveway. “You have the keys for that?”

Shawn responded, “Why? None of us can drive, can we? Not legally, anyway.”

“Alright, seeing how much you all love the Metro so much...”

“Ah well, it’s just breaking the law; I do that 24/7 anyhow! Let me get the keys.”

Tavi stepped in the car, Shawn on the passenger seat and Vic in the back. Shawn asked, “You sure you can drive this thing?”

“Well, yeah. Can’t you?” Tavi said as he turned the key in the ignition. The old engine strained to work, the gears and wheels worn down after years of neglect. After starting it up twice, the car finally sounded like it would work. “Hey, where do we want to go anyway?”

Shawn shrugged as Vic suggested, “Ya’ll wanted to go to the mall, right? I hear Kenwood could be having some good flicks now. Or, since we have a car, we could terrorize somebody downtown. Maybe we could go to Blockbuster’s and rent something.”

The second idea was favored by both Tavi and Shawn. It was a short distance to the shop, and Tavi suggested that they walked, as the amount of unnecessary pollution it would create could hurt that ozone thing he’d heard of. This idea was quickly rejected.

The Blockbuster’s store looked like a thousand others in the country, but to Tavi it was unique. Videos lined the walls and shelves while some stands in front showed the small selection of compact discs and cassettes. Tavi saw music by the likes of MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Jesus Jones, and others that would be forgotten in the blink of an eye.

“What do you want to watch?” Vic asked him.

“Uh... I’ve heard that Star Wars was pretty good,” Tavi said, picking up Achtung Baby by U2. It had some pretty good songs on it, and Tavi figured he had enough money in his wallet to buy both the cd and help pay for the rental tapes.

“Great. It’s a weekday, so we don’t have time to rent the whole trilogy, so I guess the first movie itself should be pretty cool, don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” Tavi responded. He remembered that incident in the bookstore a couple of months ago and recalled what that woman had tried to sell him. Something about him, he figured.

Shawn looked at his watch and asked if they had decided on a tape. Vic told him that she had and asked where it should be watched.

“Let’s not make it my house,” Shawn said. There was no need to explain why.

“Ditto here,” Vic said. “My older sister is having a party tonight and I don’t even want to bother with that.”

“I guess that leaves my place, then,” Tavi said. He wondered what the others would think of it. Shawn’s house was lived-in, and Vic’s house probably showed many signs of the family that lived there. His house, however, was only inhabited for two months at the time. It resembled a typical “bachelor pad”(it lacked what some would call a feminine touch, even though the apartment was also very well-kept). Tavi suddenly wanted to have a living space that resembled his friends’. He wanted to have the same lifestyle, the same life, and the same memories. He consoled himself by thinking of ways that the first two could be obtained. The memories, however, would remain what they were forever. No matter how long he lived on Earth, he realized, he would never truly be Luke Dawson.

“Hey!” The man behind the checkout counter said, causing Tavi’s head to jerk up. “That’ll cost you twenty bucks.”

Tavi handed over the money for the disc and one third of the tape’s cost. The others put in the other two thirds of the cash. Then they walked the short distance(crossing he street, really) to Tavi’s place. Tavi led them up them up the stairs to one of the inner hallways.

The door to Tavi’s place looked like any other entrance in the building. Tavi wondered if Marph was home. He could working late, Tavi thought, but that’s probably unlikely for him.

Surely enough, Marph was sitting on the sofa as Tavi and his friends entered. “Hi, Dad,” Tavi said. “I hope you don’t mind; I brought people with me.”

“That’s fine,” Marph said as he went to the bedroom. His usually straight posture was slouched with weariness. He looked ten years older than usual. Tavi wanted to ask what was wrong, but his father’s eyes told him not to ask until later.

Thus, Tavi watched the movie quietly, trying to enjoy it. The others actually did. Vic gained new insight into every scene, as she had already watched it twice. Shawn outdid her by saying every actor’s lines one minute before they actually said them, as he had watched it about fifty times. The latter would have annoyed Tavi had he not been anxious. Eventually, the movie ended. Tavi drove Shawn home and then Vic.

Vic moved to the passenger seat when Shawn got out. “Yeah, just go down here. That’s right. Now turn, that way. Yeah, yeah...”

Vic’s house was a mansion. It rose three high-ceilinged floors off the carefully manicured grounds. A long brick driveway circled from the street to the front entrance. The lawn between the driveway and street contained a large fountain with clean water gushing at almost all hours. Tavi had lived on Earth long enough now that he had lost some of his reservations about wealth. It was due to this that he heard himself saying, “Nice house.”

“Thanks,” Vic said, blushing. She didn’t want Tavi to make assumptions about her on basis of where she lived, so she continued, “It’s not perfect, though.”

“Hmm? How so?”

“I don’t know. But when I find its fault, I’ll tell you.” It was a perfect type of house, the type one would live in if money wasn’t an issue. Vic had been raised, obviously, in decadence. She went to Europe every summer, and to her family’s house in Aspen every winter. None of her clothing came from a “fine men’s store” and even her tee shirts were designer. If she and her siblings did not exist, her parents could have been yuppies.

Tavi walked out and opened the car door for Vic. She stepped out and gathered her purse in her hands. Thanking him, she rushed to the house. It had already begun to rain.

Tavi took out his keys, shining in the fluorescent light. He inserted one of them into the lock and turned. Slowly, he walked into his home. It was quiet; the only light came from the windows, and the dark gray color barely lit the living room. Thunder was heard as Tavi cautiously made his way to the bedroom. It was black here, but he didn’t turn on the lamp next to the door.

He couldn’t even see his hand in front of him, but Tavi knew Marph was in this room. Perhaps it was the breathing and body heat, as seen by carefully honed senses. Or maybe it was something more. No matter what it was, though, Tavi whispered, “Dad?”

A slight crunching on one of the mattresses proceeded. “Yes?” Marph’s voice shot through the darkness.

Tavi turned on the lamp and sat on his bed. “You wanted to tell me something earlier... What is it?”

“It’s about Natarr and his wife,” Marph responded. “While you were out...”

“Oh my God...” Tavi knew that when a person talked like that it could only mean one of two things, and Natarr was married, wasn’t he?

“They were found outside a museum in Queens--that’s near New York, I think. The police said it was...” Marph’s voice almost broke. “Suicide.”

Tavi reached out and touched Marph’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. Really. They were good people.”

Marph sighed. “There’s more.”

“Christ!”

“I don’t think it was suicide. I think--no, I know-- that it was murder. I asked the coroner what the method of suicide was. She said it was a type of poison, but one that she had never seen before. I asked her some questions and then I figured out what it was.”

Something creeped up Tavi’s spine. “I’m afraid to ask.”

“Senesa, a deadly animal’s venom found only on the planet Vaypayn.”

Tavi jumped from his bed as if something had struck him. Vaypayn was the stirks’ original home, a homebase for all their operations. “But that means that the stirks are here, on Earth. That’s impossible!”

Marph said nothing.

“But we came all this way! We took on these forms! We bought this house! The stirks can’t be here. How can they be? How? How?!” Tears flooded his face. “Tell me that this is a mistake. You’ve made a mistake. There are millions of chemical combinations on this planet. It could be anything! You’re making assumptions! Stop scaring me, damnit!”

Marph went into a sleeping position. “It’s a school night, Tavi. Go to sleep.”

“What? We have stirks here and you want me to sleep?”

“What else can we do? Running away won’t help much, you know it won’t. Besides, how will they find us? Even when Natarr included our listing in his Rolodex, he never used our real names. Really, you worry too much,” Marph responded.

Tavi knew what his father was really saying: “The stirks are coming, and all we can do is wait. Then, when we inevitably die, perhaps we can make it civilized and die like men.” He walked to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Then he caught himself in the mirror. He thought, I look as human as Shawn. Same haircut, too. Yet Shawn gets to live until old age, safe and sound. I, however, could die within the next week. Why? Who decides which men will prosper and which will perish? God? No, there is no God. The only thing that controls lives is the infinite randomness that holds this universe together in its mad, sick way.

In bed, Tavi buried himself in the covers. He took in the scent of fresh sheets and the softness of the pillow. Tavi wondered if he would wake up. What night would be his last? When would the time come for death to take him over? Tonight? Tomorrow? Next year?

These questions tired him. He abandoned himself to sleep.

The alarm clock rang. Tavi heard it and breathed a sigh of relief. I am alive, he thought. For now, I am still among the living. Thank the infinite randomness!

Marph was already in the shower as Tavi stretched out his legs. He called over to him. “Ya know, Dad, I’ve been thinking about what you said last night. I’ve been thinking a lot. So, that said, can I take some of our stock with me today?” By stock, he mean the small collection of arsenal stored under the kitchen sink for self-defense.

“Wouldn’t they detect it at school? With metal detectors?”

“Metal detectors? In Sycamore? Very unlikely, Dad. Don’t worry. I’ll just take a couple nukes and some bombs if whoever killed Natarr tries to get me.”

The shower turned off and Marph entered the bedroom in a bathrobe. “Nukes? Bombs? I don’t think so. Listen, I know what the temptation may be, but I’m sure a simple stunner would work just fine. Don’t you?”

“What if the guy’s wearing some sort of protective armor? A stunner only works half the time. Can I at least bring one gun? A mid-sized one, not too bulky. Please?”

Marph started dressing himself. “Fine. However, I’m not bringing anything, for your information. I’ve never carried a gun or killed anyone in my life. Don’t make me start now.”

“Understood,” Tavi said. Then he headed for the shower in hope that there would still be some hot water left. He contemplated Marph’s decision and thought it unwise. But Hell, he thought, it’s your life.

Hot water went over him, cleansing away the impurities of the day before. Stink was replaced by Dial. Yet, this ceased to bring the clean feeling Tavi was used to after bathing. A stirk was out to get him, this was certain. Why and how did not matter. Then, to a point, nor did life and death. After all, Tavi thought. In what Vic would call the “Big Picture”, this probably doesn’t mean crap. It concerns three people. Stirks have always used us as target practice, so I suppose it’s unlikely that there’s any big plan behind it. Still, this is Earth. I have a body no weaker than this stirk’s(I think he would have taken on a human form, and if he’s some old fart, all the better!). So today, I will go to school like a good little boy and carry on like nothing’s wrong. Then, if that bastard wants a piece of me, I’ll...

Marph called, “Breakfast is ready in five minutes!”

Tavi turned off the water and took a towel off the rack. “Is this food the good kind?”

“No. It’s Earth crap. God, are you that stupid?”

“Well, what is it?” Tavi quickly slipped into some clothing and combed his hair. The smell reached Tavi. “Is that-- what do you call it?”

“Frozen pizza. Combination, your favorite.” Marph took out a knife and sliced the pizza in half. Tavi took a piece and ate it as fast as he could, not wanting to risk being late.

“So what do you plan to do today?” Marph asked, drinking coffee with his food.

“I’ll be afraid and paranoid. A weapon will be in my hands at all times. If anyone even thinks of looking suspicious, they’ll be dead faster than snap!”

“I’ve raised you well, haven’t I?” Marph remarked at Tavi’s sarcasm.

Tavi smiled and took his bag. He rushed out of the apartment.

First bell was Hell. Mr. Krisley droned on about To Kill a Mockingbird. He talked of the symbolism in the title, along with various subplots in the book. Tavi took out a notebook in such a way that he would appear to be taking notes. Instead, he wrote a poem:

“Ah!” Mr. Krisley exclaimed. “Is somebody here in this room actually taking notes?”

Tavi didn’t know weather he was serious or not. He searched Mr.Krisley’s face and found a hint of sarcasm. Damn. He murmured, “I’d rather you not see this.”

Mr. Krisley took the notebook out of his hands and Tavi cringed. “Let’s see what you have here,” the former announced to the entire class. “Hmm... phone numbers, social commentary, even a little piece of poetry! But, golly me, no notes! Are you not paying attention, Luke? Is something about this class below you? Are you too smart for this?”

Yes, Tavi thought.

“Well,” he continued. “You can all show me how smart you are in one minute. Pop quiz!”

Tavi looked at Vic, who was in the asle next to him, two seats behind in the last row. Vic responded with an expression that meant “Can you believe this asshole?”

In a whisper, Tavi said, “I just hope I get my notebook back!”

A half-hour later, the bell rang. Tavi gathered his book-bag, with the notebook inside, and headed for his next class. He found himself in a mosh pit, attacked on all sides by backpacks, hands, and an occasional elbow. Tavi swam slowly through the human slush. He veered between forgetting about the threat to his life and feeling to see that he hadn’t lost his guns in the book-bag.

He brushed past Shawn. The latter said, “Hey! What’s up?”

“My dick if keep on coming on to me like that! What’s your next class?”

Shawn laughed. “What the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don’t know and I don’t care.”

Tavi led him to a less crowded area to talk. “What does that mean?”

“I’m blowing off the next couple periods. Wanna come with ?” Shawn leaned against the wall.

“Are you crazy?” Tavi exclaimed. “That’s truancy! That’s illegal! Mr. Samson will fry your ass for this one!”

“You didn’t answer my question. Do you, or do you not want to join me?”

“Hell yeah!” Tavi said this not because he hated school, but for reasons Shawn could not see. Tavi figured that if whoever knew where he lived and also how old he was, the local junior high would be the logical place to go. Of course, it was unlikely that anybody would want to set fire in a crowded place like a public school, but one could never be too safe. “So what do we do so nobody will catch us?”

“Well, you can’t walk out now, with everyone here. If it was one person, you could say that it was a, uh, dental appointment that you were going to-- most teachers will believe that. But with two, it looks highly, uh, not good,” Shawn explained.

“Then what?”

“See that bathroom over there? We go in there, wait a few minutes until it’s safe, and then we saunter on out. Easy.” Shawn led him to the door through the already thinning crowd.

“What if somebody sees us? What if you go back to school and the teacher asks you what you did?”

“Well, then I guess we shouldn’t return, should we?” Shawn reasoned, closing the door behind him.

Walgreens is a very boring place, Tavi thought as he went through them. Shawn kept on wanting to shoplift something, but he discouraged it. Tavi prided himself on only stealing something if he would starve if he didn’t(besides, the stirks really didn’t need that ammo, did they?).

“I’m bored!” Tavi complained. “This wasn’t worth skipping school for!”

“Not so loud!” Shawn responded. “Jesus! Well, what do you want to do, then?”

“Uh, why don’t we see a movie? I heard Addams Family is good. Or we could go and do something inexplicably stupid. I trust you’re good at that.”

“Fine. I’ll bet your old man has the car at his office anyway.”

The two spent the rest of the day goofing off at the local mall. They saw the movie Tavi suggested and Shawn walked out with a cassette he would never know the price of.

It was raining when they walked to the office building where Marph worked, hoping to get a ride home(the Metro wouldn’t come for another hour). Neither had umbrellas, and both we thoroughly soaked within a minute of being outside. Tavi walked carefully while Shawn complained about the downpour, griping and moaning at every crossing.

It was then that Tavi stopped. He thought he saw something in his peripheral vision. A man? Whatever it was, it crept slowly closer. The adrenaline pumped madly, almost paralyzing Tavi.

Next to him on the sidewalk, Shawn quieted.

Tavi carefully reached in his bag for what he wanted, a small gun. It was the size of a regular pistol, light blue in color. The matte surface didn’t shine in the rain and almost blended in with its surroundings. He kept the his hand in his bag, as if he were still searching for it. He would only take it out if needed.

The form walked towards him casually. Tavi now saw that his face was covered with large sunglasses and a scarf. It seemed less suspicious than a ski mask, Tavi figured. The man came closer. Tavi saw a kit in the man’s right hand.

Oh God, Tavi thought. That’s a poison kit. Senesa, I’ll bet. He’ll put it on a harmless-looking pad and brush by me. I’ll never notice the stuff penetrating my skin until he’s a million miles away.

“What the Hell is going on?” Shawn asked nervously.

“Something is going to happen. My life is in danger right now. On second thought, yours probably is too. Now just act calm. I’m handling this the best I can.”

Shawn wanted to know what was going on, but didn’t ask more. He simply imitated Tavi’s movements and wondered where the threat was.

The man was closer now. Twenty feet. Fifteen. Ten. Now. The man was about to reach out his hand in the fatal touch when Tavi pulled his hand out of the bag. He put it against the man’s head. “See? You’re not the only one here who can kill. Now listen, you little stirk-ass dick, if you make one move toward me or my friend, I will move my finger on this little trigger and, needless to say, it will not feel good.”

The man slowly walked away, slightly prodded by Tavi’s gun. In stirk, he said, “This is not over yet. Even if I die, we shall overcome this little planet just as we did Ev’clear. Why do you think I’m here? For a vacation? You’re in for it, Tavi. Your, your human friend, and even Marph--especially Marph. And, needless to say, it will not feel good.”

Tavi stuffed his weapon inside his bag and looked at Shawn. The latter stood shocked by the event. He stuttered something. “D-d-d-did that guy, d-did you j-j-just, wha-wha-wha-wha-what the Hell?!”

“You don’t want to know.” Tavi looked at his distraught friend. “But I figure something like that deserves an explanation anyway. And I’m really sorry, but if I gave you the truth, you would not believe me.”

“What language was he speaking in? You looked like you understood it. Why? What was so lethal that he was carrying? What were you doing with a freaking gun in your back-pack? I think I have a right to know this.”

“You do. And remember that story you told me about your mother and the aliens? Well, I’m starting to see the sense in it,” Tavi explained.

“What? You mean Mom actually saw what she said she did? Is-is there something I don’t know about you?”

“There is.”

“Are you one of them?” Fear covered Shawn’s face as he backed away from Tavi.

“Technically, no. Not that species, anyways. Oh, and please shut up; after all, I did just save your life.” Tavi stayed as cool as possible. He cursed himself for bringing the foreign weaponry to school with him, although it did save a lot of trouble.

“So is there such a thing as aliens?”

Tavi sighed. “Yes. Don’t worry, we’re not here to take it over.”

“How many of them are there? Hundreds? Millions?” Fear was replace by curiosity.

“Well...” Tavi counted on his fingers. “There’s me, my dad, that jackass who just ran off... and I think that might be it. I mean, maybe there are more people like him here, but I hope to Hell not.”

“How long have you been here?”

“About two months. I moved here for economic reasons, mainly. You know, America, land of the free. It’s a pretty nice place actually. I rather like it here.”

By now, curiosity turned to wonderment. “Oh God. This kicks so much ass!” Shawn exclaimed to himself. To Tavi, he said, “Where you come from-- do people there live longer? Have they found the meaning of life? What wisdom do you have to share with us?”

Tavi had never heard anything so silly in his life and said as much. “The average que lifespan is actually shorter than yours, if only for the fact that stirks like that one we met earlier are doing their damnedest to kill us off. As for wisdom and knowledge, we’re just as clueless as anyone else. However, we do have ships that would make any person at NASA weep.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. How else do you think I got here? Four-hundred light-years is an awful long way to walk, believe me,” Tavi responded.

“Four-hundred light-years? How long would that take you? You must go to lots of planets, then. I can’t even imagine how many civilizations you’ve seen.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve only been on two planets in my life, and this is one of them. As for time, it takes about a month, at least on our ship. Too damn long!”

Shawn stopped and regarded Tavi with something between reverence and skepticism. Here was somebody who was obviously telling the truth about being an alien, and perhaps was the most honest person Shawn had ever met. Here was somebody who had saved his life, even if it was only in the process of saving his own. Here was somebody who understood him, the odd man out, trying to be accepted yet never wavering in his beliefs. Shawn felt as if he were falling in love with Tavi, although not in that way(he hoped).

Tavi sighed as they neared the office building. “Now don’t tell Dad any of this, y’hear? Not about the stirk, not about the gun, and sure as Hell not about what I told you.” He walked inside the lobby, heading for the elevators. “This is, like, classified. Okay?”

Shawn nodded. “What about the part about school?”

“And lack thereof? No, I don’t think he’ll really give a crap about that.” Tavi led him to the door of the office that Marph worked at. He came to the miniature lobby for the company Marph worked for. Behind a large desk, a whiff of dark blonde hair could be seen moving above a plywood wall as he organized some papers for the salespeople in back.

Eventually, Marph looked up. “Luke, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, Shawn and I cut school, went to the mall, and now we want to bum a ride off you because the Metro here really sucks.”

“I’m very flattered that you thought of me, but I’m kind of busy right now. You’ll have to wait. Here’s a few quarters. The vending machine’s over there.”

The two boys walked to the machine, far from Marph, although neither was hungry. Shawn leaned against the wall and asked, “Why does your old man act like that? Like he doesn’t care if you go to school? God, my father woulda whipped me!”

“And here lies the difference between you and me. If I skip, say, science class, I’ll still ace the test because I already know all the stuff from experience. Dad knows this. You, on the other hand, are screwed. Get it?”

Shawn disliked Tavi’s bragging and responded, “What if it was History class?”

It hit Tavi like a bolt of lighting. “Oh. Damn! I missed his class too. Damnit!”

“Ah. So you are screwed as well. This changes things, doesn’t it?”

“Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!”

From a distance, Marph called, “Don’t use that word, damnit!”

Tavi laughed at his father’s hypocrisy. Then, at a lower volume, he said, “Shawn, what happened on the street back there, might it psychologically affect you?”

“You mean like Mom? I don’t think so. Why? If it did, would you get some sort of power trip out of it?”

The thought brought a smile to Tavi’s face. “Perhaps, but I don’t think it would be very nice, do you?”

“Not really. Hey, your dad-- is he one too? Oh yeah, he would be, wouldn’t he?”

“No, Shawn. He adopted me thinking I was an orphan from the inner city. He has no clue as to my actual identity!”

Shawn wondered if Tavi was joking. He had to wonder since Tavi had a way of saying something meant to be sarcastic in a tone so normal that nobody would notice. So he decided that Tavi was. After all, there was something definitely strange about that man.

“I don’t want to go home,” Shawn commented.

“Why not?” Tavi asked, despite the fact the fact that he probably knew the answer.

“Because my house is screwed up. Mom’ll be there, weird as ever. Dad’ll be there, pissed off as ever. Claudia will be there, annoying as ever. All I can hope for is that the cat didn’t crap on anything...”

“Damn...”

Shawn sighed and rolled his eyes. “Know what? It probably did.”

The sofa is a comfy place, Tavi reflected. He curled up in the mass of pillows, almost asleep. He wondered if he should just go to bed, but decided that he was too tired and lazy to leave his little haven. It smelled of himself and Marph, along with various other people that had sat there. They mingled into something safe and familiar. Thoughts of the day melted away as a Bonnie Raitt cd played on the stereo across the room.

Tavi was on the verge of sleep, he knew it. Yet, it was only eight o’clock. Usually, he wouldn’t go to bed until ten or eleven. Still, the cushions seemed to move under Tavi in a soft wave as the music faded into the background.

Marph sat on a chair next to the sofa, watching television. The scene was that of relaxed bliss: father and son, both with no care beyond that of material issues. The reality was slightly different, of course.

The television was turned off. Tavi stirred to see if Marph would walk out of the room or read the newspaper. To his mild surprise, his father did neither.

“Anything troubling you?” Marph asked casually.

“Not particularly. Why?”

“I know you’re worried about the death threat towards us.”

Tavi didn’t like the point he suspected Marph was coming at, so he shot back, in a voice louder and ruder than intended, “No duh! Really? Wow, I thought you’d never guess!”

“I know what happened, Tavi. You don’t have to hide it.”

“What do you mean?” It was phrased in a careless manner, although a creeping suspicion entered Tavi’s mind that made the question futile.

Marph sighed. Tavi never told him anything, ever. Whether it was a matter of pride or a matter of shame, he didn’t know. Long ago, he had learned not to ask; the answer was usually a bad one anyway. Even when his son had come home with a missing arm, Tavi had simply asked for a new bandage to replace the dirty rags before resting on the dirt floor. He still didn’t know the details of what had happened.

Tavi now sat upright.

“I mean about that person that approached you today. The one with the poison. Don’t look surprised, Son. If you had only looked, you would have seen me in the car, waiting at the red light. Of course, being in mortal danger, I doubt you would have.”

“Then why didn’t you help me?”

Marph laughed. “That man was twice my size, Tavi. Even if I was as agile as you, you know it wouldn’t have mattered. Gunfire is the only language stirks know, and as you know, I lacked this tongue at the time. I wouldn’t have done any good, being only another defenseless bystander. Besides, I think you handled yourself rather well. A minimum of movement attracted no attention, and the little speech you gave there was good. Unnecessary, true, but a nice touch nonetheless.”

Tavi responded, “So you saw it, I guess.”

“Yup. Tell me, what were you thinking when you put the gun to his head?”

“I was thinking...” Tavi slightly relaxed. “I was thinking about nothing, actually. It was like a natural instinct. I saw him, knew what he was, and took hold of my gun, that’s all. And when it was aimed at his head, below the left temple, all I knew was that I wanted to kill him. I’d done it before, and I’d do it again. In retrospect, I probably should have. But then, murder is a felony, felonies get you in prison, and prison looks bad on your resume.”

“How sad,” Marph remarked.

“What?”

“Your generation, Tavi. All the children on Ev’clear, your age and younger, don’t remember peace. You live in poverty, in war, in hatred. Even the little ones can shoot a gun with remarkable accuracy. You all think about survival. That’s all you think about; no plans for tomorrow when you question if you’ll even live to see it. You form gangs, bands, posses, militias, and anything else for protection. It rarely works when the threat arrives, of course. But then, it’s all you have.”

Tavi listened, not blinking. He’d never heard Marph say anything like this before.

“I, like many other parents, tried to protect you from this. But I couldn’t stop you from joining that gang when you were nine. You ran off and I couldn’t do anything. You needed a place in that world, a sense of control. I had my little shack with a relatively productive field, my few friends, and a son. I saw faults in the stirks, faults that I knew would eventually lead to their end. It was a matter of time, I thought back then.”

Tavi considered his father’s words. “So your generation, the adults, sat back and let Hell break loose. You’d all grown up so privileged, in your fancy city houses. Dirt-road villages were unknown to you. None of you could hold a gun or jump an unarmed stirk. You were all so peaceful, so mindlessly complacent that it almost disgusted me. You all figured that the army would save you, that living under a grass roof was temporary. Then, when time passed and we all realized that this was forever, you still denied it. You knew it, but there was always that eternal hope, that general optimism! It’s almost quaint.”

Marph regarded his son. “It’s not quaint! I know it will end.” Then, in a quieter voice, resembling that of child. “If it didn’t, we all might as well be dead. Even the will to live, which seems infinite at first, can fade away from wear.”

“That wouldn’t happen. There were reasons to live there. I had friends, I had purpose.”

“Oh yes! You talked of that so often.” The almost mocking tone annoyed Tavi, but not as much as the truth it conveyed. “Yet, it now seems to be little more than rationalization. Face it, your friends were being killed off by the dozen and your purpose was merely survival... Ah, I see you’re tired. Long day, I suppose?”

It took Tavi a full two seconds to adjust to Marph’s change of topic. “I suppose.”

“I understand. Sometimes I just can’t stand to see my little boy grow up, that’s all,” Marph warmly remarked in a maternal fashion.

“Where in Hell did that come from?!”

“You’ve grown up, I mean, since we’ve gotten here. When you were young, you thought in terms of war and violence, the simple things that bombarded your mind daily. You saw only what you wanted, or at least what believed you wanted. Then, there came a time when it all fell into place. You took control when you figured out what you wanted, and no matter what happens, you know you’ll find the very thing you’re looking for, eventually.”

Tavi groaned and put his hand to his face. Oh God, he thought. Didn’t Dad learn already learn his lesson about getting drunk?

Marph went to the bedroom and laughed as his son washed up in the bathroom. Tavi, he knew, wasn’t the only person in Blue Ash who could screw with another’s mind.

It was midnight. The bedroom was silent, its door open. Through the door, one could see the hall and the light from the living room, which came from the large window, also known as moonlight. Even in this urban setting, an owl could be heard making its nightly rounds as Blue Ash rested. It was now Thursday morning.

Tavi sat up in bed, an insomniac. He crossed his arms and huddled, like a frightened child. Everything was still. The ceiling was white and untouched. There was a light hung in the middle of it, a light bulb covered by a glass disc of sharp geometrical design. It was turned off. The walls were almost bare, except for a calendar and that poster Tavi had put up months ago. In this dim light, Cindy Crawford looked like a demon in a bathing suit. Not much time during the day was spent in this room. Most of the day took place in the apartment’s other rooms, especially the living room and kitchen.

The rustling of sheets turned Tavi’s attention again to his father. A light beige blanket, ivory sheets, and a brown yellow pillow surrounded the tuft of blond hair. A quiet snore could be heard. Tavi laid in his bed, wondering why he did this, why, at the dead of night, he turned his attention to every minute detail of a room. He wanted to sleep. His body ached and his mind wandered. Yet, something kept him up.

Tavi dug his face in the cotton-covered pillow. Something is happening right now, he thought. There is something very important going on right now. Now! I should be at wherever this is taking place, but I can’t be. Something, but what? Very far away, it seems. But I don’t know if it’s miles or light-years. What’s going on? The ship is easily accessible, true, but I have things to do here on Earth. What’s happening? I feel helpless, damnit! I want to be anywhere but here. I’m trapped in my own home! Dad, how can you sleep like that? The… the… the Revolution’s starting!

The concept hit him like lighting. The Revolution’s starting. It seemed to make no sense, yet simultaneously it seemed inevitable. There was a turmoil in Tavi’s homeland. Tavi didn’t know how he knew it, but he could feel it in his veins, pulsing and rushing like life itself.

Tavi got out of bed and took the thing on the top of his dresser, the key to the fifth dimension. The ship was in his palm now. Pressing the button would release him the chains and shackles he now felt so precisely, binding him. One press would get him to the action, to the heart of it all. His countrymen needed him in this hour(and perhaps this week, month, and year). One press, that was all.

Half asleep, Marph called, “Tavi, what in Hell are you doing with the key?”

Tavi returned the key to its position between an Anne Rice book and a cheap digital watch. He regarded Marph, who had already returned to his slumber. Tavi pulled the covers over his shoulders and remembered why he couldn’t leave by himself. For all the days and nights he had spent away from home, he had always known he would return; Marph was never more than twenty-four hours away. Tavi couldn’t pack up and leave in the middle of the night, if only because he had never done so before.

The rest of the night was spent staring at the walls.

The rest of Thursday saw Tavi nervous and anxious. In class, he fiddled with small pieces of notebook paper, tearing them up and molding them with the sweat of his hands. He indiscreetly gazed at the clock until someone told him to stop. Then he would perform some other nervous activity until the bell rung. In the next period, he would again take out a sheet of paper, and thus the cycle repeated itself until the end of the schoolday.

It was a warm September day, with the summer taking its last stand. All around him, Tavi saw people dressed in little more than tank tops and shorts. The air was still and muggy, with the sun beating down on him.

“So, what do you have for homework today?” Vic asked as she walked beside Tavi. She wore a neon-blue button-up shirt with the tightest jeans ever made. Tavi thought she was wearing the jeans in this heat to look attractive for Brent. He was wrong; she did this because she hadn’t gotten her legs waxed yet and all her other pants were in the wash.

“Not much,” Tavi responded. He wore denim shorts and a red and white-striped baseball shirt. The outfit looked ridiculous on him, as both articles came from Marph’s wardrobe. It was a loose and baggy look, a few years ahead of its time.

Vic sighed. She held her purse close to her. “I wish Brent were here right now.”

Tavi was not interested in hearing about Brent. Brent was egotistical and jealous, a self-centered twinkie whose only concern was himself. Even if he excelled at sports and academics, Brent was one of the dumbest people he had ever met. Brent was nothing. Tavi looked at Vic and gave no sign of his opinion. Damn, he thought. She deserves better!

Judging from Tavi’s lack of response, Vic decided to change the subject. “Luke, has something been bothering you lately? You’ve seemed kind of, well, quiet today. What’s wrong?”

If only I could tell her! Tavi’s mind screamed. “Nothing, really. Well, it’s not nothing, but nothing’s all I can tell you.”

“Oh. Something personal?”

“Yes.” Tavi tried to find a way to frame his problem in such a manner that it would not arouse suspicion. “Um, if you felt that you needed to be somewhere urgently, but circumstance prevented you from doing it without upsetting your family and life, what would you do?”

“Am I needed so badly that the world will end if I don’t do it?”

“I don’t know yet. But it’s very, very important. You feel a patriotic, almost spiritual need to go, though, no matter what happens.”

Vic adjusted her book-bag straps. “Does this have anything to do with the tryouts for the school play?”

He shook his head. Vic would never understand. “Let’s go eat somewhere. Chili sound good?”

“Sorry, I’m on a diet. This summer sucked, and I’m sure as Hell not gonna have a one-piece next year. I’ve already gotten into an exercise regimen and I don’t need some three-way making it futile, Luke. But if you feel hungry, how would some salad at my place sound?”

“You think you’re fat?”

“I know I’m fat! Just look at me. I have a large ass and hips bigger than a car.”

Tavi looked at Vic. She was, perhaps, one of the most attractive humans he’d ever seen. Her large bust led down to a tiny waist, which came to hips that could probably bear more children than any stickly supermodel. Her face was sun-kissed with the faintest natural blush, emphasized by subtle makeup on the eyes and lips. “You are not fat. Believe me when say this, because I’d tell you if you were. You are very beautiful, more so than the actresses on TV, whom I know you constantly compare yourself to. Those girls are pretty, yes, but none so beautiful as you. Your look is something that can’t be attained with five-hundred dollars’ worth of cosmetics and a personal trainer. It’s more.”

Vic blushed. The only people who said that to her were close friends and family, those who didn’t really care what she looked like. Boyfriends and dates had told her she was pretty, but she suspected that was more a comment on her personality than her appearance. Brent was the most popular and handsome guy she had ever dated, and he never told her she was beautiful. He made her feel good, but never did he compliment her.

“Hmm?” Tavi saw Vic go into a state of preoccupation.

“Nothing. You know, now that I think of it, Blue Ash Chili has a special on Thursdays, doesn’t it?” Vic suddenly felt hunger as a result of eating a small lunch.

“That’s cool.”

They crossed the street, running past the traffic. Then they passed a shopping center and crossed another street. Walking a few hundred yards north, they reached the place.

The diner was almost empty at this hour. Nobody had come for dinner yet, as most people had just left work a few minutes ago. Aged booths lined the faded walls as some popular music was piped in. To some, the restaurant was dark and drab. To Tavi and Vic, it was not too glaringly lit and cozy, a familiar sight.

They sat at a booth near the back. A waitress came to them instantly. Vic ordered two cheese coneys(apparently she was much hungrier than she thought) while Tavi took a small order of chili and spaghetti.

After the drinks arrived, Vic stood up and said, “I’m going to the lady’s room now. My stuff’s still here, okay?”

Tavi nodded and sipped his coke. He sat facing the front of the diner and its entrance. Seeing the entire room, he observed the cooks making his and Vic’s meals. The cash register chimed as a man paid his bill and bought an after-dinner mint. The sky outside the front window was cloudier than before, and darker as well. A storm was coming.

Suddenly, a young woman burst in, laughing. She was taller than Tavi, and extremely thin. The girl resembled someone that Tavi had seen in a magazine once, and he recognized her from school, although to this end, he didn’t personally know her.

This did not draw much attention from Tavi. He continued to suck from his straw until he saw who was with her. Than he choked and coughed up his soda.

Brent followed the girl and caught her in his athletic arms. His hands continued to go in places that should never be touched in public, putting the girl in a massive fit of giggling. They made out and kissed so much that Tavi averted his eyes. Then, mercifully, the couple sat at a booth in front, their touching limited to a game of footsie.

Tavi sat in shock, wide-eyed. It had taken him a while to figure out Earth courtship rituals and dating, but even he knew that this was not good.

It was then that Vic returned to the table. Her eyes saw only the booth that Tavi was sitting at. She sat across from him, oblivious to what had happened.

Playing with her purse, she said dreamily, “God, you know what Brent said today? He said that he loved me. I asked him about that dance, the first of the year, and he said he’d have it no other way. Oh, Luke, I can’t believe it! A guy that’s loving and honest, who treats me like the woman I am. Do you know how hard that is to find, this love?”

“Yes. It’s very hard to find. It’s so hard to hard, in fact, that sometimes, when you think you’ve found it, it turns out that you actually didn’t.”

“I know exactly what you mean!” Vic responded.

Tavi inhaled and said, “No, I don’t think you do.”

“Huh?” Vic’s romantic thoughts turned to those of mild confusion.

Brent sat facing the window while the girl across from him was in a position to see Tavi in back. She did not, however. Tavi solemnly pointed to the couple.

Vic saw them and quickly turned to face Tavi, with a look of anger as if it was he who had placed them there. “What does it mean? What did you see?”

“I saw them come in while you were in the bathroom. They were doing things.”

“What things?” Vic asked with an amount of dread.

“Hugging, groping, kissing, and a few others that I probably missed,” Tavi reported. He put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Vic’s posture straightened. “Don’t pity me.” Her eyes ignited with revenge. Perhaps, in the near future, she would regret her actions. But this was not the near future, and emotions had clouded her logic. “Pity him.”

Tavi noticed that the sky, which was light blue only half an hour before, had now erupted into a full-blown rain-storm.

“Luke, after we eat, we shoot outta here. We’ll walk side by side in such a way that you’ll be the only one they’re seeing.”

“Then what?”

The mischievous expression was all the answer Tavi got.

Ten minutes passed and Vic and Tavi were only halfway through their meal when Tavi said, “They’re standing up. I think they’re about to leave.”

“Change of plan, then.” Vic stood up and Tavi went with her. She called to Brent, “Hey! How’s it hangin’?”

Brent spun around. “Oh. Hi. You know Jenny, don’t you?”

Vic and Tavi walked up to meet the others. “Of course I do...”

“Well,” Brent continued. Tavi had never seen such a bad liar in his life. “We’re working on a science assignment together. We were just discussing it over some food.”

Vic smiled. “I know how you feel towards me.”

“Yes! I love you! And I know how much you love me, so let’s go somewhere else and I’ll explain all of this to you. I know how bad this must look. But if you love me...”

“I’ll show you how much I love you.” With this, Vic looked alluringly at Brent. Then she turned and took Tavi in her arms. She passionately kissed him and Tavi, while surprised, figured out what was going on and responded in like. He even used some of the more creative hand positions that he had learned from Brent earlier. While they embraced, Tavi felt his adrenaline rush and a feeling swell up inside him that he had never known before.

Then, it ended. Vic strided out of the diner and Tavi gave Brent a cool look of satisfaction before joining her.

It was dark and wet as Tavi walked with Vic to her house. He had insisted that they take his car, but Vic reminded him that Tavi’s family car was currently in the parking lot of wherever his father worked. Thus, the two went through the showers with little care.

Tavi looked at Vic. Her electrically-puffed hair was flat with moisture. Suddenly, Vic burst with laughter. “Could you believe the look on that bastard’s face?”

“No, I couldn’t.” Tavi had wondered if the relationship between him and Vic had changed since they had kissed. After all, didn’t that sort of thing breach the bounds of a simple friendship? Then Tavi figured that it had not, as the entire thing was done in jest.

“He looked like he was in physical pain back there. I’ll bet that slut Jenny Nevins has already dumped his sorry ass by now! He’ll have a hangover tomorrow morning the size of Brad Pitt’s, well, maybe I’d better not say.”

Tavi pondered her words. “Or, along with—or instead of—dumping him, Jenny might start some nasty rumor about you.”

“Oh, please! Gossip doesn’t scare me. I don’t care if she says I’m a lesbian and somebody actually believes her; it’s happened about one million times before. Listen, she can say I’m a space alien and I wouldn’t give a flying saucer!”

“This Jenny, does she have influence in Sycamore?”

The question erased Vic’s smile. “Yes… Yes, she does. She’s popular, a preppie and a man-hunter. She could probably ruin my reputation—that is, if I had on in the first place. I’m not one to have a popularity-meter strapped to my head, so even if she did ruin it, I really wouldn’t notice.”

Tavi sensed a hint of denial in her voice but didn’t comment on it. He turned his thoughts to the kiss, of how Vic’s body had melted into his. Tavi had expected there to be some slight restraint in Vic, but there was not. It was simply the melting of two beings into one. Like lovers. Tavi did not know how to treat the thought: with disdain or longing. Vic was a good friend, and Tavi didn’t want to ruin the relationship. But then, there was that desire that he fought now, as if he were fighting death itself. It threatened to overtake him with every step that he took on the wet grass(a shortcut).

“I dunno, Luke. It just seems like my world is crashing down. When I thought of Brent yesterday, I saw a creature sent down from Heaven. Now, all I see is a piece of filth and scum. He has dropped his masquerade, Luke, and I’ve seen him for what he really is.”

“A masquerade?”

“Yes. I mean, we all have those things that we keep within ourselves, secrets that nobody needs to know. But what Brent pulled back there in just unacceptable. If a guy has some secrets, he can keep ‘em. But if his secret is another woman, than he can still keep her. I just won’t keep him.” The statement was tinged with confusion and anger.

There was a downpour, but Tavi could see that rain was not what caused the water on Vic’s face. The emotion had just hit her, like some sort of nuclear blast. Alone in the woods, she wept. Tavi embraced her and let the tears run down his shoulder.

She exclaimed, “I just don’t know. It’s all so confusing! How could this happen?”

Tavi responded, “He shouldn’t have done that to you. You deserve better! If he wants to jack off, let him jack off by himself. It’s his loss.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You’re a great girl, Vic. You’re all a guy could ever want.” Tavi neglected to mention that he was that guy. “If Brent can hurt you like that, then damn him!”

Vic calmed down and loosened her grip on Tavi’s shirt. She started off for her house and Tavi followed. “Know what?” Vic commented. “I’ll bet I can tell you exactly what Jenny’ll be spreading around tomorrow. She’ll say you and me are going out.”

Tavi smiled at the thought. “Perhaps it will be the first rumor ever to actually have a realistic base.”

Vic giggled. She had no clue as to Tavi’s double meaning. She examined her mud-covered shoes. “Look. These’ll never be white again. So much mud… Let’s go, then.”

It was about six o’clock when Tavi found himself at Vic’s house. Inside, it was beautiful, a feat of modern interior design. The front door led directly to the living room. The ceiling went to the top of the second floor, with a pathway connecting parts of the hall upstairs. A cube-shaped light was suspended from the ceiling, made of a light green material that wasn’t like any other that Tavi had seen on Earth. On the lush oriental carpet, there were two identical sofas, both made of soft suede. They met at a right angle. There was a coffee table, recently shipped from Italy. In the farthest corner of the room, to the right of the glass doors leading to the backyard, was a large-screen television at least four or five times as big as the one Tavi had at home.

“You want something to drink? I can make you some cappuccino.”

Tavi nodded, transfixed by the chandelier. It hung at an angle, like one of those stuffed-dice car ornaments. The light looked like something he had seen somewhere.

But where? The thought came back to him like a shock. It had been two years since he had last seen that type of lighting. He remembered helping somebody smuggle luxuries to a woman who lived in a village about a hundred miles from his house. She had greeted him warmly. The woman explained(and probably bragged about) why her house looked better than her neighbors’. While doing this, she had pointed out the sole source of light in her dwelling. It was not a fire or a radiation-leaking burning wasmore leaf, but a chandelier that, although it was of a different color than the one Tavi saw now, looked so much like it that the similarity was remarkable.

Tavi gasped. To confirm his suspicion, he looked to see if there was a cord coming from the chandelier, or the shape of a light-bulb visible inside. There wasn’t.

The sounds of a coffee machine were heard and Vic, coughing, passed Tavi to go upstairs. “I’m going to change into something dry now. If you want, I can get you some of Eric’s clothing. He’s a few inches taller than you, but I think it would fit better than that wet bag you’re wearing.” She coughed again. “Damn,” she muttered. “Why didn’t I think to bum a ride off Eric?”

“Eric? That your brother?”

“Yeah. He’s about five years older than me. I think he’s out with his girl now, so I don’t think he’d notice if you grabbed anything, so’s long as it isn’t that tux he’s saving for the symphony. I swear, he’s weird!” Vic laughed and continued, “I’ll show you where his room is.”

Tavi nodded and was led up the stairs to the second floor. Vic explained, “This floor has Eric’s, Sandra’s, and my bedrooms. My parents’ room is the entire third floor, which is actually more like an apartment, complete with a kitchen, living room, and bathroom. I would love to have that room!”

This floor had just as high a ceiling as the other floor, save for the half of the floor that was cut away for the first-floor living room. A pathway over the entrance hall led to Eric’s room. The bedroom had in it a desk, bed, bedside table, and two bookshelves. They were all neatly arranged and made of the same light-colored and polished wood. A framed picture of a scene from a horse race hung in the center of the room. Dust could be found nowhere, even on the beige carpet. Tavi remarked at the cleanliness of the place.

A voice coming from the other end of the hall, halfway between here and the bathroom, called, “Victoria! How many times have I told you? This is my room and you are to keep out of it!”

Tavi turned to see Eric. Eric looked older than eighteen, and was fair-skinned with bright red hair. The voice sounds familiar, he thought. But where have I heard it before?

While Vic argued with her brother, Tavi walked into the room, looking for clues. An open book on the desk caught his attention. He lifted it up to see the cover. It was gold and black with the title “The Good News Bible”. Oh Christ! Tavi thought.

“…Why aren’t you with your girlfriend, damnit?!” Vic exclaimed.

“Why?” Eric responded. “So you can do this nerd in my room, ‘cause yours is too messed up?”

Vic was about to respond when Tavi tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me. I need to ask one of you something.”

“What?’

Tavi turned to Eric and asked, “Are you a Jehovah’s Witness?”

“Yes, I am. Do you have a problem with that?” Eric took an a defensive look.

“No, no. I was just wondering.” Tavi blushed. He remembered that time when he had forgotten to dress and answered the door. Eric looked different now(the hair had changed), but the face was the same.

“Hey… You do look familiar! Oh goodness, do you live in Blue Ash?”

Tavi sheepishly nodded and Eric forgot about his anger at Vic when he laughed loudly enough to make Tavi cringe. “Victoria, this guy did the most screwed-up thing last summer. You really shoulda been there!”

“Ah,” Vic commented. “So you two have met already?”

Tavi said to Eric, “Please don’t tell her. Please…”

“Oh goodness, boy. You practically scared the life outta me! Honestly, what were you thinking?”

Tavi saw a window above the wooden desk and seriously considered jumping out of it. “It was a mistake. I... I was on medication at the time. I had no control of my actions!”

Eric laughed. “Bull. If you were wacked, how come you had that physics book in your hands? Ain’t you a bit too young for that? No, you were aware at the time... and you know it.”

“What happened?” Vic eagerly asked. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Tavi deeply inhaled. He could not lie to her, and he felt that if he didn’t tell the story, Eric would probably tell an exaggerated version of it anyway. “I was studying something and your brother here so rudely knocked on the door. I answered and he talked of evangelism. That is all.”

“Oh, but boy, you have left out one very important detail! You failed to tell of the fact that the only thing keeping you modest at the time was a book in your hand, flapping against your lower regions. Yet you seemed so unaware of it that your current excuse for it now seems plausible.” Eric, in a private explosion of immaturity, concluded.

Vic looked at Tavi and gasped. Then the thought of anyone making such a stupid mistake made her go into laughing hysterics. Tavi couldn’t see what was so funny.

Eric then asked, “Victoria, why did you come to my room anyway?”

“Luke’s clothing was wet and I wondered if he could wear some of yours.”

“Oh. That’s fine, but why doesn’t he just change when he gets home? He’s not staying overnight of anything, is he?” Eric’s last sentence contained a suggestion that Vic politely ignored.

“You’re right,” Tavi agreed. “Vic, I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Isn’t there some coffee or whatever downstairs?”

Vic nodded. “It’s probably cold now. Maybe I can nuke it a little, though.”

“Great... tell me, where did you get that light fixture in your living room? I find it awfully interesting.”

“I don’t know what place it was made in, but I do know that my father inherited it some years ago. Yeah, I get lots of questions about it. The truth is, sometimes I wonder if it’s original purpose was to be a light at all,” Vic casually responded.

Oh, it was! Tavi thought. “My father has an interest in antique furniture. I’m not sure if that’s an antique or not, but I think he would like to see it anyway. Could you take a Polaroid and photograph that for me?”

“Sure.” Vic found such a camera on one of Eric’s shelves and walked out of the room with it. Tavi sat on the bed and waited, twiddling his thumbs.

Did I just lie to Vic? he wondered. I can’t believe I did that! But I need to show this to Dad. I think it’s an Ev’clear piece, but I’ve only seen one of those on that planet, so for all I know, that could something manufactured in China. I need him to confirm this. And--Oh God!-- what does this mean about Vic’s family? Am I not alone on this Earth? Was Dad not the only person to follow Natarr’s example?

Until this time, Tavi had not realized how lonely he was. There was Marph, but nobody else who lived here came from Ev’clear. Only Marph could grasp his troubles and past, and even then was not of much help. Tavi wished his old friends were here. He missed Crom and company, their jokes and support. He remembered how he was to tell nobody that he was going to Earth and taking on the permanent form of a human. Crom probably thought that he was dead.

“Here it is.” Vic’s girlish voice broke through Tavi’s ponderings like a laser-cutter.

“Wuh?” his head jerked to attention. “Oh, yeah, that. Thanks.”

“Is something bothering you?”

Tavi looked at what could have been have been somebody he’d known before. Could this girl have been an acquaintance, a friend, something more? “I don’t know.” Then, as an experiment, he cautiously added, “Nam d’clo?” Translation: Do you?

Vic showed no comprehension. “That Spanish? Sorry, I’m not taking that course.”

Tavi sighed. He took the picture and put it in his pocket. Then he said, “May I use the phone? I think I want to call my father for a ride home. He must be wondering about me by now.”

“Of course. I’ll show you it in my bedroom. Come on.”

The bedroom was Eric’s opposite. Two large windows facing the front yard were lined with photographs, stickers, and anything else that could be physically hung up. In the corner of the room, farthest from the windowed wall and the door facing it, was a white wooden daybed. The end touching the wall was covered with pillows while the end facing the right window was covered with bunched-up sheets. All over the room were posters. The one above the pillows read “The Little Mermaid-- new from Disney!” while the one next to it reminded that “Earthday is Everyday”. Above the side of the bed was a large picture of the B-52’s. In the ten feet between the windows, among other things, was a life-size poster of Madonna in a mini-skirt and cone bra.

The ceiling in Vic’s room was twelve feet high, higher that her brother’s. Drawers and shelves, which stopped at the windows(about as high as someone’s waist), lined the wall opposite the door. Opposite Vic’s bed, near the left window, was a wall the consisted almost entirely of closet doors. Yet, even with all the drawers and closets full, piles of clothing were on the shiny wooden floor.

Vic took him across the room to the shelving. Under the right window, on top of the shelving, was a self-made vanity. To Tavi’s left, a stereo three times as large as his with what could have easily five hundred CDs piled next to it. Between the vanity and stereo was an assortment of papers and magazines. Amidst this was a thirty-dollar phone with a deliberately transparent surface, revealing its inner workings(something that Tavi had wondered about).

“This is the center of my social life. Treat it as if it were your most vital organ.”

“Does that mean that I should fondle it?” Tavi asked as he picked up the phone. He dialed his home number and his father answered.

“Dawson residence. If you’re trying to sell me something, feel free to hang up.”

“It’s me, Dad.”

“Oh!” Marph exclaimed. “Where are you?”

“I’m at Vic’s house. It’s about five miles away.” Tavi gave him directions. “Ten minutes? Wonderful. Bye.”

A half-hour later, all was quiet in the Dawson household. The dim ceiling light was all that was lit in the apartment. The kitchen table was small, sitting at most three people, on the island of linoleum that stood surrounded on two sides by carpet from the living room and hall leading to the bedroom and bathroom. In the distant background, a baby was crying in the apartment next to this one. Slight movement was heard as Tavi leaned across the table.

The glossy photo caught all the light from the source overhead, blurring it. Marph laid it on the table after a careful examination. “You may be right in one area, son; this is indeed from Ev’clear. Look at that matte and the slight inscription on the corner.” He took a magnifying glass and read, “Taka ti foo elia quam Ev’clear.” Translation: Made by Taka of Elia, in the Colony of Quam, for sale on Ev’clear.

“So it was made on one of the settled planets,” Tavi said. Until the stirks had arrived on Ev’clear, the ques had known of no other intelligent life in the universe. They had developed light-speed travel, but this was used to settle colonies on other planets which would usually would contain no intelligent life beforehand, rather than taking over an existing culture. That was what stirks were for.

“It was made in a colony, yes.” Marph pursed his lips and continued, “And this leads you to form opinions about your friend--what’s her name?”

“Vic. Short for Victoria, Victoria Hunt.”

“Yes, Vic. You think this was her family’s. Now I know you are quick to make judgments-- which are usually somewhat correct, no offense-- but you must have some other form of evidence! This is a very large opinion you’re making.”

Tavi took the Polaroid in his right hand. “There’s something else, too. Shawn told me this story once, involving his mother. It seemed humorous at the time, but as I thought about it, I think it might be true.”

“What?”

“As I understand it, Mrs. Disraeli was a real estate saleswoman a decade ago-- eleven years, Shawn said. She was to meet with the family who had just bought a house in Indian Hill. Instead of a car pulling up in the driveway, a ship landed in the backyard. This would severely disturb Mrs. Disraeli for years to come, but that’s not the point. See, Vic lives in Indian Hill. She does not remember living anyplace else, and if what Shawn says is accurate, than she would have only been a toddler at the time, so she wouldn’t.”

“If anything, that confirms one of two things: extraterrestrials--a very long word that means somebody not from Earth, I think-- moved to Indian Hill in 1980, or Mrs. Disraeli is certifiably insane.” Marph saw his son urging him to go on, as he had already discovered these possibilities himself. “The chandelier, however, seems to make it likely that if they do live in Indian Hill, Vic’s family is probably it.”

“So they’re countrymen?” Tavi asked, hopeful and excited.

Marph shook his head. “They could be, but I’ll remind you that the stirks stole many valuable material goods when they took over our home. Light fixtures like the one here were in particular demand.”

Tavi gasped. He had thought that his quick conclusion and his father’s slow, drawn-out, intricate thought process would come to the same answer. The idea of stirks had never occurred to him. “Are you telling me--”

“I’m not telling you anything. I’m suggesting to you that it is a possibility. Remember when that man attacked you? It means that they are here, Tavi. The stirks are in Cincinnati. On that note, they could be in New York, as well. Understand, I have nothing against Vic and find her to be a very nice person.” Marph’s voice went down an octave. “But then, I’ll remind you of the weeks preceding the stirk takeover, as you were young at the time. We were all overjoyed at finding a people other than ourselves in the galaxy. They had higher technology, and it impressed us. Natarr and his wife feared the change, and having just discovered Earth, ran off to it. The stirks promised Ev’clear a new era.”

Got that right, Tavi mentally commented.

“A new age, they said, better than the existing centuries of peace we had already experienced. They had different customs and rules, but it was accepted because we all wanted to make ourselves a paradise. Before they betrayed our trust and screwed us, Tavi, we thought they were very nice people.”

“You just said you thought Vic was a very nice person.”

Marph said nothing.

“Did you mean it in the same way? ’Cause she’s not, I assure you! She’s the nicest, loveliest, funniest, greatest woman I’ve ever met.”

“You know, Tavi, I’ll bet the average stirk is not the savage you think he is. They made life a living Hell, yes, but they are also quite agreeable in private. I met one once, before the takeover, and even if he lied a little, I think we could have been good friends in other circumstances. I can see the shock on your face, Tavi, but a civilization that builds ships like that can’t be all bad. Think about it.”

“I am, and now I’m trying to stop.” Tavi had never heard anything so awful in his life.

“I’m sorry, that was a bit insane. So what do you want to do? You can continue to see Vic and risk it, or you can avoid her.”

“What would you do?”

“I’d move a thousand miles away and make her believe I was dead.”

Tavi nodded, ending the conversation. He imagined what it would be like, to never see Vic again. To never see her face... Tavi thought. To never hear her laughter, sweet bells, so clear. To never know her newest secret, a piece of gossip that only I may know. To never hold her body against mine in a state of bliss-- and smell that perfume on her neck, reminiscent of vanilla and something floral. To never do this, to never do that, to never do anything worth doing! No, it cannot happen.

Tavi found himself standing in outer space, on a silver disc about twenty feet in diameter. He was warm and breathing, some gravity holding him down. The blackness of space seemed to engulf the disc, yet the stars and Earth’s sun saved it in their healthy light. Earth and Mars were two tiny dots in the opposite direction. It was almost silent.

He was human now. This was the first dream he had ever had where he wasn’t a que, as if his mind had finally accepted the body that surrounded it. Tavi wandered on the disc, exploring its surface, smooth like glass and soft to the touch.

Vic, wearing a white dress that clung to the bust and waist while flowing over the legs and touching the ground, was on the center of the disc, on her knees and very confused. She was crying, not noticing Tavi. He inched cautiously to her, and she slowly realized his presence.

“Don’t come any closer!” she warned, her tears gone for the moment.

“Why not?” Tavi asked. “We’re the only ones here. Nothing can hurt us!”

Vic turned to see something behind Tavi, something he could not see. An emotion beyond fear and shock(acceptance?) covered her face.

“I’ll save you,” Tavi offered, knowing full well that it was futile. To confirm this, a ring of fire ten feet high came between him and Vic. Vic let out moans of pain and Tavi knew that even if he couldn’t rescue her, he could at least relieve her pain. Bravely, he headed for Vic and let the fire touch him. It burned his flesh, but nothing mattered now.

“Victoria!” he said. He felt his skin burn, but the pain was strangely bearable.

Vic stood now, a solemn look on her face. She wanted Tavi, but would never have him. It could not come to that, not now, not ever.

Tavi touched her shoulder and smiled. Vic did not acknowledge his touch. “I’m here; don’t you see me? Don’t you love me?”

Vic tried to explain it, but all she could say was, “Yes, Tavi. Yes.”

He tried to hold her in his arms, but suddenly the ring of fire was accompanied by a dot of it barely wide enough for Vic. Tavi immediately jumped back and watched her burn. She did not scream or show any sign of pain, but rather a longing and sadness that pierced Tavi’s heart. “Things don’t have to be this way!” he cried.

Vic looked like an angel in the fire, her white dress fluttering around her in the heat and her hair, not affected by the fire for some reason, was lifted like the dress and appeared to be a halo. With sadness and certainty, she responded, “But they are.”

Shawn, Vic, and Tavi sat at a cafeteria table. Vic’s other friends were absent, and she did not mind, as they were little more than mere acquaintances in the first place. Vic leaned back in her seat and said, “Thank God it’s Friday.”
“Here, here!” Shawn agreed. Tavi had read about a typical “workweek” and, even though it had affected him little during the summer, he now grasped the full meaning: for two days every week, he would be free to sleep in until noon. Thank God, indeed.

“Oh, Luke, can you believe what happened last night?” Vic asked.

“You mean about Eric or Brent? If it’s about Eric, I deny everything.”

“Brent. Oh Shawn, you shoulda seen it. I saw him kissing Jenny Nevins back there at that chili place.”

“Brent-- he’s that guy you liked, right?” Shawn asked.

“Liked, yes. Not like-- liked. So I had come back from the crapper and Luke pointed it out to me. If I could have, I know I seriously would have killed the bastard.”

Tavi continued the story, “So she got revengeful and all...”

“I know what happened,” Shawn interrupted. “Everyone does. You kissed, groped, and finally screwed each other. Is it true you’re dating?”

“No!” Vic laughed. “I have no desire to date him whatsoever.”

“Then you didn’t makeout?”

Disappointed, Tavi responded, “All we did was kiss--no tongue-- even though it looked like more. See, this was Vic’s way of saying ‘Screw you!’ to Brent. It was in jest, that was all.” Then Tavi’s mind continued, But why was that all? Why?!

“Screw you? I’ve never heard of anybody saying it like that!” Shawn commented. “Come on, at least one of you must have enjoyed it... I mean, for reasons other than, as my Spanish teacher says, ‘el asshole’.”

I did! Tavi thought. I did, and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever known. But then, why hasn’t she responded in like? What’s going on here? If I like--no, love!-- her, why doesn’t she feel the same? How can only one of us feel it? I read about human hormones, so how is this even scientifically possible?

“I didn’t enjoy it like that. Did you?”

Tavi looked at Vic and laughed. “Of course not! Hell no.”

Shawn nodded. Then he tactfully changed the subject. “Hey, Luke, did you see the models in that Victoria’s Secret ad?”

“Yeah. What I wouldn’t wanna do to them! Ooo... Don’t make me go there.”

Vic rolled her eyes, unnoticed.

“Did you see Claudia up there? I like sexy women in undress! Really, you think she’d go for a guy like me?”

“I think that if she saw this much testosterone in this little space, she’d run out of here like a bat out of Hell,” Vic said.

Shawn, overcome with the fantasy, responded, “And, oh, what a bat that would be!”

Tavi looked at Vic again. Vic was not a model, but to him, she eclipsed the underwear people. She was more than ink on paper, and, if anything, a better kisser as well. Shawn saw celebrities, dreams, and Tavi wondered if he wanted anything else. Vic brought something out in him, and Tavi knew that he had changed for the better because of it. Then he thought of the chandelier and Marph’s suggestion. A stirk, this wonderful woman? Impossible to the highest degree.

Vic stood up. “I’ve got to get something from my locker. You stay here?”

The others nodded. Vic walked out of the crowded cafeteria. Tavi leaned across the table. “I don’t know what’s going on, Shawn.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“It’s Ev’clear. You did believe me back there, didn’t you?”

“The way that man acted, and that weirdo gun you pulled-- they would make me believe anything. When that man started talking all strange, I knew before you told me that he was something, something not of this world. I’m not a gullible person, Tavi.”

“What did you call me?!”

“I called you Luke. That’s your name, ain’t it?”

Tavi’s head reeled. “Are you sure?”

Shawn responded, “Quat di lo Tavi kett?”

The translation was “Are you all right, Tavi?” but translation was not important at the moment. The very fact that Shawn was talking que made Tavi very, very afraid. He held his head in his hands, looking at Shawn as if he were possessed(which might have been true, Tavi figured).

“Tik!” Shawn exclaimed.

The world seemed to swirl around Tavi. His head throbbed and he felt dizzy. He saw an older woman, the aid to the school nurse, come to Shawn. She pointed to Tavi and spoke his native language. Shawn nodded.

Tavi stood up. He looked like a wild beast, with messed-up hair and sweat sticking everything near his body to his body. His eyes were those of a crazy man, causing fear in everyone around him. He did not dare say anything, lest he speak the language that tormented him so. Everything he heard was que. Why?! Suddenly, he lost all energy and fell to the floor.

Lights. Fluorescent lights. Glaring fluorescent lights. Tavi’s eyes had opened.

“Calling Doctor Smith. Calling Doctor Smith,” a female voice called over what sounded like a P.A. system.

It was in English. English... the concept made Tavi feel safe. He felt something soft under his head. A pillow. He reached under it with his hand. Cotton. He saw that he was lying in a bed, with blue sheets over him. He noticed he was not wearing the jeans and tank top he’d worn before, but rather some sort of new article of clothing that he’d never worn. Hospital gown? This did resemble something that he had seen on television once.

He fully saw the room he was in now. There was a small wooden door across from him, and a larger door that was part glass to his right. To his left, a wide window. The sun was setting now. Had he really been out that long?

Next to the window was a chair. Marph sat in it, hands clutching its arms is suspense. Worry had a way of making him look as is he was a hundred years old.

Tavi sat up and smiled. Marph, relieved, got up from his seat and held his hand.

“I’m fine... What time is it?”

“Thank goodness, you’re alive! The doctors didn’t know if you’d make it,” Marph said, hugging Tavi. He cried in happiness.

The possibility of death hadn’t occurred to Tavi. “Why did they think that?” He flung the covers off of him and stood barefoot on the cold floor.

“They said it was as if you had had a heart attack or a stroke, your blood pressure was so high. There so many toxins in your system that I had to tell them over and over again that you never took mind-altering drugs in your life. You were having multiple seizures and screaming at the top of your lungs in every language you knew-- English, Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese... que and stirk,” Marph said.

“You’re joking, right? All I remember is everyone talking que--it must have been a vision or something-- and losing consciousness. I had a migraine, but that was it.” Tavi had never been more confused.

“I’m not joking. Doctor Williamson said that even if your vital signs went back to normal--which they did a few hours ago-- he feared another eruption.”

“Eruption? Do I look like a volcano?” Tavi’s world had fallen apart for no apparent reason. He was not Tavi anymore. He was a child, an invalid now. He paced as widely as the room would let him. “I’m sane now, Dad. Believe me. Hungry, aching, but damn healthy!” He looked at the room and it seemed like nothing more than a well-lit prison cell. “Where are my clothes? Where did the bastards put ‘em? I want to get out of here!”

Marph took his son’s shoulder’s and held them tightly. “The doctor here believes that you should stay here a day or two, for observation and recovery.”

Tavi’s voice became higher than that of Mariah Carey’s. “There’s no need for that! You’ve observed me! I’ve recovered! Let’s go!”

“You haven’t recovered, Luke. Look at you. It’s like you’re having another seizure!”

The door opened and a balding man in his late thirties entered. He looked tired and surprised at Tavi’s condition. “I see you’re up.”

Tavi calmed down. “Yes, I am, and who the flying Hell are you?”

“I’m Doctor Williamson. You had quite a bad fit back there.” Then, as an experiment, he held up his hand and displayed three digits. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Gee, I dunno, fifty?” Tavi responded sarcastically.

“Stop that!” Marph scolded.

“It’s okay,” Williamson said to Marph. “He’s in post-traumatic recovery. If he feels scared or confused, I’ll just give him this.” A bottle of pills rested in one hand.

Sick of being referred to in the third-person, Tavi said, “I don’t need your damn pills. All I need right now is to know where you hid my clothing so I can get out of here in decency. Got that?”

“We want to keep you here for a few days, in case something comes up.”

“What one wants and what one gets are very different things, Doctor Williamson. If I, as you put it, ‘have an eruption’, I promise I’ll call you.” Tavi found his clothes, folded, on a shelf nailed to the white wall.

“Mr. Dawson, I believe that your child should stay here. Perhaps some restraints on the bed would be helpful. I’ll call for some sedatives right now if you want.”

Marph considered all the options. Despite what the good doctor said, he knew that Tavi’s former state of insanity would not return. He was already developing a theory about this, but chose not to mention it. “I think that won’t be necessary. Please go now.”

The command was said in such a way that Williamson did not argue.

Now that the room was free of strangers, Tavi started changing his clothes. “Thanks.”

“You know, if it was me, I would have stayed here for all of next week.”

Tavi pulled on a pair of boxers. “Why?”

“Because I’d like to fully recover and make sure that I was fine. I’d like to be on the safe side.”

“But we’re going now, right?” Tavi asked, zipping the fly on his jeans.

“Yes. Frankly, it seems that whatever I find comforting you find threatening. It doesn’t make sense for you to stay here, even if the med students are hankering for some new article to publish in their journals.”

Tavi slipped into his tank top and quickly put on his shoes and Converses. “I take it you know something they don’t.”

“I obtained chemical samples from their lab. It scares me, but I know that if you’re fine now, it can’t affect you any more.” Marph opened the door and they walked out, into a hall full of wheelchairs, nurses, and crying. “Still, I’m driving.”

The drive from the Jewish Hospital was a short one, but it seemed like forever to Tavi. He wanted to get home. Now. The sun had already given way to night. The sky was a flurry of pink, purple, and blue. It made for a good picture, bathing everything in its warm light. Tavi leaned back in his seat, knees on the dashboard. He said, “You have a theory, right?”

Marph said, “Yeah. The root of it is the fact that if the man who tried to get at you with Senesa failed, he’d probably try something different. As you know, I’ve always had something of a scientific bent for lethal fluids. It started as a childhood hobby, I guess...”

Tavi turned to the window in front of him, gently sighing.

“Oh, yes, that. See, Senesa isn’t the only thing that can kill a man. There is one drug that can be administered in foods. It stays in the body for a few days with no symptoms until, suddenly, it strikes. The way you told me that everyone was talking que means that it affected your brain waves. The seizures were basically a bad reaction to the drug. On most people--on Ev’clear, at least-- the body cannot stand this and dies a few minutes after unconsciousness. The very fact that you went at it for hours means that, apparently--”

“I’m not a que. I’m a human.” The theory was quickly recognized. “This man knew that Senesa worked, so that’s what he tried first. Then, seeing that such a thing wouldn’t work, he went on to plan B... Dad, what do you think he’ll do next?”

Marph briefly closed his eyes. “I don’t even want to imagine.”

“Why is this happening, anyway? If I’m getting all this crap, why aren’t you? You’re a que just like I am.”

“Because they know that if they kill me, they’ll lose their chance of getting ahold of something that could kill us all.”

This did not make sense to Tavi. “What? Besides ethnic heritage, we have nothing that could piss them off.”

“We have what could destroy all the stirks in the galaxy. But, lacking your violent impulses, I never told anyone about it. I almost regret making it, but it’s made in such a way that it can only be destroyed with bloodshed.”

“I’m having another eruption now, aren’t I? Only this time instead of people talkin’ que they’re talking insanity.”

Marph clenched the steering wheel in his hands. “They want me to find them and tell them about it so they can use it. Of course, I’m not going to. So here they are. They won’t touch me, so they’ll come and exert their revenge on you instead. I’ve tried to keep them away. Don’t think that I’m putting you in danger on purpose, Tavi. I would never in my life do that. But if they got this, I don’t think either of us would much want to live to see it anyway. Understand?”

“Not really, but that’s okay.” Tavi smiled. “Does this have anything to do with your scientific bent?”

“If you must know, it’s more mechanical than anything. It can make an explosion in one place the size of a small planet, or, upon detonation, it can molecularly transport itself, in small parts at a speed faster than anything you’ve ever heard of, to a thousand places at once. In theory, one could simultaneously destroy the whole stirk fleet.”

Tavi’s jaw dropped. “And who made this...?”

“Me. It was kind of a pet project of mine, starting about when you were five, ending when you were--what?-- eleven.”

“I never saw anything that big in the house, Dad. There were tools and spare parts and junk lying around everywhere, but then, that was stored there before I was born.”

“Size doesn’t matter. The damn thing is about the size and shape of a basketball. Weighs about five pounds. It’s small and black and looks like something children on Earth use to play games.”

Then Tavi voiced a another question. “Why don’t you use it?” he asked.

“Because even though I could use it and survive--it has a timer-- I would not want to kill that many people, no matter who they are.”

“Can I use it?”

“No!” Marph yelled, repulsed. “Do you have no respect for life? Well, okay, maybe that’s a bad way to say it. But putting you on a stirk ship, risking your life. There is no way in Hell that I’d let you do that... You’re all I have left, Tavi. I’m not going to let those bastards take you too.”

It was around midnight when Tavi saw it. Marph came out of the fifth dimension within a minute of going in(important since the portal had to stay open for the entire time). He was in the living room when he saw it. It was as his father had described it: a smooth and shiny black basketball, without the bounciness.

“That’s just a wee little thing!” Tavi exclaimed.

“Oh yeah? I’ve cultured the stuff inside this baby to explode with a force not known before. Look here.” He pressed a part of the ball and it sunk inward, revealing a rather simple-looking keypad, not unlike those on the calculators Tavi used at school.

“Tavi, I’m not sure how long I can last here. I see no problems in the future, but I still think that you should know this. And when you have a child and he comes of age, tell him this as well. I don’t want anybody to set the damn thing off, but I want to know that if it is ever truly needed, and no alternative is available, there should be someone on this planet who knows how to use it. Understand?”

“Yes.” Tavi had joked about blowing up stuff earlier, but now that he saw the weapon in question, he was dead serious.

Marph held the bomb in his hands. He sat on the sofa and Tavi sat next to him. “I made this when I felt desperate for a better future. I was sad, repressed, and, although it sounds trivial now, extremely bored as well. See this keypad?” It had four gray buttons, the ultimate in simplicity. “The top button is what you use to automatically install, in whatever computer terminal you’re near on the stirk ship, the program information for the bomb. The two middle buttons below it are your options: above means all in one place, below means to all ship and land base coordinates listed in the mainframe. The lowest button is the timer, which will have everything explode in exactly ten minutes. To avoid identification as a bomb, it has no screen showing a countdown. One tiny beep is all you’d get to tell you that the timer had started... I suggest you wear something other than that cheap digital watch.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah. I try to keep everything I do as simple as possible. With something like this, a mistake would be very costly. In fact, I’d write down the directions, but I think it would be safer if you just remembered it. You did get all that, didn’t you?”

Tavi carefully recited it. “Top button hooks bomb to system. The one below makes it go off in one place, and the one below that makes it go off in a million places. The bottom button sets it for ten minutes. But there’s one thing that confuses me. If I want to set it off right where it is, do I still have to hook it up?”

Marph considered the question. “No.”

“So I now know how to set off the most lethal thing ever devised, having learned it in minutes?” Tavi smugly smiled. “And I thought Apple was user-friendly.”

The next day was a Saturday, and the air was alive with energy. Vic, Shawn, and Tavi walked along a sidewalk in the park near Montgomery City Hall. Other than them, the park was empty. There was a covered area of picnic tables, and the trio went there for shade from the sun, still fierce in early September. The area had the appearance of a single-room house stripped of its walls. A dozen dusty rectangular tables stood on the dirt-brushed concrete floor. On one end of the structure was a large fireplace and chimney, which had not been used to cook anything in a long time. Soot and charred remains of food sat there, slowing turning into nothingness.

“God, I love this place,” Vic commented. She laid down on one of the table benches, her long ponytail almost touching the floor.

Tavi nodded. He felt inside the pocket of his jeans to make sure it was still there: the key. The usual contents of his pockets tended to be a wallet with at least ten dollars in it and keys to the apartment and car. Today, however, he also chose to take with him the key, which was flat against him. Instinct had told him to carry it.

Shawn sat on the table, a foot above Vic. He continued the conversation. “So what would you do if you woke up with Geri Janeway?”

Geri was the most unpopular girl in Sycamore, and was thus the butt of many jokes. Tavi did not like this, but who was he to risk whatever social standing he had, just to defend the likes of Geri Janeway? “I’d scream like Hell, assuming her infinite mass doesn’t smother me instead.”

Shawn and Vic laughed. They got into detail about some of the things they had heard about her, and Tavi naturally included himself in the discussion. Time passed. Soon, it was dark. Tavi checked his new, non-digital watch, and saw the time: 9:30 p.m.

“We should really go now,” Vic remarked. “Mom’s probably worried about what’s happening to me right now.”

“What about your dad?” Shawn asked.

“Oh, he said he’d be out on business this week. He mentioned it would be someplace very far away... I think it was Tokyo.”

Tavi nodded. They walked out of the structure, in the direction of the softball field. The park’s land was divided into two parts: the higher land, where there was a playground, sidewalk, and picnic area; and the lower land, where softball was played in the summer and its deep slope was used to sled down during the brief winter.

The sky was dark blue, and thin clouds covered most of it. The moon showed through, casting an eerie light on all it touched. As they made their way down the hill, Tavi stopped halfway and told the others to do so as well. He saw a round shape above the clouds. It was formed like a bullet, and unless his eyes were playing tricks on him, orange as well. Something colder than fear struck Tavi.

Shawn was the first to pick up on this emotion, as he had done it once before. Vic, seeing the others look at the sky, frozen, searched for the source of interest but did not see it soon enough.

The bullet got bigger, descending to the ground. Shawn whispered, “Oh God...”

Vic took Shawn’s hand and held it tightly, if only out of childhood habit. She silently cried. She feared this more than anything, and she wanted to be home right now. Under her breath, she said, “Luke, Shawn, if this kills us--” But she stopped.

Tavi observed the scene with terror and patted the key in his pocket. The ship had come, and he was without weaponry, and even if he did have a few nukes, how could they defend him against this? This was not a lone man with a Senesa kit.

The ship landed, and an entrance opened, the small plank stirring up dust on second base. It was of current design, and Tavi knew that it could carry about one hundred stirks. In other words, it was a very small ship, but a threat nonetheless. Six stirks came out. Unlike ques, whose form was similar to that of a human’s, stirks were each eight to ten feet tall. They had two arms, but instead of legs, they had a tail like a snake’s. Stirks were red and scaly, with insect-like faces and tusks that were a foot long. To Tavi, they were the ugliest things he had ever seen. To the others, they were that and much more.

Shawn and Vic turned to run, but Tavi did not. They would catch him no matter what, but why would they want his friends? Still, while he stood like a cat sensing the that a dog would run into its yard in seconds, the others were easily caught. They both tried to flee, screaming and kicking, but this only led to being shot with a stun-gun. Thus, Tavi’s friends were dragged on the grass. He knew better than to try to stop it.

The leader walked up to Tavi. In stirk, he said, “Why are you not fighting like your companions are? It makes such things more enjoyable.”

Tavi gave him a look that stated that, while he was only five foot’ seven”, he could still stare down this piece of trash. “I know better than to do such things. You know that as well as I. Still, why do you not let them go? They are of no use to you.”

“Witnesses must be eliminated. Memories must be wiped. Who’s that boy over there? Something Disraeli? Oh yes, I believe his mother saw a little too much so we had to ‘alter’ her. Maybe her son can get the same...”

He thought of Shawn’s mother and bit his tongue. Not now. Anger and fear boiled inside him, but not now.

“Hold out you hands.”

Tavi, left with no other option, did as he was told. His wrists were tied to handcuffs, which were connected to a chain held by one of the other stirks. The party made its way into the ship and the door closed. As he was led away, he saw the oblong opening become smaller, reducing what he saw outside. He watched intently, knowing that this might be the last he ever saw of Earth.

Tavi was pushed into a cell on one of the lower decks, and Shawn and Vic were literally thrown in after him, like rag dolls. The cell had four walls and all of them were solid, letting him see nothing outside. Yet he knew that the technology probably in place here was not unlike a two-sided mirror, so to the stirks, he was in plain view. He felt the key jut up against his hip and sighed. If he tried to use it, he’d get busted before he could walk through the dimensions.

There was no receptacle for waste in here, so the room stank with ten years’ worth of it. It was suffocating. The lighting was dim, to the point where Tavi could barely see his hand. He glanced at Shawn and Vic, knowing that they were not dead. They were unconscious, that was all. Vic lay across the floor, while Shawn was slumped against a wall.

He checked his watch. Three minutes had passed.

All was silent. The walls were thick, and not even the low rumble of the ship’s engine could be heard. Tavi saw, in the dim light, the faint movement of two chests going up and down, breathing. But he could not actually hear it. He breathed louder just so he could escape the silence.

He wanted to sit down. If he was to be here for an indefinite amount of time, he figured that it would be a good idea to sit and collect his strength. So he did. The ground he sat on was hard, but what his left hand touched was rather soft. Curiously, he held his hand to his face and smelled it. Crap.

Immediately, Tavi wanted to wipe it off of his hands, but where to? It had been a mistake to touch the barely-visible floor, and he surely wasn’t going to mess up his clothing. He saw the wall to his left. It was about ten feet long and eight feet high. To aid the stirks, they were also very clean.

He wiped the crap on the wall in such a way that, when viewed from the other side, was the symbol for the stirk equivalent of somebody raising his middle finger. It was a childish gesture, he knew, but it did make him feel better, if only for the time that he was doing it.

Then, hand clean, he sat next to Shawn. He thought of Mrs. Disraeli and sighed. She was such a pitiful creature, once a successful person, now an invalid. The stirks had done this to her. Would they do it to Shawn too? Shawn Disraeli, once a carefree student, now whatever they may make of him?

Shawn looked as if he was sleeping, peaceful and blissfully unaware. Vic looked the same. There were three forms in the cell. One was half-sitting, half-standing like a mother over two babies. The mother knew the world and feared for her children. The children would continue to be unaware until the time came when the world would reveal itself to be an ugly, dangerous place. This was inevitable, and this was what the mother feared worst of all.

For Tavi, the cell was not that unpleasant. It was squalid, but if anything that was proof that prisoners were fed here(after all, crap comes from food). These were stirks, the old and familiar enemy. Also, they couldn’t keep him here forever, could they?

What’s the worst thing that can happen? he thought. Maybe I can be held hostage for the information that they want. That would be an easy escape. Do these people suspect that I now know the secret as well? Then maybe there’s a chance that I’ll survive this. Good; I’d kinda like to see tomorrow. Wait! What if they try to torture me into doing it? I won’t tell them anything, but it would still suck.

Tavi saw more of the cell now, as his eyes had adjusted to the lower light. His watch wasn’t so hard to read, and the time was eleven o’clock. An hour and a half felt like an eternity. The smell had stopped bothering him and he suddenly had to piss. He went to the corner of the cell that had unofficially been designated the “bathroom” by inmates past.

As he was standing, he knew that there were some guards standing outside. He unzipped and had the slightest urge to say something like “Are you getting turned on by this?!” but decided against it. He was above that, at least for the moment.

Then, as he took his place next to Shawn, it hit him. The shock had suddenly worn off. He shook with the tears, curling in a ball. He was, for the first time in his life, alone. Before, Marph had always been there for him. Tavi had never been so far away from home without him. Where was Marph now? Sitting at home, worried sick about his child? Searching the Earth, cursing the stirks? Hell, he could even be dead right now.

Marph dead?! Tavi erased the thought from his mind. Impossible. Still, it there was a good chance that he probably didn’t know where his son was.

He continued to cry and said, first in a whisper, then in a shout, “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die! Life is sweet-- I need more of it. Where’s home? Where’s Dad? Where’s anything besides this? Lord, help he. I don’t wanna die!”

Tavi balled himself on the floor like a child. Reality was no more. It had been replaced by this cell in a ship going to God-knows-where.

A loud screaming roused him from this position. High, male, must be Shawn. Tavi’s tears disappeared. He wiped them off his face and tried to create some composure. The children needed a mother that was in control.

After some very loud hyperventilating, Shawn looked at him. He said nothing, but had the most pleading eyes that Tavi had ever seen. They wanted an explanation. Now.

“We are in a very bad place.” This was the best he could do.

“No shit, Shirlock! No wonder it smells so God-damn rank in here!” Tears came, but Shawn still continued a string of words that could have been mistaken for insults if the voice saying them wasn’t so hurt and confused. “What the Hell happened? What am I doing here? More to the point, where is here?”

Good. He could answer these questions. “I come from Ev’clear. The reason why I came to Earth was because stirks had made my former home a living Hell. Stirks are the man that assaulted us and the ugly things that took us in this ship. Why are you here? You witnessed it-- it’s me they want, but they don’t want word of this to get around.”

“W-w-will they kill me? Please don’t say that they’ll kill me!”

Tavi decided to be honest. He would not soften the truth. “They might, but then, they might also just decide to, as one of them put it, ‘alter’ you.”

Shawn started pacing nervously around the cell. “Alter?” The word held many possibilities for him, none of them pleasant. “What do I end up like after I’m... altered?”

“Like your mother.” It was delivered with little visible emotion.

“Is that what they did to her? Then it isn’t her fault that she’s crazy? They did this to her?”

Tavi nodded.

Shawn banged against the walls, screaming as loudly as possible, “I’m gonna kill you bastards, damnit! You hear me? I’m gonna see ya’ll rot in Hell! I’m gonna take each and every one of you and beat the living crap outta you ten times over!”

Tavi remarked, “They can see you, ya know. It’s like a two-way mirror. Still, I don’t think any of them speak English.”

Shawn saw the crap on the wall. “What is this?”

“I got it on my hand, so then I wiped it there. It not only obscures their view of us-- it also means ‘Screw you’ in stirk.”

“What are you doing? Making pictures with crap? Stop whacking off, Luke! We’ve gotta get outta here!”

“Christ, really? You know, I’ve been trying to figure out just how to do that for that last two hours! Know what? The door’s locked harder than iron and we’ve got surveillance from every angle. Just think of escaping and they’ll kick your ass.”

“No! No! No!” Shawn burst into tears. “Why? For the love of God!”

“Because they know that my father and I know the biggest secret in the galaxy.”

“What? The secret to living forever?”

“Hell no! It’s a bomb that could blow up planets and fleets of ships. Dad made it and he just told me how to operate it yesterday. It could make people very powerful. The stirks want it and will do anything to get it,” Tavi responded. “But I ain’t tellin’.”

Shawn gasped. “Wha...?”

“Yeah,” Tavi responded. “I can’t show it to you now, but I can assure you that this is what makes child’s play of what you call ‘biological warfare’.”

“How big?”

Tavi searched for an example from Earth that could make for good comparison, but found none. He’d heard about something that, for some reason, blew up in Japan half a century ago. Still, if it could only destroy one city... pathetic! “Take the biggest thing you’ve ever imagined and multiply it by ten.”

Shawn was calm now. This intriguing ‘human being’ had a certain manner about him, a coolness that was inspiring. If Luke here was calm, why shouldn’t he? “That big?”

“No, but you’re closer.”

Sudden movement came form the corner of the dark cell. Like a frightened rodent, Vic shot up and backed into the wall, hunched over with fear. She said nothing, but stood like a statue, her hands her weapon.

Tavi took her shoulders softly, barely touching them. He said, “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“Where are we? Last I saw, there were these creatures... chasing after me, running, shouting... shooting. Shooting! Oh God, Luke! Where on Earth are we?!”

“We’re not on Earth, Vic,” Tavi said. The only girl he’d ever truly loved was scared, and his only desire was to comfort her. “We’re on that ship that landed in the softball field. But we’ll be fine! Fine, fine, fine! Believe me, this ain’t forever.”

Vic studied his face. Her light blue eyes revolving, surrounded by black eyeliner and running mascara. Green eyeshadow covered the lids, stiff over wide eyes. A quivering set of unnaturally pink lips silently commented, “Oh God, oh God...”

Shawn stayed in the background, not sure what to do.

“Luke?” The tears slowed down.

“Yes?”

“I know you’re lying.” Vic said it with little more than subdued shock. “I’ve gotten lies for as long as I’ve lived, and this is just one more, isn’t it?” Tavi gave no response.

“Do you want the truth, then? If I were you, I’d probably prefer ignorance.”

“Yeah, but I’m not you. So tell me...”

Tavi shook his head and sighed. “Do you believe in life from places other than Earth?”

“As of now, yes,” Vic anxiously responded.

“Fine. Now to explain the rest of this to you will take time--”

“Judging from the little prison we’re in, I don’t think that should be a problem,” Vic shot back, annoyed. “So cut the crap and get on with it!”

Hours passed. The time--in Cincinnati, at least-- was six in the morning. Tavi reported this to the others. “Students, in two hours, Mr. Krisley will mark you all as absent.”

“Not me,” Shawn commented. “I don’t have him for homeroom.”

Vic looked at Tavi strangely for the hundredth time since having been told of his origins. Shawn sat between them. She was very quiet. “I can’t believe I didn’t know this!”

“What?” Shawn asked.

“That there’s such a thing as aliens. That and, well, Luke over there! How the Hell could he had deceived me like this?! I thought he was from England, for God’s sake!”

“Oh, would you rather some big green man with a missing arm come down to Ohio and try to be accepted there?” Tavi responded. “Would you rather get Earth to join this mess? Huh?!”

Shawn came to attention. “You had a missing arm?”

“Yeah. Why else do you think I’m left-handed? Duh.” Then he turned back to Vic. “I did not mean to harm you, deceive you, or whatever else. I just wanted to be a normal human being, just like you. That’s all I want now.”

Vic timidly looked at Tavi. “Why did you come here?”

“To avoid exactly what happened to us.” Tavi inhaled. “Do you understand?”

Vic slightly nodded. Then she asked, “If the body you currently occupy is not the one you were born with, and yet will have for the rest of your life, what of your name? What do they call you back where you come from?”

“I’m Tavi.”

“Tavi...” Vic pondered it. “Is that your first name or your last name?”

“Both. On Ev’clear, there are no surnames. I am Tavi, son of Marph and Foun. Of the two, Marph is the only blood relation I know-- my mother died when I was very young. Families are impossible to trace and aristocracies are nonexistent because of this.” Tavi saw the attention he was getting and felt like he should go on. “On Earth, you have family names, nations, cultures, and races. Here, we are all ques. Young, old, male, female, we’re all the same... no riots here.”

“If it’s so good, then why did you move?”

“Stirks. Take an otherwise peaceful people, place them against some violent conquerors, and see who wins. It’s like, uh, when Europeans beat the Indians off their own turf. Bows and arrows were no match for big guns and foreign diseases, the same way the flying equivalent of a minivan is nothing compared to what we’re on now.”

“God, this is all so confusing,” Vic said. “First I’m walking in the park, minding my own business, and now what? We’re never gonna get out of this rank place, Luke--Tavi-- whatever! I’ll die and they’ll dump my body out in space and nobody’ll know about it! Damnit, we’re practically dead a million miles from nowhere!”

Shawn raised his hand and said to her, “We will not die. This can’t go on forever. They’ll take us out for questioning or whatever. See that crap over there? That means that we’ll probably get some breakfast soon. Crap. Not corpses, mind you, but pure crap.”

Tavi leaned against the wall. “Wow! Do you know how many things that have happened in the last eight hours could be described by those two last words?”

The others laughed. It was laughter filled with melancholy, but laughter nonetheless.

Silently, the door in front of them opened. A lone stirk guard slide through with a large bowl, empty save for some purple grains grown on Vaypayn. He laid the bowl before them and said, “I am Viag. I shall keep you alive and under my eyes around the clock. I sleep lightly, so don’t try anything stupid, like escaping. It won’t work, I assure you.”

“What’d he say?” Shawn whispered to Tavi.

“He said that his name is Viag and that he’s the dick who’ll be watching us,” Tavi translated.

Viag continued, “Look down here. Dry, dry grains. They’ll have your tongue sticking to your mouth instantly. Dry, dry, dry...”

Tavi took the bowl in his hands. “I like them dry. The drier, the better!”

The guard giggled and placed the bowl on the floor again. The unmistakable sound of pissing followed. Then Viag turned and walked out, locking the door behind him.

“I am not eating that!” Vic said.

Tavi agreed and threw it against the wall over the “bathroom”. Then he realized, “You know, that’s probably all we’ll get today. Can’t believe I screwed myself like that!”

Shawn was disgusted. “It’s been peed in. Didn’t you see that?”

“Pee, even coming from a stirk, has never killed anyone. Starvation has. After you’ve gone without food for a long time, you’ll look at that food and gobble it up without a second thought. Viag knows this.”

“So you’re saying...?” Vic asked.

“I dunno what I’m saying.” Tavi closed his eyes. “I didn’t sleep last night and I didn’t eat this morning. I’m too wasted to know what the Hell I’m saying.” He was asleep in minutes.

“Get up, asswipe!” Viag said. His voice boomed with authority.

“No...” Tavi muttered, in English. He was just about to kill Viag in a wonderful dream, but this idiot had to wake him up. “Go screw off, Shawn. Please...” He opened his eyes, to see Shawn asleep next to him. Thus, he jerked up and faced Viag. Having awoken faster than he ever had before, he felt dizzy from the movement. The world seemed to spin for ten seconds, and he wished that it had lasted longer.

Viag violently grabbed Tavi’s arm. “Did humanity crap up your brain?! Must I repeat myself?” Both arm’s were in his grip. “Must I?”

Tavi shook his head. “Hey, I heard ya loud and blaring! What are you getting me up at this damn hour for?” The time was noon.

“We need some... information. I believe you can provide that, can’t you?”

“Eh? What information? I don’t know no information!” Tavi lied.

He had just begun to stand up, but was immediately struck down for his insolence. Viag yelled, “You bastard, don’t even try that!” Another shot, to the stomach.

Tavi would have vomited if there had been anything to vomit(which there wasn’t).

“Hey butt-crust, you wanna piece a’ me?” Shawn got up, with all the roughness of a New York mugger, even though he had never been there. He prepared himself to fight.

Tavi was thankful that stirks didn’t speak English. “You stupid thing--” He gasped in some putrid air. “Do you want us all dead or something, you whacker? This is my problem and I won’t share it.”

Shawn sat down. “Okay.”

Viag laughed. In English, he commented, “Tavi, this is sad. An alien like that has more balls than you do! Honestly, I’d be very ashamed if I were you. I’d even want to commit suicide.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” Tavi shot back. Than he realized what had just happened. A stirk had spoken English! “What the Hell?!”

“How else do you think we know of your knowledge?” Viag continued in the language. “Please, I can learn such things better than you. It’s a fact-- we are the superior race! Yes, we know that it can blow up fleets of ships, how simple it is to use. Anything you said in this cell might as well be engraved for all to see.”

“Hey, dude,” Shawn whispered. “That guy’s speaking English.”

“God, you’re quick!” Tavi looked at Viag and felt like hanging himself. In stirk, he asked, “What is to happen now? I trust you and your cronies have something planned.”

Viag smiled, his foot-long tusks now joined by a canine-like set of teeth. “Oh yes. We’ll have some fun with you. Lots of fun.” He took hold of Tavi’s wrist, jerking him to a standing position. “Ooo, fun...”

Tavi was dragged out of the cell. After a night in darkness, the hallway’s light almost blinded him. He squinted and saw two stirks behind Viag. One was short by stirk standards and looked to be of old age. The other was taller than Viag, and appeared to be as old as him, in the mid-twenties. The walls were a glaring white, the ceiling extending over a dozen feet high. Engines purred under the floor.

The walk to wherever they were going took about ten minutes, although Tavi couldn’t remember if they had backtracked on anything or not; all the halls and corridors looked identical. One could get lost very easily here.

Finally, the stirks stopped. A dark blue door slide open, revealing a bright, white room. It was about the size of Tavi’s living room in the apartment, but with higher ceilings for the stirks. To Tavi’s right was a large brown box made from some unknown material. To his left, a window showing the blackness of space. If he had the time, he could have located Earth’s sun among the stars.

The older stirk walked over to Tavi and commanded, “Take off your shirt and put your hands against the wall.” Tavi obeyed, stuffing his Bart Simpson tee shirt in his jeans pocket. Facing and touching the wall opposite the door, he tried not to cringe.

He heard the box open behind him. The younger stirk said, “You’re human now, are you not? What works on a que might not work on your type of wretchedness. So I guess a form of... fun... would be best if of Earth origins. Oh, thank you, Viag.”

The younger stirk went to Tavi’s side and continued, “Do you know what this is?” New leather gleamed in his red hands. The object was basically a long strip of it on a handle of the same material. “In case you don’t, it’s called a ‘whip’, used since time began.”

Tavi knew what it was.

“Now if this hit that frail human skin of yours, it would hurt. But we can avoid that if you just give us what we want.” He stood behind Tavi and asked, “Now where is the bomb your father made?”

He said nothing. After a few moments of silence, he was whipped for this. Tavi’s entire back was taken over with pain. It cut into his flesh and almost made him cry. Almost.

“Where is it, you little bastard?!”

“Somewhere. Suck that, why don’t you?” Tavi felt the whip on his back three more times. Now, he cried, but maintained his stance.

“This isn’t working,” Viag commented from the background.

“Are you sure?” The younger stirk struck Tavi more. His cries were heard all over the ship, even penetrating the cell’s sound-proof walls. Tavi’s vision became blurred and the world started spinning faster and faster with each crack of the whip. Finally, he could stand it no longer and passed out.

Tavi awoke around three hours later. His entire body was in pain and he felt so hungry that food covered with urine didn’t seem that bad anymore. He looked up to see Vic tending to his wounds, soaking up the blood with Shawn’s shirt.

“How do you feel?” Shawn asked.

“Ugh...” was all Tavi could respond with.

“You took a nasty beating back there,” Vic commented. “But you should be fine. I learned how to handle this in a Red Cross course last summer. Half the stuff I need isn’t available, but his shirt is better than nothing.”

Tavi barely listened. He was tired and beaten. Any move he tried to make resulted in a new wave of agony. He tried to think of being anywhere but here, but his usually good imagination was paralyzed by the pain.

“Look what they did to you,” Shawn commented. “Who did this? Viag? Well, whoever it is, I promise that I’ll make it up to him.”

“No,” Tavi said in a half-dead voice. “Do not make things worse. Don’t piss them off-- they’ll only give it back hundred-fold. They’re bigger than us, stronger than us, so we’ll do things their way.” He lowered his voice and told Shawn to come closer. Then Tavi whispered, “This cannot go on forever. Make them think you’re going along with it, at least for now. It will make things easier when we do try to do something.”

“Like what?”

“How the Hell should I know?”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Vic said. “Look at Luke here. We can’t allow this to happen twice. Moreover, we just can’t allow it happen at all! Nobody deserves this. Nobody! Not even those--what did you call them?-- stirks.”

“Oh no, they deserve it,” Shawn interrupted. “They don’t seem to be getting it, but the bastards sure as Hell deserve it.”

“Yes...” Tavi added.

“That’s sad,” Vic commented, massaging the cloth over his backside. “You two are all so obsessed with pain and revenge. You’ll kill yourselves just so you can kill another. I believe it was Gandhi who said, ‘In a world where there is an eye for an eye, everybody goes blind.’ How can you argue with that?”

“You don’t understand,” Tavi responded. “This isn’t a matter of peace-keeping. It’s a matter of prevention. If I can prevent another que’s life being taken by the stirks, than that’ll be worth the deaths of all the stirks in the galaxy. Understand?”

Vic shook her head, then said, “It’s just, I dunno...”

“Yeah. I know what you mean,” Shawn sympathized.

But I don’t! Tavi thought.

Days passed. The food improved, and they were even allowed to bathe once. Tavi had no clue what was going on, but decided not to comment. Viag continued to harass Shawn and Tavi, but Vic was left alone.

The door opened and Viag stepped in. The lunchtime meal was already served, so what could he be here for?

“Tavi,” he said. “You come with me.” A slightly grotesque hand gesture followed.

“What is it this time? Torture will only make somebody’s arm tired.”

Viag grabbed Tavi’s left wrist and threw him out of the cell. The door closed, and Tavi could now see exactly how transparent the cell walls were. The cell was located at the end of a hallway. On the other side of the hall was a chair and a small table in a large alcove. The wall behind it contained a computer port. The walls were white and the furniture was black, a reminder that stirks were color-blind. Their ships were orange since it blended well with the Vaypayn landscape, although they had no clue that it was easily seen on others.

Viag sat on the chair, relaxing and making strange sounds. A smile slowly crept up on his face. “Come here...”

Tavi did as he was told, scared but not showing it.

“Get on your knees, boy. We’ll have some fun now!”

Thus, he was now at eye-level with the stirk’s lower body. Tavi looked up at Viag and felt the sudden urge to vomit. What was about to happen had never happened to him before, yet instinct told him to run like Hell.

Sweaty hands, perpetual moaning, and a string of other things proceeded.

An hour later, Tavi shot into his cell as if it were a haven. His shirt was lost forever and his fly was undone. He made no effort at modesty as he slumped to the ground. Tavi felt as if his soul was torn apart and his body with it. Vic and Shawn would never understand. Nobody deserved the pain of understanding such a thing.

“My God...” Vic commented, unbelieving.

Tavi broke out into tears and, for the first time ever, he made no effort to hide them. He slowly sat up and zipped his pants. He leaned against the wall in front of him and shook with every tear. The world now seemed somewhat darker than it did an hour ago.

Shawn was angry at this sight. Anyone who messed with his friend messed with him, and Shawn Disraeli was not one to be messed with. “Viag did this?” It was not a question.

Vic looked at him as if he were cold-hearted, but Tavi did not.

Minutes passed. Suddenly, Tavi screamed, “The stirk frickin’ raped me! I don’t believe the bastard! I... I just can’t believe it.”

Shawn was already reaching into his pack pocket. He pulled out two keychain-size Swiss Army knives. “Don’t worry. I’ll avenge this.”

“With those?” Vic asked. “A squirt like you with a knife that can’t go beyond skin versus some big monster-type thing? What are you smoking?”

Shawn broke the two tiny knives from their holders. “The best stuff on Earth!”

It was seven at night when Viag entered again. He pointed to Vic and said, in English, “Come with me.”

Tavi threw himself in front of her. “No! Take me instead.” He would never let the pain he had known come upon Vic. He loved her too much.

Viag reached past his and took Vic in his arms. The latter slightly resisted, but beyond that she fought little. Calmly, she followed him.

Tavi banged on the door, a caged animal. Just like that, Vic had been taken away. Then he realized that it was not resignation that made Vic walk as she did. Marph had been right all along. The love of Tavi’s life was nothing more but a stirk in disguise.

Yet even if she had been of human origins, he could not have cried more.

It was the next morning, or perhaps it was the next night. Time was meaningless as Tavi cowered in the corner of the cell, crying silently. He bent down in a part of the room that he had estimated to be a blind spot, as one wall made up the outside of the ship and the other faded into another cell. It was useless, but it didn’t matter. Tavi had lost his love and virginity within hours of each other, and he briefly contemplated suicide.

Shawn, seemingly unaffected by this, continued to mold the two Swiss Army knives , again turning to the cell’s blind spot to adjust the shape. He saw the scars on his friend’s back and it angered him. He had only know Tavi for a week now, but in truth, he was the only true friend that he had ever had. So Shawn felt extreme loyalty and was ready to risk his life for him. Silver gleamed in the dim light, slightly rounder now.

“I’ll avenge the bastards for this,” he said. “They think they can break us, Tavi. And to you, they probably have.”

Between tears, Tavi laughed. “You’re an idiot, and I’d rather not see you go like-- like...”

More crying. Shawn continued, “Listen, when the odds are against you, ignore them, oh yee of little faith.” With this, he turned to the blind spot and fixed the two knives over his teeth as if they were braces. Careful to keep his mouth as closed as possible, he went to the opposite wall. Here, Viag would be able to see him, and although the walls were soundproof, a recording device enabled the guard to hear him as well.

Shawn smiled toothlessly and affected the body language of a prostitute. He called, “Hey, Viag!”

Instantly, the door opened. Viag slide in. “I already fed you brats two hours ago!”

“Oh, it’s not like that at all. Take me, sir.”

“What?”

With a good amount of pure gusto and insanity, Shawn continued, “Well, what you did to my friend here yesterday, he didn’t appreciate it. That’s because, well, he’s not like that-- like us.”

Viag brightened to the idea. It was amazing how gullible people could be when their egos were stroked. “Explain.”

“Let’s go outside for this, why don’t we? Let me stretch my human legs a bit...”

“Of course,” Viag said, putting his arm around him and closing the door behind him.

For minutes, Tavi gradually emerged from his bent position. He stood, ready to see Shawn crawl back into the cell. The idea was insane, and he did not know what he would do if he was left in this sorry place alone. Shawn, like that Disraeli before him, had turned idiot on account of the stirks. Tavi literally wanted to curl up and die.

The door opened, and Shawn stood by himself, happily saying, “Now’s our chance!”

Tavi observed everything going on as if it were in slow motion. Blood came out of Shawn’s mouth, and his eyes had gained a strange cast. “Get on your ass, man. Now!”

Tavi followed him past the door and gaped at what he saw. Next to the computer port was Viag, bent over and screaming in pain. Savage, purely stirk sounds echoed throughout the halls. Between him and Tavi, there laid a large portion of stirk genitalia, crushed with the imprint of the Nike swoosh.

His mood drastically improved. “Sorry for doubting you. This does kick ass,” he remarked. Then he saw a weapon in the corner of the station. It was a “circulatory shot”, meaning that it would instantly solidify the blood of anyone hit by it. Tavi turned to his friend and said, “When he recovers, he might call his cronies. Then they’ll really be on you.” He smiled and took the weapon.

Viag, now a pathetic creature, continued to scream to ears that could care less. He squirmed on the floor and cried. It was sad. Whether out of mercy or revenge, Tavi would never know why he did it. Still, as he aimed the gun, he felt almost giddy. This was yesterday with the roles reversed. When Viag inhaled for the last time and froze in death, Tavi kicked the carcass in the face and stomped on it with abandon. This felt great!

Shawn stood by with mild amazement. Even when he had castrated Viag, killing him never came to mind. Yet, when he thought of him calling for help, it made sense. After Tavi had sufficiently abused the corpse, he went to Shawn and said, “Take that cloth over there, it’s clean. Please, wipe your face with it. You look like a freakin’ psycho.”

He did as such and commented, “Well, what do we do now?”

“You plan all this and you lack the forethought? Sad, boy.”

“No, not the forethought. Just the knowledge.”

Tavi nodded. He looked at the computer screen, scrolling down and typing in commands. “Here’s a map-- wow, this ship is new! Lemmie see, oh yeah... We’ll go down this hall, and on the way to the docking hanger, we’ll make a stop at the medical. Fine.”

He quickly ran down the hall, and Shawn barely kept up with him. Tavi held a card printout of the map and used it to navigate the otherwise identical hallways. The medical spot was the next right. This turn, hang a left, shoot right, there!

This room was not like the squalid cell they had just left, but rather like an intergalactic version of the Taj Mahal. Neon murals covered the walls in the round room. Drapery hung from the ceiling and something sweet-smelling emitted from the mirrored floor.

“This is the med center?” Shawn asked. There was a large table in the middle in the room, and a soft blanket covered whoever lay there. It stirred at his words.

When it became apparent that the stirk was still asleep, Tavi responded in a half-voice, “Stirks consider medicine an artform. They use it to make themselves live longer than we ever will, and to inflict pain upon others. Technology is what made your mother what she is.”

Shawn stared at the foreign room. He could not imagine Mrs. Disraeli in such a place.

Tavi reached into a draw next to the entrance, which activated a mechanism that revealed an entire wall of devices. He grabbed something that looked like a thick plastic headband. “And technology will be what made your mother what she was.”

They ran out of the room, and halfway to the hanger, the sounds of a dozen stirks followed them. “There they are! Get them!”

Shawn could not understand the words as they were speaking in stirk, but he easily figured out the gist of it. He turned to Tavi, who showed no fear.

“We’re almost there. You said it yourself, ignore the odds. Damnit, we’ve gotta make it! Hear me? We escape or we die, Shawn. It’s that simple.”

The doors to the hanger appeared and Tavi quickly went to the code box. As locks, these were very easy to pick. He typed in something, but nothing happened. The stirks got closer.

“Damn. They overrode the thing. Perfect!”

Shawn did not like hearing this. “Uh, but we’re gonna get out, aren’t we?”

Tavi did not respond.

“Aren’t we?!”

He leaned against the wall in fear, not knowing how to face the stirks. There was no hiding place in site. “I don’t think--” Tavi felt something in his back pocket. It was hard and flat, the key. He had lost everything else, but this remained.

The stirks came around the corner. They were a hundred feet away now. Tavi opened the portal to the fifth dimension and shoved Shawn to the other side. When the stirks were almost touching him, he slowly walked through. The last the stirks would see of him was an outstretched arm, giving them the finger.

The portal closed, and they were free. This dimension was simply pure white. There was a rough ground that looked like a canyon and a light occasionally flickering, but that was it. A spaceship sat in the center of it all.

“What the Hell is this?” Shawn commented.

“Why, only the fifth dimension. Do you like it?” Tavi said, slightly short of breath.

“There are more than three of them? Whu?”

Tavi shook his head. “My god, you are clueless, ain’t you? You don’t even know about the storage benefits of multiple dimensions! Christ...”

“Well...? Is that, like, your ship over there anyway? Please say yes.”

“It is. See, the fifth dimension is much smaller than the third. You are now standing on a microscopic speck of dust, for one thing. We can enter this place from anywhere, but somehow, the only place you can walk out of will lead to you to this friend’s house on Ev’clear.”

“Why?” Shawn asked.

Tavi shrugged. “Well, you ready?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“C’mon, it’ll be a new experience for you. Well, a novel one, anyway... Listen, it’s the only way. I have no clue what little rebellions or whatever are going on there now, but it doesn’t matter.” Tavi surveyed the landscape. It was the ultimate in simplicity, resembling those clouds and lights that some people on Earth thought of as Heaven. Sometimes, back when he lived on Ev’clear, he would go here for the seclusion. No stirk could reach him when he sat in the ship that hadn’t been used since before he could remember. An almost serene silence replaced the daily gunfire. In times of distress, especially the higher-than-normal kind, this was how he kept his sanity.

“Gee, so now I get to see what your species looks like. Hell-- if anything, this should be at least vaguely interesting,” Shawn remarked.

“That’s the spirit!”

The one thing Tavi had forgotten about his homeland struck him as soon as he and Shawn stepped out of the portal opening. Gravity threatened to lunge him to the ground. He felt as if he were carrying five loaded book-bags, spaced evenly on his entire body.

Shawn dropped to the ground. Shocked, he exclaimed, “What the Hell?!”

Tavi regained his stance. He straightened his posture. “Damn. I guess I forgot about the gravity difference here... In science class, if you had paid any attention, you would know that a planets mass affects its gravity. So, since this place is about twice as big as Earth, it’s only logical that its gravity would correspond.”

“You know, you could have told me this earlier.” Shawn looked around him, mild annoyance replaced by curiosity. This was nothing like the stirk ship. Spaced far apart from each other were small two or three- room houses, with walls of clay and stone. A tiny run-down road cut through the middle of this tiny village. The sky was a swirling violet and the grassy fields were a pale beige. In a bizarre way, it resembled some Van Gogh painting of the countryside that Shawn had seen once.

Tavi deeply inhaled the air. Home. This was a land of poverty and violence, but it was also the only place he could ever give that name. The village(or, to put it more accurately, ghetto) of Kah’poot looked no different from the last time he had seen it, only months ago. Nobody was about, as it was currently very late at night on this part of the planet. In a few hours, the air would hum with the activity of a civilization driven back from a wealthy society to something more agrarian.

“Uh, what do we do now?” Shawn asked. He was nervous, about to meet yet another type of aliens. His first experience not on Earth did little to improve his expectations. He fidgeted a little and rubbed his arms. The nighttime winds were cold, fifty or so degrees at most. Without a shirt, it was somewhat uncomfortable.

“Go to her place, I guess,” Tavi said, pointing to the nearest house, only twenty feet away, facing the street. A tiny backdoor opening was triple-locked.

“Who?”

“Haria. She’s a close friend of the family, a childhood friend of my father’s. I remember that when Dad and I moved, she was encouraged to go with us. But she would hear nothing of it. Giving up her body just seemed like too high a price for her. Since we didn’t want anybody to know that were leaving, Dad gave her a mild drug that made her forget the entire conversation,” he answered.

“So we’re going to knock on the door or whatever you guys do here?” Shawn motioned to the door. He knew that it would be warm in there.

“No. It is considered very rude to knock on a person’s door when they are sleeping, more than you can imagine.” He noticed the pleading, ragged look on Shawn’s face and continued, “No matter what it is, we’ve always managed to take care of it under the sun.”

“Please don’t tell me that we’re just going to stake out someone’s backyard just because of some local custom. My ass is freezing out here!”

Tavi found a square piece of woven grass nearby. It had three-foot sides. “We should rest now. This is small, but if we huddle together, it will cover us down to the jeans. As a blanket, it should protect us from the wind.”

“Huddle together? Won’t that look--”

“Get over it!” Tavi laid down on the ground with the woven square. He put it over him and tried to sleep.

Shawn stood there for a few minutes and then, as he started to shiver, reluctantly decided to join his friend. Thus, the two forms tightly huddled, surrounded by grass and dirt. They moved, but only Tavi could fall asleep.

Around six o’clock in the morning, local time, Tavi was awoken by screaming. Hmm, he thought. Should I turn around or should I pretend that I’m still asleep?

“What the--? What is this? Stay back, I say!” It was in que, and very frightened. Haria. The voice was as familiar as Marph’s. He smiled, until he figured out what was going on.

Tavi sat up and saw a very scared Shawn cowering at the sight of her. Haria was a typical que woman. She was seven and a half feet tall, very muscular. Wearing no clothing, she was modest with pieces of extra skin that resembled a wrap-skirt on the lower regions. Being female, Haria also had two flaps going from under her arms to the middle of her chest. On her head, which looked much closer to a human’s than a stirk’s, were silver streaks that went from what would be the hairline(ques had no hair, so such a term would be inaccurate) to the nape of the neck. Two smaller streaks acted as eyebrows. The rest of the face and body were the same shade of light green. Even the wide-open eyes had no visible pupils. The face was like an unpainted mannequin in this sense.

“Haria, it’s me!” Tavi cried in his native language.

“You’re not stirks, you’re not countrymen. Listen, I don’t care what both of you are, but get off of my property or I’ll shoot!” The gun in her hands was a large model, most likely stolen.

“Don’t you recognize me at all?” Tavi felt very confused. This was Haria, Tavi’s only other family besides Marph. How could she not know him?

“I’m Tavi!”

Now it was Haria who said, “Huh?” The gun was not lowered for a second, though.

“It’s a long story…”

“Don’t use his name like that. His family were very dear friends of mine. I will not have you disrespecting the dead like that.” Haria’s voice was very grave.

Tavi tried to think of something that would assure his identity. “I know about what you did one night a few years ago.” Haria did not interrupt him, so he went on. “I went to see you for some favor or whatever, and I found you in bed with a strange man. When it was over, he gave you luxuries, a payment for it. Then I saw more evidence of it as time went on. It seemed that you had your own little way of avoiding hunger. Of course, when you caught me watching—well, I was little back then. I had no sense!—you swore me to secrecy. Dad still doesn’t know about it.”

The shock on Haria’s face was hardly hidden. Now she was ready to believe anything. “You are Tavi! But no, that’s not right. Tavi was a que…”

“And I’m not? Observant. You know how Natarr moved to this little place called Earth a few years ago? Well, when he moved there, he had to take on the form of the species, humans. Then ten years later, Marph and I joined him. Of course, it was all in secret. Understand?”

Haria turned to Shawn. “Marph, if this is so, then why are you cowering like this?”

“Uh, that’s not Marph.”

“Then who is it?”

“Shawn, a friend. Marph is still on Earth, wondering where I am. Shawn here is a human, a real one. He’s never been here before and probably can’t understand a thing you’re saying.”

Haria narrowed her eyes and reflected, “This is not possible. How can you be a… huh-mon?” She could not quite pronounce the last word. “Why are you here, then? Is this new place not good? Dear, is there anything I can do?”

“Yes, yes. Let us in your house. It’s freezy out here.”

“Anything.” Haria crossed her backyard and opened the door, motioning for them to go inside.

Tavi told Shawn to get up and follow her. He trailed behind, wondering what was to happen next. The obvious option was to simply take the ship back to Earth. But while Tavi could easily get inside the ship, only Marph’s personal code would allow him to fly it. It was a problem that he would spend much time solving.

Haria’s house was typical, although the fact that she had actually gotten ahold of one was not. The back door opened to a tiny room with clay walls that served as a kitchen and living area; in other words, it had an open fireplace and a cushioned bench. However, the cushioning on the bench and the sparse artwork hung about, while old and worn, were of the best quality possible. These furnishings were the remnants of a age that had passed on. Of an entire guest hall, only the sofa cushion was salvaged, to spend the rest of its years facing a ancient fireplace.

Shawn stood in awe. His feet were firmly planted on the stone floor, eyes taking in everything. Lying here and there, he saw some bit of technology that seemed out of place among the dirt: a slew of household appliances, most of which didn’t work anymore, and guns plainly locked to one of the walls. There were no fancy stirk weapons here, just a very elaborate collection of ammo that reminded him of some game that he had played at an arcade once.

Tavi dropped on the cushioned bench as if he were returning home from school. He had only been away for two months, yet it felt as if millennia had passed. The sofa was so big, and Tavi knew that this was because he himself was now smaller. Indeed, all the things he found familiar seemed to have increased in size. It was disorienting.

“So what exactly is going on with you?” Haria asked, shocked.

“We live on Earth now. We’re human, Dad and me. The place we live in is so nice, even if it is not freestanding. You’d love it, really.”

“But this huh-mon form. It--it does not suit you. You’ve mutated, Tavi. You’re tiny, you have this--well, what exactly is that?”

“It’s called hair. And do you want to see another big change?” Tavi held up his right arm and showed it off. “It makes things much easier...”

“Wow, I’ve never seem prosthetics that lifelike-- and to think, Natarr said the place was primitive,” Haria commented.

Shawn, somewhat out of the initial awe, noticed that a conversation was taking place near him. It was in a foreign language, and this annoyed him. Whatever it was, it sounded very important. He turned to Tavi. “Uh, like what’s going on?”

“Why, I’m just showing her my prosthetic right arm!” Tavi responded sarcastically.

“Yeah, what else?”

“Small chat, basically. Why, do you want to ask her something?”

Shawn pursed his lips. “Yes. I want to go home. Can she tell us how?”

Tavi asked Haria this and she responded, “You know better than I do.”

Of course, Tavi thought. You know nothing. When did you ever? Fluttering around when the stirks attacked, saving furniture and luxuries when everyone else was taking food. If it wasn’t for your circle of smart friends, you’d be dead.

Haria turned to the fireplace. Hanging from the ceiling was a pot filled with soup. “I had planned to eat this by myself, but seeing as I have company...”

“Please, yes,” Tavi said, salivating. Maybe it would be water-grass in a mass of insect exoskeletons, his favorite, perhaps the only thing that his now-human tongue would be able to tolerate. Then again, it could be a raynic, which, if it had seemed like a fireball candy to him before, would now easily penetrate the walls of his stomach. Already many pounds lighter than usual, Tavi felt no need to care at the moment. If it was water-grass, great. If it wasn’t, the hunger pains would cease nonetheless.

Haria took three spoons from the window sill and handed them out. Then she poured the food into bowls and laid them on an elevated floor surface, which was either a table or a step, depending on one’s position. Shawn, if only to imitate his friend, dipped the spoon into the bowl. He was hesitant to raise it.

“Come,” Tavi said. “It’s a good food. Eat it. Hey, I was raised on this stuff!”

Shawn took the food, grass and all. He mumbled, “Bottoms up.”

Yeah, Tavi thought. That’s the spirit.

Between bites, Haria remarked, “I was convinced you were dead.”

“Most people were. I’ll bet that the entire village went on a search for the bodies. Of course, you know this was deliberate...”

“Them.”

“Yes, they thought I was dead, too. Well, at least that was what I thought-- more on that later. I’m tired, Haria.”

Haria shook her head. “First you come here with a missing arm, and now it’s not missing anymore. Forgive me, but I think I’d rather have the former. At least then, I would have some inkling as to what happened.”

“May I tell you later? This is mealtime, remember?” Tavi said, referring to the Ev’clear code of etiquette. Even if one was a farmer who sat on the floor to eat, he would still act the same as if it were a social event.

Slightly embarrassed, Haria nodded. “Uh, this huh-mon thing. I understand that what makes you modest and what makes you nude are two different things. I’m thinking of Natarr now, and did he not wear something above the waistline?”

“Ah, another issue I wanted to discuss. Natarr stayed here before he left, didn’t he?” Before the attack, houses like these had been used as vacation houses for the nature-inclined. It was common for people to hold parties here, and even more common for them to leave things behind. “He had a jar of something that he used to protect his new skin, not clothing but serving the same purpose. Is it still here?”

“Oh, cellebra? It has no use for me, but yes, it’s still lying around here. It’s in the bedroom.” She quickly slid into a room indicated only by a dark hole entrance. Upon returning, she handed the jar to Tavi. It was a round, green cube. The liquid inside was visibly lighter in color, a light gray.

“Thank you. Do you have any idea how to put this on?”

Haria paused for a moment. “I believe he rubbed a large amount of it on his skin, covering everything from his neck to his feet, from his shoulders to his wrists. When he was done, he activated the drying process by walking three steps forward. Instantly, the liquidy surface turned to cloth, and he was modest.”

“You saw him exposed?!” Tavi exclaimed.

“Yes. He was not as scrawny as you are, still maintaining some muscle tone-- at least I think it was muscle... who am I kidding? You must have seen him since, you know it was fat. Fat, which I had not seen since the years of excess! Oh, and if you were wondering at the circumstances, I assure you, they were purely accidental.”

“I would hope.” Tavi took the jar. He thought about putting it only on his upper area, but decided against it. Shawn’s unwashed jeans made the biggest stench, and he knew he was no better.

Tavi and Shawn had to wait until night to bathe, so nobody would see them. The former found it hard to believe that now he was an alien in his own hometown. Somehow, he had hoped to visit with old friends when he arrived here, to be once again the person that he was before.

But no, Tavi thought. I can’t do that. I’m a freak in my own world, even worse than on Earth. These are my people, yet I can’t even see them! Oh, I’ll bet Crom is having such a good time now. Hell, maybe his hot-ass cousin really did have a thing for me. Is she waxing nostalgic right now, thinking of me, before I died? Well, of course I’m alive. But if I’m dead here, why bother breathing? This is all that counts. Ev’clear, not Earth...

The grass brushed against his legs and he led Shawn to the local pond. Far from the main road, the water hole was nestled in an alcove of trees and wildlife. It had a hundred-foot diameter and was blood-red. Yet there was no way it could have been blood, since neither ques nor stirks bled in this color; ques bled dark green and stirks black. Three moons lit the sky, gray with stirk outposts. There were few stars out that night, but Tavi could find the Earth’s sun very easily.

He pointed it out to Shawn. “God... We’re so close we can see it!”

Shawn found the star in question and commented, “I know. Tell me honestly, are we going to get any closer? I don’t want--”

“Yes! I-- I don’t know how, but we will make it back. Even if I can’t use Dad’s ship, Haria said that she could help us-- and knowing her, I trust that she will.”

They stopped at the lake’s edge. Tavi took the soaps and washing sticks from Shawn and laid them on the ground. Then he put the jar of cellebra next to it. Shawn took off his shoes and socks, proceeding to dip his feet in the water.

“It really is quite nice here. Feels like--what?-- sixty, seventy degrees,” he said. Then he turned to see Tavi walking in the water up to his knees, naked.

Tavi faced Shawn and laughed. “What, you’ve never seen a naked man before? Jesus, you are tight!”

Averting his eyes, Shawn said, “Is there some part of que culture going on here that I’m not aware of?”

“We’re both guys, thank you. Come on, it’ll be like locker room. Besides, you should probably wash more than your feet. Really, trust me on this one.”

“Mmm...” Shawn grumbled.

“I promise I won’t watch.” Tavi went to the other end of the lake, swimming part of the way with his things under one arm. He heard Shawn stepping in the water and smiled. Then he proceeded to immerse himself in the aroma of wood soap and the sweet-smelling water. It was luxurious, the one comfort of Ev’clear that nothing on Earth could rival. Nothing artificial here, only that which Mother Nature provided.

He finished bathing and saw Shawn up to his neck in water, wondering what to do. “Don’t you guys have towels or something?”

Tavi shook his head. “They exist, but we aren’t going to use them. The skin must be drenched for the cellebra to work.” He took the jar and walked onto land. Giving no time for his skin to dry, he immediately slathered it on his body, all parts of it.

“You look like you’re fondling yourself,” Shawn said during this time, still in the water, reluctant to copy the ritual.

“Well, at least I can reach that part. I don’t care if you are gonna do this; I’m going to need some help pretty soon anyway. Will you please just give it up and get your ass over here?”

Shawn took a slab of cellebra and quickly covered his most vital areas before letting Tavi see him. Then he began the other parts and limbs.

Tavi did what was necessary to dry the substance before calling to his friend. “Could you, like, wet my back and put the stuff on it? I couldn’t reach it myself.”

“Sure.” By now, Shawn was also dried, save for his own unreachable regions. Both people now looked as if they were wearing thin white leotards, like some male ballerina. Instead of folding with each curve of the skin, the cellebra skimmed over the appropriate parts while highlighting the arms and lower legs. While the cellebra was quite porous, it appeared solid and modest.

Tavi handed him some of the substance. “The scars are probably better now, but still try to take care.”

Shawn nodded and rubbed it carefully onto the skin. Soon, Tavi said, “Hmm...”

“What? Should I stop?”

“No, I’m fine. It’s just funny, that’s all: everywhere else, it felt like sunscreen. Here, it’s more like alcohol. Very, very tingly!” He giggled. “A little ticklish, too.”

Shawn finished. “Now it’s your turn.”

After making the stuff dry, he returned the favor. He noticed Shawn twitching every so often as he did. “Uh, do you want me to--?”

“No, I want my back to be protected. It doesn’t burn for that long anyway, just the first few seconds after you put it there,” Shawn answered.

Tavi continued to apply the cellebra and commented, “Interesting.”

This went on for a few minutes until Shawn’s back was completely covered. Then Tavi took the bundle of clothing in his hands and gathered the soaps while his friend briefly recovered from the stinging of the cellebra.

As they walked back to Haria’s house, Tavi heard Shawn’s voice say, “Damnit Tavi, this sucks. If only you knew how scared I feel here, how out of place.”

He turned and responded, “Well, that’s okay.”

Shawn was perplexed. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

“You sure? I thought you told me that you were uncomfortable on this planet.”

“No, I didn’t. I feel that way, yes-- no offense, though. But I haven’t said a thing. Maybe you’re hearing things or something. Remember, we’ve been through a lotta crap lately. That happens,” Shawn suggested.

Tavi nodded in agreement. “Good point. I suppose we’re all getting a little ragged.”

In the distance, Haria’s house was dimly lit--a safety measure-- and its owner was gently tending to something before she saw them coming. She waved them in. “Nobody’s here. Come!”

Inside, the house was quieter than usual. Haria somberly wandered around the living room She was apparently scared and distressed. Tavi asked, “What is it?”

“Stirks.”

Tavi raised his eyebrows, urging her to go on. “Yeah, what’s new with that?”

“The forces, their armies... it’s increasing. I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s going to be big, and probably not good,” Haria reported.

“Uh, Tavi,” Shawn said. “What did she just say? It sounded important.”

“It is.” He quickly translated the conversation and continued, “How do you know this? What are your sources?”

Haria put her hands to her head in worry. “Crom. He stays current with stuff. Then there’s some of my friends, who have predicted this for weeks. Of course, I also saw some of the ships coming in while you were out. They’re gathering, I tell you.”

“So? Don’t they always gang up once every few months to conference?”

“No. This is bigger. It must be at least a dozen times more ships than usual. Some rumors say that they’re finally going to carry out that killing spree that they’ve wanted for so long. I don’t know, but the holocaust we’ve feared may have come. They’ve built themselves up so much!”

Haria started to cry, and Tavi gently comforted her. “That will never happen. They hate us, but we produce the crops that they tax. We populate the cities that they govern. We provide the people to abuse. You know that!”

“Tavi, there’s something that I haven’t told you...”

“What don’t I know?” Despite the porous texture of what he was wearing, sweat collected on his body.

“There’s an uprising against the stirks. It’s happening now, as I speak. The gangs, the militias, they are uniting. They can’t win, of course. Still, with the upcoming I-don’t-know, they’re doing their damnedest to stop it.”

“A revolution?!” This explained the thing that he had felt that night a couple of weeks ago. Something was starting. “Who’s leading it?”

“We don’t know. Apparently she’s of your generation--”

... The only one that has balls to do it, Tavi thought.

“and she goes by the name Lensia, after the man who created peace on Ev’clear centuries ago. While she would have grown up poor with or without the stirks, she aspired to more. When they attacked--she was already a dozen years old at the time-- she saw the end of hope. Ever since, she’s tried to figure out a way to strike back.”

After translating this for Shawn, he asked, “Are you joining the effort?”

“Of course not! I am too old and too smart for such things. Whatever will come will come, so why bother? I know I could die tomorrow, and frankly, I could care less. But you, you’re lucky. You won’t have to deal with this. You’ll be back on Earth.”

“You found a ship?” Tavi asked.

Haria smiled. “It’s a crapper, though. But you can repair things, can’t you?”

“If I have the parts, yeah. Whose is it? Somebody I know?” The look on her face stopped Tavi cold. “The parts, you have found some, haven’t you?”

“No. The engine’s blown, and I can’t find another one anywhere. I’ve tried, believe me, but the only working engine I can think of is on Marph’s ship, and that’s incompatible to this older model,” Haria said.

Tavi translated it to Shawn, and while doing so, Haria interrupted him. “I do know of one place, though. I wouldn’t go there for anything, but I’ve heard that someplace, old Ev’clear technology is stored and experimented on daily. You’d have to sneak in, and you could only get away with that tomorrow. You’d have a time window of two hours and could easily be killed. Mind, I only suggest this as a last resort.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about five hours’ walking from here, so you’ll have to wake up early. Getting in wouldn’t be a problem. Getting out would. The thing starts at noon.”

Tavi didn’t like it when people skimmed over the issue at hand. “What is it then?”

“The stirk conference.”

Tavi and Shawn slept on the living room sofa. It was a tight fit, but being near each other gave a safe feeling. Shawn was fast asleep, and Tavi have no clue how that could happen. He stared at the room that he had known since birth(or something close to), and the darkness gave everything a new form. The cauldron in the kitchen looked like a curled up monster, ready to pounce on its prey. Ques in the pictures hanging above him appeared to be stirks if viewed the right way. Anything safe could turn evil if one cocked his head at the right angle.

Suddenly, Tavi heard Shawn’s voice, screaming. Tavi quickly looked at his friend, but he was still asleep, though moving in a way that would suggest a bad dream.

They’re coming! Led by Viag, no less! He’s taking us... No! Tavi heard these words in his head, he realized. Mentally, he also saw gruesome pictures which he couldn’t stop. He sat up and wished he knew what was going on. Telepathy? Crazy, but worth a shot.

He looked at Shawn. <It’s not real. It’s a nightmare. Viag is dead. I killed him.>

To his complete surprise, he got a response. <What are you talking about? He’s taking me. I’m having to-- Agghhh! I can’t stop it, damnit! No, Viag! Nooooo....>

Tavi shook Shawn awake. Shawn blinked and breathed heavily. “What the...?”

“You had a bad dream. It’s okay now. Nobody’s after you.”

“How did you know that someone was after me?”

“Mentally, I heard your voice. You told me all about Viag coming. You were crying out for help and I could do nothing,” Tavi reported.

“Yes, I do remember calling for you, but telepathy? That’s impossible.”

“No duh that’s impossible,” Tavi agreed. Then he said, “But, if I’m right, than you’ll know what I just said.” He mentally sent a message.

Shawn’s face lit in disbelief. He responded, “You said, ‘Cevor ku dowm’.”

“Jesus...” Tavi gasped. He felt his legs become numb.

“Yeah, and you meant ‘come and get me’. I don’t know how it translated, and I didn’t hear you say it. It’s like a dream, where you just know it. Y’know?”

“This is not believable! This--this is freaking me out.” Tavi did not feel happy nor sad towards the experience. Rather, he was desperately confused. “There must be a rational reason for this.”

Shawn was also bewildered, but thought nothing of it. Many things in the past week had surprised him. First, he had learned that alien life existed. Then he had willed himself to do things with an alien that he wouldn’t have thought of doing had he not been desperate to escape the stirk ship. Telepathy just one more thing.

“I’m going to ask Haria about this. She knows about this stuff, doesn’t she? Oh, please let her have the knowledge that can help me explain this...”

“Uh, actually, I think it’s pretty cool,” Shawn quietly commented.

“What?!”

“Well, imagine. We could, like, carry conversations and nobody would know about it. I mean, we could be spies or something. That would kick ass, wouldn’t it?” Shawn suggested.

“But what if you can read my mind? No offense, but I’d really hate that.”

Shawn shook his head. “I’ve been trying for the last two minutes...nada.”

“Gee, thanks!” Tavi walked towards the bedroom. “I’m gonna ask Haria about this.”

“But I thought you said--you know, about nighttime and all?”

“Screw it!” Tavi called to Haria, “Uh, we need your help over here. Now.”

The half-dead response was what he had expected. “It’s night! Go back to bed.”

“This can’t wait until morning. Do you think I’m doing this just to annoy you?” Tavi knew that he was breaching the code, but didn’t care at the moment.

“Well, what is it?”

“I’m now telepathically connected to Shawn, and I’ve no clue how. Now will you help me figure this out? Please.”

A minute later, Haria came out. Her posture was ragged and sore. She appeared wary yet slightly amused. “Telepathy? This sounds interesting.”

Tavi explained what had happened. Haria nodded and eventually recognized what was going on. “Well, don’t get excited. It’s not permanent.”

“That means that you know what’s going on then. What?”

Haria searched for the right words. “It’s the cellebra. If you rubbed it on each other like you said, the small exchange of skin cells and blood from your scars would affect the substance in strange ways. It happened to Natarr and Sophie and lasted for about two weeks. They liked the bond and tried using cellebra again, but apparently their bodies had grown immune to it by then.”

Tavi translated for Shawn.

“Okay,” Shawn said. “So we make the best of it while we can, right?”

“I suppose. Perhaps not talking aloud would be helpful to keep us hidden at the conference, wouldn’t it?” Tavi suggested.

“I see you’ve recovered,” Haria said, observing the body language of the two in front of her. “Now you must rest now. Five hours’ of walking takes energy.”

“It does,” Tavi agreed.

Haria continued, “I love you like a son, Tavi. I would prefer death to seeing you get hurt. So promise me...”

Tavi nodded for her to go on.

“Promise me that you will use any advantage you can at the conference. Your wits, that telepathy thing, whatever. Do whatever you can, and get home safely.”

“I’ll try.”

“No,” Haria commanded. “You will.”

The back-woods were a flurry of blue leaves and golden grounds, on which the strangest sorts of life roamed. While Tavi and Shawn could not be easily seen, the woods were only a couple of miles from the main road at this point and ran parallel to it for the entire way. While the three hours that they had walked would usually not have bothered Shawn, the increased gravity made it seem like six. Tavi, while he had fully gotten used to the old gravity, knew that his human body was not as strong as his que one, and thus could not handle it as well.

<Damnit, Luke. I’m tired! Can’t we stop?>

Shawn smirked. Practicing telepathy was amusing at least, but it could only barely distract him from the physical the exhaustion he was feeling, and he doubted that he could carry this off for another two hours. <But don’t you want to rest?>

Tavi shook his head. Looking all around him and finding no one to hear him, he said, “Fine, I’m wary even though I grew up here. Happy? Ah well, I think I just made a resolution for when we get back to Earth.”

“What?”

Something scurried across their path and they stood very still. A moment passed and they resumed their walking, although on a lighter foot. <I’ll make myself stronger.> Seeing the questioning look on his friend’s face, he continued, <I’ll lift weights and run a dozen laps every day. I’ll have bulging muscles and will intimidate all that see me.>

Tavi made his mental tone, not unlike his vocal one, drop an octave. <In the last week, I have been beaten, raped, and that’s probably not the end of it. If I am 125 and can’t defend myself against some stirk, something is wrong, okay? If I can lift 125 and then intimidate the Hell out of anyone who even thinks about touching me, something is very right.>

Shawn rolled his eyes and started absent-mindedly singing “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. At first he was almost whispering, but than his volume rose to that of the video for it that he had seen on MTV. The song almost possessed his body. He did not know if he would survive this thing, and yet he sang. It was as if singing would save him.

<SHUT UP!> Tavi told Shawn. <Do you want them to hear us?>

Shawn stopped singing and sulked. <Fine...>

The very idiocy of the response caused Tavi to stifle some laughter. He too did not want to contemplate the conference. He thought, I’m going to get there whether I worry about this or not. So why not follow his example? Being nervous won’t help me get back to Earth. Yes, Earth. Now, truly home for me. I’ll arrive in about a month and never leave again. If Dad wants to run away once more, I’ll fully support it. England? No, they’re too civilized. But the northern tip of Alaska-- it may be freezy there, but who’ll find us? Yeah!

<This is quite freaky, actually.> Shawn commented from behind. The sun shined through the blue tree branches and reflected on the top of his head. He looked like some angel that Tavi had seen in an art book once, screwed up and with a halo. <Whenever everything inside your stomach churns like nothing else, all that you see becomes calmer in comparison. My hands are, like, shaking, yet this all looks so beautiful that I just can’t ignore it!>

Tavi, however, failed to take notice. Distracted, he ran to the forest’s edge fifty feet from him. He strained his posture to view the main road, a quarter-mile away. A large procession of military vehicles, obviously stirk, were traveling in the same direction that he was. He motioned for Shawn to join him. <Get a look at this!>

Shawn did so and, once next to Tavi, gasped. <Is that..?>

<Yes! Yes!> Tavi was very scared, but excitement also thrilled through his veins. The pink clouds in the sky were blurred by a misty fog, a sign of the coming storm. He saw the stirks gradually slow down in speed. Some building, a tiny square from this distance, was probably a refueling station. Stirk vehicles, while powerful and efficient, were also what Shawn would call “gas-guzzlers”. Now they would stop, fill their tanks, and continue in ten minutes. The first part of the caravan had already entered the garage. <Listen, stirk land vehicles have lots of little trap doors, unused storage space, etc. I know you’re at your end, but can’t you pull it off for just one more mile?>

These words renewed his friend’s energy, but only barely. <Um, okay...>

The bare desert, with nothing but tightly packed dirt and no vegetation, was a wide, open, space. It offered no cover for as far as the eye could see. The quarter-mile would only take a minute or so to sprint, but that time could easily be fatal. One false step, and that would mean death.

Tavi looked at Shawn. The risks were obvious to both of them. <We are going over there.>

Shawn slowly backed away from the line that separated the tall grass and the dirt. He shook his head. <No.>

His words were serious, which was not helping Tavi. <Pourquoi?> It was in French. He asked Shawn why he objected(“Why?”), even though the answer was obvious.

<They’ll see us, and then they’ll kill us. And I’ll be dead, and you’ll be dead. And neither of us will ever see Earth again. That’s why... Don’t be foolish, damnit-- you know we can’t reach that place in one piece.>

Tavi sighed. <You’re right. However, we can’t really go on-- I think you’ll be fainting when you need your energy the most. So do we turn back then?>

<I guess.>

Shawn turned to go, but Tavi stood still. Behind him lay the woods, and eventually the safety of Haria’s house. It would be easy, he knew, to turn back and think of something else. Yet, he still faced the stirk post. Two guards were walking around the building, to a side of it that was out of view.

Hmm, he thought to himself, not sending his ideas to Shawn. The others are probably socializing in the upper rooms, playing games, eating good food, and engaging in the sickest orgies I’ve ever heard of. I wonder who they’re abusing, if they are indeed taking any prisoners on this trip. No wait, they don’t do all that during conference time, do they? Oh well, I’ll bet that at least they’re not paying attention to the computer fueling up the engines on the lower floor.

Moments passed. His body moving faster than his mind, he took firm hold of Shawn’s wrist. Before the other person could protest, they were already thirty feet out in the open.

Shawn was shocked, but ran as quickly as he could to keep up with Tavi. Neither could think, minds blank and numb. They held hands as they sprinted, not feeling the collective sweat of their palms. Gravity was little more than a word as they dashed to the black cube up ahead. Hunger and exhaustion ceased to exist as the building came closer.

Time stood still. Tavi’s feet touched the ground, yet it was not felt. Hair covered his forehead and he did not notice it obscuring his vision. He could have been dying and he would not have noticed. It was not unlike when he lost his arm, and Tavi could almost hear the guns in the background.

They had made it halfway, still no stirks in sight. <See?> Tavi quickly remarked. <We’re almost there!> He felt Shawn’s hand jerk away from his and stopped to turn around.

Shawn had tripped on something and, due to his speed, had been thrown a few feet. He lay on the ground for a few seconds, disoriented and hurting. <Go on, Luke.>

<You give up too easily, you know that?> Tavi jerked Shawn into a standing position and they continued running. Only four seconds had been lost, but four seconds was all it took.

The world was a blur and a stand-still simultaneously. Then, it stopped. They were at the stirk post. While the structure itself was not intimidating, the things inside were. A small door was at Tavi’s left, while a larger one leading to the vehicles was about twenty feet away. On closer observation, it was actually two buildings connected by a walkway leading from the only floor of the left building to the upper story of the garage, creating an interesting N-shape. Through various windows, Tavi could see stirks. They were all around, more in one place than he had ever seen before.

Oh Christ, he thought. What the Hell am I doing here?!... Screw it. I’m already here as it is, so I might as well do what I set out to do. No use stopping now, that’s certain.

<You know this stuff. Tell me, where do we go now?>

<The larger building.> Tavi edged against the exterior of the building, careful not to be seen. He watched carefully as the stirks went among their activities. When the moment came that nobody was watching, he motioned to Shawn and the two of them scurried to the garage door, which was open.

The space inside was large and dark and dreary, yet well-lit. It reminded Shawn of a fire station, although a gothic one to say the least. It was all done in black and the stirks’ passion for artwork extended to the most unlikely places, with somewhat disturbing murals behind the vehicles.

The stirk vehicles themselves were built like tanks, but larger and more angular. Their surfaces were mirrored, which made Tavi nervous. When hiding, reflecting off of something was the last thing he wanted.

They edged along the caravan, every nerve tuned to the slightest sign of a stirk’s presence. Nothing moved under Tavi’s hard gaze as he lightly treaded this dangerous path. <There has to be an opening somewhere, damnit...>

<You mean you haven’t found a place to hide yet?>

Tavi shook his head. <No doors, no windows, no nada!>

While the nights on this part of Ev’clear were cold and windy, the days were mercilessly hot. Heat and mugginess almost like a summer back in Southern Ohio took over the garage. Even if the main door had been closed, nothing could have prevented the still air from reaching its interior. Tavi felt as if he were moving through a sweaty slush, as his human body could not adapt to the temperature as well as his old one could. The caravan was at least a hundred cars long, like a train. He did not want to know what lay inside.

Two, perhaps three minutes passed. Then something caught his eye. He saw a glint of shiny red metal, coming from behind a dusty cloth cover. Moving closer, it turned out that this object was not connected to the platform that stood on or the other vehicles, which was very odd.

<Hey!> Tavi called. <Look at this!>

Shawn sped to his side. <Haven’t seen this before. What is it?>

The cloth seemed to hang more loosely over the object now. It was so light, so easy to move. The whole cover could not have weighted more than a pair of jeans, nor have been bigger than a bedsheet. Tavi touched the fabric tenderly, exploring its texture and the surface underneath. It was too tempting.

<Are you sure you want to do this?> Shawn asked.

<Not really.> Tavi said. <But this may be our only option.>

He breathed deeply, like a Roman gladiator at the Coliseum, not quite sure what would happen but doing it anyway. Tavi made his posture erect and erased all thought from his mind. He took the cloth at one end and motioned for Shawn to take the other. At the telepathic count of three, they lifted the cloth as if they were making a bed. The light shined through the folds of the fabric delicately, like angels’ wings. Slowly and lightly, it drifted to the gray floor, content in its new placement.

“Oh my God!” Tavi exclaimed, too shocked to contain himself. Like Shawn, his hands remained up in the air for a few moments, not quite sure what to do with themselves. He blinked, but things remained the same.

What was a 1990 Plymouth Voyager doing here?

Shawn touched the minivan to assure its realness. His friend blinked some more, dropped his jaw, and generally possessed all the qualities of a statue, his entire body numb.

<Shawn, I must be having hallucinations. It’s this heat, isn’t it? There’s no other friggin’ explanation for it!>

These words met only a stifled laughter. Shawn surveyed the scene with much amusement, amusement which to Tavi was incomprehensible.

This response frightened him even more. <There is a minivan on Ev’clear. Repeat, there is minivan on Ev’clear... Did you smoke the funky stuff or something? God, man!>

<Oh, I don’t know. There must be an explanation for it. And Hell, even if there isn’t, I do know how to pick locks.>

Tavi remained thoroughly confused and surprised, but warmed to the suggestion. <And...?>

<We want an engine, so we need a ride, right? Break in the minivan, duh. I see a door and a metal wire lying so conveniently on the floor. Do you? Cause listen, this should be a Hell of a lot easier than the lemon at home...>

Tavi listened and then returned to his original stance. <But what in this circle of Hell is it doing here?> This was too much for Tavi. Minivans did not exist on Ev’clear. Earth was hundreds of light years away. The two planets didn’t even know about each other.

A rumbling was heard on the floor above. It was muffled by the thick ceiling, but remained recognizable. Tavi looked at Shawn worriedly. All of the possible escape routes were closed off now, more or less. It was only a matter of time.

Shawn took the wire he saw laying on the floor and, after searching Tavi’s face for approval, stuck the wire in the keyhole of the minivan’s back door. It didn’t budge, as it was not in the right position yet. While he struggled, Tavi laid the sheet over the minivan so that it would appear the same when the stirks saw it. The sheet draped over a quickly working Shawn.

“C’mon, c’mon...” he mumbled under his breath. Finally, the trunk door shot up. They scurried inside and slammed the door shut, about one second before the first stirk returned.

The minivan’s interior was clean, with a new-car smell. Things that Shawn associated with a lived-in car, such as open magazines on the seats or dried fries from Burger King on the floor, were not to be seen. This thing had never been driven.

Stirk voices came from outside, very close to their hiding place. Tavi listened closely and translated for Shawn.

“Are you looking forward to what the Lunwat will say at the conference?” one of them said. Lunwat was the title given to the supreme leader of the stirks.

“Oh, very much! Especially, because, well--and you didn’t hear this from me-- but I’ve heard some rumors lately.” While this voice was higher than the other, both were male. Females were prohibited from serving in the army, so even if the latter voice was that of woman’s, Tavi would not have recognized it as such.

“Tell!” The lower-voiced stirk leaned against one of the windows of the minivan, shifting the cloth. It seemed like forever until he stood up again.

“Remember the conference, that big one about, ten, eleven years ago? You know, when we increased our territory three-fold? Well, some people in some high places say that it could be happening again...”

The conversation stopped when somebody called them to their positions. Tavi slightly relaxed and let out the air that he had been holding. He and Shawn laid flat on their stomachs between the last row of seating and the back door, in the trunk area. Both would remain completely still for the rest of the trip.

The caravan had the potential to travel at over a hundred miles an hour, yet bulk and ceremony caused it to go more slowly, at about one fifth of that. Still, the remaining distance was only six miles long, so it did not matter. It took about eighteen minutes for the vehicles to reach the conference center, yet every second was remembered as if it were a day. Millions of thoughts flew through Shawn’s and Tavi’s minds, yet neither made any remark. There was movement, and then there was none.

Outside, crowds of stirks cheered in honor of this event. The conference was not just a political meeting, but a social gathering as well. It was not unlike a heavy metal concert, where fanatics of all generations squeezed together to make drunken calls to the parades, gods for a day. Here, however, the fans were decorated army officers and competent guards, simply enjoying their one holiday of the year. Whatever sexual restraint that had existed at the gas station was gone here.

These were only a few of the reasons why Tavi was glad that the minivan was covered with a cloth.

“Here it is!” A loudly amplified voice announced. “From the North, Ev’clear’s Glory.”

It angered Tavi that the name of his home-planet was being used so loosely, but his anger was eclipsed by curiosity and fear.

“Something so valuable you cannot imagine its worth. Somewhere, the discovery of a lifetime waits to be viewed. I know not what it is, but when it comes, I am sure that’s its mass alone will identify it. Oh, glorious!... Hey, what’s this coming behind them? Ah, could it be? The Lunwat’s Pride from Quena. Again, glorious!”

Dozens of caravans filed into a straight line, which easily fed into the main building. The voice of the announcer was soon replaced by quieter ones, discussing such things as parking space and where the refreshments were.

Tavi felt the minivan and the platform that it stood on being removed from the rest of the caravan. A door closed from behind and he assumed that the minivan was being locked away until the actual meeting started in about one and a half hours. For a while, both people just laid there adjusting to the lack of motion.

<Are they gone yet?> Shawn asked. He made no pretense of courage this time.

<Probably, but let’s give it an extra minute just to be sure.> The minute passed and nothing happened. Tavi and Shawn timidly sat up.

They exited the Voyager via the passenger-side door in front, closing it softly behind them. The room outside looked like an empty household garage, ironically fitting the thing which it held. There was even an electronic garage door at one end of the room and a wooden one with three steps leading to it. Even the floor was concrete.

<I’m not even asking about this one...> Tavi commented as he went to smaller door. The door swung open to more brick wall, and the other door would make too much noise if used. What now?

Shawn found a broom hanging on one of the walls and, out of pure instinct, poked a certain part of the ceiling that seemed interesting. Quickly and quietly, an elevator slide down and landed on the floor. It was about four feet square and had a one-button control panel. This was the real exit.

The above level was similarly devoid of stirks. It was a large room, many acres long, housing at least one fleet of ships.

<So, Luke, you’ve any idea where the engines are stored?>

Tavi smiled as if he had just won the lottery. <Open your eyes! Does it matter?>

<But codes, and security, and all that. What about those? Listen, I say we just take it and run and get the Hell off of this planet. Okay?>

Shawn was ignored. Tavi found a large computer terminal on the wall and hacked into some top-secret information banks. While ques tended be responsible with their security measures, stirks were not. But then, they did not need to be. Any stirk caught with stolen information would be killed.

<Oh, Shawn. This is more than I could have ever hoped for! Aw, look at that-- not only is it the most luxurious in its class, it also can make the journey back to Earth in one week! And it has big guns--the accuracy-tested kind, I tell you!>

<Down, boy... So you’re telling me that instead of taking some crappy engine that they’ll never miss anyway, we should go for something bigger, all the way?>

Tavi nodded, grinning broadly. Then he turned to consul and began typing various codes and guesses that he had picked up during his childhood but had never before gotten the opportunity to use. Captains’ passwords were so easy to figure out.

<Got it. Let’s go.> Tavi took an engraved piece of circuitry from the computer, then reached into the side of his shoe(cellebra, to him, was only the equivalent of a sock. Socks were nothing without shoes) and took out the key. He raised his head and prepared to open the portal to another dimension.

He was hurried at the time, but not stressed. All the stirks were at their little conference, right? Tavi started thinking of the conference and the special attention that it was being given, along with the conversation that he had overheard at the refill post. Something new was happening.

<Hey,> he suggested. <What do you think they’re doing there? I heard they were planning a holocaust, or maybe not. If people knew about this ahead of time, do you think it would save lives?>

<No. Listen, we’ve got more than we need. If we go now, we’ll surely be back to Earth soon.> Shawn lowered his mental tone, if such a thing was possible. <Don’t be a hero. I know you want to be one, but really, what can come of it?>

Tavi’s decision was already made. He saw a small walkway leading to some passages on the upper floors, lining the rafters of the auditorium. <I’ll just be a second, then.>

<You’re not going out alone like that. I’m not letting you!>

Tavi had predicted this response and thus said <So you’ll accompany me?>

<Fine... but if you only knew the pain I’m feeling in my head right now...>

Carefully making his way to the elevated walkway, he responded <Oh, I do. It’s just that, well, at this point in time, I could truly care less.>

The auditorium was large, if anything. It conveyed wealth in all its details, from the high gilded ceiling to the soft fabric on the chairs. Those who had rioted outside earlier were not present. Only high-ranking generals and politicians were permitted to be in this room, yet that still amounted to hundreds of stirks. The room was worth more than some towns Tavi had seen, yet those who occupied it regarded the expense as normal.

High above the seating and across from the stage, Tavi and Shawn sat on the catwalk suspended from the ceiling. Nobody could strain their necks enough to see the two, hidden in shadow yet seeing all. The scaffolding made for a perfect hiding place.

After waiting a long time, the conference started. First, various stirks made speeches on everything from local policy to patriotism. This was boring, and Shawn soon asked Tavi to stop translating for him. Tavi did so gladly.

Then, after half an hour, it came. The Lunwat himself appeared behind the podium and recalled taking over Ev’clear ten years ago. Suddenly, Tavi remembered the minivan and vaguely felt the coming of something awful.

“I have here a vehicle,” the Lunwat said. A certain minivan was taken onstage. “It may look strange to you, but many people consider this normal. When we discovered this planet, we immediately found a great resource and power at our fingertips. Now, my friends, I give you our next expansion. It is only a few hundred light years from here, and even though it is slightly smaller, its natural resources greatly outnumber Ev’clear’s.”

The audience was held in rapt attention. Tavi translated furiously and Shawn was too shocked to listen.

“Great citizenry of Vaypayn, I give you Earth! They have no good defense and are ripe for the taking. Tomorrow, we shall start for the planet. In a week, it shall be ours!”

<God damn you! Damn you! Damn you!> Tavi was scared and furious. He mentally screamed at the stirks, yet did so in English since Shawn was the only person that could hear him. <I skipped Ev’clear for a reason, you know.>

By contrast, Shawn felt no anger whatsoever. He was too shocked and frightened for anger. Earth could actually become like this place? As he pondered this, he knew that he would never survive it like Tavi did, with no hope of future improvement. Thus, the concept became dull and abstract, as this was the only way that Shawn could remain sane.

<Let’s get out of here,> Shawn suggested. <I’ve heard enough.>

<I agree.> Tavi and Shawn both stood up and went to a passageway in the back of the auditorium, so the light from the fifth-dimensional portal would not attract attention. They walked through a narrow opening and came upon a tunnel-like hall wide enough for two stirks. It was dimly lit and rarely used.

Tavi lifted his leg and attempted to grab the key. Unfortunately, something made his leg jolt and accidentally fling the key a few meters behind him. He mentally told Shawn to stand still while he retrieved the item.

When he came within a foot of the key, a stirk guard popped out of a side passage that had previously not been seen. There was something lethal and foreign in the guard’s hands, and Tavi jumped back a little.

“No!” Actually, he jumped back a lot.

The stirk aimed the gun-thing at him. Tavi tried to run away, but his body would not move. He was frozen.

At the moment when the thing went off, the guard was pushed at an angle and, provoked, aimed his attention at Shawn. Meanwhile, something hit Tavi’s neck and burned in his throat, making it hard to breathe. He became very dizzy and tried to raise himself from the floor, but could not.

The world spun around, with distinct forms replaced by blurred color. Tavi saw a fight and figured that the stirk was probably beating Shawn, yet he did not care. He had no will to care. Slowly like sleep, he drifted into a mindless oblivion.

Sounds came to Tavi, slurred and indistinct. Voices, movement, whatever. Touch, smell, and other stimuli became a swirling sea in which he drowned. In time, whether it was minutes or days, things slowly appeared clearer, sometimes to subside into darkness again, but more often to remain and make things slightly clearer. He felt nothing in this sleep, perhaps the calmest experience of his life. Or was it death?

The sea continued its course…

“Tavi? Tavi?” It took him a second to recognize Haria’s voice. He fully opened his eyes and saw that he was on her bed. He saw this very clearly, and the pain returned. While not as bad as the initial feeling, his throat still had a lingering soreness. This, of course, would fade as well.

Tavi propped himself up against the wall behind him. He gave a small smile to assure her that he felt fine, then tried to say something. Nothing came, so he tried to amplify his voice. Yet no amount of forcing would do it. He put his hand to his throat in complete shock. His left hand touched the area under his jawline and brushed it again. Something was definitely different.

“What is it?” Haria asked. “Does your throat hurt? I can remedy that.”

Trying to sort out what was happening, Tavi got off from the bed and paced. Mentally, he called Shawn to his side.

Shawn came through the bedroom’s entrance. His hair was disheveled and parts of the cellebra were torn off. His injury was minimal, a few bruises and a black eye. “If you’re wondering how we got from there to here—well, Hell, even I don’t know how I pulled it off. All I know is that when I pushed him into a corner and grabbed the key, those few seconds were used like they were hours, considering—”

The look on Tavi’s face was quickly recognized as more than surprise. <Screw that, you dense little fruit!>

“Uh, why aren’t you talking?”

Tavi wanted to ask Haria the same question, but he could not. Instead, he told Shawn to ask for him.

“Well, what happened?” Up until now, Haria had no clue as to the events that had taken place at the conference.

Via Shawn, Tavi told of everything that he knew. Haria listened intently, her face darkening with every words.

“And you say that gun-thing hit you in the throat?”

Tavi nodded. Haria then felt his lower jaw and gasped.

“What? What is it?” Shawn asked, watching. Haria could not understand English, but it was obvious what he meant.

She gave her diagnosis. “Tavi, what hit you was not a gun. It was a new type of stirk technology, something that I forget the name of but know nonetheless. Instead of puncturing the flesh, it pin-points one of the more important organs in that area and permanently dissolves it. Apparently, the bastard was aiming for the chest, for the heart. Instead, he shot the throat… your larynx.”

My voice box destroyed? That’s crap! Tavi thought. <Shawn, tell her ‘Boffong. Ki par e lih whe, yec ki yar gunt.’> It meant “That’s crap. I’ll be talking in two hours, when my throat heals.” However, Tavi did not need to provide an English translation since this was telepathy.

“Okay...” Shawn said. He stiffly recited the words, not believing them.

Haria did not respond. Instead, she gazed at the floor with a pitying expression. Shortly, she knew, there would be tears and rage from one of the people that she loved the most. She could only guess at what Tavi was feeling, but at this moment she would have gladly taken this burden from him and accepted it for herself.

<Swaq nog ki duy?!> Tavi’s body was stiff, in a sweat. He could barely move as he asked Haria if she was saying that he was actually mute.

“Yes,” Haria mumbled. “From now on, you have no voice.” She did not say it as the caring aunt that she was. Rather, she talked to him as if she were a doctor, one who was used to giving her patients bad news.

“No...” Tavi mouthed, slowly shaking his head. Breath came from his lips, but nothing else. He started to stand up with a straighter posture, as if he were preparing to scream and throw a fit.

Haria felt guilty for wanting to leave the room now. People in hysterics kind of scared her, and the emotional issues were not pleasant either.

Tavi pursed his lips and went past Shawn, into the living room. Walking calmly and breathing deeply, he settled himself behind the tree in the back yard. He did not want to lose his composure, now more than ever. If he let himself cry, he knew that he would also pound the walls and be a human hurricane for hours. So he did not risk it, instead choosing to stand up, observing the beautiful landscape at sunset.

Oh God... Tavi thought. My life is over. Even if I do get back to Earth, what happens then? I’m mute. What can I do now? Can’t even talk! I’ll look like a retard. Damn, I am a retard! How can I face people? How can I live now? Why has this happened? Good God, why me? Why me? Why me?! Holy shit, I can’t believe it.

This continued until night had completely fallen. Shawn and Haria patiently waited inside the house while Tavi remained outside in the cold. Repeatedly, he had refused their offers of warmth. This was because if he went inside, he would be in the place where talking was required and he would again have to confront this newfound disability. Once in the others’ presence, Tavi would not be able to pretend otherwise.

Finally, Shawn called <Enough of this. You’re going to freeze out there.>

Tavi turned around. Shawn was right. Besides, the landscape was already covered in darkness. <I smell something. Is she--?>

As he walked inside, Haria gave a solemn nod. Tavi responded with a weak smile and a sigh. Eager to believe it, she assumed that he was fine.

<Really, are you okay?> Shawn asked.

<Hell no. But please, don’t use telepathy this much.>

Tavi rolled his eyes and absent-mindedly crossed his arms. <I know why you’re doing this, to make me feel better. If I can’t, you feel guilty that you still can. Don’t. I want to hear a human voice, even if it isn’t my own.>

“Is this better?”

<Much.> Tavi saw a small dish lying near the fire. It did not contain the peasants’ food that was the usual fare, but luxuries. Boiled meat(meat!) with a touch of texture from the sweet powder it was smothered with made his mouth water. He then realized that he had not eaten since morning.

He ate slowly, though, since he knew how hard it must have been for Haria to obtain this food. Seeing the bowls near the corner of the kitchen, Tavi knew that this food had been made as some sort of consolation especially for him, as the others had apparently eaten less expensively.

It was dawn. The first rays of sun shined through the windows, creating a light strong enough to distinguish shape but not color. Shawn and Haria were soundly asleep as Tavi wandered around the small house. The gun wall occasionally fascinated him.

This is death, is it not? Tavi pondered. Stirks, Earth, being mute... no good end can come of this. Yet how can I abandon Shawn? He’s saved me so much, it would be ungrateful to make it all for nothing... Ugh! Why am I looking at this thing so much anyway? Whenever I think of what may happen, it only looks more and more attractive.

Suddenly, the emotions he had been restraining released themselves. Crumpled on the floor, he cried more than he thought capable. Under other circumstances, loud wails would have reverberated off of everything. Here, there was no more sound than a nose sniffling, even though the body shook violently. This sight was strange, and somewhat disturbing to behold.

Hell, everything was strange and somewhat disturbing to behold right now.

By the time Shawn awoke, Tavi had exhausted himself with crying and had fallen asleep next to him. There was no physical evidence of his sorrow near where Haria’s weaponry was displayed, yet Shawn vaguely remembered having seen him tremble through half-open eyes. Whatever. Tavi would be angry if he knew that somebody had seen him in such a state, so Shawn made a mental note not to mention it.

Tavi stood in a large room. This was the main hall of his old house near the capitol, before the stirks had driven him and Marph to the rural areas. The ceiling was almost as high as the sky and gilded columns stood as far as the eye could see. The walls were a classic shade of yellow and the shiny floor tiling was a white that could never be dirtied. Over the years, much had taken place in this room. Besides numerous parties, Tavi had been born here. Not only that, but after one of those numerous parties, he had been conceived here.

In front of him there was a wall lined with windows, each as high as the ceiling. Sunlight came in with reckless abandon. Outside, he saw, was the beautiful capitol of Ev’clear. This was the capitol of the past, before the stirks stole it. It was not an ancient scene, however. Somehow, Tavi knew that this was taking place at a time after he had been born, but not long after that. The phrase “second year” came to mind.

He turned and saw a large double-door, wide enough for twenty people and tall enough for the grandest monuments to be transported through. Slowly, it opened. A beautiful que woman entered.

She walked to him with her feet barely touching the ground, more gracefully than Tavi had ever seen anyone walk before. This woman radiated warmth and sophistication at the same time. Tavi instantly loved her, whoever she was.

When she was in front of him, she studied his face, gently stroking the now-human features. A low murmur emitted from her. Her hands touched him as only a mother’s could, softly and lovingly.

Tavi responded in like and exclaimed, “Foun...” He did not address her as “mother” since he could not remember calling any person by such a name. So he referred to her as Marph did, as this came more naturally.

Foun smiled. “It is me, yes.” She stopped the touch-greeting and turned her gaze to the windows. “This is beautiful, isn’t it?”

Tavi saw the brilliant civilization carrying on with its prosperity and sighed. “Very. But tell me, did this not end violently?”

“My, you can’t even appreciate the memories, you’re so broken.” Foun commented. “But then, I’ve seen what you and your father have done to survive, going so far as to abandon your bodies... I’m surprised Marph had the courage to pull it off. He was always the weaker one, you know.”

“What?” Tavi responded. Suddenly, he realized that he had contemplated the word before it had come out of his mouth. That wasn’t supposed to happen in dreams. Dreams weren’t supposed to be real like this.

“Yes, he was always the soft gentleman, such a wonderful husband. I was the one who saw things for what they were. I saw the stirks and knew they were lying-- when you’re in politics, you have to sense that kind of thing. But Marph, he stayed until all chaos had broken loose; so naive, really. No, you’re more like me. You can see things not only for what they are, but what they will become.”

“That’s what I’m seeing now, Foun. I’ve lost everything I’ve ever loved and the only possibility is death. I have nowhere to go and I’m going to die.” Then he said, “Help me.” Tavi did not actually believe that Foun could aid him, but it was worth a try.

“Apparently you’ve grown to inherit my pessimistic streak as well.” Foun laughed. “You say you’ve lost everything. And, well, you certainly have lost a lot. Your voice, that girl...”

“You.”

“So the list continues. But when you lost all this, none of it was preventable. You had no warning, no time to act. They simply came and took, right?” Tavi nodded and she continued, “What about this new place, then? Earth. You have warning, don’t you?”

“So? Look at me. It’s not as if I could live on Ev’clear like this. Besides, these are stirks. If one could whip my ass, how can I stand against a billion?”

Foun got up to leave. “It’s not as hard as they have led you to believe.”

“Anything involving stirks is hard; trust me with this one. They had wronged us all, yes, but who am I to avenge an entire race’s downfall? I--I can’t do that. I’m not some heroic freedom fighter. You of all people should know that I’m not a hero.”

“Then do it with a vengeful heart and a sick mind. Either way, just get it over with! The stirks have gone too far already, you know that. The time has come,” she said, halfway to the door.

“And how exactly do I accomplish this?”

As she closed the door, Foun answered, “You should know this. Just remember.”

When Tavi awoke, it was already noon. The moisture around his eyes, he knew, was not from the gun wall incident but from the dream; seeing Foun leave like that saddened him. For a few moments, he pondered her words. Then his face lit up and he ran to Shawn, who was helping Haria with some chores.

He tried to say something, and probably launched a whole sentence before the strange expression on Shawn’s face reminded him to switch over to telepathy. <I’ve got it!>

Shawn lifted himself from his task. His face was apathetic and lifeless, devoid of hope for anything good. Earth would be destroyed and he would eventually die, so be it. What could he do? <What? Why are you so happy all of a sudden?>

<I just had this dream, and damnit, I can’t believe it! It’s so simple, so mind-numbingly simple, and yet I didn’t realize it before. But, thank your gods, the stirks will not take over Earth!>

“No, no...” Shawn shook his head. “You’re delirious, Luke. You need more rest or food or something. Hush, you’re not thinking right. This is inevitable.”

Using Shawn’s words, he responded <Oh yee of little faith.> He saw what Shawn was trying to fix, a simple farm tool. However, as his friend was ignorant of such things, the task was done very inaccurately. The were lavender clouds blocking out light outside. It was a dismal picture, like a dying man simply waiting for his death.

Shawn sighed. “I don’t want to even bother. They’ll just kick our asses and we’ll be doubly screwed. I mean, would you rather die peacefully or spend the rest of your life with, I dunno, some prison guard like Viag?”

This statement of hopelessness struck Tavi as shocking. He had never known Shawn to talk this way before, but then, it made sense. After a certain strain, he thought. Either you survive and learn to live or you break. Last night, I actually wanted to kill myself. I saw no good end. And now I do, but Shawn is so broken here that he can’t even bring himself to conceive any optimism. And yet was I not this way once? I was.

Tavi saw the key lying on a shelf above some pottery, next to the sanity device that he had pilfered from the stirk ship. He motioned for Shawn to join him. <Let me just show you one thing...>

Shawn said nothing but consented. Tavi opened up the portal and they went through it, the good family ship still lying dormant on the white landscape. They went inside and Shawn did not gasp, although he did admire the architecture that the stirk ship lacked. This was Marph’s vehicle, the one thing that remained the same in Tavi’s life. It helped put things in order for him.

“So we’re at the ship now, but you can’t fly it and home’s gonna be lost anyway. I’m sorry if I’m not crying now. It’s just that if I don’t give a damn, it won’t hurt as much.”

Tavi reached in some cabinets until he found what he wanted. Then he presented it to Shawn and waited for a reaction.

“Okay, it’s a tiny ball. So?” was all he got.

<Idiot. This is a lethal bomb that could kill off an entire race if I willed it!>

Shawn held the bomb, and turned it, observing it’s texture and contour. “Oh...” The realization came to him.

“Yeah...” Tavi mouthed, smiling and nodding.

“So, like, we’re not gonna die?” Shawn commented. “Because we can just blow all the stirks up and let that be that? Then we just go home and forget about it?”

Tavi nodded, almost euphoric. <I know. I’m sorry, but even I can get pushed too far. So want to see how I’m gonna deal with it?>

“Yes, with that little potent thing you told me about.” Then Shawn stopped. “Wait, a question: how exactly we will pull this off?”

<Oh, damnit!> Tavi hadn’t considered this before. <Well, we’ll just have to figure out a way, won’t we? But I swear on all that I’ve loved, this will work.>

Shawn heard that voice in his head and believed it. His friend’s newfound will was too strong for anything else.

It was noon before Haria returned home after placing the contents of her outhouse in the local dumping site. She walked in through the door in back, for the front door was broken and had not been used in five years. Somewhat refreshed from the social interactions that had taken place on the way from the dumping site, she said, “Hello! I’m sorry, but the wildest things have been going on Kah’poot, you know. Tavi, if only you--” Haria stopped. There was a black ball in the middle of the living room. It had not been there when she left. “What is this?”

Tavi emerged from nowhere. He looked at her and thought, If you have ever been in my house, how can this not be familiar?

Shawn laid languidly on the sofa, studying these interactions. He knew what was going to happen, but didn’t care. He prepared to spurt some rather brash words in que. In five seconds, he did. “This is Marph’s creation.”

“No... No! No! No!” Haria cried, hysterical. “Take it away, both of you!”

<Why? Does it scare you? Do you fear its potential?> Tavi asked. Shawn repeated it as if he were the original speaker, a first. Perhaps he actually agreed with him for once.

“That is death,” Haria said. “That is death in its most evil form. It is destruction. I told your father to destroy the thing! He said he would, but then why is it still here? Nothing good can come of it, I tell you!”

<What? All the good will come of it, I assure you. People are about to die unless I get off my ass and do something!>

“I forbid you to bomb them.” Haria said. Tavi knew that she was aware of what he could do, and that her very moral fibers were shred by it. He did not care.

<The stirks have designs on Earth, and you know how easy that would be for them. I love Earth, Haria. It is my home now, the only safe place I know. Do understand.>

“Kill them! In little more than cold blood or revenge at best? How can you? My innocent, don’t let them drive you to this.”

<Imagine this house. Imagine it replaced by that manor you used to own. Imagine being unlimited in your activities, not affected by anybody who constantly tells you that you are the inferior race. Imagine-->

Shawn almost repeated the last word before Haria stopped him. “You don’t think I imagine such things every day? Fool, I do. But I can live through these hardships, I do not let myself turn murderous.”

Tavi shook his head. The woman never would understand, would she? He was not innocent, and there was certainly no other way to do this. He turned to Shawn and said <We’ve discussed this before, right? The local dock has a minor ship leaving for Earth in two hours. It’s not grand, but it has a data system tied to every ship, fort, and non-civilian establishment from here to Vaypayn.>

“Right,” Shawn responded. “So we don’t have much time then, do we?”

<I guess. But the place is walking distance from here, so I don’t think we need to leave just yet.>

“That seems fair. I mean, you never are gonna see this place again...”

Tavi brushed a piece of furniture and smirked. <It’s ironic, really. Last time I left, I thought the same damn thing... So now, I’ll make no presumptions and say nothing of the sort. For all I know, we could return someday.>

“I suppose,” Shawn agreed. He looked out of the kitchen window and admired the backyard. “But you will miss home, won’t you?”

<Home? This isn’t home. I became an Earth person the second I left this place.>

“So you’re doing this for Earth, then?” Shawn asked, mildly surprised by his friend’s revelation.

<Not really. Whether it’s for Earth, Ev’clear, or Hell, I’ve been wanting to do this all my life!> Then Tavi smiled, ignoring the fear that slowly invaded his soul.

Chapter Ten: “Save The Best For Last” (Vanessa Williams)

Haria’s house was five yards away, and thus the stirk landing base was that much closer. Scary. She had given them some food and supplies to take with them, but no blessing. Indeed, she was sharply opposed to the proposed violence. Haria also did not want Tavi to risk his life, but she had no solid authority over him, so how could she tell him what to do? So he understood this and left.

Shawn and Tavi both carried small sacks over their shoulders. Shawn’s was filled the gadget that his friend had stolen from the stirk ship that would heal his mother, and Tavi’s contained the key, since Marph probably wanted it back by now. Both contained Haria’s gifts.

It was late afternoon, local time. The boys still wore celebra on the top, but they also wore jeans and regular boxers, since Shawn had laundered them earlier. It was actually a pretty cool look. They took the back-roads and alleys so nobody would see the two aliens going through the town to the landing base. As Tavi passed the houses, he saw a funeral being performed outdoors.

The que ceremony basically consisted of the deceased’s body being thrown in a raging bonfire, since this did not waste the land that burying would and also did away with the body, since it had no use anymore. There was no religion on this planet, so people simply sat around and lamented while a friend of the deceased briefly reviewed his life and said what a great guy he was. Then they all left and the ceremony was over.

<Hey!> Tavi said, stopping Shawn as they walked behind a small building. <I think I know some of the people there. Oh God, who could it be?>

“Does it matter?” he responded in a quiet voice. “We must be off, okay?”

Streams of conversation streamed in: “Oh, what a good man he was, not even a full man yet...” “You know, long ago, I did like Crom like that. Yeah.” “Where did they do it? Who did it, I ask! Stirks? Oh, yes, who else?”

Crom dead?! Tavi thought. Crom had been his best friend ever since childhood, and now some stirk had gotten the better of him. His family cried of sorrow and confusion, and Tavi felt no different. Yet he used this to give him courage, that he would avenge this. Dear God, so much that they would have to answer to. It truly boggled the mind.

So for a half hour, they continued. The sky was dark and slightly red, a sign of rain to come. The land took on a surreal type of coldness, making everything look as if it were in a black and white photograph, viewed from a another person’s gaze. None of this could be real, it seemed.

All too soon, there it was. On a large landing space, there was a ship. The black square landing pad was about as big as a town square and three sides were lined with little buildings that contained the three R’s-- repairs, relaxation, and a restaurant-- while the fourth side was left out to the open field. It was, in essence, an airport. An airport from Hell. Stirks milled around in all directions and the ship was right in the middle, a large object easily visible from any point. The ship was relatively small, but it could still handle crew of two hundred.

They stopped and hid behind a lone bush. Shawn surveyed the scene and said, “Um, excuse me, but how exactly do we pull this off? There’s no cover from here to the ship, and if we’re seen, you know exactly how long it’ll take for us to get shot? Not long.”

Tavi nodded. <Damnit! There’s got to be some way for us to get inside there. The entrance gate is right over there, and the traffic is pretty heavy, even though they’re close to being ready to leave.>

Shawn put down his sack to rest his shoulders and suddenly an idea came to Tavi. In the distance, he saw a little stirk vehicle, not large enough to be holding more than the driver himself. Hmm. He slyly grinned and motioned for Shawn to join him.

“What is it?” Shawn asked.

<Just let me carry your bag.> Tavi said as the vehicle came closer. They ran to it and Tavi told Shawn to open the door. A very confused stirk reached for his gun, but could not do so before Tavi took the gadget from the sack. He clamped it on the stirk’s head. If it would make Mrs. Disraeli sane, what would it do for the already sane?

The stirk screamed out in pain and crumpled at the side of the road. Shawn unclamped the thing and put it back in the sack. Fortunately, all of the other stirks were too far away to notice. Leaving the stirk, they climbed in the jeep-like vehicle and drove to the ship, past the unsuspecting guards.

One of the doors on the ship opened, and somebody directed their vehicle to go through it. So it did, and that was that. The part of the ship that they ended up in was a sort of parking lot, with vehicles lined up in little rows, no doubt to be used on Earth. Stirks from other vehicles quickly exited, but nobody actually looked or cared if someone momentarily rested in the car either.

Let’s see what’s in my little bag of tricks now, Tavi thought, feeling for the bomb in his bag. Yes, it was still there, undamaged and ready for fun.

Something beneath them vibrated, for the ship was now lifting off. While it took Marph’s ship a month to make the journey to Earth, Tavi knew that this one was probably faster, although he did not know by what margin.

Waiting was perhaps the hardest part of all this, not knowing what would happen, to be at time’s mercy. To be alone to ponder all that could go wrong was not the same as simply walking into a place and doing something without thought. Crom was dead! And yet somehow, Tavi didn’t really care. It would be avenged, or he would die with him.

The Earth that would be created if this didn’t work was too horrid to think about. Indeed, if it was conquered, Tavi would probably want to commit suicide anyway. So it worked out well, didn’t it?

Some shuffling about was heard and Tavi looked at his watch. An hour and a half had passed. There was no way that the computer systems couldn’t be connected by now. He told Shawn as much. There was a cover over the window, hiding them but making the rest of the world invisible as well. Not good.

<Okay, we’re getting out of here and God help us.> Tavi commented. He opened the door, and both people jumped out, trying to be prepared for whatever stirks they may see. But none were there. The room, the indoor parking lot, was entirely empty.

“So we’re safe here,” Shawn commented. “I’m sure that’s good, but what about getting to point B-- or C for that matter?”

Tavi hadn’t thought of that. Quickly, he scanned the area for the best escape route possible, or any route at all. The walls were uneven, and a vent opened on the rounded ceiling, fifty feet above the floor. It would be the quickest way to get to the ship’s central computer, he knew.

“That will kill us,” Shawn said flatly. “Listen, there must be some other way.”

<Not really. Come on, it’ll just be like that rock-climbing wall in gym. Just go, already. It shouldn’t be that hard.> That was bull and Tavi knew it. Unlike the wall in gym, one false step could land him flat on his back with a broken neck, if he was lucky. Some of the holding here was not more than a quarter-inch thick. The material it was made of had a rubber-like grip, true, but otherwise it was lethal. Yet there was no other way.

Tavi took his sack and used the string on it to fasten it around his waist. This way, it would not interfere. Then he jumped on the wall and took hold of it. The bumps fit easily to his hands and his feet somehow found a rest. Cautiously, he climbed a few feet.

Reluctantly, Shawn joined him. What he would have never done in normal circumstances he did now, his will overpowering his numbed sense of fear. There was a rubber thing in his hands and he gripped it for dear life. This was all he thought of at the moment.

The first twenty feet were not as bad as expected, but then the walls curved into ceiling. Tavi adjusted himself to a horizontal position, his feet starting to fall a little. He pushed against the footholds in an effort to remain parallel to the ceiling. It worked.

Shawn mimicked this and was about a few feet behind. The open vent hole was close now. Tavi felt the sweat on his hands affecting his grip, but did not dare wipe it off. He saw another handhold and calculated another position to take. He almost did not make it.

Finally, the vent. Tavi easily hoisted himself up and waited for Shawn. He reached for the same handhold that Tavi had used, as was his current nature. At first, it seemed like he had caught it. Then, his right hand slipped and his left was close to doing so. The sweat left on it was affecting his hold. Obviously, he could not regain his last position or find a new one, with the holding as it was. Shawn was trapped and bound to fall at any time.

Four feet away, Tavi watched in terror. Quickly, he braced the upsides of his feet on the side of the vent opening, which was only a foot and a half wide. Thus, he hung upside down, facing Shawn.

The latter finally lost his grip. Shawn screamed and fell. The next few milliseconds were like hours as Tavi swung his body and caught Shawn’s hand, which hung on for dear life. The weight on Tavi’s arm was heavy, but he did not notice. Slowly, he helped him into the vent. The two continued as if nothing had happened.

Ten minutes later, they were there. Tavi’s mental map of a typical stirk ship had proved to be accurate. The main computer of this ship was not a central feature, and as such, it got no special display. The room that held it was the size of a broom closet, the walls covered with circuitry. It was as if they were inside the computer. A tiny screen was the room’s only lighting.

Tavi went into the files and brought up the code of every military base and ship he could find. A million items in all. He took pains to exclude the ship that he and Shawn planned to use as an escape vehicle, a two-man fighter that was stored within this one. Then he took out the black little ball and hooked it up to the system. The computer’s network regarded it as regular non-threatening attachment and thus it was not rejected.

Cords attached, he set it on the floor and tried to recall Marph’s instructions. One, he thought, is to install this using the top button. Good, done that. Now these two middle buttons determine if it goes off in one place or the entire fleet.

Tavi mad a move for the keypad until he realized that he forgot which was which. One button would save the entire planet, and the other would make an unnoticeable burst. Second button or third? Ennie, meanie, minie, moe... The lower one got pressed.

Now, it was time to set the thing. The lowest button on the keypad was pressed and a tiny beep emitted from the bomb. Ten minutes from now, the most powerful weapon in history would go off, and the room that Tavi stood in now would be no more.

<Let’s go. We have ten minutes.> Tavi headed for the doorway.

“But what about the venting?” Shawn asked.

<There’s no venting to the docking bay. Don’t ask why, there just isn’t.> So they ventured into the open halls. The bay was halfway across the ship, about five minutes walk. They tread quietly and cautiously.

In good time, the entrance to the docking bay was visible. Like most other things on this ship, it was largely deserted, as stirks tended to spend most of their time eating and sleeping on other parts of the ship. Suddenly, a stirk showed from an adjoining hallway. It noticed them.

They froze. Either this stirk would shoot them now or put them in a prison cell where they would die a few minutes later. This could not be happening.

Tavi looked at his watch. Four minutes and counting. He pretended to be calm and send a mental message to Shawn. <Tell him that there is a computer malfunction on this ship, and that we were just coming to tell someone.> He provided the translation and hoped that this would work.

“Who are you? Why are you here from Earth? Computer malfunction my tail. I’m taking you both in,” the stirk responded.

<But there really is a computer malfunction, like it’s going to explode or something! And we’re supposed to be here, remember? We have only taken on this ugly form to fool them and learn about this inferior planet.>

The stirk considered this and nodded. “But I need names.”

Tavi sent some to Shawn, but they were not acknowledged. He looked at him and the latter said, “Yes...?”

He tried again, not letting any of this show. The telepathic bond was gone. One minute remained, and he was now mute even to Shawn. He turned to his friend and saw the open door behind the stirk, the ship in the distance. Was it worth trying?

Before the stirk could react, they made a dash for the fighter. Fifty seconds. They closed locked the door over them, another five seconds. The codes were inserted and the thing came to life as Tavi desperately keyed the controls. Now it was thirty seconds. A sort of garage opener was on the interior, which opened the docking bay door and let all the air out of that room, choking the stirk that had encountered them and some who had come to help catch the intruders.

Tavi took the controls, having to first maneuver around other ships before lifting off. Five seconds now. The outside started to shake. He flew away as fast as possible and the flames threatened to engulf him. Seeing them at his sides, he accelerated and hoped that he would escape the fire that surrounded him.

He came through the flames and now the little fighter was a safe distance away, perhaps by a couple of miles. Stopping to observe the explosions, he saw that the stirk ships were still altogether, thousands of them. Clouds of blue and gold came up from the orange surfaces, mixed with the color of blood. The fleet now resembled a constellation of stars, bright as a sun. Perhaps if one was close enough, one could see the body parts and hear the useless cries for help, hushed in an instant. Billions of people were dying this second, a whole civilization lost forever.

What did those on Ev’clear make of this, the exploding bases, this yellow light in the black sky? Did they rejoice, or simply become confused? A weight had been lifted from their burdens, but how soon would they realize it?

After all, the history of three planets had been changed in the time it took to blink.

From their safe vantage point, Shawn and Tavi made no reaction. This was what had happened, and well, that was that. How could one react? So Shawn stretched in his seat and turned to his friend. “We’ll go home now, then?”

Tavi nodded and set the coordinates for Earth, for home.

Nothing had ever seemed so sweet.