Chapter 60: Not alone.The next day, Sloan chatted with the manager of Dager Gym on the phone. The woman had a spot for Sloan starting next week. According to the lady, JP, as the health center owner, had insisted she hire Sloan because of his "great qualifications." Sloan had no idea what those were, but he needed a job, so he just went with it. As he talked to the woman, he got the impression she wanted him to become her assistant manager. Sloan would see. For now, whatever the work was, the job was fine with him. He needed something…well, anything really… just to not think about Octnavin.Sloan took his motorcycle out for a short ride and got everything he needed to make raspberry smoothies. After he came home and ate, he curled up in the new pink blanket he bought. In minutes, he was asleep, and he took an afternoon nap. By the time Elijah came over with Chinese, he was just getting up. He had no idea why he was so tired. It had to be all the travel. How long did jet lag last? "He
Chapter 61: Calling for help.The following day, Sloan dressed in his pajama pants, shirt, and bathrobe. Nothing else fit. He went down to Elijah's apartment, and all the time, he prayed that contacting this Munroe person wasn't a mistake. Elijah's home was the same layout as Sloan's, except that Elijah had paintings, art supplies, and canvases where the gym stuff was in Sloan's place. Sloan entered and then sat on the couch and waited. According to the phone call, Munroe would show up at ten. Sloan had a sleepless night and could barely stop vomiting. Eating wasn't even happening anymore. He liked the raspberry smoothies, but he felt full. Every time he rolled over, it was like junior would shift and press on his organs. Now even the offspring was starting to get nervous. -You should've told me you were here sooner,- Sloan muttered in his head.-Sooner? English is a complicated language to master in a few days. It takes you humans years to learn it. Cut me some slack.-Sloan snorted
Chapter 62: Sacrifices.After the evening with Munroe, Sloan fell asleep on his friend's couch. By the middle of the night, he was awoken by pain. He attempted to go back to sleep, but now the throb in his belly and back was unbearable. He tossed and turned, but nothing he did helped.Elijah got Sloan his pink blanket, and time stood still. With every move or shift to roll over, he either couldn't breathe, or he thought he would throw up. His belly was almost entirely blue. The skin was bruised and aching. Spider lines rose out of his skin to the point where he thought it kind of looked like he was about to have an alien baby. The thing was, even though he wanted to vomit, he'd barely eaten. Junior was starving, and he knew he was hurting Octnavin's offspring. He didn't know what to do. He did the only thing he could. Sloan kept tossing and turning on Elijah's couch and praying for JP to show.Munroe, who was now a tall blue alien much like Octnavin, paced by the sofa's side where Sloa
Chapter 63: Sloan's last death.While Munroe was on the phone with someone, Elijah tried to talk Sloan out of his decision, but his friend didn't understand. Sloan had only given him the bare bones of the story. Octnavin needed his young. Sloan had to do this. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he loved the fucking ruler. Saving Junior was the right thing to do.-I think we should do something else.- Junior piped up in his head. -I don't want you to die. I need you.--It's okay. Everything will be fine.- Sloan said to the alien in his mind as he tried to believe that. He thought about his parents. They would never do this for him, but Sloan wasn't like them. He was more like Octnavin. If the alien were here, the ruler would understand that sometimes people had to make sacrifices. Sometimes people and aliens had to make the hard calls. Octnavin would say no regrets or some kind of wise bullshit."Jazmin will be here in five minutes." Munroe set the phone on the counter."Who's Jazmin
Chapter 64: Luckiest human ever.Sloan inhaled water. This again? Was the alien baby thing all a dream? He floated and exhaled the water in the tube. Unbelievable. He thought he got out of the hell hole of fighting. Sloan tapped on the frosted glass. At least now he would see Octnavin. He would tell him what a crazy-ass dream he just had. Maybe he would even tell the dickhead ruler that he loved him.As the container opened, tentacles caught him. He looked up into JP's eyes."We've got to stop meeting this way." Sloan coughed, and water dribbled down his chin.JP wrapped a fluffy towel around his shoulders. Nebos rose over his body and became pants and a shirt in minutes. As Sloan looked around, he realized they were on the spaceship and not in the folantos-loser-room. Not much has changed on the spacecraft other than the fact that the healing cylinder was in the bedroom next to the magic food table. "What happened?" Sloan dried his hair. Guess that wasn't a dream after all."You had
Chapter 65: Life is really, really, really, great.Sloan finished work at the gym and headed to the coffee shop where he liked to pick up a raspberry smoothie. He sat outside at a metal table and sucked on his straw. As he watched people coming and going, he traced his new tattoo. The word devour was in beautiful scroll lettering around his wrist. Sometimes he liked to think that Octnavin would like it. After he finished his drink, he got on his bike again. He was home as the sun began to set.Today was great. He had a great job and money in the bank. He had a great place to live, and Elijah was great. Even Jazmin was great. They had become friends since she helped him birth an alien. Except… If everything was so great, why did he have to spend every night convincing himself of that?He'd used the word great way too many times, and he knew it.It had been two weeks. Octnavin and Junior shouldn't bother him anymore. The aliens shouldn't be on his mind.After Sloan entered his apartment
Chapter 66: Almost sure.After Sloan pulled on his band t-shirt, he grabbed his leather jacket and his backpack. He tossed the strap on his shoulder and walked out of his quarters toward the ship's command center.When he entered the large oval room, he noted that everyone on the spaceship was staring out the enormous wide window at the front. None of the aliens or Murry were talking or moving. The entire group eyed the water like they were looking for a monster. The room pulsed with fear."What's going on?" Sloan tossed down his bag and scanned the spectacular view. Ahead of them was a massive clear lake and bright peach sky. On the far end was a long dock that stretched out into the water. The ship was quickly approaching the dock and flying so low as to make little rippled waves. "You know how in a space movie ships get caught in tractor beams?" Murry turned his head, and their eyes met."Yeah.""This is like that." Murry looked back at the approaching dock. Now Sloan caught that t
Chapter 67: A mountain and a pebble.Around the docks and on the shore, the curious chatter that Sloan couldn't understand started to go silent. As Sloan stood there staring up at the great ruler of the Dagerstanteens, the general din hushed."Human?" Octnavin's voice was hard as granite, and his English sounded like the alien was weighing every word. "Why have you come here?""I came to…" Sloan thought about a hundred things he could say. None of his ideas were suitable. Octnavin was a ruler, a warrior, a king. Here, at this moment, Sloan had to honor the alien's position. They were not alone where he could say what was really on his mind. He supposed that he would just have to call Octnavin a dick later."Speak, Human." Octnavin stared down at him, and his green eyes looked like sea-glass. Sloan wasn't fooled. This was Octnavin's game face. The alien was coming up with a plan. Sloan would help him out a little."A slave should love his ruler." Sloan held in his smile at the look of s