Page 6 of Craving Stardust

“That’s your name?”

“Yes.”

“Nice to meet you, Lordek.” She gaped down at my wounds and the fracture in my lower leg. “This is going to be a challenge. I should call 9-1-1. I shouldn’t be rescuing an… alien.” Her voice rose. “Damn, I can’t believe I even said the word. Aliens really are real.” A frown crinkled her smooth-skinned brow. “You’re not into probing are you?”

“What kind of probing would you like me to do?”

She snorted. “You’re cute in a different way, but not that cute.”

Coot... It took a moment for my translator to tell me cute meant she found me attractive.

My hearts skipped a couple of beats. It shouldn’t. We weren’t even of the same species.

“I shouldn’t move you, but...” Her eyelids pinched shut before reopening. “Let me lay this out for you. Aliens don’t exist as far as we know here on this planet called Earth. I’m sure the government is aware your ship crashed in this area. They’ll be after you, and I doubt they’ll be kind once they find you. They might kill you. So, as crazy as it sounds, I’m going to get you out of here and hide you. We can figure out what to do with you once you’ve healed.”

This wouldn’t be the first species eager to grab someone like me for experimentation. It was all too common throughout the galaxies.

Her finger traced down my lightly scaled arm. “Did you know your blood is almost the same green as your skin?”

“Yours isn’t?”

“Mine’s red.”

“Odd. Like your clothing. Do you dress to match your blood?”

She snorted. A laugh? I’d assume so since it was similar to the sound my species made to express humor. “No. Humans, which is what we call ourselves, wear all sorts of colors.” She glanced down at the red garment. “I wore this for a costume party. I wanted to dress like a romance cover model. You know, bodice ripper.” She jutted her hip to one side and placed a hand on it, tipping her head back to make her long hair swirl across her bac. I had no idea what the gesture meant. “I just need a swashbuckling dude wearing no shirt—with long hair, I should add—draping me over his arm and dipping me backward so he can press his lips against my neck.” She peered around. “Any takers?” Another snort rang out. “Guess not.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but it didn’t matter. I liked how she looked in the red garment. I could too easily imagine myself peeling it off her with my teeth.

“I’ll get you to my house,” she said. “Then I’ll come back with my grandfather’s tractor and take your ship to the barn. Assuming I can get it onto the big wagon parked in the back of the barn. Your ship’s small, so it should fit. I’ll strap it down. If I dragged it to the barn, the trail would lead them right to you.”

“I appreciate your assistance, kind female. I’ll assist you.”

“Good, I’ll need it.”

She tightened her grip around my waist, and I nearly toppled, catching myself with an arm braced on the side of the ship.

“Out you go.” She hefted me up onto the side of the hatch. Before I could tumble over and hit the ground, she grabbed my arm, slowing my fall. I still made impact, and pain rocketed up my leg. My vision wavered. Damn, I was going to pass out again.

“That didn’t go like I planned.” Joining me on the ground, her hands landed on her hips as she looked me over. “You’re bleeding from a billion cuts. One of your legs is clearly broken. Fractures can be nasty. They bleed a lot inside. You need surgery. Antibiotics, I’m sure. Way more help than a bookstore owner can offer. I really should take you to a hospital.”

“No healers,” I growled, my mind losing touch. I was here and then I wasn’t. Here. Gone…

I woke and stared at the dark sky. So many new constellations. What was that rumbling sound…?

When I roused again, the ground beneath me rattled and shook, rocking me around on a hard surface. No, I no longer lay on the ground but in an open-air transport vehicle with short wooden sides. A green craft pulled it, black smoke chugging from a pipe on the front.

Iris peered back from where she sat on the vehicle. “Awake,” she called out over the churn of the craft’s engine. “Good. I was worried. We’ll be home soon. I covered your ship with branches. It’s not much, but it should keep the government from seeing it if they fly overhead before I get it inside the barn!”

I shook as the vehicle lumbered along, agony blasting through my head. I hated that my mind swam in and out of focus, that I could do nothing to help myself, to help Iris.

The vehicle came to a halt in front of a stout wooden structure with others off to the side, the sound of the engine rattling around us, echoing against the buildings.

Silence descended, broken only by a low, rolling, whirring sound I couldn’t identify, followed by deep croaks in the distance. Insects?

I felt so foreign here, so . . . vulnerable. And I didn’t like it. But what I could I do? I must rely on this person to help me. This beautiful person I strangely adored already.

“We’re here,” she said, peering back at me with lines etching her pretty face. So unusual from my species. So beautifully different. “I’ll get you inside, and then I’ll have to leave you. Your ship scraped the grass in a swath across the field. I’ll smooth it out as best I can with the tractor bucket, then cover it with brush. The field’s overgrown, and that’ll help the mar escape notice. Branches and leaves won’t stand up to anyone searching on foot, but it might work well enough for anyone flying overhead.” She peered up as if she expected to see some sort of craft hovering, before jumping off the vehicle, landing squarely on the dirt ground. “Maybe they’ll think your ship was a falling star like I did and ignore it.” Her voice lowered. “Maybe.”

---