Page 28 of Alien's Eternal Mate

I took the southern spoke, and after I left behind the hubbub of the central market her scent grew sharper. I moved through a dense patch of vegetation, what passed for trees on the floating rock. Their purple fronds bent easily enough. The stalks proved more resilient, though they only measured as thick as Gro’s wrist.

She left the path, squeezing through a copse of the strange plants to reach a clearing. Here water sprang up from the rock, impossibly streaming out into a babbling brook that soon plunged off the side.

Since we rode a floating island, I could not fathom where the water’s source could possibly be. I soon grew distracted from this conundrum when I spotted Arael’s purple and white form near the edge of the waterfall.

She stood dangerously close to the edge, staring down to the distant land below. We passed over a white, wispy cloud as I drew near. I didn’t want to startle her, and make her fall off the edge.

Arael didn’t look my way, but her ears moved, and her breathing grew faster. She knew I was there. I sat down on a waist high boulder about ten feet from where she stood and waited.

When she remained silent for several moments, I cleared my throat.

“What are you doing here, Arael?”

Her face contorted with pain, but she did not answer with words.

“I know what you’re thinking. It’s hopeless, and it’s better to end it all rather than suffer another moment.”

She turned a sharp glance my way. I couldn't tell if she was more angry that I’d interrupted her thoughts or that I’d guessed them so accurately.

“I know what Gro has put you through, and I’m sorry. I would never strike you, nor shave your head for simply talking to another man.”

She covered her face with her hands, shoulders shaking with sobs. I stood halfway up, intending to offer comfort, but she suddenly thrust one of her palms in my direction.

“Do not come near me!”

I stopped, then settled back onto the stone.

“Do you not believe me, Arael? Do you not believe me when I say I will not hurt you?”

She pulled her hand from her tear streaked face and met my gaze. Her deep purple eyes swam with agony, but I detected a twinge of hope as well. Then, her gaze hardened as she stomped out the ember of hope of her own volition.

“I believe that you will not hurt me. That is, the Gro I am speaking with now.”

She returned her gaze to the ground far below the floating island.

“But if the other Gro returns, if your memories are restored, then things will go back to the way they were. I would rather die.”

“That Gro isn’t coming back.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t know that, you are not a Physicker.”

She took a deep breath, and I could tell she was on the verge of stepping off the ledge. I shouldn’t have cared, since she wasn’t even human, and yet, terror seized my heart.

“No, don’t do it, please. I am not a Physicker, but I am a man of science.”

She turned a confused look my way.

“What if I told you that I don’t have amnesia? What if I told you that my mind, my consciousness, is just inhabiting Gro’s body?”

Her eyes went skyward and she let out a miserable groan.

“You have gone completely mad. I don’t know if that’s worse than being beaten or not.”

“I’m not mad. I am a different person, and I will not hurt you, Arael. You need not fear me.”

Arael sneered.

“How can you possibly prove your claims?”

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