Page 2 of Holiday with the Aliens

Ro let it roll around in her mind as she backed away from the ticket counter and weaved through the soon to be disappointed crowd. She’d never heard of the guy before, but if he could helphe had to have a ship or access to one. Theshuttleswere all booked, but private vessels had to have space. Hopefully.

Wherever he was, she needed to find him before the woman at the ticket counter gave out his name to more people. She had credits to offer, but who knew how much space he had. If there was enough room on his ship for an extra passenger, she had to make sure it was her.

She was getting to Earth, even if she had to bribe a captain to do it.

The snow under his hooves danced up from Martian soil as Dash bounced around the children. One particularly adventurous little girl approached and reached for his antlers, ready to grab hold. Dash lowered his head but watched with careful eyes as she got closer. The tips of his antlers were sharp and he didn’t want the little one to get hurt.

She was brave, but not reckless, and she didn’t grab tight, instead running her fingers against the bones, her eyes lighting up in wonder at the texture. Dash felt a jolt in his chest as her happiness burbled around him. He let out a little snort, his range of sounds limited when he was shifted. Good cheer like the kind emanating from the playing children gave him energy and Dash wanted to revel in it, but their parents were bound to come looking for them soon, and he couldn’t risk being spotted.

There was no such thing as a wild reindeer on Mars. Probably no reindeer at all. He couldn’t risk the discovery.

When the girl let him go, Dash backed away and ambled off, and he heard the children call their goodbyes as he disappeared around a building and into a darkened corner. Satisfied that no one could see him, he reached deep inside himself and calledforth the human living within him. The change came slowly at first, fur warring with skin. Four legs battling two. His antlers were the last to disappear and Dash was sad to see them go. He’d proudly walk around in his human skin with his majestic antlers on display for all to see, but that would bring questions of its own.

Humans, the dominant species of this solar system, had been somewhat welcoming to aliens, but they didn’t know he had alien ancestry of his own. When he wore his human skin, any scientific test would say he was human. There was no reason to get technical. No one but his kind knew what reilendeer were, and he was happy to keep it that way.

As he stood up in his human skin, he shivered against the cold air. Martian winter was no joke, even with the terraforming, and shifting left all his bits dangling in the frigid breeze. But Dash had prepared for that eventuality, and tucked behind a stack of crates was a small pack containing a change of clothes and shoes.

A few minutes later, he entered the base he called home while staying on Mars, his brown cheeks pinked from the cold and his brown braids windswept. If anyone saw him, they might assume he’d taken a nice long jog in the cold, and he had no reason to correct them.

He checked the time and winced. He’d been playing for longer than he meant to and was almost late for his meeting.

He took a tunnel to the train that connected most of the buildings on this part of the planet. From there, it was only a ten minute ride to the hospital. He’d only visited twice on this trip, once to check in with a few of his former passengers, and the second time to set up his next scheduled journey. Mars had one of the best pediatric hospitals in the solar system, but it wasn’t cheap, and a lot of parents had to leave their kids in the care of the staff at the facility while they went on to work onother planets and moons. If Dash could spend all day every day cheering up the kids, he’d do it, but he had another job, one that was just as important.

The pale-faced nurse smiled up at him from her station. “She’s just about done with the doctors. They wanted to do a final treatment before she takes off.”

Dash nodded and looked down the brightly lit hallway. He’d heard people say that they thought of hospitals as sad, solitary places, but Dash could feel happiness in the air of Mars Pediatric. There was sorrow and hopelessness as well, but not as much as a person might expect.

A doctor and his assistant walked out of a familiar room and they smiled at Dash as they passed. People had a habit of smiling at him, all part of the reilendeer package. He made people feel good just by existing.

Dash walked into the room they’d vacated and found the eleven year old girl he was looking for. She wore a bright pink dress and her soft, naturally curly hair was held in pigtails on each side of her head. They had a weightless look to them, brown clouds that could blow away in an instant. “You almost ready for your trip?” he asked.

Kiki didn’t smile when she saw him. She wasn’t a dour child, but the treatments the doctors were giving her took a toll, and it would take awhile for her to be back to her usual happy self. “I thought we were leaving tomorrow. I’m not packed.”

Dash took a seat on the small sofa beside her chair. “Don’t worry about that. I just wanted to come and check on you. Your parents want to be sure that you’re going to be okay flying alone. Some kids get a bit… apprehensive.”

“I’m not scared,” she said, her eyes flashing with emotion. “I’m not ababy.”

Oh, the fragile egos of adolescents. Dash bit back a smile. “Of course not. But I still have a few supplies to get together beforewe take off, so think of anything you need and we’ll pick it up.” He shot a furtive glance towards the door and leaned in close, lowering his voice. “I know your doctors have your meals all planned out, but there’s always room for a sweet or two. We just won’t tell them.”

Kiki giggled and then clamped her mouth shut, as if she couldn’t believe she’d made such an undignified noise. “I like chocolate.”

“Then chocolate you shall have,” he declared.

“Are there going to be any other kids on the ship? Marianna and N’tro said their parents are coming here.” From the way she asked it, Dash didn’t know which way she wanted the answer to go, but he made it a habit not to lie to children unless the circumstances were dire, so he went with the truth.

“Not this time. The ship is small so I can only fit a few passengers at a time. And the more kids that are there, the more adults I need to watch them. A big girl like you, we can make do on our own for a couple of days. But what if it was someone,” he lowered his voice conspiratorially, “under ten?”

Her eyes widened. “Yeah, they’d need a nurse.”

Dash’s heart ached that her first thought of an adult guardian went to a medical professional, but her parents had told him she’d been in and out of hospitals since she was a toddler. It was the life she knew. But her treatments were seeming to take this time, and with hope and luck she’d be with her family on the moon for good next year. “I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow. Make sure you’ve got everything packed. Nurse Wylson said she’ll help if you need it. Three more days and you’ll be with your moms.”

Kiki smiled, and a whisper of good cheer wrapped around him. “I can’t wait!”

That taken care of, Dash spent a few more minutes in the hospital greeting children he’d met before. But eventually thedoctors and nurses started to shoot annoyed looks his way and he knew it was time to leave. Good cheer had its place, but it was no replacement for actual medicine, and he wouldn’t get in the way of treatment.

He was running through a mental checklist when he got back to his quarters and almost didn’t notice the woman leaning against the wall.

Almost.

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