Page 79 of Tempted by Celestial Bodies

Biting my lip, I devise a quick course of action. I’m reasonably certain he doesn’t mean to kill me, given he had the opportunity to do so and ended up on his knees before me instead, but since I don’t know what the hell he’s doing here or why he’s more nude than Venus on a clamshell, I need to be smart about this.

Glancing around, I pull my wheeled office chair out from my desk and yank a length of cable from the spare parts I keep on my workstation table.

“I’m going to tie you up,” I say softly, though I hope he doesn’t come to. It’s possible, nay probable, I’ve completely lost it now and am experiencing fully tactile hallucinations, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to be polite. “I’m sorry if that freaks you out.”

I heft his body into the office chair, keeping my wrench in my line of sight the entire time. Still, he doesn’t stir. A traitorous thrill buzzes through me when I touch his skin—the most contact I’ve had with anyone or anything in months. I catch myself inhaling at the crook of his neck. The scent of his skin is faintly saline, as if he just stepped out of the ocean. The buried, wild part of me has a suicidal urge to lick him, but I stumble back in horror when I realize how messed up that compulsion is.

After tying his wrists to the chair’s arms, I bend to tie his feet to the legs and—wow.Wow.Ugh…is it weird that I’m scoping out this creature’s dick? I’m only human, after all, and it’s been such a long time, and none of my boyfriends have been quitethatblessed.

“Congrats,” I mumble, startling myself. “Sorry! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get an eyeful of your dick. It’s just…it is right there! And it’s glowing blue! And…buddy, are you already semi-hard?”

The awkward, incredulous words tumble from my lips before I can quarantine them behind my sanity barrier. Shaking myself, I finish tying the alien to the chair and sit back to study him again. Uneasily, I toss a blanket across his lap to cover some of his nudity, despite acknowledging that his nudity is pretty pleasant to witness. There’s a nasty cut on his forehead, arcing down across his left eyebrow and syrupy, glow stick-like blood drips down his cheek.

“That looks bad,” I say with a wince. “I hope you don’t have acid blood like inAlien.”

I swipe a mostly clean rag across it and when the rag doesn’t disintegrate, I’m mollified. Resigned, I decide to take him to the med bay to patch him up. Who knows how he’ll react when he comes to? Maybe if I help him out a little, he won’t want to abduct me for terrifying experiments, or whatever it is these aliens do.

As I wheel my unconscious intruder down the corridor, several thoughts occur to me simultaneously.

One, it’s likely this alien is the reason for the other two dead aliens in my cryo-freezer, and two, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t contactEarth Nova, because I’ve obviously lost my ever-loving mind. Yesterday, my day was normal.Iwas normal. A little tired and a little lonely, sure, but otherwise normal. And today?

Today I’ve got two dead aliens in the freezer and a third one strapped to my desk chair, rolling with a comical squeak down an otherwise silent hallway in a soon-to-be terraformed resort on the goddamned moon.

Manic laughter stutters out from me as I reach the sealed doors to the med bay and swipe my badge. When the doors slide closed and the too-bright lights kick on, my mystery guest finally huffs a breath and rolls his head back. I tense, gripping my wrench tighter. Fear and agitation have me primed to clobber this thing faster than you can sayanal probe.

The alien’s head lolls on his chest before he lifts it blearily, blinking up at me with eyes the same bioluminescent blue as his freckles. A wide, sultry smile plays upon his lips and heat of unmistakable intent flickers in his gaze.

I aim my wrench at his chest.

“I’m going to ask you some questions,” I say, as calmly as I can.

The alien blinks.

“Can you understand me?” I ask.

He tilts his head to the side, examining me with interest, then nods.

Yes.

But he doesn’t speak it—his lips remain closed in that almost-cocky grin. It’s not really a word, so much as it’s a feeling. The sensation of agreement takes shape in the back of my mind—a foreign presence that leaves me further untethered from reality.

“Can you speak?” I ask.

I do not know. I have never tried.

“Okay, this is really fucking weird,” I mutter to myself. “Obviously, this is a new level of hallucination for me. Hey! You better not be rooting around in my head.”

His grin falters, and he looks appalled by the thought.

I would never attempt such an invasion, Exalted One.

“Exalted One?” I echo. Must be a weird translation thing. “Right, well, good. Let’s get down to it. Who are you and what the fuck are you doing here?”

The alien looks puzzled by my questions, which bodes ill for me. We haven’t even gotten to the tough ones yet.

I am of the Oseuthans. But you know this, My Goddess. It is your divine guidance which has called me here. Do you show me favor with this gift of cloth?

His nods to the blanket in his lap and I stare at him, my eyebrows lifted in surprise.

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