Page 25 of My Alien Angel
Squealing, Caleb hurries over, his fingers exploring my back less than a second later. As he pokes around the base of my wings, just as Fin did, I fight back the sense of wrongness that comes from being prodded somewhere so…personal, for lack of a better word. No one should be touching me there but Fin. Ever.
Imani’s touch is much lighter. At least, it is at first. After not finding any obvious seams, she grabs my wing and tugs on it with surprising strength. Fortunately, she chose the right one instead of the left, but the movement takes me by surprise, causing me to stumble back a step as I grunt from the pain.
“Hey!” Fin scowls at Imani. “What are you doing? Trying to tear his wing off?”
“I-I’m sorry, I…” Backing up, she shakes her head, her eyes wide. “Well, yes! I thought…okay, I’m sorry. I am. Fuck. They’re real. His wings. Fuck! This is impossible.”
Shrugging, Caleb examines a feather at the tip of my wing. “Seems pretty real to me. Does this hurt?” he asks as he gently tugs on the feather.
I finger a lock of his hair in return, tugging equally lightly. “Does this hurt?”
“Ouch. Yeah. Good point. So, you’re from another planet? How come you can breathe our air and look…well human?”
“Yes,” Imani chimes in. “That’s impossible. Even if there was life to be found on another planet, the chance of a carbon-based being looking anything even remotely similar to us is astronomically slim. Just being carbon-based, breathing oxygen, and having a similar body composition… Scientifically, it’s a trillion to one.”
She’s not wrong to doubt this and I know many scientific studies have been done on this exact subject. Unfortunately, I never really cared enough about science to read about it. I guess I can try to give her the basics I learned in school. Holding up two fingers, I say, “Two theories. One, we have common…parent of parent?” I frown as I try to remember the right word.
“Ancestors,” Imani supplies. “You mean that some time in the past, aliens visited Earth and brought our ancestors with them?”
“Yes. Two, it’s, uh, complicated. All planets with life are similar. So we are similar. Not same but similar.”
Imani shakes her head. “You’re talking about convergent evolution. That’s…”
“Impossible?” Caleb smirks. “I’d say this gorgeous alien specimen in front of us just proved you wrong. I have to ask, Omni. Do you have a cock, and can I see it?”
“No!” Fin cries out before I’ve even blinked.
Caleb is undeterred. “No, he doesn’t or no, I can’t see it? Because I would totally design my next line in your image, if you have something usable down there. I mean, anything will do. Tentacles are popular. Right, Fin?” He winks at Fin, who is blushing so furiously her entire face is red.
“Shut up, Caleb,” she growls. “He designs sex toys,” she says in explanation. “Just ignore him.”
“Oh? Sex toys?” I’m intrigued. Would having a dildo designed in the shape of my cock break the Non-Interference Directive? Probably, but who really cares at this point? “I have a cock. You want to see?”
“NO!” Fin exclaims at the same time as Caleb’s resounding, “Absolutely!” sounds. Glaring at both of us, Fin looks like she’s about to slap us. Or spank us. I’d be totally down for that. “Shut up, both of you. No one is showing anyone their sexual organs. We have more important things to do.”
Mimicking a clawing motion, Caleb makes a weird mockery of an animal sound. “Rawr. Someone’s possessive. Does that mean you took my advice and tapped that dick?” Taking Fin’s stunned silence as confirmation, Caleb continues,“Lucky you. Now I wish I had dumped Lara and gone home with you. Was it good?”
Since Fin is sputtering, clearly incapable of response, I answer for her. That’s what partners do, right? “Yes. It was very good.”
Fin groans, “Oh my god.” Now she’s hiding her face in her hand.
“Awesome!” Caleb, looking genuinely excited, leans in closer to whisper in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’ll bring the mold kit next time.”
“Oh, god,” Imani groans. “Can we get back to the topic at hand? Mainly to that part where I get fired and ruin my entire career for some ‘E.T. phone home’ stunt?”
Her words immediately snap me out of my playful mood. “You will lose job?”
“Well, duh. It’s not like I have a private satellite I can aim wherever the heck I please. I have some access to the university ones but it’s mostly to their data, not to their configuration. Not one single person does. It’s specifically designed that way so that people can’t fuck with them. It costs millions to have them launched up there. I’ll have to… I don’t know. Call in a lot of favors, fake a lot of signatures, maybe even steal someone’s access card…” Sighing, she shakes her head. “It’s not as simple as the movies make it look.”
“That is not—”
Fin interrupts me. “It’s not just about Omni getting home, Imani. There are hundreds of human lives in danger. I know I shouldn’t ask you to do this, but—”
This time, I interrupt Fin. “We are not doing this. I do not want you losing job for me. I will call UGC.” Like I should have done at the beginning.
“But you’ll get arrested!”
“It matters not. Humans will be safe. All humans,” I say, looking at Imani. I cannot possibly be the reason such a brilliant mind loses her career, one that she has worked so hard to achieve, according to Fin. “I can argue in trial. Perhaps go free.” There’s no chance of that happening, but Fin doesn’t need to know.
