Page 5 of Her Alien Matchmaker

A cloud of sand filled my rearview mirror as the car bounced along the desert. Above, the shadow of three helicopters darted across the hood of the car as they flew.

“Keep going north. There is a small arroyo there that will give me what I need.”

“I don’t know how much more my car can take. These rocks are knocking the hell out of the undercarriage, and I’m pretty sure the collision with the fence damaged the radiator.”

“Keep driving if you want to see your son again. If they catch up to us, I can still get home. You, however, will be thrown into an interrogation cell.”

I gritted my teeth and arrowed toward the dry arroyo, its sides shading the rocky riverbed underneath.

“When we get there, stop.”

“What about the helicopters? And the police behind us?”

“It is shielded. It will look like we disappeared or took a turn around it. I will be able to reach out to a nearby ship and they will scramble their electronics so we can find safety for an hour or so while I repair my lifecord.” He still held the scalpel, but his attention wavered between the looming arroyo and his life cord.

“I must replace a component before we can get inside my ship.”

“Why can’t your buddy or whatever come pick you up. Actually, why can’t you teleport to wherever you need to go?”

“I need exact numbers to account for distance, altitude, and a multitude of other factors. Otherwise, we could teleport inside a rock or appear thirty feet above the location.”

There goes my hope he’ll disappear.

The untraceable cell phone from the lab vibrated in my pocket.

Every team leader had one to use in case of emergencies that could never be traced back to XVU or reveal its location.

The phones were designed to bounce around from satellite to satellite every half second, creating a false location signal to increase the difficulty of being traced.

I slid the car into the arroyo and decelerated. In my rearview mirror, one of the helicopters veered away. The trail of dust behind the vehicles also turned in the same direction, leaving the path behind clear.

I jammed on the brakes, stopping in the smooth dry creek bed. “Now what?” I glared at the alien.

He pushed the button to roll down the window and threw the scalpel outside. “Now? We learn to trust each other.”

I grunted. The vibration against my hip distracted me, and I dug into my coat, pulling it out. Caller ID showed it to be Nelly, and I held it out to Jetarin. “I need to take this. It’s my friend.”

He nodded, then bent forward and began tapping on his lifecord.

An urge to punch the back of his head rose within me, to push him out and flee back toward the facility beat within my heart, but I restrained myself.

The guy could overpower me in a second. Plus, that tiny niggling doubt he’d sown, of XVU interrogating me, gave me pause.

I need to get Aaron first, before XVU does, then I’ll figure out what to do.

I tapped the phone and held it to my ear. “What’s up?” I asked, hoping my voice sounded steadier than my nerves.

‘Jesus fucking Christ, Kristy. Where you at? The Volderen escaped and the whole base has been locked down.’

“Yeah, I know.”

‘I wonder if that’s what he was doing yesterday, when he woke up from your procedure? Setting a plan in motion to escape.’

“Possibly.” I decided not to let her know said prisoner sat beside me, and I continued sitting with him, even though he’d thrown away the weapon he’d used to take me hostage.

“Hey, I’m not going to be able to make it for lunch.

Things have been…quite busy. Can you call Myra and tell her I’ll be by soon to pick up Aaron? ”

Two seconds of silence filled the air. ‘Sure, but why can’t you do it?’ Her tone sounded suspicious.

“Like I said, things are really hectic right now, but I’ll be by soon to get him.”

‘The base is locked down. How’s that going to work?’

“Do it, Nelly. Please. I’ll explain later.” I needed her to call Myra in case XVU decided to tap Myra’s phone since they probably knew she was Aaron’s nanny.

‘Okay. I don’t mind helping out. I guess I’ll let you get back to work, then. Talk to you later.’ She didn’t give me time to say goodbye.

I pocketed the phone and crossed my arms. “If you want my help, we’re picking up my son first, and you have to promise you will not hurt him or put him in danger.”

A set of three flashing green lights flickered on the lifecord. “I promise. I have no desire to punish innocents, Frosty.”

“Stop calling me that. I hate it. My name’s Kristy.” I glanced down the shady tunnel created by the arroyo. “Can we leave yet?”

“Yes. Those units should be several miles away now. You will call me Jetarin, or Jet, since it seems you humans love nicknames, anything but Subject Forty-eight. I am a person, not a science project.”

I gave him a single nod and slowly backed my car out of the arroyo’s shade, the sun high in the sky. The flat desert showed a few rocks and cacti stragglers, but no military presence. Jetarin hadn’t lied about what he’d done to hide us.

“I need to get my son from his nanny. My friend is going to let her know I’ll be swinging by.”

Jetarin swept a few locks of his mahogany hair away from the small horns on his forehead. “Where is this nanny located?”

“On the outskirts, at 7825 Mesa Ridge Road.” My car trundled across the sandy terrain, and I kept a close eye on our path, making sure I didn’t get stuck on a large rock or stall in a soft sand dune.

Finally, a narrow driveway leading from a rickety shack appeared.

I tapped the navigation icon on the car’s console and saw the driveway lead to a main road. I took it.

“Are there any electronic shops or thrift stores nearby? I need magnetite to finished the repair on my lifecord, and I can find it in certain electronics.”

“Sure. I think there’s a thrift shop close to Myra’s house.”

“Then here is my proposal. You get your son, and I will get what I need.” He tapped the navigation screen and zoomed in on an area. “We will then proceed to my stealthed ship, which will give me time to make the final repairs.”

The mountains in the distance beckoned to me, and for a fraction of a moment, a deep urge to turn around and turn myself in pulled at my soul. If I do, though, even if I managed to subdue Jetarin and bring him back as my prisoner, how sure am I of my position…my freedom? And what about Aaron?

My gut instinct, as much as it pained me, was to trust Jet, to see if I could be the person I used to be all those years ago when I’d started medical school.

If it meant leaving my life behind, then I would take that leap.

Not for me, but for my boy. He deserved safety and love.

Starting a new identity and life in another part of the country would be almost impossible without withdrawing my savings.

XVU would be watching everything soon, if they hadn’t already.

I adjusted the rearview mirror, then gave a sidelong glance at Jet, who fiddled with the lifecord.

“Okay. You keep me and my kid safe, and I’ll trust you.

I’d even be willing to relocate.” A circle of buzzards floated on the updrafts farther ahead.

“Being known as Dr. Frosty hasn’t exactly been the highlight of my career, and what you said, about the suffering of your people, isn’t wrong.

XVU has a way of getting into people’s minds, of insinuating the dangers of Volderens are much greater than they are, and along with the fat paychecks and benefits, it has a way of… disconnecting us from everything.”

“What they do is not right. The thing is, if humans had not been so selfish and scared of advanced races, Volderens would gladly share our technology for the good of your people. As a matter of fact, we did share what we knew several thousand years ago, until we realized our influence on human development needed to cease. Species should be allowed to develop on their own, as it spurs creative innovations and reinforces their survival. Your ancestors had begun to see us as gods, and that itself is sacrilege.”

. A quirky, tall sign, with a UFO at the top, announced ‘ Welcome to Roswell’ . I rolled my eyes and slowed my speed. Myra’s house was only a few miles away. If the people of this town only knew how close they were to the little green men, they’d shit themselves.

“Do Volderens believe in God?” As a child, I’d believed in Him.

It had been drilled into me by my mother until I became a teen and saw the hypocrisy for what it was: a way to control others.

There’s no love like Christian hate. Still, I wouldn’t deny someone their faith.

As an intern years ago, I saw many patients miraculously recover when no explanation, other than divine intervention, solved the mystery of their cure.

“Perhaps not a God as humans believe, but we do believe in a spiritual journey; that the universe herself is our mother, gently guiding us on our path.”

I turned onto Mesa Ridge Road. Myra’s small home sat at the end of the road, only about ten blocks away. “XVU tells all recruits and civilian workers you guys incited the tensions when they caught you spying on us and shot you out of the sky in 1947.”

Jet lowered the visor. One stray look from a passerby and they’d be calling the police.

“The only truth to that story is the part where they caused us to crash. Everything else is a lie. We rarely abduct humans, and when we do, they we return them with no injuries whatsoever and their memories wiped.”

“You admit to abducting people? Why?” My suspicions about XVU’s motives had never been much of a concern before, because I believed in our cause.

We needed to protect ourselves not just from alien invasion, but also from enemy countries.

Creating super soldiers went a long way toward protecting our people.