When They Come

Addir smiled again. “I was busy,” He shrugged.

John scowled at the Saimien. “You better apologize for biting my best friend,” He growled. “Because of you, she was sick, and I don’t want that happening on my watch!”

“I apologize,” Addir said earnestly. “I truly am sorry for causing you harm, Alex,”

“Then why’d you do it in the first place?” Alex snapped, crossing her arms.

“Because if you ever want to stand a chance of saving your planet, you’ll need my bite,” Addir said.

Alex felt weird when he said, ‘my bite’. She pushed that away. It wasn’t important. “Why’d I need a bite anyways? I was perfectly fine! Healthy, yes. Bruised, yes. If you ever expect me to trust you, I need to know why!” Alex said, her annoyance and temper rising.

“Why don’t you go back to your question your friend never answered,” Addir gestured toward the black plant. “What you did changed the plants form. What I did—”

“Would change my form,” Alex breathed. She began hyperventilating. This was not happening. This was crazy. This had to be a dream.

“Believe me, it’s no dream,” Addir said flatly.

“How? Why?!” Alex paced, her breathing uneven. “Do you just want to make me one of you? So I can get off this planet and leave everyone else? Is that it?” She yelled at Addir. “I don’t want to be one of you! I’m trying to save my home, not escape it!”

John spoke up. “Alex, please calm down. Addir—”

“Addir what?” Alex snapped. “What is he trying to do?”

“Did you not hear him?!” John snapped back, silencing her. “You need to calm down for just a second. He said he gave it to you because it was the only way for you to stand a chance of saving everyone! So, yes, he wanted to change you—but its to help! And you need to get it through your thick skull before it’s too late!” He glared at her for a long, hard moment.

Alex had never seen this side of him before. It was serious and meaningful. Alex bowed her head and said, “I’m sorry,”

“I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” John said, crossing his arms.

Alex looked to him then to Addir. “Sorry,” She mumbled.

“I accept your apology,” Addir said with a nod. “To be honest, I did not expect you to trust me. After being so vague, I would have thought you may not have trusted me. It seems like I was slightly right.”

Alex lifted her head, pushing away the guilt. “Ok, now that we have that out of the way for the moment, we need to address the elephant in the abandoned warehouse. Addir, do you know where the machine is?” Alex asked firmly.

“I do,” Addir nodded. “But you’re not going to like where it’s placed.”

“Where is it?” John questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“In the middle of your continent,” Addir replied. It's in between the states you call Nebraska and Kansas. Onol thought it best to sit the machine in the center of what you know as the USA. She could tell the climate was exceptional as was the location. It rests on a large ship hovering between the borders. It is chained to the ground to hold itself in place while the generator powers on,”

Alex went pale. On a ship. Great. The good thing was it was tethered to the Earth. “So, if it's attached to the ground, we could scale the chains to reach the ship,” Alex thought out loud.

“Yes, but we’d have to get by the security in order to reach it. The way I’d recommend is by stealth. If any of us gets caught by the guards, they’ll sound the alarm,” Addir said.

“Which is why you bit Alex, isn’t it?” John said slowly. “So we could get past the guards and get on the ship,”

“John, I don’t really feel comfortable talking about that,” Alex said nervously.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting sick again,” He groaned.

“No, no, I’m fine—much better than last night. I just…don't like the thought of me turning into one of these,” She thumbed to Addir. “No offense,”

“None taken,” Addir replied.

“Wait a moment!” Alex gasped. “Why do you want to help us, Addir? I thought all Saimiens liked having us humans as slaves,”

Addir sighed. “I never liked the idea of enslaving another planet,” He began. “But one against seven-billion didn’t make much of a dent. So, I went along with all of it. Then I was paired up with you. And I saw that you were different than the others. You wished to change it all. You had hope that it would. That’s why I never wanted to harm you. Because one day, I hoped you’d change the world,” He finished.

Alex didn’t want to say anything but, that was a really sappy story. It did give him a reason why though.

“Alright then,” John said, drawing himself up. “Anyone up for a road trip?”

The trio was soon on their way to the middle of Nebraska and Kansas. Since they were Texas, it was a lot easier than being in some state farther out. Alex had pulled out maps on her phone and searched how long it’d take to get from Plainview, TX to Long Island KS. Of course, they’d never make it fully to Long Island because of the guards, but it was worth a shot.

It was 9 hours and 26 minutes—not counting the bathroom and food breaks. Or the girl-becoming-alien-break. Alex shuddered. She’d become a Saimien. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought she’d be one—let alone meet one.

Addir had not mentioned what it’d feel like, let alone how long it’d take for…whatever to take effect. Because she never asked. Right now, Addir was in the bed of the truck, covered by a tarp. It looked pretty good. Just two friends hauling something across borders.

Alex’s questions were nagging her and so she pulled back the sliding window that opened up to the back.

“Addir,” Alex called.

He poked his head out of the tarp, his dark eyes looking at her.

“So, um, gosh, this sounds weird, but when will I—you know—be like you? You never explained that.” Alex called over the rushing air.

“The shift could take hours to take into effect. But it should be completed by tonight,” Addir said as if he had done this a million times before.

Alex went pale. “Oh,” She managed to say.

“For Saimiens, this is a sacred tradition,” Addir explained. “When a Saimien chooses to truly bond with whoever their peers pair them within any race, the Saimien can bite them, leaving a fragment of them behind. Hence the teeth. Of course, they regrow, but the lost ones become one with the victim’s DNA, linking them and the Saimien. Since you have some of me with you and I you, we are currently related,” Addir said, several notes of excitement dancing in his voice. “We are like siblings now! I’ve never had one, so this is exciting, is it not?”

Now Alex felt sick again. This was just too weird for her. She, being related to an alien! She buried her face in the crook of her arm and groaned.

“Are you not happy?” Addir asked, concerned.

“Well, all of this is just…weird right now. It’s happening so fast and—I just don’t know what to think at the moment,”

“I understand,” Addir sighed. “It must be awful having everything thrown together. And having this pressure—I can imagine it’s a heavy burden,”

Alex looked at him. “You have no idea,” She said worriedly.