He presses a few buttons on his suit.
The air in front of him shimmers in translucent waves.In a blink, a silver, saucer shaped disk appears.It’s about the length of a large commercial airplane except round, and it has no wings.There is a bank of windows just below the top of the ship in what I assume is the front, or some kind of control room.
I’m shocked.I shouldn’t be.I know my reaction is stupid given all the evidence Rygar’s already shown that support his claim.There’s no doubt everything he told me was true.Everything.
Being told your husband is an alien is one thing.Seeinghis ship, another.I feel numb.
I don’t know where this leaves us.He’s acted as if it’s a foregone conclusion that I will board his spaceship and leave Earth behind without a thought for the life I already lead here, or for the lives I’ve put in danger just by being with him.
My gaze lands on my parents.Those assholes threatened to lock them up.Special Agent Brownshot at my dad.Would have killed him if Rygar hadn’t thrown his flashy light spheres at them.Will moremen in blackshow up?Will they threaten Emily and Hannah?Little Max?My store is in ruins.My entire life is imploding.What I thought was reality is crashing down around my ears.The idea of Rygar being an alien was exotic, an adventure.It’s not fun anymore, not when people I love could be locked up or killed.
I’m having a mental breakdown, but my dad is thrilled.
“Hot damn, I knew it.”Dad grins, his hands on his hips as he looks at the ship with glee.
“It doesn’t bother you?”Rygar asks curiously, tilting his head and studying first me, then my dad.Is he sensing my unease?My panic?
“Nope.Saw some classified stuff like this back in the day.I have too many buddies who are Navy pilots.Get a few beers in them and those guys have seen some crazy stories.”
“Then you’ll really like this.”Rygar presses some more buttons.Moving like a wave of liquid silver that solidifies one it touches the ground, a ramp appears.
“Wow!”Mom exclaims.
“Hot damn, that was awesome.”Dad claps.He’s giggling like a three-year-old on his birthday.
Rygar moves to my side.I take his outstretched hand and he escorts us onto the spaceship.The inside is even cooler than the outside.Rygar takes us on a quick tour of the cargo area and crew’s quarters.They’re small, as expected, and obviously not meant for families.Soldiers only.Basic bunks just like on some of my dad’s navy ships.
Mom and dad explore but I stay glued to Rygar’s side.He wraps an arm around me and kisses the top of my head.“I need to go up a level to reactivate BILL.”
Of course.I can’t believe I forgot about BILL.
We take the elevator up to the main control room and my brain melts down trying to figure out all the symbols and gadgets.I’ve watched plenty ofStar Trek.This is even more futuristic than that.There’s not a lot of metal here.The chairs are high backed and look comfortable, but most of the ship appears to be made out of crystals of some kind, sparkling, etched crystals with Rygar’s strange language as fashionable accents.The metal I do see doesn’t look like steel.It’s so shiny it looks like liquid mercury, not support beams.I feel like I’ve walked into another dimension, a different reality.Hannah, my geeky bestie, would get a kick out of this.
Dad is studying the controls near the front.There are four seats in the cock pit.Two in front at one set of controls and two behind them.The two in the back have their own bank of monitors and gadgets.“This is cool as shit, son.Tell me, what kind of speed can this thing clock and what do you use for fuel?”
Rygar and my dad talk about how fast this thing can fly, the maneuverability, manpower needed, and what kind of firepower it’s capable of like they’ve been best buds for years.I don’t think I’ve ever seen my dad this excited.
I walk around the ship in a daze taking it all in.He wasn’t lying.Rygar has been nothing but honest with me from the start.
The truth is he wants me to leave with him.In this ship.
I look at my parents and know if Rygar hadn’t been faster, my parents could have paid the price.That agent threatened to harm them, lock them up, maybe even torture them.
Rygar is an alien, a threat to ‘National Security’.They won’t stop coming after him and anyone who was in contact with him.
In my selfish desire to be with him, I’d be putting the people I love most in harm’s way.What am I going to do?Fly away to another planet and leave my parents, Hannah and Emily to deal with government agents trying to kill them?Lock them in prison?Interrogate them?Even if Rygar and his men leave, are themen in blackgoing to stop?
I don’t think they will.We’ve seen too much.We’ve seen his armor and his ship.He told me about the Galactic Federation of Worlds and their war with the Draco-Reptilians.Whatever the fuck they are.They sounded like evil dragon people who could wipe out Earth without even trying.And the Dark Fleet?He said they have human allies here, on Earth.Won’t they be hunting my parents as well?Is that who those agents work for?
What am I going to do?I can’t be in two places at once.I can’t.
Seventeen
B.I.L.L.: Humans are such drama queens.How your lot emerged from the Stone Age is beyond even my ability to successfully compute.
Rygar’s ship, 10 minutes later
I watchas Rygar sits on one of the pilot seats and moves his hands over the crystal monitors.As he moves, controls form out of thin air to meet his hand, springing into being from nothing as he needs them.The technology freaks me out, it’s like the ship is alive.Moving and growing.Awake.
