22
Al
Al hurried back to Jude’s room, where he immediately stopped in his tracks, stunned by the scene unfolding within.
“What is occurring?” he asked slowly.
Overall, the room was largely as he’d left it. Jude was on the bed with their eggs all around him, and Corbin and Al’s parents were still present. The difference was that Corbin seemed more at ease than he had since the laying, and the cause seemed to be Al’s parents—they were now wearing human disguises beneath their spacesuits, causing the sleeves for their lower set of arms to flap uselessly by their sides. They had also both grown thick handlebar mustaches.
“We’re playing dress-up,” Corbin announced gleefully. “Are we about to be visited by the Men in Black, by the way?”
“My parents cloaked their spaceship as a human vehicle,” Al explained, not looking at him, distracted.
“We said to you that we did this,” his mother said in poor English, the handles of her mustache moving up and down as she spoke. She was otherwise disguised as an average human female, which made the mustache considerably more jarring. Al’s father’s mustache suited his form more, but was also nearly twice as large.
“Your solution for camouflage was not as intelligent as you believe,” Al chastised. “You should have chosen a human vehicle that garnered less attention. This is also true of your human forms.”
“What is wrong with our human forms?” Al’s father asked indignantly, his mustache flopping on his upper lip like a limp fish.
“Humans have many hairs on their bodies,” his mother added delightedly. She pointed at her mustache. “See? Many hairs!”
Al did not see this going anywhere useful anytime soon, and frankly, as long as he could keep his parents indoors for the time being, he had bigger concerns. He tore his eyes from his parents and turned toward Jude, whose facial expression was one of anxiety.
“Corbin, I need to speak with Jude,” Al said, glancing over his shoulder at Corbin. “Will you take my parents and assist them in finding more suitable human disguises?”
“Ohabsolutely,” Corbin said excitedly, clapping his hands together. “I used to love playing dress-up when I was a kid. You know, I think I’m really coming to terms with this whole alien thing.”
“I feel joy for my human disguise,” Al’s father pouted. “No change.”
“Oh, but there are so many different things you’ve yet to try,” Corbin said. “You like mustaches? Wait until I show you beards!”
“Allow me an increment of time with Jude,” Al asked them. “Thank you very much please?”
His parents exchanged a look that suggested they wanted to argue, but finally they both sighed, and his mother said, “We will return to resume words with you soon.” That said, they allowed Corbin to show them to the other room.
With them gone, Al and Jude were alone.
Neither one said anything at first. The air was thick with undefined tension.
Jude cleared his throat. “So your parents certainly are, uh—”
“I apologize for not telling you about the bond,” Al interrupted, suddenly unable to handle the awkward dance around the obvious. “I did not want to influence your decision.”
“Brain damage, Al,” Jude said, dropping all pretense as well. “You were going to let me give youbrain damagewithout my knowledge?!”
“Jude,” Al said softly, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped slightly under his weight. “I promise to be meticulous in severing the bond in order to minimize risk to myself.”
“But you won’t be able to bond with anyone else ever again. That’s what your parents said.”
“This is fine.”
“How the hell is that fine?”
Al shrugged. “Because there is no other that I wish to be bonded to.”
Jude looked like he was on the brink of tears, and Al didn’t know how to fix it.
“You don’t know that,” Jude said, his voice suddenly a whisper.
