“What is it, Nova?” he asked, mentally bracing for yet another chaotic issue this evening.
“There’s a young woman out here asking for you.”
“Who is it?”
Nova’s already large eyes widened and rounded as she whispered, “It’s a human.”
Diesel put a finger on the pinch of pain above his right eye. Not hiding his annoyance, he asked, “Could you be a little bit more specific, Nova? There are quite a few humans roaming around on this planet.” He saw Axel bite down on the inside of his cheek but fail to stop the large smile that shaped his mouth. Diesel gave him a stern look and he subdued his amusement.
Nova pushed out a long sigh. “She says her name is Juliana Masters.”
“And you don’t believe her?”
“Oh, I believe her all right. I also know she’s about to be very big trouble.”
“How do you know that?”
“I read her mind.”
Axel, unable to hold in his inappropriate amusement any longer, laughed until he had to wipe away the tears rolling out of his eyes again. “I love coming to your office,” he said. “It never fails to entertain.”
Diesel inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. “I told you to stop doing that, Nova. It unnerves folks, most especially human folk.”
“Be that as it may, she has lots of questions swirling around in that pretty head of hers.” Nova tapped the side of her temple with a finger indicating where the human’s questions wereswirlingaround.
“Questions about the truck stop?” Diesel wasn’t opposed to answering questions about their “human” business. It was very successful for an Earth-bound venture and he was proud they’d sustained it for so long as a profitable business enterprise. It was also the only subject he could talk about in all honesty with humans.
“No. She’s got a boatload of questions about—” Nova lowered her voice as if the whole world might hear, “—the rumors.”
“The rumors? What specific rumors are we talking about?” He mentally pushed out a very long sigh. He already had a good idea what rumors, but there were a few choices and he needed to hear her say it.
Protocol was protocol.
Every place had rumors. He didn’t believe anyone truly knew anything of importance, though. Then again, given his day so far, perhaps he should knock on wood to ward off any evil luck about to come his way. Too bad he wasn’t in the least superstitious.
“You know, Diesel. The rampant rumors of space beings living and working around the Big Bang Truck Stop and in the nearby town of Alienn, Arkansas, along with the vast conspiracy theories of why cellular service doesn’t work for ten miles in any direction here.”
Chapter Two
Juliana Masters sat in the cramped reception area of the Big Bang Truck Stop manager’s office, waiting for an audience with the man in charge of this place. There were only two chairs, and one was the receptionist’s. Juliana was apparently next in line after an attractive man carrying a gray piece of paper like it was a sacred scroll went in without consulting the receptionist. Four elderly women had exited, seemingly in a bad temper, and Mr. Gray Paper had nodded politely at each of the fearsome foursome as they passed.
Nova, the receptionist, had stared at Juliana intently for quite a long time before scurrying off to ask her boss if he was available for an interview.
One of the seniors, a feisty-looking lady with very ornate fingernails that featured what looked like 3-D planets on each tip, glanced at Juliana.
Leaning down, she said, “Whatever you’re here to ask, don’t get your hopes up. He’s in an especially foul mood today.” She turned to her friends. “Come on, girls. Let’s get back to town and try to think up another idea for a fundraiser.”
If the manager was already in a foul mood, maybe this impromptu visit had been a bad idea. Then again, she needed the manager’s cooperation. She was certain he had information she couldn’t get anywhere else to confirm or reasonably debunk all the rumors she’d heard about the large truck stop and the town of Alienn. She needed a reliable source to help her find the truth.
For starters, how did Alienn, Arkansas get its name? Could it truly be so obvious? Were there aliens living here? It seemed like a bad way to hide, but perhaps it was brilliant in its simplicity. If there were aliens roaming around, how long had they been here? If not, was the whole alien theme only a marketing gimmick?
One way or another, she planned to find out so she could finish her article and send it in to Finder’s. She could really use the big payoff the popular travel magazine and blog had promised if she completed the special assignment and either proved the existence of aliens, past or present, in Alienn, or found some other interesting reason why Alienn, Arkansas should be included in her article.
Finder’s wanted to do a book on extra-special places to visit, where unique possibilities of alien or strange happenings had been proven or at least not completely debunked. There had been rumors for years that extraterrestrials were running around Alienn, Arkansas, but Juliana didn’t believe them.
Her take was that secrets were very difficult to keep. If there were truly aliens in residence here, someone would have outed them a long time ago and made a ton of money or debunked the rumors and, well…probably made a ton of money. It was the general lack of substantial proof either way that she found the most intriguing.
Juliana reached into her pocket, pulled out her cell phone and checked to ensure that indeed she had zero service here. That was one thing she’d love to figure out once and for all. Why was there no service for a ten-mile radius around the town of Alienn, which included the truck stop on its southern edge by Route 88? It could be her closing argument. She’d be done and then she could finish this article, get paid and get on with her life. Such as it was.
