He Comes in Peace

Right at that moment, there was a polite knock on the door downstairs. Panicking, Skye looked desperately towards Tay, then ran to lock her door.

"What do we do?" she said nervously.

Kartayon paused for a fraction of a moment before snapping back to attention. "We, Skye? We?"

Skye hesitated. "Don't…Don't you want me to go with you? To trans—I…To help?" Now Skye wasn't sure whether Kartayon needed her for anything. No doubt he was smarter than any other human, and he could climb trees, a skill of his challenged only by the smartest monkeys.

He looked at her curiously. "You want to accompany me?" he asked softly.

Skye turned red. The men downstairs had already been allowed into the house by her mother. Any moment now, she would call up the stairs and—

"Skye! Come down here, sweetie! The ECI are here!" Mrs. Cedona's hardly contained voice drifted up the stairs to Skye's bedroom.

"Coming!" Skye shouted back. She looked at Kartayon. "I…Yes. Yes, I would like to go with you, wherever you're going."

"Use caution when you are making promises like these. You would come with me, even if I were to travel galaxies away to my planet?" he said quietly.

"You know I don't mean that, exactly, but as long as it's on Earth, and it's reasonable, I don't see why I shouldn't go with you," Skye reasoned, though with doubt. She was trying hard to convince not only her alien friend, but herself as well.

"Skye! Come down here! These men don't have all day, you know!" Karen called again. In a muted tone, she added to the ECI, "Teenagers. They always say that they're almost ready, but it always takes them another half hour." There was a round of deep laughter that lasted for a very short period of time.

"Skye, I am touched that you would like to accompany me on my...Adventure. However, it would be extremely foolish of you, of us both, to travel together. Not only would it place you in remarkable danger, it is ludicrous to even have the thought of separating you from your family. So my answer, though you did not ask, is no, you may not come with me." Kartayon lifted his chin in slight stubbornness and looked out the window.

"But that's....You're not being reasonable! I would be questioned, maybe even in more extreme ways if you disappear! I'm not asking to go with you just because I'm trying to be...to be heroic or something."

"So you would only accompany me out of your own beneficial reasons?" Tay asked lightly.

Skye turned red again. "No! I…You can't expect me to explain why right now. I can't find the right words when there are guys from the Extraterrestrial Control Industry or Incorporation or whatever crap downstairs, in my living room, talking to my mother! So Tay, please. Just let me come with you."

Kartayon peered at her with a steady gaze. "Skye, in good conscience, I cannot, and will not—"

"Kartayon! Just say yes! 'Cause really, I don't give a shit what you think, I'm going to follow behind you anyway if you don't let me come with you!"

He stopped and stared at her in exasperation.

Just then, there was a shout from Mrs. Cedona from downstairs, and several pairs of feet drumming on the staircase, climbing up to Skye's room.

"All right, come here!" The spikes on Tay's back shot out again, and he lowered himself onto one knee, and Skye clamored on hurriedly, locking her fingers around his neck.

Kartayon shook her lightly. "Around my first fin, please," he growled.

Skye readjusted her grip. Three loud bangs echoed onto her door as the men attempted to knock it down. Tay climbed quickly onto Skye's two-story windowsill.

"Tay!" Skye whispered in horror. She felt the muscles under her bunch and tense. He glanced down past the window and saw another member of the ECI standing there, a glinting, silver suitcase at his feet. He knew it contained tranquillizer guns. He was looking at the back door of the Cedona's house.

"Hold on, Skye. For your life, and I am not joking."

The door flew open and off its hinges, and the ECI members rushed into Skye's room.

They looked around, then found the window wide open.

Just as they rushed towards it, there was a shout from the ECI member waiting below. The other members threw themselves against the windowsill, all cramming for a look. The ECI member lay unconscious on the ground, having been zapped by an unknown tendril of electricity.

Kartayon, with Skye clinging on for dear life on his back, landed with a loud, booming clang onto the hood of the white, ECI vehicle.

Before they could say another word, spit out another swear word, Kartayon was streaking off down the street, a fast-moving blur of scales.