He Comes in Peace

"Kartayon!" Skye lurched forward, then almost immediately after, felt the wind knocked out of her. She would have fallen flat on her rear if the nicer of her two escorts had not caught her.

"Ease up there," he murmured, righting her a little roughly, but still nice enough considering her position and relation to Kartayon.

Skye stood up straighter and rubbed the area right below her collarbones. "What was that?" she said, feeling a little perturbed. Her eyes fixated onto Kartayon again, who had started to struggle even wilder against his chains after hearing her voice.

Skye saw the top of his head and the longest of his spikes emerge from the pressing crowd. She thought she saw a flash of his fluorescent green eyes, too. He was growling and hissing, and had thrashed a gap between the scientists large enough for Skye to see all of him. He opened his mouth wide.

"Sk—"

There was a buzzing sound followed by a sharp cry, half roar half yell, one that made Skye's skin prickle and goosebumps to raise themselves on her arms and down her back.

"What are you doing to him?" she screamed, hating how her voice was cracking and how her heart was racing, beating twice as fast as it normally would.

"What, this?"

Bzzzzt!

"Stop! Stop it!" Skye shrieked, about to break into sobs. She would have tried to rush forward, do something , anything that would hurt the disgusting scientists as much as they were hurting Kartayon; a thousand times worse, if it was possible and if she could manage it. Gouge their eyes out, rake her nails down their faces and place them in a world of hurt so unbelievably painful, their perfect little lab-coat lives could not even begin to fathom it.

But she could not, of course, not if they had someone so meaningful and important to her at their hands.

The sea of pristine white parted ever so slightly again to reveal Kartayon, this time slumped as he had been the last time Skye had seen him: strapped to a tree, unconscious.

At least...At least there's no blood, thought Skye weakly, blinking her eyes and feeling tears litter the rims of her eyes.

A man stood up from the midst of the crowd gathered around Kartayon. He held his hand out, palm open and facing up, as if he were about to ask Skye to dance. Instead, he curled his four fingers inwards, beckoning for her to come closer. Beside him stood a thick-set man. A taser was held loosely in his hands, and there was a lopsided leer on his face.

Skye must have stood there for a moment, too limp and stunned to really move, for she felt a sharp prod to in the center of her back, between her shoulder blades.

"He's telling you to move," growled the guard, continuing his prodding until Skye started to shuffle forward. Her hands began to feel clammy, and she did not know whether she felt worse when she looked at Kartayon or when she looked anywhere else but him. She settled for something in the middle, her eyes darting to his now trembling frame and then away.

"Don't you think this little contraption was a stroke of genius?" said the man, opening up the conversation by taking the taser from his henchman and holding it up for Skye to see. He waved his free hand back and forth, telling the ring of spectators to part.

Like a ringmaster telling the audience to shush before the freak-show starts, Skye thought in disgust, narrowing her eyes when the man met her gaze with something not too short of delight.

"You—" Skye cleared her throat when her voice cracked horribly again. "You could call it genius, if it's used in proper situations." To use something like a taser without any sort of provocation was unacceptable.

The man raised his eyebrows. They were a dark brown colour above a pair of wide-set eyes. His hair was cut close to his scalp. The part of him that disgusted Skye the most were his hands: long and slender and covered in sterile gloves. It gave Skye the impression that he did not deal with anything that, in his eyes, was unclean or unnatural in the slightest.

He shook his head slowly and in a rather disappointed way, like he was sorry that Skye was so naive and ignorant. "Little girl, you are sadly mistaken. This device was designed especially for your, ah, friend." When Skye had gotten close enough, he stretched it out towards her. It made Skye flinch back, and she hissed like a cat.

The taser touched her anyway.

Is Kartayon going to jump in and save me?

The room did not seem to change in the slightest. People still went around eating and chatting, cutlery clinking and chair legs scraping. Were these scientists really going to go about their ways and not even care if an innocent girl was going to get hurt or not?

She braced herself against the malevolent thing, but when the shock did not come, she opened one eye ever so slightly and peeked.

The mechanism was resting against her bare forearm, but there was no shock.

"Wh-What?"

The scientists gathered around laughed.

"Do you see what I mean now? This really is designed specially for your friend. Has he ever shown you his special tricks?"

Skye thought back to the time she had spent with Kartayon. What special tricks?

He can read minds. He can heal himself super fast. He can touch things without getting burned. He can...

"Perhaps he has not. This alien here has an electric current running through him at all times. Whether he chooses to use it against others is his choice, but the limbo of energy within him circulating alongside his blood vessels he cannot suppress."

Skye looked at Kartayon, her mind working furiously to process this piece of information. Had she seen him demonstrate that particular power before?

"This device turns the energy against him and siphons the electricity out of his body, then returns it. This," he held up the taser, "has no electricity on its own. But when I touch it to his body, it becomes several times more powerful than any regular taser. It is amazing, is it not?" The man leaned closer to Skye, who resisted the urge to lean back. "So tell me, little girl, has he shown this to you before?"

Skye felt a sickening feeling in her stomach: this man was crazy. But her sudden feeling of nausea towards this man was overcome by a memory of hers that decided to suddenly resurface.

...a millisecond later, her car door started to crackle. Crackle.

Skye unbuckled her seat belt and crawled over to the other side, eyes wide. Her mother was currently observing the huge indent on the back of their car, and didn't notice.

"Oh my God, please don't be an ax murderer, please," Skye whispered. She watched as the door glowed the colour of bluebells, electric currents cascading down the edges of the door. A moment later, a small click was heard when the door unlocked itself and opened.

"Oh!" gasped Skye softly.

"He has unintentionally shown you this before, has he not?" said the man with a wide smile; a ringmaster ecstatic at how his pet was being received by the audience.

Skye continued to look at Kartayon, unsure whether she should say yes or not. When he did not raise his head to look at her but shifted instead, Skye mumbled a soft 'yes'.

The scientist clapped his hands in delight. "Then it is true! All of his kind have this power! Do you know what this means?" he said, raising his voice so everyone in the cafeteria could hear him speak. "We no longer need to rely on regular means to operate anything that runs on battery or relies upon electricity. We have these creatures to power everything for us!"

Skye felt her stomach, her heart, and just as well all her other internal organs drop a foot. She opened her mouth, unable to speak, as the scientist, now overcome with excitement, a crazed gleam in his eyes, painted a picture that stilled everyone within the vicinity.

"Don't you see? Our lives will be made so much easier! If we can just tap into this energy source within their body, we have no more need for telephone poles or cables! We can throw all of our batteries away! And just think, if this thing right here—" He prodded Kartayon with the taser; Skye saw a bright spark of electricity jump between his skin and the contraption. "— can produce this much energy, think about the possibilities that his entire planet can offer!"

There was a murmur of wonder as the many minds in the room started to whir.

"N. No, no, no, no," whispered Skye. She reached out a hand, and when she saw that no one was trying to stop her, placed it gently on Kartayon's shoulder. He perked up at her touch, letting his eyes meet hers. They were tired, bloodshot, and a steady trickle of silver blood lined the corner of his mouth. He inclined his head ever so slightly, and Skye moved forward, taking the chance to speak to him.

"We at the ECI will be the first, the founders of this new technology! From this day onwards, it will be our goal to harness their abilities, gather all of its kind!" The man pointed at Kartayon and threw his back and laughed.

Tay leaned his head down and touched his forehead to hers.

Are you all right?

Skye felt startled at his hoarse voice, previously thinking that the voice in one's head would always stay the same.

I've had better days, she thought back shakily.

I have as well.

I'm scared.

Kartayon gazed at her steadily, and Skye felt a rush of warmth—whether physically or mentally she was not sure—at his familiar green eyes.

Do not be scared. I am here. And if that is not comfort enough for you, he chuckled dryly, his mouth curving up slightly on one side, then know that all of Quetz are with us in this situation.

As corny as it sounded to Skye, she felt assured. All right. She touched his face gently, tracing her finger along his mouth where the blood was. You're not healing.

I have felt much fatigue since arriving here, he murmured.

"Tay..." she whispered, feeling tears starting to well in her eyes. I'm sorry.

For what? He frowned, moving his head slightly so that her fingers rested on the center of his lips. If not for this misfortune...Skye, I have never been happier. I mean that.

Skye darted a glance at the gathered scientists, hoping they were still too distracted to pull the two of them apart.

The man was still speaking, now standing atop the cafeteria table with his arms raised high. "We shall each have a fortune! We shall be famed for our discovery and held above all others for our ingenuity! Come, brothers, let us embark upon this journey to fame!"

The uproar that ensued allowed Skye a moment more with Kartayon.

Forgetting that Tay could hear what she was thinking perfectly well, she thought, No more hesitating. I am not going to waste this moment.

She moved her fingers from his lips and replaced them with her own, giving, she hoped, Kartayon his own little bubble of warmth.