Chapter 6: Do not touch my human

Aurora had to resist twisting her hands together and shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She didn't have to pretend to brush back tears, to appear scared out of her mind. "I can't go without saying good bye to my friends. I have to pack and leave instructions for my personnel." Maybe she could disappear. She had resources she could use to search for Ter while she hid from this terrifying being.

Balthazar didn't react. "You will come with me now."

The president touched her arm, a gesture of support, but she jerked away. "Your luggage has been packed," he said, "and your assistant was told you had to go on an unscheduled trip."

The alien's chest rumbled. Before she could blink, he'd pushed the president away, hard enough that he stumbled a few steps before he gained his balance.

"You do not touch my human Aurora."

She had to give it to them. Tinners knew how to intimidate. He loomed over the president, leaning slightly forward and giving every impression of being willing to pummel the President of United Earth to the floor.

Aurora forced herself to place a gentle hand on the alien's muscled arm. Muscles, that not only looked like braided steel but felt like it too, moved under her hand, without a hint of fat. His skin was colder than a human's but not cold and clammy as she expected. "It's normal among humans for friends to touch each other like that."

The door crashed open, and two guards rushed in, weapons drawn. They stopped when they saw Balthazar then leveled their machine guns.

"Stand down," the president shouted.

Balthazar stepped in front of her. She stared at his broad back and his even broader shoulders. Her hand inched up to touch the glass pin in her hair. She didn't like the odds for the two guards if he took them on.

After a long, curious look at the alien, the guards left, and Balthazar turned so he faced her and the president. "You do not hug friends."

"No problem, I'll pass a law about that today," the president said, deadpan.

Aurora bit her lip hard and searched for something to distract Balthazar before he pummeled the president. "Did you know that your name means 'protect the king'? In our history, Phoenicians had a king with the same name."

"It is a solid Tunrian cyborg name," Balthazar said.

"Cyborg? Is that what your species calls itself, or are you half person, half machine?" the president asked.

Aurora had discounted the idea of him being a machine the moment she saw his coarse black hair and arresting eyes. He might look fierce and alien, but nothing about him reminded her of a machine. Did "cyborg" have the same meaning for these creatures as it did for humans?

Something unpleasant rumbled from Balthazar's chest. "We will go now."

He took her arm and steered her toward the dimensional doorway that shimmered in the air. She had the curious impression that the president's question had upset him. There was a pull toward the shimmering air, and she breathed golf balls.

"No, please, let me go." She pulled against the merciless grip he had on her arm. Not this. She couldn't go through this again. How would she ever see forgiveness in Ter's eyes if they enslaved her?

Aurora had never felt so small and vulnerable as she did being dragged to the rectangle hovering in the Oval Office. Swirling electricity-like sparks outlined the red and orange triangle. Inside the triangle, colors swirled - strange unearthly hues, not quite black or white or orange - as if it came from a spectrum of colors forged in a foreign dimension. It reminded her of pictures she'd seen of black holes, the triangular doorway pulled them subtly forward. She pulled back, tried to resist that sucking pressure. Her heart beat so loud she couldn't hear anything else. If she went into the swirling lights, she'd be lost.

His large three-fingered grip could've encircled her upper arm twice, and it brought home their differences. How small and vulnerable she was. He was taking her to a place where she'd be surrounded by beings that were so totally "other." Where she'd be the alien. The past and future merged, and she blinked when she saw her father's image hover over the president.

"No, Daddy, please, Daddy, don't send me away." She heard the childish pleading and didn't want to accept that the words came from her mouth.

Reality rushed back, and she sagged in the alien's grip.

Although he didn't loosen his grip on her arm, it was not as hard and unyielding as she'd thought it would be.

He marched to the triangle with that steady hiss-release gait, all set to step into it, dragging her along. Aurora held back, tried to resist, stretching a hand back to the president. "Remember your promise." She hated the pity in his eyes. He'd do this no matter what he felt.

The alien pushed her into the triangle, and the last thing she saw on Earth was the president standing tall, his expression resolute, not making an effort to grab her back. She saw his lips move - didn't hear him but knew he promised to find Ter.

Shimmering air sucked her in. It felt like being consumed by a large glob of heated liquid rubber. For one terrible moment, she lost her senses, couldn't hear, saw nothing, and couldn't feel her own body. If she screamed, she didn't realize it. The air solidified and pressed her as if some unseen hand pushed her out of whatever was inside the triangle. She half expected to be expelled with a plopping sound, but she emerged into harsh noise. Something screamed, and she flinched.