Chapter 18: Bilal Resurrected

Bilal felt a strange sensation against his skin and it was the first thought he'd had in a long time. He opened his eyes, and the world came into focus. A pain developed between his eyes, and he closed them to block out the sharp, bright images.

"He's awake," someone said.

Mother-Mina? He felt her tentacles and tried to form his own. Nothing happened. He groaned, and the sound reverberated throughout his body. "What?" He tried to speak but it hurt. Everything hurt. He felt a sharp stabbing pain followed by throbbing aches. He opened his eyes because he was unable to expose his filaments to sense what was around him.

Bilal looked down at his form. His head began to swim, but he blinked in surprise. He had legs, arms, and a torso! His parents were connected to his nude body. He felt them repairing him, helping to complete him.

"Lay back," Father-Tom said. "You are weak."

He ignored his father, reached out with an unsteady hand, and ran it over his new skin. Human skin felt strange but in a good way.

"Why did you do this to yourself?" Mama-Baba asked.

"Not now, Baba!" Mother-Mina said.

"Then when?"

"Not now when we have worked so hard to keep him alive."

"You are a stupid, stupid boy," Mama-Baba said. "You nearly died."

"Leave!" Mother-Mina shouted. "Get out, now!" Mother-Mina's tentacles waved wildly about her head, and Baba retreated. No one wanted to make Mother-Mina into an enemy.

Mama-Baba left the room without another word.

"Sleep," Father-Nile said. "You have more healing to do."

"I don't have time," Bilal whispered. "I have to return to Earth."

"Sleep."

Bilal had no choice. His parents triggered his sleep and then he knew no more.

II

Bilal was alone in a room the next time he awoke, this time without pain. He actually felt good. He sat up slowly and noticed he was dressed in loose pants and a tunic. After swinging his feet to the edge of the platform, he studied his feet and toes. He felt a smile tug at his lips and reached up quickly to touch his mouth.

I have lips.

He laughed and marveled at the sound of his own voice. "I am Bilal Ayunkili. I am a human Centaurian hybrid. My son and I are the only two in existence." My son and I. Bilal felt pride at those words.

He stood, and his knees nearly buckled beneath him. Walking on legs was a skill he had mastered in private but, walking with bones was a different matter.

III

Carmella picked at her meal listlessly. She had no appetite these days but kept eating anyway. She had to. When the food had magically disappeared, she looked at her empty plate and poked at her swollen stomach with her finger.

"Happy now?" she asked.

She used the slop bucket and then carried it outside to dump. She walked across her front porch and watched the fall leaves as they swirled around her feet. Later she would sweep. Soon it would be winter, and then what would she do? She sighed and walked down the porch stairs.

She nearly walked right up to the man standing in her front yard. She stopped in her tracks and stumbled backwards, nearly falling on her ass.

The man reached out and righted her.

"What the? Where did you come from?" Her hands flew to her mouth. Oh God, what was it? She thought he was a man, but … Carmella backed away. "What are you?"

"Please," he said. "I just want to make sure that you're okay."

She threw the bucket of slop at him.

Bilal ducked, the slop flying harmlessly over his head.

Carmella stumbled up her stairs and into her home where she slammed the door shut and locked it. She backed away from the door and darted for the front window.

The man still stood in the front yard.

From a distance he looked like a man, but up close she had seen that his eyes were black orbs with no whites. His skin also had a strange translucent quality. It reminded her of Dr. Manhattan from that Watchmen movie. His skin didn't glow blue, but an undercurrent of color moved subtly from darks to reds to yellows.

The man seemed to know where she was located within the house because he looked right at the window. She ducked out of sight and peeked from behind the curtain.

He appeared to be Asian with long, sleek black hair that hung past his shoulders. He was quite tall with a toned physique and broad shoulders. He wore a white long-sleeved tunic and loose fitting pants, but she could tell that he was fit.

She knew—she had no doubt. It was that Blob, the one that kept coming back. But how? How did he make himself … human?

She took a deep breath before standing in front of the window. "What are you?"

He heard her clearly through the window though she spoke in a normal voice.

Carmella saw his lips move but was unable to hear him. She unlatched the window and opened it.

"I am Bilal Ayunkili, and I am a Centaurian, human hybrid," he said.

She closed her eyes and swallowed. Remembering that Centaurians moved fast, she opened her eyes and found that he hadn't budged. "Why are you here? Haven't you done enough? Can't you just leave me alone?"

Bilal clasped his hands in front of him. "I cannot."

She was too tired for this confrontation. "Why did you do this to me?" She pressed her head against the windowsill and closed her eyes. "I know what you did. You raped me that night I thought I was having a nightmare. When my stomach kept getting bigger I figured it out. I've been pregnant before. Then I found the bullet from where I had shot at you."

"No. There was no sex. But I did place a baby inside you."

Hearing it made it more real and made her feel less crazy. "Why? Why would you do this?"

His skin color shifted subtly to an undercurrent of green. "Because I felt bad for you. I felt bad for your loneliness. I felt bad for your loss."

"Really?" she snarled. "You did this for me?"

"Yes! But I had no right to do that, and I understand that. But that night when you told me to leave, I saw how much you hurt. I just thought maybe I could make your pain go away a little."

"By impregnating me with an alien creature?"

"The sperm I used was of a man who looks like I do. He is human and my friend." Bilal took a deep breath. "But yes, my DNA is there as well."

Carmella's hand tightened on the windowsill. "My baby has two fathers?"

"Yes."

She felt sick and angry and afraid. She couldn't find the words to tell the alien in her yard how devastating this was to her and how much she hated it for what it had done to her. This was no favor. This was no gift. This was only a monster growing in her belly.

"How much longer before it's born? It's not like a normal pregnancy. Everything is moving faster." She calculated that she should only be five months along, but she was already huge.

"You are correct. A Centaurian gestation is only about thirty weeks."

Carmella knew she was twenty-two weeks. She had two more months to carry it. She stared at the alien. Would he leave when the baby was born? He said he wanted to make sure she was okay. Would he try to take her to the ship to have the child?

"I'm not going to your ship or back to your fake Earth."

"No, you won't. You may remain here." His gaze was intense. It would have rendered her a nervous wreck if she wasn't so angry. "But I will remain here with you."

Her body stiffened. "I don't want you here."

"You won't be able to do this alone."

"Don't you touch me again! Do you understand me? Don't you ever touch me!"

"I understand," he said. "What do I call you?"

"You don't call me anything." She shut and locked the window.

IV

The next morning the human did not come outside to tend to her animals. Bilal knew her routine. He had watched her often enough. After returning to her home to eat, she would then do a wide variety of chores outdoors. Sometimes she washed her laundry, sometimes she mowed her grass or took care of her garden, and sometimes she repaired fences and cleaned the barn.

It was obvious that she hadn't taken care of her chores in several days. Bilal felt guilty for not being here. That night he slept in the barn, but sleep would not come. The smells assaulted his nose. The animal waste in the barn was in piles knee high! He had not processed smell in the same way in his old body. His belly was also becoming empty, and hunger was not a pleasant sensation. His skin itched, and he felt cold.

Yes, humans needed more in order to keep their bodies comfortable. Luckily he had human friends and knew much about human needs.

When the sun rose, he went to the woman's garden and ate lettuce, cucumbers, and onions. They were good, and soon he felt strong again. Being human took some getting used to. He didn't understand the pressure building in his belly until he realized he had to urinate. Urinating was nice, though. He liked having a penis and liked the way it felt in his hands.

After finishing his business, he went back to the yard and stared at the house, locating the woman's whereabouts easily. She was awake and in one of the lower levels. She was preparing food. Good. As long as she ate then things should progress nicely.

Bilal returned to the barn and retrieved a clean pail. He had seen the woman doing this several times and had even tried it once when she wasn't around. Milking the cow was not an easy feat since the cow's udders were full and she was skittish and kept stepping away. He used soothing words to coax her into stillness and soon began filling the pail with fresh warm milk.

V

Carmella darted from window to window in order to see what the alien was doing. He came from the barn and had done something in her garden. She closed the curtain and scrubbed her hands across her face.

She could run away—

No, stupid!

She looked at her swollen belly and peeked out of the curtain. Carmella spent most of the morning spying on the alien, and when she saw him come up on the porch, she ran to the stairs as fast as her wobbly body would allow. She could lock herself in the bunker, but he never came inside. After half an hour, she moved to the front window and carefully peeked out.

He wasn't there.

But on the porch sat a basket of eggs, a pail of milk, and a puny green tomato.