'Sacmis' (formerly 'Alien Abduction')

Chapter 65: Phuket

“What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s the originals of the photographs I found, the ones displayed in your room: they’re yours.”

She took the tube.

“I will treasure them,” she said.

“Not as much as I will treasure the thought of you,” replied Irvn.

Tears glistened in her eyes as she reached forward and laid her hand on his cheek. There was no strangeness this time as they connected, only a sense of homecoming.

“This is unbelievably difficult for me,” she whispered.”You know that, don’t you?”

“I do,” he said. “But I promise I will return, unless anything happens to stop me. And when I do, if you feel there is a future, any kind of future for us, then you will let me know?”

“I will,” she said and reached out her arms to hug him close.

“We must say goodbye now,” he said, “when the shuttle leaves I will need to be on the bridge.”

Gently, he broke their embrace, stepped back and, after one last, lingering look, he turned on his heel and walked away.

*    *    *    *    *

Kate had been throwing a few items into a bag she’d found in the closet when Matias announced himself outside her door.

She swiped the pad to open it.

“May I come in?” he asked, a little awkwardly.

“Of course,” she said.

He looked around as if he’d never seen the room before and appeared nervous. Since her rescue from the alien ship, and following her recovery, it seemed they had only met when the others were also there. She wondered whether that had been intentional on his part - or unconsciously on hers. She’d had no appetite for the gym, so even that pleasure which they’d shared together had been missing.

This was the first time they’d been alone.

“There is something I need to say to you,” he said finally.

“OK,” she said, sitting down on the bed, “I’m listening.”

“I owe you my life,” he said.

“I did what anybody would do,” she said quietly.

“But what happened afterwards, not everybody would have done that. I feel I took advantage of the situation.”

“You don’t have to worry,” she said. “I wanted to as much as you did. It’s what happens between men and women when they…connect.”

“But rarely on Sacmis,” he replied. “It’s as if you gave me my life in two ways, first by saving it, then by showing me what life - a normal life - could mean. Even if it were never to happen again, to have been with you, even just that once, is a joy that will last in my memory.” He paused, trying to find the right words, then added awkwardly, “You have completed me.”

Kate did not know how to answer, unable to trust her own feelings. The sex with Matias had been sensational and part of her wondered whether any other man - any ordinary man - could ever compare without that extraordinary sense of intimacy. But there was no future in speculating: her life lay on Earth and his duty was to Sacmis. 

But if we met again, she said to herself, what might happen then?

“Matias, I can’t say anything more. If you return…”