Earth Mars Love (The Marsikons)

Chapter 6

Regina was silent, trying to process what she just heard. It could be some story that he made just to put down her guard. For all she knew, it could be a story from a book, and she wouldn't even know it. At the beginning he sounded detached, flatly reciting occurring events, but in the end, she heard him swallow a couple of times, and his voice was full of such sadness that for a second, she wanted to comfort him.

Wait a sec. Where had such thoughts come from? She shook herself. Even if Marcus was from another planet, he could still be just a great actor manipulating her with a soppy story.

She was driving along the shore when Marcus turned back from the window and punched some buttons on his device on the wrist. The vi-com he called it. And then she almost drove off the cliff right down to the beach, where some kind of THING appeared out of nowhere. And it resembled a space ship.

"What the fuck..." her mouth slack, she barely caught a steering wheel and parked on the side of the road. It was deserted, no cars, and it seemed that the beach was empty too, or she would be hearing screams by now. But everything was silent.

She opened her door, and without turning her head away stepped out of the car. Still staring at the space ship, for fear it could disappear if she glanced away even for a second, she went closer to the beach, carefully sliding down through the sandy cliff. It was big, black and shiny. Gentle waves were splashing on the bottom and it gave an impression, that the ship was hovering above the water. The dark metal was glistening in the moonlight. The sound of beating waves made a perfect soundtrack to the beauty she was seeing, and it felt like she was watching some fancy commercial. Narrow in front, bulgier in the back, it resembled an airplane but without wings. Or a submarine. And she was in love with it.

How was it possible? It felt so surreal. She thought such intergalactic traveling wouldn't be possible for at least fifty years from now, and here she was, in front of a space ship, which just stood there, in the water, without a hangar, or a special landing pad.

She put both hands on her head and whispered, "I can't believe it."

She jumped when the deep accented voice beside her said, "Do you believe us now that we came from Mars? I'd offer you a tour inside, but it'll take too much time. We can arrange for a tour when we'll see the President if you like."

She felt him looking at her, but she couldn't turn away from such a view in front of her. He told her if? IF she'd like? "Of course I'd like it, how can I not like it?" she blurted out.

Whoops.

Now he would blackmail her with that one temptation. Do this, and I'll show you a ship. Do that, and I'll show you my ship.

Urrgghhh...

Okay, she needed a clear head. She looked for a couple of minutes more and reluctantly turned away. Only to find Marcus standing just a couple of steps away, with his body fully turned in her direction. He wasn't watching his ship. He was watching her, while she was ogling his ship. The corners of his lips were turned up, and in his eyes, she saw wonder.

She cleared her throat, and carefully stepped around him not saying another word. He was right behind her, and when they were in the car he asked, "Well, do you believe us now?" His eyes were still full of amusement.

"I need to think," was her short and harsh answer.

Marcus quietly snickered and shook his head. Darius groaned, not bothering to comment and Kosmas grunted.

***

Regina's head was about to explode. They were driving for a couple of hours now, and she didn't know what to think. This mess was better than any coffee she drank, it kept her awake even when the others were long sleeping around her. Even Marcus stopped his finger tap-dancing on the panel between them in rhythm with the soft music and was breathing deeply.