Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 10

"I don't know. It's socially taboo. How do you deal with the issue on your planet?"

"We do not have sex on our planet," Nulfar replied.

"Great," Zeke mumbled and slumped his shoulders. "Sounds like I'll fit right in."

"What was that?" Nulfar asked cheerfully.

"Nothing," Zeke muttered. "So how do you reproduce?"

"We don't," Nulfar replied. "We did in our distant past, but we have long since evolved past the need for sexual reproduction by learning the secret of eternal life. We figured why should our genetic material survive indefinitely when we could just as easily do that ourselves?"

"So you guys can't be killed?" Zeke asked in disbelief.

"We can still die through illness or physical injury, but the ravages of time no longer affect us."

"Interesting," Zeke said. "So what else do you have around here?"

"There are several interconnected chambers containing various items we have collected from your planet. Feel free to look around. I wish to continue our discussion as I have many questions I would like to ask, but for now I have some business to attend to." With that Nulfar exited the room with the customary whoosh of the door.

Zeke picked up a nearby box and saw it contained a stack of teeny bopper magazines. "Hmm... I suppose it might make decent reading material if I get desperately bored. Always good to keep up with what the prepubescent girls of America think is hot." He rummaged through a couple of other boxes filled with rusty old tin cans and bubble gum wrappers. Nothing caught his attention so he decided to check out another room.

A light came on as soon as he entered and he spotted a couple of arcade games across the room amidst piles of junk. "Sweet! That'll keep me entertained for awhile! I hope they have the one where you get to blow up alien space ships."

He took a few steps into the room when he heard a female voice call out. "Can it be? Are you a human?"

Zeke stopped in his track and looked around uncertainly. "Who said that?"

"I'm over here! For the love of God, help me out of here!"

Zeke turned in the direction the voice seemed to be originating from and approached cautiously. "Where are you?"

"Down here!" the voice called back.

Zeke looked underneath a table and saw a young woman, probably in her early to mid-twenties locked up in a cage. She was a brunette with brown eyes wearing a blue blouse and tight-fitting brown pants. She was actually quite attractive, although her hair was a little ruffled and she had slight bags under her eyes. These were presumably ill effects suffered from being confined to a cage for who knew how long.

"What are you doing in there?" Zeke scratched his head.

"Having a nice relaxing spa," she replied. "What does it look like? I'm locked in a freaking cage! Now get me out of here!"

"All right, no need to get testy," Zeke said as he stared at the lock stupidly for a minute. He tugged at it a couple times but it held firmly. "Well, I'm all out of ideas."

"The key's over there." She gestured towards the opposite wall.

He walked over and found it dangling from a small metal hook. He quickly unlocked the cage and let her out. Her knees cracked as she stood up, brushed herself off, and proceeded to have herself a good long stretching session.

"Thank God you came along," she smiled. "Those green freaks wouldn't believe I was alive. They kept insisting I was some sort of dangerous object and needed to be kept under lock and key."