By R. C. Capasso
“What did you just do?”
El’s thought pinged into Jay’s brain, and he willed his thinking to be casual. “Nothing.”
“I thought we just came out for a flight. But you vented something.”
Jay lifted his hand from the control panel and waved it innocently. “Nothing really.”
El puffed out a breath and swiped a gauge on her side of the console. “You vented oxygen over that planet. Jay!”
The skin crinkled around his snout in an age-old defensive reaction. “Just a little. No harm done.”
“No harm? Are you joking?”
His eyes watered from the mental jab. “Look. There’s a huge hole there. It’s practically asking to be filled.”
“You’re dumping illegally.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
El swiveled away from him. “It’s illegal.”
“Barely.”
“You just don’t want to pay the containment/neutralization fee.”
Jay closed his digits and stopped himself just seconds before thumping the console. “No, I don’t want to pay the containment/anything fee. I’m sick of fees.”
“But there are regulations!” Her skin shifted from aquamarine to a deeper teal.
“Of course there are regulations! There are regulations for every drop of sulfur we breathe. Gotta control everything. Well, I’m not paying for someone to haul away our oxygen.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
Jay tapped the controls to put the blasted planet in their rear viewer. “Hardly at all. Just a couple times.”
“But what if there are sentient beings down there? With the impurities in waste oxygen, it could hang out there forever. You could close up that entire space.” She swiped a scanner. “It’s ozone. And they’d be under it! Do you know what that might do to their planet’s temperatures?”
“There’s nobody down there.”
“How do you know?”
“Way out here?”
El snorted, a sound he usually loved. “Sure. That’s why we flew so far. I thought you wanted to be alone with me, but you just wanted to get somewhere out of the way so you could dump your trash.”
“And it was a nice flight, wasn’t it, sweetkins? Quiet? Pretty?” He scavenged his memories for any thought that had ever made her eyes brighten. Maybe that one about loving little fish. And not for food…
But the thought bounced off her closed mind. “Until you broke the law. And probably poisoned some poor species.”
Fine. Let her be that way. “They wouldn’t be sentient like us.”
The crest on her forehead stiffened. “How do you know? And I’m not sure ‘sentient’ is the word I’d use for you right now. Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not coming out with you to dump stuff. Not again.”
“Sweetie, I promise. I won’t dump anything.” Jay blocked his mind before “when I’m with you” slid out.
“And your buddies? I suppose Tay and Jof dump too? Of course, Jof’s junker couldn’t even get out this far.”
“Sweets, I don’t stick my thoughts in their business.”
She’d really barricaded her mind.
“Sweets, I thought you loved me. Warts and all.”
Her mind opened a crack. “Your warts are my favorite thing.” She leaned back from the console. “And about the little fish? You are coming to the seabed cleanup tomorrow, aren’t you? With your pals?”
“Of course.” Jay sucked in a slow breath as he powered the ship and arced away from the blue and green planet. “Wait till I show you a meteor belt I found.”
He swiped a control and momentarily shuttered his thoughts. Dang! He’d have to make the next run alone. And tell the guys to keep their thoughts to themselves.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hahaha, that was great! I especially liked “There’s a huge hole there. It’s practically asking to be filled,” and the way you sprinkled physical descriptions of the aliens throughout the story.
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Nice twist on the Ancient Alien show’s theory that mankind is being affected by beings from the stars. Wednesday’s becoming my favorite day because of stories like this.
Thank you! I had fun writing this one.
I really enjoyed this! The mind speaking was AWESOME.
Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback.
Dumping oxygen. Funny. If they only knew…
Good job.
Thank you!