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She hadn’t noticed at first that behind the blue-skinned, red-bearded man there stood another man, also blue-skinned but without a beard. He was skinnier, too, with lithe limbs and the springiness of a cat. The bearded man stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, as though preparing to be tackled; the skinnier man leaned against the barn wall, looking Samantha up and down.
“I’m dreaming,” Samantha panted, feeling like she would fall through the floor and then wake in her bed with that horrid belly-lurching sensation. But she didn’t fall and the man-aliens before her didn’t disappear. “I’m dreaming,” she repeated, as though that made it true.
But it’s not true, is it, Sammy? Oh, no, you are not dreaming. What is real is not real and what is not real is real. Get your head around that. These alien-men are real and dreaming them is not real. Things have gone a bit topsy-turvy, don’t you think?
“Who are you?” she said. “Who the hell are you? Is this some kind of prank? Are you playing a joke on me? Are you all having a good laugh at my expense? Or am I on TV right now? Where are the hidden cameras?” It would be the world’s most boring TV show, she thought, but there was much worse on television nowadays.
The bearded man – he of the booming, deep, learned voice – shook his head. “This is not a prank.” He held his hands out in a show of peace. “I am Bak Ta, and this is Ras Alijuh. We are from a galaxy other than yours, and we are here for you. We lay awake at night and we hear your voice in our dreams. You are the most angel-voiced person on this planet, on any planet. And we need an angel. I cannot describe it well. Ras, assist me. My words are lacking.”
Ras yawned and leaned up from the wall, looking bored and cynical. “We heard your cry across the universe,” he said. His voice was almost British, with higher tones and a satirical edge. “We heard your cry and we knew, then, instantly, that we had to have you. Samantha Fitzgerald, we sent the Summoner across the universe, hoping – no, knowing – that you would find it and bring us here. You see, that little black box was programed with Bak’s person. He called you to us, Samantha, and here we are. You brought us across the universe.”
“But why?” Samantha said. There were too many questions, too many things that perplexed her. But one question stood out starker and more defined than the rest of them put together. One question tugged at her, screamed at her, demanded her attention: Why me? Why, of all the people on this planet, would two random aliens come across the universe for her? It didn’t make any sense.
“Because we love you,” Bak said.
“And,” Ras cut in quickly. “We wish to mate with you.”
“Ras!” Bak snapped. “Can you not see that the woman is scared? She does not need the whole telling at once! She is frightened.”
“And what of us?” Ras hissed. “We are on Earth, far from Ka-tek. What are we to do if this woman does not agree to come with us, now, through the Summoner?”
“Wait, what?” Samantha said. “Let me get this straight.” She massaged her forehead, willing her mind to work. “You want me to return through the black box, to your planet, so I can breed with you and make human-whatever hybrids.”
Ras nodded. “That is correct,” he said.
“That’s—crazy,” Samantha breathed. She felt a smile curl her lips, and then a mad laugh escaped her. “That’s crazy!” she exclaimed. “Why would I do that? I’ve got—” Yes, Sammy, what have you got? A thriving life, full of glitz and glamor and love and heartbreak? What have you got? “I’ve got my life here,” she finished weakly. “I can’t just leave. Plus, I don’t even know you!”
Ras made to protest, but Bak held out a blue-skinned hand. “Wait,” he said. “Ras, how long does the Summoner function for before it expires? Don’t look at me like that. Just answer the question.”
“Six Earth days,” Ras said grumpily.
“Okay,” Bak said, nodding. “Here is what I propose. Samantha, you allow Ras and me to court you for five days. If, by the sixth day, you do not wish to come with us, we will leave you. If you choose to come with us, however, we will all travel back to our planet, and you will begin your new life there. Does that sound fair?”
“What, both of you?”
“Yes,” Bak said. “Is that strange for you? In our world it is customary for two men to share one woman.”
“Not here,” Ras said. “It’s considered strange.”
“Is that so?” Bak said, his red eyebrows going up. He turned to Samantha. “We both want you, Samantha. Do you understand? We both want you. Or, maybe I should say, we both want a chance with you.”
Perhaps it was because her life had been relentlessly normal for so long, but Samantha found herself warming to these men. Bak had the look and speech of a professor, and Ras the look and speech of a rebel. They were aliens and she should have been terrified, disgusted even, but all she really felt was curious.
“But how are you going to court me?” she said. “You won’t exactly be welcomed in the city.”
“Don’t worry so much,” Bak said. “We have a solution for that.”
***
A LONE CRAZY WOMAN had driven through the snow one Saturday morning; now a crazy woman accompanied by two alien men drove back. If you looked closely, you could see the blue through the white skin, and the red through the brown hair. But at a casual glance they appeared human versions of themselves. They had retrieved two modules from the back of the black box that they slid under their skin, and then Bak had pocketed the module. Samantha didn’t know what they were going to do when they got back to the city. She didn’t think Jessica would be overly happy with a pair of aliens or a pair of random men staying for five days and nights. And she wasn’t rich; she barely had enough money for this beat up car they were coughing and spluttering along in.
When she told Bak and Ras her concerns, Bak looked at her like he didn’t understand what she was saying. It was eerie, looking into that almost human face. He smiled at her and for a moment she could trick herself into believing he was human. Or perhaps she really had lost it, and had picked up two random hitchhikers and tricked herself into thinking they were really aliens for some unknown reason.
Then Bak said: “We have lots of Earth money. Look. It was easy enough to produce back home.” Form his pocket he pulled out a credit card. “Six million dollars on this card. Is that enough for a hotel room and some food?”
Samantha laughed. “I think it should be enough,” she said, thinking: Six million dollars. Take the card and run, run for the hills, flee these strange alien-men! But she felt oddly comfortable in the car with them, and when she pulled up outside the hotel she was sad to see them go.
They navigated the street like tourists, stopping to look at everything they passed on the way to the double doors, and when the doorman opened the door Bak looked as though he would thrust the credit card in his face. But Ras laid a hand on the Bak’s shoulder and nodded curtly. The doorman watched them as they walked to the desk.
Then cars were honking at her and Samantha was forced to move. As she drove home, Samantha thought about Bak and Ras. Tomorrow, she was to meet them at the hotel for their first day of courting, as Bak had phrased it. They had also elaborated on the customs of their planet, and their desire for a human child. It was a place of honor, apparently, to have a child half of a different species, and through some physics magical equation which Samantha couldn’t understand even if she had ten Einsteins in her head, Ras and Bak had scented her across the stars. As far as she was concerned, it came down to this: they wanted to woo her so they could cart her across space and make her into some kind of princess for their magical children.
As she pulled into her parking space, outside her humdrum apartment, she wondered if she really were going crazy. But then when she got into the apartment Jessica shouted: “Hey, your boss called. He said it’s cool if you take a week off. He’s so chilled out. I wish my boss was like that.”
She hadn’t arranged a week off, which meant that Ras and Bak must’ve arranged it, which meant that, unless Mr. King was also an imaginary person, Bak and Ras must be real; they had affected reality.
That night, Samantha sat by the window and lit a cigarette. She watched the smoke plume into the clear cold sky filled with diamond stars.
The spaceship was gone; the aliens had landed.