He was away for an hour; it felt longer. I knew it would take as long as necessary, but his revelation chafed at me. I hated the idea that I was dependent on him like this. It was irrational but who’s rational all of the time.
Time was marching on, and I wasn’t getting any younger. Pacing was not my thing. Instead, I moved from one room section to another. It was absolutely not pacing, but it gave me the movement I craved so badly.
I kept going back to the dining room table and looked at the Shi plants. No touching, I daren’t touch them. Asher had made it clear that they needed no interference from me. Hands behind my back I leaned in carefully and inhaled.
They held little in the way of fragrance but what was there came back clean. Clean and fresh, even the dirt was pleasant. A first for me, but maybe it was a trick of the alien nature of these plants.
Which started me walking again, I still hadn’t thought much of Denny’s statement that I was more alien than human. For many years I stood apart from other humans, I didn’t believe myself better, merely different. Different was good I kept telling myself over and over.
Then why the big fuss, Eliza? I caught my reflection in the entryway mirror; I tried to smooth the lines on my face out. Wrinkles were the last thing I needed, and that much frowning couldn’t help.
After all the time in isolation, my thoughts were used to going their route, no interruptions from others. I craved interruption. Conversation to distract me, to annoy me even would be good.
But Denny’s door was closed and by now he was fast asleep, something I would love to do soon too. There might not have been any way I could assist in the creation of the rift, but I would be with him for the planting.
I chose not to dwell on how my lungs fared in the plantation; I had strong powers of denial. The door to the basement opened, and I jogged over to meet Asher at the top of the stairs.
He was exhausted and shaking; the rift generation must have taken a bigger toll than I had thought it would. But then, he didn’t explain to me how it would work. It was another thing to add to a grown list of things not known, a list that was getting to be far too long.
“And? Do we have a bit of alien landscape in the basement?”
I bit my lip; our had nearly inserted itself neatly and effortlessly into my question. He nodded and moved past me to the kitchen.
Asher opened my fridge and took out a carton of orange juice. I was about to offer him a glass, but he chose the faster route of drinking from the source. Miss Manners demanded that I politely offered him a glass regardless. I chose to ignore her this once, but it annoyed me.
He tossed the empty carton into the bin and turned to me. An exhausted man stood looking at me; I was still resolved not to get involved with him. But it was difficult when all I wanted to do was go to him and fling my arms around him.
A smile told me that he had caught my thought; I grimaced and walked away from him. I went back to the table where I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. He joined me before long, his body heat coming at me in a wave as he quietly came up behind me.
“How long before we can put them in the ground?” I asked.
He leaned over towards the plants in the case, but because of my choice of location he had to lean past me. It drove me mad; his smell and my unconscious choice of standing right in front of the damn case.
“We can plant them now if you’d like.” He looked at me and smiled.
My lips were so willing to return his smile and so much more that I hurt. My heart, body and soul ached. This man or rather alien had somehow managed to get a grip on me. But I bit the inside of my lip to stop any reaction. I would have to find a better way to deal with this; my mouth would be a bloody mess before long.
“Very well, let’s get to it. The faster we put them into the soil the faster they can get healthy.”
I turned away from him and heard the sigh that accompanied my retreat. It didn’t matter, let him sigh all he wanted, at least, my lips were still my own.
“They don’t have to be you know. I would take good care of them.” I jerked to a stop, “And put them to good use.”
The last said so softly that I thought I hadn’t heard it correctly. Cheeky bastard. He wished for the last and knew it wouldn’t happen. I heard him walking away with a chuckle.
For long moments I couldn’t move, what he had done was plant images in my head that were unwelcome. Not entirely unpleasant truth be told, but I suppressed that as quickly as possible.
Finally, I turned around and walked over the doorway leading down to my basement. Mine, and mine alone, I wanted to shout down the stairs. Pettiness was where I was hiding it seemed.
By the time, I got downstairs he had disappeared into the Shi Room. The light was spilling from the open doorway, much more than my paltry strip lights could hope to provide.
When I entered I understood his dismissive wave from earlier; the lights weren’t necessary. The sun coming from the rift lit the entire space. I couldn’t feel in on this side of the opening, but it reminded me of a tropical destination.
Uncertain of the air I stood on the edge of the rift peering in and taking note of the other side. In the distance, I saw the remains of a farmhouse, outbuildings and a fence that had seen better days.
It had to be Asher’s home; it must have been beautiful when it was in good repair. How long had it been since he had last seen it? I looked around to find him standing in the middle of a field with the case at his feet. A small area, nothing the size of farm fields on Earth. It had the look of a herb garden to it, plots carefully delineated by some wooden beams perhaps.
The next moment he was in front of me and had me by the arm. I was off-balance and tumbled into the rift opening towards him.